Eleven of Beijing’s best high school bands rocked it out in front of a sold-out show at Modernista on Sunday, May 5, and after all the dust settled, one band — Keystone Academy’s quartet Somninote — walked away with the title of Beijing’s Best International High School Band.
Best Band winners Somninote, photo by John Ball
In the process, thanks to ticket and t-shirt sales as well as generous contributions by over 200 fans, the event raised over RMB 33,000 for Our Learning House, a school for disadvantaged children in Chaoyang District.
With an all-Mandarin set of indie pop covers from bands deca joins and No Party for Cao Dong, Somninote was the unanimous #1 pick of all four music industry professionals that served as judges for the event. In addition to the top prize, the band also won the prize for Best Singer (Jeffrey Liu) and Best Drummer (Terry Yin).
Best Singer Jeffrey Liu of Somninote, photo by Mike Pomerantsev / fotoMikhanix
“Somninote had such a good energy on stage,” said judge Jess Meider, a professional singer/songwriter and graduate of Berklee College of Music. “They even did a song in an odd time signature and it was so rocking that everyone was nodding their head to the beat. They did it flawlessly and it really sounded great.”
Best Drummer Terry Yin of Somninote, photo by John Ball
“They just swept over every band with the top score,” added Modernista’s Nuria Cimini, who also served as a judge and is a veteran of booking over 3,000 shows at the hip venue hidden in Beijing’s hutongs. “They were solid in so many ways.”
“They had great arrangements, impressive guitar players, and the drummer kept those triplets crispy!” said judge Ma Jianchu, a guitarist/vocalist who plays with three bands (Cig&Bee, Ooz Zoo, Shouting Nerd) and is also a graduate of Berklee.
Photo by John Ball
Somninote’s championship brought them a boatload of prizes, including the chance to host a live performance for family and friends at Home Plate (along with a RMB 1,000 voucher); a professional songwriting course from Confident You; a recording session with Brevity of Motion Sounds studio; a complimentary one-hour lesson for each band member from faculty at BIMM University; and tickets to The Beijinger’s Sausage Fest May 17-19.
Coming in Second Place was The Cyclops, from the French International School of Beijing, who performed a stunning set featuring one song in English, one in Chinese, and one in French, starting with an amazing cover of Coldplay’s “Yellow” that had the crowd singing along.
The Cyclops, photo by Mike Pomerantsev / fotoMikhanix
The band won the judges’ hearts with their breadth of linguistic abilities, as well as incredible bass from Andréas Schoorl, who was awarded the prize for Best Bass.
Best Bass winner Andréas Schoorl of The Cyclops, photo by John Ball
“They had a really nice rhythm section and the bass was on fire,” remarked Jianchu.
“They were one of the most cohesive bands,” said Jess. “You could tell they’ve rehearsed a lot. Everyone was into it. Even the songs they chose were great.”
The Cyclops lead singer Leïla Brochard, photo by John Ball
“I loved this band,” said Nuria, “They really felt, looked and sounded like a band. Their singer had a sort of dreamy magnetism ready to enchant the masses, and their bass player was not only great but also had a great stage presence. Together they had that 90s indie band feel to them that was hard to resist.”
The Cyclops won RMB 500 gift certificates to both Home Plate and QMex, along with tickets to The Beijinger’s Sausage Fest May 17-19.
Pretty Ugly, photo by John Ball
In Third Place was Dulwich College Beijing (DCB)’s Pretty Ugly, who also took home the Audience Favorite victory as well as the Best Stage Presence for frontman Kaine Chrisengku of Pretty Ugly.
Best Stage Presence winner Kaine Chrisengku of Pretty Ugly, photo by Mike Pomerantsev / fotoMikhanix
“[Kaine] really behaved like a front man,” said Nuria. “He was leading the performance, and on top of that he was wearing a Weezer t-shirt – what else needs to be said?”
“They had some really great moments – great energy and cohesion – and I loved their drummer,” added Jess.
Pretty Ugly, photo by Mike Pomerantsev / fotoMikhanix
The band – all freshmen at Dulwich – have only been together as a band for six months, so who knows what the future will bring for these rising talents. “The attitude is there, the idea is there – with a little more improvement, they will be really good,” said Nuria.
For their third place win, Pretty Ugly won RMB 300 gift certificates to both Home Plate and QMex, along with tickets to The Beijinger’s Sausage Fest May 17-19.
They were also awarded RMB 1,000 from QMex for a post-event celebration for their Audience Favorite prize. They won by rallying their fans to donate RMB 5,670 to Our Learning House – more than any of the competing bands.
Rounding out the winners circle was Alu*, the Beijing City International School (BCIS) band whose lead guitarist Haolin Yin was awarded Best Guitarist.
Best Guitarist winner Haolin Yin of Alu*, photo by John Ball
“These kids were a delight.” said Nuria, “You could feel their presence around the room from the start. They had a great attitude, great style, and a great guitarist.”
Vocalist Jenny Jin of Alu*, photo by John Ball
Nuria also remarked on the vocals from the band’s Jenny Jin. “In my opinion, she had the most beautiful voice of all.”
While four bands collected all the hardware given out at the event, the other seven bands were no less impressive, making for an amazing afternoon of entertainment and a tough time for the judges, who found merit and promise in all 11 bands.
No Sleep, photo by Mike Wester
One of them, No Sleep, a supergroup of sorts made up of students from three different high schools – No. 80 High School International Department, Beijing Royal School, and Beijing Huijia Private School – stunned the crowd with an awesome rendition of Guns n’ Roses’ classic “Sweet Child of Mine”, followed by not one but two original songs, surprising the judges with their musical maturity.
A brief discussion post-event amongst the judges came to the conclusion that that feat was worthy of a new award we hadn’t previously planned on giving out – the Best Original Song award, which goes to the band for their crowd-rollicking “Judy” that had the house screaming the call-and-response refrain.
“The band was confident and brought excitement to the crowd,” said Jianchu. “They brought a nice boogie with their original songs!”
In the end, the judges said they had a hard time choosing favorites, but the top bands showed just a little more.
Photo by Mike Wester
“I have to say overall I was super impressed with all of the bands,” said Greg Luttrell, who brings a lifetime of professional music performance to his role as one of the afternoon’s judges.“It was really great to check out the young bands and see them congratulating each other,” the long-time music scene veteran said. “There was great energy in the room all day, and it was cool to see them rocking out in a real music venue like Modernista.”
“The thing that we judges were looking for was cohesion,” said Jess. “That’s when a band comes together and sounds like a band because they practiced and they all have their parts down and they’re enjoying themselves, and they’ve rehearsed the beginnings and the endings of each song. I think that’s what brought me to love Somninote and The Cyclops: They considered how they wanted to do each song, and then they rehearsed it. It sounded like it was together.”Here’s a brief rundown of the other competing bands that rocked the house Sunday:
Carterfly, photo by John Ball
Carterfly from International School of Beijing (ISB) was one of the hardest rocking bands of the day. Fronted by four musicians decked out in black and camo with long headbanging locks, they whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
Carterfly, photo by John Ball
“They had the look!” said Nuria. “Nice tone, powerful drumming,” added Jianchu.
Detention, photo by John Ball
Detention, the six-piece band from the International Department of the BDA School of the High School Affiliated to Renmin University, got the crowd into it with their rousing rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.”
Detention, photo by John Ball
The judges noted both their lead singers’ powerful vocals along with the band’s solid bass and keyboard playing.
Nedoband, photo by John Ball
NEDOBAND, the quartet from the Russian Embassy Middle School in Beijing, had the toughest assignment – open the show as the first act to play – but they pulled it off with powerful pop-punk energy. Their male and female lead singers set the stage for the day. They were on a quest to rock the crowd with renditions of Green Day’s “American Idiot” and Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”
If this young quartet sticks together, we’ll definitely see them score higher next time around. Judges loved their color-matched guitars, shirts and logos in red and their tight rhythm section and nice guitar performance.
Laughing Microtones, photo by John Ball
The Laughing Microtones, a 7-piece band from Beijing International Bilingual Academy (BIBA) had an awesome drummer, and they came off tight showing obvious signs that they they practiced a lot together.
Laughing Microtones, photo by Mike Wester
Their song selection, featuring both Mandarin and English songs, was a hit with the crowd. Extra bonus for being the only band at the event to rock the violin!
“Their songs featured great guitar tones and some really nice walking bass lines,” noted Jianchu.
Nurse Don’t Die, photo by John Ball
Nurse Don’t Die, consisting of two sets of brothers from ISB, was absolutely show-stopping with their stage antics and their song selection, especially their concluding version of KISS’s “I Wanna Rock & Roll All Night”, highlighted by the band members jumping into the audience and tearing their shirts off mid-song. They put together a great performance, had a great stage presence and they audience will remember them. A real athletic rock and roll show.
Rooftop Odyssey, photo by Mike Wester
Rooftop Odyssey from the Western Academy of Beijing (WAB) had the crowd dancing with their hot choice of tunes (Muse, Nirvana) and phenomenal delivery. The band kept the vibe rolling without pushing too harshly.
Rooftop Odyssey lead singer Kristina Krajnovic, photo by John Ball
The lead singer was absolutely channeling Kurt Cobain’s plaintive wail on “All Apologies,” and their lead guitarist’s low growl to conclude of Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole” brought down the house.
A special shout-out to all of the fans who donated to Our Learning House during the frenzied Audience Favorite competition. Over RMB 20,000 was donated by 225 different fans during the afternoon, and the bands that raised the most money were Pretty Ugly, Detention, Laughing Microtones and Rooftop Odyssey. All of these generous donations will go to Our Learning House.If you feel inspired to support Our Learning House, we’ll keep the donation page open for another few days and you can make your contribution below:
And that’s a wrap! Principle organizer Eloise Wester would like to thank not only the incredible bands, supportive audience, and expert judges, but also the numerous sponsors and supporters who made the event possible: thanking not only the incredible bands, supportive audience, and our expert judges, but also our numerous sponsors and supporters who made the event possible. The list is long so bear with us:
Modernista for the venue support, goodie bag items, and so much more, going out of their way to open their venue early on Sunday, and especially to wonder woman Nuria and Sound Engineer Extraordinaire Lennon;
BIMM University and Rockschool for the goodie bag items and band gifts;
Confident You and Brevity of Motion Sounds for the awesome gifts for the winning bands;
Home Plate and Qmex for the gift certificates for the winning bands;
The Beijinger and Jingkids for the publicity support;
The afternoon’s co-hosts Milo O’Brien and Eloise Wester, photo by John Ball
Our volunteers for the event: Milo O’Brien; Thomas Zhang; Rebekah Liao; Chenxia Yun and her daughter June Fang; Myriam L. and Autumn Cherney.
And last but not least, our volunteer photographers Mike Pomerantsev from fotoMikhanix, who took professional portraits for each band and also shot stage photos, as well as John Ball, who did live photography during the show. Check them out on Instagram at fotomikhanix and johnball140266
Until we do this all again this fall, rock on!
Photo by Mike Pomerantsev / fotoMikhanix
Images: Mike Pomerantsev, John Ball, Mike Wester
