Infamous Tea & Honey show
It feels a bit like only in Shanghai could such a diverse group of guys come together and form a band. What would you say is the most “Shanghai” thing you’ve done?
Four straight white men meeting each other and becoming friends… it’s truly a new era.
This one time, we didn’t go to the top of the Pearl Tower, and instead met up with all our friends outside a bar and drank convenience store beers.
Do you guys compete for attention while on stage?
There’s no real competition. Murray’s the biggest spotlight hog for sure. Pay attention next time as he struts toward the middle of the stage, making eye contact with all the pretty girls in the front as he gyrates seductively while overplaying constantly.
How did you come up with the band name?
There was a Gmail chain that went on for something like 80 messages with increasingly preposterous suggestions. JC actually still has the index card of final contenders we were considering at home. Some of them are really terrible. We still regret not having settled on “Smokey Porter.”
You were in Mongolia over the summer touring. Were you living in luxury or camping in a yurt?
A yurt might have been more luxurious. We ate very few vegetables and saw a missile driving through the streets. And we spent an evening hanging out with a member of the British upper-crust. All in all, a great trip. Mongol ahmer goyshte.
Where do you think would be the most exciting place to tour in China?
Some of the most fun shows we’ve played have been to really small, but really passionate crowds. Or very large, but very confused ones. It’d be fun to do a Western China circuit and play shows for people who don’t get much rock music.
Touring has its pros and cons. What do you like most about visiting different cities and what do you like the least?
We tend to meet a lot of cool people when we tour. The night we spent eating street food and drinking with fellow musicians and rock fans in Wuhan is surely something we’ll cherish forever. But it’s usually all on our own dime, with no guarantee we’ll make anything back. So, it’s often like a short, hectic vacation where you spend all your time working.
Earlier this year you released your debut album. Are there plans to follow this up with another album relatively soon or will you focus more on individual tracks and gigs?
We’re in the processing of writing now, with the intention of recording an EP. Future Superhuman was fun to make, but we’ve evolved a lot since then. Our new songs are a bit more cohesive and targeted. We’ve got three songs more or less written and we’ll probably try to write two more or so. Our songs take an excruciatingly long time to write, so we tend not to have many throwaways. Then we’ll hone the arrangements.
As nice as it’s been nice to take time off from performing, we love playing gigs and JC’s going through face paint withdrawal.
Do you find the live music scene in Shanghai is quite small, in that you know most of the other bands playing out there? Is there a sense of camaraderie between you or do you really hate some of the other bands?
We’ve had a lot of fun today, but - in all seriousness - it says a lot about the scene that despite our very diverse musicalinterests, we still all go to each other’s shows and hang out. Regardless of the music that people in the scene are playing and how we feel about it, there's no denying that most, if not all, musicians here are people we're happy to spend time with when we’re not on stage.
What New Year’s resolutions would you as a band like to make?
We're going to put a wax cylinder Dictaphone in the middle of the practice room and record an album in full surround sound. Instead of a nice sleeve, we're going to hand-breathe on every CD. Who knows? There’s this guy in Beijing who’s really good at washing out perfectly good songs. And a photo shoot with Ren Hang would just be, like, so fabulous.
Moon Tyrant are performing at Yuyintang on Jan 8 as part of DJ BO’s RMB 1 concert and on Jan 15 with Mongolian band Mohanik.
