So many people are quitting Beijing this year. Too many.
Heck - you could form a pretty darn good band from the folks we've lost in recent months. (Ekber Ebliz on guitar, Pierre Billiard on bass, Adam on sax, Daisy Sweetgrass on vocals.... damn yes, I'd pay to see that!)
Well, you certainly can now: The Departed were missing a drummer - but beardy Canuck Jon Campbell is about to leave too.
Jon's been with us a decade or so now, and was a real mainstay of the music scene here. He set up one of the first - if not the first - laowai-run music news and promotions ventures, YGTwo ( 洋鬼摇滚, yang gui yao gun - "foreign devil rock'n'roll"), which, over the years, has brought many excellent acts to China, and helped some Chinese bands like SUBS tour overseas.
He will be very sorely missed. Best of luck with whatever you're up to next, Jon. (I rather suspect we'll see him back before long, at least for an occasional visit...)
[Of particular concern is the fate of two of the most popular laowai bands here, boozy blues-rockers Black Cat Bone and the, er, uncategorizable RandomK(e), who will both now be missing their drummer. Not that there's any shortage of good drummers here in The Jing, but these outfits won't be quite the same without JC - and I wonder if they'll want to try to carry on with a new man on the sticks.]
2 comments:
I'm kind of sorry I missed RandomK(e)'s farewell gig at Kolegas on Sunday night. Apparently Kang Mao of SUBS and Abby Washburn each sang a song or two with the band, and it was quite a party atmosphere.
isn't it funny how we stumble across things. I am building a website to house everything I have ever done and I was looking for old K(e) interviews, found this. Yes, mate, you did miss a great night. At one point I was just in the audience watching two of my favourite singers take RandomK(e) in a totally new direction as we were imploding. Hahaha, a very fitting end it was too.
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