Yesterday was released the album We Are Shanghai, a collection of twenty songs by twenty bands from Shanghai.  In the words of JC Heibockel, one of the producers of the album, “the We Are Shanghai idea started out of some discussions a bunch of us were having about the scene. Initially, Ivan [of Moon Tyrant] was the first to really come up with something solid and start contacting people. It was originally going to be something that he and I would do under the Twin Horizon wing, but it turns out that Nichols from Rainbow Danger Club and Bren from Stegosaurus? were thinking about doing something similar, and we decided to work together. We invited Adam Gaensler to join in and help make sure everything sounded as good as possible.

“There’s definitely a bit of a ‘chip-on-our-shoulders’ thing going on: we’re tired of people looking past Shanghai towards Beijing. Sure, there’s great things happening there, and the scene is really developed. But the Shanghai scene definitely has a more independent vibe, and we wanted to show off all these great artists who are not only creating, but doing themselves, without labels or endorsements. All the songs on the CD were created and recorded independently (Duck Fight Goose has, of course, since been signed). Not only that, but Shanghai’s scene is truly international. By my count, there are musicians from nine different countries represented on the CD, and a whopping six of the bands features foreigners and locals working together, which is really awesome.”

There will be two gigs to release the album:

Friday, January 13th at YuyinTang, with Duck Fight Goose, Dragon Pizza, Pairs, and Naohai.

Saturday, January 14th at LOgO, with iAmalam (members of the Song Dynasty), the Horde, Death to Giants, and Battle Cattle (Monochrome Safety Society, a side project of Rainbow Danger Club, had to cancel)

The album is available for free download at weareshanghai.bandcamp.com and everyone who comes to the shows will also get a free copy.

More about the production of the album on Twin Horizon.