Kicking up a racket

Known for his outrageous on-stage antics, his brazen and often inflammatory remarks and his blatant and unabashed belief in Taiwan's independence, Ko Ren-jian (柯仁堅) is without doubt one of the most shameless wild men of the local independent music scene.

In the 15 years he's been the mouthpiece for working class politico-punk combo, LTK (濁水溪公社) -- which is pronounced Loh Tsui Kweh and is a derivative for the Taiwanese name for the Choshui River -- his on-stage antics have become legendary.

He's set off fire extinguishers and aimed them into the audience, he's hit band members over the head with beer bottles, he's set alight the band's instruments while on stage and, as if all that isn't enough he's instigated the odd riot or two.

Should you run into the eloquent and mild-mannered Ko on the street, however, you'd probably be hard-pressed to believe he was capable of such anti-social behavior. But as anyone who has caught LTK in the act will attest, he is capable of just about anything when on stage with his band. And he does it all not in the name of rock'n'roll, but simply because it is what people have come to expect from him and his nefarious band.

"People don't come to see us to listen to the music, they come to see what we're going to say or do. And of course, they come to take part in what are best described as mini-riots," said Ko. "Our stage shows are more important than the music. People want to have a good time, they want to go mad, have a laugh and abuse us, be it verbally or by throwing things at us. It's become part of the band's image."

It might sound odd that people actually pay money to see a band not for its music but for its mayhem, but then Ko and LTK have never really been known for their musical smarts. Nor have they made any bones about their lack of musical ability.

While many an aspiring young band might consider the inability to play its instruments a rather debilitating obstacle to being able to generate a loyal following, Ko and his non-musical buddies have exploited their musical inabilities to the max. He realized very early on that you don't necessarily need to know how to play in order to attract an audience.

"At university I realized that if you stood up in public and swore and made fun of the nation's political and social systems people would stop and listen. It was easy, it didn't matter that we sounded awful," he said. "Sure, some people found it offensive, but then other students didn't and thought what we were doing was pretty cool. What we do today grew from doing these things on campus."

Along with brazenly ridiculing government and society, Ko began to incorporate short comedic skits into the band's sets. By the time the band released its debut album, The Anus of Happy Desires (肛門樂慾期作品集) in 1995, Ko and LTK were a regular headline act at many of the nation's fledgling rock venues.

Even when the group ditched its unharmonious guitar-driven sound and began experimenting with offbeat electronica for its second album Revenge of the Taike (台客的復仇) in 1998 audiences still came in their droves to see the insane show.

"I don't think it really mattered what we did with the music by then, as we'd already built up a reputation as must-see band. We simply gave people what they wanted -- total chaos," said Ko.

It was at this time that Ko decided the short skits that had become such an integral part of the band's gigs were not quite shocking enough. He decided to make them even more provocative by adding aspects of sadomasochism. One such outrageous and crowd-pleasing parody saw him ridiculing the police force with the help of a sausage, a motorcycle helmet, a bottle of Taiwan Beer and his own genitalia.