YIWEI MENG
by MATTHEW JAMES-WILSON
Yiwei Meng exemplifies the true potential of what can come out of an all ages DIY scene. The
19-year-old show promoter and head of Minty Boi Presents moved with his family from Beijing to Southern California, bringing an enormous change to his life while he was still in high school. After being exposed to Tumblr, Bandcamp, and North America’s independent music scene for the first time, Yiwei was shocked by a youth culture he never knew existed, and quickly looked for any way to make it a part of his life. Yiwei initially got his start by frequenting venues in Los Angeles like The Smell and the now defunct Pehrspace, before eventually volunteering for them and throwing shows of his own. While most kids going to shows take for granted the platform and experiences they have available to them, Yiwei has been keen on making the most with what is at his disposal.
I met Yiwei the first time I visited Los Angeles and was totally moved by his enthusiasm to-
wards booking shows while he was still just starting out. Since then he’s thrown dozens of gigs in every type of space you could feasibly do one, and recently started branching out to booking on the East Cost after he began attending RISD. This month I met up with Yiwei while visiting Providence, and the two of us discussed immigrating to the US, art school, and the profoud affect DIY has had on his life.
Where are you from and where do you live currently? I’m from China. I left when I was 14 and immigrated to Los Angeles with my parents. I lived there for five years, but now I live in Providence, Rhode Island. Well, I kind of bounce around. I kind of want to move really soon. What was your experience like growing up in China? I grew up in Beijing. While I was growing it was sort of at the time that the city was being gentrified. As I was getting older and going to middle school, it was around when the Olympic Games started happening, so they re-did everything just so that it would look good when foreigners came in. I grew up… I wouldn’t say the slums, but I grew up in the lower income class. But my parents, tried to always put me into better and better educational systems, so I would always be in classes with people who were a lot wealthier than me. Was there any sort of music or art community that you were a part of there? I had no idea about any of that cause I was a jock there. Sports were more popular with kids in Beijing. Since the internet is not available in China the way that it is internationally, we didn’t get as much cool music and stuff from outside. We have a cool traditional music scene that’s more for older people. But as far as music for young people, I had no idea. I had never gone to a show when I was younger. I didn’t really find out about the LA music scene until like two years ago.
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