Today’s guests make me thankful. I welcome Klaire and Chachy from Guji. And what a wild story this is. Guji is based in Shanghai, but Chachy is from the US. He tells me about growing up in Chicago and Florida and how he got into music stateside. And Klaire talks about growing up in China and learning to play the traditional Chinese violin. But at points, each of them stopped playing music to pursue other interests. Chachy took the advice of a friend and moved to China. But he didn’t get back into music immediately. He taught English. But music eventually clawed its way back into his life, even in communist China. He founded the band Round Eye and describes how insanely different it is to create, sell, and tour music in China. Not only is it a tough as you probably think, it’s actually gotten even more difficult since COVID. And that’s how Guji came about. Klaire and Chachy met through a dating site and soon found that they harmonized really well. So when the country shut down with COVID restriction, they started playing music together and Guji was born. They have a fascinating mix of pop synths, doomy guitars, and provocative lyrics. But what might be even wilder is what the band has to go through just to get their music on the state-run Chinese music streaming service. It’s unbelievable! But we can all listen to the debut EP through Godless America Records. And check the band out on Facebook. Other social media sites could be coming, but you know…China. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on X & Instagram, Performance Anxiety on Facebook. You can reach out to us at [email protected]. Merch is at performanceanx.threadless.com. Send us coffee money at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. And now get ready to be thankful with Guji on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices