Why SNSOS Are a Fresh Slab of Post-Rock in an Overly Saturated Beijing Scene
When I caught SNSOS close out an evening at DDC this past fall – a soaring instrumental set that had the crowd lapping up every chord in reflective silence and wide-eyed curiosity – it dawned on me that the Beijing post-rock band was in fact one of the capital’s most underrated. In a town, scratch that, country overly saturated with post-rock bands, SNSOS (short for She Never Sings Our Songs) has always felt like an outlier.
The band has no qualms jumping from one canvas to the next, infusing their sound with math rock playfulness, dream pop pulp, and post-rock crescendos that are spirited, intricately assembled, and brimming with life. Guitars converse with one another, cymbals shimmer with exuberance, and dialogue is formed between each of their members, volleying back and forth, blurring into a warm blanket of sound.
While too many bands seem content with the basic foundations of post-rock music, SNSOS takes pleasure in playing in a bigger sandbox and are all the better for it. The quartet, who independently released their debut last winter, and is made up of Chen Zeyang and Zhu Yifeng on guitar, Passerwoo on bass, and Erzu Guoji on drums, are kicking off the new year with a four-city tour along the coast of China alongside two of Taiwan’s most talked about bands – indie pop outfit Midnight-Ping Pong and folk-punk group Heartbroken – a tour that’ll close out at Mao Livehouse this Sunday, Jan 13.
I chatted with Chen Zeyang before they hit the road about their past year on the scene as well as their New Year’s resolutions.
It’s been a year since you guys dropped your debut album – what was the reception like? Did having it out there in the world make 2018 any easier on you guys?
It’s was great – we released our first album in December of 2017 and got some really good feedback. Were able to join a music festival last year and play some shows outside of Beijing. And while that all sounds good, we thought 2018 was very hard for us. On one hand, we had trouble writing new songs, which as you can imagine, led to some bad chemistry within the band. On the other, our guitarist left and we had to confront that issue. But we should look at it rationally. Change is always accompanied by pain, isn't it?
A couple of you have made some big strides in the last year with your jobs – could you explain what you, Passerwoo, and Erzu are up to these days? How does it feel to be able to work so closely with the music scene?
Actually, I haven't told you the news yet! Our band has opened a rehearsal room in Dongzhimen, under the name SHAW (嚣) – a space for people to play, rehearse, communicate, and find their sound. At the same time, we also run a service for instrument maintenance and secondhand consignment (Passerwoo is good at these kinds of things). Erzu and I are responsible mainly for the operation of SHAW. It sounds great, doesn't it? We hope people come and check it out! Doing this gave us new identities in a way and cultivated new relationships with one another. We are both participants and bystanders in performing as a band or making music. It's a very special feeling. I think we've found a nice balance between work and hobbies.
We have a running joke with our friends where we make up imaginary band names for the abbreviation SNSOS (for example, Sardines Neither Sold On Streets). Do people have a difficult time remembering the band’s name?
Haha, I like this interpretation. Our friends also gave our band Chinese name: 傻妞求救.傻妞's phonetic initials are SN (means silly girl) and 求救 is for help (SOS). We can combine many names in this way. We think people have a difficult time remembering the band’s name – but if you love someone, how could you not remember her beautiful name?
Word on the street is you have a new lineup? Who bit the dust? Who’s filling in and how wonderful are they?
Yes, our guitarist Ren Baosheng left the band and Zhu Yifeng joined us. You couldn’t imagine how difficult it was to find the right guitarist, particularly for our style of music. But thankfully, it only took us one rehearsal to find our groove. He was exactly the right person we were looking for. If you have the chance, you can totally feel his presence in our set now.
Give me all the details on this upcoming tour. How did it come together? Who are you playing with? Is this the first step in you guys heading over to Taiwan?
We asked two Taiwanese bands – 伤心欲绝 (Shangxin Yujue) and 午夜乒乓 (Midnight Ping-Pong) – if they wanted to go on a small tour with us, and they agreed very happily. Although our styles are quite different – Midnight Ping-Pong is more of an indie rock band with an upbeat punk style whereas Shangxin Yujue has more of a classic folk-punk sound – we found we actually have a lot of things in common both musically and individually. We’ll be hitting four cities on this tour: Nanjing (Jan 10), Shanghai (Jan 11), Hangzhou (Jan 12), and Beijing (Jan 13). To tell you the truth, we really want to go to Taiwan. I hope this is a good opportunity for fans out there to get to know us.
What else does the new year hold for SNSOS?
Keep going and make money, haha. We are already writing new songs! And hope that these new ideas will be released as an EP in 2019. This is our New Year's wish, let’s make it happen!
Catch SNSOS play at Mao Livehouse Wukesong this Sunday, Jan 13, alongside Shangxin Yujue and Midnight Ping-Pong. Tickets are RMB 150 on the door or RMB 120 advance.
Have a look-see at all of this weekend's live music happenings right here.
Images courtesy of SNSOS, Live Beijing Music
