Blasts from the past

EVER since the glory days of Wham! western bands have been trying to strike it big in China.

For all that country’s much trumpeted embrace of turbo-capitalism, though, in some respects it seems Beijing is as steadfastly totalitarian as ever. Or at least that was the experience of funk-pop all-stars the Go! Team when they performed in China recently. Believing they were in for a thrilling pop adventure, the British outfit instead found themselves participating in a true life retelling of Orwell’s 1984.

“We’d never been there before and we were really looking forward to going,” explains frontman Ian Parton. “Then we found out we’d have to submit lyrics. Can you believe it? Some fucker was sitting in an office somewhere, checking our songs wouldn’t inspire a revolution. It’s incredible. That shit is scary.”