More than 70 musicians have been a part of Mushroom Bunnies since it was formed in 2013. Photo provided to china daily

Xu launched a new album titled Ship of Theseus in Seattle in October. All the 13 songs in the album were composed by him and recorded in the humble $2,000 studio at his home in Seattle. It’s not that he lacks access to professional studios, but Xu said that he wants to show others that they too can produce good quality work with affordable tools.

“It’s very simple. All you need is a computer, a sound card and a microphone. The home studio can be as small as 6 square meters,” he said. “The post-production is also done in the studio with free software downloaded from the Internet.”

Xu has not made up his mind about his future career choice. He said that the subjects he is majoring in — political science and environment studies — have been sources of inspiration for his music.

“Seattle never runs out of eccentric and inspirational characters. I meet truly unique and creative musicians here almost on a weekly basis,” he said, adding that people there have a “I-am-too-cool-to-enjoy-this” mentality, which makes gaining the audience’s recognition +more challenging and exciting for him.

He also notes that young musicians in the US often appear overconfident because of the celebrity culture there.

“It seems that the media portrayal of the road to stardom always ignores the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. Many young musicians in the US are self-entitled and flippant. They don’t have solid techniques and a down-to-earth attitude,” he said.

With regard to the music scene back home in Shanghai, Xu said that the biggest hurdles are still family and peer pressure.

“Sometimes it saddens me to still see the stereotypically sleazy, drug-fuelled musician in China. However, I must say that things have been moving in the right direction in the past few years.”

lixueqing@chinadaily.com.cn