Respawn Entertainment: Days of Glory

Chapter 955 Joyside
The fans' reactions indirectly reflect how people reacted to Joyside's reunion during the original Big Band season.

"Space Rogue" is not punk. Ten years later, Joyside, the former king of underground rock, has begun to become a gentleman!
This is a relatively mild assessment of Joyside from many people after their album "Space Wanderer" on The Big Band. The more intense criticisms are just the same old clichés: Joyside betraying underground rock, and so on.

Fans who have been with Joyside since its heyday mostly used the phrase "tears streaming down their faces." Many of the bands present were fans of Joyside, saying they are still the most rock band in China.

Meanwhile, some people who are new to the band are questioning the critics' snobbery: "How much of the score for Joyside is actually based on nostalgia?" It's like the question Da Zhangwei posed when discussing underground bands: "What's so great about being in the underground scene?"

However, Bian Lang believes that Da Laoshi, who debuted with Hua'er, has this view of the underground scene because people who want to make a living in the open might instinctively avoid certain realities.

Joyside isn't just about the alleyways and alcoholic nights; it also belongs to the wanderers of the universe who return with broken yet endlessly reborn love. In this reunion ten years later, there's always some real pain to face, but also a stronger, more inclusive love growing within.

Like their totem, the pink heart and lip print are so vivid, belonging to the BJ nights of alcohol, nicotine, rock music, hormones, and romantic heartbreak...

In Bian Lang's view, Joyside's reunion was only a matter of time, it just so happened to coincide with the second season of The Big Band.

After all, even though the band disbanded, lead singer Bian Yuan has never left the music scene. Before Joyside reunited, he was signed to Modern Sky as a solo artist, making music, singing, and releasing albums.

Liu Hao's identity as a school owner makes him inextricably linked to rock and roll. There's also a more practical reason: Liu Hongwei, the guitarist and poverty alleviation secretary, has returned to Beijing.

As for Director Xin, that's another story altogether...

This band, considered to have a strong punk spirit, was formed in 2001 and disbanded in 2009. After producing a hit TV drama director, a bar owner, and a poverty alleviation secretary, they reunited and returned in 2019.

From 2001 to 2009, the band Joyside was known as such. With five studio albums, scattered singles, and countless drunken, uninhibited live performances, this band wrote their own rock and roll youth and history. They not only influenced many new musicians after 2000, but also fostered a group called the "Young Gang," and the "School" bar in Wudaoying Hutong, Beijing, was their illegitimate offspring.

They even influenced the youth subculture of the Gulou district in Beijing, and this is the enduring energy that continues to flow from them even after they disbanded in 2009.

Joyside wasn't exciting or action-packed; their decadent and nihilistic style, full of dissolute abandon, influenced an entire generation. That's the power of "Joyside Pink"!

We once believed in the story of the "27-year-old club," believing that "it's better to burn brightly than to linger on." Yet, after the fiery burning and self-destruction, life still stubbornly continues. The reunion of Joyside is a completely new life lesson. In this group of people who have separated and reunited, bowing our heads and learning humility makes us more gentle, and entering the good night romantically releases more love.

Joyside is all about love, and this love also includes necessary and real pain. Those who believe in Joyside believe that life cannot lack freedom, sincerity, and love. They come from all over the world but are as close as brothers and sisters, building a new kinship through shared musical tastes and mutual recognition.

From the perspective of the fragmented history of Chinese rock music, Joyside's existence is quite ambiguous. As an early form of punk, they lived in Qinghe in their own unique way.

What exactly is punk? Is it a musical form or a lifestyle?

This question has troubled many cultural scholars, fashionable young people, and musicians in China. Discussing punk itself is less effective than attending an underground punk concert. Punk doesn't discuss meaning unless the person isn't a punk at all.

Music fans who attended the 2003 Midi Music Festival will likely remember the sunny, drowsy afternoon on the first day of the festival. After a few technically skilled but less enthusiastic bands, Joyside took the stage, bringing the first climax to the day's music party.

They weren't rock stars familiar to out-of-town music fans, nor had they been mentioned even once in articles by professional music critics. But when the three of them sang "I wanna beer, I wanna beer" in their music, and lead singer Bian Yuan swayed his drunken body on stage, everyone in the audience was swept up in the atmosphere!

Among the group, a thin young man with large glasses was also excited; he was Shen Lihui, the owner of Modern Sky.

