Racer X to ravage Taipei

Taipei's Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is once again the oddball choice of venue for a one-off heavy-rock gig this weekend, when ex-Mr Big guitarist Paul Gilbert and Racer X hit the stage of the prestigious concert hall with their hybrid brand of 1980s-fashioned heavy rock.

While the founding father of the Republic of China would no doubt be aghast at the thought of tight pants, rock anthems and gaunt heroin-chic, Gilbert and his racers are probably one of the more respectable of the rock ensembles to hit the good doctor's stage in recent years.

US alternative rockers, Weezer nearly had their performance cut short after audience members formed a mosh-pit and began to slam dance. And while ex-Guns `n' Roses guitarist Slash refrained from bringing live snakes on stage, the eccentric English guitarist's band did have the hall's security team running for cover when large numbers of the predominately teenage audience rushed the stage in order to catch a close-up glimpse of their idol.

Having never achieved the same worldwide acclaim as its more raucous long-haired cousins, however, it is doubtful that Racer X will induce such rampant behavior. While the guitar-toting Gilbert has become relatively well known, Racer X remains remains less than a household name.

Even with its embarrassingly kitsch trademark heavy-rock style tight pants, long hair and emaciated look, the band failed to catch the attention of a vast number of rock fans in its mid-1980s heyday.

Originally formed in 1985 and disbanded in 1988, the four-piece Los Angeles-based high-speed rock outfit got back together two years ago.

Heavily reliant on Gilbert's precision guitar work -- a style that was later dubbed "shred" guitar -- rather than on vocalist, Jeff Martin's Rob Halford-esque screeching vocals or the rhythm section's fast and furious barrage of overdrive for innovation, the band's 1986 debut, Street Lethal, was not a huge success.

The band's follow up, 1987's Second Heat, while not achieving platinum status, fared slightly better, making a dent in the US and Japanese heavy-rock charts and scratching the surface of the UK heavy-rock charts, the material on Second Heat was less reliant on Halford's Judas Priest for inspiration and instead centered more around Gilbert's by now popularized "shred" guitar style of playing.

While the group's peers -- bands such as Motley Crew, Damn Yankees and Poison -- took their firebrand style of guitar-driven heavy rock to stadiums around the globe, Racer X remained relative unknowns outside of the US and Japan.

The lack of worldwide attention led Gilbert to opt out of Racer X in 1988, only to resurface a year later as the lead guitarist with ex-David Lee Roth band member, Billy Sheehan's Mr Big.

Although a heavy-rock guitar hero to many an angst and acne-riddled teenager, Gilbert was to achieve seminal world acclaim with a tune far removed from his trademark slash-and-burn brand of Jimmy Hendrix-influenced shrieking rock.

Reaching No. 1 in the Billboard music charts in 1992 with the acoustic ballad, To Be with You, a track taken from Mr Big's sophomore album, 1991's Lean Onto It, was, and still is, Gilbert's only major chart success.

Parting-company with Mr Big in 1996, Gilbert set out to pursue a solo career. Even after seven albums, however -- the most recent of which, Raw Blues Power, is set to hit record store shelves sometime this month -- Gilbert has failed to replicate the success he enjoyed with heavy rockers, Mr Big.