March 31, 2009 14:49

Fucked Up complete bizarre tour of China

'It was like a giant tinderbox where every possible atom is about to explode,' band say

Fucked Up have blogged about their recent tour of China, which saw the band battle crazy bus drivers, "'Mad Max'"-style policemen and a two-day, vomit-inducing boat trip.

The Canadian band decided to play China after being offered some gigs in Japan by a promoter.

As the Chinese leg of the tour was self-organised, they had to work out how to actually get into the country - which has recently banned Oasis from playing gigs there - by themselves.

Part of the journey involved a two-day boat journey - the cheapest way into Shanghai, according to a post written by the band on their Looking For Gold blog.

"No one we spoke to had ever heard of it," they wrote about the boat trip. "No one even knew why it took 48 hours."

The band then explained that they spent the entire second day on board being violently sick, as a result of overnight storms.

Once they were in finally in Shanghai, Fucked Up took an eventful coach journey to the site of the gig in Nanjing.

"In the bus, the driver is revealing his character," they wrote on the blog. "After the gear shifter breaks, I see him smoking and talking into a cell phone at the same time. To make things a bit calmer, he's made his ringtone into the sound of a cop car siren, but louder.

"We make our first rest stop to buy sugarcane. There are several cops on bikes circling us like 'Mad Max'…"

After the bus broke down, the band say they were forced to complete the rest of the journey at a snail's pace. "We're going 5km/s per hour and we still think we're going to die," they wrote.

However, once they arrived at the Nanjing venue, the band's actual gig was something of a success (albeit a surreal one).

The revealed: "Despite no one in the dive knowing us or our music, we got a standing ovation as we walked from the stairs to the stage. We played and it was weird. We play lots of covers, play out of the smallest amps ever, see lots of women, some taking pictures of themselves standing next to us while they play, weird mosh moves."

Fucked Up have now returned to North America.