China rockS:
Shout chats with RETROS
If you were unfortunate enough to miss the show at Black Cat featuring
two independent bands from China touring the US of A (a first for both countries!),
well, let me just say you REALLY missed something special. Sam took some
awesome pics of Lonely China Day (above), and I had the luck to chat briefly
with RETROS - Rebuilding the Rights of Statues (left). Being primarily a
photographer, I was completely unprepared for an actual interview, and the
band was tired from their knockout set on stage, so I asked a few quick
questions, scratched notes on the back of an old bill, and snapped a photo.
The answers below are paraphrased from those notes. (A special thanks goes
to Fang from Beijing, an exchange student at ASU who helped get the band
to talk with me and translated the tricker words for us!)
How do you like the United States so far? - We don’t
have so much time to experience it, but it’s a little bit like China,
the countryside is very pretty. The air is better here. And it has a good
pop culture. 
What do you like the least about the U.S.? - Distance between
cities is so big traveling by car (When I jokingly asked “isn’t
China bigger than the US?” they laughed and reminded me that in China
they travel by train, which is much faster).
What is your favorite American music? - New wave, post
punk, 80s sound. Devo, Pereubu.
What is your least favorite American music? - Heavy metal
or rap.
What music do you like from other countries? - Great Britian and
Swedish and Japanese music is very good. Japanese music is very special
- they have their own tradition.
Does the Chinese government ever give you any trouble for playing
punk music? - The government doesn’t care about us. They
don’t care or even know about a little band called RETROS in Peking.
How is your music received in Peking? - Our music sounds
like West music, not like East music. We are better received here (in the
U.S.)