Tag: D22

SMZB – Ten Years Rebellion – 1st February 2011

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Cat #: 045TZM

Founded in 1996, SMZB was one of the first punk bands to form in China and the first to originate from Wuhan, one of cities at the heart of China’s burgeoning underground music scene. Drawing their own influences from Celtic-inspired bands like Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly, and transforming these influences in response to the massive and out of control social transformations taking place in their hometown and throughout China, SMZB is widely recognised as one of China’s most influential bands, whose fans include musicians from many of the most important punk and underground rock bands throughout China. Although they have produced five CDs to date, only the first one, released by Scream, was approved for sale in China, the rest were released only in Europe and North America. 

Originally a trio when they first began playing smoky clubs and small performance spaces in their home town, SMZB has subsequently gone through several member changes and, by the end of 2002, had evolved into a quartet. During the early years the band kept up a rigorous schedule of shows and tours throughout China and eventually abroad. In 2004 SMZB toured across Southeast Asia and in 2005 they completed their first European tour with the help of Norway’s October Party Records. In 2006 the band changed their line-up yet again replacing their guitar and bass players and adding a flute & tin whistle to complete the current five member line-up. Through these changes SMZB has grown and developed, smashing together in their music a mélange of Chinese influences, Celtic noise, and straight punk fury which has resulted in a unique style that is instantly recognisable. 

It is not just as musicians that SMZB has helped create the explosion in music that China is currently experiencing. Since the very beginnings of China’s underground rock scene founding members Wu Wei and Hu Juan have been active promoting shows, booking tours for foreign bands, and helping younger punk bands gain a foothold in the scene. Shortly after they were formed they founded the Wuhan Riot Group, a collective of Wuhan punk bands that was instrumental in forging the Wuhan underground music scene. SMZB continues to serve as role models for a whole generation of Chinese punk rockers and after ten years are considered one of the key bands in the explosive Chinese music scene. 

tenzenmen is proud to present SMZB’s sixth CD release, Ten Years Rebellion, which was recorded in Wuhan and mixed in Norway and is only their second CD to be released by an independent label in China (Maybe Mars). 

Joyside – Booze at Neptune’s Dawn – 1st February 2011

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Cat #: 044TZM

Considered by many to be China’s greatest underground band, Joyside was formed by Xinzhiang refugee Bian Yuan in 2001, in a dark dank basement in the north of Beijing. After three years of playing small clubs in Beijing, literally for beer and cigarette money, they lazily released their debut album, Drunk is Beautiful, whose name comes as close to expressing Joyside’s ferociously decadent aesthetic as any three words can – they consider themselves to be bitches of rock ‘n’ roll, addicted to the music and the mad posturing of the pre-punk New York scene. 

The band consists of Bian Yuan on lead vocals, Liu Hao on Bass, Guan Zheng on percussion, and on guitar an astonishing young guitarist, Hong Wei, who was featured in a 2007 Rolling Stone article as one of the four most important guitarists in China. Along with their work in Joyside, the band members are actively involved in other projects. Both Bian Yuan and Liu Hao are members of Johnny’s Teeth, and Liu Hao also plays for Dog 13. Guan Zheng performs regularly with Linga and Believers, while Hong Wei has performed in number of one-off and experimental shows throughout Beijing. Bian Yuan’s acoustic performances are a mainstay at the famous Wednesday night Punk on Wood series at Beijing’s D22 club. 

It is hard to go to a Joyside show without ending up drenched in sweat – they rock ferociously and in the great tradition of outlaw rock they turn every audience into frenzy, especially as Hong Wei’s intelligent, subtle guitar playing suddenly breaks into a nasty, ugly crunch and twists around Bian Yuan’s singing. There are influenced by the full gamut of rock and roll history, completely at home with the early American rockers, the Mods, or the seventies punk scene, with particular influences being the Dead Boys, New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders, Sex Pistols, and the Stooges. 

AV Okubo – The Greed of Man – 1st April 2010

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Cat #: 040TZM

Hong Kong experimental cinema, 80’s Kungfu movies, triad gangsters, Chinese and Japanese cartoons and China’s early space program all collide together in AV Okubo’s sound to create a weird kaleidoscope of modern Chinese sensibilities. 

