“It’s not the greatest time to be in a band called The Hsu-nami,” said front man Jack Hsu, who’s surname inspired the name of the group, which is touring Taiwan. “We are trying to be positive and support [relief efforts] in Japan, to help promote and bring awareness.”
In a show days after a tsunami struck Japan on March 11, The Hsu-nami played with visiting Taiwanese electro band Go Chic at Arlene’s Grocery in New York City. Both groups decided on the spot to make it a charity event, and raised US$950 to donate to the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Red Cross Relief Fund.
The Hsu-nami became the world’s first internationally renowned erhu-fronted progressive rock band after its song Rising of the Sun was used as the entrance theme for the Chinese basketball team at the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008.
Photo Courtesy of Mike Petzinger
The erhu (二胡), a traditional two-stringed bow instrument (also known as a spike-fiddle), is an unusual choice to lead the driving sound of the fusion rock band, which along with Hsu is composed of Brent Bergholm on lead guitar, Tony Aichele on rhythm guitar, Derril Sellers on bass, Dana Goldberg on keyboards and John Manna on drums. The result is a fresh take on an old sound, with the erhu wailing away in place of vocals.
‘The CRAZIER WE GO’
“I haven’t found any bands similar to us,” Hsu said. The performance is high energy, with thrashing hair and a punk rock feel. “It’s a rush because you feed off the energy from the people, the more crazy the crowd is, the crazier we go … we really try to rile them up.”
And that’s just what the band did at Spring Scream at the weekend.
One of Hsu’s objectives at the music festival was to meet bands and encourage them to seek government sponsorship so he could bring them to Union Square, New York City, for the annual Passport to Taiwan Festival, part of the US’ annual Taiwanese American Heritage Week celebrations that are held in the middle of May.
He wants local bands to “have more exposure internationally” by participating in events like Passport to Taiwan and the Taiwanfests held around North America annually.
Hsu began learning to play the erhu after his family moved to the US when he was 12. “It was kind of my parents’ idea,” he said. “It seemed kind of boring, but they wanted something of the culture of Taiwan to come to the US with us. I played violin, too, so I had the basics.” He went to Nanjing for a summer during middle school to study the erhu.
In college he stopped playing the instrument, listened to guitar players, and got into Jimi Hendrix, but realized “I would never get as good on guitar as I was on the erhu, so I wrote a few songs and jammed and thought, ‘This sounds good, let’s keep going.’”
Though there are no lyrics in The Hsu-nami’s output, Hsu tries to express stories through the melodies he plays. One bittersweet song is based on a trip he made to Taiwan in 2002 after he’d been gone nine years. He spent New Year’s Eve at Luxy, where he met up with a girl he had fancied before he left. “I got in touch with this girl from when I was 12 — embarrassing,” he said. “No, it didn’t work out.”
LAYING IT DOWN
Hsu records at his home studio on MP3 tracks and sends the results to the rest of the band members. “Or, they work on their own stuff and give it to me and I’ll lay my stuff after, work on different melodies,” he said.
“We have gotten a lot heavier through the years — we like a lot of metal bands,” Hsu said. “We get so loud, it brings out the devil in you. It gets so crazy, it’s fun.”
If you’re eager to find out more about the band, avoid its Web site, which is virus ridden. “I’m not exactly a computer scientist,” Hsu said.
“Coming back to Taiwan … everything has changed, but it feels like time stood still,” Hsu said. “This tour has been one of my dreams. To come back and perform with my band — I can’t believe it’s actually happening.”
There are still two more tour dates left: tonight at Emerge Live House (浮現藝文展演空間) in Greater Taichung, and tomorrow at Revolver in Taipei. Tonight’s show was originally scheduled for 89k, but the venue shut down late last month.
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