Band tunes into fame with competition win and prepares to tour nationwide after its debut album release.

Fame never tastes as good as the first time it is sampled. That initial experience lingers, and by definition can never be repeated. Jiulian Zhenren, a four-piece rock band from Lianping county, Guangdong province, had their first taste of fame on a cold night on Nov 10, 2018. As a harsh wind blew outside they played up a storm to win the Original Band Contest, co-organized by leading music streaming platform Xiami and Taiwan-based Rock Records.

The fans inside the packed hall were raising the roof as the band delivered original and passionate songs and lyrics. Named after Jiulian Mountain, a natural landmark of their hometown, the band sang in the local Hakka dialect. Fans were still able to absorb the meanings of the songs, as the emotion of the band resonated with the audience.

"When I saw the band perform onstage, the band members were young and their eyes were bright as if lit with fire," says veteran promoter Huang Liaoyuan, who emerged from retirement to help the group to launch their career. He adds that he "had not seen that kind of courage, passion and eagerness for rock music for many years".

Two years on, the band is set to release its debut album, Amin, on Dec 25. The first song from the new album, titled Teen Spirit, was released on Nov 10, the same date that the band was crowned champion of the contest in 2018.

"It's amazing to look back on the past two years and to think about how far we've come," says lead vocalist-guitarist Ouyang Haopeng, 28, better known as Along among the fans, adding that they are "still digesting and trying to keep up with the pace" as it has all happened so fast. Ouyang and other band members-trumpeter-vocalist Mai Haipeng (better known as Amai), bassist Ye Wanli (better known as Wanli) and drummer Li Lei (better known as Chuimi)-were interviewed by China Daily at leading music company Modern Sky, where they recorded the songs from their debut album.

They have not let fame go to their heads. They are still living and working in Lianping. Both Ouyang and Mai are teachers at local primary and middle schools. Ye runs a musical instrument store, which serves as the band's rehearsal studio. The drummer Li lives in Beijing. They travel back and forth at weekends to rehearse and perform.

They've been in Beijing since early last month for the album release and rehearsals for their upcoming nationwide tour that will kick off on Dec 26 in Beijing and take in 21 cities until March 2021.

"We look forward to the tour because of our fans. We enjoy the atmosphere of performing live-it is intimate and raw," says Ouyang.

The idea of releasing the debut album started a year ago. The 12 songs on the album tell the story of a young man, named Amin, from his teenage years to his adulthood. The band first introduced the character of Amin during the 2018 contest and the original plan was to release three songs about Amin as a trilogy.

However, they decided to develop the character into a full story.

"The ambitious young man represents all of us. We all experience similar emotions as we grow up, so the listeners will see themselves through the songs," Ouyang says.

A song, titled Nightwalkers, opens the album. It portrays Amin as a teenager, who feels directionless and becomes rebellious, trying to transform, or redefine, himself in adolescence. The second song, Teen Spirit, expresses his ambition to launch a successful career by finding a job in a bigger city to make his parents proud of him.

Teen Spirit is no stranger to fans. The band played the track during its debut performance-at the Big Band competition-last year which helped propel their growing fame.

On the album, they came up with a different version of the song. Some were wowed by its creativity while others said they still prefer the previous version which they first sang on the show.

"We won't repeat what we do," Ouyang explains of their motto. "Exploring different sounds excites us."

Another song from the album is titled Six Million Elites, which is also the name of their nationwide tour. Ouyang wrote the song based on his own experience upon graduation from college in 2014, when he was one of China's "over 6 million fresh college graduates".

"I looked for jobs and was full of hope. A fresh new chapter opened in my life. The song is dedicated to young people who shared a similar experience," he says.

Trumpeter-vocalist Mai, 28, also notes that the band's songs are narrative, which distinguishes it from other groups. The sound of the trumpet adds a deeper touch, which "conjures up a different musical picture". In some songs, Mai narrates the lyrics either as a monologue or as a response to Ouyang's singing, which dramatizes the vibe of the songs.

Ouyang had worked as a designer at a film and television company in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, before returning to his hometown in 2016 to teach art at a local primary school.

As a young father, he wrote a song, titled Daddy Wishes I Was a Son, which was inspired by a conversation he had with a friend. Ouyang recalls that his friend had a newborn daughter but seemed unhappy when he shared the news. "Why do some people still hold the outdated mindset of favoring a boy over a girl? I was surprised to know how deeply rooted gender bias is in people's thinking, even among the younger generation," Ouyang adds.

Rainy Day completes the album as its last song, in which children left behind by migrant workers are the focus, and it laments how they miss their parents on rainy days.

In a previous interview Ouyang and Mai conducted with veteran TV news anchor Bai Yansong, they took him to the schools where they teach.

"There are some students whose parents work in bigger cities. They cannot see their parents. As teachers, we want to help them," Mai said in the interview. He is a music teacher and is keen on introducing his students to various kinds of music.

The band members agree that they have a long way to go before they achieve the status of the groups they look up to. They refer to the debut album as a closure of their early experience as a new band and look set for the next phase of their journey, already planning the band's next musical step. "We won't continue Amin's stories again on the next album, but will come up with new ideas," says Ouyang.

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)