Chapter 338

I woke up around 7, finished packing my bag, took the dog out and drove to the train station. I parked underground and got on the train to Shanghai, in a routine that was becoming quite familiar. I got a rent-a-bike to the same hostel I stayed at last time, dropped my bag, and then rode to Workshop Jiu-Jitsu. I attended the nogi class, where we drilled various sweeps from single-leg X-guard and other modern grappling wizardry. The class was very good and involved plenty of position sparring, and then there were free rolls. I went against a young Chinese guy and did pretty well, catching him in a mounted triangle. Nogi jiu-jitsu is very slippery.

I went back to the hostel, ate two slices of pizza and washed it down with a Stone IPA, and headed back out. I had the idea of contacting the capoeira people I know in the metropolis, and as it happened, there was an open roda at 4 o’clock. I got in as the children’s class was finishing up, and the grown-ups slowly came in. A bunch of them were surprised by my surprise visit and came to give me a big hug. About 25 people were there in total, most of them at a high level, and we played for over an hour and a half. Normally I dislike the roda format of capoeira and how it leads to two people playing while everybody else just sits around and waits for their turn, but now it suited me, I was already beat from jiu-jitsu and was fine with something a bit lower intensity, and also the length of the whole thing made it possible to get in often. A great time was had by all.

I joined them on the group dinner afterwards, at a Japanese izakaya about 20 minutes away. It was great talking to old pals and meeting new ones, downing cups of sake, peach liqueur and beer and munching on all those kickass Japanese salty snacks. I had to excuse myself around 19:30 but was told by them all that I should come more often. That warmed my black heart.

I rode a rent-a-bike a further 2 km west, to the gritty Yuyintang livehouse, where I paid for my ticket and walked in just as Loudspeaker was getting on stage. I already talked about how much I love Loudspeaker, the no-nonsense power trio churning out a furious style of crust punk, after their excellent set I talked to guys I know who play in bands playing later on the bill and said that they better deliver, a hard task when Loudspeaker opens up the show.

To further complicate matters, Conch was up next, a band I was told not to miss. It’s another power-trio, and they played with their backs to the crowd, not even acknowledging our presence once, crushing us with a hypnotic doom/sludge metal. Sick.

Then it was Bad Treatment, a band with a mixed line-up of expats and Chinese, in more of an old-school punk rock vibe. A good breather before we got hit hard again by Demonslaught 666, a band doing their first live performance, all made up of youngsters emulating the black-thrash of Venom and other early days’ legions of Satan. The female bassist was wearing an Aura Noir shirt under her spiked leather jacket, now that’s a band I hadn’t heard of in a while. After their set I went to pee upstairs and hung out in the bands’ backstage area at the invitation of a pal of mine. The small guitarist from Demonslaught 666 walked in and I drunkenly slapped his shoulder, saying “Great show!” He smiled and started saying in halting English “I missed a part” but I interrupted him: “Who cares? Black-thrash doesn’t have to be tight, it just has to be evil!” The singer from Chimera Cult, nursing a beer next to us, nodded and confirmed it was indeed very evil.

It was getting late, six bands on a bill with 30-minute sets each, I’d have been fine with 20 minutes. I opened another beer I sneaked in from a craft beer shop across the street, and got ready for Rat King and the destruction brought forth by that expat five-piece. Violent as hell, and I couldn’t resist going in the pit a little bit. Chimera Cult closed the show, with their high-octane Pantera-style metal. A great show, six local bands in different subgenres and different approaches to their live performance, Shanghai has got a very healthy scene and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

I rode home on the quiet streets, and saw that Homeslice Pizza was still open. I got myself the same thing I always order, a Hawaiian and a spicy sausage, that I devoured before going to crash in my bunk bed.