SCENE REPORT: CNHC China Hardcore

The China hardcore scene (CNHC) is very much still in its infancy but what it is today in 2015 is nothing short of explosive and chock full of promise…

For the immense size of this country in terms of population and area, it may come as a huge surprise that there are not many cities here that have hardcore bands. If you compare hardcore to the giants of the underground music scene (metal and punk rock), we’re just a tiny little molecule in the grand scheme of Chinese music.

Either way, through sheer perseverance and determination, we finally have some little pockets of hardcore activity. The most prevalent are the ones found in the following cities Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Seeds have also been sown in cities such as Changchun, Harbin, Guangzhou, Changsha, Wuhan, and Hong Kong, with the hope that in time hardcore will develop into a much larger beast and a formidable player on the Chinese music circuit.

Shows go on throughout the country with bands trying to do their best to get out on the road but that gets difficult when trying to also maintain day jobs and families at the same time. My own band King Ly Chee just finished our 5th China tour with a 9-date tour that took us through: Guangzhou, Changsha, Kunming, Chengdu, Xi An, Shanghai, Dalian, Shenyang, Beijing. We’ve been touring China since 2000 (but having begun playing in mainland China in 1999 – and that being Guangzhou) so to see all of this development firsthand is beyond remarkable – it’s a little nuts.

Luckily in recent years a steady stream of bands from overseas have been hitting our shores which of course keeps re-energizing everyone’s spirits. Even though all these bands are coming to China, it’s important to state (and can’t be stated enough) that what China needs is for real support to be given to our own homegrown bands and scenes – the ones who live and breathe China. Luckily, all these Chinese hardcore bands are out supporting each other…the scene is still relatively small, so it’s still possible to pick up the phone (actually – all communication seems to be done through Weixin nowadays haha) and figure out issues that may occur. However, as with any large and growing group of people, that doesn’t mean all things are squared away nicely and just like any scene anywhere in the world, we have our issues. But at the heart of the entire CNHC populace is certainly the idea of being rational, respectful and positive especially as we all get older and have less tolerance for petty high-school drama.

Lyrically a lot of the bands sing about societal issues and some even touch on more personal topics all of which people familiar with punk/hardcore/metal will find in common because a lot of these are universal issues that exist all over the world. However, it is important to add that lyrically a lot of the bands out here err on the side of being very careful when discussing politics openly and could be a major reason why a lot of bands out here tend to sing in English. However the choice of English could also just be to give the world at large a way to peek into the lives of hardcore kids out here. Musically, bands tend to be on the heavy and metallic side of the hardcore spectrum. But as things have progressed and developed, bands have begun to experiment with more sounds in their music – a lot more punk rock is starting to creep into the both the instrumentation and vocal delivery.

For the past 3 years the CNHC hardcore community has come together to host an annual CNHC Hardcore Fest in Beijing. 2015 will be the 4th instalment and plans are already being written up for a tentative date of August 29 at MAO Livehouse in Beijing…you read that here first!

Here’s a video of the second CNHC Hardcore Fest that took place in 2013 at MAO Livehouse:

Finally, there ain’t no scene without the bands. Below is a great list of some of the CNHC bands that China has to offer…please get in touch with these bands and offer some encouragement if you can – it’s a pretty uphill battle for most of these bands here and any tiny bit of support from people all over the world is much appreciated!

We hope to see you on our shores and cities soon!

BAND: Own Up
FROM: Beijing
Contact: http://site.douban.com/OUP/
Song: Stay With Us

BAND: The Last Resort ????
FROM: Beijing
Contact: http://site.douban.com/TLRBJHC/
Song: Drug Free Youth

BAND: Return the Truth
FROM: Beijing
Contact: http://site.douban.com/returnthetruth/
Song: We are the Youth

BAND: Born Free
FROM: Changchun
Contact: http://site.douban.com/BornFree/
Song: (coming soon)

BAND: The Loudspeaker ???
FROM: Shanghai
Contact: http://site.douban.com/loudspeaker/
Song: ??

BAND: Unregenerate Blood ????
FROM: Beijing
Contact: https://www.facebook.com/UnregenerateBlood?fref=ts
Song: I Love This Game

BAND: What a Beautiful Day
FROM: Shenzhen
Contact: http://site.douban.com/wabdhc/
Song: Out of Sight, Out of Mind

BAND: Spill Your Guts
FROM: Shanghai
Contact: https://www.facebook.com/spillyourgutsband?fref=ts
Song: Wayfarer

BAND: Fanzuixiangfa ????
FROM: Beijing
Contact: https://www.facebook.com/FanzuiXiangfa?fref=ts
Song: Life of Crime

BAND: King Ly Chee ???
FROM: Hong Kong
Contact: https://www.kinglychee.com
Song: My Family

BAND: Overcome
FROM: Harbin
Contact: http://site.douban.com/Overcome
Song: (coming soon)

BAND: Sick Reaction
FROM: Shenzhen
Contact: https://www.facebook.com/SickReaction?fref=ts
Song: (coming soon)

BAND: Die Chiwawa Die
FROM: Guangzhou
Contact: http://site.douban.com/dcdcdcd/
Song: (coming soon)

BAND: Yan Zi Ling ???
FROM: Changsha
Contact: http://site.douban.com/cshardcore
Song: (coming soon)

BAND: It Never Happened ????
FROM: Beijing
Contact: http://site.douban.com/xnxhx/
Song: (coming soon)

Full playlist of the above songs for you to just rock out to…this playlist will be updated once new music is made available by the bands above and/or new bands as they crop up!