Download: P.K. 14 “Behind All Ruptures”

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(from City Weather Sailing available now from Maybe Mars)

Yang Haisong is the singer of Beijing post-punk band P.K. 14 and one of the leading figures in the fledgling Beijing underground music scene. As leader of P.K.14 and as producer for many underground releases, he is an influence on most if not all bands in a country without hand-me-down record collections. His band plays two shows in L.A. this week with two other top Beijing bands—Carsick Cars and AV Okubo. These shows will be the first in California by any rock bands from Beijing and L.A. RECORD and Converse will present the first at the Viper Room Wednesday. Yang spoke with L.A. RECORD‘s Scott Schultz on a sidewalk outside a club called the Ding Dong Lounge in upper upper Manhattan about the discovery of postpunk in Beijing, meeting Ian Mackaye and more.

Ian MacKaye came to your shows in D.C.—what kind of moment was that for you?
Yang Haisong (vocals): It was a surprise for us. We knew we were going to have two shows in D.C., so we joked that we should ask Ian to come to our show to see us play. But we figured there is no way we can contact him. But there is a gallery called Govinda Gallery, and the owner is a long-timer in the D.C. scene, and he knew him. He said that he would try to reach him and we thought that would be amazing. The first show was at a club called the Velvet Lounge and it was not an all-ages show, so Ian would not come inside. He has an all-ages philosophy. He actually drove to the door. He came to say hello, and that afternoon, he invited us to his apartment and his studio and rehearsing room and Dischord offices. He showed us all this legendary stuff like pictures and original masters. I could just say, ‘Wow!’ It was like I was dreaming. Here I was talking to him and his drummer Brendan from Fugazi. The next day we played at Govinda the gallery, and that was an all-ages gallery. He came with his wife and the drummer and their kids. They come and say hello. We talked about the music afterward . We talked about things like how did you like that part? And we asked them a lot of questions about Fugazi.
Does Fugazi have a large following in Beijing?
Yang Haisong: Not just in Beijing, but all of the Chinese underground music scene. They’re kind of one of the biggest heroes. It isn’t only his music. It’s his philosophy. Open your mind.
Are the shows in China all ages?
Yang Haisong: We have no such rules or policies. Everybody can come in and everybody can go to the bar. They don’t need to show ID.
You produce other bands in the Beijing Underground like Carsick Cars and Ourselves Beside Me. I really like their sounds. Ourselves Beside Me reminds me of a Los Angeles band named Warpaint.
Yang Haisong: Thank you. I’m glad to hear that. I produce a lot of the younger bands and I like to perform with them to work with them. The girls in that band are very relaxed even when we’re recording. They have a lot of improvisation actually. Very relaxed atmosphere. It’s very relaxed—kind of lazy—drink a lot of beers. Me and the engineer just press play and eat while they just play, play, play. They don’t need us when they’re recording.
I like your video for ‘Tamen’ with the black-and-white footage. It looked a lot more political than what I would have expected from a Chinese band. What is it about?
Yang Haisong: It’s kind of a protest song. It is about Leftism fighting Visionists. In China the young people have a lot of Visionists—they have a passion, but they have no direction for it. They do something, but they don’t know why. Why are they fighting for? Why are they doing that? They don’t know. So ‘Tamen’ is about that. They video style, I like it, because it is a movie style like Shanghai 1930s movie, like a blur. It had a silent movie look that I like. It was show by a guy from New Zealand who had been living in Beijing for several years. He is also the director of our documentary—A TOUR OF THE PUBLIC KINGDOM—about our first Chinese tour in 2004. He was a jazz musician and he used to play saxophone. One day he decided to be a filmmaker. By the time he did our video he was a filmmaker. He has shot a lot of videos.
How long have you been playing with your band?
