Most of Green!Eyes’ lyrics are written in English, while Windmill (風籟坊) is known for being one of the few indie bands to sing in Hoklo, commonly known as Taiwanese.
But the two groups have more similarities than differences, which fans can
hear for themselves during their joint performance tonight at The Wall (這牆).
“We each have three people,” says Windmill bassist Sky Tai (戴杏芳) with a laugh.
“The languages we sing [in] are different, but at the same time I feel that you can hear the similarities in our technique, especially in our guitar playing, because our musical interests are close,” she adds.
Both bands, for example, site Wilco as an influence, and Tai says Windmill’s songwriting leans toward self-reflective lyrics about “life and the soul.”
The association between the two bands began half a decade ago, when the lead singer and guitarist of Windmill, Chris Lin (林育詳), became a fan of Diamond Vehicle, which was then fronted by Levon Hsu (許哲毓), currently the lead singer of Green!Eyes.
Now Windmill is joining Green!Eyes for the final Taipei stop of the latter’s Sleeping Bag tour. Last month, the two bands played a small, intimate gig at Kafka on the Shore (海邊的卡夫卡), but this is their first major performance together in Taipei.
Of the friendship and musical connection, Tai explains, “We’re close friends with the members of Green!Eyes, so the feeling of our music is the same and we have similar goals, but we use different languages to approach those goals.
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