Performance Report

Introduction

On March 31 I went to Denton to see The Chinese Invasion Tour. The show featured three bands, P.K. 14, AV Okubo, and Carsick Cars at Hailey’s Bar. The three bands were classified as Chinese Punk Rock bands. The three bands have made a very big impact in the Beijing music scene. Carsick Cars has even played with bands such as Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Ex Models and These Are Powers.

Music

This type of music most reminds me of nineties alternative bands such as The Toadies and The Pixies. There was a lot of feedback from the instruments. The guitars would usually make the harmony and every now and then they would play a melody. Usually the melody would be in the introduction and then come back up in the verse. P.K 14 and AV Okubo both had an electric piano where they would often use to loop a drone. All of the bands used many loops to play different noises. Carsick Cars had a much more trance like sound like one of there biggest influences The Velvet Underground.

Performers

While on stage, all three bands were very energetic. AV Okubo especially seemed to have energy flowing out of every performer. The clothes they wore were very flashy. The singer of AV Okubo wore a sailor’s hat while the bassist wore white girl’s pants. Although they moved around a lot they had to be aware of their surroundings because they were on a relatively small stage. P.K. 14 did not seem to have as much energy and seemed to be having some technical difficulties with the equipment. One thing I noticed was when one band was performing the other two were in the back watching the others.

Audience

The audience consisted of about twenty to thirty people. Most of them seemed to be from twenty to twenty-six. The majority of them were dancing on the dance floor while there were a few passively listening from the bar. The crowd was consuming a vast amount of alcohol which was made apparent by the increasingly awkward dancing they were doing. The clothes of the audience seemed to be from the eighties. The women were wearing loose torn shirts while the men were wearing leather jackets and tight jeans. The audience was very appeased with the concert. Although the audience was rather small, it seemed as though they could not get enough. This allowed the bands to feed off of their energy.

Time and Space

The concert was relatively small because the bands had played in Dallas three days before. Another contribution to the small size of the audience was that it was on a Wednesday night. The bar was on a dark side street and could be pretty hard to find if you were not from that area. The inside of the bar almost looked like a cave and could have affected the acoustic settings of the instruments. The majority of the listeners were listening at a very intense level because the majority of them are from The University of North Texas, an art school near the area. Most of these students have an art major and music is a very big part of their life.

Conclusion

This type of music had elements I was familiar with as well as ones I had never before heard. The music was loud chaotic with many harmonies and melodies playing off each other. As well the musicians were very chaotic and full of energy. They had tons of flow and were in a constant flux. I have never seen such a small audience possess so much energy. Overall this band was marked by their overdriven and distorted use of electrophones.