This sentiment also seems to resonate with Chang the guitarist, who describes himself as the “one in class whose name nobody remembered.” He says 1976’s music reaches out to “ordinary” kids, those who were neither the top student nor the troublemaker. “Although it’s rock ’n’ roll, we don’t sound so loud — but it’s also not quiet. It’s not overly sentimental ... I don’t need to make a lot of noise to show that I am strong. And I don’t have to go out of my way to sing nice-sounding melodies that everyone will like.”
For Ah-kai, 1976 and their peers owe a partial debt to the lifting of martial law in Taiwan in the late 1980s, which sparked a zeitgeist of creative freedom and encouraged them to start writing their own music. “I think right at the time when things were changing, we were still children,” he said.
“1976, this happened to be when both Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) died ... Our growth is directly related to the [changing situation] in Taiwan,” said Chang. But he is quick to dismiss the idea that history was the inspiration behind the band’s moniker, which is tied to their birthdays. He, Ah-kai, and drummer Warren Lin (林雨霖) were born in 1976; bassist Lin Tzi-chiao (林子喬), who joined the band later, was born in 1982.
And fans probably aren’t dwelling on the band’s past as much as reveling in the sounds of its present: jangling guitars, 1980s rock beats, and Ah-kai’s syrupy, angst-tinged voice, which at times evokes The Cure’s Robert Smith.
Even with the band’s move to a major label, Ah-kai is not interested in the kind of fame that gets one recognized on the street. “I still am very happy to be a ‘nobody.’ I think it’s very helpful for songwriting and helpful for performing ...” Yet he says he enjoys the band’s already strong underground following. “I think it’s really cool having all these people line up for our shows.”
The band members hope the new album will keep them lining up. With Asteroid, they worked in a new way, spending months rehearsing and arranging the new songs, instead of going directly into the studio. “This time we had rough sketch recordings beforehand ... so when we went in, we knew clearly what we wanted to do,” said Lin, the band’s drummer.
This growing sense of craftsmanship and devotion to their music is a source of pride for Chang. “I play guitar. If I put everything into doing this — even if others don’t really know why I’m doing this — then I don’t care.” He rejects the shallow values associated with celebrity and says 1976 has “a tool to oppose these kind of values. We can suggest a new set of values — this is the best part [of what we do].”
1976 plays at the Urban Simple Life Festival (簡單生活節) in Taipei on Saturday. For more information, visit the band’s Web site at www.mod1976.com.
RSS