And I got some songs for you to sample!
So yeah, this band is interesting. We have Richard Doran on guitar, noise effects and vocals who spends half of his time in Dublin, Ireland and the other 6 months of the year in Beijing and Beijing’s Wang Xinjiu on drums and vocals. The two are creating Garage Rock with Punk and Blues elements for a a predominantly Chinese audience. Pretty gnarly.
One thing that’s fascinating about China’s Indie scene are the ways people get connected. It’s like the cliche “How was your band formed?” interview question is no longer cliche when concerning Chinese bands. In regards to LOW BOW’s story if you keep on reading you’ll be able to learn the answer to this question fully, but in short Richard was performing some shows at one of Beijing’s most popular live houses and met Wang Xinjiu while there. If the name Wang Xinjiu sounds familiar to you it’s because he was the drummer for the very popular, critically acclaimed band Birdstriking. Two people with completely different walks of life coming together through music. I’ve really only seen it happen in this way in China. There’s just something unique about music collaboration there.
LOW BOW’s Heavy Days EP was successfully debuted at Beijing’s Dusk Dawn Club, and more shows are being planned for the duo. Another cool point about this release is that Brad Seippel aka thruoutin, a guy who’s Experimental sounds and compilations appear frequently on FEV, mixed the entire project. I just really get a kick out of how genuinely collaborative this scene is, fueled by a common love for good tunes.
For more info on LOW BOW and to listen to a couple of singles from the EP, keep scrolling!
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LOW BOW is a two-man garage rock ‘n roll punk blues band made up of Richard Doran (Ireland) and Wang Xinjiu (China).
Beginning back in 2010, LOW BOW initially started out as a one-man band with Richard using a three stringed telecaster (didn’t need to learn chords) and a kick drum. Recordings and rehearsals being carried out in hotel rooms around China as Richard worked as a television presenter for China Central Television and started trying to make something to stay sane while on the road. The results were … chaotic noise but fun!After playing a few shows at one of Beijing’s most beloved centers for experimental noise music, D-22, Richard met Wang Xinjiu who was at the time, drummer for one of China’s outstanding independent rock bands, ‘Birdstriking’. A friendship soon developed and the two decided to make some cheerful chaos noise together.
Inspired by the sounds of fuzzed out guitar rock from the late 60’s and 70’s and especially The Stooges, in addition to The Beat Happenings, Blues Explosion & Dirty Beaches, LOW BOW have been playing shows around China and filling rooms with screaming feedback and apoplectic drums which seems to have been going down well.Despite having recorded and released several digital e.p’s on-line, it was only until 2014 that LOW BOW released their first vinyl on Genjing records, the brain child of Nevin Domer, a Beijing based, hard-core guitar playing, musical powerhouse and shows were played in Beijing and Shanghai to promote the release.
In 2014, Richard returned to his hometown of Dublin, Ireland but luckily, owing to the flexible nature of his new job, was able to return to China and continue to make music and perform with Wang Xinjiu.
In January of 2018, the pair went into the studio with Namu, a multi-award winning producer and recording engineer in addition with producing expertise from another Beijing-based American musician / producer, Brad M. Seippel and began recording what was to become their first full release entitled, ‘heavy days’ which the pair are very excited about and look forward to touring both in China and (fingers crossed) overseas.
You can hear more of LOW BOW’s music on their BandCamp page: Lowbowmusic.bandcamp.com