Shenzhen's Scrappy Rockers m0tt Bid China Farewell With Doubleheader This Weekend

Often seen as a city with no discerning personality, a city designed for hordes of tech startups and with them the rotating suits and modern city folk that take to the town, Shenzhen’s star has nevertheless risen over the years, even earning it a #2 slot on Lonely Planet’s Top Cities to Visit in 2019 list. Despite how we Beijingers may feel about that decision (strongly, I imagine) credit where credit is due – particularly in their mention of the city’s "strumming indie-music scene," which I can attest to.

Over the past few years, the once sleepy fishing village has built a vital music scene due to its influx of capital, its proximity to Hong Kong (making it a prime spot for any touring large-scale act), and most importantly its Molotov cocktail mix of Chinese and internationals keeping the rock and roll spirit alive and well. That latter point is where m0tt comes in. Made of the ragtag trio of Canada-hailing Matt on guitar, Chengdu-raised Anne on bass, and America-born Adam on drums, the band is a rock and roll atom splintered into countless jagged parts; from the ramshackleness of the Pixies to the snappy jitteriness of the B-52s, crafting a sound that’s scrappy and endearing in the best possible way.

The band will make the rounds up north this weekend with shows at Temple on Saturday, Jul 13 alongside Unit and Pizza Face and at DDC on Sunday, Jul 14 with The Playcat and Sardine is Back and the Wheel is Broken. These two gigs will also mark the end of m0tt as we know it, as the band prepares to go on indefinite hiatus on account of its members moving onto greener pastures (par for the course in Shenzhen).

I chatted with Adam and Matt before their farewell and took a look back at how the band fits into China’s vast music scene.

Lots of different ideas and styles hit each other head-on in your sound – what’s your and the band's background?
Matt: I started out playing drums when I was 12 and picked up a guitar when I was 16. Lyrics have always been important to me. Neil Young, The Hold Steady, Pavement, Life Without Buildings – I’ve always liked musicians with a slightly odd vocal style, and something to say. Anne plays the bass. She listens to a lot of blues-based music as well as metal.

We’ve been at it for three years and built up quite a variety of songs; some rock, some with mathy/punky elements, some sung by Anne, some by me, most in English, a few in Chinese. I’m looking forward to playing Saturday at Temple and Sunday at DDC, should be a good opportunity to play all the different styles one last weekend.

Adam: The clashing styles comes in part from how we write songs. Usually, someone brings an idea and we jam on it for a while to develop a core then take it in different directions. If a direction works we can keep it, or save it for later.

I originally trained as a jazz drummer but have played in bluegrass, classic/hard rock, punk and metal bands. My favorite band and probably biggest influence is Menomena because they weave in a lot of different feelings/elements to a song while maintaining a coherent narrative.

What kind of sound are you chasing with m0tt? There’s a looseness and a scrappiness to your songs that’s pretty infectious.
Matt: Primarily, we’re a live band; we’re chasing energetic, frantic, honest sets. I think you could say that we’re pragmatic people trying to look at things positively. Our songs have some ugliness and dirt but they also have hopeful lyrics.

One of the things I admire about the band is how you mention Chinese bands as influences right alongside renowned Western acts – how important is it to the band to soak in the local scene and be inspired by those around you?
Matt: Shenzhen would be a more boring place if not for the many rock bands of this fair country that tour here once in a while.

I arrived in Shenzhen in 2015. By that time, a critical mass had developed where there were enough bands and fans in the local scene, and affordable venues willing to play ball. But then as things got stricter, the parties got smaller and bands moved on. If you compared a list of actively gigging bands and venues in 2015 to a list from 2016, they’d be very different. The slowdown in Shenzhen gave me time to look at what was happening in the rest of China. My bands, m0tt and Thin City started in 2017, when we were all collectively catching our breath and figuring out what to do next.

