Known as "China's only band that mainly sells peripherals and plays with bands as a supplement", Curry 3000 this rock band is very different, this band was originally just to play tickets, the members are now playing more and more seriously, and they already want to run to the "earth and the sky".
On the Internet, music fans commented on Curry 3000 this way: a group of big guys group playing punk bands that sell around. Recently, these big guys who are good at selling goods walked into the entertainment and media column of Beijing Youth Daily", "Entertainment", and talked about their past and present lives of team formation and stall training.
The band members can indeed sing and set up stalls: a new tour is underway, new musical works are about to be released, and although the surrounding warehouses have been piled up and should be "reduced and cleared" as soon as possible, the new periphery has been designed and is about to be put on the market. It seems that curry 3000 is almost a plate of curry fried rice.
The band's name is taken from the playful harmonic sound rehearsals are all in the restaurant
In 2017, Curry 3000 became an army, and Wang Zi and Hayato and Li Peng hit it off and established the first generation of Curry 3000. Later, violinist Liu Xiaocheng joined in, fixed into the current lineup.
The origin of the team name Curry 3000 is because friends joked that "you have 100,000 hippies, I have 3,000 beautiful women", and the belles were too explicit, so they took the harmonic sound - curry. "Seasoning curry, playful harmonic, no special meaning." Lead singer Wang Zi said.
The three "elders" Wang Zi, Hayato, and Li Peng all had their own jobs at that time.
Da Wang Zi works in recording, plays in bands in his spare time, and is the guitarist of human centipedes, residual light and other bands. Hayato, a Japanese-based Chinese, has worked as a drummer for many bands, including Mr. Turtle and New Pants. Li Peng is already a well-known musician - the elder of the punk band mirror, the inherent, relatively mainstream style makes him occasionally tired, need to have fresh stimulation, need to make some breakthroughs, to try something completely different, which also coincides with the great Wang Zi.
"I hope to form a different band, which is not simple, may not be the same as the music style that everyone usually plays, a bit of the style of the American hardcore punk band in the 80s, because now there are very few, let's try it, entertain." 」 We have time to play, we don't have time for everyone to do their own thing. ”
The process of everyone discussing the formation of the team is actually a meal of work, a hit, and the rehearsals after that are even carried out in the restaurant, "said to be rehearsals, in fact, there are eating and chatting." "That's how a lot of Curry 3000's musical compositions came out, and that's what makes Curry 3000 different from other bands, and they "boast" that this is genius. During the interview, Li Peng suddenly pointed to Wang Zi and said that he might not be able to speak, he had already come up with a melody, and Wang Zi pretended to be mysterious and nodded and shook his head...
At first, the music was difficult for itself to accept, and now when you play the piano, you can finally look up
Looking back now, the musical style at the beginning of the formation of the band was a bit "unbearable", because not only was it difficult for fans to accept it for a while, but even they themselves were a bit "disgusted".
The band admitted that the initial rhythm and melody of the music was too casual, the song was only 1 minute, the rhythm was super fast, the first few performances were mostly hayato female fans, after watching the curry 3000 performance, everyone's expression was basically stunned.
"Why? It's dead. At the beginning, our music was really not acceptable to everyone, it was really noisy and noisy. Great Wang Zi said. The music pace is so fast that the musicians themselves can't accept it, they describe it as an abnormal performance state, many times Li Peng wants to look up at the audience, but it is too late to be carried by the exaggerated rhythm. So their early songs could only be 1 minute, "beyond the limits of what people and equipment can withstand." ”
They admit that the original formation of Curry 3000 was to play tickets, and it is not new for rock musicians to "play" a temporary band in the circle, but whether it can be done for a long time is another matter, and several have never imagined how long the band can play. Unexpectedly, in the past four years, the music has become more and more energetic, and it has also engaged in peripherals, making up paragraphs and shooting videos, and the good ideas have continued to flow, and the love and dependence of several people for the band have gradually deepened.
