Listen: Dirty Fingers

Amy Daml

June 29, 2017

If you haven’t seen those dirty bastard punks, Dirty Fingers yet then crawl out of that cave you live in and get thee to a music venue! With touring schedules like 8 gigs in 10 days or a 32-city album release tour, this “Beijing band based in Shanghai” plays everywhere, ANYWHERE, all the time! Even a crazy fan can’t stop them from replacing their guitarist with Bedstars’ Zhao Kai for the night and carrying on. You got no excuse! “But, Amy, I don’t know when they’re gonna be in Beijing…” August 5th at School Bar, silly! “But, Amy, I don’t even live in China…” Well, lucky for you these truly DIY punks are gonna take their crazy as hell touring schedule to the world – instead of crowd funding just to tour Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, they’re planning world domination in the form of a freaking 35-country tour hopefully by the end of 2019!!! Which means, they’ve got long-term plans. Which means, you’re gonna have a ton of opportunities to see them. And you’re not going to want to pass on the chance to witness in person their fun, high energy, craziness. And though they really couldn’t make it easier to see them live, if that’s not good enough for you, then keep your ears peeled for their next album release in November, out on Maybe Mars!

Interview Transcript:

Zhao Zilong (ZZ): drums

Guan Xiaotian (GX): vocals

Hai Ming (HM): bass player.

Zhao Kai (ZK): (of Bedstars) - guitarist for the night

Do you want to tell us your temporary name for the band for tonight?

ZZ: It's called dirty Joe, or dirty Bed, or dirty Victor. Finger star. Anything.

You guys are gaining quite a lot of popularity – everybody's writing about you, and saying you're the “Punk band to see this year.” How do you guys feel about your fame?

ZZ: I think the scene is very boring, yeah? People get excited for any kind of shit that appears. That's my opinion. I mean, I just feel tired of playing our songs already. I just want to have a break.

Really?

ZZ: No I mean, of concerts, you know?

Yeah, you guys play a lot of concerts! Last time you were here you played like seven days in a row, right?

ZZ: Was it?

GX: Now someone's helping us stop playing you know.

ZZ: A special fan. She's giving us a hand.

HM - Because we covered the Psycho Killer song, so a REAL psycho killer has appeared.

HM - A real psycho killer showed up

Do you guys want to talk about that?

HM:...it's so fucking long

ZZ: Not really actually – she's helping us out in being aware of drugs and stage. Actually, she's helping us. She’s helping us. I have to thank her! If you're listening to us, Song Song, thank you very much.

She's helping create more demand, right? So you guys won't play as much so everybody will REALLY want to see you.

ZZ: It's a good way to see it, yeah.

And you guys tend to play in Beijing quite a bit, why do we get so much love over here?

ZZ: Because you guys gave us a lot of love, yeah. I think Beijing likes us more than Shanghai, I guess, totally, totally.

Really? Why do you think that is?

ZZ: It's just a fact.

HM: We never know that.

GX: -- I don't know why.

HM: After the first gig, like, we're tourists in Beijing. Lots of people told me, “You guys are amazing!” or “Come more to Beijing and play” and then we come here to play. We are not like people said - THAT amazing, or THAT talented; we just want to do our best every gig. But I guess it's the city or the culture, you know. It's different between Beijing and Shanghai; it's very different. In Shanghai, the whole big fucking city, people don't give a fuck about anything. Just like, maybe today you are a star, you are a rock and roll star, and tomorrow you're just nothing. Here in Beijing, people keep talking and people keep going, so it's like more...more serious. We have season 1, and definitely we have season 2. In Shanghai, you're a single one, it’s a movie, that's it.

So you think Beijing is more suited to your style of music then?

HM: All good. All good. Both of the cities, I mean - Beijing and Shanghai - all good, but just different.

ZZ: People say we are “Beijing band based in Shanghai.” I heard this more than once. The attitude, the sound, and the stuff, it doesn't quite suit Shanghai. It's very much Beijing, and I guess that's why people like to have us here. I feel.

GX: - We are out-comers. We are not from the scene. And we don't think ourselves as being friends of / making friends in the scene. We have a small circle of friends here. Only us four, plus this guy here. We don't really care about the scene.

Speaking of this guy, how did you get him to join you guys tonight?

ZZ: It's a love relationship yeah? We've been flirting with him for a long time!

ZK: Actually, our two bands - Bedstars and Dirty Fingers, we're like a brotherhood.

HM -Date all the time.

Did you have to buy him dinner first? Some roses?

GX:-- Yeah, four dates!

ZK -- Not a date. He just bought me a sandwich.

What a cheap date!

ZZ: That's how we roll! 

ZK -- That's our style! That’s our style!

You guys just released some music. You just released an EP, right?

GX - Oh the live recordings!

ZZ: The live recordings. Yes, yes. We played with The Blue Man Group.

GX -- Actually it's the drummer from The Blue Man Group. One of the drummers.

ZZ: One of the bald blue guys, but not being blue, being normal. And he brought all of his band. He said, “It’s a side project of The Blue Man Group, they're a punk band.” And we were like, “Yeah! So excited!” And when we got there, they were just a cover band. It was such a bummer, you know. We opened for a cover band! From Las Vegas - at least they know how to play covers, yeah. Fuck. They play good covers actually. They play solid covers.

But that's where you got your recording for the EP?

ZZ: Yes! Exactly.

So something good came out of it?

ZZ: Yeah!

GX -- It was actually not our idea. The organizers recorded the whole gig, all three bands, and the guy AHO just mixed us. The other two bands, he didn't do anything with.

ZZ: Yeah, he’s our friend. He did our first album, so he was just like, “Yeah I will do that again, for free. Take it.”

HM - So kind!

ZZ: He's a nice guy. He's a nice brother.

So do you guys have any more recordings coming up?

GX – We just finished recording with Maybe Mars in Beijing before the Spring Festival. It was like five days in Yugong Yishan.

With Yang Haisong?

GX – Yeah, he's the recording guy.

How was it working with him? Were you like a little bit star struck?

ZZ: He's very, very silent. He's a silent worker. It’s a killer vibe. He just doesn't say anything.

HM -- He concentrates on work. I like that attitude. If we ask some questions, like, “How can we record better?” then he'll give many suggestions. He's good. I think he's good.

GX -- He hated us. He hated our music.

ZZ: I don't think he's a big fan, I don't think he liked my drum style as well. Fuck, man.

GX -- That part is definitely no, he's like “Fuck these twenty year old guys."

ZZ: He was like, “This guy cannot play in time, he's always fucking it up. That's what I felt in his eyes.

Did it make you nervous?

ZZ: Nah, nah. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter you know – we are paying him!

Awesome, well what else is coming up in the future for you guys? Tours? Albums?

ZZ: There is a tour for the album, yeah, with Maybe Mars.

And when will the album be released?

GX -- Hopefully the first half of the year

ZZ: The summer, yeah? The beginning of the summer, and then we are hoping to tour in the summer. Yes!

GX -- Hopefully, the end of summer would be great.

ZZ: And we tried to organize a crowd funding campaign to do Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. But this will be our stuff. They don't get involved in the organization, just promotion (Maybe Mars).

Well thank you guys, can't wait for the show tonight!

ZZ: You’re welcome.