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Interview: The Rogue Transmission

Young and sexy Shanghai rock band releases CD - By Morgan, Oct 24, 08



The hardest workin' face melters in town, The Rogue Transmission, are celebrating the release of their first EP "Illicit Intercepts" this Saturday at Yuyintang. The evening has the band in a wonderful three-way rock gang bang with Shanghai street punks, The Mortal Fools and Nanjing psychobillies, Angry Jerks.

Go see it. Go buy the CD. Read and interview with them here to get all prepped for it.

SmartShanghai had dumplings with John (bass player), Fabien (drums), and Dan (singer/guitar player) and blah, blah, blahed about RnR in Shanghai.

SmSh: How was practice? Is it intense? Lots of work?

John: Four dudes in a room. Playing riffs.

Fabien: In our underwear.

Dan: I think we mix it up. When its time to work and be intense we hammer the shit out but it's also joking around. We started rehearsal today with a little "Billie Jean"...

SmSh: Nice. When you guys first started playing with each other what were the cover songs that you played to get into it? Like the cover songs that everyone has to come to practice already knowing how to play?

Dan: The same ones that we still play... that fucking Wire song.

John: But also that other one... what was it called?

Dan: Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah [Laughs]. "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth."

John: Right. And "Happy Birthday."

SmSh: How did The Rogue Transmission come together then? How did it start?

Dan: Well, we were in a band before... the Huhu Mamas...

Fabien: But Dan wanted to try something else so he asked me if I would try it with you... and if John would also do it.

Dan: With Clemont [guitar player, RT] as well. And we tried something just for two practices with me playing bass. But I didn't want to sing and play bass at the same time. But I don't know, in the end it just fell into place.

John: Once we started playing together -- the four of us -- it was the right chemistry.


SmSh: What kind of music does The Rogue Transmission play?

John: It's a rock n roll band.

SmSh: What are the influences of The Rogue Transmission? Some of your favorite albums...

Fabien: Well, we play cover of Eagles of Death Metal and Wire, and we get tight together... and playing those songs help us come together.

Dan: All four of us have our own thing really, and then there is some common ground and somehow that works out. There isn't any particular band really.

John: Do you want our individual picks?

SmSh: Sure this tape thing goes on forever -- it's digital -- and I'll just be cutting out the...

John: Cutting out the bad shit? Cutting out the bad shit that you say too? [Laughs].

SmSh: Exactly. It's all out of context and reworked... to make me look good [Laughs].

Dan: "Songs for the Deaf" [Queens of the Stone Age], "Paranoid" [Black Sabbath]...

John: "I Should Coco" by Supergrass...

Fabien: Tool... "Aenima"... and "OK Computer" [Radiohead].

SmSh: Right.

Fabien: Tortoise... just for a different style.

SmSh: Just to make yourself come across as more eclectic?

John: Yeah, Ravi Shankar... Alice Coltrane...

SmSh: [Laughs]. So what are you favorite bands in China? What bands do you like in China?

Dan: Casino Demon.

John: The best show I've ever seen in China, I saw the Subs like three years ago at Harley's and it was amazing. And still is the best show I've seen.

Fabien: Hmm. Like if I was out of Shanghai then I would listen to the most ...

Dan: [Laughs]. I know what he's going to say.

Fabien: He knows. Cold Fairyland.

SmSh: Really?

Fabien: If I was out of China I think it's the band I would listen to the most. They've got two albums and a live album and the live one is the best.

John: I like Cold Fairyland.

Fabien: I like to make friends not from China to listen to that one. Check out this cool band they're doing something Chinese but it's also like...

But there are also a lot of rock bands I like.

John: P.K.14... Demerit... the more I listen to them the more I see that they're fucking awesome.

SmSh: So... "expat band." Like in the little magazine write-ups... It always says "expat band" in the description. How do you guys react to that term...

Dan: Yeah I hate that term, "expat band."

John: Yeah, it's not like we're playing covers in a pub somewhere...

Fabien: What we need to do is to find a girl Chinese singer...

[Uproarious laughter]

SmSh: Nice... are you picking fights, Fabien? So what was playing in Beijing like? You guys had some problems when you went down there last though right? Some shows got canceled?

John: Fucking Air.

Dan: Yeah, due to situations beyond our control we had a bunch of shows canceled... the first one was at YGYS... well we don't know exactly why but apparently they had problems with the performance permits for Air...

SmSh: Air? The French... uh...

Dan: Yeah, and the second one at Mao [Live House] was canceled because they didn't have fire escapes or something. This was around the time of that club fire in Guangzhou... anyways those were the reasons we were given.

Yeah, but we still played in D22... which is a great venue... and we had lots of friends there from Shanghai to support us.

SmSh: Maybe we should get this house cleaning question out of the way then... "why does live music in Shanghai suck so much" ...or does it not suck... what do you guys think?

Dan: Well we're a Shanghai band and we play in Shanghai, but we're just a bunch of white guys so maybe you should ask Shanghainese people that... like 0093 is there... there are new band in town, trying hard, but its just a different level of what's what...

SmSh: But just talking about Beijing it seems that there is a lot more stuff happening there and also a lot more kids that are into it... is the Shanghai vs. Beijing comparison something you think about? Do you give a shit about it?

Dan: Nah. Shanghai is our home... we like to get out and go one the road because it makes it makes us better as a band, but we love playing in Shanghai the most because it's where people know us and support us.

John: Yeah I wouldn't say it's shit in Shanghai... it's better than it was before... the style of music isn't my kind of thing...

SmSh: What is the style of music in Shanghai?

John: Pop punk.

Dan: They love the pop punk.

John: Rap metal...

Dan: Yeah, it's just part of upbringing maybe or some socio-economic reason... the kids have their priorities in different places... like, the kids that really like the rock music... like the kind that run away from home to become rock stars, they go to Beijing [Laughs].

The guy I think about most when I think about Shanghai rock is Frank [lead singer The Mortal Fools, promoter]... and he's from Beijing [Laughs].

John: I think pop punk is something you're into when you start out, but then you move past it. But the bands here don't get a chance because they give up or whatever.

SmSh: So are you guys interested in getting on record labels and shit like that? Where do you see the band in three years?

Dan: In three years we'll be playing Wembley Stadium.

SmSh: Buddakan.

Dan: You know... there's nothing I'd rather do than play in a rock band.

John: In the next year we'd like to play outside China... Japan... France... the United States...

Dan: Yeah we're just going to take it as it comes... we want to make a full-length at some point... we work hard and we're not short-sighted.


SmSh: So the EP Release is this Saturday... What's next?

Dan: Touring... Changsha... Wuhan... we want to go to Wuhan to play with SMZB... We got a lot of shit in November, then work on new material, you know how it is -- there is a couple of hot seasons a year and you gotta get out there for that.

SmSh: So this EP is called "Illicit Intercepts". When can people get it?

Dan: The shows.

SmSh: That's pretty much it, huh... there's no record stores.

Dan: People can contact us on Facebook or on MySpace and we'll send it to em.

SmSh: Did we cover all the stuff? Can I copy and paste stuff together? Touring, CDs, being white, the future of the band...

John: Delve deeper.

SmSh: We're good.


***

Color photos of The Rogue Transmission by Chad Ingraham. Black and white photos from Tim Franco.

XIR TMAI

Oct 24, 08

you say 'young and sexy' - so are these guys in the picture just actors and the real band is at home recording the music? Perhaps they are not allowed to go out after 8:00 pm or something like this?
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