At least five bands from Hong Kong will also play, potentially signaling growing interest from Hong Kong's underground music scene. Friday night will see the straight rock of Thinking Out Loud and punk from Hardpack. Saturday will see Alpasonic in the afternoon and in the evening the return of King Lychee, a tight, hard-edged rock ensemble, and Lam Kee, which falls somewhere in the range from hardcore to rap-metal.
Other foreign acts include a number of perennial favorites. Mimie-chan packs a ska stage with wackiness, a horn section of women dressed as cartoon characters, and a big sumo-esque gentleman wearing a diaper, though there are always surprises.
Miracle Saru plays some of the most hard driving psychedelic rock in Asia, invariably mesmerizing crowds, driving them into a frenzy and leaving the next band with a drained audience. Q returns from Texas with its slacker, cynical, redneck kitsch, combining bluegrass and klezmer into "Jewgrass." Reverend Bobby will likely join them on stage, sitting in on the standup bass and preaching sermons.
The other 140 or so bands present a veritable Who's Who of Taiwan's underground rock scene. Thursday night offers a mellow warm-up with up-and-coming bands: the keyboard rock and strong vocals of Tizzy Bac, the Fugazi-inspired progressive rock of 8mm Sky and the hip-hop of Triple Stage. Friday heats up with the happy China-haters of the Taichung punk band RPDX and two red-hot expatriate funk acts, Milk and the Smoking Cones.
The heaviest lineup comes Saturday night with Champion, Hi Santa, more Taichung punk from Oi, the face paint and satanic dialects of Chthonic, the shouting-angry-shaved-headed-guy nu-metal of 666, Taiwanese rap from Rock Records' recrodign artist Dog G and the aforementioned lineup of Hong Kong and Japanese bands.
Sunday winds down with groovy surf rock from Kola and the Hsimen Spiders and the sublime sounds of Cricket.
Spring Scream tickets cost NT$1,200 in advance and are only available in four cities, but until March 31 they can be purchased through any bank's automated teller machine (ATM) by anyone with a Taiwanese Identity Card. Alien Resident Cards (ARCs) however will not work. Further instructions for ATM purchases are on the event's Web site.
Meanwhile paper ticket sales locations include Witches Pub in Taipei, Russel's Cafe Restaurant in Taichung, Armory Pub in Tainan and Dog Pig Art Cafe in Kaohsiung. Fewer than 2,000 paper tickets are available in advance. At the gate single day admission will cost NT$1,000. For a complete schedule and more ticket information, check: www.springscream.com.
-- David Frazier
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