Say Hello To The Best New Band In Beijing

After the ten heats over the last month across town, the Tiger Translate Battle of The Bands came to its Beijing finale on Sunday with a full house at Tango. Old school rockers from Emitter won the title, and with it the RMB 50,000 prize and the opportunity to compete with champions from five other Chinese cities for the national final in September. On the night, none of the bands present treated it like a competition - nor the audience, which was one of the most passionate I’ve ever seen at the venue.

Tango got packed early, Beijing’s pop rock favorite Perdel opened for the night, and their hit “Let’s Get Married in 2008” stirred up the audience. Local artist Song Yang then joined them on stage and improvised a painting following Perdel’s musical vibe. The painting was later given to an audience member chosen from a lucky draw. Like in the past competitions, Tiger Beer had a few lucky draws set up on Sunday but this time the prizes were upgraded to a whole different level: besides the painting, four electric guitars, stays at a nice hotel and a trip to Singapore were given out.

Let’s get back to the competition, which started with hardcore metal band Chendian Riji. I was quite surprised that they made it all the way to the final, but the headbangers in the audience liked them had a good time with their songs. They had an even better time after the next band, Army Of Jade Kirin, came out. The alternative metal group might be one of the most humorous bands in Beijing, the vocalist with long hair and eye liner talks like a Beijing stand up comedian, but when they started playing it got serious. And heavy. The crowd responded with crazy mosh pits and body surfing more expected from a big international act playing.

The third battler, hardcore punk band Strange July was not much more than a school band soaked in too much of other band's influence. Then Emitter, who eventually won the competition, came out last. Ever since the first time they played in the competition weeks ago, the audience has loved their hard rock tunes. The youngsters’ simple and sincere attitude convinced the judges too. It was only reasonable to see them getting the first place. The crowd drifted away satisfied after Xie Tianxiao’s “guzheng rock” set, which was short but as still stunning as always.

So many shiny spotlights, a big screen and billboards at this commercial event might not be Beijing’s rock kids’ favorite or what they were used to, and the hosts did appear to be a little annoying at some points, but how good is it that to see underground amateur bands sharing stage with the city’s hottest acts, and being just as much appreciated. May more battles be with Beijing.

Photo: Judy Zhou and Courtesy of Tiger Beer