Wangwen

Band members:
Guitar: Xie yugang/Geng xin
Bass: Zheng zi
Drums: Lian jiang

General Info
The band was formed in the city of Dalian, a busy seaport in northeast china, in the year of 1999. Wangwen was at first started by two awkward (at that time!) guitarists who were crazy about The Smashing Pumpkins and later joined by the drummer who also brought along the band name, representing the idea of an unknown band and insensibility to what others say. The band began to record their first demo- ‘the animal world’ on their own in the same year they formed. Since then the band members had been changing while continuous creation of new pieces of music and performing. ‘lingshuihe’(‘the IceWaterRiver’)was recorded on their own in 2000 and the third demo ‘the Tenebrous Yinyang Road’ was also completed two years later. During this period the music style of the band had been gradually changing from vocal to instrumental and started to draw broad attentions both from the reviews and the audience as well. It was considered as the one of the leading band from china in the fields of post-rock and acid rock. The band was influenced by: Mogwai, Red Red Meat, Mono, Explosion in the Sky, Polvo, Tortois，GYBE, etc.

Memorabilia:

2003: released the debut album ‘Diary of 28 Sleepless Days’ by ‘So Rock Records’.
Mar.2004: received interview from a famous Chinese rock music journal ‘So Rock’.
2004: two songs (‘the Dying End of Year’ and ‘Plentiful Harvest’) from the album were chosen for‘the Collection of the Year’ by the journal ‘So Rock’.
2004: recorded the single ‘Tide’ which lasted for 20 min long and released in the bonus CDs of the journal ‘So Rock’ and ‘X Music Magazine’.
Jul.2004: received interview from another famous Chinese music journal the ‘X Music Magazine’.
Beginning of 2005: self-released the album ‘6 Tales for 50 People’ recorded at the end of 2004.
Jun.2005: Rock Action Club was founded by the band and has now become the only live house for rock music in Dalian.
Nov.2005: remixed the album ‘6 Tales for 50 People’ and released the new version with the album name changed to ‘RE:RE:RE’.
Jan.2006: recorded the track ‘APPLE’ for the DVD documentary of MIDI music festival, Beijing,2005.
Oct.2006: signed up with ‘Scream Records’ and released the album ‘RE:RE:RE’.
Apr.2007: released their fourth full length album ‘7 Objects in Another Infinite Space’ under the label ‘Fox Tail Records’ and started out for their tour around the nation.

Work Listen

Disc:

The Animal World(demo)    Self-release,1999

The Ice Water River(demo) Self-release,2000 

The Tenebrous Yinyang Road(demo) Self-release,2002

Diary of 28 Sleepless Days (album)  So Rock Records,2003 

6 Tales for 50 People(album)     Self-release,2005

RE:RE:RE:(album) Scream Records/RHC,2006

7 Objects in Another Infinite Space (album) Fox Tail Records,2007

Contact:
email：unknownband@126.com
douban：http://www.douban.com/group/38876/

Important Shows：

Apr.7th,1999: the band debuted in a commemoration show in memory of Kurt Cobain at the Noah’s Ark Bar in Dalian.

Oct,1999: the band performed at the 1st rock music festival held by the motor club in Dalian.

Nov.1999 to Jan.2000: the band went on a tour to perform in several colleges and universities in Dalian.

Mar.2000: gave a special performance at the Punk Bar in Dalian.

Apr.2000: joined the commemoration show at the Noah’s Ark Bar in Dalian.

Nov.2000: gave a special performance at the Oak Bar in Beijing.

Apr.2001: performed their second demo ‘lingshuihe’ (‘the Ice Water River’) at the Noah’s Ark Bar in Dalian for the first time.

Jul. to Sep.2001: went on a tour with another two bands (‘the Moss’ and ‘the Flag’) to perform at several colleges and universities in Dalian.

Feb.2002: performed their third demo‘the Tenebrous Yinyang Road’for the first time at the Little Bird Bar.

Sep.2003: performed their debut album ‘Diary of 28 Sleepless Days’ for the first time at the Polar Region Bar.

May.2004: joined the theme performance ‘Who is Singing in the Spring’ at HaoYun, Beijing (the NEW Get Lucky Bar and Restaurant).

May.2005: went on a mini tour at the Nameless Highland and 13 Club, Beijing as well as the Halley Bar, Shanghai.

Jul.2005: jointly performed with Godot, a brilliant post-rock band from shanghai at the Xixiabangma Bar, Dalian.

Aug.2005: performed at the opening show of R.A Club.

