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Army Of Freshman: China Tour Report

Rock Sound follows Army Of Freshmen on their recent tour of China.

Army of Freshmen's growing popularity, makes them one of the biggest and most accomplished self-financed bands in the world today. They prove time and time again that you don't need major label finances or huge rumbling PR machines to release a steady stream of quality material, undertake your own international headline tours, and play at some of the biggest music festivals on the planet. The current well-documented decline of the music industry indicates that these guys could be the new model, examples to every budding rock star with nothing to their names but a sackful of dreams, some raw talent and an internet connection.

This foray into one of the world's last remaining communist outposts only underlines the Freshmen's reputation as one of the hardest working bands in the business, in every sense. Just hours after getting off the plane they played their first ever gig in the PRC, at a club in Shanghai which they used as a warm up for the next day's appearance at this year's Midi Festival in Zhejiang Province.

The Midi festival is the biggest music festival in the country which regularly attracts in excess of 20,000 people and plays host to the cream of China's talent, as well as specially sanctioned appearances by international acts. So what, exactly, is the happiest band in the world doing in China?

Singer Chris Jay explains: “We were asked to come over and play the Midi Festival by a promoter in China who had come to hear about us somehow. We think because a Chinese rock band covered one of our songs and had some success with it over here so in essence we are capitalizing on someone else who capitalized on us. Very bizarre. When we were confirmed for Midi we thought, why stop there? And went on and booked a few more shows”.



So what were the band's first impressions of the Far East?

“Before we came over there was a lot of concern from our friends and families, but so far its all been amazing. China is one of the places you dream about visiting as a kid, and we are all so thankful to finally have this opportunity. Not many American bands get to play here and to do so is a dream come true for us. There is such a sense of optimism sweeping through the country right now, and its a pleasure to be a part of that”.

The band recently completed their first headline tour of the UK, how do Chinese audiences compare? “The UK has become our home from home, especially since Under the Radar (2006) came out. We have so many friends there now and the shows are always amazing. The UK audiences were one of the first people to pay us any attention and we'll always be grateful for that. We owe the UK fans so much. Obviously no one knows who we are in China, this is our first visit so its kinda like starting all over again, but in a good way!”

As an extension to the Midi Festival, the name is also traditionally used to promote a series of shows at Beijing's Star Live venue, one of the best-known venues for Western bands in China. So the day after the main festival AOF took to the stage again several hundred kilometers north, where they shared the bill with Holland's Blind Sight and highly-rated local act Voodoo Kungfu.

As they stormed the Star Live stage, many of the crowd near the front of the venue actually took a few steps backwards and looked thoroughly shell-shocked, their senses unaccustomed to the kind of power and raw energy the Freshmen display during their live shows. Then a few of the young, almost exclusively Chinese crowd tentatively step forwards, then a few more follow suit, and within three songs they are jumping and fist-pumping as well as anyone else in the world.



Hyperactive bassist later Kai Dodson says, “The crowds in China are still getting used to everything, its a huge learning curve for them. Most of the things they experience at these kinds of shows are in direct contrast to the finer points of Chinese culture, things they have been holding sacred their entire lives, so you can understand why they might get a touch of culture shock and be a little reluctant to get involved at first. They soon get the idea though!”

“The rock scene in China is growing by the day”, keyboard-player Dan Clark continues. “Beijing, especially, is at the forefront of rock in China. There are a lot of good local acts springing up, mostly influenced by the Western bands that come over and play here, and it all makes for very exciting times...”

The current underground rock scene in Beijing has been compared with New York City circa 1976, just before the punk explosion. There is certainly no lack of talent, fans or venues, the city just lacks the media exposure it probably deserves. This is in no small part due to the restrictive practices often exercised by the Chinese government, who recently placed an outright ban on You Tube because it (allegedly) showed footage of Chinese police beating up on some Tibetan protesters.



On this balmy spring night in a city teeming with over 12 million people, AOF's services were most definitely in demand as they stepped off the stage at Star Live straight onto their waiting tour bus to be whisked away to their second show of the night.

Show number two was at the smaller Mao Livehouse, situated amid the sprawling hutongs that radiate out from Tienanmen Square and it was here, in the shadow of the Forbidden City, that AOF really made their mark on the Beijing rock scene. Taking the stage after England's Mike TV and local upstarts Sko and Attention to Piss, AOF had the already-primed crowd eating out of the palms of their hands within minutes, and then something happened that you don't often see in China... a moshpit opened and people started stage-diving. A universal stamp of approval whether you're in Beijing or Bradford.

This seemed to take AOF as much by surprise as it did any watching Western journalists, and encouraged by these unseen developments the band then proceeded to turn in one of the most memorable shows of their entire career. One of the truly great things about AOF is they don't care if they play a festival with 25,000 people or a garden shed with 6 passers-by and a dog, they still give every show their all.



Post-gig AOF did what they are always good-natured enough to do, hang around the bar and lobby of the venue meeting fans and making new ones, then it was time to board their tour bus again and ride off into the sunset (although by now it was more of a sunrise). Barely sixteen hours later they were due to appear at their second festival in three days, the inaugural Zebra Festival in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province where they would share the stage with Carsick Cars, one of the biggest rock bands in China.

This leaves the band with barely a day left to sightsee before jetting back off to America, so what are their plans?

Chris: “Well you can't come to China and not see the Great Wall, so after Chengdu we're coming back to Beijing to hang out for a day or so, and then hopefully we'll also have time to search for the forbidden titties which we hear are around here someplace...”

And would they ever consider coming back to the Far East? “Absolutely! Cheap beer, delicious food... We'd love to come back and do the Midi Festival again next year and hopefully fit in a few more club shows.”

After this outing perhaps the only place left that this band hasn't played is the moon, and given the title of their latest album, Above the Atmosphere, I wouldn't entirely rule that out...