Text | beelzebub
"How do you understand indie music?"
During the interview, the chair orchestra on the other end of the phone was slightly shy. Yong Jing, Zhong Ying, and Bo Yuan, the three big boys, were slow and rational, and they would seriously think about it for a few seconds before answering each question, and their thoughts and as if they were like their music, drifted from the east coast of Taitung.
When it comes to chair ensembles, some people will classify their music as a Taiwanese independent folk song. In 2016, he released his debut album Cheers! "Land" was shortlisted for the Golden Sound Creation Awards "Best Newcomer (Group) Award", "Best Folk Album" and "Best Folk Album Award", and then in 2018, it cooperated with music producer Huang Rongyi to create a second album "Lovely Sunday Lovely Sunday Lovely Sunday", which successfully let more people know the Chair Orchestra.
Romantic, rock, psychedelic, retro, is the fans' first impression of the chair orchestra, but the chair orchestra has also broken the fans' impression of them through new attempts again and again.
As for what is independent music, Zhong Ying said: "In fact, I have always felt that there is no need to label music, I think it is more important for someone to like it. And it's not a good thing to limit music to a framework, so the label itself isn't very important to us. ”
"Labels are a way to help people communicate." Bo Yuan believes that the communication between the bands focuses on their respective musical discussions, and there is no need to put themselves in a specific position in the process.
It seems that no band wants to position its music as a certain type, and the chair orchestra is no exception.
01
If you also like weird people
"It's because the three of them are all marginal people that they came together."
In the program "Summer of the Band 2", Yong Jing described him and his members Zhong Ying and Bo Yuan as three "marginal people". In high school, all three of them were members of the guitar club, practicing guitar together after school, and over time, the "marginal people" automatically gathered together.
Surprisingly, in addition to the fact that the three people at that time all loved to play guitar, their musical nutrients were different.
Sitting in his car in the fifth grade of Yongjing Elementary School, he would hear a charming British male voice in the speaker, and later he learned that it was John Lennon. In fact, Yongjing's parents rarely listened to the Beatles' songs, but from time to time in his car or tape, John Lennon's songs were played, and Yongjing first heard the "Imagine".
"At that time, I didn't know this person, I just thought his voice was strange, and I didn't particularly like it. It wasn't until later that a selection of "The Beatles" was broadcast on the car, and since then I have particularly liked the orchestra and have been studying them ever since. Yong Jing described the feeling that John Lennon brought to him, that is, when he wanted to write a song, the melody he heard as a child would unconsciously come to mind, like a wonderful spiritual tacit understanding.
Yong Jing really started writing songs at the age of 15, when he was affected by another musician, John Mayer. "I like John Mayer because he plays the guitar very well, and another important reason is because his voice is very low." Yong Jing said, "At that time I thought, 'Wow! It's so interesting, it's great! ’。 Because at that time, many Chinese pop male singers had very high voice requirements, and I belonged to a very low voice, which made me despair. ”
John Mayer is like a dawn illuminating Yongjing, so that the whispered Wing Jing begins to ignite confidence in singing. Yong Jing's deep voice has been used until now, but he said that he is also trying to "develop".
"Some of my later songs were high and low, because I wanted to try everything, but then I found that some of the music was not my type, and some of the high notes may be better sung by people other than me. So my homework this year is to slowly find the most comfortable and suitable state. ”
Unlike Yongjing, Zhongying listened to Chinese pop music a lot since she was a child, and it was not until she entered the guitar club in high school that she began to contact foreign classic bands. Zhongying admits that she only began to contact creation in college, and the music nourishment still comes from Chinese pop music. "I have always paid more attention to melody, and the singer who was more affected in college was Wei Ruxuan, and for the first time I found that the logic of her lyrics was so different from others, even within the scope of my imagination."
Jason Mayez is also a creator of Zhongying's high school listening, and his guitar-playing skills attract Zhongying to work in that direction.
And Bo Yuan and Yong Jing, Zhong Ying are not the same, he is a Japanese manga fan, the first to listen to many songs are anime theme songs. The Niconico website in Japan is a website that Boyuan often went to when he was a student, and there are many original gods in it, who use electronic synthesized sounds to create music, which makes Boyuan feel very powerful. After entering the guitar club in high school, Bo Yuan began to slowly listen to some Chinese songs.
It was three people with different musical upheavals who came together at the guitar club of high school. Different musical nutrients will not bring any overly complicated trouble to their creations, on the contrary, all three agree that it is precisely because of the different nutrients that they will not let their songs go in one direction, and the three people's favorite music collides together to produce something new.
Take the song "Everyday Shots", fans now hear is not the earliest version, this song was originally done by Zhongying demo, the style of the song is biased towards Thai independent music, more relaxed and pleasant. After Zhongying gave the demo to Yongjing, Yongjing suddenly had an idea, so he modified the existing demo, everyone repeatedly revised and tried in the process, and finally the Japanese lyrics of the whole song were the credit of Bo Yuan.
For the chair orchestra, their run-in is in the process of repetition.
Yong Jing described the feeling of three people composing music like creating a dress together. "We're more like serving this song, sometimes it's just a dress to put on, and sometimes it's not even at that point and we keep changing it."
02
Casual chair
The songs of the chair orchestra always give people a lazy and casual feeling, and what they did not expect was that even the origin of the name "chair" was very casual.
"At that time, I was in a hurry to go to the competition, and when I signed up, I had to fill in the name of the orchestra, and I had a chair at hand, so I called it that name."
The competition that Zhongying is talking about is the campus orchestra competition that the three of them participated in during their college years. From high school to college, Yongjing, Zhongying, and Boyuan gradually reached a tacit understanding, and won the championship for the first time in the name of "Chair Orchestra" to compete with songs they created.
