April 26, 2005
News | "Ni de mama steals cheap rice wine from 7-11!" |
This year's Spring Scream unearthed a little-known (but energetic) music subculture in Taiwan. Leonie Sanderson throws a little more light on the subject:
Rockabilly is undergoing a resurgence… in Taiwan. Perhaps never that popular in the first place, rockabilly has become an underground favorite replacing death metal in the popularity stakes.
The recent Spring Scream music festival saw four rockabilly bands play in a row, including popular Japanese band, Greassy Spoon. Resplendent with duck’s tail haircuts and cuffed denim jeans, Greassy Spoon played to packed crowds and lived up to their description as a cross between ‘ Jerry Lewis, the Sex Pistols and Quentin Tarantino’. Not to be outdone, Taiwanese bands Full House, Sugar Lady and Chicken Rice also hit the stage running, and played long and loud.
Full House, made up of a guitarist, double bassist and drummer, kicked it with a cover of 5,6,7,8’s Kill Bill hit, Woo Hoo and originals including the appropriately named Elvis was a Punk. The drummer played taiko style, standing up and banging on the pared down kit. Though vocals could be stronger, Full House has punk attitude that mixes well with their shortclipped, rockabilly beats – a band to watch. Sugar Lady have signed up to the white trash style completely, tattoos included. Their music while not completely rockabilly, throws in a few more ballady blues numbers for slowdancing with your sweetie. Chicken Rice too, cite influences other than rockabilly such as boogie woogie and Stevie Ray Vaughn. With their debut album, Lucky 7, out this month, Chicken Rice have finally given their fans something to take home after 8 years of playing in Taiwan.
And what does Taiwan add to the rockabilly sound? A dash of punk, quiffs to die for, lyrics in Mandarin Chinese (ni de mama! more commonly heard as ‘yo mama’) that lend a unique rhythm to classic oldtime beats belted out on a bass and a scratchy guitar with the drums going hell for leather. Rock on!
--Leonie Sanderson
Posted by Mack Hagood at April 26, 2005 09:37 AM