What kind of government would send a lunatic artist, whose idea of self expression is glassing himself, off to China to become a cultural ambassador? Australia the lucky country of coarse! That's exactly what happened to Lucas Abela and the band Rice Corpse is the result. During his Asialink residency in Beijing he formed this pick up band (named after the Chinese character for shit, which itself is the combination of the two characters for corpse and rice), jammed with them four times and did a ten city tour of China.
A Trio of glass, drums and piano was in Lucas's minds ear when he arrived in Beijing and two completely different musicians came forward to form this unlikely band. First to be recruited for drums was Yang Yang whose antics in his own band Mafeisan has given him the reputation of being the craziest exponent of the normally conservative Beijing scene. His ultra loud out and proud personality being in stark contrast to the mild mannered and brutally shy saxophonist Li Zenghui who came to the project as pianist, cause simply put there were no suitable pianists in the city.
They recorded two of their four jams, the sessions making up their only album Mrs Rice a despondent attempt at musicality and so far is Abela's most accessible work to date, the addition of Yang and Li's stabbing rhythm section forcing the seasoned noisician to take his glass instrument into surprising new directions.
Since returning from China Lucas has reformed the band with local Sydney musicians Stu Olsen Garbage & the Flowers / Rand and Holland) and Peter Kostic Regurgitator / Hard-ons after Lucas becoming nostalgic for the original but short lived Beijing line up. After only playing a handful of times the Australian line up managed to get invited to play the Vivid Festival curated by Lou Reed.