AV Okubo’s combination of retro-amusements combined with deeper social critique, along with their ferocious dance rhythms, has quickly brought this young band to the attention of fellow musicians and audiences across China and got them a coveted invitation, even before the release of their first CD, to Austin’s SouthbySouthwest festival in 2010. 

Formed in 2006 in the dirty industrial megalopolis of Wuhan, AV Okubo has captured the eyes and ears of China with the members themselves living out their music’s conflicts of a changing society. Frontman Lu Yan (vox/keyboard) is an aspiring film director while Tan Chao (guitar) works a day job as a train engineer in a major steel factory. Filling out the band, Zuo Yi (bass) and Hu Juan (percussion) are both active in the local music scene, traditionally the home of China’s hardest and wildest punk scene. 

They have played with, and at times overshadowed, such bands as Orange (Uruguay), The 4 Sivits (Germany), Ratatat (USA), These Are Powers (USA) and Battles (USA).  Several large festival appearances, including 2008’s Modern Sky Festival and 2009’s JUE Festival, have exposed them to larger audience and their infrequent trips to the capital have become occasions for packed and crazy shows at Yugong Yishan and D22 attended by eager fans. In late 2008 the band set up in A-String, Asia’s largest studio, to record their debut album with acclaimed producer Martin Atkins. 

For the band, music is the half-remembered memories of growing up in the social construction project that is China, the places they’ve been to, the people they’ve met and things they’ve experienced along the way. New wave, experimental noise, disco punk, ultimately their sound smashes together everything they have encountered set to a massive beat. AV Okubo has grown up in the entertainment era. Neither punky criticism nor a complete overthrow of modern culture, they slide obliquely through a loophole and force on us their version of change. 

Australia’s world renowned Asia music specialist label tenzenmen brings AV Okubo’s debut release ‘The Greed of Man’ to these shores as the band rip it up in North America as part of the China Invasion west coast tour. 

Snapline – Party Is Over, Pornostar – 1st April 2010

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Cat #: 038TZM

Snapline have become Beijing’s fastest rising young band and recently they have taken on an identity all of their own, earned full page interviews in the local media and released their first 7” single in the US. 

When producer and ex-PIL drummer Martin Atkins came to Beijing to check on the local scene, he was delighted with dozens of bands, but wholly awestruck by Snapline’s uniquely weird melodies, and immediately insisted on producing their first CD. Within weeks they had laid down the tracks in Beijing and over the next few months began the mixing process in Chicago, at one point flying vocalist Chen Xi to Chicago to add additional tracks. 

As snippets of the recording filtered through the scene in China, the band’s shows started drawing larger crowds, and they soon began to develop a very strong following. A series of concerts at D22 established them as one of the central bands in the scene, much loved by critics and musicians, although difficult at times for audiences to follow. 

The subject of many articles in the Chinese press, the band was listed in That’sBeijing as one of the ten best bands in China and in an article in Rolling Stone Li Qing was listed as one of China’s four major guitar innovators.

Ourself Beside Me & The Gar – 1st July 2009

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Cat #: 020TZM

Ourself Beside Me were first formed in 2003 by former Hang On The Box guitarist Yang Fan. Their line-up changed several times throughout the years until Yang Fan (the main vocalist and guitarist) met the then-still-a-drummer Xie Han through the internet in fall 2005, thanks to a shared interest in the British band, Television Personalities. They bonded immediately and started writing songs together. Xie Han started playing the bass and in 2007, through a mutual friend, EMI (who hails from Japan) was introduced into the group as the drummer. It wasn’t until the second half of 2007 that this trio began performing regularly, first at D-22 and then at other clubs in Beijing. Touted almost from the beginning by D-22 regulars as one of the most exciting and innovative bands to emerge from the Beijing scene, these three hard-charging ladies have swept everything before to become among the most admired and inspiring bands in China. 

