sambrowne wrote:Cool man, thanks for sharing these! I'm really intrigued! Would love to read more about your experience there - why you went, what you did, what was different, what was the same etc.
Hi yeah in fact I will probably go again near the end of year but just by myself to stay for couple of years. Really like to go up north to Bejing too more for the original music scene.
The reason I went is the guys asked lol. Actually the vocal and bassist were my students and they asked me if I would be keen and since I figured my own band kind of dissolved it would be good chance to go and check it out. Plus I never really been a full on cover band. so..
as for getting gigs it was really disheartening the first week as we discovered pretty much all of the pubs we targeted to play ( google )were pretty booked and they usually go thru some entertainment agency that represents oversea bands. while we found that out and still looking I took my gat jamming around to every open mic and music shop I could in the hope of making some connection. In the end it paid of that after one jam the club owner came to me and asked me if I got band or interested in getting some work with his other bands. Eventually that leads to a regular spot.
during my time there I tried to make the most of it by jamming and meeting up people and checking out a few western music schools and it really seems there were much more opportunities and I think also because of the rise of economy ppl are more willing to spend on entertainment. but the gap of rich and poor is quite dramatic.
managed to checked out a few gigs of the original bands and I wasn't really blown away exactly as most of them were sort of straight copycats and there is only one band I saw got more originality and its own sound. like to check some more next time round.
I definitely think musicianship and maturity NZ is a few notch higher but I think that gap is narrowing pretty fast.
a funny story is I was jamming with this guy who apparently is one of the best local electric teacher according to that particular shop owner. It's really amusing that he claimed he couldn't get a good tone out of something like Fender 15 w SS amp and turned every knob to max.
I've been telling my musician friends if there get the chance should definitely check it out and languages isn't too big a barrier. But I think to play there you have to get a performer license. In fact I met this Aussie guitarist and he told me he got busted twice. The police just dragged him of the stage and he had to be "bailed" out. For us it's kind of grey area as even I don't have one but there won't check normally as I look Asian lol.
again just my 2 cents but happy to share if there something else you like to know. Cheers!
I remembered there was one time the band I was jamming with made of 6 different nationalities and it's really cool have diversity like that. 
