Joyside RIP: "Too Much Bullsh*t" leads to band's demise

“If only I had a time machine, I’d go back to kill some jerks,” reflects Joyside bassist Liu Hao. Currently the co-owner of vintage clothing store Underground Kidz on Gulou Dongdajie, the bassist of Beijing’s long-stand glamorous punk quintet talked to the beijinger about the band's decision to break up. Their last show in Beijing is at Mao Livehouse this Saturday (Sep 12).

“The clothing business is going alright, at least enough to earn me a living,” says Liu Hao. Yet money was not the reason why Joyside broke up. “We just don’t like all the bullshit that has been going on, ” he explains. “I mean, we just want to make music without anything else to distract us from it. We’ve seen too many ugly things within Beijing’s rock industry, and the sad part is we’ve been put in a position of having to deal with them. We are just tired, both physically and mentally. We won’t change ourselves for someone else, and I’m proud to say that Joyside has been purely sincere to music without changing its qualities - not many bands can do that nowadays. All we care about is leaving the world with our music - that’s it.”

Joyside rocks “Dong Dong Dong” at D-22 (clip from MOGO Music)

With a love of The Clash, Marc Bolan, The Stooges, The Sex Pistols, Johnny Thunders and all the 70s’ punk/glam rock glories, Liu Hao and lead vocalist Bian Yuan founded Joyside in 2001 at Beijing’s north suburb of Qinghe. After years of live performances, touring across the country, two studio albums and several EPs, they’ve become one of the most popular bands in town. Despite experiencing lineup changes and temporary breaks, the punksters maintained their wild stage manner. Recently they've been rocking better than ever.

Joyside toured in Europe in 2007 (featured in Lucian Busse’s documentary The Joyside of Europe) and accomplished their “Dream of London” (a song on the band's first studio album Drunk Is Beautiful) by performing at the Dirty Water Club in North London. “Although we didn’t spend much time in London, we absolutely loved it,” recalls Liu Hao. Speaking of which, the band is scheduled to do a second European tour in October or November, according to their MySpace page. Liu Hao says they will “finish all their commitments scheduled before the break-up decision”.

Joyside singing The Parkinsons’ cover “Nothing to Lose” at Dirty Water Club on June 8, 2008 (clip from The Joyside of Europe)

“I’m not drinking as much as before, and have been getting up one hour earlier since Underground Kidz opened,” says Liu Hao. “I miss every single second of the last eight years with Joyside. But for now, the best decision is to end it.”

So there goes. Joyside RIP.

Joyside performs “The Last Song for the Endless Party” at D-22 (clip from MOGO Music)

Now here’s the good news: Joyside will perform their last show in China on September 12 (Saturday) at Mao Livehouse (RMB 60, RMB 50 for students, includes a free CD. 9.30pm), supported by Muma & Third Party. Apart from getting squeezed in the expected big crowd on Saturday, you can expect a forthcoming double CD album release from Lone, a gypsy folk band fronted by Bian Yuan.

Joyside are:
Bian Yuan (lead vocal)
Yang Yang (guitar)
Liu Hongwei (guitar)
Guan Zheng (drum)
Liu Hao (bass)

Listen to Joyside’s albums by clicking the following links:

Bitch of Rock'n'Roll EP
Drunk Is Beautiful
Booze At Neptune's Dawn
Maybe Tonight EP

In addition, you can catch the band’s early period in the following documentaries:

Beijing Bubbles (http://www.beijing-bubbles.com/)
Wasted Orient (http://www.wastedorient.com/)
The Joyside of Europe (http://www.thejoysideofeurope.com/)

Comments

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They were never that great anyway. This is no great loss. They suffer from a typical syndrome here- being unable to come up with anything remotely original.

well, Liu Hao didn't say what exactly it is, but it is said (from other reports) that “the bands are being messed around with things like soundchecking and organization, we can't feel any fun...”

what exactly are these ugly things going on within Beijing’s rock industry?