Afterwards, Shen Lihui searched for Joyside in various bars, attracted by her unique temperament and musical talent.

Six months later, Joyside finally became part of Modern Sky. They released a pink album, "Drunk is Beautiful," and when people tried to find some trendy selling points for the album, they claimed, "There's no fashion you're looking for here, we just love your money."

As a result, the band was bombarded and banned by various media outlets!

Each member of Joyside has their own story.

Lead singer Bian Yuan comes from Xinjiang. His yearning for freedom led him to abandon school life, and he is also the main creative force of the entire band. He is a nihilist, and his dreams give him inspiration. He always has the debauched yet noble temperament of a 70s rock star. Leather pants, leather shoes, shirts, ties... He looks melancholic, romantic, and gentlemanly.

Liu Hao is a bassist who grew up in a military compound, yet he stands apart from the mainstream. His tattoos are adorable, just like him—endearing and lovable. Besides being in a band, he is also passionate about running a business.

Xin Shuang was the band's first guitarist, Fan Bo was the earliest drummer, and later Japanese guitarist Nakano Yo also joined the band.

Punk was a phase in Joyside's early music. Back then, they were rough and energetic, with a reckless spirit. A few drunken guys ignited a dangerous mixture of alcohol, nicotine, and hormones with beautiful triads. Everyone was pogoing wildly in the audience, using their bodies to vent their passion for music.

Joyside's most stable lineup was formed after guitarist Liu Hongwei and drummer Guan Zheng joined in 2006.

By then, their music already had a very captivating structure and melody. With the growing influence of psychedelic rock in the 1970s, they had also found their own aesthetic system and mode of expression, although this was often overshadowed by their decadent and dissolute stage and lifestyle.

After 2006, Joyside was transferred to Maybe Mars, and during the same period, Maybe Mars launched three of the most important bands: Carsick Cars, Snapline and Joyside. With the album "Booze at Neptune's Dawn", the older Joyside became a representative of the "new generation of BJ".

The change in musical style does not affect their attitude. Joyside's popularity and charm continue at every mesmerizing live performance, and their carefree attitude has attracted even more fans.

They defied convention, using "negation" to define their boundaries, and were disliked by the public and the media because they never spoke "straightforwardly." Back in 2002, when they were still considered "the new hope of Chinese punk," they relentlessly negated themselves and Chinese rock music, successfully becoming the "most annoying drunks" on stage. But it was precisely this contradiction—the rawness and the delicacy, the lyricism and the scoundrel—that allowed them to coexist harmoniously, enabling them to repeatedly rise again and start afresh after sobering up.

Joyside is the illegitimate child of alcohol and rock and roll. They drink, fight, rehearse, perform, and continue drinking after the show—drinking outside, drinking on the street…

Years later, they'll say they started drinking because of stage fright and shyness. But as they drank, it became a habit, an addiction, a whirlpool. Alcohol was so good, with its white bubbles, just like life, just like happiness. Yet every gathering represents a farewell, every bout of drunkenness represents the next bout of sobriety accompanied by a headache. Joyside's musical philosophy is also contradictory and repetitive.

They express love through chaos and despair, and despair through sweet romance. Just like the song "The Last Song for the Endless Party," which makes you ponder repeatedly, what kind of scene would this be? The last song in an endless party, the last kiss in endless love. Life is short, and we don't know whether we should live joyfully or die tragically.

Their already complicated relationship became increasingly fraught with conflict. Their musical philosophies differed, and they couldn't be together in a completely idealistic way in life. On August 12, 2009, after participating in the Zhangbei Music Festival, Joyside chose to disband.

In September, they held their final "Joyside Farewell Performance" at MAO Livehouse, titled "The Last Party for the Endless Songs." After the performance, everyone gathered together until dawn, and the entire Gulou Street was filled with heartbreak and farewell.

After disbanding, Joyside continued to tour Europe with Carsick Cars due to contractual obligations. The tour made them more aware of the limitations of their music and life, and nothing changed after they returned.

But just as the significance of dinosaurs only became apparent after their extinction, Joyside only became increasingly important in the absence of Joyside.

The "Young Gang," which can be seen as a "Joyside fan club" in its early days, has been growing steadily. Although the members are not only Joyside fans, they are more like a group of people who identify with this decadent, free, and carefree lifestyle.

