During a weekend in Chicago’s Chinatown, while neighborhood passersby sip on their oolong tea and bite into mochi, a band with a song about this exact scenario are ready to perform inside Reggie’s Rock Club, one of a few obviously anglo-saxon owned bars within a 30 block radius. Chinese American Bear are an American-Mandarin indie pop-rock group consisting of first-generation singer, keyboard plus gong player Anne Tong and guitarist, vocalist and keyboard player Bryce Barston. The two are married. Their second-studio LP Wah!!! came out in October. This latest album has quickly propelled the duo to amass over 150,000 monthly Spotify listeners. In a western country that mostly seems familiar with eastern acts in the K-pop, J-pop and Japanese psych-rock genres, Chinese American Bear are among the most unique acts the West has heard this decade. 

“Bryce dragged me into this,” Anne joked. “It was never my dream to be in a rock band and tour in a rock band. But now it is my dream. We’ll look at each other and say ‘is this really our life right now?’”

Chinese American Bear are in the middle of a North American tour that includes stops here in Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York City, Vancouver, Austin and Seattle. They’ll play a few UK dates in late November. The group will co-headline a Chinese tour with China rock band City Flanker in December. 

Most bands familiar to Western listeners have never toured China. This is one of the many characteristics Chinese American Bear have that force them to step into a spotlight of unique and shiny beams. It can be hard for international acts to book tours in other countries. Imagine what it takes to organize a Chinese tour.

“It’s quite the process,” Anne and Bryce both said. “We were invited by a band who are on a really massive Chinese label. They invited us over the summer and that’s when we started planning.”

Consider the following checklist in case of booking a tour in China:

“First you apply for a performing license in every city,” said Anne. “Then in order to get those licenses we had to submit all of our lyrics. We submitted all of our audio recordings, then all our video recordings. We submitted our fingerprints. Then we used our performance licenses to get work visas.” 

“It was months of us crossing our fingers,” said Bryce. “It is the opportunity of a lifetime and while we waited for approval, we just crossed our fingers. I don’t know anybody who has toured in China.” 

Imagine a Chinese government official putting on headphones and listening to Chinese American Bear. The group’s lyrics are about drinking sugary drinks while skipping homework to hang with friends. The music video for their most popular song “Kids Go Down (孩子们的时光)” features dancing dumplings and kids in panda bear masks frolicking in fields. They greenlit that.

“I’ve played in many bands,” Bryce said. “Chinese American Bear is the first band where there’s kind of no boundaries. None. It’s freeing. We’re not boxing ourselves in. I think it allows you to think creatively, think outside the box and let yourself have fun.”

Chinese American Bear’s members aren’t the only two finding something amazing in their work. It’s immediately noticeable that Chinese audiences are thrilled to be at their shows, buy their records and enjoy their performances. Again–in a western world filled with other Asian acts, there are few Chinese-rooted acts that have ever been super popular in America. Their crowd, here spending a weekend in Chinatown, is filled with neighborhood art kids and Chinese students who are calling the US home.

“Here’s an email I got the morning after our New York show at Baby’s All Right,” Anne said before reading from her phone. 

Chinese American Bear fan mail:

“Last night was a dream come true.Thank you for being a part of the Asian indie scene and highlighting such rich aspects of our artistic culture. I started following you back when you had a hundred monthly listeners on Spotify and now you’ve surpassed a hundred thousand and are touring worldwide. Insane! Your music means the world to me! Sincerely, a fellow New York City based ABC, (which stands for American born Chinese) who loves the Chinglishification of indie music.’”

People see themselves in Chinese American Bear.

The band’s live performances include a solid catalog of songs to pick from. Their new record Wah!!! has 11 upbeat tracks with verses in English and Mandarin. They also have boppy tracks from their 2022 self-titled album, like “Love Bus.” The show is interactive. One of 2024’s most fun albums is accompanied by one of 2024’s most fun live performances. Anne picks up a gong. Bryce offers a fan a dumpling hat to wear and dance on-stage in. Between most tracks, Anne offers an explanation into Chinese culture, tells the crowd to sing a verse in Mandarin with her and even teaches several dance moves.

Their touring drummer, Rex, was born in China. He has played in metal bands and wailed on his drums for the duration of the show “I know a lot of Chinese music,” Rex said earlier in the night. “Nobody in China has ever heard of a band like this.” Anne spends the whole show playing keys with one arm, using the other to dance. She sang her heart out. Bryce plays some shredding pop-rock on his guitar. He also has a beautiful voice. The show is stellar, intimate and the crowd is way into it.

And so for now, it’s back to hopping on planes for Chinese American Bear. They’re back out west to finish this run of US shows. Then they’ll skip across to the UK to play two London concerts, including one at Jack White’s Third Man Records and another date in Manchester. After that, they’ll enjoy the unique opportunity to tour China.

Chinese American Bear’s new album Wah!!! is available for purchase here. See remaining tour dates and get tickets at this link.

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Joining BTS as an intern in summer 2021, Ben stayed with the team as a writer and has been an editor for several years. Ben’s journalistic background includes 4 Emmy award wins for news producing. They grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and lived in Cleveland, OH for several years before finding a new home in Minneapolis, MN. They’ve found new and exciting ways to tap into the local music scene no matter where they’ve lived. Working at BTS has now opened the gates to chatting with top global artists. When they aren’t writing for BTS, they can be found riding a bicycle or spinning records while DJ’ing across the midwest.

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