Landfill is a rock band from Guangzhou and was formed in 2014 by four young middle-class teens from Christian family backgrounds. The band is deeply influenced by alternative rock from the 90s and their music style incorporates a large number of genres like garage punk, grunge rock, and noise rock. Their music centers a lot around the idea of self-salvation and the creation of the world. The band enjoys vlogging for their bands and showing their more humorous side with slapstick comedy featured in their videos.
In landfills’ ideology, rock is a kind of faith that helps people to find themselves in confusion and insecurity, rather than the manic music, unruly surface and so on that pseudo-rock fans understand. Although everyone's understanding is different from what each musician tries to express, there is one thing that is always the same, which is the true feeling inside, you can be anger, sadness, freedom or helplessness. No matter what, “authenticity" is the core thing you can find in rock and roll!
Meet the Band
Crow | Lead Singer
A Zhou | Bass
Chicken Essence | Guitar
A Cake | Drum
Two years ago, the band was invited to perform in Beijing but ended up not being able to perform because of disorganization. Though this opportunity was lost, they were able to get four consecutive gigs in which they made a name for themselves in the underground Beijing rock circle. This led to the band officially signing with Ryefield Music on May 7th of this year. With this newfound fame, the band has had many more opportunities to perform alongside other bands like Wasted Laika, Yelling Kong, and Rustic.
While going around performing alongside these bands, The Landfill came across several cats taking up at least a dozen or twenty cats among the four band members. The band even used their own money from the performances to provide food for all of these cats.
Q&A
What is your job?
Crow: It used to be graphic design
A Zhou: Teaching piano
Chicken Essence: I work as a production mixer
A Cake: I’m a freelancer. My main job is drum teacher, where I teach at piano shops. Sometimes I go perform at bars as a resident drummer.
What song best introduces your music
to new listeners?
Crow: “Escape from Sunday”
A Zhou: “Escape from Sunday,” because it is the first Chinese wrong that presents our true sense of music.
Chicken Essence: “Escape of Sunday”
A Cake: “Future,” because I am uncertain about the future.
Does the city you live in have any influence on your music?
Crow: Guangzhou does allow for our band to uphold a certain, unique aesthetic.
A Zhou: Guangzhou is very hot and humid, with a chaotic rhythm of life, a lot of pressure,
and an upset and irritated heart, so writing will naturally go in that direction.
Chicken Essence: Guangzhou is a city that often explodes in humidity and is sultry and hot.
Living in this city can easily make all emotions irritable
A Cake: Actually, it didn't have much impact on our music. It was only the people and things
in our lives that truly make an impact, as well as some visions and anxiety about the future.
Are there any bands/musicians who have a great influence on your music?
Crow: Different bands or musicians have brought me different levels of influence, and I can't tell who has the most influence.
A Zhou: Too many, too many to count. Such as The Vines, Foo Fighter, Hot Hot Heat, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, and Nirvana.
Chicken Essence: The Vines, Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Hot Hot Heat…
A Cake: The most influential bands are: Mayday, Nirvana, The Vines, Foo Fighters, Oasis, Sonic Youth, The Beatles, Russian Circles, and Moonlit Sailor. Musicians include Eason Chan, Jay Chou, Xu Guanjie, Michael Jackson, and Dave Grohl.
What excites you most during your recent performances?
Crow: The whole process is the process of not letting up the body and mind completely.
A Zhou: The most exciting thing is that I sleep later than usual and wake up earlier than usual.
Chicken Essence: What excites me most is when I wake up in a city and go to sleep in a different one.
A Cake: New friends met at local food restaurants and performance venues, as well as exploring the hotel where I sleep in different cities.
Who does the production work of the vlogs? Why did you decide to vlog?
Crow: We shoot ourselves and leave A Zhou alone to deal with it. I mainly want to record it. I think that for a band or for a few good friends, the common experience with each other is most important.
A Zhou: Everyone took turns to shoot the filming, and then let me edit it. Now young people like to watch vlogs, and more people to see our genuine side.
Chicken Essence: The shooting is some clips that everyone randomly took during the journey. After returning, A Zhou will be responsible for editing. In fact, I want to make this vlog mainly for fun, and I also want to share these moments of joy with everyone.
A Cake: Mainly the bassist, A Zhou edits. The three of us will add some suggestions.
If you could exchange roles with someone in the band, who would it be?
Crow: No one. We are us because we get what we deserve.
A Zhou: I’m in a good position right now, I still want to be myself.
Chicken Essence: Everyone is precious and unique. I still want to be myself.
A Cake: I would like to change roles with Chicken Essence. I will play the guitar and let Chicken Essence drum. Because playing the guitar is very cool, and you can walk around and just go wherever you want and make many different poses on stage.
What is the most important thing for you when working as a team?
Crow: Companions having similar smells.
A Zhou: The process of performing live.
Chicken Essence: The most important thing about working as a team should be the fire in your heart. In fact, whether the band plays or not should not affect you. Maybe the only effect is that you have less free time. The firm belief in one’s heart is really important.
A Cake: The most important thing is to love: love each member, love your own work, love everything in the band. With this mindset, the band can do better, write good songs, and continue to thrive.
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