Black Summer Days, simply called “BSD” by band members and friends67, was an indie rock band formed in 2004 under the initiative of Georgy Yang (born in 1978, also known as “喬治” among local musicians). After nearly 8 years of existence, Black Summer Days officially disbanded in the spring of 2012 (during the writing of this thesis) for various reasons, including the pressure of increasing disagreements on the aesthetic direction of the band. To my knowledge, BSD had never had a substantial fan base, and had not achieved any particular form of popular success. Yet, the band’s live performances were generally well received and garnered warm applause from audiences, especially in small and crowded venues such as the Underworld.
BSD’s music style can be said to fall within the category of “hard rock”; a type of rock music that was very popular in Anglo-American music from the 1970s up until the late 1990s. It is characterized by extensive use of loud and distorted electric guitars,
67 The two bands at the core of this ethnography, Black Summer Days and Overdose, use exclusively their English name in all contexts, and appear to have no “official” Chinese name. This situation is far from being exceptional, as it could be estimated that between 30% and 45% of all indie bands based in Taipei seem to also use almost exclusively their English name. Examples of such bands notably include Go Chic, Skaraoke, Mojo, My Skin Against Your Skin, Green!Eyes, Mary See the Future, and many more.
54 strong rhythm sections and elaborate guitar solos. Georgy however maintains that Black Summer Days was first and foremost a blues band; a conclusion that the audience of the band’s performances may not unanimously draw. Although virtually all rock music is arguably rooted in blues music, BSD’s compositions, for the most part, did not correspond to the common representation average music fans have of blues music, which usually features distinctive riffs and improvised solos played in 12-bar chord progressions. The band’s music rather appeared more like standard rock music, based on more varied verse-chorus song structures. BSD’s musical references consisted of a mix of blues (ex: Stevie Ray Vaughn) and “classic” rock bands from the 1980s and 1990s (especially hard rock bands Kiss, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and AC/DC), so-called “glam metal” bands (ex: Guns N’ Roses and Mötley Crüe), a few punk rock groups (ex:
Motörhead); some blues-rock artists (Tom Petty), popular Japanese rock bands (ex:
Yellow Monkey), and a series of Britpop groups (ex: Oasis, Blur).
BSD’s live sound, with the band in its rock quartet configuration, could first be described as very “raw”, in reference to its simple, unadorned and unfiltered overdriven guitar and bass textures. Jingang’s skillful and hard-sounding drumming style – highly praised among local indie musicians – was another major feature which, when merged and harmonized rhythmically with the bass and electric guitars, contributed greatly in creating a powerful and energetic rock sound. The guitars and bass were tuned half a step lower from the standard tuning68, and were doubled in many accentuated sections of the songs (i.e. both guitars play the same line), thus adding a heavy and somewhat “dark”
feel to the music. On top of this came Georgy’s powerful yet warm voice, often
68 This type of lower guitar tuning, referred to as the “D♯/E♭ tuning”, is very popular among rock musicians because it makes the guitar sound heavier and facilitates singing.
55 accompanied by Jingang on backing vocals69.
In concert, BSD mostly played the band’s own compositions, but occasionally also one or two so-called “cover” songs, especially when asked to perform for more than an hour. As of 2011, BSD had a music collection of 23 songs70 in total, which figured either on a record produced in 2007 or were performed live at some time in the band’s history. Apart from this record, the only way to listen to BSD’s music outside of live concerts was to access the band’s Myspace page71, on which 6 demo versions of songs were available, or to get acquainted personally with one of the band members and ask him to give you a CD or share some MP3 files. Only about 70% of BSD’s songs were performed regularly in concert, although the band did occasionally enjoy performing a song that had not been played live for a certain time.
All of BSD’s songs, except one, were composed for the most part by Georgy, then fine-tuned and arranged together with other band members. The only exception to this was a single song, in which the music and lyrics – in English – were composed by Georgy and I during my stay with the group. Apart from this one song, which I also sung live at a few concerts in the beginning of 2010, all other songs were sung by Georgy.
Most lyrics, also written by Georgy, were in Chinese, with only one song written entirely in English. Four other songs either bore an English title (ex: a song called Problem Child) or included an English line in the body of the text.
