Beijing Noise Rockers Birdstriking's New Video Is Indie's Answer to Ai WeiWei

Photo courtesy of Birdstriking

Birdstriking guitarist and frontman He Fan called my cell phone using Skype on his laptop. He's been to the US three times for tours with the band Carsick Cars, but this current run is the first American excursion for his other project Birdstriking. The Beijing-based noise rock quartet has just kicked off a 25-date US tour, and also just re-released their 2012 self-titled debut album via A Records, the label started by Brian Jonestown Massacre's Anton Newcombe, which is a good thing. One, because it's a terrific album. It's playful and hooky but also wildly experimental at times and wrapped in the scratchy, gray noise favored by other great Beijing bands like PK-14 and Carsick Cars. And, two, it didn't find favor with China's Central Propaganda Department and consequently didn't see much distribution within the country.

The album's repression has to do with songs like “Monkey Snake," which is one of the more straightforwardly punk songs on the album and deals with the state control of the media and the media's control of the people. Fan sings, “You can control the media, but you can’t control my mind.” The phrase “monkey snake” will be familiar to Chinese internet users as one of the “mythic Chinese animals,” like the caonima or “grass mud horse." Sly plays on words like these are used to both evade and (virtually) flip off government censors, as a clever way of discussing subjects that are otherwise off limits. It's a byword of resistance to censorship.

Filmmaker Lan Qi, a friend of the band, shot the video for “Monkey Snake” with the members in a tunnel near Tsinghua University in Beijing. It includes live shots of one of the band's shows at the rock club XP, also in Beijing, but mostly, it involves the destruction of some wicker bird cages as a commentary on how the media (in China and elsewhere) actively works to dampen independent and informed thought… and exactly how the band feels about all that.

In the mix of subtle and not-that-subtle symbolism, it's hard not to see a connection to the protest art of Ai WeiWei. His penchant for smashing or redecorating Han dynasty vases comes to mind. We called up He Fan to talk censorship, social media, and the end of rock'n'roll.

Noisey: Can you tell me about the meaning behind the song “Monkey Snake”?
He Fan: The song is talking about media, such as the radio or TV. We're controlled by them but we don't even know it. With the song, we try to tell people to have your own ideas and not be controlled by something else. That's why in the video we are flying away from our cages and gradually destroy them.

I understand that the title of the song is a play on words or a kind of code. Can you explain that to me?There are so many things like “monkey snake” on Chinese social media. Like “Caonima” that's another “animal” but the real pronunciation in Chinese sounds like “fuck your mother.” Chinese internet users like to create new words for fun. With “monkey” the Chinese pronunciation is hóu and “snake” is shé, so it means “throat and tongue.” Or the pronunciation of “throat and tongue” sounds a lot like “monkey snake.” That has another meaning which is “media,” because in China the media is the Communist Party's “throat and tongue.” So, that's why we chose the name.

So, it's a song against restrictions on independent media and restrictions on freedom of information.
Yeah, but we don't only focus on the Chinese media. I think the media all over the world is the same. They want to control you. They want to make you buy their stuff. We're all losing our independent minds. We want to tell people to remember how to think for themselves.

Does it make you nervous at all to be so outspoken about this kind of thing in your music?
I'm not scared about it. I just want to tell people the truth.

The song “No More Rock'n'Roll” is an epic. Why is it called that?
If you have too much rock 'n' roll, you're going to want a new thing, and the new thing is “No More Rock'n'Roll.”

What are some of your influences, rock'n'roll or otherwise?
We're influenced by many bands from the '60s through the '80s. Some American rock, some British bands, some early Chinese rock.

What are some Chinese bands that you feel have an influence on Birdstriking?
PK14. Carsick Cars. The Gar. And there is a very famous musician name Cui Jian who influenced me.

You've played with some of those bands you mentioned, right? How would you describe the rock scene in Beijing right now?
It's getting bigger and bigger. What can I say about Beijing? I'm mostly focused on my part. There are so many parts of the Beijing indie music scene, but right now we're coming together.

What social media platforms do you use?
I use very normal Chinese social media. We use WeChat and Weibo a lot. I use Douban very often. And Xiami.

What's you're favorite city to play in the States?
New York, New York.

Beverly Bryan is staying independent on Twitter: @DJBBCheck