Unofficial Documentation

of the Taiwan Underground Music Scene

    When I first came to Taiwan in January of 2004, I was thinking more about my new career in the field of teaching English as a foreign language than writing about the music scene. After one year of going to shows and meeting indie fans and musicians, I felt that the scene, which has been developing over the past ten years, deserved some kind of documentation. This project spans the sixteen months that I had spent in Taipei, from my first major show (Say Yes to Taiwan) in February 2004 to the Spring Scream festival in April 2005. In the process of documenting Taiwan's underground music scene, I have three goals in mind. I hope to educate the foreigners living in Taiwan that are misled by 7-ll sellouts like the girl pop trio S.H.E into thinking that Taiwan has no good music to offer, show how western music has diffused into Taiwanese culture in a positive way, and furthermore, promote Taiwan's underground bands to indie audiences elsewhere in the world.

    My determination to complete this project has several influences, including three specific examples of ethnomusic subculture preservation, such as Clinton Heylin's punk reference work From the Velvets to the Voidoids: A Pre-Punk History for a Post-Punk World(Penguin), the psychedelic compilation Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond(Rhino), and finally, the works of folklorist Harry Smith and ethnomusicoligist Alan Lomax.

    When I was a high school student in upstate NY I stumbled across a book that would change my perception on the history of rock and roll. I truly discovered punk when, as if by miracle, I found Clinton Heylin's From the Velvets to the Voidoids in the school library. Heylin collected interviews and reviews about the east coast punk movement beginning in the late 60's with the Velvet Underground and culminating with various artists playing a wide variety of punk styles such as the Ramones, Talking Heads and Richard Hell. This book let me in on a great scene that I wished was not dead, gave me great disdain for the soulless "radio rock" of the mid 90's, and pushed me to search for more obscure independent music. After reading From the Velvets..., I wanted desperately to be a part of some kind of scene like the one depicted in black and white photos of people that happened to grow up in the late 70's and just happened to be called punk. Whatever the reality of such a scene may be, if it even still exists, I haven't been able to be a part of one. After only being in Taiwan for a short time, I can't really consider myself as part of the Taiwan "scene." I'm only an observer that has experienced many happenstance meetings. However, one of the goals of my project is to unify the musicians, artists and videographers working within Taiwan's underground under a common medium. One could feasibly compile interviews with Taiwan bands and come up with a similar book to From the Velvets..., if obstacles involving language and culture could be overcome.

(Blues and Tattoos;
Da Gi Shion at DV8)

    The Taiwan underground scene has been developing for quite a while and the members are close in their art and friendship. Many of the musicians have played together, organized shows together and worked together on projects involving film and video. My position as an outsider makes things quite difficult because of language barriers and cultural differences. I imagine Heylin felt more comfortable writing about NY punk culture from within, than I feel documenting the Taipei underground scene from the outside. While I've gained the support of many people, there is still some occasional, yet frustrating miscommunication about the reason for this project. Therefore, I've started this project with short introductions about the bands that I have seen which may read more like journal entries. Eventually I would like to contact the bands for interviews about their history, influences and ideas and add them at the end of each band's section.

    Most of the bands featured on this website play a variety of contemporary western styles such as indie pop, power pop, post-rock, and various punk styles. What is interesting is that much of the music retains some quality that is distinctly Taiwanese, even if it is done so without conscious effort by the creating artist. One can find Buddy Holly style Rock n' Roll or Green Day style Pop Punk in almost any country, however, chances are the lyrics are written in the singer's mother tongue and the music is slightly altered by the culture's native music structure. This is true for Taiwan as well. While at university, my taste in music was pushed further back in time from 70's punk to the garage rock of the 60's, and I avidly listened to the Nuggets collection from Rhino Records. Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond features 60's psychedelic, garage and mod rarities from countries as far as England, the Netherlands, Brazil and Japan. Much like these genres spread across the world like wild fire in the sixties, contemporary independent and mainstream styles ranging from indie-electronic to hardcore to nu-metal have reached Taiwan. Taiwanese bands usually start in senior high school by doing their favorite western covers and organizing their own shows where maybe eight bands will play a three song set. Some of these bands will go through several "phases" where they will copy a western genre, and then "upgrade" to another more popular genre to attract a bigger audience. They end up being the more popular bands and amaze the audience with their flashy clothes and synched poses, yet annoy the real underground scenesters. While not all of these bands continue after high school, many of the musicians are exposed to a wider variety of western independent music at university. They meet others with similar interests and form bands just like at any other university in the States or around the world. Again, sometimes the music goes down the mainstream path to popularity as in Taiwan's rap metal band XL, but sometimes the youth take a turn for the underground and create music less identifiable as in Green!Eyes. Consequently, you have many mainstream bands that are conscious of their unoriginality alongside bands that just play the music that they find interesting. The punk scene is a little different. Because punk is a much more confined genre than indie rock, many of the bands latch onto a western style such as pop punk or hardcore, and therefore are at risk of being labeled as posers and copycats. However, punk music relies more on energy than on creativity and there are several Taiwan punk bands that really let loose. Much like how the Nuggets II collection compiled the world's best unknown garage bands of the 60's, I wish to compile the most original Taiwanese punk and indie bands on this web-site.

