Cold Case, Flyx, SS20 & Demerit
@ D22, 22 May 2010

By Josh, 2010年 5月 23日

Demerit was one of the first to make my list of Beijing bands to see and it took me almost a year to cross them off. I’ve been to a few punk and hardcore shows but Demerit is the most often-mentioned punk band in Beijing, so I was glad to see them coming off of their 6 month hiatus last night.

First band was Cold Case, which I think I’ve seen before. They started off pretty slow but by the end of their set both the pace of their songs and the crowd density had increased dramatically. They shared a bass player with the second band, Flyx, who continued the crescendoing momentum. The singer of Flyx was passionately into Anti-Flag. They played a cover and then after their set when 孟小岩 (aka Lionel), the D22 sound guy, threw on “Die For Your Government” the Flyx leader stayed on stage to rock a solo a capella encore. I was into it.

Next up was a German thrash band called SS20. They were ok, but I think the singer missed his calling in death metal. Every Black Flag shirt I’ve ever seen in Beijing was in attendance, which paid dividends when the SS20 singer ordered all of them to press up front for a cover of “Nervous Breakdown.” I made my way to the front for this liked the familiarity of seeing people in mohawks singing along to Flag. I’m never quite sure if Chinese punks actually know the words or are just along for the chaos.

Last was Demerit. They lived up to the description I’d gotten from Nevin earlier, which is Casualties mixed with some more metal guitar shredding. They do it well, and have a dedicated fan base. I was up front, stage left and I spent most of the time balancing my beer with my bouncer responsibilities. Heavy pitting. At one point this Estonian guy who had inadvertently elbowed me in the face and who was falling over several times during each song asked me where I’m from and I said America. He put his arm around me and said “Georgia! We’re neighbors!” A few songs later he said “Where are you from?” and I said “America, not Georgia. I’m from Texas.” [Sidenote: yes, I know he meant the Democratic Republic and not the state with great cheese grits.] He replied “Well, long live Turkey,” took off his shirt and barreled into the other punx who were waiting to re-establish his equilibrium.

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