“It’s sh*t…It’s rough… it gave me a hernia.” These are the first thoughts that occur to Xiao Zhong of Pairs when I asked him about touring China as an independent band.

But then again, Pairs are absolutely insane when it comes to touring. They tour constantly and have stories about back-to-back shows in Xian and Shenyang (look at a map, they aren’t close) or not booking hotel rooms and spending the night in a park.

“Think about it, you finish at 2 AM, you book the first flight out at around 6 AM, what’s the point?” Asks Zhong. The faint of heart might suggest that the point is sleep, or at least a bit of rest, but slowing down in not one of Zhong’s strong points.

And comparatively there are several things he loves about touring in China. Generally, shows are easy to book: you just have to ask. They have all the big equipment like drums and amps already and the venue has support staff like a sound guy and doorman. Venues often don’t provide these things back in Zhong’s native Australia.

On top of that, plane tickets in China are cheap. Still, Zhong is consistently losing money to support his habit of musical touring.

So what drives him to pursue it with such dedication? “I don’t know why I do it. And I will continue to it forever. I don’t know why.” He tells me before flipping the question back at me.

My own band just returned from a trip to Beijing. I found myself with a similar loss of rationale. It is a ton of prep work for one quick squirt of fun.

I decided to go to Han Han (Vocals, Guitar) of Duck Fight Goose for another perspective on touring. He’s toured previously independently but DFG just signed to the Beijing’s Maybe Mars label. His band will release their CD, “Sports” on this Friday December 16th at Yuyintang in Shanghai and then on the 17th in Beijing at D22, with other dates soon to follow.

He feels it will be easier with the label’s support, telling me, ‘”It is a lot of work and there are so many problems you can’t expect… but now [with Maybe Mars] they take care of the promotion side, which is really important.” In the past, he has found it difficult to get venues to promote shows for bands with smaller followings.

With more supportive venues popping up around China, touring will hopefully become easier. More likely it will remain a field for irrational folks who enjoy working hard and losing money.

Upcoming Shows:

If you haven't had enough YYT yet, this Sunday the 18th Pairs will play an afternoon show with 4 local university band, including up and comers Nao Hai. The show goes from 2 to 5pm.

And if you still haven't got enough, you go out to dinner afterward and come back to YYT at 9 o'clock Little Marbles, a Swedish female pop folk dance duo will take to the stage on a tour of their own. The tracks on their douban earn a hearty thumbs up.