Band that sticks together ready to make a record
Print Edition
A band from Jiading surprised many locals when they won the local stage of a national music competition in 2012.
Filter Tip, all amateur musicians from the district, won the Shanghai area stage of the Tiger Battle of the Bands contest. They also came in the top eight in the East China region.
The success was a surprise because the band was formed just a few days before the contest by Lao Xue and Tai Zi.
Off stage, Lao sells guitars and Tai sells cars.
The two have been partners in music since they began to learn their very first notes. They formed their first band in 2005.
With the arrival of the 2012 Tiger Battle of the Bands contest, Tai felt it was the right time to let more people hear their music. So the pair began to recruit other musicians to form a band to take part.
Three weeks later, a singer, a bass player and a drummer joined and the band was complete.
Like Lao and Tai, the new members were not professional musicians.
Singer Wang Feng works as a lobby manager in a hotel, bass player Zhang Bin works in a logistics company, and drummer Da Fa is a primary school art teacher.
The band was named Filter Tip inspired by the fact that all five members smoke. “We have this name because filter tips can filter nicotine in cigarettes and also filter bad things,” Lao said.
After forming the band, they needed a hit song. Wang came up with the “Louder” just in two days.
“When all the members gathered together, the inspiration just seized me suddenly,” Wang said.
The lyrics included: “Travel back to the starting point, this day has finally arrived. We stand at the frontline, performing for our dreams.”
It was with this song that the band won the Shanghai area championship and was in the top eight in the East China region.
The contest gained fame for the band and now they are familiar figures in Shanghai’s live houses.
Last year, the band was invited to play at the Shanghai West Bund Music Festival. However, the night before, Wang was involved in a traffic accident and couldn’t perform.
Finding a back-up singer was not a problem but the group decided unity was more important and canceled the gig. They had a fundamental rule that the five were one unit and no one could be left behind.
This year, the band plans to release an EP with eight original songs.
Making a record without the support of professional companies means they will handle all the problems by themselves, ranging from raising money to finding the right equipment.
Despite that, the members said this project is a testament to their continuing efforts on the musical road.
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