Mr. Graceless

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Mr. Graceless is a brit rock / psychadelic artist , originally from Beijing.

General information about Mr. Graceless

on the last day of 2010

English Name	Mr. Graceless
Genre	brit rock / psychadelic
Origin	Beijing
This is an artist which could be a band, musical project, solo musician or any other kind of music collective. For a more precise definition, see Category:Artists.

Band members
guitar/vocals: Qiu Shuang / bass/vocals: Yuan Shuai / drums: Jiu Long

Former band members

History

About the band by in his own words, interviewd by Gissing Liu, Time Out.com (June 2010):

Young band Mr Graceless – young, like they’re still in college – caught our attention with their fine-tuned rock sound and Libertines-style duelling vocalists. And we’re not the only people to take notice; local label Maybe Mars recently signed the group, which consists of Qiu Shuang (guitar/vocals), Yuan Shuai (bass/vocals) and Jiu Long (drums). We catch up with Qiu Shuang to find out more.

How did the band get together?

The band formed in August of 2008. Before that I had written a couple of songs. There was a ‘university night’ at D-22 in September 2008 and I wanted to join the show, so I started finding bandmates.

What bands do you like?

The name of the band is from the line ‘graceless lady you know who I am’ in the Rolling Stones song ‘Wild Horses’. I think ‘graceless’ is an interesting word, and we are a male band, so we have the name ‘Mr Graceless’.

I like older bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pixies, The Velvet Underground and The Stone Roses, and new bands like The Cribs and The Vines. Local bands like Hedgehog, Carsick Cars and Gar are all bands with three members who have shown me how you can succeed with this kind of band.

How do you write your songs?

At the beginning, most of my songs were about my feelings towards life around me – like my classmates, their lives, their love stories, and my feelings towards life and love. Now I pay more attention to ordinary people who move me, their happiness and their desires.

What’s your live show like?

It’s very different from the songs on our MySpace page. The demos are quieter as I made them in my dormitory. But I hope to make our live shows a little bit more noisy and rowdy.

Taken from JUEfestival.com:

Mr. Graceless, one of the bands that won the Plastered Student Band competition in 2009, has become a favorite among music insiders for their matchless harmonies and brilliant song-writing, and are almost certainly going to become one of China’s most important bands. Although two of their favorite bands are Carsick Cars and Hedgehog, it is their other favorite, Gar, who has clearly influenced their music style most, especially Zhan Pan’s delicate song-writing and plaintive singing.

contacts: mrgraceless (at) 163 (dot) com

On July 7th, 2011, they performed in the Yuyintang, Shanghai. According to Andy Best: They ripped into an upbeat set of typical Beijing style rock with good dual vocal harmonies and Beatles-esque chorus melodies. The audience loved them and they played with energy. The set was interrupted at one point by the return of the man, who even took the stage at one point - always a popular move. But the show eventually resumed and the band finished their set. Good night all round, job well done.^[1]