Rock and Roll: Glorious Years

"It's called 'The One and Only Band.' It's basically about a group of musicians and lead singers who go there to form a band and compete. Most of them are independent musicians or established musicians, and there are also a few musicians from second-tier bands and pop singers. I have connections; if you want to go, you don't even need an audition. You can just go and participate the day after tomorrow."

Old Tan didn't know if Bian Lang understood, but that was his understanding.

Upon hearing this, Bian Lang immediately understood. Wasn't this just like the original Earth's "Our Band"? However, on Earth, these were all imitations of the popular "The Big Band," and they disappeared after one season. Unexpectedly, someone on this planet was going to use this to pioneer a band variety show.

His band is currently short of members, so how could he possibly let go of this opportunity to network in the industry?

"Go ahead, can you bring Dayong along?" Bian Lang regretted asking the question as soon as it left his mouth.

As expected, Da Yong refused outright: "No way! You're just wasting your time. I think when you're looking for other musicians, you should avoid mentioning my name for now."

Bian Lang was speechless. Da Yong was still going through that difficult time, and it was really hard for others to help him reconcile with himself.

Seeing how readily Bian Lang agreed, Lao Tan felt he was increasingly unable to understand Bian Lang anymore. The rock scene on Blue Water Star was currently in the same state as before the Big Band on Earth; everyone shook their heads at the mention of variety shows, and anyone who went would be drowned in the spittle of the industry.

That's how the rock scene is. Before a pioneer uses money, the most tangible thing, to break down this solid wall, everyone would rather starve themselves and go elsewhere to find income to fill their lives, just wanting to stay in their comfort zone and reign supreme.

If it weren't for an older brother in the production team who had helped Lao Tan a lot and instructed him to make sure to pass on the message, he wouldn't have planned to tell Bian Lang about this. Now that he saw that Bian Lang didn't object at all, he considered it as exceeding his mission: "We'll be filming in Hainan Province in three days. The filming fee is 3 yuan per episode. We'll sign for two episodes first. The production team will take care of all the transportation and accommodation. If you're sure, I'll get back to the person who gave me the contract."

Bian Lang nodded affirmatively, "I'm sure, but we're about to start recording, are you trying to cut in line?" He wouldn't be polite to Lao Tan, but if other relationships were involved, he would only know how to pay back later if he knew in advance.

"Don't overthink it. You'll find out what's going on when you get there. I won't rip you off."

When Lao Tan said that, Bian Lang didn't think much of it. Participating in this variety show was secondary; the key was to find musicians for the band. Even if he didn't find suitable ones, expanding his network in the industry was especially important for Bian Lang right now.

Given the original owner's pitifully small social circle, Bian Lang felt that finding Da Yong, the drummer, was already a blessing from their ancestors.

Sure enough, after Bian Lang got home, he received a list of performers from Lao Tan. He recognized two of the rock musicians on the list, and they were the kind of people he had met before when they performed together. But he paid special attention to one bassist because the band name was listed as "Magic City".

This is a top band under Magic Disc. Bian Lang guesses that this person came on the variety show because Magic Disc forced him to come and help promote the band.

Among the singers, he saw a name he had just heard yesterday: Xia Yuxi. Seeing this, Bian Lang felt this variety show experience was going to be very interesting.

……

At the headquarters of Magic Disc Records in Beijing, Wei Lan, along with Li Yiliang, was discussing band matters with Pan Xiulong.

At this moment, another agent from the company came over and asked, "Does your Li Yiliang want to go on 'The One and Only Band'? Brother Kai said if you want to go, he'll let you have it. Taiku platform always invests heavily in promoting its self-produced variety shows. You should think it over carefully; this is a great opportunity for Li Yiliang!"

As soon as the talent left, Pan Xiulong asked Li Yiliang, "You make the decision yourself; we won't offer any advice."

Actually, Li Yiliang had already figured out the agent's subtext. He made it sound like Kai was taking care of him, a newcomer, but in reality, the agent just didn't want to go and felt that it was beneath him to play rock music on variety shows.

Li Yiliang was no exception: "I'll avoid going if I can avoid it; I want to focus on refining my music!"

Pan Xiulong looked at him and nodded with satisfaction, saying, "Keep it up. We're all getting old. The future of Chinese rock music still depends on young people like you."

……

The next day, Bian Lang and Dayong rehearsed as planned in the morning, and there were no major problems with recording the songs in the afternoon. The accompaniment for all three songs was completed in four hours. The only flaw in Bian Lang's vocal recording was that his Cantonese pronunciation was not standard when singing "No Longer Hesitate".

Therefore, Bian Lang had Dayong record a separate version of the song. Anyway, he doesn't plan to release the song now. He wants to practice Cantonese with Dayong after finishing the variety show before recording another version.

Bian Lang sent Zhou Mo the demos of the OST and promotional song for "Tractor Band" that very night, and Zhou Mo invited Qiu Luo and the producer to listen to them together.

After listening, the producer remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Old Zhou, we didn't pay enough. How about this, we won't find anyone else to sing the promotional song. Let's give Bian Lang a little extra money and have someone record it directly."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Mo couldn't help but tease, "Zhong Hua, you're such a tightwad, you actually offer to give someone extra money? Qiu Luo, what do you mean by that?"

Qiu Luo offered cigarettes to everyone, lit one himself, and then said, "I think we should listen to Brother Lang. Let's find a good female singer to record this song; it'll be a way of helping Brother Lang get back at him. But we have to remember this favor!"

The producer nodded: "Okay, let's do it this way. I'll go find someone right away. For the sake of this song's quality, as long as the right person is found, we'll spend the money even if it's a top-tier star!"

……

August 19th, sunny.

Bian Lang got up at 4 a.m. and went out. On the early morning flight to Hainan Province, Bian Lang remembered the program process that Lao Tan had given him last night. The first episode was to record a segment where 31 contestants would give individual self-introductions, and the guest teachers would score and rank them based on their performance.

The guest teachers will appoint 3 S-level captains and 4 A-level captains to select members for the bands. The 3 S-level captains have priority in selecting members and there is no limit to the number of members. The 4 A-level captains will select from the remaining members, and the total number of members in the band cannot exceed 4.

The remaining team members do not have the right to choose their own captain, but they can refuse the invitation. If they are chosen by two captains of the same level, they have the right to choose the captain. If no one chooses them, they lose the opportunity to perform live. Team members who are not chosen by anyone in two consecutive rounds will be eliminated by the production team.

Bian Lang was aiming to find musicians, so he had to secure the S-rank in the first round. The original owner didn't have many connections in the industry, so it was impossible for him to get any help from the guest judges. Moreover, Bian Lang, who knew the tricks of variety shows well in his previous life, knew very well that there was only one S-rank spot that could be decided by the guest judges on the spot.

Therefore, the songs he presents and his live performance this time must be flawless.

"Continuing with 'Those Without Ideals Don't Get Hurt' Loop Station is impossible. I need to come up with something new to show people more of my potential... 'Glorious Years' in Cantonese is a double-edged sword, and 'Sister' is too heavy for the competition..."

Bian Lang, once again caught in a dilemma, drifted off to sleep while pondering his options.