Carsick Cars

Carsick Cars have slipped into the fast lane of Beijing's thriving live music scene, and have their sights set on the rest of the world.  With the recent release of their debut album, the trio have further made a name for themselves in the West, touring with noise-pop legends Sonic Youth in Europe.  Buckle up for a ride with Carsick Cars...

Hello there Carsick Cars, please introduce yourselves to our readers: (name/instrument):
Hi!  We are:
Shou Wang, guitar and vocal
Li Weisi, bass
Li Qing, drums

How did you guys meet? 
We are all from the same university. Show Wang and Li Weisi knew each other first on the university bbs. I was going to guaduate that year, hoping to form my own band before that. One day I went to the rehearsal room and met  them. They just needed a drummer. So I joined them, although I couldn’t play drums at that time.

Where does your name come from?  What does it mean?
There’s no exact meaning.  We forget how it came about, it came out accidentally one night when we were chatting randomly… maybe it is just a word game...

How would you describe your sound?
Touching melodies made of noise, simply but directly, full of moods.

Who are your influences?
Velvet Underground, Suicide, Sonic Youth...Some 60’s bands from New York.

What’s the best and worst thing about being in Carsick Cars?
The best - We can make our sound without thinking about the mainstream audience, as they aren't generally into too much noise or the unsual structure of our songs.
The worst - We have to protect our ears carefully!

Is there anything specific you want to achieve through your music/band?
We want to speak about the things that we have all faced in reality. And hope our audience can feel they find the same sound comes from within their own hearts. Nothing more, we just want to play music.

Tell us about your debut album:
Our debut album was released by MaybeMars Records, which is a new label based in Beijing. Yang Haisong, who is also the lead singer of PK14, produced our album. The master tape was finished in the Einsturzende Neubauten’s studio.  Perhaps it’s not that perfect, but we did our best. It’s an exciting experience for us all to work together. After all it’s our first studio effort and we know we will do better next time around.

What other bands from Asia would you recommend people check out?
Many bands from China are really good: PK14, Hedgehog, Snapline, GuaiLi, AV okubo... They play music freely, and are very creative.

So much is said and written about the music scene in Beijing.  What are your thoughts on it, and is it really that good?
Yes, if you go to the live shows in Beijing, you can really feel it.

How did the shows with Sonic Youth come about?
Maybe we are just lucky. Shou Wang used to play with Elliot Sharp who is a famous artist in the underground New York scene. He introduced us to Sonic Youth.

Tell us about what you learnt from being on tour with someone like Sonic Youth:
It’s hard to describe in a few words. Our performance is good and there’s no difference from the other shows that we have played. But when we see Sonic Youth play on stage, we can feel the strong power come from them. That motivates us to always do better.

How did audiences in Europe react to your shows?
We can see their affirmation by the look on their faces - that maybe they can’t understand the lyrics - though that they fully understood the our meaning through the music.

What are your fondest memories of the tour?
Watching Sonic Youth.  They are amazing.

Apart from music, what else do you guys like to do during your free time?
Nothing special - Work, go to school, watch movies - the same as with most of the young people in Beijing.

What’s coming up next for you guys after these shows.  Tell us about your plans:
We're going to write new songs for our next album.

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In the meantime, check out the excellent Carsick Cars on AMP.

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Posted by AMP Ed on December 18, 2007 10:10:14 AM HKT #