“It’s a nice surprise to be treated like royalty!” Why are mid-tier British indie bands so popular in China? | dew

WWhen I joined Swim Deep 13 years ago, my dreams were very similar to those of any young musician: to play Glastonbury, to tour America, to have our music heard on the radio – all of which we managed to achieve. But what I didn’t count on was finding a fan base in China. Although we’ve never intentionally released our music there, Swim Deep recently made a triumphant return from their fourth round of shows on Chinese soil in just 10 years, and we’re not the only British indie band to take advantage of this unexpected opportunity.

China has been enthusiastic about British and Irish pop acts for years, long before the 500bn yen (£531m) music industry overtook France to become the world’s fifth-largest in 2023. Jessie J became a phenomenon after winning the country’s top singing competition in 2018, while Westlife have spent decades playing in front of thousands in Chinese arenas and stadiums. Less fortunate, however, is the growing interest in UK indie bands, for whom the unexpected demand – and the promise of excellent pre-gig food – is a financial and spiritual lifeline as revenues increasingly decline on home soil.

Founded in Blackpool in 2008, Underground Youth has spent more than 15 years “working night after night in small clubs in the UK and Europe”, says singer Craig Dyer. After twelve albums, Dyer says touring at home was no longer financially viable, as the costs of accommodation and food often exceeded the performance fees.

In China, the experience is completely different. Tours are often presented to artists as package shows, with promoters taking financial risks by booking large venues and covering domestic travel, hotels and hot meals as well as multi-show fees – a risk they are happy to take, due to the passion for British artists among Chinese fans. “It’s some of the best treatment we’ve had,” Dyer says, citing the 14 concerts they’ve given there since 2019. “We’re in beautiful hotels, we’re taken out for meals, we’re looked after without a second thought. The professional level of the venues is beyond what we’re used to.”

For Manchester-based darkwave duo KVB Cat Day, the second point is particularly encouraging: “We’re an audio-visual band, and venues in China are often equipped with beautiful LED screens. I wish we had the funding to make our venues this good.” It’s not just the technical capabilities that impress either. “The locations are often in malls, which is pretty genius,” she continues. “In the UK, all our venues – the Moth Club – will be closed,” she says [in Hackney] He fights tooth and nail to stay open. But who will complain about the noise in the shopping center?

Swim Deep’s first gig in China, in 2014, was a strange one: we arrived in Hong Kong to discover that the venue was an Italian restaurant where all the tables and chairs had been pushed to the side. But on the mainland, we often encountered ultra-modern spaces like those championed by Dyer and Day. Like them, we find that our audience numbers in China often far exceed what we would expect to find at home. In September 2019, our biggest UK festival show was held at 110 Above in Leicestershire, in front of a crowd of 500 people. A few months later, we performed in front of 10,000 people at sunset on the main stage at the Strawberry Music Festival in Guangzhou; We were the only law in the UK on the bill.

Sea Power, formed as British Sea Force in Reading in the mid-1990s, has achieved similar success. Their first visit to Beijing was a “disaster”, says bandleader Jan Scott Wilkinson – the band arrived to find that the festival they had booked for had mysteriously been cancelled, so they instead went to the Great Wall to play acoustic for some “very confused local families”. But in May 2025, four new headline shows turned into six after tickets sold out within hours. “We were playing up to 3,000 capacity venues,” Wilkinson says. “It was like playing in London every night.” The band has two separate outings planned for 2026 — a festival in May, and a dozen more shows later. “We’re getting older,” Wilkinson says. “We’re no longer desperately trying to break or grow.” “So it’s a nice surprise to do something like this and be treated like royalty.”

Its popularity is easily explained: In 2019, Sea Power recorded the video game Disco Elysium, which “deals with communism and capitalism and all kinds of political philosophies and ideas,” Wilkinson says, and it became an unexpected hit in China. But for other bands, the source of their Chinese fanbase is less well known, especially since Western platforms like Spotify and Instagram are banned in the country. “We were told that fans loved us because we looked like a couple from one of those Chinese soap operas,” says Day of the KVB. Meanwhile, Galway’s NewDad went viral on Rednote in 2024, as the Chinese social media platform was flooded with makeup tutorials recreating the look of the porcelain doll on Madra’s album cover.

Levick Li has traveled thousands of miles from her native Guangdong province to huge cities to see British bands like Wolf Alice and Ride, and her personal experience provides some insight into Chinese fans’ engagement with Western music. After discovering acts like Jake Bugg and Swim Deep through the algorithm of defunct Chinese streaming platform Xiami Music in the 2000s, she began importing records from UK stores like Banquet Records in Kingston upon Thames, often waiting a month or more for the purchases to arrive. Her studies at Sheffield for a postgraduate degree strengthened her connection to the “rebellious spirit” inherent in British music and fashion.

“I enjoyed Chinese music, but it tended to be more mainstream and pop-oriented,” she says. “But British indie music seemed like a closer expression of my authentic self. I think Chinese music fans are also constantly searching for this kind of distinction.” Moreover, “I think [the success] It also has something to do with the British music industry: there are so many bands, so there’s something for everyone.

Commuting across China on the ultra-efficient bullet train is an interesting experience for UK artists. Stories of jam sessions in Wuhan with mohawk-clad Chinese punks, meet-cutes with Chinese indie rock legends Carsick Cars, spotting pandas in Chengdu and trips to subterranean Shanghai clubs that sound “like The Matrix” are among the highlights these bands share with me. Equally important are the post-show encounters with lines of excited fans carrying armfuls of handcrafted merchandise and gifts. But not all aspects of tourism in China are liberal.

“In Nanjing, our tour manager came backstage with a couple of police officers who wanted to look at the setlist and our understanding of the law,” Dyer says. “I had to sign documents stating that I would not swear, disrobe, endanger anyone in the crowd, or say anything negative about the regime.” All lyrics must be submitted for approval before the artist arrives in China, to ensure compliance with local censorship laws. This process can lead to popular songs being rejected without explanation. “It’s all well and good,” Dyer says. “But it’s kind of like a mood killer 15 minutes before you go on stage.”

Bureaucracy aside, UK artists are widely enthusiastic about their Chinese touring experiences, with the enthusiastic work of independent promoters including So Ready Presents, Mentha Project, Haze Sounds and Blank Joy central to those experiences. With British bands such as Shame, Mat Maltese and Caroline all playing China this year, bookings show no sign of slowing down; And with the promise of visa-free travel for UK citizens, artists may soon find themselves with companions on their overseas trips.

“I feel very lucky that we can go to these places and meet these very passionate and kind people,” Day says. “It’s special. There’s a lot of hostility toward China, but I think people need to go and see it for themselves.”