The Neighbourhood to perform in Shanghai

New kids on the block: The NBHD blur boundaries between rock and rap to stay edgy. Photo provided to Shanghai Star

The Neighbourhood, an up-and-coming American indie rock band, will be giving its only performance in China on Aug 8 at the Mixing Room in Shanghai's Mercedes-Benz Arena complex.

"The Neighbourhood is a rising star band whose music has moody atmospheric attractiveness," says Michael Craig Enoch, general manager of the Mercedes-Benz Arena. "August 8 will be the best time for Chinese audiences to discover the band and explore the depths of their music for themselves. The Mixing Room is very excited to welcome their debut in Shanghai."

Li's turning points

Treading the bass line

One of the band's singles, Honest, was featured in the end credits of the blockbuster film The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The band members — lead singer Jesse James Rutherford, guitarists Jeremy Freedman and Zach Abels, bassist Michael Margott and drummer Bryan Sammis — are from California, and they came together to form The NBHD in August 2011.

Sammis left the band earlier this year to pursue a solo career. He was replaced by Brandon Fried. The quintet describes its musical style as "atmospheric indie rock, electronica, and hip-hop beats with melodic R&B-inflected vocals".

One of their singles, Sweater Weather, had one of the longest runs on the 2013 radio charts. Billboard described it as "deeply compelling", and the Recording Industry Association of America labeled the song "certified platinum" for sales in excess of 1 million units.

The song was also praised by Rolling Stone, which noted that "layering hasn't sounded this cool since The Sweater Song". The NBHD's follow-up single Afraid was hailed by Billboard for its "edgy, subtle hooks" and was named a top-five song by Alternative Radio.

The band chose the British spelling for its name on the advice of their manager, in order to distinguish it from another band of the same name that uses the American spelling.

Spotify, the music streaming service provider, ranked The NBHD 17th in a list of "Top 25 Artists Under 25", alongside big names such as One Direction, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. "I always have a strong vision before I go into anything," says The NBHD lead singer Rutherford.

"I don't know how to make music any other way. It was all in my head, and that vision for the music was to make hip-hop beats with guitars, and I was going to sing and rap over them. We wanted to do that hip-hop aesthetic on an indie platform."

The band is planning to release a mixtape album this year. "We just put out a song the other day, a new one, called Jealousy. It's got a couple of rappers, Casey Veggies and 100s, new west coast guys who are … tight, really on the come up. So that one has a super west coast vibe," Rutherford told Billboard.

Rutherford says the mixtape will be free. "We want to give music back to the people, back to how the dudes in hip hop do it, they give it back to the streets," he said.

IF YOU GO

The Neighbourhood Debut Tour

in Shanghai

8 pm, Aug 8, The Mixing Room,

1200 Expo Avenue, Pudong (located in the Mercedes-Benz Arena Complex),

Tel: 400-821-3624

280 yuan ($45)