Jam On, Shanghai, Jam On
Every weekend, Shanghai's livehouses are full of bands playing well-rehearsed tunes for paying crowds. However, before forming a band and leaping under the bright lights of the stage all of these musicians had to find each other first. Some met through work or school. Others met through the formality of a classified ad. But a number of them met at jams and open mics.
It's Wednesday night at Not Me. There are two guitars, two chairs, a microphone and a portable amplifer across from the bar in the small front room, currently sectioned off from the rest of the venue by a heavy curtains. A group of coworkers - teachers from a local English school - are enjoying drinks as one of them takes up the guitar and begins to play renditions of songs by the Arctic Monkeys and Snow Patrol. During the chorus, the onlookers suddenly break out into song. At its simplest, this is what an open mic is about – sharing songs that everyone knows.
However, add more to the mix and an open mic can become something else entirely. Across town at Beedee's every Tuesday and Thursday night, the music hall is full of amateur musicians eager to take advantage of the venue's full setup with drums, bass and guitars. It's a place where everyone comes to share the music, not just as listeners, but as players as well. “It wasn't like this when we started four years ago,” says Jeff Davis, co-owner of the bar. “Back then if you wanted to go to an open mic, most of them were the kind of thing where you could sit in with the house band at the end of a set. We wanted it to be a place where people could jam and play together. Now there are lots of places in Shanghai like this. There are a lot more musicians, too.”
And while musicians do find themselves on the stage at Beedee's, experimenting and trying out new sounds, it's not uncommon to see already formed bands take to the stage, trying out rehearsed tunes on the audience. During our visit, a band called The White Limos played covers of Cream's 'Sunshine on Your Love', Jimi Hendrix's 'Red House Over Yonder' and The Knacks 'My Sharona'. It's a development that Davis is not entirely happy about, thinking the phenomenon is “outside of the spirit of what a jam should be about.” When recalling the other 300 jam nights he has helped set up over the last four years, Davis says that one of his most memorable nights occurred when five musicians took the stage, each from a different continent, creating music on the fly.
For jam purists looking to see musicians take on songs together for the first time, the jams led by John Nguidjol aka John Shanghai, over the years at Logo, Anar and the recently closed Shanhai, are something of local legend. Centering around Nguidjol's soulful voice and indefatigable stage presence – “I have this energy”, he says – the jams bring a slew of musicians doing renditions of classics from “No Woman No Cry” to “Knocking On Heaven's Door”. Hosting the jam in a string of venues, John's open mic has always drawn a crowd regardless of the venue.
“I started doing the open mic for one reason,” Nguidjol says, “I went to some music clubs and I asked 'Can I play or sing with you?' They all told me no. So I met up with Maxime and Taipei [the owners of Logo]. It took off from just a few musicians jamming together with me.”
While the John Shanghai jam nights are currently on hiatus due to the closure of Shanhai, at the time of writing Nguidjol said that he's already “visited six or seven venues, most of whom have contacted me” about performing, but declined to say which ones.
As the scene continues to grow, new clubs are emerging that try to adapt to Shanghai's new environment. At DClub in Yangpu District, owner Philippe Duarte, a three year alumnus of Shanghai's jam nights has started his own club where he hopes to build on the lessons he's learned over the years. The venue proves to be friendly both to formed bands, but also to musicians looking to find other musicians to play with. Bands can record live demos for a fraction of what they'd pay for studio recording, while Duarte pushes even established bands to mix things up during one of the venue's weekend performances. He says, “It's one thing that I'm worried about – too many bands. I want people to play with different people even if they are already in a band. There's a vibe that you get when you discover that you play well with someone on stage. It's magic.”
Photos courtesy of John Nguidjol and Justin Parsons
