Soundtoy

From Rock in China Wiki

SoundToy (声音与玩具 / 聲音玩具 / 聲音與玩具, shēngyīn yǔ wánjù), Chengdu-based post-rock band

Soundtoy, 2006, taken (c) Greenwall (Cai Ming)

Background Information
Name (English)	SoundToy
Name (Chn.)	声音与玩具 / 聲音玩具 / 聲音與玩具 / shēngyīn yǔ wánjù
Origin	Chengdu
Genre	Rock / Post Rock
Years active	2001 - present
Members
Vocals / Guitar - Qu Bo (区波) Bass - Liu Jing (柳景) Drums - Dou Dou (豆豆) Keyboards - Huang Jin
Preview

History

Soundtoy, 2008, Photo (c) Greenwall

Sound Toy's front man, a former teacher, founded the band and is its lead vocalist.

The astounishing diversity in their play, the richness of their sounds and the emotions they awake in their listeners are just a few of Sound Toy's features that make every show unique and an experience of its own.

Using all different kind of instruments up to the big emperor drums, Sound Toy's songs reach deep into the souls and hearts of those that listen and tell stories of forgotten times and lost loves. Surplusing their emotional sounds with a partly melancholic, partly flowing voice, Sound Toy's music is more of a poem woven into the air, more a piece of art, a painting in all colors of the rainbow, then plain tones and notes.

The passion they lay into their play, the joy they let directly flow into the music, the energy they seem to be pumped up with. All these things allow their music to blossom in our ears like a sunflower at first glance of morning sun. Possibly the best impression being experienced is the appreciation of "Hero", a 40 minute-long song, covering the story of an hero on his journey through exotic countries, varying the style of music and varying the tones of voices while their play.

The band Soundtoy was founded in July 2001, after being renamed from 朝聖者的背叛楽隊 (Chaoshengzhe de Beipan).

The band's starting member had been Qu Bo, Li Hun and Huang Jin.

In September 2001 they performed on the release party of the compilation CD "Underground Chengdu 2".

They performed in January 2002 in Kunming during the "Chinese Art Resident in Conduct" Festival.

They also took part in the 5th anniversary party of the Little Bar in Chengdu.

In April 2002, Li Hun left the band, which was the reason for Soundtoy to cancel their performance at 2002's Midi Festival of Modern Music.

In June 2002, the compilation CD "Little Bar 1997-2002" was released, including one song of Soundtoy.

In the same month, the guitarist Xiulu joined Soundtoy.

On August 18th 2002, Soundtoy performed on the Yunnan River Snow Music Festival.

In April 2003, Huang Jin decides to leave the band and therefore Dou Dou joins the band.

From May onwards, the band toured throughout China and including concerts in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Chongqing. In October they performed at the Midi Music Festival 2003.

The band Soundtoy changed their name in January 2004 from 聲音玩具楽隊 to 聲音與玩具楽隊, even though it doesn't represent a change the name's meaning, in the lineup or the musical style.

In February, Wang Qian decided to leave the band, due to reasons concerning his health. Thereafter the band continued to perform as a three man band.

In March 2004, Soundtoy contributes one song to the compilation CD 口袋音楽03.

In April 2004, Soundtoy contributes one song to the compilation CD Underground Chengdu 3.

Furthermore, Soundtoy contributed two songs to the magazine CDs of "我愛揺滾楽" and "通俗歌曲"

In May, Huang Jin joined Soundtoy on the keyboards.

Thereafter they joined the Chengdu BLOG Tour throughout China.

In October 2005, they performed during the Midi Music Festival 2005.

January 2nd, 2009, they performed in Shanghai's Yuyintang. According to Andy Best: Sound Toy (from Chengdu) are post-rock but I was surprised at how normal/traditional they were at the show. The Shanghai post-rock and shoegazing scene is much more avant garde and experimental. The band's sound was somewhere in between more pop sounding prog rock acts like Marillion and laid back modern guitar blues like John Meyer. There were no other bands on that night. This was apparently because the crowd were not really rock/YYT regulars and "wouldn't like" either other bands or (referring to Hard Queen) bands that sung in English. That was probably about right. Sitting opposite us at one point was some student's mom who was chaperoning them.^[1]

2000年 "地下成都"北京巡演

2001年深圳摇滚音乐节、

2002年云南昆明现代音乐节，

2002年丽江雪山音乐节，

2002年 "小酒馆5周年全国巡演"

2003年四川移动动感地带省内巡演

2003年上海亚洲音乐节优秀乐队展演，

2004年广州新年摇滚音乐会，

2004年北京大学联合国教科文组织东亚青年文化交流演出,

2004年 "成都BLOG中国行全国巡演"

2004年上海CHANNEL-V沙滩音乐节

2004年北京迷笛音乐节

2005年小酒馆8周年庆纪念演出

2005年格根塔拉草原音乐节

2005年北京迷笛音乐节

2005年四川移动动感地带省内巡演

2005年 "永远年轻-成都新年摇滚音乐夜"

2006年广东福建小巡演

2006年 “中国摇滚光辉道路”深圳世界之窗狂欢节

2006年 “中国摇滚光辉道路”广州增城摇滚音乐节

2007年北京摩登天空音乐节

2007年重庆首届现代音乐节

2008年西安张冠李戴室内音乐节

2009年 2009永远年轻成都新年摇滚音乐会

2009年 0809声玩冬日小巡演

Participated Festivals

Zebra Music Festival 2009 - May 2009	Modern Sky Festival 2007 - October 2007	Midi Music Festival 2005 - October 2005	Midi Music Festival 2004 - October 2004
Midi Music Festival 2003 - October 2003

Discography

Major Releases

The wonderful trip - 2003, December / 2004

Compilations

Midi Music Festival 2005 (VA) - 2006, May	Pocket Music Hits Vol. 1 (VA) - 2005, September	Beijing Midi Festival 2004 (VA) - 2005, March	Underground Chengdu 3 - 2004, April
Little Bar 1997-2002 (VA) - 2002, June