69 Jingang usually used a microphone headset : a piece of equipment owned by very few Taiwanese indie musicians, which allowed him to move more freely behind the drums while singing or speaking to the crowd. The use of this equipment spared him the annoyance of having to turn the head almost completely to his left to sing through an overhead microphone.
70 This number only includes completed songs, and does not account for an important sum of unfinished songs, pieces of songs, or songs that were completed but deemed not suitable for the band.
71 Myspace is a popular social entertainment and network website often used by music bands around the world to present their music. The Web address of BSD’s Myspace page (still accessible today) is http://www.myspace.com/bsdrnr.
56 3.2.2 - Black Summer Days – short history
Not unlike a lot of local indie bands, BSD’s lineup underwent several changes over the years. The group was founded in 2004 by Georgy, shortly after he completed his military duties. BSD initially appeared as a trio, with Georgy, the bandleader and main songwriter on rhythm guitar and vocals, bassist A-Zong (阿宗) and drummer Mark (馬克)
72. Only a year after the band’s creation, bassist A-Zong left and was immediately replaced by a young bassist called “Punk” (龐克), whom Georgy had met four years
earlier when he was working at the counter of the APA Rock Academy. The same year, the band added lead guitarist Xiaohuang (小黃) to its lineup, only to see him leave less
than 12 months later to complete his military service. In 2006, the band’s first drummer was replaced by drummer Laowu (老吳), and BSD kept on performing as a trio for slightly more than a year. Such was the band’s lineup when I became friends with Georgy in 2007, and started to attend their concerts regularly. That same year, I also had the chance to accompany BSD on their trip to the Kending area for the popular Spring Scream Festival. In 2007, the band completed its first and only record, an eponymous album including 10 tracks that was produced by A-Feng (阿峰), a friend and ex-singer of
early indie band Groupie (骨肉皮) and founder of the Scum live house in the mid- 1990s.
72 Such a configuration can be said to be very typical of the world of rock music in general, but also of Taipei’s indie rock scene, as a vast majority of local bands are composed of one or two electric guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and a vocalist – a position often assumed by one of the guitarists who then simultaneously sings and plays the guitar. A lot of variations do however exist according to individual aesthetic choices or specific types of rock, like post-rock, which is generally characterized by instrumental compositions that require only few or no vocals at all.
57 This album was not sold anywhere and could only be acquired at the band’s concerts by asking one of the group members. Through 2006 and 2007, BSD performed on a roughly bimonthly basis in three main live venues: the Underworld, Bliss73 and Velvet Underground (地下絲絨)74. The band also performed at a few band contests and special musical events.
At the end of 2007, drummer Laowu was forced to quit the band to complete his compulsory military service. The band performed for the last time with its original drummer on a Wednesday night at The Wall, dressed in military uniforms to mark the occasion. At the time, the remaining band members did not have any immediate solution to Laowu’s departure, an impasse that resulted in the interruption of BSD’s musical activities for a certain period. It is at that time that I and Georgy started playing music together, first very casually in an improvised “cover band” with Georgy on bass and vocals, me on guitar, and a friend of Georgy’s on drums. Soon, Georgy invited me to participate in an “experimental” configuration of BSD as an acoustic trio (with acoustic guitars replacing electric guitars) and without a drummer. It became clear after only a few practices together that this project would yield only mixed results. Luckily enough, Georgy became aware that experienced drummer Jingang (金剛 – a nickname which
translates as “King Kong” in English), with whom he had played before in the last performance of the early local rock band Groupie (骨肉皮), had just left his previous metal band and was looking for new musical challenges. Georgy jumped on the occasion,
73 Bliss was a music bar located on Xinyi Rd., near the intersection with Dunhua Rd, which attracted a steady clientele of foreigners. It closed its doors in the beginning of 2010.
74 Velvet Underground was a live house and restaurant first located in a basement next to the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Life Tower opposite Taipei Main Station. It moved and re-opened in the Ximending area in January 2009, but failed to attract regular audiences and finally ceased its activities around the end of 2010.
58 and invited Jingang to join BSD to reform the group as a rock quartet, with me as rhythm guitarist.
