XP to Close: The End of a Beautiful Musical Error

Time to have a good cry as Beijing’s only venue dedicated to Beijing's most extreme music, XP, closes its doors in July 5. While we knew it has been hard times for this venue of musical exploration we didn’t fathom that it would come this soon. The folks behind XP were the same that founded D-22 about a decade ago, then Maybe Mars, and were committed put Beijing on the map as a breeding ground for alternative and interesting Chinese bands.

The problems seemingly began with the cancellation of Kawabata Makoto and KK Null which was elaborated on by local noise artist Yan Jun in his appropriately titled piece for Wire magazine titled Drugs, Violence, Porno, Mafia, Anti-government, Anti-religion and Acid Mothers Temple.

He wrote: “12 officers from five different bureaus (culture, industrial and commercial, police, fire control and who knows else) went to XP Club, one of the stops on the Kawabata-KK Null tour and the home of Beijing experimental music. After these officers pointed out many problems, the club luckily only got a notice to shut down for two weeks and a warning to host ‘no more foreigner musicians’.”

The venue has never quite recovered from the two week mandatory closure, and people have been speculating that the end was nigh.

The Maybe Mars crew intends to move their office, located on the second floor of the venue, a little further into the hutongs and to make their new venture more exhibition-focused by creating a multifunctional courtyard space/gallery to show off visual talents. While there may be the occasional acoustic show or other intimate performance, this space won't be the new home of the gnarled noise of XP.

You can still look forward to a great month of programming at XP. Check our events page for a run down of everything they have going down until the first weekend of July (3-5), when they will have their closing party and we lose another fine venue to the Beijing brutes.

Read XP's full statement regarding the closure below:

Dear all,

You might have heard rumors circulating recently about the future of XP and about a broader climate of uncertainty within Beijing's live music atmosphere. In fact, XP will close on Sunday, July 5. The primary reason for this is that Maybe Mars, whose offices are currently located on the second floor of the venue, found a great new office space in a courtyard house very near XP (in the same hutong, in fact). Because we couldn't afford to keep both, we've decided to move. The current space will be vacated before our lease expires at the end of the summer.

The new Maybe Mars offices will not include a venue for live music performances, except perhaps for occasional private acoustic shows (our ability to make noise is limited). But it does include a very large upstairs room and a real courtyard. We plan to use our new facilities to focus on visual art, film, and perhaps even a private art gallery. The latter is something we've wanted to do for a long time now, especially given the great artists we've worked with for our posters and CD covers, and the fact that some of our musicians are doing very interesting work in photography, painting, and drawing. The new office is also a great space for lazy afternoon weekend parties. Maybe Mars will update you about that from their side.

Between XP and its predecessor, D-22, we've spent over ten years running live venues in Beijing, and Maybe Mars and our associates are proud of all the musicians we've worked with. We will continue to organize performances at several venues in Beijing and other cities in China, featuring our label's bands as well as rising young talent from around China, and we're especially excited about making our erratically-timed Sally Can't  Dance festival much more regular. At some point, no doubt, after a one- or two-year break, we'll forget how much work it involves and we'll decide we want to open a live venue again. But for now, most of us are eager to be able to attend shows without always worrying about the sound system, or whether the bathroom works, or rowdy customers, or whether we remembered to order beer.

In the mean time, we're ending XP on a strong note. Below please find the full schedule of remaining shows. The XP closing party will be a two-day affair, from Saturday-Sunday July 4-5. We're keeping the lineup a secret  because we want it to be mostly for old friends, but you know we don't sign bands unless we're incredibly proud of what they're doing… so drop in to find out.

-XP

TUE 6.2: Wang Ziheng, Xiu Di, Zhu Wenbo, Xenia Xamanek Lopez (Zoomin' Night)
FREE, 9pm

FRI 6.5: [Kou Niao] presents: "Mei Qing Mei Zhong" Vol. 2
30rmb, 8:30pm

SAT 6.6: Sixty-Nine Cafe presents: Deepspace Cowlas, Remedios the Beauty, The Sleep Walkers, The Plum Trees, Farina Jia
50rmb, 9pm

TUE 6.9: Liu Xinyu (Zoomin' Night)
FREE, 9pm

WED 6.10: pangbianr 5th anniversary with Yang Fan, Shi Lu (Hedgehog), Josh Frank, secret guest
40rmb; 9pm

FRI 6.12: Yan Jun, Meng Qi, ODO (Mark Dwinell of Forma)
40rmb, 9pm

SAT 6.13: Dawei + Charm
40rmb, 9pm

TUE 6.16: Mind Fiber, Jibaihao, Yan Bu Liao (Zoomin' Night)
FREE, 9pm

WED 6.17: Alpine Decline, Boiled Hippo, Charm
40rmb, 9pm

THU 6.18: [Kou Niao] new band showcase
30rmb, 9pm

FRI 6.19: Steve Mackay (ex-Stooges) free improvisation with local musicians
50rmb, 9pm

TUE 6.23: Li Jianhong, Li Tieqiao (Zoomin' Night)
FREE, 9pm

FRI 6.26: Pan Daijing, Horacio Pollard, Ryan Jordan (electronic noise night)
40rmb, 9pm

SAT 6.27: Sinotronics presents JFI, Menghan, Hong Qile
40rmb, 9pm

TUE 6.30: Horacio Pollard, Deng Chenglong, Mafeisan (Zoomin' Night)
FREE, 9pm

WED 7.1: Halloween in July with Beijing Misfits, Free Sex Shop, Dead Stars
30rmb, 9pm

FRI 7.3: [Kou Niao] new band showcase

SAT 7.4-SUN 7.5: XP CLOSING PARTY (improv night)

More stories by this author here.

Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com

Photo: i.ytimg.com