Lonely China Day: An Interview with Deng Pei

"I’m not a tolerant guy."

After the critically acclaimed album Sorrow, Lonely China Day is out with This Readily Assimilative People. Now being independent from their former label Tag Team Records, this third studio album from the three-piece indie rock installation has gained mixed reviews - the good, the bad and the ugly. Apparently the Beijinger embraced their genre changes and took them as a positive shift for the better to come, except feeling "the electronic soundscape can be sometimes overused against the vocals" (see review here, p42); Time Out, not so much - some believe there's no such thing as bad publicity, but there probably is for someone like Deng Pei, the brain behind Lonely China Day, who basically feels ashamed when anyone tells him anybody makes better music than he does.

On This Readily Assimilative People

the Beijinger: I hadn't heard about Lonely China Day until 2006.

Deng Pei: We are arrogant people with low profiles.

tbj: And you throw shows on Thursdays.

DP: That’s because weekends are for the big shots.

tbj: What about pricing your show tickets with an extra 0.9 kuai?

DP: We’ve been pricing like that for two years. I don’t know about others, but I've always got 1 mao coins at home, and I don’t want them in my wallet.

tbj: I thought you were donating that to charities.

DP: No, not at all.

tbj: That’s probably why many people don’t want the change.

DP: Well, there are many people do actually, mostly waiguoren (foreigners). Maybe I should paint them in red and draw a lotus on each coin, that will get people to ask for it.

tbj: You’ve uploaded the entire album onto Douban and My Space…

DP: People listening to CDs and mp3 files are two different demographics, so it's totally fine. Those who are into CDs will buy it anyway.

"Rise Up" (music video). Directed by Stephen Imawalle

On Freedom

DP: Have you listened to the new album? Be honest.

tbj: I have, and I felt like your last album Sorrow has foreshadowed all the changes.

DP: But this one’s more experimental.

tbj: It’s expected.

DP: Why is it expected? Are you saying I have the courage to make such changes?

tbj: Songs like “Beijing Realize” in Sorrow have clearly shown where you were going, i.e. shifting from guitar-driven post rock towards experimental, synth-dominated and instrumental compositions.

DP: Yeah, exactly. Musicians sell out to mainstreams when they got an album recognized. I’m like the opposite – whenever I find my fan base growing, I back off a little bit.

tbj: What inspires your songwriting?

DP: Something can hurt me.

tbj: The song titles are kind of political.

DP: I see the society as a tower. We are living in the bottom and we accuse of those living at the top for everything wrong with the whole structure, but we’ve got our own problems too. For example, nowadays everyone in Beijing can say the English words “hello” and “goodbye”, even those old guys in hutong. In theory, I see no reason why Chinese people shouldn't be as equally proud as the English-speaking West, but so far I find nothing we can be proud of - people are afraid of going against the machine, so they divert their anger of dissatisfaction to the parallels, i.e. people who are as powerless as themselves. It's all money in the air, and there's no sense of community. These are all results of "being assimilated", whether by the power of a foreign language, the temptation of money and the fear of power from above.

Deng Pei the Songwriter

tbj: I heard you are kind of a night owl.

DP: Yes, but I live by the clock. I go to sleep before the dawn, and wake up in the afternoon. Then I start to work, and we regularly practice on Thursdays and Sundays. My life is pretty boring.

tbj: So you live by the rules.

DP: To some extent, yes. I’ve set up many rules for the band – no drugs, no drinking before the show, because we screwed up a show once as a result of drinking too much. 20% of our commission goes into a collective band account, saving for the rainy days. Also, I hate plagiarism, which is why I can't take it when people say someone else makes better music than mine, I feel ashamed.

tbj: And that “someone else” includes every single band in the world.

DP: Yes.

tbj: What’s that to do with plagiarism then?

DP: The shame can only be felt when originality exists.

tbj: What have you been listening to?

DP: I think it’s easier to say what I haven’t been listening to. I never listen to pop music, or any album with musicians’ own photo on the cover.

tbj: I assume you don’t watch TV then.

DP: I do, only the news channel.

tbj: There are even experimental musicians who use popular culture as a source of inspiration. So you don’t do that.

DP: I see your point. I build up two kinds of people in my life – my friends and my enemies. I’m not a tolerant guy, I can’t do it. It’s the same with my music – there’s always a clear distinction between the good and the ugly.

tbj: What about the old-age question of “singing in English or Chinese”?

DP: Sigur Ros don’t sing in English, and they’ve turned out to be alright.

tbj: What’s your most memorable comment on Lonely China Day?

DP: Some critic in London called us “a rock band from the country of toxic milk powder”.

Lonely China Day release This Readily Assimilative People at Mao Livehouse on June 19 (Saturday). RMB 79.9, RMB 69.9 (advance). 9.30pm. 111 Gulou Dongdajie, Dongcheng District (6402 5080). 东城区鼓楼东大街111号