Instead of making planes, he creates indie music

The tickle of Tango

Li Liangjie, lead vocalist and founder of the band Rock, agrees. He incorporates humor into his songwriting and performances by combining quyi with rock tunes, which gave birth to his trademark "quyi rock 'n' roll". The band will release its debut album, Tianjin Dolls, on Jan 11.

Li, who studied classical guitar from age 16, has been performing in bars in Tianjin since 2005. Li and his band wear long robes, resembling the look of quyi performers, and sunglasses onstage.

"I am not the kind of rocker who is cool onstage. I like writing lyrics that sound like chatting. I don't want to educate people," says Li, 40. "But it doesn't mean that I don't have my attitude. I can express my disagreement or anger with ironic words."

Zhai has also discovered young bands from Tianjin, such as Stone Lion. Founded in 2011 by Zhang Yingjian, the band impressed Zhai with its uncompromising dedication to its musical style.

Zhai says earning a living in the music industry used to be relatively easy in China around 1995. There were many music stores on the streets of Tianjin selling cassettes, CDs and DVDs. For young music fans like Zhai, following the latest news of the music scene and buying albums from their idols was the coolest thing they could do.

But with CD sales plunging and digital piracy rampant in China, artists are struggling. "There is only one music store in Tianjin selling legal CDs," says Zhai. "I hope that the government can promote and protect original Chinese music just like they helped Chinese films."

As the founder and investor of Tianjin's 13 Club-the city's first live house venue-Zhai says they have around 150 performances every year featuring a lineup of local and touring acts.

"I remember clearly that we had only one person come to a show. I told the band to play as scheduled because we don't want to lose that person," he recalls.

To ensure the survival of the live house and the record label, Zhai finds himself picking up a number of odd jobs, such as DJing, writing articles for the local newspaper and producing commercial performances for big stars.

Zhai says the original Chinese music scene needs to be offered more opportunities, especially by the media.

When he DJs, he never plays music by pop stars like Taiwan's Jay Chou because "he has enough attention", he says.

"I want to spend much more time introducing other talented singer-songwriters, who are ignored by the market."

IF YOU GO

8 pm, Jan 11. 13 Club, third floor, 58, Ziyou Dao (Road), Hebei district, Tianjin. 136-7218-3350.

8:30 pm, Jan 12. Mao Livehouse, 111, Guloudong Dajie (Street), Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-6402-5080.