As a band, we used whatever we needed—keyboard samples, background vocal effects, string parts, whatever. The line we drew was that they were all samples ofus, and every note, or every “event,” had to be triggered manually (or pedally, as the case might be) by one of us.

Please strike the last sentence.

This giant establishment is one of Shanghai's most popular Karaoke TV (KTV) bars, and among the few that are dedicated to KTV instead of KTV girls.

to thrum a piece of canvas, or a mat, thus making a rough or tufted surface