Band stays true to its origins

"We've been away from the limelight for a long time. All the band members live together in Dali, a mountainous area far away from the city, which has lots of tourists. We have a slow life there. Our daily routine includes rehearsal, farming, cooking and kicking shuttlecock," says Ma Xuesong, guitarist of the band. "It's a bit of a challenge for us to adjust into the hectic schedule of the reality show."

"After we gave the first performance in the reality show, many people left us messages, especially the younger fans, saying that they are glad to know a band named Wild Children," Ma adds.

However, their sudden announcement that they were quitting from the reality show after their Aug 22 performance disappointed fans and even stirred controversy.

When Wild Children were asked to pick and adapt one song from a song list provided by the reality show's creative team, they refused.

"We don't like the songs on the list and we cannot adapt and perform it," said leading vocalist Zhang Quan in the reality show. "We are prepared to leave before we came to the reality show. Since we broke the rules of the game, we decided to quit."

Amid the controversy, Wild Children released an announcement on their Sina Weibo platform.

"We've finished the journey with The Big Band, which was fruitful and unforgettable," the band wrote and thanked fans for their understanding before adding: "The reason we agreed to join in the reality show is that we want to meet new bands and we achieved that goal. We made friends with them and learned from them. That's enough for us. The young bands have great skill, imagination and passion for music," says Ma.

Consisting of leading vocalist and guitarist Zhang, guitarist Ma, percussionist Wang Guoxu, accordionist Guo Long, drummer Wu Rui, Wild Children were formed by Suo Wenjun and Zhang, both from Lanzhou and influenced by the region's people and local folk music. This is evident from their songs.

They spent months traveling around China, following the course of the Yellow River and meeting folk musicians along the way, before eventually settling in Beijing.

"The songs and sounds I listened to as a child still touch me as I grow up. The influence has always been in my blood. When I decided to take music as a career, I wanted to inject those familiar songs and sounds into my own music," Zhang said in the reality show.

In 2001, while building up a fan base in Beijing, they opened a bar, River Bar, in the capital's entertainment hub of Sanlitun. Many of China's famous folk musicians, including Wan Xiaoli and Xiaohe, had performed there.

When the co-founding member Suo died of cancer in 2004, aged just 34, Zhang left the band in sadness and took to the road again.

In 2008, Zhang returned to Beijing and recruited now-band members, including Ma and Guo. Wild Children was reborn.

In 2018, the band released their debut studio recording, Da Qiao Xia Mian, translated as Under The Bridge, featuring ten original songs, including Wild Children's classic hits and new material. They've also toured nationwide in support of the first album the same year. The influence of Chinese folk music is still easily detected in their new songs. They still keep a low-profile and give shows at small live house venues across the country. From Aug 30 to Sept 5, Wild Children will give four shows in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, Chengdu, Sichuan province, and Chongqing.