Green Tea Bitches Interview
Green Tea Bitches is a Chinese-Danish dance punk duo that thrives on differences. For them, “bad taste” means freedom. The duo celebrates everything colorful, glittery and awkward. Their sound is energetic, danceable and slightly silly. Just imagine Talking Heads, Charli XCX and Wet Leg starting a circus together.
I recently got the chance to reach out and interview them... I had several questions!
Q) Bubblegum Disco Punk - that's a term I haven't heard before. How would you describe your sound and attitude?
A) We started by playing punk music with electro beats, and our sound turned out to be quite danceable and slightly silly. We want to have fun and celebrate things and ideas that are outside the box or are considered “bad taste”. The term “bubblegum disco punk” is actually created by a fan who saw us live in Slovakia. We really think the term captures our punk energy and colorful visual universe, so we decide to officially use this term as our genre. We want to make punk music that makes people smile and dance along.
Q) I stumbled onto you guys on Tiktok, and was drawn in by the distinct visual style and look... how'd you decide on your Bands visuals? How pre-planned was all this?
A) So posting on TikTok works!! Yeah! Oftentimes we feel so lost in algorithms and are not sure if people will listen to our music. But we are so happy you discovered us!
As our music blends punk, hyperpop and electronic sound, we celebrate maximalism and “bad taste”. It is natural that we bring the same energy to our visuals. We use a lot of bright colors and random objects (like panda hats, bubblegum and Chinese fan) into our visual universe. We want people to feel that every color, every shape, every sound and every idea is welcome in the world of Green Tea Bitches. In a universe where “bad taste” is the decision and choice, we don’t really need to plan our visuals, but instead just bring everything we can think of into the image.
Q) Going back further - how'd you two meet? When did you know you were going to be in a band?
A)We met in the Copenhagen music scene. Quinn (the singer) used to play alternative singer songwriter music and Emil (the guitarist) used to have a bluegrass rock’n roll band. Neither of our projects were going anywhere so we decided to start a brand new punk band together with a drummer. At the beginning, we were just jamming in a rehearsal room playing classic punk music. Then we got a debut gig for a climate justice charity. Unfortunately, our drummer broke his finger a week before the gig, so we had to re-write and re-produce all our songs with drum machines and backing tracks. It turned out surprisingly well. The drummer never came back and Green Tea Bitches officially became an electro punk duo.
Q) My favourite Green Tea Bitches Song is "I want to live inside of your Head" - I love how even though it's humorous song, it contains a genuine sense of admiration and respect for the nerds and activists of this world. How'd that song come about? Is it based on a real person?
A) Instead of making punks songs that are angry or provocative, we would like to add colors and humor in our lyrical universe. Some of the ideas in our songs are considered silly or confusing by some people. For the song “I Want To Live Inside Your Head”. It is not about a real person. We are quite fascinated to see that these days there are so many vastly divided views in the world and people somehow find it very hard to agree or even understand each other. So through this song we spell out some everyday behaviors like “cure disease" vs “extra cheese” and “global trade” vs “operate microwave”. If only I could live inside your head, I could never know how your thoughts are formed!
Q) Chinese/Danish isn't a combination I've ever heard of in music before - so let's break it down. What aspects of your music are Chinese? And which ones are Danish?
A) To be entirely honest, we don’t think any of our music elements are Chinese or Danish lol. In both China and Denmark, these days the music industry is dominated by commercial mainstream pop, and that is the opposite sound we try to create. But it is quite interesting that in Denmark people think the reason we make “strange” music is because we are not so Danish, and vice versa for the Chinese audience. We try to break the cultural stereotypes and just have fun. By the way, we have a song in the making called “Never Fuck With A Chinese Girl”, to be released in 2027.
Q) A big part of being a musician these days is logistical - booking tours, managing social media, planning releases. In your duo, who does what and what advice do you have for upcoming artists?
A) As a very independent band, we are our own label/manager/publicist/booker. Luckily we are a good team. Both of us are very organised workaholics. Quinn mainly does social media, booking, outreach and deal negotiating, because she is kind of addicted to her phone and takes joy in writing and replying emails. Emil does content filming, financing and distribution. He is a great photographer and is very good at writing grant applications and sending invoices.
We are still at a very early stage band, so please don’t listen to our advice!! That might be our advice: don’t listen to people’s advice. But if we need to be more serious, we think it is very important to think strategically and not jump onto the first deal that is presented to you.
Q) Finally, is there anyone you want to shout out who's been a big part of your development as artists and people?
A) The hardest part for us was to get the initial support and traction. Therefore, we are extremely grateful to all the people who watched and commented on our Youtube live session videos before our first release. Those kind viewers and comments really motivated us to take music seriously. We are also really grateful for Bandakademiet, a non-profit artist development program in Denmark, run by two amazing women Marianne Fruergaard and Anna Lidell. We became a part of the program when nobody knew or believed in us. Through that program, we met some amazing producers and mentors, got performance opportunities and kickstarted our first year of professional artist development. We also need to thank the SHAPRE Festival team in Slovakia that booked us (an unknown Danish band) before our first single release. It is those people who are willing to take risks in an artist's early development.
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