It is hard to describe their sound. They claim their inspirations began with the sounds from old 60’s and 70’s bands such as the Velvet Underground, Syd Barrett, Can, Tom Waits, Soft Machine and the Fall. There is no denying these influences but they are also heavily influenced by New York’s East Village bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s but with a very Chinese obliqueness to their harmonies and musical approach and the typical Beijinger’s bluntness. They combine the rhythmic sophistica- tion of bands like ESG and Bush Tetras with the eerie but jangly, sinuous guitar lines of Bush Tetra guitarist Pat Place and the strange harmonics of DNA. Amid their drawn-out sessions you can even sometimes hear the long, druggy patterns of the Doors. This is a band extremely sure of its sound and wholly dismissive of any attempts to mold their image or sound into a more pleasing outline. 

Cat #: 022TZM

Gar’s music is some of the purest Chinese rock ‘n’ roll. Mixing the beautiful and sophisticated melodic structures typical of the best Chinese music with basic harmonies and a delight in shifting textures, their songs achieve the shimmering quality of folk-rock but with the hard edge that life in Beijing, with its rapid changes, destruction and reconstruction, has imposed on most of its artists. 

The three members of Gar are guitarist/lead vocalist Zhan Pan, bassist Wen Jie, and drummer Wang Xu. Their standard power-trio format, ordinary equipment, graceful Chinese lyrics, and complete lack of stage posturing and fancy gimmicks make them different from most of the other bands in the scene. On the surface they seem very ordinary, but their shows are full of energy and intelligence. In recent years, a number of alternative genres have been expanding the definitions of indie music and rock ‘n’ roll for Chinese audiences, and along with it there have been changes in trends and fashion, but Gar have refused to follow any of the trends, continuing to explore their own sense of real music based on individual experiences. These are classic songs about youth and time, appealing to every generation and era. While the Chinese indie music environment gets louder, more challenging, and wilder, Gar continues singing their hearts out for their very own generation.

What’s Cool and Unusual – 1st July 2009

in case you haven’t heard, paint it black has moved out of 86 enmore rd and looking for alternative accommodation

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thu 2

red rattler, 6 faversham st, marrickville
6.30 $15

Kino Kabaret

Kino Kabaret is a series of 2 day filmmaking marathons, screenings and parties taking place across Sydney 29 June – 4 July. Each session gives the participants only 48hrs to write, shoot and edit short films and culminates in a screening and party. Come and see the results of this mad filmmaking experiment at The Red Rattler Thursday 2 July!

Just $15 at the door gets you in to see brand spanking new short films made in under 48 hours, live performances, snacks, Coopers Pale Ale and Jamesons Irish Whiskey. The night will also feature music by Sydney based duo MA and installations courtesy of Punk Monk Propaganda.
Dress code for the night is: Fire Walk With Lynch! Eraserheads, Amnesiacs and Elephant Men – prizes for best dressed!

Doors open 6.30pm

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fri 3

Black & Blue Gallery
302/267-271 Cleveland Street
Redfern NSW 2016

Opening Fri 3rd July
3 July – 18 July

I HATE YOUR GUTS!
Raquel Welch

Gallery hours Thurs to Sat 11 – 6pm
Other times by appointment

W www.blackandbluegallery.com.au

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fri 3

red rattler, 6 faversham st, marrickville

Femme Guild present HANKY PANKY – Hanky Code Party

Hanky Panky is a harking back to queer sub-cultures of the past as we delve into the rich history of queer semiotics & the socio-political reasons behind it. The party will be both fun & educational as we teach, learn (and unlearn) the ways we express our sexuality through gesture and dress.

Hanky-theme performances by Ginger Snaps, Zahra Stardust & Glittertrash.
Hankilicious DJs Tokyo Pink & Fisty Cuffs
Go-Go Dancers, Hanky Demonstrations and the very cheeky Dirty Little Slide Show, as well as Emergency Hankies for all you forgetful folk.

We invite all our guests to come flagging on the night for a bit of sex-positive fun whether you have one favourite colour hanky or a whole string of them you whip out magician-style from your bottomless back pocket.

Pre-sale tickets available exclusively from MaXXX Black, 1/264 King St, Newtown – $15/$20. We encourage you to pre-purchase your tickets as only a very limited number will be available on the night.

