Brian Failure is non other than Beijing Street Punk itself. Being the
son of a top class elite Chinese communist, Xiao Rong (Vo, G), the
leader of the band fled from home holding on strongly to his opposing
beliefs. From the birth of Beijing punk "til now leading this new
movement, Xiao Rong has already become a legend at the age of 24.
The band originated in '95 when Xiao Rong was still a teenager at one
of the most elite schools in China. Here he found three classmates and
formed a band. In '97 Gao Yang who at the time played in a band called
UNDERGROUND BABY joined the group, which triggered the start of the
very first hard core punk band in Beijing. They based their activities
at a venue called SCREAM CLUB that opened in'98 and is now a legendary
club where it's regarded as the birthplace of Beijing punk. Shortly
after forming they released a Demo tape titled, "Punk shines on China".
Brain Failure was the first punk band ever to self-release a demo in
China. They were only in high school at the time, but Xiao Rong's
extraordinary lyrics and the band｡ﾇs precise but outrageous hard core
punk sound brought the group to their immovable status where they
currently stand. Xiao Rong wore a mohawk hair with a cheep guitar in
one hand while the other hand hung aimlessly, often seen walking the
city of Beijing with shoes that were too large and his head down
mumbling...... This
lifestyle of Xiao Rong's back then had become the standard for the
Beijing punk scene today.
In the summer of '99, Brain Failure and a few other bands that gained
recognition at SCREAM CLUB including Anarchy Boys, 69, and Reflector
got together and released a compilation album called "Wuliao
Contingent". Word about the powerful Beijing punk scene quickly spread
across the globe and they were soon chosen to represent the European
Levis where they modeled and their music was used for Commercials. In
addition the split 7-inch EP they
made with Anarchy Boys was picked up by Broken Rekids, a record label
in San Francisco. However all this excitement had to come to a brief
stop when an inevitable member change had to take place. Once again
Xiao Rong was alone, thinking to himself. After 6 months of
contemplation, Xiao Rong scouted Wang
Jian as a guitarist and Xu Lin as a drummer. They were both from Hunan.
In addition he chose David, an American friend for the bass part and
tried to restart the band. However, because of the fact that Brain
Failure was known and respected by their fans as a punk band formed by
three elite-born rockers, the thought of having members who weren't
Chinese and weren｡ﾇt from Beijing originally did not sit well with the
fans.
The first live show with this new member took place in the winter of
2000. The fans who were used to the hard core punk sound with each song
lasting for 1-2 minutes was stunned by their new Old School Ska Punk
sound taken from reggae and ska. The new style even confused the
audience of this underground Beijing music scene because most of them
hardly ever had the experience of listening to something besides
Oi-punk and hardcore. By the time 2001 came along, Brain Failure had a
new bassist, Shi Xudong and was performing regularly. Their creativity
as well as their frequency of shows reached the top and were
undefeatable in the Beijing underground scene. Their popularity spread
not only within Beijing kids, but also to foreign
exchange students and press from all over the world. They have appeared
in newspapers and magazines from 7 different countries, and 15
documentary films. In June 2002, they recorded their first album in
Beijing, which was released in Japan in July of the same year from
People's Records. In August, they toured 13 cities in Japan, followed
by an American tour (11cities) in March 2003. Their first album "Turn
on the Distortion!" was re- released from BADN NEWS Records and became
available through a major distributor in Japan in June 2003. Brain
Failure is planning to have US tour in October 2003.
BRAIN FAILURE
Xiao Rong : Vocal/Guitar
Wang Jian : Guitar
Shi Xudong : Bass
Xu Lin : Drums
MUSIC
-Wesound records compilation CD, Taiwan 1998.
-Underground album tape: " Fuck up ! ", Beijing 1998.
-"Cripple Heroes" compilation: China, Japan, Italy, 1998.
-Antipodes Souterrains compilation 45Tdisc: "10000 Years Punks" , France1998.
-Teenage Rebel records compilation Lpdisc: "Oi! 2 Rare and Exotica", Germany 1999.
-"Wuliao (bored)Contingent" compilation CD, China 1999.
-S.K.B. records, compilation CD: "Beijing Scream", Japan 2000.
-WeikuSound WebSite, FreeMusic Program / 3 Songs, China 2000.
Special Events
-Show in Harbin, north of China, January 1999.
-BrainFailure + International Noise Conspiracy (Sweden), ScreamClub, Beijing China 1999.
-China Pump Factory Rave Festival, Great Wall of China, June 2000.
-Halloween Festival, Happy Paradise Club, October 2000, Beijing China.
-BrainFailure + S.O.B.U.T (Japan), CD Cafe, November 2000, Beijing China.
