Over the last couple of weeks, you may have noticed we’ve been checking in with the Indiago boys over on their Chinese tour. It wasn’t an easy one to pull off – emails were over a private network, Facebook was a no-go… not to mention the band had appointments left, right, and centre.
But alas, the tour has now come to a close. The lads are back in town with a million stories to tell – so that’s exactly what we’re letting them do. Presenting part 2 of Indiago’s Chinese tour diary.
Having finally knocked off the last leg of their Chinese tour, we spoke to Indiago to find out exactly what went down. Their answer – a lot.
Setting Standards – Show No.1
Landing late in Guiyang with absolutely no idea what was to come of the next month’s tour, it wasn’t long after checking into the hotel before we sniffed out a bottle-o, setting the pace for the rest of the tour. After a couple of dollar beers at 3AM, the toll of travel hit us hard and we all crashed out.
We had a show booked on our first night in a local venue called Jin Livehouse. The venues over here are unreal, and we were blown away with the sound and equipment they had on hand. Despite booking the show on short notice with minimal promotion, we drew a curious crowd and played a kick-arse show. We had the whole place jumping and even had the venue owner moshing in the front row and screaming for an encore. It just set the standard for the entire tour, the vibes were pretty damn high, and it really was a testament to generosity and hospitality of the Chinese people.
Just like everything in China, the pace was absolutely frenetic, and we only had a moment to collect ourselves off stage before we were straight into a van on the way to the afterparty. We followed a man introduced to us as Super-Lee through an old-fashioned phone box in a wall, which opened into one of the coolest clubs any of us have ever been to! We were directed through the club straight to the VIP Panda Lounge where we were fed buckets of beers, as many as we could possibly put away until the early hours. It was a big night…
The King Of Guiyang
By now we’d had a few days off to recuperate in Guiyang. However our Chinese friend and host, Thomas, had a lot of friends to introduce us to. Soon nicknamed The King Of Giuyang, this incredible guy wined and dined us for the following four days, taking care of our hotels, transport, and almost every ounce of food and beer we had.
Here was a man who had only met one of us many years ago, and went out of his way to make us feel at home in his incredible city. We couldn’t begin to find a way to thank him for his invaluable advice, his endless hospitality and kind heart, a couple of attributes that were reflective in his many friends he was keen to introduce us to.
Head building contractors, entertainment industry executives, ex-Chinese special forces soldiers, and all round legends, the King’s inner circle contained some truly incredible people and they were certainly quick to make an impression.
Our first dinner with these friends saw us quickly introduced to Baijiu, China’s most popular distilled alcohol. With the most famous brand of this intense spirit hailing from their hometown of Giuyang, they were eager to see our reactions.
In short…. it’s fucking horrible. But, as the locals will tell you, after the fifth or sixth shot, it starts to grow on you. By the third or fourth bottle of this stuff, you really fall in love. Every single night out with these guys we ended up throwing this stuff down like water.
The night went from hot-pot and Baijiu to a Chinese favourite, K-TV karaoke! Watching a 40-year-old ex-special forces soldier (whom you’ve just spent the night arm wrestling) sing his lungs out to a Chinese pop ballad is really something else.
These people became amazing friends and a big part of our journey, and they will continue to contribute in a big way to our ventures over here in the future.
Ting-Ting
Show number two saw us travel to Shanghai on a twenty-seven-hour train ride. Not as fun as it sounds when it turns out your packed into a shoebow with over fifty other passengers… Luckily we found the restaurant carriage and after (fairly generous) amounts of beer and vodka, we finally got a little sleep.
We arrived at the venue for soundcheck and at long last, met our Tour Manager, Ting-Ting.
At a strong height of around four foot-three, she’s the feisty little pocket-rocket that made this all possible! One of the coolest people we’ve ever come across in the industry, this legend has been crushing the underground Rock/Punk scene across all of China for almost a decade. Her self-made Touring Company, Borderless, proved to have a lot of pull, booking us eight shows in a matter of days. This sh*t isn’t easy to do in a country who’s government can bust into a venue at any time and any un-licensed artists or venues can be shut down and arrested immediately. Freedom of speech, especially through art, is something to be very cautious of in this country. Pretty nerve racking when you’re in a country you’ve never been to before, shrouded in mystery, having bent the law just enough to keep you on your toes.
Ting-Ting is like a sister to us now and without her hospitality and her smarts, we would’ve been stuffed.
Suzhou
A 40-minute train ride from Shanghai, the “small” (ten-times the population of Adelaide) city of Suzhou was our next stop. This became our home for the week to come.
Here we met Patrick Carter, a fellow muso from Adelaide, who housed us in his awesome apartment and showed us around the city. Having another Adelaidian was very refreshing, but it also meant we wouldn’t get home until the sun was coming up.
Every. Bloody. Night. Bottomless beers, a thriving arts scene and a smorgasboard of hotpot dinners. Suzhou was rad – relaxed, very pretty and it has a really cool scene, especially with young foreigners. We smashed out three gigs in the week we were there.
Beijing
What a place. Beijing has over 21 million people. In a place where the city covers so much ground, there’s always something for everyone. That something for us was Temple.
Ting-Ting had told us how huge this would be, and she’d said how important this venue was for rock ‘n’ roll in Beijing. But until we walked on stage, we had no idea what we were in for. The place went off! Head-banging, mosh pits, sing-a-longs, the place was packed. It was by far our favourite show of the tour.
China has been unreal, something none of us will ever forget. The people, the sights, the cheap beer, it’s somewhere everyone really should have on their list. Planning an overseas tour, finding our feet as we went along, putting our lives at home on hold to work our asses off to chase our dreams.
There were times where we feel like we’ve been forgotten to the politics we see back at home – but by pulling this off entirely off our own backs, it installed a new belief in us that the opportunities are out there. And we’re going to keep working our asses off to make it happen.
Homecoming Show at Fat Controller, this Friday 31st. Come and see why China’s kicking up a fuss over some local Adelaide lads.
Catch Indiago live at The Fat Controller, Adelaide on August 31st. More info here.
