The Flowers (Chinese band)
The Flowers |
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The Flowers, (simplified Chinese: 花儿乐队; traditional Chinese: 花兒樂隊; pinyin: Huār Yuèduì), is a popular boy band based in Mainland China. The band consists of four members: lead vocalist, former lead guitarist and main songwriter Da Zhangwei (大张伟), guitarist Shi Xingning (石醒宁), bassist Guo Yang (郭阳), and drummer Wang Wenbo (王文博). The group debuted in 1998 and have released six albums, the most recent on September 29, 2007.
History
China's first famous adolescent band, Flowers, had barely blossomed into youth when they first appeared on the Chinese music scene in 1998. Originally, there were three members in the band but later changed when guitarist Shi Xingning joined. The three members, Da Zhangwei, Wang Wenbo and Guo Yang, met while still in high school and were all in their teens. During their early career, the Flowers were a trio band playing in the style of pop punk music reminiscent of fellow American punk bands such as Green Day and Blink-182. As they performed in local bars and clubs, other punk bands were beginning to break out in Beijing's underground music scene. The Flowers, unable as they were to hide their hunger for commercial success, were somewhat aloof from this scene, and often derided in some quarters for their attitudes. The trio first signed on to a small Beijing-based Chinese indie label, New Bees Music in 1999. Later that year, the band would release their debut album "On the Other Side of Happiness" which was a surprise hit. No matter, as the accessible nature of songs like "Stillness", "Disillusion" and "School's Out" made the band perfect for the music market they wished to conquer. The Flowers were somewhat credited for helping to give disaffected Chinese youth a resonant voice, as many teenagers were deeply affected by their songs and felt that the Flowers' lyrics reflected their own life experiences. As a result, punk music in general became more widely known.
In light of the band's commercial impact, some overenthusiastic commentators even declared that The Flowers were the true bringers of punk to Chinese. They pointed out that fans had previously found even the acoustic grunge of Nirvana's "Unplugged in New York" difficult to comprehend.
Although their music wasn't very hard edged, Flowers were at least punk enough to get involved in a two year long lawsuit with their first company, New Bees Music. The dispute almost brought the band to a premature end, but was eventually settled out of court. Flowers marked the end of their purgatory by signing to EMI and bringing in a fourth member, a guitar player by the name of Shi Xingning. Fortunately this change wasn't just a superficial face-lift, as the band had by this point become tired of the simple but effective music which had made them so popular. Like many other musicians, they were looking to diversify.
This diversification can be heard on their album, "I Am Your Romeo", which features musical styles such as hip-hop and techno. The band now seems to be a long way from their old punk roots, but they are as straightforward as ever in their ideals ...or lack of them. Vocalist Da Zhangwei says "We have to earn our living through music... Pleasing our fans is our reason for making music and we don't care about other things." The songs are still fairly upbeat and the lyrics pretty direct, although Zhang Wei has softened the tone a bit for some of the love related songs. The band managed to score a hit with the song, "Xi Shua Shua" which was a hit on the mainland. The song was included on the band's fourth album, Blooming Dynasty, released in July of 2005. The album sold some 200,000 copies in the 40 days after its initial release and was considered a great success in the country's pop music scene. The Flowers also made an appearance at the China Central Television's Lantern Festival gala show. The group was also nominated by organizers of the Pepsi Music Chart Awards in China for prizes in categories such as Best Arrangement, Best Lyrics, Best Composer and Best Rock 'n' Roll Band but were later cancelled by the board of judges when plagiarism accusations involving the band came to light.
The Plagiarism Scandal
The band's increasing fame soon brought closer scrutiny of their work. The group suddenly found themselves accused of plagiarism when it was discovered that they had copied at least 12 of their songs from foreign and overseas artists including their hit song "Xi Shua Shua," which was the song most under fire due to its similarities to Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi's song K2G. Under the credit of lead singer Zhang Wei, he and representatives of EMI admitted in a official statement to the press that while the songs were not plagiarized, there were some flaws that existed in the songs. So far, none of the artists have responded to the issue. Contrary to his belief, Zhang Wei claims he listens to hundreds of songs every week and when he writes the songs, some melodies come naturally, without having to manifest their origins. Zhang Wei claimed to the press that he and his band mates have so many tunes - from having to listen up to 100 songs per day - stored in their heads that they "have no time to identify, revise and remove" ones which aren't theirs. [1]
The Fighting Incident
In 2007, Following the plagiarism scandal nearly a year before, the band was seen eating at a restaurant in Beijing near Chaoyang Park. They were talking and started arguing. Soon, it escalated into a fight. What began as loud talking lead into a fight when frontman Zhang Wei beat a band member and another man who was trying to stop the fight, the report said. This whole scene was captured by the cell phone of a nearby man who was in the restaurant with his girlfriend. EMI, the band's label admitted there was a dispute, claiming that it was all because they had different views on the new album. According to a senior official from the record company, Zhang Yi, the quarrel began when Zhang Wei and another fellow band member expressed differences on the new album's sound. Zhang even added that the band felt very pressured during the recording after being involved in a plagiarizing scandal. Some have even questioned whether the fight was a publicity stunt for promoting the upcoming album but Zhang Yi says the band is too busy to do so.[2]
Members
Da Zhangwei
Da Zhangwei (born Zhang Wei) was born August 31, 1983 in Beijing. His inspirations are Green Day, Ramones, and Nirvana, and his favorite bands and singers include Blink 182, Geri Halliwell, Missy Elliott, and Eminem. He likes art, performing, eating fast food, and socializing and dislikes basketball. His favorite colors are yellow, black, and pink, and his favorite numbers are 3, 8, and 1. Zhang Wei appeared in Beijing to support Taiwanese girl group S.H.E's 10th album release, Play.[3]
Shi Xingning
Shi Xingning, nicknamed Xiao Ning (小宁), was born January 11, 1983 and was the last to join the band in 2001. His favorite bands include Blink 182 and Smash Mouth. His favorite numbers are 3, 6, and 9, and he enjoys reading Doraemon.
Guo Yang
Guo Yang was born May 29, 1978 in Beijing, and like Da Zhangwei, also sees Green Day and Nirvana as sources of inspiration. His favorite colors are red, blue, yellow, and pink, and unlike the rest of the band, does not have favorite numbers. He dislikes chatting and being waken by a phone.
Wang Wenbo
Wang Wenbo was born October 22, 1982 in Beijing. His inspirations are Green Day, The Cure, and Nirvana, and his favorite colors are white, black, pink, and light blue. He likes sleeping and listening to music and dislikes being messy and making mistakes during performances. He likes all numbers from 0 to 9.
Discography
Albums
- 1999–On the Other Side of Happiness (幸福的旁边)
- 2001–Strawberry Statement (草莓声明)
- 2004–I Am Your Romeo (我是你的罗密欧)
- 2005–Blooming Dynasty (花季王朝)
- 2006–Hua Tian Xi Shi (花天囍世)
- 2007–Hua Ling Sheng Hui (花龄盛会)
The Flowers also contributed two songs to the 2000 compilation album 'Flowers Birds Fish Insects' (花鸟鱼虫).
Singles
- 2007–Qiong Kaixin (穷开心)
References