In 1966, Jun Fukada made his first Godzilla movie titled Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. It's rated as one of the worst of the entire Godzilla series, but for anyone who's seen it, it should resonate with the Ho-Hi-Yan Indie Music Awards and Festival set to take place at the beach in Fulung, Taipei County, next weekend.
In the movie, a band of dastardly international terrorists is making nuclear bombs on a remote island. We are led to surmise that their nuclear research has had the unexpected side-effect of creating the horrifically mutated and vengeful monster Ebirah, which resembles a 20-storey lobster with a high-pitched voice patrolling the waters around the island.
Unbeknownst to the militants, Godzilla is sleeping off battles from a previous movie in a cave only a stone's throw from their island base. When the human heroes of the movie make a lot of noise trying to free the slave laborers held captive by the terrorists, they rouse Godzilla from his sleep. Angered by this, Godzilla stomps out of his cave to smash everything in sight, but while doing that Ebirah lands on the beach and taunts the gigantic lizard into a fight. Godzilla doesn't finish off Ebirah in their first bout, but does so later in a climactic rumble before Mothra shows up and wants a piece of him.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TCM
So, what does this have to do with Fulung? Well, the tiny town is bracing for a major rumble on its popular resort beach next weekend at the second annual Ho-Hi-Yan Indie Music Awards that will resemble a clash of the titans of Taiwan's underground music scene. And everyone knows that Turtle Mountain Island, just out of sight but not far offshore from Fulung, has a mysterious military history that with a little imagination could have included research into just about anything. Who knows then what or who will wash up onto the beach looking for a fight.
What is certain is that the music awards will be contended over the course of next Saturday as a battle of the bands between 10 groups. The bands were selected from among 124 demo submissions by a committee established by the indie label Taiwan Colors Music (
The competing finalists at this year's event are Reproduction (
The competition is the only event established specifically to recognize the work of Taiwan's independent music scene, which has exploded over the past several years.
To put some perspective on the huge leaps independent music has made in the past year, Chen Rui-kai (
"It's a competition between independent bands, but a huge number of the applicants had professional-quality demos," he said.
As further proof that underground music in Taiwan is coming out of the garage, finalist band Tizzy Bac has a video that plays regularly on MTV.
Chen added that the applicants for the competition displayed a greater variety of musical styles than in last year's competition, which is evident in the 10 finalist bands. "We didn't set out to get different kinds of music for the competition. It just happened that way when we tallied up the points to determine the winners. There's rock, punk, funk, electronica, really there's a bit of everything," Chen said.
The awards may be a far cry budget-wise from Mando-pop's Golden Melody Awards, but the organizers have nonetheless put NT$260,000 up for grabs for the three winners. The first-place winners will walk away with NT$200,000, which for most independent bands working out of home studios is more than enough to put out their next album.
"The prize should give a major boost to whoever wins it," Topper said at a press conference on Tuesday to announce the finalists.
The battle will wind up Saturday, culminating in a concert by last year's winners 88 Guava Seeds (88
The second day's roster includes shows by Labor Exchange (
There will also be a secondary stage on both days of the festival for shows by bands that didn't make the cut for the competition. Organizers are encouraging bands to bring their instruments to sign up on each day of the festival for empty slots on the second stage.
The festival has free admission for the two days, but the site does not allow camping on the beach, which means festival-goers should reserve rooms now, or face a fight over hostel and hotel beds.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
Transportation: Fulung is best reached from Taipei by train. The trip takes about one hour and the station is a short walk from the beach and festival site.
Hotels: Ming Hsing Hotel (
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