In May 2009 I was invited to document Sham 69's tour of China; the first ever by a British punk band. The doors were beginning to open on a once closeted nation and Sham, proud of their punk roots, [a genre which was only just flourishing in the clubs and minds of the westward-looking Chinese youth] were indeed honoured.
This 9 date tour was very last minute for us; with no time to go through official channels we secured our own tourist visas and armed with our trusty Sony A1s we flew to Shanghai to rendezvous with the band. So what did we expect? Rock & roll mayhem, an orgy of late night drinking and drugs, groupies on tap and trouble with the law?
Well the next 14 days were a gruelling [in rock & roll terms] slog across the length and breadth of the country. We travelled mostly by train, usually in noisy, smelly sleeper compartments, occasionally by plane and most scarily by van, crammed into shaky old rust-buckets driven by the crazy, the reckless and the short-sighted. We visited cities I had never even heard of before this trip [Wuhan, Chengdu, Changsha] as well as the more familiar [Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong]. We were accompanied by a Chinese punk band “No Name” and their singer/tour manager Ray. Ray was enthusiastic but not exactly experienced in tour managing and with no fixers or officials in tow it meant we never really knew what was happening. But Ray introduced us to a developing punk scene where we met passionate youths excited by the changes going on around them, eager to experience western punk albeit played 33 years after the initial explosion back in the UK. And Sham were indeed an inspiration to them.
The backdrop of China was a mindblowing, intriguing experience. Here was a country in the process of rebuilding and reinventing itself. Buildings were been torn down to be replaced by brighter, taller ones; new infrastructures were appearing, western chain stores were popping up everywhere; and of course Starbucks and MacDonalds were omnipresent.
We went to make a “punkrockumentary” about a band causing chaos through a strange new land [and yes, there were drugs; prescription drugs and yes there was mayhem; mainly when getting on and off the trains] but what we came back with was more, much more for this is a film about determination, survival, camaraderie, conflict, conflict resolution, humour and downright belief.
This 9 date tour was very last minute for us; with no time to go through official channels we secured our own tourist visas and armed with our trusty Sony A1s we flew to Shanghai to rendezvous with the band. So what did we expect? Rock & roll mayhem, an orgy of late night drinking and drugs, groupies on tap and trouble with the law?
Well the next 14 days were a gruelling [in rock & roll terms] slog across the length and breadth of the country. We travelled mostly by train, usually in noisy, smelly sleeper compartments, occasionally by plane and most scarily by van, crammed into shaky old rust-buckets driven by the crazy, the reckless and the short-sighted. We visited cities I had never even heard of before this trip [Wuhan, Chengdu, Changsha] as well as the more familiar [Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong]. We were accompanied by a Chinese punk band “No Name” and their singer/tour manager Ray. Ray was enthusiastic but not exactly experienced in tour managing and with no fixers or officials in tow it meant we never really knew what was happening. But Ray introduced us to a developing punk scene where we met passionate youths excited by the changes going on around them, eager to experience western punk albeit played 33 years after the initial explosion back in the UK. And Sham were indeed an inspiration to them.
The backdrop of China was a mindblowing, intriguing experience. Here was a country in the process of rebuilding and reinventing itself. Buildings were been torn down to be replaced by brighter, taller ones; new infrastructures were appearing, western chain stores were popping up everywhere; and of course Starbucks and MacDonalds were omnipresent.
We went to make a “punkrockumentary” about a band causing chaos through a strange new land [and yes, there were drugs; prescription drugs and yes there was mayhem; mainly when getting on and off the trains] but what we came back with was more, much more for this is a film about determination, survival, camaraderie, conflict, conflict resolution, humour and downright belief.
