Battle of the bands reaches a boiling point

After three hotly contested battles of the bands, 11 finalists were selected on Wednesday to compete in the fourth Taiwan Indie Music Awards, as part of the Ho-Hai-Yan Rock Festival set to take place next weekend at Fulung beach, Taipei County.

With a NT$200,000 top prize on the line, XL, Stone, Mango Runs, Hot Pink, So What, Spunka, Rubinton (路邊攤), Relax One (輕鬆玩), Wizard of Oz (野仙蹤), Monkey Insane (潑猴), Hiher (亥兒) will face off next Saturday, the second day of the three-day event.

The festival is one of Taiwan's largest, with crowds that swell into the thousands on the day of the competition, so the exposure should give a much-needed boost to all the participating amateur bands.

The finalists were chosen from nearly 200 entrants, first culled through demo submissions and then further selected at concerts in Tainan, Taichung and Taipei.

Announcing finalists, organizers said this year was exceptional for the number of women bands hoping to compete. In particular they pointed to Hot Pink, a punk band whose members are still in high school, as a group to watch.

A lineup of some of the best local bands will play the first day of the festival on Friday, while a mix of local and headlining bands from abroad will close out the event on Sunday.