Hitting Taiwan's music scene in the mid-1980s, local heavy rock act, the Assassins (刺客) built up a substantial fan-base on both sides of the Taiwan Strait before its members decided to take a five-year break in 1995.
The band reformed in 2000 after a string of releases by local death metal aficionados, Chthonic (閃靈), led to a resurgence in the popularity of the distortion-box driven power chord.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MAGNUM MUSIC
While popular in Taiwan, it was on the opposite side of the Strait that the band was to make its biggest impression.
After the release of the band's 1993 debut, Your House is a Zoo (你家是個動物園), the band was invited to perform at a series of gigs in Hong Kong, where along with performing alongside some of China's leading metal acts such as Tang Dynasty (唐朝) and Black Panther (黑豹), the Assassins also supported Bon Jovi.
China's multitude of heavy rock acolytes lapped up the Assassins breakneck speed metal and the band saw sales of the debut album reach 50,000 within a year of its release in China alone.
Following the release of the band's second album, I Don't Care, a year later, the band looked set to become Taiwan's first non-mainstream Asian superstars.
The greasers even became, albeit for a short time, popular with the mainstream KTV crowd, after the tune Invincible Metal (無敵鐵金剛) -- taken from the album I Don't Care -- became the most requested tune at KTVs nationwide.
A series of line-up changes, however -- half a dozen since 1985 -- meant that the band has never been as prolific in the studio as it possibly should have been. In its 12-year history, the Assassins have released only three studio albums, the most recent of which, Les Fleurs du Mal (惡之華), was released late last year and is considered by many local metal-heads as the veteran rockers' finest hour.
Along with new guitarist, Ah Hsiung (阿雄), fellow Assassins Yuan Hsin-wei (袁欣緯) bass, Yuan Hsing-kuo (袁興國) vocals and drummer, Chuanmao (捲毛) have been enjoying something of a comeback in Taiwan since the album hit record store shelves last year.
Following a hugely successful mini-promo-tour last year, a tour that saw the band play to packed houses at some the nation's larger venues, the band have returned to their pub rock roots this year and are currently playing at a select number of bars across the nation.
The Assassins will perform at Riverside (河岸留言) B1, 2, Lane 244, Roosevelt Rd., Sec. 3, Taipei (台北市羅斯福路3段244巷2號B1) at 9:30pm tomorrow. Tickets cost NT$300 at the door and includes one free drink.
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