In Boston, one will find many bands. Often times, these bands take it upon themselves to bring their music to the farthest reaches of this mighty country, participating in a sacred ritual known as “tour”. In the summer of 2015, two of Allston’s most storied basement bands, Dent and Skinny Pigeons, decided it was time to do as their peers had done, and organize a tour. However, these are no ordinary bands, and this was no ordinary tour.

To inaugurate their touring careers, Dent and Skinny Pigeons embarked on an epic journey through the Far East: a 26-day, 14-city, 5,700-mile odyssey across China. Playing double-header shows nearly every night, for crowds 10 to 200 strong, the two bands brought the Boston basement sound to virgin ears a world away from home.

On a bitter winter’s evening, when the tour was still a mere pipe dream brewing in the bands’ minds, I was approached by Dent. They came to me offering to share in an adventure, to join them, camera in hand, as they trekked across China, and to tell their story to the folks back home. The tale of this journey is a sweaty and chaotic one. One steeped in slaps to the face, in 20-hour train rides, in suspicious strangers from Toronto, and of course, in heavy, heavy, rock music.
– Kit Castagne, 2016