Super VC (果味VC): Chinese Brit-pop from Beijing
Have all your friends abandoned you? Got a case of the holiday blues? What better pick-me-up could there be than Chinese Brit-pop? (Just play along, folks.)
Beijing band Super VC (果味VC or "fruit flavored VC" ... we think the VC part stands for "vitamin C" and not "venture capitalists") will play Friday and Saturday shows at 4Live this weekend — and what we've heard from the band so far sounds good (if not a lot like Shanghai's own Ferris Wheel and that British band that totally ripped off the Chinese Brit-pop sound, Coldplay).
Here is their bio at the Rock in China Wiki:
This British rock band has been together since 1993. Their debut album Double Life was produced by Zhang Ya Dong, a renowned producer for Faye Wong. The lead track Transsonictrain hit No.1 on the charts, and they were given the New Band award that year. Their second album, A Gift From Super VC was released last August. Now that vocalist Sun Lingsheng is currently studying in England, the band is active whenever he returns to China during vacations. Awarded China’s Gold Disk Award for Best Group in 2006.
China has "charts"? A China Radio International blurb from 2003 said Super VC was breaking up and that "their clean cut image and laid back singing style prompted many insiders to hail them as the next big thing." But they were back together in time to put out A Gift From Super VC (reviewed here) in 2005.
You can watch a 17-minute video of an August Super VC show here (you can also learn that the band members were all born in 1978 and don't know that pop culture exists outside of the UK). The band's official site has a bunch of goodies, including Real Media files for last year's album. Tudou.com has some sound files, as well.
Super VC (果味VC) live at 4Live, 8 Jianguo Zhong Lu near Chong Qing Nan Lu. Friday and Saturday, 9 pm. Tickets: RMB 60 (includes one drink), students RMB 30. Tel: 64150700/13585725756. Details at Upcoming.org.
Video from Tudou.com. We think it was filmed at Get Lucky Bar in Beijing.