Note from the AIR Tour
This is really an article about the utmost kickass Jenny Choi and her dedicated work at the AIR Tour!
"Enlisting the help of local celebrities Mia Park..."
Tired of seeing Asian American musicians relegated to candy uber-dance pop or karaoke-frequenting balladeers? So was one young indie rock artist, Asian American woman Jenny Choi (Double Zero/Suburban Home Records). Successfully having issued three albums, Grand, and Ashland, Choi will be releasing her newest album Postcard Stories in September. After opening for the venerable indie-rock Asian outfit SEAM as a 19-year-old, Choi has since nationally collaborated with dozens of Asian American communities to demyth stereotypes of Asians in the arts, including sharing bills with acts such as I Was Born with Two Tongues, eE, Dan Littleton of Ida, Kevin So and Emm Gryner.
Enlisting the help of local celebrities Mia Park and Pepito Pea to Mike Park of Asian Man Records, Choi has conceptualized the Asians In Rock (AIR) tour to kick off a celebration of Asians who revel in the indie rock subculture and are actively bringing innovative soundscapes to the forefront of what we consider today as American music. Breaking away from "twinkie" stereotypes of the quiescent ethnicity, the tour hopes to give voice to the often silent model minority. As Choi says herself, "I want to create exposure for Asian artists who are unafraid to think outside of the box and are unafraid of rocking out loud, to provide role models for Asian American communities everywhere."
Starting on the East Coast on August 8th until August 17th, The East Coast show will feature Panda Panda and Chiyoka Yoshido along with local artists.
Besides the soundscapes of Jenny Choi, the tour boasts artists that Choi has hand picked. Choi promises, "I picked artists who I really respect and whose music I really enjoy. I will be on tour heaven listening to all of these great acts day after day...LIVE! I am definitely to be envied."
Chiyoko Yoshida has been playing in bands for over a decade. While guitar is her primary instrument she's also known for drumming and singing in Chicago's Sweeder. People in the press have compared her voice with those of Elizabeth Fraser, Kristin Hersch, Chrissie Hynde, and PJ Harvey.
The other star of the East Coast tour of AIR is Panda Panda, a rock duo caught somewhere between the equally seductive worlds of the "cute" and the "disturbing." Sarah C. (guitar, vocals) and Miss Mia (drums, vocals) have discovered that playing edgy pop songs is an excellent way to indulge in both of these charming obsessions.