Underground music lovers unite in a squeal of glee. Shanghai has a promising new live house on the radar.

What makes it promising you might ask? Well, there are countless venues in the city, most of which I don’t count. Why? They don’t put on shows that rock, bump, grind and move with some grit.

We don’t need another opera hall, Beijing style or otherwise.

Another jazz club, yawn.

Management is the thing that differentiates a Yuyintang (the heart and soul of the local rock scene) from a Harley’s (they have all the equipment, but who goes there?) Do the managers know local music and have an interest in supporting it.

That is where this new place, known as Shan Hai (no g) has a leg up.

On the management team are Yan Lezi and Yang Fu, who are rather ubiquitous in the Chinese rock scene. Together they run the Zhu Lu He Feng recording label which hosts a collective of rock and folk acts. The are also artists, Lezi being a drummer and Fu a jack of all trades, across Top Floor Circus, Sonnet and Pinkberry. These bands all have substantial local followings, with Top Floor Circus being the most well known.

Zhu Lu He Feng has done an exceptional job over the last few years of reaching out to Chinese University students, organizing tours of 8 of Shanghai’s Universities and giving students a chance to listen and pick up CDs at discounted rates.

The live music scene desperately needs more support from young Chinese. It is incredible that in a city of 19 million, there aren’t more young people who want to be entertained by something that isn’t Bar 88 or Rich Baby.

Furthermore many Chinese University students are known for spending a lot of time in there rooms, playing computer games or cards. I salute anybody who wants to broaden the horizons of said students and corrupt these bastions of boredom; showing them a world that exists outside of their campus or parent’s house.

Since Shanhai is located near a Metro station (Line 7 Changshou Lu) makes transportation affordable for students.

In a stroke of genius, the 3rd person on the management team, happens to be half of STD, one of the more well know party promoters in town among both expats and locals. Thus Boys Noise, the German DJ who sold the place out, was booked there.

Shan Hai seems well poised to continue as a venue that can bridge the gap between a Chinese and Laowai mucians. One example is Sound Toy, who will play there December 9th. They are huge in China (over 12000 followers on Douban) but I’d never heard of them. However, Fever Machine is supporting, and defintely worth seeing. This event should bring out the locals as well as the wai guo ren.

Yan Lezi hopes that the size of Shanhai, with a capacity of 300 to 400 people, “Gives artists more options when they book shows... the city needs a venue of this size.”

While that is certainly true, what is more exciting is a venue with well-connected, musically inclined management.