The first concert of the newly revived BSD – also my first live performance with the band – was at the Velvet Underground (then located in the Ximending area) in spring of 2008. Over the 18 months that followed, BSD played live once per month on average – a rather low frequency in comparison with a majority of local indie bands – either at the Underworld, Roxy Roots (a live house previously located in the NEO19 Complex on Songren Rd. that closed in autumn 2010), the Riverside Music Café (河岸藝文咖啡) near Gongguan, or Bliss (near the Xinyi-Dunhua intersection).
During my journey with BSD, the band did not seek to perform in live houses outside of Taipei or to participate in any music contest or festivals around the island (ex:
Spring Scream or the Hohaiyan Rock Festival). The reason for this was most likely a mark of respect for drummer Jingang, who understandably felt, as he often said, “tired of these things” after “having been there and done that too many times before” over the course of his long-time presence in the scene75. Another factor explaining the band’s limited live presence was bassist Punk’s compulsory enlistment in the military. Thanks to great devotion to the band and a fortunate assignment near Taipei City, Punk managed to practice and perform with BSD on weekends during most of his military service. Also, the group may not have performed live very frequently, but it nonetheless kept on practicing and composing on a regular basis, adding 7 new songs to its repertoire over the 18 months of my participation in the band.
75 Jingang was and is still today a drummer much in demand. On some occasions, he played drums for up to three bands at some festivals in the past. Other than with BSD, Jingang acted as the regular drummer of another band called “Jindowin” (筋斗雲), but has also served as a replacement drummer for various indie and professional bands in the last year, notably the popular indie group Peppermints (薄荷葉).
59 BSD’s lineup changed again in the summer of 2010, when I left the band to focus on pressing academic and professional tasks. I was replaced a few weeks later by experienced guitarist Caitou (蔡頭), who was invited to step in after I quit the band in late 2009. In the two years that followed, BSD practiced, composed and performed more sporadically, as Georgy, Punk and Jingang gradually got more committed to full-time professional activities76. For various reasons, communication issues and growing discontent appeared among band members, which ultimately led to BSD’s official disbandment in April of 2012. The members did not, however, give up playing music, and soon set out to find other partners for new musical projects.
3.2.3 - OverDose – general presentation
OverDose is an indie rock band formed in Taipei in 2003 around two core members: guitarist, bandleader and main songwriter Kit, and singer Xiaojun (小君). The band’s lineup evolved progressively to definitive configuration of five musicians in the summer of 2005, with lead singers Xiaojun and Kalis, guitarist and DJ Kit, bassist Xiaoheng (小亨) and drummer S.D. (小恐龍).
The band’s music changed considerably over its eight years of existence, as the members’ musical tastes and objectives developed. From heavy metal, the band’s creations evolved into a more diverse and accessible style encompassing several types of music. Yet, OverDose has up to this day been largely recognized in Taiwan as a “nu metal” band; a hybrid types of heavy rock music that has been highly popular worldwide
76 Over the past few years, both Jingang and George have mostly been occupying positions that are related to music: Jingang still works today in an instrument shop, while Georgy is a sound engineer in a live house.
As for Punk, he has mostly worked as a full-time bartender in various pubs around Taipei.
60 since its emergence in the late 1990s. Guitarist Kit indeed confirms famous American bands Korn and Limp Bizkit, key nu metal pioneers, as some of the main inspirations behind his music, along with the Taiwanese band XL (特大號), themselves regarded as the first flag-bearers of nu metal music in the country. However, for most veteran music fans, the most obvious reference to describe OverDose’s music is probably the Californian group Linkin Park, which also features catchy verse-chorus songs, heavy and
“deep” sounding rhythm guitar sound, as well as a highly contrasted mix of conventional, heavy metal and hip-hop style vocals. Other acknowledged influences to the band’s music include a vast array of influences such as electronic music, post-rock, Japanese rock, industrial music, and Taiwanese popular music, which shows the band’s commitment to musical exploration.
