Interview: Residence A

I’ve been screaming the praises of Residence A for the past year and half – simply put, they are one of my favorite bands in town. They are one of the hardest working, manic, genuine fun bands in town whose energetic infectious sound has catapulted them to the top of everyone’s must-see lists. With a self-released album under their belt (which you can find here) and accolades coming from all ends, including a recent nomination for “Local Band of the Year” at City Weekend, the four-piece indie rock band was kind enough to answer some quick questions regarding their work ethic.

1) You guys recently were awarded the Editor’s Choice award at City Weekend – how does it feel?

Thank you to the editors at City Weekend and people who love us. We hope we can make better music for all of you in the future.  

2) You recently returned from a 30-day tour? How did it go? Any interesting stories there?

The tour was lots of fun. It went better than we expected and we made a lot of friends – good times. Our most interesting story is very personal – we can’t share it with everyone here, when I see you next I’ll tell you the whole thing. You’ll laugh a lot.

3) You’ve been playing non-stop for almost the past year and a half – where do you find the energy? Do you force yourselves to mix it up to keep yourselves interested?

I think that the only way you can keep your bands feeling intact by playing nonstop. Your energy only grows. Haha. We all like energetic music so it’s what we strive to make. We never lack passion and interest – the most we have is passion and interest. If someone needs it we’ll give it to them for free. Haha. At least that’s the way it is at the moment

4) You seem to have no problem, easing in and out of different genres in your sound – how would you describe your sound?

As long as we think its good, then really, there’s no problem. Of course, we never play certain types of music and we allow our feelings and conscious decide the songs and how they shape.

5) You guys could of easily signed with any the labels around town – what made you decide to record and release your album yourselves?

For a Chinese band, making your own album is simply amazing – we hope to record more and more albums like this, and have more people hear our material. Qiao Xiaodao helped us a lot on this album, and we’re preparing our next album right now.

6) What are your summer plans this year?

Continue to create music – making better music, and taking our band to the next level.

Thanks guys ! Catch Residence A this weekend, both nights – at Yugong Yishan Friday, and at the Blue Stream Bar, on Saturday. Browse their douban page. And be sure to check the calendar for their other shows this month, believe me, you don’t want to miss these guys.

1) 你们最近获得City Weekend 的编辑评选奖。你们有何感想？
   
谢谢CITY WEEKEND 的编辑和所有爱我们的人，我们希望自己能做出更好的音
乐来给大家听。
 

2) 你们刚从为期一个半月的巡演中回来，演出如何？有没有有趣的故事发生？
 
巡演很快乐，演出也比我们预想的要好，一路上又认识了好多朋友，很快乐
，特别有意思的事情，涉及到个人隐私了，抱歉不能跟大家分享，不过可以当面
跟你讲，保证你笑的前仰后合的。哈哈。
 
 3)你们在过去的一年半中几乎没有停止过演出。你们从哪里找到的能量？你们也会强迫自己不断保持热情和兴趣吗？

 我认为只有不断的演出才能保持乐队的感觉。演出本身也使得乐队在不断的
进步，能量就越来越大了，哈哈。我们几个人喜欢的都是有劲的音乐，所以我们
做的音乐也会是有劲的。做音乐的兴趣和热情我们从来就不缺乏，最多的就是兴
趣和热情了，如果有人需要的话，我们也可以送他们一些，哈哈。至少此刻是这
样的。
 
4) 你们似乎能够轻而易举的改变音乐风格，你们如何看待你们的音乐风格？

   只要我们几个人认为是好的，就没问题，我们不会刻意的去做特定的风格的东
西，死个人的感觉和意识决定了乐队的作品。

5)什么使得你们最后决定要自己录制这张专辑 《请用身体砸碎欲望逃生》
   
对于中国的乐队来说，录一张自己的专辑太不可思议了，我们想录很多专辑
，让更多的人们听到我们的作品，我们已经在准备下一张专辑了，必须要说明的
是这张专辑 乔小刀 给了我们很多帮助。
 
6)你们今年夏天有什么计划吗？
   
继续创作，创作出好的作品。希望乐队能再上一个台阶。