List of Bands:
Punk rock first touched Taiwan's shores in the 80's when western underground music, promoted know locally as "New Music," was being discovered, talked about and passed around by enthusiastic Taiwanese youth. Early bands like Double Wide and LTK Commune formed taking influence from the original punk scene as well as classic rock, alternative and Taiwanese folk music. Throughout the 90's this mix of Taiwanese rock, or taike style, blended with a growing interest in fast and heavy genres like hardcore punk and metal. Hybrid punk band Anarchy and the post-punk/riot grrl outfit Ladybug both became the first New Music groups to tour in the US. By the turn of the century, Taichung became a punk hub with bands like The Clones (also know as Reproduction) were experimenting with street punk and pop punk. Soon a local gang of punks calling themselves the feirenbang, or in English "The Useless Motherfuckers" banded together throwing punk rock events and getting into tussles with Taipei fashion punks. Girl bands like Hotpink, Mary Jane's Friends and B.B. Bomb joined the fun, and a nifty homegrown Taiwan punk scene was made. Many of the bands throughout the 2000's opted for more of a pop punk or skate punk style emulating California bands like NOFX and the Japanese Pizza of Death phenomenon Hi-Standard. Due to the overwhelmingly bright melodies and blissful lyrical content, one expat reporter has labeled this form of local punk as THP, or Taiwan Happy Punx. However, several bands including Maho and Children Sucker stand out for combining more distinct Taiwanese folk style with aggressive hardcore sounds. Kaohsiung outfit Fire Ex. and their ska-core related project Shy Kicks Apple represent the south of Taiwan along with the S4RS collective. And as the Taiwan punk scene continues to diversify with bands adopting new styles running the gamut from post-hardcore to emo, crust, ska and even psychobilly, the island will see more development in the years to come.
