Like a rolling stone

When an audience member at last year's Strawberry Music Festival in Beijing asked Zhang Chu what he had been doing during the past 10 years, the rocker joked: "I've been doing two things: either staying at home, or walking along the roads of Xi'an with a toothbrush in my pocket just in case I sleep outside."

This May, Zhang, 42, will once more perform on the first day of the music festival, with songs from his scheduled new album Aeroplane Factory.

"For the first time, I feel all grown up. The album is full of songs from an adult with a different attitude," says Zhang, who was regarded as one of the "lonely singers" by fans during the early 1990s.

"I have learned to face up to the problems in life rather than pretending to be blind or escaping. I even want to have a family, a baby, for whom I take responsibility," he says. "I am happier and not so lonely as before."

Zhang emerged in the early 1990s when China's rock music scene flourished, with Cui Jian leading the pack. The Xi'an native dropped out of school and went to Beijing to pursue his rock dreams. His style was to be withdrawn and let the songs speak for him.

His hits, such as Sister, Ants Ants, and Loners are Disgraceful, were popular in the 1990s and are still played today on radio programs, TV stations and by other artists.

"I love writing songs," Zhang says. "Maybe that's why I want to open up again." Zhang might not fit in so well with today's music industry, however, which has rapidly become commercialized.

"People like Zhang, who created Chinese rock music decades ago, are culture icons," says Jiang Shu, a veteran rocker and founder of the indie rock label, Tree Music, which is going to release Zhang's new album this summer. "The idea of being a rock singer of that brilliant generation was a pressure on those who were young and restless. Like many singers of that time, Zhang was talented and vulnerable."

Zhang has scheduled several meetings with the record company about promoting the record. "Perhaps he didn't like doing interviews and talking about his music before. But now, like he says, he has grown up and is taking responsibility," Jiang says.

In conversation, Zhang has an easy laugh and a casual sense of humor. But he worries about his upcoming performances. "Hopefully, I am not out of date yet," he giggles. "I am a middle-aged man after all."

He says his past successes are a memory and he has moved on. "I still wear the same haircut and clothes that I wore when I was 20. But I have moved on to another stage of life, which is a smooth transition for me and my music."