Later, the Chair Orchestra also participated in some other school-level competitions, some with good results and some with average results. According to Zhongying's words, that period was to go to the chaos, but also because the accumulation of the game made them begin to have some popularity, and gradually some viewers noticed them.
Regarding the name of the group "chair", Yong Jing, who would often hesitate because of some strange and small things, once thought of replacing it. "Later, I felt that how I thought about it was actually not as good as it was at the beginning, because once it began to have a purpose, it was too clear."
"Chair" was recognized by the original fans because of "chair", and it was not so smooth along the way.
During his college years, he went around participating in many competitions until 2016, when the three of them officially planned to do the orchestra. Yong Jing said that when making the first album, it was more like DIY, because all three of them were mainly acoustic guitars, so the other instruments involved were rotated, sometimes Bo Yuan played electric guitar or bass, sometimes Zhongying played drums or electric guitar.
The first album was made in such a mistake. It was only after that that that the orchestra had a formal arrangement: Yong Jing and Zhongying played guitar, Bo Yuan played bass, and another drummer.
"Looking back on that stage now, I feel like it was a new attempt for everyone and a lot of people helping us." Yong Jing said.
In 2017, the Chair Orchestra met their current music producer, Huang Rongyi, a boy of their age who had some experience in the music industry, and soon helped them run the orchestra and began to plan their future musical path.
At this time, the three of them were not full-time making music, Yongjing had more time to spend on music in Taipei, Zhongying and Boyuan were still at work, and only took time to complete the recording in Taipei every weekend.
Although the trip is more arduous, Zhongying and Boyuan both feel that making music on holidays can just convert the fatigue of going to work. "It's mainly a change of mood, although the body is very tired, but the spirit is very satisfied." Bo Yuan said.
When creating, Wing Jing and Zhong Ying usually make 7 or 8 demos according to their own inspiration, and choose the best version from them. For Yongjing, one of the criteria for testing songs is to be listenable. Yong Jing may have to compose a song a hundred times until he hears it rot.
"If a song can't be heard rotten, I won't write it out and start thinking about what's wrong, then the song might be set aside first." In fact, we all think that the song is more important, the atmosphere of the whole song is good, and the focus is to be very enduring. Listening doesn't mean boring, what you want to listen to is the essence of the song. ”
Perhaps this is the charm of the chair orchestra's music, each song becomes very enduring under the "test" of Yongjing, and when the music is handed over to the audience, its life is extended again.
03
Rollin’ On
Our times / Make world-weary a habit / Maybe the world / There's nothing to look forward to / But that's none of my business / I'm a flying idiot / Life is supposed to be a carnival
When the warm yellow lights came on, the familiar "Rollin' On" sounded on the stage of "Summer of the Band 2", and the fans waved left and right as if agreed.
"Rollin' On" is the last song of the Chair Orchestra's tour, and in today's dictionary of world-weary philosophies full of young people, they use this song to tell all listeners that "life should be a carnival". Now the song has become their starting point in Le Xia 2 and has also helped them make it to the top 20.
Yong Jing confessed that he came to "Le Xia 2" to share his creations with more bands. Of course, they also made new friends along the way. For example, they had contact with fools and idiots and Commes before the festival, and this time they got together as a participating band to increase their understanding of each other; and the white paper was because the second stage competition set the "meal game"; and the exchange with Mandarin was more about the experience of learning music.
Because of the epidemic, the Chair Orchestra did not return to Taipei during the recording period, spending most of the time in a hotel room, only once when Joyside's teacher Liu Hao invited them to rehearse in the music classroom located in the Workers' Stadium.
Yong Jing quipped, "That time was a long trip." In addition to the songs that are preparing for the stage, we are also making new songs, and then we are ordering takeout to eat at the hotel, and life is almost like that. "On and off the stage, the chair orchestra looks like a health care.
In the second stage, the chair orchestra and the white paper were PK, and the two bands adapted the same song "Ride on My Beloved Little Motorcycle", and Yongjing played the advantages of his musical style, seized the image of the motorcycle, and made a new arrangement to create a song full of Taipei city flavor.
"Riding a motorcycle is more like our life experience, the imagination space is also relatively large, when choosing this song, I thought of the feeling of going for a ride in a place with mountains and seas." For example, some old movies, "Southland, Goodbye Southland" and "Green Plum Bamboo Horse" have such scenes, so I want to present this feeling. "For them, whatever the format is important is to get their music to the audience, and that's enough.
This summer trip seems more like a super band summer camp to Bo Yuan. "I think this opportunity is very good, everyone gets together, you may not know people at all, but you have a good opportunity to make new friends, and you can also hear each other's music, which is actually a big sharing meeting." 」
Sharing and communicating is one of the biggest reasons why the chair orchestra came to "Le Xia 2". Zhongying has gained something through stage performances, and he has observed that some of the previous bands have a strong control over the stage, "Whether it is music or stage movements, they can be at ease, which is what I learned." ”
And like "Rollin' On," a song rewritten after a brief break in the chair, it represents their motivation to keep going. Through this Lexia trip, Yongjing felt the most deeply that the cohesion between him and the members of the group became closer.
"Although we have known each other for a long time, the chance of nesting together like this for two or three months is still quite rare, a bit like a new run-in and growth." This allows us to get to know each other better, which is precious to me. ”
This is the chair orchestra, there are quarrels, there are run-ins, there are progress, their three "flying idiots" with simple intentions, no matter how the world changes, always optimistic, through music to tell people to "grasp every moment, continue Rollin' On." ”