Fucked Up Blog About China

Fucked Up played five shows in China earlier this month and have been writing about the experience on their blog.

The band travelled to China on a 48-hour boat ride from Osaka, Japan, but the ride was anything but zen.

"No one we spoke to had ever heard of it," the band wrote in a March 26 blog entry. "We were very skeptical, worried about the border, etc. No one even knew why it took 48 hours.

"The boat ride was great until everyone got sick. The first day was spent eating and playing ping pong. The 2nd day for the most part being sick in the bathroom. The overnight waves were high and frightening. Each room had a window and at night you could make out the faint and massive great swirling beneath you that would pummel the deck and try to lift you from your sleeping bed."

They arrived in Shanghai and after being unsure whether they would be let into the country despite having their work visas, they got in with no problems. All that was left was a bus ride to Nanjing, China, where they were to play their first show.

The ensuing bus ride was apparently also... interesting. The gear shift broke, the driver had a cellphone ringtone that was "the sound of a cop car siren, but louder," and the band had to push the van back into gear and run into it as the driver got it going again. But not for long.

"About 10 kms from Nanjing, the driver stops for some reason to fill up with gas (which he did with the van running). We were't hoping to stop again after what happened the last time.

"Of course, the van doesn't start for a bit, until he forces it and decides to drive us the rest of the way in first gear. We're going 5km/s and hour and we still think we're going to die. He can't stop the bus or it will break again, and it can't go any faster... he's tugging at the gear shift so hard it might wrench off, opening the engine while smoking, etc.

"It takes us 20 minutes to drive the 4 kms we were away from the toll station, so the van stops right beside a massive group of pictures warning against unsafe driving (pictures featuring the wreckage of Priness Diana, people ripped in half on the highway, the Titanic sinking?). We wait there for taxis to take us the rest of the way. Another van is chartered to bring everyone else home, which we learn later CRASHES."

The bus ride was shot for a Spin.com video which you can view below:

See full report...

Despite arriving at their gig very late, the show seemed to go off with few problems, despite no one knowing who the band were.

Fucked Up also played shows in Beijing, Wuhan, Changsha and Shanghai. And given that this blog entry is titled "China, Day One," it's not unreasonable to think there could be other updates with stories as crazy as these.

Fucked Up have these dates scheduled:

April 6 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
April 7 Milwaukee, WI @ The Borg Ward
April 8 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
April 9 Winnipeg, MB @ Royal Albert Arms
April 10 Regina, SK @ The Distrikt
April 11 Calgary, AB @ Royal Canadian Legion No. 1
April 12 Edmonton, AB @ Pawn Shop
April 14 Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore Cabaret
April 15 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
April 19 Indio, CA @ Empire Polo Fields (Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival)