Live houses and indie rock performances in Taipei

3.3.4 Live houses and indie rock performances in Taipei

A group’s efforts in rehearsals, songwriting and recording culminate in live performances that represent the high points of a local indie band’s activities. . The average frequency at which most indie rock bands in Taipei perform live ranges from one

133 Interviewee C, interview by author, digital recording, Taipei, Taiwan, March 2011.

101 to three times per month. This recurrence can vary significantly according to a band’s popularity, its involvement in the scene’s different social networks, its overall level of proactiveness in seeking occasions to perform, the personal involvement of its members in the band, as well as its readiness to perform in other Taiwanese cities¹³⁴. One must however keep in mind that Taiwan’s indie rock scene is quite small given the sizeable population of the island. There is only a handful of live houses where local indie rock bands can perform in the country, even in Taipei, which means that tours across the island can only include a few dates¹³⁵. Besides performing in the capital’s few live houses, indie rock bands based in Taipei also commonly appear at various music events and festivals organized all over the island (the majority of which take place in the summer) as well as occasional musical events held in local universities. In Taipei, Friday and Saturday are the liveliest nights in the indie music scene, although some dedicated live houses present performances by indie bands on several weeknights.

The majority of Taipei’s live houses offer compensations to indie bands for their performance, which generally consist of a combination of a guaranteed amount and a percentage of ticket sales¹³⁶. Naturally, these remunerations can vary significantly from place to place or according to the popularity of the bands involved. These can amount to

$TWD 1,000 – 12,000 for average local indie bands performing in small venues, and can

134 Some indie musicians are busier with professional occupations than others, which greatly limits their availability for concerts outside of Taipei. For example, BSD has not played outside Taipei over the past 4 years, probably due to the band members’ working schedule. According to my observations, Taipei’s busiest bands in recent years have probably been 1976 and 88 Guava Seedz, who played up to 7 times a month all over Taiwan in 2011. Curiously enough, some of the most popular indie rock bands, like Tizzy Bac or Sugar Plum Ferry, perform slightly less frequently on average than the bands that compose the core of the local scene, but receive higher compensations for each performance.

135 Folk-pop artists can perform in a few more venues (ex: cafés) and events than rock bands, as their performances require less equipment and are less of a disturbance in terms of noise than those of rock artists.

136 In most live houses, these compensations include a certain number of free consumptions at the bar for performing bands.

102 exceed $TWD 40,000 for the most sought-after groups. Remunerations tend to be lower (sometimes even null) for festivals and outdoor events that include a lot of bands, except when more popular bands are invited to perform as main headliners¹³⁷.

Well ahead of record sales, compensations for live appearances represent the most regular and substantial source of income generated by Taipei’s local rock bands¹³⁸. However, only in rare cases can such show fees become both a major and sustained source of income for local indie rockers, especially given that all sums received must be shared among band members¹³⁹. Still, the sums that bands receive for their performances is generally sufficient to cover its various expenses (ex: rent for practice rooms, small equipment, etc.), or allow beer and food to flow abundantly on a lively after-concert celebration.

Taipei’s indie rock bands rely largely on regular music programs of live houses

137 Spring Scream (春天吶喊吶), held in the Kending area, the Freak Out Beast Festival (吵年獸) and the Beastie Rock Festival (巨獸搖滾音樂祭) are three examples of outdoor events for which average performers do not receive compensations. This doesn’t seem to dissuade many local bands from participating in these events, the latter generally estimating that an “occasion to perform” and good times are fair rewards for their efforts. More large-scale festivals like the Hohaiyan Rock Festival do offer headlining bands more substantial show fees.

138 The transformations of music markets over the past 15 years have greatly increased the economic importance of live appearances for virtually all popular music artists around the world. More precisely, the developments of the Internet and information technology, especially digital music formats, digital downloads and peer-to-peer download platforms, have allowed hundreds of millions of people to access freely or at minimal costs an increasing proportion of the music that is released in the world. This form of piracy (free access to copyrighted material) has been widely tolerated worldwide and is even almost totally unrestricted in countries like Taiwan and China. According to an article published in the Economist in 2008 (http://www.economist.com/node/10498664?story_id=E1_TDQJRGGQ), sales of CDs have fallen drastically worldwide since 1998, while touring became more profitable than ever. These transformations have greatly hit traditional record labels, which are still in the process of rethinking their business models and overall role in the music industry. The increasing importance of live performances in the modern music industry has also been highlighted in a study carried out in 2005 by Ho Tung-Hung and other collaborators, entitled A Research on Problems of Taiwan’s Popular Musical Performance Industry (Ho and al. 2005). I highly recommend readers who seek more details on the situation of live houses in Taiwan to read this work (available only in Chinese).

139 A few musicians in the scene play in two or more relatively popular bands, and do take a more substantial part of their monthly income from performances. These musicians usually combine live appearances with a few weekly music lessons, which allows them to come by quite easily. See chapter 4 for more details on the lifestyles of Taipei’s indie musicians.

103 and the work of organizers or booking agents of special events (ex: music festivals) for opportunities to perform. Concerts are generally booked a month in advance¹⁴⁰ (a few months in the case of the Wall and Legacy) and usually feature two to three bands playing similar types of music¹⁴¹. Each band usually plays a single set of approximately one hour (7 to 12 songs) ¹⁴². According to my observations, only a small portion of bands that compose Taipei’s indie rock scene organize particular music events outside of the regular circuit of live houses and festivals, or contribute regularly to the organization of concerts in existing live houses. Contrary to the practices of live houses in several other large cities worldwide, most of Taipei’s regular live venues don’t require local bands to commit themselves to pay a substantial “rental fee” for the use of their establishment, equipment and staff. The habit that prevails in Taipei’s indie live houses consists in hiring local bands to perform for a specific night. Generally speaking, the task of promoting live indie rock events and selling tickets is predominantly carried out by venues themselves¹⁴³. Most of the time, bands limit themselves to creating a Facebook event and

140 Most live venues have one or two persons in charge of booking bands and putting together a schedule before the beginning of each month. Among bands, band leaders usually assume the responsibility of communicating with live houses and concert organizers. After a while, bands become part of the scene’s different social circles, in which everybody knows each other and information circulates quickly. For the majority of local groups, only a few emails or phone calls suffice to arrange a concert date. For large festivals like Spring Scream or the Hohaiyan Festival, bands are either invited by the organizers, or must go through a selection process, which implies sending an application and a demo a few months in advance.

Participations in festivals and special events abroad are usually organized via booking agents in Taipei who specialize in inviting foreign bands in Taiwan and sending local bands overseas. These agents usually enjoy contacts with local government agencies (who sponsor most appearances of Taiwanese bands overseas) and foreign agents and event organizers.

141 Concerts at the Underworld typically feature two bands. The custom among local bands is to have the most popular or renowned of the two bands play last. Special events and parties featuring a live DJ are sometimes organized on Saturday nights. Performances at the Wall regularly feature only one popular indie band, notably on the occasion of an album release.

142 The term “set” roughly refers to a one hour segment of a live concert. More popular indie rock bands with more material can perform two sets (ex: 1976, OverDose), with a 15-minute intermission between each sets.

143 Taipei’s live houses mostly promote their events via diverse Internet platforms, including their own websites, Facebook, BBS, and other dedicated websites (ex: iNDIEVOX, StreetVoice, Gigguide, etc.).

Also, live houses and concert organizers often use traditional media like flyers, posters, and ads in

104 sending invitations to the members of their online social network¹⁴⁴.

As of 2012, only the Wall requires local bands to take active part in the promotion of their event by having them sell a substantial number of advance tickets, generally at a discount group price¹⁴⁵. This requirement can sometimes represent a formidable burden for local bands and is not unanimously supported by local indie rockers. In Taipei’s live houses, compensations for performances are usually calculated on the total number of tickets sold at the door (ex: half of all ticket sales). This means that, apart from being encouraged by venues to invite as many people as possible to attend their shows, local rock bands are offered economic incentives, but are not submitted to any particular pressure to sell tickets or invite friends and fans to attend their performances.

This situation can be said to represent a two-edged sword. On one hand, local rockers do not have to worry too much about ticket sales, which gives them more liberty both in terms of creativity or time to invest in the promotion or preparation of a concert.

