TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A two-day music festival will feature 14 of the loudest bands from Taiwan, Japan, and China, this weekend on two floors of an office building on Guangfu North Road in Taipei.
B-Festival founder, A-chang (阿強), also the leader of popular punk band 88balaz (八十八顆芭樂籽), never thought the festival would continue for a decade. “Music trends change every four years, but for some reason, we are still here.”
He says the enduring spirit of punk is the reason behind the festival’s longevity. As a musical form, punk embraces community, equality, and a DIY ethic, with many bands at B-Festival setting up tables to sell merchandise and CDs.
A-chang says a sense of mission allows punk bands and their audience to overcome numerous hardships, like sleeping 20 people in a room and subsisting on convenience store fare, as was his experience at Kenting’s Taiwan Music Festival held over the recent Tomb Sweeping Holiday.
“Much of Taiwan’s music comes out of colleges. This is when bands get together and are still idealistic and share a sense of mission and spirit.”
Aside from leading a well-known punk band, A-chang is also an in-demand emcee for events like the above-mentioned music festival, baseball games, TV programs, and even a YouTube channel. His quirky sense of humor endears many fans, and his onstage banter is equally entertaining as his gravelly vocals and hard-picking guitar style.
A-chang says B-Festival is inspired by “B-movies,” cheaply made pieces of celluloid that can be so bad they are endearing. Many B-movies have cringe-inducing plots pitting monsters against a scantily clad actress. Fittingly, B-Festival’s key image this year is a dinosaur.
As for this year’s programming, A-chang says much of the work was taken over by his bassist, Guan-ling. He said he needed more time to work on the band’s latest record, something that has been in the works for three years and is still not any closer to completion.
A-chang says some of the highlights this year include the Japanese trio King Brothers, which he compares to Guitar Wolf, along with Tragic Prescription (悲劇藥方), which is a post-rock band from China, and Shino Lin (林曉培), a once popular vocalist who made the news for a drunk driving incident a decade ago, along with other controversies.
Despite changing music trends, passion and commitment are still what bring audiences to B-Festival. “We don’t really care about making money. It’s ok if we lose; we still just want to encourage one another.”
It is no surprise then that the name of A-chang’s company, which runs his band and the festival, is “共勉之,” which roughly translates into “go man zhi” or “encourage each other.” In his view, Taiwan punk is about doing things together, fighting for change, and opposing bad things. But I hope we never lose our sense of humor in this battle.
A-chang says his favorite memory from last year’s festival was of one attendee who was so inebriated he fell asleep at 3 p.m. at the start of the festival and only woke up around midnight when it was over. During his drunken slumber, he unwittingly appeared in hundreds of selfies taken by festivalgoers.
He hopes the audience can keep the same humor and passion each year. “Every year is a little different. But the spirit remains the same.”
But be warned, staying upright may be harder this year as five to six of Taipei’s top bartenders have been invited to pour drinks at the festival. Food from local stalls selling ramen and other items will also be on offer.
For more information, visit the festival’s website, as B-Festival runs from Saturday to Sunday (June 8–9).
