Shownotes Transcript
Interview with Klaire and Alex of GUJI 咕叽,
EP of GUJI 咕叽, a quirky synth-driven new wave quartet comprised of Chinese nationals Klaire (synths), Alex (bass), Stacy (drum machine) and American guitarist and singer for Shanghai punk band Round Eye Chachy with an interview. The EP will be released in late Summer August 25 by Floridian label Godless America. The EP was produced by frequent Modern Sky Recordings producer Li Wei Yu To say 2020-2022 were bleak years to live in Shanghai would be the understatement of the century. With the implementation of the “0-Covid policy” and the “Shanghai Lockdown”, a fucked attempt by the CCP to curb the transmission rate of the Covid-19 pandemic, the city became still. Businesses shuttered, schools closed, planes landed, shows cancelled and borders closed. For three years, China seemed without pulse as very little traffic ran between it and the outside world. Guizhou native Jiang Zi Xiu (Klaire) and Craig Englund (Chachy) were stuck in their home for months as a makeshift wall of plywood and bamboo rods was raised at the entrance and exits of the alleyway outside their door. Guards in hazmat suits were placed to conduct daily PCR tests and make sure no one came in or out. It was under these conditions that the couple decided to fill their time and their walls with the double lead harmonies, jangling B-52 styled guitar and cheesy drum machine pulse of the sardonic bubblegum-arpeggiated synthpop of GUJI咕叽. Heavily influenced by the aesthetic of 80s DEVO, B-52s, and My Little Pony the duo channels their frustrations and observations into vivid DIY videos channeling the work of Chuck Statler and blast humorously sardonic synthpop jams lined with pastel colored neon lights. With their first self-titled EP, they turn their anger into childish jeering fun in an overwhelmingly hostile political landscape and with songs like “I like to Hang Out in China” and “My Mao Suit” the band waves at the outside world with hammer and sickle and dares those who listen to not strip and dance in the hot pink fire.