"I found that there were more and more things that could be done, and our songs were getting longer and longer, it was 1 minute, now it's 5 minutes." Da Wang Zi said. Li Peng also feels that the band is in the best state now, and the interaction with the audience is gradually getting better, "it is so comfortable, it is easy to play, and finally I can look up at the audience when playing the piano." ”
Creative inspiration can be obtained at any time, and the occasional melody is blissful
Although it is known as "selling peripherals mainly and playing bands as a supplement", after all, it is a professional musician, of course, it is more convenient to make music.
Different from the creative process of ordinary musicians, many songs of Curry 3000 do not need to look around for inspiration, it may just be a meal work, or a chat after a theme. For example, the upcoming EP, one of the songs is called "She Never Listens to The Songs I Write", which is a song completed by Wang Zi based on his daily relationship with his girlfriend. "Once she said you wrote so many songs, how come you never wrote one for me, it was actually a joke, I said that you can write it, and you wrote this song very casually at home. I grasped the point that she was not a fan of our music and never listened to the songs I wrote, so she wrote the songs very casually. ”
The other is Li Peng's "Song of Good Bungee", so EP named the two songs together: "She never listens to the songs I write, so we wrote a song of good bungee", which everyone agreed was very in line with the style of Curry 3000 - funny and fun.
"Because now fans like to say that this band is really good to jump and so on, so with this "Good Jumping Song", we sang these new songs on this tour in Shanghai, and found that the audience including the staff were also jumping together, and the fans would sing."
Li Peng's creation also has no fixed time, there is no need to look around for inspiration, sometimes a melody suddenly sprang up in the brain, it is immediately recorded, no matter how late, even four or five o'clock in the morning, perhaps because of a dream to make the melody gush into the heart, will also immediately get up for a second into the working state. Others can't understand this rhythm and state, but in his opinion, it is a kind of happiness.
"When you get an inspiration to create a melody, a song, that sense of happiness is really indescribable." Li Peng said.
New Marketing Strategy: Deal with price reductions
Watching the performance of Curry 3000, it is not like watching other bands, do you think that the singing is over? No, the band's stalls are even more exciting. What to sell? Sell around,
"Curry 3000, get to know the surroundings." The musicians began to sell with loudspeakers, and curry 3000 switched from rock singers to "practicing stall people", which was a scene that was unbearable.
Speaking of how Curry 3000 originally started to do the surroundings, the members were a bit "like a world away", as if they were just confused and unintentional to do such a thing, the earliest just made the band's LOGO into a T-shirt to get the performance scene, did not expect to be unexpectedly sought-after.
"Let's just say that this may be a way to make money, and since you can't make money from music, let's sell it." Li Peng smiled secretly. Great Wang Zi said, "Of course not, just kidding." If the music is really no one listens, there can be no one around to buy, anyway, the development to the later, almost has been almost 5 years, we have accumulated a lot of scenes, for the surrounding sales and various interactions with fans, it has become a unique style for us, so many people think that the curry 3000 scene is really fun, but also good. ”
In the process of doing the peripheral, some fans also actively participated in the design of the product, which the band did not expect. One fan took the initiative to contact the band, designed posters, album covers, etc. for them, and became the exclusive designer of the band. There are also fans who leave a message: "I beg you to sell me a few few less clothes, my wardrobe is full." Da Wang Zi replied, "You can change your clothes." ”
As for whether it is a way to make money, it is indeed profitable, but this money goes to invest in new peripherals, "so we will never get money." "So that there are more and more peripheral products, oversupply, and warehouses are piled up." What are the new marketing strategies? "The price reduction of the price reduction, the clearance of the clearance process, to stop the loss in time." Li Peng's trick was somewhat simple and crude.
The band also designed T-shirts, key chains, mouse pads, bath towels, towels, etc. for this new round of touring, T-shirts are limited editions – only available to watch the tour, and the model is hayato.
