Guest blogger Julie Hwang is head of the Asian Film Festival. I ran into her yesterday and she kindly agreed to pass along a little info about this interesting show we chatted about.

Dallas and Denton are about to be invaded by China, in a supremely good way. Three Chinese punk rock bands will be taking the stage at the Double Wide (on March 28) and Hailey’s (on March 31) as part of The Chinese Invasion Tour. The three bands visiting our part of Texas, P.K. 14, Carsick Cars, and AV Okubo, represent the very top of the underground Beijing music scene.

The idea of Chinese punk rockers is rather perfect to me. It makes absolute sense that Western music genres built upon ideas of rebellion and going up against the establishment would inspire artists living in a country where the government casts a very long shadow over everyone’s lives.

I was lucky enough to catch the bands at their first Texas stop at SXSW a few weeks ago, where they completely rocked the house. They were loud, energetic, and just really really good. I had been aware of the bands for some time through a few indie documentaries produced about the scene, and honestly never expected them to end up in my backyard one day soon. From chatting with their tour manager, it took a mountain of paperwork to get them into the U.S. Who knows if or when they’ll be back this way again. Now may be your only chance in a long time to see how great it is to be a Chinese punk. Don’t miss it.

Chinese punk rockers in North Texas – amazing.