Chinese Football | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Wuhan, China |
Genres | Chinese rock, indie rock, math rock, Midwest emo |
Years active | 2011–present |
Labels | Wild Records |
Members |
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Website | Chinese Football on Bandcamp |
Chinese Football is a Chinese indie rock and math rock band. It was founded in 2011, in Wuhan, China. The band self publishes their music under Xu Bo's own Wild Records label.[1]
Chinese Football is one of the few indie bands in China to get an international audience.[1] Its style has been described as both math rock and midwest emo.[2]
Chinese Football was founded by Xu Bo in 2011. He had named the band after the fellow math rock band American Football,[3] as well as a joke about the football team in China.[2] Xu Bo says his band was inspired by numerous musical genres, such as Pop-punk, J-Pop, and Indie rock.[4]
The first album of Chinese Football was released in 2015, the self titled Chinese Football.[5]
The band has anime characters on all its album covers, drawn by a friend of Xu Bo with the pseudonym of Space Layout.[6]
The band created a trilogy of EPs themed around video games, called the Game trilogy. The first one was called Here Comes a New Challenger, the second was Continue?, and the third was Win & Lose.[7] The album had a meta theme about Xu Bo's desire to become a famous rockstar.[8]
Continue? was released in 2019, and there were two music videos for the songs "Continue" and "Electronic Girl".[9] The album's music was recorded in their hometown in Wuhan.[4]
In 2019, the band opened for its inspiration American Football during their world tour in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.[8]
In summer 2021, the band started recording their first full length album since 2015 called Win & Lose. They started a tour to promote the album around China in October 2021, although restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in China caused delays. While the album was originally meant to be released that fall, Xu Bo delayed it to 2022 due to a feeling of "not being completely satisfied". Win & Lose had a mixed reception in China, with its more pop sound leading to the band called "traitors". However, the album sold well, reaching the top of the math rock section of Bandcamp.[1]
In June 2024, Chinese Football announced their first tour in North America, which they scheduled for October of the year.[10]