Son of James’ new single “Come On” is oh so careening and funky that you’d have a hard time believing what’s making that gritty, swaggering sound is a delicate Chinese instrument. Especially with bandleader Shon Wong’s whiskey-soaked commands to “Come on!” harkening back to James Brown’s “Get on up!”
Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/album/0NC6hm1WWRMjkbShMEI3cr
But when you listen again, you hear it – a Guzheng (Chinese harp) in the intro, and the sound transcends its genre to become something entirely magnetic and magical.
“The Chinese have such beautiful instruments that pierce your heart, rip through your soul and give you goosebumps,” Wong explains. “These instruments are the key ingredients to a Chinese Canadian sound that I am creating. A blend of funk, rock and soul – a sound I call ‘Chynatruckerfunk.’ Only with music of our own can we truly celebrate our identity.”
A third generation Chinese Canadian born in Vancouver, BC, Wong was always searching for a way to express both his heritage and his personal identity. Though there were plenty of successful Chinese Canadian doctors, lawyers, CEOs and financiers around him while growing up, Wong is an artist, a musician, and a writer, and that made it more of a challenge: “The closest I could ever find to a Chinese role model was Bruce Lee, and he's been dead since 1973.”
And so the Chynatruckerfunk album is Wong’s personal journey into defining his own Chinese Canadian identity. “But it's hard to celebrate when you have no sound. That's always been an issue for me. Nobody knows what a Chinese Canadian sounds like,” he muses. “Many races across North America have music that defines them and galvanizes their community, such as African Americans with hip hop, rap, R&B, jazz, and blues.”
Therefore, Wong fused his favorite influences – there’s even a shout-out to Guns N’ Roses’ “Paradise City” in “Come On” – with Chinese instrumentation. "Come On" speaks from the perspective of Chinatown’s past pioneers speaking to the current state of Chinatown,” Wong says. “When you hear the Guzheng intro, we are calling upon all the spirits that have inhabited Vancouver’s Chinatown to speak on the current condition of Chinatown.”
Meanwhile, Wong sings with the world-weary grit and soul of someone who’s seen more than enough in his lifetime:
A diamond in the rough won’t be what you want
If you ain’t got the heat
The bad and the good are always understood
These are the rules of the street
Come on, get it on
Dance with the devil gonna break your fall
Son of James, a born-and-bred Vancouver Chinatown Rock band, blends the soulful sounds of rock and funk with the mystical sounds of Chinese instrumentation. Like a big rig rolling down a dusty highway carrying a cargo full of silk, Son of James calls their sound “Chynatruckerfunk”.
Shon Wong, the performer known as Son of James, was born and raised in Vancouver, BC. Growing up with a family of Chinese Opera actors and performers, music and art has always been a big part of his life. Shon would listen to classical Chinese music at home in his downtown family apartment. Down the halls, neighbours would blast rock music heard easily through the walls, including music by Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Guns N’ Roses, and Van Halen. Wong would find himself flipping back and forth between the musical environments, eager to catch the songs of the day from both home and hallways.
Son of James includes Michelle Kwan on Guzheng, Adam Richards on guitar/bass, Jonathan Reichert on guitar, Johnny Walsh on bass, Mark Hoeppner on keys, Dave Say on sax, Eric Tsang on Sax, Jason Overy on drums, Ed Whelan on drums, and Erica Ullyot on vocals.
