UK Punk Band Banned in ChinaOriginal UK punk band The Boys arrived in Shanghai on January 13 to embark on a nine-date national tour to promote their new album “Punk Rock Menopause” only to discover that the tour had been cancelled by the Chinese Ministry of Culture.

The official reason given was crowd control and security issues in the wake of the Shanghai stampede at a riverside New Year celebration attended by around 300,000 people in which 36 people were killed and 49 injured. The Ministry of Culture had sent letters (right) to all the venues on the tour telling them that if The Boys played there they would be shut down with immediate effect.

Undeterred, the band set off on a cultural/culinary tour of China and along the way managed to play three secret underground gigs promoted entirely by word of mouth and carefully avoiding official Chinese chat rooms and social networks such a Weibo. In addition, the band gave multiple interviews, performed on a top TV channel in Beijing and recorded a live album, which will be released later this year.

Singer/guitarist Matt Dangerfield says, “We can perfectly understand why a lot of government officials are nervous right now about anything that attracts crowds – especially while the investigation into the stampede is still ongoing. Nobody knows where the buck will stop and it’s likely more heads will roll.

“But despite our disappointment at the tour being cancelled, we decided to make the best of the situation and we actually had a fabulous time. We absolutely loved China. The people are great, we ate some fantastic food, saw amazing things and had a lot of fun organising and playing the secret gigs.”

For more information: Steve Metcalf theboyswebsite@aol.com