Half-naked foreigner seen at Witches House

Anyone who haunts Witches House (女巫店) may well be familiar with Scudder Smith (司可達), who has picked and grinned his way through fairly regular gigs at the Taipei music venue for the past three years. He's also been featured on Foreigners in Taiwan, the compilation CD released by Taiwan Colors Music. He's the one crooning in Taiwanese.

With a firm grasp of Mandarin, Taiwanese and Cantonese, Scudder's one of those rare foreigners who can speak more Chinese dialects than most Chinese. His musical prowess is equally impressive. Taipei Times caught up with him by phone as he was preparing for his next Witches gig, tomorrow at 10pm.

Times: Who's that screaming in the background?

Scudder: That's my wife. She screams when she gets excited.

Times: (changing the subject) When you were getting started in music who were you listening to? Who were your influences?

Scudder: The Beatles and classic rock of the 70s; Boston, Kansas, but also Gordon Lightfoot and Jim Croce. My older brother introduced me to most everything I listened to growing up.

Times: And how do you describe your own music?

Scudder: Uh, folksy. Folk rock. I guess that encompasses a lot. It's folk with a twist; the twist comes in the lyrics. We do this one song called Big Milkers. I was inspired by an advertisement for breast enlargement. There's also another song about breasts -- I guess you can see my fixation.

Times: Yes. You're also known for stripping down to your skivvies during your sets. Is this another fixation?

Scudder: That's another song, One Piece of Cloth, that discusses nudity in today's society. It says that no matter what, we have to have that one piece of cloth covering our privates.

Times: How would you feel about having your ears licked by a strange man?

Scudder: I hope it doesn't happen any time soon.

Times: So there's no fixation there.

Scudder: I'll be extra careful next time I'm in a KTV.

Scudder will take the stage at 10pm tomorrow night. Witches House is located at 7 Hsinsheng S. Rd., Lane 56, Sec. 3, Taipei (台北市新生南路三段56巷7號).