-BrainFailure + Tomorrow (Japan) + Rotary Beginners (Japan), CD Cafe, December 2000, Beijing China.
-Kurt Cobain Tribute, Happy Paradise Club, April 2001, Beijing China.
-China Minority University Rock Festival, April 2001, Beijing China.
-Midi Rock'N Roll Festival, Midi Music School, May 2001, Beijing China.
-Tour 2001, Hangzhou (East Coast)+ Wuhan (Middle), May-June 2001, China.
-Show in Harbin, north of China, January 1999.
-Tour 2001, Hangzhou (East Coast)+ Wuhan (Middle), May-June 2001, China.
- Show for Philips Xrage hits Beijing at the beginning of September. 2001
Dong Dan Sports Complex, Beijing. 7 - 9 September 2001 (Brain Failure)
- Alternative Punk Rock (1st Set)
- south China tour 2001, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou. Oct-Nov 2001
- Show in CD CAFE for cd cafe live rock fest 2001 DEC. beijing
- Show in Happy paradise for college students 2001 DEC 22.beijing
- Show in Colored Ballon Bar, 2001 DEC29,nanjing
- Show in CD CAF , new year fest , 2001 DEC 31Beijing
- Show in Rhine club sound stage 2002 Jan 26 Beijing
PRESS
-Maximum Rocknroll, April 1998, (USA).
- Law Preview, July 1998, (China).
- South China Morning Post, July 1998, (Hong-Kong).
- Suddeutsche Zeitung, October 1998, (Germany).
- Hages-Anzeiger, October 1998, (Switzerland).
- Details, November 1998, (USA).
- Taz Daily, November 1998, (Germany).
- Beijing Scene, December 1998, (China).
- Start from Scratch #2, 1998, (Hong-Kong).
- Start, January 1999, (Germany).
- Dagens Nyheter, June 1999, (Sweden).
- Newsweek, June 1999, (USA).
- Post Magazine, August 1999, (Hong-Kong).
- Beijing Scene, September 1999, (China).
- Modern Sky, September 1999, (China).
- VSD, September 1999, (France, Belgium).
- Stern, September 1999, (Germany).
- LevisU picture, October 1999, (South Africa).
- Southern WeekEnd Daily, November 1999, (China).
- Burst, November 1999, ( Japan).
- Kaninens Ar 1999, Kinarapport Svensk-kinesiska foreningen, book, 1999, (Sweden).
- Chicago Tribune, January 2000, (USA).
- de Volkskrant, January 2000, (Germany).
-add. RMaxU R, January 2000, (France).
-Beijing Journal, January 2000, (China).
-Original Magazine, March 2000, (China).
-"Revolution Screaming 1990-2000", Post Cards Collection By WangDi, August 2000, (China).
-Kaiser's Rock Talk: "Punk Counter Punk",
http://www.chinanow.com/english/features/rocktalk/punk.html, November 2000, (China).
-BrainFailure Band, http://www.linet.com.cn/cd/lhy/qianwei4-22.htm, December 2000, (China).
-Atmen einstellen, bitte! Pekinger Himmelssturze, book (Picus Lesereisen edition / author: Kai Strittmatter), March 2001, (Germany).
-South China Morning Post, March 2001, (China).
-Nation Press, Nov. 2001, (singapro)
Documentaries/ Films/ Programs
-ABC(American BroadCast), ..., summer 1998, (USA).
-Channel 2 program, ..., summer 1998, (Germany)
-CHANNEL V "Music Program" Teaser, 1999-2000, (Hong-Kong).
-Channel 1 program, "Punk", 1999, (Germany).
-Levis Promotion Film, "Punk", director: Douglas Avery, Oct.1999-2000.
http://www.gravityfilms.com.sg
-"China Gold Rush", an intercultural documentary on modern China, (An independent production of East-West Corridor Communications/ Director:Joanne Cheng), June 2000, (USA).
-FR3 TV Program, Des Racines et des ailes, "Reves d'ailleurs des chinois", April 18th 2001, France.
-ABC(American BroadCast), ..., summer 1998, (USA).
-Channel 2 program, ..., summer 1998, (Germany)
-French TV, ART Dec. 2001 (France)
-Screamclub, swendish academy films festival. 2001 DEC
MUSIC VIDEOS
-"My HardCore". Director: Douglas Avery.
-"Living in the City". Director: BrainFailure.
-"Fucking Disco". Director: LiWei.
WEBSITES
- www.mp3.com/brainfailure
- http://brainfailure.multimania.com
- http://www.naozhuo.com
Mail Address
- brainfailure@263.net
- brainfailure88@hotmail.com
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