Buyi becomes big in Japan

"We visit more cities to share our music in the hope that more people will resonate with our songs and become healthier, happier and more empowered. Live music is a form of catharsis, finding happiness and connecting with kindred spirits. It creates an extraordinary energy and we like to spread this energy through the crowd."

The band had one of its most meaningful moments in 2005 when Japanese drummer Satoru Sueyoshi, who is also known as Funky, met its members by chance.

Before his first visit to China, the now 65-year-old Funky was already established in Japan's music scene as drummer for the rock band Bakufu-Slump.

During Bakufu-Slump's peak in the 1980s, the band had to record TV programs five days a week, a lifestyle Funky disliked as he prefers performing live. When he first visited China in 1990, he chanced upon local musicians like Zhang Chu and the band Black Panther, igniting his passion for Chinese rock 'n' roll.

Funky later settled in China where he's worked with many musicians, contributing to the development of Chinese rock 'n' roll. However, this lifestyle was growing increasingly hectic, coming to resemble the life he led in Japan, until someone suggested he produce a song for Buyi in 2005.

When the band invited him to their courtyard in Beijing, Funky assumed that it was another well-off group. This impression quickly evaporated when Wu picked him up in a beat-up and barely functioning Jeep.

The rented courtyard where the band lived and rehearsed was equally modest, but to Funky, he'd found his dream place to play rock 'n' roll.