On the other hand, such a practice can arguably contribute to the detachment of local bands from concerns for promotion and profitability, and eventhe overall quality of their music and performances.

alternative publications (ex: the weekly newspaper POTS [破報]) to announce larger events.

144 Some bands even content themselves with posting the date and time of their next concert on their band’s Facebook page. It must however be noted that most bands have a considerable number of “friends” and

“followers” on Facebook. For instance, bands like My Skin Against Your Skin, Go Chic, The White Eyes, Silverbus, and OverDose have between 4000 and 7500 followers (or people who officially “like” the band) on Facebook (as of early 2012). Fire Ex (approx. 16000) 1976 (24000), BearBabes (approx. 26000) and Tizzy Bac (approx. 35000) are among the local indie rock bands that have the largest online networks.

145 According to Milioto (2008) and Japanese musicians who visit Taipei, most of live houses in Tokyo implement a “pay-to-play” system in which indie rock bands have to rent the entire live house to perform.

Bands thus assume most losses or profits that their performance may generate. A similar system is implemented by The Wall in Taipei, which requires bands to “buy” in advance and resell a certain number of presale tickets; between 20 and 150 tickets per band, none in the case of more popular acts. This practice is called “包票” in Taiwan. Tickets that bands fail to sell become a pure loss for them. This requirement from the Wall is not without drawing criticism by some musicians and observers of the scene, and several bands admitted being less inclined to play there unless this practice change. A critical outlook on this and other issues related to the orientation and business practices of Taipei’s live house can be found in the section 3.4 of Huang’s thesis (2009).

105 At the beginning of 2012, there were approximately seven indie rock live houses in Taipei¹⁴⁶, which is probably the most it has ever counted at any moment in the history of its indie rock music scene. Indie music venues have had the unfortunate tendency to quickly come and go in the Taiwanese capital, with several of them lasting only a few years or even months at a certain location before being forced to relocate or close permanently. There are a few reasons for this. One is that such establishments have always had to overcome high rents and a rather limited clientele. But these hurdles are not the main threat to the prosperity of local live houses. More importantly, local bars and spaces presenting live music shows in Taipei have constantly been subjected to various forms of pressure from neighbors (who regularly file noise complaints) as well as local authorities, whose zealous fines for ambiguous license, fire protection or minors-related issues have threatened or caused the premature decline of many live houses over the two decades of the city’s indie rock scene¹⁴⁷. Though new venues have opened to replace

146 This estimation includes the following establishments: the Underworld (capacity of ~100 people – Shida Rd.), the two Riversides (~200 people in Gongguan and ~300 people in Ximending), the Wall (~600 people – intersection of Keelung Rd. and Roosevelt Rd.), Legacy (~1200 people – intersection of Zhongxiao E.

Rd. and Bade Rd.), Revolver (~75 people – Roosevelt, Guting area), and Pipe (~200 people –Gongguan riverside area). I call “live house” an establishment that holds live performances by original indie bands (who perform their own music) more than one night a week. The number of live houses could be said to vary according to the frequency and form of performances. For example, I excluded the Treellage Café, the Artist Village Tavern, The Shelter, Vicious Circle, Roxy Mini, Roxy Rocker from this list, as the regularity of their music events still has to be confirmed. Also, several cafés and bars in Taipei, including the Witch House (女巫店) and the Kafka on the Shore (海邊的卡夫卡), organize so-called “unplugged” performances each week, where acoustic guitars and various percussions replace electric guitars and full drum sets. A few lounge bars (Ex: Sappho on Anhe Rd.), art spaces (ex: Nanhai Gallery [南海藝廊]), concert spaces (ex: 909 APA), bookstores (ex: ESLite [誠品]) and nightclubs (ex: Luxy) also occasionally hold live performances by local indie bands. It is Important to mention that none of these music venues is sponsored officially by Taipei City or the Taiwanese government. A timeline of live houses in Taipei has been included in Annexes 1 and 2 at the end of thesis for the readers’ perusal.

147 Live houses and nightclubs in other cities across the island face similar problems. Waves of increased pressure by the authorities are often sparked by particular circumstances. For example, several live houses in Taipei closed due to the somewhat indiscriminate crackdown against prostitution and various types of bars and venues in Taipei City initiated in 1997 by then city major Chen Shui-Bian. The island’s live houses found themselves yet again under close scrutiny from authorities in early 2011 following the death of 9 people in an accidental blaze during a performance at a nightclub in Taichung.