One heartbreak is the beginning of another. After disbanding the band, the brothers Liu Hao and Liu Fei were able to open a vintage clothing store in Gulou and later a School bar in Wudaoying Hutong.

From Joyside and Gamblers to Penicillin, School has spawned wave after wave of new bands, and the young people who have made it their sanctuary have grown up in waves. In nearly a decade, how many have found solace here only to become displaced, loved and hurt, drunk and vomited? Joyside seems to still be there for everyone.

Liu Hao is the eldest brother of School. He and Liu Fei, as bar owners, always risk their lives to drink with people until dawn, and they help those in need with drinks.

Liu Hao and Guan Zheng are still in the "Gambler" band. Guan Zheng is like a passionate young man in a comic book. He plays drums in more than three bands and also teaches children to play drums in an interest class. Every time I met him at the school, he would be riding an electric bike with someone who was drunk or about to get drunk, leaving the alley.

Bianyuan is always a vague, misty observer, collaborating with different people to create a different kind of folk music that is both warm and melancholic, as well as old-fashioned. He spends most of his time wandering around and daydreaming. He loves the sea, so he moved to a secluded life by the sea, always wanting to be a sailor.

Liu Hongwei is another mystery. Shortly after Joyside disbanded, he sold all his guitars and went to a poor county to start a business and help alleviate poverty. In such an environment far away from BJ rock youth, he gained a deeper understanding of the reality of Chinese society and explored his inner self. This was like a more distant and dangerous voyage.

Ten years have passed, and the urban jungle has changed rapidly. People cannot change the course of urban change, but they can choose which part of the urban landscape they want to stay in.

At night, Gulou is always brightly lit and filled with bars, livehouses and art spaces full of unknowns and adventures, attracting generations of young people who dress up carefully to attend one secret and joyful party after another.

BJ's independent music and youth culture have also been able to evolve and grow layer by layer in the hutongs along with these venues and the musicians who emerged from them. It's just that Joyside still can't replicate or surpass it.

Joyside's first comeback show was scheduled for June 14, 2019. From the day Joyside announced their reunion, friends who had spent their youth together in Wudaokou and Gulou began to say: "A wormhole appeared in the universe in 2019, and time traveled back to 2009."

Everyone is searching for the memories and passion of 10 years ago, as if to rekindle their hope for life. Many of their former fans have become core members of the rock scene, such as Shi Lu and Zi Jian of Hedgehog, and Xia Ying of Mosaic.

During this period, several other veteran bands also reunited, coinciding with the airing of "The Big Band." Rock music seemed to be back, and in its prime. In the past decade, they had only turned a corner from Gulou Street to Jiaodaokou, and then met again.

Ten years ago, they released albums, toured, and had a huge fan base; they had all the glory a band should have. But when a band reaches its peak, it inevitably begins to decline. People enjoy the process of growth, but find it hard to accept the pain of falling. In reality, whether it's an individual or a band, as Lao Fan next door sings, powerlessness is our ultimate fate, no matter how glorious you once were.

Joyside on The Big Band, with Bian Yuan in red leather pants and a white suit—colors that contradict traditional punk—though punks never limit themselves. He suddenly started scattering stars on stage; it seems the wanderer has truly reached outer space.

As he begins his monologue, will another girl fall for his trap?
Da Zhangwei said this song was perfect for New Year's Eve; I wonder how the three members of Joyside felt about that. Bian Yuan's smile was a bit awkward. If Liu Hongwei had heard that ten years ago, would he have thrown his guitar off the stage? Since his comeback, he seems more like a gentleman; rock music is inherently inclusive.

Therefore, when the drums and guitar blast together, Tian Yuan sounds like a figure from another region, his voice filled with a sense of destiny:

"Move forward"

Let your heart guide you

This brand new adventure

Adventures will be everywhere

Possessing endless love
I am fearless
This

Myriad Worlds
I want to give you everything…

Then the previously bluish, cool stage lighting turned pink, and Tian Yuanzhen, moving around the stage, resembled a seemingly gentlemanly but actually roguish guy, using his voice to entice you to understand the romance he was interpreting:
Oh my love
You're not alone, my love.
You are a miracle of life

Let us forge ahead!
Oh my love
Be not afraid of my love
You are the only one in the universe
I will go with you and never return…

(End of this chapter)