Metal Attacks: The Responsible, Real and Original Yaksa

Yaksa won “Best Metal Performance” last week at the Midi Awards 2010. It's nice to see some validation for this band that has struggled on the underground scene for 15 years, venturing from grunge to nu-metal via heavy metal to define their sound. With more competition in rock than ever, it’s becoming harder for them to defend their position, but nothing hides the fact that they’ve always been one of the “niubi-est” bands in town. Here’s how they see it.

The past or the present – which do you like better?
The past. It’s not that we don’t like the present, we just feel that music fans in the past were more simple and sincere, like at the Midi Music Festival. And now some people dress up to go to music festivals just to take photos. They have no passion for music.

Describe the band in three words.
Responsible, real and original. “Responsibility” is a song of ours. In the beginning, playing rock music was only for fun, but after 15 years, you find out that you are responsible to people who listen to your music and for the ideas you pass on. Maybe we see it too seriously.

Many bands used to live in the suburbs of Beijing – was that a difficult time?
Actually, it was not tough. For a young student who had just left school, who didn’t have to share a room with five other people anymore, and was meeting all these people with common interests … talking about music and playing music together with them was really happy. You had to be a part of it to understand it.

Your lead singer, Hu Song, is also a tattoo artist. What’s the strangest spot he ever had to tattoo?
The inside of the lips and a man’s butt. Once there was an actor who got his butt tattooed and then went straight from there to film a horse-riding scene.

At the Midi Music Festival, it’s become a tradition that Yaksa is the final act to perform, but the rain stopped you last time.
Yeah, it was too bad. It took us lots of effort to bring two big speakers to the backstage – and then the rain came down. The first time we closed out Midi was 2003. That year, Hu Song dived into the mosh pit and came back with only one sock on his feet. He had to borrow a pair of slippers to go home.

All of your band members have or had dreadlocks. Do they help you attract girls?
They help attract more strange gazes and certain girls who like this style. Hu Song had dreads for six years and just got them shaved and now he feels very relaxed.

Yaksa releases their greatest hits album, Tonggensheng, at Yugong Yishan on Jan 8.