Yang Haisong: Since 1997. This version of the band has been around since 2001. I am the lone original. I get a lot of inspiration from Bob Dylan, Fugazi and a lot of protest folk. The Clash and punk music. When we formed P.K. 14, we set up like post-punk—like Joy Division. We got a lot of English bands like Siouxie and the Banshees, Bauhaus.
How did you discover those bands?
Yang Haisong: In China it’s not easy to buy a cassette. But you can find something. This was 12 years ago so it was before downloads, and it’s not always easy to find the Internet music. In China it can be hard to find international bands. We started on post-punk style, and now we’re more rock.
When you first started playing post-punk in China, were there other Chinese kids doing this and starting bands? Was there a reaction?
Yang Haisong: In China, not really. At that time it was really hard to know what’s happening in London or New York—for many it was really hard to get it, so it was like we invented it. Joy Division and Bauhaus was what type of music we wanted to play, so we just educated ourselves how to play this sound and that sound and then we had our sound. At that time, there was a lot of mystery. I was from Nanjing, and I had a lot of friends who liked Joy Division, and they would come to our shows. The city is kind of humid, wet, cold. We never think about the size of the crowds we get. We just play. When we first started, we had to book all of the shows ourselves. I’d go into the clubs or bars and ask if we can play here. We don’t need money, we just play there, and we’ll bring instruments and promote ourselves and post fliers for free.
How often do you play live now? Is it every night or every week?
Yang Haisong: Not every night. More like every weekend. We try to find other clubs that accept younger crowds. Some places say no, and others say yes. It’s not easy.
How many people buy your CDs in China?
Yang Haisong: I’m not sure, you’ll have to ask them. At the time when we started there was no CDs—just cassettes. We would record the demos and give them out to our friends and other singers. I think it was normal just like bands in your city, too.
How crowded are the streets in Beijing compared to NYC?
Yang Haisong: At night, it will be very busy. It’s noisy. Beijing is a much larger city than this. A couple weeks ago, we went to Times Square at 9 PM. That was like Beijing! A lot of food and a lot of promotion and advertising. We eat a lot of fast food on the highway. The best food we ate so far on the road was Korean food. We went to a Korean restaurant. I like that. American food is OK, but we’re on tour, so we don’t have a lot of choices. It’s bread and cheese and meat, everywhere. Different menus everywhere—they all have different specials, but it’s always the same bread and meat and cheese. What is special about that? But it’s tour food. That’s part of a musician’s life.
What were your first New York City shows like?
Yang Haisong: It was really great. We played a gallery with a lot of speakers. It was really loud so I liked it. Brooklyn was kind of relaxed, but at Colby College [in Maine] we had to close the doors [because it sold out] and the audience got up on stage and started dancing and falling on the stage. Every night is different, but they have a good time.
How often do American bands play in China?
Yang Haisong: Lots of bands do. It’s very easy. You need to find an organizer [promoter] and then it’s about money and the political. How to book the venue, how to get the money back.
I was able to find all of the bands in the Beijing scene just by going onto one band’s homepage on Myspace, and then I would gradually check out a lot of their friend bands. You were on a lot of those pages.
Yang Haisong: We all support each other. I’m sure it’s similar to the way the bands in your scenes in Los Angeles work. We all try to support each other and help each other out. That’s what makes it a scene.

P.K. 14 WITH CARSICK CARS AND AV OKUBO PLUS CHASE ALLEN AND THE WHITE SUNDAYS ON WED., APRIL 7, AT THE VIPER ROOM, 8852 W. SUNSET BLVD., WEST HOLLYWOOD. 8 PM / $10-$15 / 21+. VIPERROOM.COM. AND WITH CARSICK CARS, AV OKUBO, SIGNALS, THE MONOLATORS AND M31 ON FRI., APRIL 9, AT THE AMERICAN LEGION HALL, 227 N. AVENUE 55, HIGHLAND PARK. 9 PM / $7 / 21+. MYSPACE.COM/ELAINELAYABOUT. P.K. 14’S CITY WEATHER SAILING IS OUT NOW ON MAYBE MARS. VISIT P.K. 14 AT MYSPACE.COM/PK14.