(Also played last night at Yuyintang, the review follows)

The floor at Yuyintang strikes terror in my heart. Anytime a band plays fiercely enough to move the crowd, a combination of floor-sweat, people-sweat, and beer turn the linoleum into an pain machine. Dance for more than three minutes, and one cannot escape plummeting, potentially into broken glass. So though I hopped in the pit for a moment, I mostly stayed posted up on the sideline and avoided the barrage of falling bodies and foreign fists (I find Shanghainese haven’t caught onto the moshing phenomenon yet) while I watched Qingdao’s Demerit tear through the release show for their “Bastards of The Nation” album.

Their set started out in darkness, building anticipation for five minutes with some epic, end-of-the-world slow drumming before bursting into the set in true punk form - foot-high pink mohawks, cigarettes blazing, and pounding beer continuously throughout the set, asking the audience to share more upon running out.

I don’t usually listen to bands like this, but they sound kind of like Anti-Flag with more metal influence. Still, their style oozes classic anti-establishment punk. While normally this doesn’t impress me much, this is China, and there’s a ton of nationalism here right now. Song titles like “Beijing is Not My Home and “Bye Bye My Country,” will certainly discomfort all those handholding couples rocking the matching “I Love China” t-shirts. Plus they played with the energy of an amphetamine-charged Burmese trucker.

Their set lasted over an hour and at the end they stormed through a quick blast of riffs from Metallica (pre-Black Album) and even Iron Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name.” Solid, intense show.

They’re playing again tonight, 10 pm at Logo on Xingfu Lu with The Rogue Transmission - FOR FREE!