OTS: CDC Punk Festival (Morning House 06.08.2016)

After an evening of spicy food, Yunnan drones, and Jubba the Hutt balloon dealers in the after-hours labyrinth that is Poly Center – we sought out solace and any semblance of equilibrium the only way we knew how – an all out punk festival in the outskirts of Chengdu. The afternoon into evening CDC Punk Festival took part at Morning House, an epic multi-function venue, complete with a hot pot restaurant, a pool, painted over walls, Harvest beer on tap, and best of all, secluded in an area known as Flower Town. For you old time Beijingers – think if Dos Kolegas owned just about every building on its plot of land and was stuck by Huairou. As for the music – not a sour note in the entire lineup. From the simple, street punk snarling of Stink Mouth (name of the year), to the jocular, scrappy, abrasively fun Hit The Plane, the hardcore theatrics of veteran hardcore outfit GaiWaEr, the surefire pop punk and gnarly musicianship of The Big Flip, to finally the next level explosiveness from post punk favorites Hiperson –

– each and every band (including the few I only heard in passing or while stuffing my face with hot pot courtesy of our local guide and ‘devil on our shoulder’ Sunny) was firing on all cylinders – a sign not only of the swelling amount of talent in Chengdu that goes unnoticed here, but a sign of just how hungry and healthy punk scenes and audiences are outside of Beijing. Chengdu – you more than impressed and I’ll be hoping to see more of you in the future. More pictures and videos below.