With high profile visits by bands like Sonic Youth, The Roots and The Go! Team, who doubts 2007 will go down as the year of rock in China? September 8-9, Rock for China keeps the rock rolling with a powerhouse line up of Nine Inch Nails, Public Enemy, Marky Ramone and The New York Dolls scheduled for the Beijing Pop Festival. Before we settle back and take the rock for granted, meet the guys who make it happen. The next time you see them at a show, buy them a beer (or bourbon in Jon Campbell’s case). They deserve it.

Beijing Pop Festival

Name:

Jason Magnus

Age:

28

Country:

UK

Org:

Rock for China

Shows you've seen:

Beijing Pop Festival, NOFX

Dream show:

“Neil Young, Dylan, Lou Reed … I love Springsteen, but I also love diversity so throw in De La Soul and the original Wu-tang line up.”

Jason Magnus' Rock for China is both the most international and most local of all the rock promotion companies in town, putting up the annual marquee Beijing Pop Festival but also organizing numerous smaller shows featuring local bands throughout the year. Magnus feels this strategy allows Rock for China to keep its finger on the local pulse, while also ensureing packed venues, every promoter's dream. This year's Pop Fest line up, for example, taps into local thirst for underground punk with the likes of Marky Ramone, but also respects the temporality of a China which opened wide to Western music only 20 years ago, precisely the heyday for the other headliners: Public Enemy and Nine Inch Nails. It's a strategy that worked to perfection last year with Sebastian Bach in the line up. "People were crying when '18 and Life' came on,'" Magnus recalls.

Magnus, who has put Beijing on the international music festival map in his three years, brings in acts other promoters only dream about, finessing controversial musicians like Chuck D and Trent Reznor through the layers of officialdom. Magnus laughs, suggesting that local security presents a much bigger headache than the Ministry of Culture. "And you can print that!" he adds emphatically. The PSB is only one of the worries for arguably the largest rock promoter in China; the artists he brings over can be an unpredictable lot. "Last year when Sebastian Bach climbed halfway up the scaffolding during his set, I was terrified," he recalls. "The chief of security for Chaoyang Park was standing right next to me. I was looking at him like 'Do something!' and at the same time wondering how much ready cash I had in money my wallet."

Sino Sessions

Name:

Archie Hamilton

Age:

31

Country:

UK

Org:

Spli-t Works

Shows you’ve seen:

The Go! Team, Sonic Youth

Dream show:

“A festival like Fuji Rock with six stages, bands that have a love for the show, organic food and chairlifts to the mountaintop where you get cuddly bears.”

“When I left the U.K., there were 400 festivals that summer. In China, there were two,” explains Archie Hamilton, founder of Spli-t Works. “I knew I’d have more joy shaping music here than there.” In his year and a half in China, Hamilton has brought over acts like The Go! Team, Maximo Park and, most famously, Sonic Youth. Promoting music in China presents new hurdles to this seasoned promoter. “At the Sonic Youth show, we had 25 people from the Ministry of Culture listening for excuses to shut us down. During sound check, I heard this Chinese rhetoric over the sound system, and my blood went cold, but Thurston just tuned an FM transmitter to a local radio station.”

Time-Arts Jazz

Name:

Jon Campbell

Age:

27

Country:

Canada

Org:

YGTwo

Shows you've seen:

The Sparrow Quartet (featuring Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn) Dream show: “I'm an indie rocker at heart so I'd like to see The Decembrists at a small venue like Mao Live.”

For calling himself a "small player" on the scene, Campbell regularly books gigs at the Beijing University auditorium, Beijing’s third largest venue. "Beida opened up a whole new world for me, because the students really want to be there," Campbell says, "When they saw Abigail [Washburn] walking in the auditorium they jumped up and were like 'OHHHHH!'" It's the musical moment that keeps Campbell going. "You want to cause a scene in Sanlitun? Put up a poster," Campbell laughs. "I remember putting up flyers for the Sparrow Quartet. I'd only put up like one poster before a crowd gathered asking, 'What is he doing? Is that tape?'"

Boat Folks

Name:

Jonathan Ansfield

Age:

33

Country:

USA

Org:

The Stone Boat

Shows you’ve seen:

The Shuffle Demons, Soundtrack of Our Lives

Dream show:

“Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsburg … a Hyde Park, bully pulpit scene with everyone talking and singing songs of freedom.”

Ansfield launched a word-of-mouth jazz night at the Stone Boat in the fall of 2005. Two years later, as the sun sets on the Ritan Park pond, throngs of expats and music-savvy locals spill onto the patio, soaking in the evening’s performances. “Beijing often feels bottled up. Here it’s uncorked,” Ansfield explains. “The Boat is in a park. It’s an oasis. People have the feeling they’re seeing something they can’t find anywhere else.” Despite the idyllic setting, Boat fans do witness the occasional whiskey-induced swim by a maladroit landlubber. Ansfield recollects, “During Sambasia, this guy walked right in. The whole crowd became distracted by feet passing back and forth like ducks while the guy searched the bottom of the pond for his wallet.”

Gloaming

Name:

Ed Peto

Age:

27

Country:

UK

Org:

Red T Music

Shows you’ve seen:

Hongdi music showcase at Mao Live, Gloaming acoustic nights at the Stone Boat

Dream show:

“A sold-out Starlive, Bloc Party headlining, with a majority Chinese audience and ¥50 tickets.”

Ed Peto and his partner Tamsin Roberts started Red T Music in December 2006 with the intention of adding some structure to the amorphous local rock scene. “Talk to your average punter in Beijing about bands they like and you’re in for a very short conversation,” Peto says. “The Hongdi showcase focuses people’s attention and makes the band feel like they are playing something significant.” It hasn’t been easy as their four-band MIDI Gloaming proved, going from low-key to major headache. “We wanted it stripped down, maybe a couple of guitars and drums,” Peto recollects. “It turned out to be anything but. There were bloody laptops and samplers stacked up and drum kits spread around. Then Soundtracks’ manager calls me up saying, ‘We’ve arrived, where do we back up our truck?’ It was mayhem really. One of the longest nights of my life.”

The Promotion Game

Promotion in China isn’t the well-oiled machine it is back home. Lack of booking agents means no middle-man cut, but lack of domestic market means that even if there were an agent, what would they take a cut of? Here’s how it all works:

The Promoter

Contacts prospective band directly or via management. In lieu of big payday, offers what amounts to all-expenses-paid trip to China.

The Logistics

Promotion company submits band bio, set list lyrics and live show footage to Ministry of Culture. Permit takes 30 days to process. Success not guaranteed.

The Media Blitz

With visas issued and contracts signed, the promotion company launches all-out media campaign.

The Take

Promotion company takes a cut of the door, venue takes the bar and the band goes home with memories and some great video of Tiananman Square.