采访：Pairs和Next Year’s Love的吉他手“F”
Interview with F of Pairs/Next Year’s Love

By Josh, 2011年 9月 29日

《 中文采访 》

In most interviews with the outspoken Pairs, the one outspeaking the interviewer is boisterous drummer/frontman Xiao Zhong. Less often heard from is the duo’s guitarist, who also has a demure, classically shoegaze stage persona, often facing her amp during the band’s live shows. F has recently launched a new band, Next Year’s Love, who will play together with Pairs on the first three days of the October holiday in Beijing. Read on to learn more:

pangbianr: I’ve read that Pairs was your first band and [Pairs drummer] Xiao Zhong initially wrote and taught you to play all the songs. Is that right? What made you interested in learning guitar in the first place?

F: That’s correct. I had an acoustic guitar but didnt play it a lot during my college time. When Xiao Zhong talked about this Pairs idea——jamming in the rehearsal room and see how it goes, I thought it’s interesting and could be fun, so we just started whatever it is. I didnt realise that we were a band at that time.

pbr: How do you think you’ve progressed since you started playing in Pairs?

F: No remarkable progresses (blushed) as I am usually too busy or lazy to practice at home though I know I should. Not really a good excuse, but I think my new band Next Year’s Love would make me work more on guitar.

pbr: Can you talk about Next Year’s Love a bit? What does it sound like, who’s in it, etc? Do you have any plans for NYL in the immediate future?

F: Next Year’s Love consists of 3 non-musicians. It’s Sophia on keyboard, Vic on bass and me on guitar. We all sing in some of the songs-not all time together, just what makes it right. We play our music with some cheap/second-hand instruments. Honestly, I don’t know what we sound like. Vic likes industrial dance and some new wave/dark wave thing while Sophia I guess she likes some indie/noisy/lo-fi stuff. So you could probably guess what we should like or not. Vic played bass in Eyes Behind during her stay in Paris. Sophia hadn’t been in any band before but she is quite familiar with live shows as she works in Yuyintang and has seen many bands playing there before.

I think we dont have real big plans for the uncertain future, maybe just write more new songs, play shows and have fun. Things will be figured out when they come to the next step.

pbr: I ask every Shanghai person interviewed here this: what are some bands/labels/organizations/venues/whatevers coming out of Shanghai that you find the most interesting?

F: Honestly, I can’t recall any band/label/organization/venue which is interesting in Shanghai at this moment. People keep trying to do new stuffs, but soon these new stuffs become old after being repeated all over and over. And most are these foreigners who make things happen. But I believe there is still a lot that can be digged. A drum kit in a subway station, a cultural corridor around some square, people who play trumpets optionally after work. etc. Anything, just do it and make it happen.

pbr: How did you get the name “F”?

F: This one used to fail me, but now I have a better explanation. The pronunciation of “F” can be “Uh F-uh” sometimes if you do it in a vague and funny way, and it will be “艾虎” if you put down the Chinese characters according to the “Uh F-uh” pronunciation. Use google translation, it will tell you that means fitch something, and then pick the capital letter F. Here it is.

Huge thanks to the great translation tool.

pbr: Considering this is your fourth or fifth time coming to Beijing — and you’re playing three shows in a row — what are your expectations this time around? Any band or show you’re particularly excited about?

F: I like Beijing and it’s cool to meet up with friends or play a show together but soon you will get bored by playing with same the bands at the same venues. We have thought about doing some afternoon shows, so that together people can drink beers/eat barbeque/watch the bands/talk whatever they want/come on stage and play together/rest and have fun. Should be a lovely afternoon.

But anyway, I will never know what would surprise me.

Pairs and Next Year’s Love will play on Oct 1st at Hot Cat Club, on Oct 2nd at D-22, and Oct 3rd at Mao Live.

 

旁边儿: 我听说Pairs是你的第一个乐队，你们的歌曲最先是由小中创作并且教会你如何弹奏的。是这样吗？你最先怎么会对学习吉他感兴趣呢？

F: 没错。我有一把木吉他，但是在大学的时候没有经常玩。当小中和我说到要不要一起排练看看的时候，我觉得应该会很好玩，所以我们就这样开始了。不过我当时并没有意识到我们是一个乐队的概念。

旁边儿: 自从开始在Pairs演奏之后，你觉得你取得了怎样的进步呢？

F: 没有很大的进步（惭愧）。通常我都是太忙太懒，所以没有很好地在家练习，虽然我知道应该多摸摸琴才对。蹩脚的借口，不过我想我的新乐队Next Year’s Love会促使我在吉他上花更多工夫。

旁边儿: 你最近开始在一个新乐队Next Year’s Love里演出。能介绍一下这个乐队吗？ 你们的音乐听上去是怎样的？乐队成员有谁？诸如此类。对于Next Year’s Love未来的发展，有什么计划吗？

F: Next Year’s Love由三个业余演奏者组成。分别是弹键盘的Sophia，演奏贝斯的Vic和拨弄一下吉他的我。 我们基本上都会唱——但不是每首歌曲，只是感觉舒服就好。我们用一些廉价/二手乐器演奏。说实话我真的不知道我们听起来像什么。Vic喜欢工业舞曲/新浪潮/黑浪潮风格的东西。Sophia则喜欢一些独立/噪音/低保真的类型。所以基本上你可以猜出我们听上去是怎样的，或者全无头绪。Vic在巴黎的时候有在Eyes Behind里弹贝斯。Sophia之前没有参加过乐队，但她对现场演出相当熟悉。她在育音堂工作并且在那里看了无数的乐队演出。
我想对于不可知的未来，我们没有什么大计划，应该就是写新歌和一些演出，然后开心就好。船到桥头自然直吧。

旁边儿: 我会向每一个上海的被访者问及这样一个问题：你认为哪些是上海最有趣的乐队/厂牌/组织/场地/其他任何好玩的事物？

F: 说实话，目前我想不出有什么好玩的上海乐队/厂牌/组织/场地。大家都在不断尝试新事物，但是这些在被重复了无数遍后迟早会变成旧事物。而且基本上都是些外国人在组织和参与。但是我相信还是有很多很多可以继续挖掘的。比如说，出现在地铁站里的架子鼓；哪个广场周围的文化长廊；下班后聚集在一起随意吹奏小号的人群。诸如此类。重要的是去做某件事情，要让它发生。

旁边儿: 你怎么会叫“F”？

F: 通常这是个棘手的问题，不过现在我有了更好的答案。如果把“F”这个音发得模糊又搞怪的话，那么它就变成了“Uh F-uh”。然后把这个发音用中文写下来就是“艾虎”。之后谷歌翻译会告诉你“艾虎”的意思是fitch什么的，再取首字母F。就是这样。
感谢伟大的翻译工具指点迷津。

旁边儿: 这是你第4次还是第5次来北京了——3天3场演出——你对这一次北京之行有什么期待吗？有什么特别感兴趣的乐队或者演出吗？

F: 我很喜欢北京，并且和朋友一起演出聊天什么的都很棒。只是每次都和同样的乐队在同样的场地演出多少会有些无聊。我们有想过做一些下午场的演出，大家可以一起喝酒/吃烧烤/观看乐队表演/聊天长地短/跳上台和乐队一起玩/休息放松。一个愉快的下午。
不过，未来总是不可知的。

Pairs和Next Year’s Love回十月一号在热力猫酒吧，十月二号在D-22, 和十月三号在Mao Live演出。

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