Xiao He Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 10th 2010 9:10AM by Sarah Vasquez
Comments

Xiao He is the solo project of Glorious Pharmacy's lead singer and guitarist, He Guoheng. The experimental folk venture started in 1999, around the same time as the beginning days of Glorious Pharmacy. At the time, China's underground music scene was small and unvarying, which quickly earned them a following of music fans. Xiao He will be heading to Austin to perform at this year's SXSW with his solo material. With the help of a translator -- as Xiao He is not fluent in English -- Spinner conducted an interview with the musician about his music in anticipation of the festival.

When did you start performing as Xiao He? What is your musical background?

I started performing around 1999. I taught myself guitar in 1993 when I was serving in the army.

How did you come up with your band name for this project?

I already forgot the original ideas, but I made up a lot of other ideas afterward for why I'm using that name. But I think "glorious" and "pharmacy" are against each other, and that just reflects my personality.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Dream walking, on the outs.

What are your musical influences?

Basically, everything that I hear -- thieves, foot steps, whores screaming, yelling from the peddlers, horns from the cars, love songs from music shops [and] wind blow[ing] through the wildness.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

None.

What's your biggest vice?

Drink.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Cigarettes.

Beatles or Stones?

None at all.

I read that you came to the US for your first trip recently. How would you compare the music scene in China to the music scene that you experience in the US?

The music scene in the US is like eggs, bumped eggs. The music scene in China is like stones, bumped stones.

What can attendees expect at your performance?

Don't believe in what you've heard, and don't believe in what you've seen.

Sarah Vasquez is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.