With over 30 original songs, OverDose can easily perform more than an hour and a half of its own compositions in concert, which has become a norm for the band when performing in larger live houses like The Wall. Most of the band’s music, including the digital loops used in live performances, is first composed by guitarist Kit, and subsequently arranged with the help of other band members77. The lyrics, mainly consisting of Chinese texts, are written by Xiaojun, Kalis, and Kit, and do also include numerous segments in English78. 10 of the band’s best songs were released on two extended plays79 of five tracks each, entitled “OverDose” (2006) and Seconds to Doomsday (在毀滅前 – 2010). The latter album was produced in collaboration with Toro
77 This detail concerning the composition of OverDose’s songs is not made explicit in the booklet accompanying the band’s releases, in which song credits are generally attributed to the entire band.
78 The song “Rippling” (漣漪) is the only OverDose song so far written predominantly in Taiwanese.
79 Extended plays (simply called by the abbreviation “EP”) are albums that usually contain between 4 and 7 songs, which is less than a full album (also called “long play” by contrast, with 10 to 15 songs) but more than a single (1 to 4 songs).
61 Production, the band’s contracted manager since 2008, and distributed in record stores throughout the country. Production of both records was for the most part carried out by guitarist Kit himself. Another product of this collaboration was OverDose’s first two official music videos released simultaneously in fall of 2010 for the songs Rippling (漣 漪) and Crying Love, both of which were broadcasted on specialized television channels (ex: MTV Taiwan), video sharing websites, as well as KTV chains. Both of these videos were quite successful online, garnering more than 150 000 views combined on YouTube.
The band does enjoy a certain popularity in Taiwan and Hong Kong – where it performed in 2010 – and can be said to have a substantial base of fans and followers essentially composed of high school and university students. However, mainstream success has not yet materialized for OverDose. The band still receives little financial compensation for its few performances and recordings, and does not enjoy a regular presence in the local media.
3.2.4 - OverDose – short history
OverDose’s formation and development can in many ways be regarded as a typical Taiwanese band story, based on school friendships and marked by the successive crossroads taken by a group of young people as they grow up and face the imperatives of adult life in modern Taiwanese society. The band has its origins in senior high school, where guitarist Kit and singer Xiaojun, both students of the same school, played together with other classmates in a heavy metal cover band80; an increasingly common
80 Interestingly enough, Kit and Xiaojun’s early high school was called “Ecstasy”, which is arguably in the same semantic field as “OverDose”.
62 extracurricular activity among high school students in Taipei. In 2002, the two friends, then only 17 years old, attended together the Hohaiyan Rock Festival in Fulong for the first time. They were thrilled by their experience and, after being encouraged by well-known artist Desert Zhang to keep on playing music, formulated the common wish to perform one day on the festival’s largest stage.
After graduating from senior high school in 2003, Kit and Xiaojun opted for universities in Taipei, but saw all other band members leave to study in southern and central Taiwan. The two friends decided to keep on playing music and quickly found then second guitarist Xiaoheng, as well as a new drummer and a bassist to form a rock quintet;
OverDose was born. Right from the beginning, the band’s objective was to create original songs as a way to stand out from the mass of cover bands that filled the practice rooms all over the city. Influenced by his recent discovery of the famous American band Korn, Kit steered the group’s style towards nu metal; a type of music then relatively unexplored in Taiwan. The same year, OverDose performed for the first time at a student festival held at Xiaojun’s university, playing only two original songs81.
Motivated by the relative success of their first live appearance, the band members then set out to take songwriting more seriously, despite slow progress and evident skill limitations from band members. The first change in OverDose’s lineup occurred in 2004, when the band’s first drummer quit, only to be replaced by S.D., a more talented drummer met by Kit at his musical instrument store. His arrival consolidated the group’s overall capacities, and shortly after, the quintet began to perform in live musical events organized in Taipei’s practice rooms (which were a more common phenomenon back
Motivated by the relative success of their first live appearance, the band members then set out to take songwriting more seriously, despite slow progress and evident skill limitations from band members. The first change in OverDose’s lineup occurred in 2004, when the band’s first drummer quit, only to be replaced by S.D., a more talented drummer met by Kit at his musical instrument store. His arrival consolidated the group’s overall capacities, and shortly after, the quintet began to perform in live musical events organized in Taipei’s practice rooms (which were a more common phenomenon back