Fans wait for School days to return

Liu Fei imagined thousands of ways to celebrate the 10th anniversary of School, a small bar and live house venue tucked away in a hutong in downtown Beijing, which he co-founded in 2010. Maybe a party with beer flowing quenching the thirst of hundreds of guests was one such imagined scenario. However, he didn't envision that it would be celebrated in such an understated manner.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all potential public gatherings have been canceled. To mark the 10th anniversary of the two-floor venue, Liu invited 20 Chinese bands, which have performed at the venue, to release a compilation album, titled Collection 2010-2020.

The compilation album, with 40 songs－two songs from each band－was released on April 27.

On that same day, a documentary reviewing the past 10 years of School was also released on Chinese video streaming website Tencent Video.

"The compilation is like a summing up of School over the past decade. It also kicks off another decade, which makes me excited," says Liu, a Beijing native, a former band agent and music festival organizer.

The past decade saw about 4,000 bands perform at School.

"It's a place that has been connecting like-minded people. We selected the 20 bands because they are independent and very popular among our audiences."

Supported by veteran Chinese singer Lao Lang (whose real name is Wang Yang) and producer Wang Di, the compilation was recorded at Baihua Studio, one of the oldest recording studios in the city. The studio gave birth to classic Chinese rock albums during the 1980s and '90s by established bands, such as Tang Dynasty and Black Panther.

The last band finished recording in late November, while in mid-December, the documentary team started recording live performances and audiences at the venue.

Zhao Qiyang, a music fan and a regular visitor to the venue, first went to School when he was just 8 years old. His father, a die-hard rock music fan, took his son there almost every weekend.

"Back then, I enjoyed the atmosphere there although I didn't understand the music. Now, I am 18. I still like going to School with my father. We have lots of fun together," says Zhao, who is a freshman of Capital Normal University, majoring in mathematics.

Liu launched School because "we wanted to have a place to enjoy music and drink together". Not in his wildest dreams did he expect School to last 10 years.

School opened on April 24, 2010, the last Saturday of the month. The stage was about eight meters wide and the venue was packed with people letting their hair down. The dancing, to put it mildly, was energetic.

Since then, Liu got married and became a father. "I met my wife at School, which made the place more meaningful to me personally," he adds.

School is known for offering fledgling Chinese indie bands opportunities. Among the bands that performed there and went onto greater things is Penicillin, an indie rock group whose members are all under 30 years old. They started playing in front of fewer than 10 people and now they have a stable fan base with about 100,000 followers on their Sina Weibo account.

Since 2013, bands formed by students at universities have been able to perform at School every Thursday.

In 2017 and 2018, School released two compilation albums with songs performed by those campus bands.

Among the school bands is an indie rock band, LaiSee, featuring four members, including lead vocalist Xiao Tian and guitarist Bai Shi. Founded in 2013, it first performed at School in 2014. The band has evolved and gained a large fan base. Two of their songs, D.O.G and The End of Summer, have been recorded in School's latest compilation.

"All of the four members have their own jobs, besides playing in the band. We play music for fun together," says the lead vocalist.

"Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have stopped performing for four months and we really miss the live shows at School."