Round two in the battle of the bands leading up to the Taiwan indie music awards will take place tomorrow afternoon in front of Taichung's Mitsukoshi Department Store.
Ten groups will be competing for entry to the finals, which will be part of the fourth annual Ho-Hai-Yan Rock Festival set to take place from July 11 to 13 at Fulung beach, Taipei County.
Warming up their amps and rolling up their sleeves will be Distortion (
Characteristic of the Ho-Hai-Yan festival's eclectic lineup, the bands on show will be playing everything from punk to folk for a panel of judges and whoever happens to be walking by the Mitsukoshi.
The stakes in the final competition are high as the winning band will get NT$200,000, as well as a major boost out of the underground music scene and into Taiwan's mainstream. Last year's top band Tizzy Bac is a case in point, as they went on to release a full album and even see some rotation on MTV.
The festival is also one of the highest-profile music events of the year along with Spring Scream and the Formoz festival -- and has arguably the broadest appeal by virtue of it not charging admission.
In previous years Ho-Hai-Yan has featured exclusively local bands, but this year, with MTV as the event's main organizer, the festival is bringing in big-name bands from abroad like The Perishers from Sweden and Jaurim of South Korea.
Last week, Taipei Times reported on the possibility that the Burning Brides of the US would headline the show. As of press time, however, MTV was still unable to confirm that they would play.
Despite the attempt to attract big stars, the festival will remain a predominantly local affair with some of Taiwan's best bands.
A first preliminary competition took place in Tainan last week and a third will be held next weekend in Taipei to pare down the number of competitors from 31 to a short list of 10 finalists.
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