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sat 4

dirty shirlows, 32 Shirlow St, marrickville
7pm $5

b.i.n.t. , maladroit, dislasystem, null object, sado, killjoy + more

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sat 4

Serial Space, 33 Wellington St, Chippendale
midday

Hey Folks

I’ll be doing a wee showing of what I’ve been up to at Serial Space over the last couple of weeks on this Saturday July 4 from midday. Mostly I’ve been working on the wheelie bin…

For some time I’ve been interested in sound system cultures, particularly around the Caribbean and in South and Central America. Looking to build one locally, it occurred to me that a unique version already exists. John Jacobs <http://patchwrangler.net/> designed and built the original Wheely Good Sound System in the early nineties for use in urban actions/interventions such as Reclaim The Streets.

As part of my residency at Serial Space, I’m hoping to get all the systems in Sydney together. If you do have one, or any kind of portable sound system, mobile-robo disco unit please swing by around on Saturday July 4 at 2pm for some kind of enthusiasts meet / sound clash / road jam – we’ll take it to the streets, yes?

Sven Simulacrum
Please fwd on to anyone you think might be interested

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sat 4

Bandwidth
Clan Analogue Festival
Red Rattler Theatre
6 Faversham St, Marrickville
4PM-late, $7

Clan Analogue is Australia’s oldest electronic music/audio-visual collective. Over its history, many of Australia’s foremost proponents of electronic-based music and visual arts have contributed but, in recent times, the collective has become a little dormant on the public front. While it has never actually gone away, the Sydney chapter of Clan Analogue is preparing to relaunch its public face with a mini-festival of live music, DJ-ing and VJ-ing.

Bandwidth features some long-term members as well as younger groups who have been diversifying the aesthetics of the collective. With some of Sydney’s best underground live acts in their ranks, such as Bleepin’ J Squawkins, Lunar Module, Karoshi, Telafonica, Valley Forge and Kate Carr, along with DJs such as Tigerlily and the godfather of Australian electronic music, Andy Rantzen, the re-emergence of Clan Analogue in Sydney’s music scene is placed to be wildly varied and exciting.

Clan Analogue was birthed in the early 90s warehouse scene and so is proud to be working with Red Rattler Theatre and its ideals of artist run initiatives, community creativity and its D.I.Y. ethos.

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sat 4

The Lock Up, 90 Hunter Street, Newcastle
5:00pm – 9:00pm

The team behind the brand new ARThive studio/gallery complex at 111 Hunter Street are hosting a sweet party at THE LOCK UP to raise some funds to put into the upcoming exhibition program, and to pay for essential items like hooks, lights, paint, etc.
Come show some support, get behind a brand new Newcastle art space.

The Party will feature an ART RAFFLE consisting of new works donated by Simone Sheridan, Angus Crowley, Grant Hunter, Shane Westernhagen, Nicole Chaffey, Anthony Ferris, Jake Penn-Cullen, Sam Hughes, Hayley Wheaton, Emily Roberts, and Michael Randall. This could be your opportunity to walk away with some amazing art for only a donation.

BEN KENNING will be performing an art piece in one of the infamous prison cells of The Lock Up museum.

Live Music will be provided in the Lock Up exercise yard by CRAB SMASHER, SCISSOR LOCK, and MART BRENNAN.

This Event has been kindly sponsored by Nextra Marketown, The Lock Up, and Renew Newcastle.

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sat 4

Kick Start Studios
6-8 Ralph Black Drive,
North Wollongong.
2-5pm, Gold coin donation.