106 them, at least three important indie venues were run out of business in 2010 alone (Roxy Roots, Velvet Underground and Bliss).¹⁴⁸. Recently in the summer of 2012, the events that surrounded the temporary closure of the Underworld in the Shida area highlighted once again the fact that live houses in Taipei have evolved on a very narrow path (see section 2.4 for more details on the Underworld’s difficult situation)¹⁴⁹.

Thanks largely to the resilient efforts of small circles of passionate rock lovers, Taipei’s indie rock scene is now well anchored around the few live houses that have managed to survive until now, despite countless obstacles and a constant state of precariousness. Here I am referring mostly to the Underworld, the Wall, the Riverside, as well as a more recent newcomer: the Legacy¹⁵⁰. Apart from the Legacy, the Wall, and both Riverside locations, most of the live venues that existed in the past or do exist today in Taipei have functioned as both a live house and bar. The Pipe is situated somewhat away from the city, on a riverside park, while the Wall, the Underworld and the Gongguan Riverside are all located in basements. Such marginal locations arguably reinforce the characteristic atmosphere of “underground-ness” and intimacy that

148 New live houses in Taipei include the Revolver and, for a time only, the Artist Village. Under the initiative of ex-band members Punk and Georgy, the Artist Village Café started to present shows by indie bands in early 2011. Complaints from neighbors and other occupants of the Artist Village caused a change of personnel and business orientation in the summer of 2011. As of early 2012, rock-related concerts are still organized sporadically at the Village Café, but the establishment cannot be counted anymore as one of Taipei’s regular rock live houses.

149Live houses in Taipei have been subjected to sustained pressure from real estate entrepreneurs, conservative neighborhood committees and unpredictable authorities. On the other side, these establishments have enjoyed outright support from young music fans, the artistic community and a few progressive officials in the government. As of 2012, indie rock circles are still waiting for the government to take active measures to ensure the survival and development of a solid network of live houses in Taipei and other major Taiwanese cities. Such measures would notably include changing the laws that govern the registration of music live houses in Taiwan, and assisting such establishments so as to ensure their compliance with local safety regulations.

150 The Witch House, a café located in the Gongguan-Taida area, has also been an important contributor to the indie music scene over the last 15 years. I did not include this noble establishment in my list since its holds only unplugged performances. This makes that most local rock bands, with their loud electric guitars, bass, drums and singing, do not usually perform there. The few rock bands that do play at the Witch House have to make substantial changes to adapt their performance to the venue.

107 characterizes Taipei’s indie rock scene.

The type of program presented by each live venue, their atmosphere (or style), as well as the crowds that they attract vary from one place to the other. The Wall and the Legacy, Taipei’s largest live houses, mostly feature a mix of Mandopop, Cantopop and folk-rock stars (ex: 謝安琪, 張震嶽), popular local indie artists (ex: Matzka, 1976, Echo, Tizzy Bac), and international indie, pop, metal or rock acts (ex: Toe, Lamb of God, Blonde Redhead, Tahiti 80)¹⁵¹. Both Riverside venues offer a program mainly composed of moderately popular Taiwanese pop and pop-folk artists, but also include a few well established local indie rock bands (mostly at the Ximending location) as well as varied jazz and blues ensembles (exclusively at the Gongguan location).

Taipei’s remaining live houses – most of them “bars with bands”, to quote one of my informants – are much smaller venues than the Wall or the Legacy, and feature essentially local indie rock bands from across the popularity scale, with occasional appearances by Japanese indie rock bands and other groups composed of foreign expats¹⁵². The Underworld, Taipei’s longest-lasting live house, has remained true to the original spirit of musical nurturing found in Taipei’s underground indie venues of the 1990s, and has persisted in offering new and veteran groups alike the opportunity to perform on a regular basis. The Revolver and The Pipe are the most recent additions to

151 Over the past years, the Wall has welcomed an increasing number of foreign bands, including several

151 Over the past years, the Wall has welcomed an increasing number of foreign bands, including several