(Green!Eyes at The Wall (photo: Eatbrain))

    Finally, by archiving Taiwan's Indie scene, I hope to expose some bands that have long remained unknown outside of Taiwan. Later in university, a friend of mine who is into out-music, the avant-garde and early American folk music sold half his CD collection to splurge on folklorist Harry Smith's American Anthology of Folk Music(Smithsonian Folkways). After listening to the six CD set, I was curious about this ethnic music that had almost been lost and forgotten. Soon, I found out about Alan Lomax who went on many excursion to the American South and Midwest throughout the 30's, 40's and 50's to record and archive folk songs in order to preserve them for the Library of Congress. He was also responsible for promoting the blues and folk singers Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie. The work of both of these researchers helped spark the 60's folk revival headed by Bob Dylan. While Taiwan's underground music cannot be lost because of the digital age, part of my project is to promote a scene that has been building for over a decade. It is time that these bands are heard outside of Taiwan.

    The lay-out of the website is simple. There are six categories of music: Indie, Punk, Electronic, Indie Pop, Taiwan Rock and Ex-pat Rock and two categories for events: Venues and Festivals. Each music category will have a journal style introduction to the scene preceding listings of labels and bands. Under each band's section you will find a picture followed by a story about the band, possibly an anecdote. If the band has a CD or a demo I will do a review and, if possible, post a downloadable mp3. Of course the site wouldn't be complete without links to the bands and labels. Enjoy.

    To the foreigners on Taiwan who are reading, I ask you to respect the island and its various sounds. Be open to what you hear. Don't be too quick to judge. There is creative, original and energetic music out there, and I'm sure you have friends back home that might be interested in it.

    To anybody with a love for indie music and the indie spirit, please discover Taiwan. These musicians put a lot of heart into what they are doing. They struggle against tradition which doesn't readily accept their making a carreer out of playing western guitar music. Consequently, they often have to make peace with their parents over making this music. They are also continuously at odds with government, which is a non-stop tug-of-war battle between Taiwan independence and re-unification with China. More importantly, government often sponsors music events such as the Say Yes to Taiwan concert, yet demands that all Taiwanese males participate in obligatory military service which is often the end of many bands. Indeed, the Island of Sound is often a land of contradiction as well.

(Nipples at Say Yes to Taiwan 2004)

    To the Taiwanese, I hope that I have made an accurate presentation of the scene and I hope it serves to make it stronger. I would be very happy if it helps your music radiate from the island as well as builds appreciation for your music in Taiwan. While I would really like to see more people dancing and really getting into the music at your shows, I really want to see Taiwanese bands have more of an opportunity to tour outside of Taiwan. When it comes to getting recognition in the intenational market, I sense some hesitation from Taiwanese musicians. Sometimes, I believe that many Taiwanese indie bands have a self-confidence problem. On several occasions I've talked to Taiwanese musicians about the difference between Taiwanese bands and western or Japanese indie bands, and they mention that the level of the latter is much greater. I don't believe this is always true. While Japanese and western bands have much less political and cultural pressure than Taiwanese bands, and consequently, more time to develop their skills and style, they often lack the "heart" that shows through in their Taiwanese counterparts. Especially at this point in music history with pseudo-underground, hyper-stylized hipster bands taking over the air waves, many "indie" bands opt for style and fashion over a true love and dedication for the music. Taiwanese underground bands have less of a fashion sense and emit more of a sense of urgency, intensity and honesty which, if it doesn't always show through at weekend performances at The Wall, becomes more evident at the bigger festivals. And more often than not, these bands truly demonstrate skill and creativity that equals Japanese and western independent music.

But why should we talk about music in terms of levels anyway? How can we measure expression where the lights are low in the underground? In fact, your music has deeply impressed me. After being in Taiwan for a little over year, meeting creative people and seeing fantastic performances, I've decided to return to NY. While I miss your shows every day, I'm tired of dancing in a crowd by myself. I haven't given up on this island, maybe just a rest. Some of you have become good friends, and some of you have made me want to be creative on my own. I can never forget your music. I will take it wherever I may go and I'll tell the people I meet that I've been to the Island of Sound.

(Me at The Wall, Chasing Sparrow in the Air (Photo: Eatbrain))

Addendum

Since I have already explained the ideas behind the project, I feel I should add a little more about who I am and how to contact me. Before embarking on a trip to teach English in Taiwan I received a degree in Anthroplogy, French and Linguistics from the State University of NY at New Paltz. Hence, I've tried to make this project a little deeper than simple rock criticism. While I have used my background to help me in some ways, I have not done any formal preparation involving field work or hypothesis testing. I've simply made some friends, gone to rock shows and noted some basic observations. Therefore, much of what I state on this site is based on first-hand experience and inference. If anyone has any complaints please e-mail me. I am an amateur and self taught web-designer. I've tried my best to make everything aesthetically pleasing and easy to follow. I would also be thankful for any advice involving design and graphics. All the photos were taken by me except where noted (special thanks to Eatbrain). If the photographer is unkown I would gladly include his or her name. If anyone would like to be removed from this website, e-mail me. I've tried to keep this positive, however, one of my goals is to be objective as well. There is no way of separating raw experience from my personal bias, so I've tried to make sense out of my experiences in a clear and straightforward manner. If any one has any suggestions or would like to make any contributions please email me. Finally, the bands included on this site are primarily the ones that I have had personal experiences with. I know there are many other bands all over Taiwan. I saw several at Spring Scream 2005 that really piqued my interest. I would like this site to be an ongoing project. So I will look into accepting contributions once the whole site is finished. Again, please feel free to e-mail me with any considerations at islandofsound(at)gmail.com.

-Marty S. Hodulick

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