Missing Joe

"Shaking Up Shanghai"
Maybe it was prophetic when Adam Lewis named his company the Planetary Group. Last month the cofounder and president of the Boston-based music promotion and publicity firm accompanied the little-known college-rock band Missing Joe on a trip to China; it was the first in a series of collaborative US-China concerts that takes Boston bands to perform in Shanghai.Despite the fact that the last major Communist power on the planet is not known as a hotbed of rock 'n' roll, the shows were an unqualified success. As a result, Lewis returned to Shanghai last week with Star64, which played three nights at the ARK Live House, a 600-capacity venue comparable to Boston's Paradise Rock Club. Next month he'll make the trip with the local pop band Entrain."In this business you always get approached with left-field ideas," says Lewis. "And usually you get to the point where you realize it just isn't going to happen. But I stuck with this one. It was a real leap of faith."And a real heap of paperwork. Lewis was approached with the idea of bringing Western music to China last October by Shanghai-based Kelly Wilkes Events, a group of American entrepreneurs that includes former Planetary Group employee Adam Wilkes"It's a very political process," says Lewis. "First we submitted the bands' music, lyrics, and a video to a government agency, and then had to submit a formal application, which takes anywhere from four to six weeks. Once that's approved they issue a permit, which is basically an invitation, saying you're allowed to perform in this country. Then we take that to the Chinese consulate in New York and apply for work visas, another fairly long process. Oh, before that there's passports. How many 23-year-old rock musicians have passports? My office is now expert at filling out forms. It seemed like too great an opportunity to pass up."The shows are part of the Heineken Music Heaven Concert Series, sponsored by the beer company, Japan Airlines, and the Shanghai Center, a housing development for expatriates. Each night a different Chinese band plays the opening slot; one of Missing Joe's openers, a female artist named Sasha, played sugary pop tunes and R&B cover songs, common fare in the local scene. Judging from audience reaction, the sight and sound of American rock groups playing original songs takes a bit of getting used to."In the beginning they acted kind of reserved," says Matt Rafal, lead singer of Missing Joe, whose Shanghai dates were the band's first shows outside the United States. "I met one guy who said the only other Western group he'd seen was Wham! in the '80s. We had to work to get them out of their shells - you know, 'Put your hands in the air!' and stuff like that. One of the promoters taught us a Chinese phrase which means, 'Down your drink.' We used it a lot, and it helped."Lewis and his colleagues are tapping a potentially rich vein by establishing a US-China music pipeline. A fourth Missing Joe show had to be added at the last minute to accommodate audience demand, part of an appetite for all things Western that's growing as fast as Shanghai, whose population of 14 million rarely gets the opportunity to see an American rock band."It's hard to make the economics work, and it's so labor-intensive," says Lewis. "There are some acts coming through on a stadium /arena level [Fatboy Slim played here last year], but it's still risky. Permits can be pulled at any moment. But the scene is developing. The sound and lights at the ARK were top production, all in-house."Three Shanghai newspapers ran large feature stories about Missing Joe, and the band did a handful of radio and television interviews. Heineken widely distributed a free sampler CD, and now there's talk of a regional tour later in the year. Unfortunately, though, there were no Missing Joe CDs for sale at the shows, or anywhere else in the country."Bringing commercial goods through customs? Not fun," says Lewis. "Plus, intellectual property in China isn't all that valued. When you can buy U2's 'Joshua Tree' for 50 cents American, who's gonna spend 10 or 15 dollars on a Missing Joe CD? But there were all these teenagers dressed in Western clothes who were having photos taken with the band, getting autographs. It seems like they really want this." - Joan Anderman

They've toured China and inspired the cast of "Dawson's Creek." Now, the musicians in Missing Joe will return to their shoreline roots by performing Sunday at the Lyme Youth Services Bureau. All proceeds from the concert will benefit research on Progeria, a rare genetic disease that dramatically accelerates the aging process in children.

Natives of Old Lyme and Old Saybrook, the members of Missing Joe now reside in Boston. A series of showcase gigs and their "Highway Songs" album have propelled the quartet to bigger and better things in the city's rock scene. Polished and professional, "Highway Songs," which features photos of the band in front of the Republic Family Restaurant in North Stonington, is comprised of pop melodies as clean and crisp as a California chardonnay.

In addition to touring China, the band has had some interesting experiences in the past year. They recorded across the hallway from Ozzy. Hung out with Emmanuel Lewis. A Missing Joe song was even featured on teen serial "Dawson's Creek," after cast members expressed interest in the band. On Sunday, Missing Joe is expected to perform an acoustic set.

- Dan Pearson

"Missing Joe Finds Itself in China"
Prior to last month, the farthest distance local rockers Missing Joe had traveled for a gig was to Atlanta, Ga.

Then in May, through an interesting new program launched by local promotion and publicity company the Planetary Group, the quartet of 20-somethings found themselves on a plane to Shanghai, China.

"You can drive to Atlanta faster than you can fly to Shanghai," says lead singer Matt Rafal with a laugh. Considering the 14-hour flight to Japan, the lengthy layover and the two-hour hop to Shanghai, you probably could drive to Atlanta and back in the time that it took the pop rockers to get to the home of one of the last communist powers in the world.

But Rafal says he and his band mates would do it all again, "in a second. It was so exciting that it seemed worth it." He adds with a laugh, that in terms of sheer numbers, the large crowds they played for at the Ark nightclub in Shanghai were "better than what we see over here in New England."

Missing Joe, which should be playing to a decent-sized mob tonight at the Paradise in support of its new CD "Highway Songs," was the first band to take part in the Heineken Music Heaven Concert Series, sponsored by the beer manufacturer and JAL Airlines. The series aims to bring U.S. rock bands to a city that has little to no rock community of its own - yet - but plenty of eager fans.

"It's very much in its infancy, but I really do think a scene is going to develop there, it's just going to take some time," says Adam Lewis, president of the Planetary Group.

The idea of bringing good, original groups to a city that only has a few cover bands was proposed by the Shanghai-based Kelly Wilkes Agency. The group is headed by a former employee of Planetary, Adam Wilkes, who, says Lewis, "realized there was this booming city with no rock."

Then the paperwork began, as Lewis labored to obtain passports, fill out visa applications and vet band names, song lyrics, photos and the like with the Chinese cultural board that was technically extending the "invitation."

"It's a big commitment," says Lewis, who since has been back to Shanghai twice with local bands Star64 and Entrain. He hopes to bring over one band a month for the foreseeable future, with the long-term goal of establishing a good relationship with the government in order to mount bigger shows with more national names. Previously, only a few stadium-type shows - such as Wham! - have been mounted in the city, mainly because of the red tape, no pun intended.

Since there is a widespread bootlegging problem in the city - pirated, good quality CDs and DVDs go for as little as a dollar - the bands aren't expecting to make many sales but both Lewis and the members of Missing Joe think the commitment is worthwhile if for nothing more than the experience.

Rafal says the band was served everything from "jellyfish to whole pigeons with the head on it," had to work out an elaborate hand signal system with the Japanese sound man and managed to bridge the language gap to motivate fans at the four shows to shed their inhibitions by encouraging them to "Gambai!" ("down your drink" in Chinese).

"The best part," says Rafal, "was seeing a new city and just being with the guys in the band. They're my best friends in the world and the whole time I was just wishing it wouldn't stop."

Missing Joe hopes to see a few more new cities, albeit closer to home, this fall, when it plays its straight-ahead pop rock tunes for college kids around the country.

- Sarah Rodman