At a time when things didn’t seem that exciting in Shenzhen, I thankfully stumbled across DIY indie labels like Boring Productions and Qii Snacks. Ever since then, it’s appealed to my nerdy side to pull at the loose threads and struggle through the language barrier to learn about the Chinese rock scene. As a singer, songwriter, and sporadic student of Chinese, it’s also been fun to discover the ways that Chinese can be sung. Vocal styles like those of P.K.14 and Zuoxiao Zuzhou appeal to me.

To relate it through individual moments, when Dirty Fingers came to town and brought Pinboard and Landfills from Guangzhou with them, it was a real wakeup call that we needed to get more serious about songwriting and live performance, to try and match those bands. Getting to play with some of those bands last year at the Guangzhou Punkfest was one of my favorite moments here. The festival had 10 bands on the bill from Taipei, Chengdu, Beijing, and places in between, and everyone was 100 percent psyched to be there. It was inspiring to see such an incredible show organized by local musicians.

It can sometimes feel like we’re screaming into a void (or a bar full of disinterested diners) in Shenzhen. So when I hear the new releases of up-and-coming bands like Panic Worm and Lonely Leary, at least you know that there is good stuff happening out there.

All in all, I think things are looking up in Shenzhen. Longtime indie venue Brown Sugar Jar has recovered from losing their old location and their new location is putting on a lot of good shows. A new, larger live house named HOU is willing to cooperate with local bands in a way that mainstay B10 never has been. Cool bands from the rest of China and abroad continue to come to Shenzhen and put on great shows.

Adam: When we first started playing as a band we mostly knew SZ/GZ-based foreign bands to share shows with.  As we learned more about the local scene we were kind of like "whoa, there's a ton of great Chinese bands that we just haven't been exposed to yet.” So it's like you're sitting on the tip of the iceberg and realize there's so much more you haven't seen yet and want to dive into that and learn more.

Does living the track name "On the Edge of a Knife" refer to living in China in particular, or more so just city life? What kind of trouble do you get into in Shenzhen?
Matt: I think it can apply to a lot of people I’ve met in Shenzhen. But, in general, it’s the idea that your life could dramatically change at any moment. 

Word is this is m0tt’s last show for basically forever! What’s the deal? What does it feel like to be on the other side of the coin in terms of you’re the one leaving? How did the rest of the band take it?
Adam: It sucks because you want the good times to keep rolling, but you're happy for someone when they're moving onto a new stage in life. None of us are from Shenzhen originally and each of us made an active choice to be here. It only makes sense that at some point you make a choice to leave, and I think the population in Shenzhen is a lot more transient than in many places so you get used to it as a fact of life. 

Who knows where Anne and I will be in a year or two anyway? We hope to play again in Canada or China or wherever sometime in the future. All three of us will pursue new musical projects so it's not like we're hanging it up for good – just gonna enjoy it till the last.

Matt: I’m going back to Canada. It’s been four years in Shenzhen and I felt like it was time to shake things up. I’ll miss it. Playing rock and roll in China’s exciting as all hell. This was my first time leading a band and I learned a lot.

Beijing is quite the trek from Shenzhen – what convinced you guys to head up north? Have you had a taste of the music scene here before? What are you most excited about?
Matt: We’re going for the same reason we’d go to any other city – to meet new bands, stay in a weird hotel, eat good food, and win over 5-7 new fans.

Adam: We've all visited before and seen shows at DDC, Temple, School, etc. and know how many great bands there are in Beijing, so we said: "hey, we got to be a part of making music in Beijing even if only for a weekend." Since our band is going on indefinite hiatus, it seemed like a fitting way to end our 2.5-year run. As for most excited about, we are playing with a really great line up of bands like The Playcat, Sardine, Unit, and Pizza Face, which is the difference between just 'a fun show' and an amazing memory. Outside of the music, I'm also looking forward to the food at 4corners and the awesome breweries like Great Leap, Arrow Factory, and Jing-A.

Catch m0tt at either Temple on Saturday, Jul 13 or at DDC on Sunday, Jul 14.

These are just two of the many shows going on this weekend. Browse all of the rest here.

Images courtesy of m0tt