Plastered T-shirts and D-22 have joined forces to put student bands at the center of the local rock scene this September. Starting Wednesday, September 9 and continuing through the following Friday, a dozen of Beijing’s best student bands will compete at D-22 to see who will be the opening band for rock heroes Carsick Cars, PK14 and The Gar at a blow-out show on stage at Yugong Yishan on Saturday, September 19.

“The basis of the idea is to promote the next generation of music, to encourage more bands to stand up and to provide a platform for them,” explains Dominic Johnson-Hill, founder of Plastered T-shirts and long-time Beijing music fan and supporter.

Johnson-Hill’s company aims to make the show more accessible to students by sponsoring a sizable number of tickets. Starting September 1, fans can sign-up at www.plasteredtshirts.com for the lottery giveaway. The Yugong Yishan show will also stream live from the new Plastered Backstage website, which will provide a bilingual meeting place for Beijing music heads.

The Sep. 9-18 battle sees emerging bands going head to head, including Cold Case, My September, Old Fashion, Pork, Rustic and Nanwu. Though relatively new, many of these bands have already honed their sounds through countless shows on the Beijing rock circuit. All are hoping the climactic September 19 event will take their music to the next level. Just one, however, will make the cut.

“Yang Haisong (PK 14), Shou Wang (Carsick Cars) and Zhang Pan (Gar) will be judging the bands,” explains D-22 booking manager Nevin Domer. “What they’ll be looking for really boils down to three things: creativity, originality and performance.”

The Plastered Rock Weekend promises a showcase of the next generation of Beijing rock. No longer “outside looking in,” these musicians have grown up in rock ‘n’ roll. As Domer explains it, “It’s really exciting, because who knows … one of the bands that you see at the competition this month could very well become the next big thing in Beijing.”

Peter Su

DETAILS

What: Plastered Rock Weekend

When: Wed, Sep 9-Sat, Sep 19

Where: D-22 and Yugong Yishan

Web: www.plasteredtshirts.com

Emerging student bands go head to head