Joyside

Joyside was formed in 2001, in a dark dank basement in the north of Beijing. After three years, they lazily released their debut album, “Drunk is Beautiful”, whose name comes as close to expressing Joside’s ferociously decadent aesthetic as any three words can. With five CDs to their name and the well-deserved reputation as China’s greatest indie band, they consider themselves to be bitches of rock ‘n’ roll, addicted to the music and the mad posturing of the pre-punk New York scene, with particular influences being Dead Boys, New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders, Sex Pistols, and the Stooges.

It is almost impossible to attend a Joyside concert and not get swept up into the sheer dirty theatre of it all. Bian Yuan’s singing, with its perfect phrasing and slightly garbled sneer, is as honest and real as Johnny Thunders, and he has behind him one of the loosest and freshest units in China – a band capable ofexploding in perfect synchronicity. When they go all out the electricity in the air infuses everyone within hearing and turns even mild-mannered accountants into rock and roll fiends.

At Bian Yuan’s 2006 birthday concert at D22, the whole band, dazed on who-knows-what exotic vegetables, put on a show that was both incrediblychaotic (at times the band seemed to forget they were on stage) and so incredibly tight that they managed to communicate their delirium to the whole club. How do they do it? No one knows, but the rumors are that these guys are so thoroughly rock ‘n’ roll that they don’t know how to act any other way.

Line Up:

Vocals : Bian Yuan (边远) (Johnny’s Teeth)

Guitar : Xiao Hong (小虹)

Bass : Liu Hao (刘耗) (Johnny’s Teeth, Dog 13)

Drums : Guan Zheng (关铮) (Linga, Believers)