Interview: Friend or Foe

I had the pleasure of catching Friend or Foe back in November at D-22 – energetic, mischievous, genuine, and plain ol’ fun…FoF who are from Shanghai (or according to them, from a far off planet), will be playing at Dos Kolegas this Saturday alongside our very own Fuzzy Mood, and Shanghaiers The Rainbow Danger Club. I was able to throw a few questions their way and in true Friend or Foe fashion, he’s what they had to say.

Last time you guys paid a visit to Beijing, you literally came in on UFOs  (though of the cardboard kind) – any hints as to what to expect from your show this time round?

A cerebral lecture on the nature of particle physics. And shots of tequila with Alex from Beijing Gig Guide! BTW those UFOs were made from pure baby fetus and I\’m offended you would suggest otherwise! 

D-22 is no more, and there was even speculation it was due to a certain species being allowed to play there …what makes you think Dos Kolegas will accept your kind? 

They should have never let all those noise groups into D 22. That species is just not gonna cut it in any bar. Oh wait… were you talking about us?

Who would you love to see come down from Beijing to jam with you guys? 

Hedgehog! I mean who doesn\’t love Atom! Also Carsick Cars. Should I be more underground? Shout out to Throutin and YanTiao but we\’ve already played with those guys. Also Residence A seems to be the hot band at the moment and they are pretty awesome far as I can tell. Amazing Insurance Salesmen were also great when I saw them last. You guys in Beijing got a good crop.

If you could take one thing – a custom, a food, a nuisance, anything – in Shanghai and replace it with something here what would it be? 

See the above bands. Move to Shanghai! Actually though Shanghai is coming right along. We play the 24th but the 23rd has two different shows with Shanghai bands in Beijing. Death to Giants are crazy jazz rock that musos will love. Not sure where that show is at but they will teach everyone how to count in Chinese. And as part of JUE, AM444 who are really great sort of funk/electro DJ duet with a beautiful singer and ROM a Shanghai based hip hop/art crew will be coming up. Add Rainbow Danger Club and Friend or Foe to that and there are five Shanghai acts in Beijing this weekend that I know of.

We could take that hot dog stand back with us too. You know the one where they toast the buns. That would be cool!

Thanks guys for the responses…can’t wait for that lecture on particle physics! Don’t forget Saturday, March 24th, see these dirty gremlins wreak havoc on Dos Kolegas. As mentioned above there’s a lot of music coming up from Shanghai this weekend – a great opportunity to see how they run shit down there. Check again tomorrow for the weekend update. You can even listen to their album (and buy it at your own price) on bandcamp here. For now here’s them playing “Lie To Me”.