Mary Jane Kelly, Epitomes + 1 or 2 more TBA soon

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sun 5

Sydney Park, cnr Princess Hwy & Sydney Pk rd
11:00am – 6:00pm

RULES FOR DJ-ING SUNDAY DUB CLUB

1.0………. FIRST RULE OF DUB CLUB, YOU WILL DISCUSS DUB CLUB

1.1………. YOU WILL ABIDE BY RULES OF DJ-ING SUNDAY DUB CLUB

1.2………. NOBODY CARES IF YOU DON’T TURN UP TO DUB CLUB SO ONLY SUNDAY DUB CLUB MANAGEMENT BRUCE, JOEY (if not barred) AND WALLY HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF ACTING LIKE GOOD SORTS ON DUB DAYS

2.0………. SUNDAY DUB CLUB MANAGEMENT BRUCE. JOEY (if not barred) AND WALLY EXPECT TO BE BRIBED AND GENERALLY SUCKED UP TO FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF DJ-ING AT SUNDAY DUB CLUB

2.1………. SUNDAY DUB CLUB MANAGEMENT HAS THE RIGHT TO
a………. TAKE OVER THE DJ-ING FROM ANY VISITING DJ AT ANY TIME
b………. REFUSE ENTRY TO BEHIND THE DECKS IF VISITING DJ(s) ARE ACTING LIKE TWATS
c………. GIVE ANY VISITING DJs A HARD TIME DUE TO POOR MUSIC CHOICE, GAPS IN SOUND OR IF MANAGEMENT IS JUST FEELING IN A SHIT STIRRING MOOD
(points 2.1(a)(b)and(c)are often in direct proportion to how well you adhere to point 2.0)

3.0………. IF SUNDAY DUB CLUB MANAGEMENT BRUCE, JOEY (if not barred) AND WALLY DECIDE THAT THERE ARE TO MANY DJs ON ANY GIVEN DUB DAY
a………. MANAGEMENT WILL DECIDE WHO WILL PLAY AND WHO WILL MISS OUT ON THAT DAY
b………. DJs THAT DO MISS OUT DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO GO ON LIKE GOOD SORTS OR HARASS MANAGEMENT OR SLAG OFF MANAGEMENT TO MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC BUT SHOULD GO BACK AND RE-READ POINT 2.0

4.0………. SUNDAY DUB CLUB MANAGEMENT BRUCE, JOEY (if not barred) AND WALLY HAVE THE RIGHT AT ANY GIVEN TIME TO AMEND THIS DOCUMENT VERBALLY OR IN WRITING WITHOUT WARNING TO VISITING DJs WHERE OR WHEN EVER THEY FEEL FIT OR CAN GET SOMETHING OUT OF IT.

WHEN YOU HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF DJ-ING SUNDAY DUB CLUB, DUB DAY, WITH OR WITHOUT PRIOR READING OR ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THIS DOCUMENT YOU ARE STILL BOUND TO ADHERE TO ALL POINTS AND ANY AMENDMENTS. THE CRY OF NOBODY TOLD ME OR I DIDN’T KNOW THAT, DOSE NOT WORK HERE.

IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THIS DOCUMENT OR SUNDAY DUB CLUB MANAGEMENT PLEASE FEEL FREE TO RE-READ POINT 1.2
AND SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!

YOURS FAITHFULLY
S.D.C MANAGEMENT

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sun 5

red rattler, 6 faversham st, marrickville
1-5pm

Rock and Writers – Winter of our Discotheque

Sydney writers and bands in a rocking, pulp fiction freakout!

Featuring – The Men from UNCLE, the LangLangs, the Dead Rabids, Ned Alphabet, Darrin Baker and King Wally Otto – direct from the Sound Proof Booth!

“Now is the winter of our discotheque
Made summer by a mad few who, forsaking dignity for glorious folly
Lay plans to freak out both swain and maiden
At the Rock n Writers gig, Red Rattler Marrickville,
Perchance there you may waylay them.”

shaun/tenzenmen
++  i’ll either be at these events or wishing i was there  ++

Facebook posts:

06:45 – Wishes there was more humanity!
13:45 – Good luck Mat

11th Jul 2025 – Mat Norr is a friend and punk rock compatriot in Kuala Lumpur. He had been diagnosed with a life threatening situation (I think it was cancer, but don’t quite remember now) and because he was so desperately poor he would’ve passed away from it. Joe Kidd and friends put the word out and many folks around the world funded his treatment. I saw him a couple of years later, working in a DIY punk store in KL and congratulated him, joking that I had saved his life and he owed me money.