Oct.2005: gave a non-stop performance for 150 min in the ‘Marathon Show’ at the R.A Club, Dalian.

Oct.2005: performed their second album ‘RE:RE:RE’ for the first time along with the Spiral Cow.

Jan.2006: gave an exclusive performance at the Nameless Highland, Beijing.

Jan, 14th, 2006: performed at the RA Club for the 7th anniversary of the band.

Apr.2006: toured in Shanghai and Suzhou.

May.2006: performed at the small concert of MIDI Music Festival, Beijing and received high remarks from a broad audience.

May.2006: gave an exclusive performance at the Nameless Highland, Beijing.

Jun.2006: joined the Peace Square Music Festival, Dalian.

Reviews:

The grace goes on

An adapted review written by Ai leng after enjoying the performance of Wangwen at the small concert of MIDI Music Festival, Beijing ,2006

‘Wangwen’ means nobody knows them and they do not care about what others say. With a sense of unknown mystery the band express their solitude and proud heart through music. These young men on stage came from Dalian, unlike those fancy or erratic musicians they were without fashion looks, away from desperation or the trouble from Neurosis, they were just calm and quiet. Got out of the ‘Animal World’, walked through the ‘Ice water River’ and stepped on the ‘Tenebrous Yinyang Road’, Wangwen finished writing the ‘Diary of 28 Sleepless Days’ and began to tell ‘6 Tales for 50 People’. Words are replaced by the playing of instruments as the right of post-rock. Tacitly touched by Mogwai, Red Red Meat, and Explosion in the Sky, Wangwen were inspired to tell their own experience with unique style and grace. They are now fully capable of telling stories through brilliant composition and has stepped out of the aid of words as a way of expressing. Nonverbal expression makes uncertainty possible and helps you to think, remember, rejoice and mourn, decide or hesitate. It is a more abstractive way to communicate thus more inclusive, and it offers the opportunity to express complicated feelings: there are moments of elegancy, moments of disruptive explosion. The music can be made in to so long a song as some part of it seems raw and repetitive. The band draws a very grand structure out of their gifted imagination but lacks the interest to elaborate the details of it. The band has it dramatic highlight-they are accomplished in shuffling between grand magnificent and tiny particularity. However, the support behind were somehow weak and more refined elaboration were needed. As a result, it’s easy to have a feeling of gap and rupture in the music. Nonetheless their evident talent and unique understanding for music were estimable and appreciated. It would be a beautiful experience itself for the band to play for those audiences who got away from the boisterous main stage and willingly keep a quiet heart for themselves. Throw of words, they reached out to men all the better. They had kept their amiable attitude, humbleness and well understanding for music. The grace goes on.

‘Wangwen’ means nobody knows them and they do not care about what others say. With a sense of unknown mystery the band express their solitude and proud heart through music. These young men on stage came from Dalian, unlike those fancy or erratic musicians they were without fashion looks, away from desperation or the trouble from Neurosis, they were just calm and quiet. Got out of the ‘Animal World’, walked through the ‘Ice water River’ and stepped on the ‘Tenebrous Yinyang Road’, Wangwen finished writing the ‘Diary of 28 Sleepless Days’ and began to tell ‘6 Tales for 50 People’. Words are replaced by the playing of instruments as the right of post-rock. Tacitly touched by Mogwai, Red Red Meat, and Explosion in the Sky, Wangwen were inspired to tell their own experience with unique style and grace. They are now fully capable of telling stories through brilliant composition and has stepped out of the aid of words as a way of expressing. Nonverbal expression makes uncertainty possible and helps you to think, remember, rejoice and mourn, decide or hesitate. It is a more abstractive way to communicate thus more inclusive, and it offers the opportunity to express complicated feelings: there are moments of elegancy, moments of disruptive explosion. The music can be made in to so long a song as some part of it seems raw and repetitive. The band draws a very grand structure out of their gifted imagination but lacks the interest to elaborate the details of it. The band has it dramatic highlight-they are accomplished in shuffling between grand magnificent and tiny particularity. However, the support behind were somehow weak and more refined elaboration were needed. As a result, it’s easy to have a feeling of gap and rupture in the music. Nonetheless their evident talent and unique understanding for music were estimable and appreciated. It would be a beautiful experience itself for the band to play for those audiences who got away from the boisterous main stage and willingly keep a quiet heart for themselves. Throw of words, they reached out to men all the better. They had kept their amiable attitude, humbleness and well understanding for music. The grace goes on.