The back of the T-shirt at first glance looks fancy, in fact, there is a big mystery, printed on the date of the tour, the number of times, and some pretend to be due to the epidemic can not reach the venue, regardless of whether it is possible to go, first write, such as London, Paris, Boston, Las Vegas, and then draw a line, like London next to a line footnote: Acting! bother! finish! It's a spoof, but it's exactly the style of Curry 3000 – how fun it is.
"Hit workers" make a big contribution to the surroundings Switch to the parallel universe tired and happy
Among the members, the one who contributed the most to the surrounding areas was Liu Xiaocheng, who also had an identity - a media person, and still had a stable job from nine to five. For this reason, our interview was deliberately selected at noon, he took advantage of the lunch break to hurry up, and then hurried to work after the interview. This status also gives him a natural advantage in the band: breaking the usual thinking of musicians and advising everything from peripheral design to sales. For example, music fans bought a curry 3000 peripheral T-shirt, may have worn a small Easter egg that has not been found all summer: the material introduction on the washed label is written "3000% curry love", which is Liu Xiaocheng's design.
At the same time, with two completely different kinds of work, Liu Xiaocheng's circle of friends is naturally wider than other members, in the band and surrounding publicity, equivalent to having a megaphone, many fans are directly or indirectly through Liu Xiaocheng's circle of friends to know and like Curry 3000. "Anyway, the people who have come so far (people who have watched the band performance), everyone thinks it is very interesting and happy, and there is no regret."
This is a big contribution of Liu Xiaocheng to the band, the other members have no objection to this, the fly in the ointment is that the pressure of both jobs to take into account is a bit large, so that he always has the illusion of switching to a parallel universe. The tour that has begun also makes him feel a little overwhelmed, and the other members can take a break after the performance, but he needs to rush back to Beijing to go to work without stopping, because the job that needs to be taken is also more important, and he can't take too long leave.
Once, when everyone was eating together, Liu Xiaocheng inadvertently told several old brothers that it was not easy to work two jobs, and Li Peng took over the words and arrogantly "promised": I will raise you! Afterwards, Liu Xiaocheng sighed that it was just a "drunken joke" and "can't be pointed out".
Tired is tired, but in Liu Xiaocheng's view, the past few years with the band have also gained a lot. "When you're with them, you can reap a kind of happiness that you can't buy with money, and that thing is actually very precious."
Watching the scene of the curry once fell in love with it, and I was glad that the fans could laugh from the heart
A band that ran for "improvisational fun" was actually together for nearly 5 years, and it is true that their tacit understanding in music is self-evident, and the special fit of the aura is the key. The various funny flowers at the performance scene and the intentional or unintentional treasure videos taken by the band cooperated seamlessly, and the relaxed and cheerful atmosphere infected every music fan. There are music fans message: the first time to see your scene, fall in love!
Off-camera, they are also playing poor and funny, and they have to hang around a little in case someone secretly shoots a video to post. Once Liu Xiaocheng squatted on the edge of the stage and dozed off, was secretly photographed by other team members and posted on the Internet, and did not forget to ridicule, which is the way they get along.
"I think this era is so fast-paced, everyone has all kinds of anxieties, and the same is true for people who play bands, and we should choose to be happy." While making music, put aside those anxieties and try to enjoy the happiness that music brings us. When performing live, we believe that people in the audience can feel that kind of happiness and naughtiness. ”
They think that in addition to making music and selling peripherals, playing videos is also a big strength of theirs, "it's really random shooting, shooting when you meet, and not modestly saying that no one in the domestic band can do this except us." Great Wang Zi said. From casual shooting to casual editing, it is a breeze for them.
"Our band's motto is still to be fun, everything is for fun, including the scene is full of comedic elements. When we were on the scene, we paid special attention to the performance of the audience, they were really laughing, it was from the heart, and they could really relax in our scene. ”
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Shou Penghuan
Photo / Beijing Youth Daily reporter Guo Qian
Editor/Cui Wei