Shanghai rock bands Hard Queen and Attic Circus march to a different beat in the thriving music scene. China's rock music scene always heats up in summer with all kinds of music festivals. The most influential has been the Beijing Midi Music Festival, the first step for many bands that are now well-established in the Chinese rock scene.

Ruins [Shanghai Daily]

And Shanghai, often considered too hip and fast-paced for alternative music, has been catching up in the past few years. The city has witnessed the start of many new music festivals that attract local bands from everywhere to scream out their style.

While many well-established Chinese alternative music festivals work hard to get sponsors, venues and money, a lot of similar events in Shanghai are launched by commercial enterprises.

"Summer Rock @ Channel 1" concert series and "Daning Music Season" are ready to heat it up even more in Shanghai's summer, with a line-up of a variety of different styles and sounds.

Channel 1 is a new fashion, dining and entertainment center catering to local hip and trendy demographic. It has invited eight bands to rock the venue every weekend for a full month until August 16. Most of the bands are rather young and fresh, formed after 2007 with members born after 1980.

They are up and coming, with a hip and naughty style appealing mostly to their own generation born after 1980 or even 1990. Local Shanghai band Hard Queen, which released an EP this April, was voted as most popular band in Shanghai in a few surveys held by various magazines and Websites.

Daning International Commercial Plaza has already built its reputation and connection with Chinese alternative music in the past three years, with concert series featuring veteran and nostalgic names in Chinese rock music such as Cui Jian, "father of Chinese rock music," and Tang Dynasty. This summer, it has invited three groups of musicians, including Ruins for two performances on August 8-9.

Many fans have high expectations for Attic Circus, a veteran local band known for its ironic lyrics using some Shanghai dialects and impressively intriguing costumes and performances that might make some people feel a little strange.