AsianInNY, Passport to Taiwan, and Tai-Ke New York (TKNY) hosted the NYC edition of their second annual “Hello Taiwan East Coast US Tour” this past Saturday at DROM, an intimate bar and venue located beneath a sushi joint on Avenue A in the East Village. This small tour showcases prominent and contemporary Taiwanese or Taiwanese American musicians and bands in locations across several major cities along the East Coast, culminating in a final performance at the annual Passport to Taiwan Festival in Union Square. This year, 88Balaz and Monkey Pilot, two award-winning bands from Taiwan, headlined the show, but it was their three opening local acts that might have provided some of the more interesting moments of the evening.
The first opener was Torpid May, a grungy and ambient rock trio. When they took to the stage shortly after six, there were only a handful of curious people milling about to play for, which is to be expected of a show starting so early and featuring so many bands. TM didn’t seem to mind, however, as they broke into a set that vacillated between somber, melodic lows and distortion-driven highs. A smattering of applause followed each song, and those in attendance didn’t seem to question the bizarre black-and-white video of a fish out of water and a girl wearing a snorkel while in a bathtub being projected behind them, nor the fact that this video had to be manually restarted when it ended every four or five minutes or so. But, even though their theatrics may have needed a little work, TM’s gruff, slightly brooding style provided a fine start to the show.
Next up was Brooklyn indie/pop rock darling Late Cambrian. In addition to a cultural showcase, Saturday’s show also happened to be the CD release party for LC’s latest album, Peach. Thankfully, more people had arrived in between sets, making it a more proper celebration for the band. The enthusiastic and growing crowd cheered as LC started their set with “Lovers Point,” the sugary first track off of Peach. LC went on to interweave songs from their 2012 success Social Seasons EP with their newer material, and fans rejoiced. They reciprocated LC’s energy (particularly during their hit “Ryan Gosling”) and sung back sections of whoa ohs and oh wee ohs, their hands raised high all the while.
About mid-set, frontman John N. Wlaysewski announced that a few special guests would be joining LC for a few songs. He then called Brendan B. Brown, lead singer and guitarist of Wheatus, to come onto the stage and sing. Fans were surprised and delighted, and they clapped and whistled as Brown quickly joined the quartet to sing his part in their 2012 song “Song 11,” sounding as distinct and high-pitched as ever. Fellow bandmate Gabrielle Sterbenz soon followed suit, piling onto the increasingly busy stage to provide extra vocal support on “The Luddite,” the concluding track on Peach featuring Wheatus. The extra layers only enhanced LC’s already stellar performance, and Wlaysewski thanked Brown and Sterbenz for their help, urging another round of applause for them as they departed. But still there was more: Jack Hsu of the upcoming opening band The Hsu-Nami cut in to add his virtuosic erhu playing to LC’s final song, bringing what had been steadily building over the course of their half hour set to a fever pitch. LC then thanked everyone for coming out and making their release so much fun and told them to stick around for more of The Hsu-Nami before leaving to the sounds of a very satisfied audience.
Unfortunately, The Hsu-Nami was a bit of an abrupt change of pace with their aggressive blend of prog rock, fusion, and metal. Their bearded and denim-clad guitarist continuously tried to coax the mellow crowd into moshing and chanting, yelling, “You’re pathetic! Wake the fuck up, New York!” Listeners remained apprehensive, and they left the headbanging up to him during the flurry of distortion and double bass. All in all though, The Hsu-Nami’s performance was very tight – it was just the wrong crowd; people were there for 88Balaz’s simpler punk and garage rock frenzy and Monkey Pilot’s easily digestible alt rock, which was made obvious by the markedly increased level of excitement during their sets.
That one little hitch aside, it was a very successful night, with the two headliners amassing an expectedly large and eager audience for a relatively small space, and a good number of people could be seen leaving with CDs, t-shirts, and tiny peach gummy candies, which came free courtesy of Late Cambrian.
Review by Justin Davis
