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Breaking the law and breaking up

Fish and the Bedroom Riot like to shock people. Guitarist Chiu Sheng. PHOTO: COURTESY OF FISH AND THE BEDROOM RIOT

If you want to have your fingers on the pulse of the new year's underground music scene - and don't mind a beer or five while conducting your research - you could do worse than hang out at Underworld (地下社會). Sure, the basement bar/live music club can be a bit smoky and is kind of shopworn, but you'll meet some interesting people and, if you hang out late enough, get to know the members of one of this year's best new bands.

Fish and the Bedroom Riot (Fish的床上暴動) is what happens when Underworld regulars get together and start making music. Their sound can be described as industrial or trance metal, chaotic, or just plain way out there. They are, guitarist Chiu Sheng (秋生) says, "about destruction, sex, and breaking the law." In the spirit of classic taike rockers LTK Commune (濁水溪公社), they like to wear outlandish costumes, like cartoon animal costumes or bondage suits, gimp masks and nipple stickers, when they perform.

Members include Fish, whose thick square glasses you might have seen peering at you from behind the DJ cage at Spin a few years back; Chiu, also the guitarist for heavy metal band Triple Six (666); backup singer, dancer and sampler operator Dizzy; singer Hsiao Yao (小姚), of indie-rock band Varo; bassist Hsiao Bao (小寶), who played live shows until she was eight months pregnant; singer and electronica musician Mei-mei (滿延芬); and drummer Da Shi Xiong (大師兄).

They played their first show this year, cut an album and DVD with the help of a government grant (which means you can buy it for NT$50 at Underworld or Mo!Relax cafe), and, as of this month, are saying they are going their separate ways due to creative differences.

Bands often break up, but it's unfortunate that another of this year's best new bands, The Unrelentless, also won't last until 2008. The Unrelentless was the spiritual descendant of Melbourne incendiary rock outfit The Sailors - singer/guitarist Dave Archdall co-founded both bands - whose Violent Masturbation Blues album was declared by one reviewer to be "literally one of the worst albums ever to soil the Australian music scene" but also "a pretty decent punk album" if not for its offensive lyrics.

If you like loud, garage-rock in the vein of Motor City 5 or the New York Dolls, you really should have seen The Unrelentless. If you don't, you probably shouldn't have. And if you did anyway, you might have recoiled in horror if you were able to decipher the lyrics to intentionally offensive but catchy songs such as Bring on the Asian Invasion (Ladies First), or Guilty Pleasure Blues, in which a man expresses love for his babe and then apologizes for getting drunk and enjoying anal sex from someone else.

Fortunately, although guitarist Duncan Cameron has left the country, Archdall and drummer Ryan O'Connell are sticking around and may form a new band. And two members of Fish and the Bedroom Riot were overheard discussing plans for a new project a couple of nights ago. Even better news: You get one more chance to see Fish and company. They play tomorrow night at Underworld's New Year's Eve party. It starts at 9pm. Tickets are NT$500 and include two free drinks.

Underworld is located at B1, 45 Shida Rd, Taipei City (台北市師大路45號B1). Call (02) 2369-0103 or visit www.upsaid.com/underworld for more information.
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