Clad in a woman's dress, long hair dripping with sweat, Chiu Sheng (秋生) had a statement for his Chinese audience.
"Last night I stayed out drinking later than anybody else," announced the guitarist for digital hardcore band Fish and the Bedroom Riot (床上暴動). He had just destroyed his instrument and tossed the remnants into the crowd at Yu Gong Yi Shan (愚公移山), Beijing's equivalent of Taipei's Underworld (地下社會) music pub. "I got on a bicycle ... turned too hard and wiped out," he continued, and, as the crowd cheered, he lifted his hand in a hang loose sign and said, "But I can still rock!"
Fish and the Bedroom Riot (床上暴動) is what happens when Underworld regulars get together and decide to form a band. Showing the potential to become Taiwan's zaniest, most infectious rockers since the original incarnation of LTK Commune (濁水溪公社), the group played its first show late last year after another band had canceled a weekend gig and Underworld needed to fill the space. Chiu Sheng, a sound engineer better known as the guitarist for heavy metal band Triple Six (666), says they had practiced together for one month before that night. Despite such little preparation, the side project worked. In May they were invited to perform at Beijing's Midi festival after an organizer saw them on Youtube.
ALTER EGO IN DRAG
"Our band is about destruction, sex, and breaking the law," Chiu Sheng explained over cans of Coors Light with band members Hsiao Yao and Dizzy in front of the Shida-area Mo! Relax cafe. And besides, he added, "I can't wear a dress when I play for Triple Six." Despite his cross-dressing, he appears ordinary on stage compared to his band mates. The singer, Hsiao Yao (小姚) of indie-rock band Varo, wears a Spider-Man mask and star-shaped nipple covers, screams nonsense and pounces around like a shaman. Backup singer, dancer and sampler operator Dizzy wears an S&M outfit he bought off the Internet (he says his girlfriend won't let him use it at home) with a microphone stuck in his mouth through the bondage mask's mouthpiece. Fish crawls around in the background wielding an oscillator, a generator used to convert electricity into sound, and wearing what looks like the mating of a purple burka and a hazmat suit. "When I play for Varo I feel kind of shy," said Hsiao Yao. "With Bedroom Riot there's more passion. Wearing a mask helps," he said, Chiu Sheng and Dizzy nodding in agreement.
Underworld (地下社會) is located at B1, 45 Shida Rd, Taipei (台北市師大路45號B1). Call (02) 2369-0103 or visit www.underworld-taipei.blogspot.com for more information
Mo! Relax cafe is located at 20, Ln 60, Taishun St, Taipei (台北市泰順街60巷20號). Call (02) 2367-7714 or visit morelax.blogspot.com for more information
This is a group that, somewhat like the UK's Alabama 3, has welded diverse styles - in this case heavy metal, indie rock, hardcore, industrial, noise, trance and experimental techno - into a sound that is both incredibly raw and extremely danceable, combining the pageantry of heavy metal and dressing up in weird outfits without the kitsch or glam this would normally entail. In both their performances and their music, it is obvious that, freed from the constraints of their respective genres, they are letting loose and having fun.
Musically speaking, the band's most distinctive elements seem to be Chiu Sheng's virtuosic guitar, Hsiao Yao's screaming, and the weird things Fish does with his oscillators and other electronica gadgets, complimented on stage by Dizzy's outlandish theatrics. Though his solos sound like something Yngwie Malmsteen or Steve Vai would play, Chiu Sheng listed his influences for this project as Atari Teenage Riot, New Order, Blondie and Prodigy. Xiao Yao said his were grind core bands like Napalm Death. Dizzy said he channels the Happy Mondays when he dances. "We're trance metal," Hsiao Yao said, inventing a new genre as he tried to define his band's music in a few words. "We're jerking off," Chiu Sheng explained.
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