Interview – Dan Shapiro of The Fever Machine

Smart Shanghai has a fantastic interview up this week with Dan Shapiro. Shapiro plays in the Shanghai band The Fever Machine, though he’s been around the city a while and has a few other bands under his belt, along with a lot of various music projects.

The interview is a bit about The Fever Machine as they’ve got a new record coming out (literally a new record–they’re releasing a vinyl this Saturday at Yuyintang) but it’s also about the Shanghai music scene in general, which is where it really gets interesting. He talks about the foreign presence in Shanghai music, how it’s developed over the years, and how Chinese music (and music in China) has changed in general. He know his stuff and he’s got some interesting insights. And bonus–the interview is done by Morgan Short, formally of Boys Climbing Ropes, a band I miss desperately. I hear “The Knitting Song” in my sleep some nights.

Read the full interview here.

The Fever Machine is going to be releasing their latest work at Yuyintang on Saturday (details here) and I’m gutted because I have a “job.” And this “job” takes me out of town on weekends once or twice a month, and I end up missing super cool shows. I’m going to be missing this one. This upsets me for three reasons. 1) I love vinyl. Free vinyl even more and my record player is sad. 2) Haven’t seen The Fever Machine play in a while and bands are always at the top of their game when they’re releasing something. 3) Banana Monkey is supporting them and I can never see Banana Monkey too many times.