Festivals in Taiwan, such as Spring Scream, the Peace Fest, Basic Aid, and more…

Article and photos by Joseph McKinney
July the First; another Canada Day. But this year in Taiwan it came a few days early (Saturday, June 28th on Baishawan Beach in Taipei County). The Canadian Society in Taiwan held their annual Canada D’eh bash which was by all accounts a success.
The family and I were able [...]

This years Peace Festival had an unexpected twist to things. Due to the heavy rainfall leading up to the event, there was a lot of mud and grass just ready to be churned and turned by the party goers. By Saturday night, what once was the nice grassy yard in front [...]

The Basic Aid festival was held in Puli this year. I had never been there, and as such only recently learned of the geographic center of Taiwan monument. As nerdy as it may be, I was excited to go there and see it. It isn’t as cool as straddling the equator, [...]

This year is the second annual charity Basic Aid festival. I couldn’t make it last year, but heard through various people it was a great time. The festival will be May 31st and June 1st 2008. This year I will be there playing on Saturday night at 9 with the Grooveballz. [...]

This year’s Peace Festival is from June 13th - June 15th at Kun Lun Gardens in Longtan, Taoyuan county (near the Shi Men Dam). Admission is NT NT 700 (600 if you have a flyer) for a 3 - day pass.

I have been going to the Peace Festival for the past 4 [...]

The Rising Hedons came down to the Armory in Tainan on Saturday, May 10th 2008. The guys are a mix of several different bands form the past, most notably Boogie Chillin’ and Faye and the Slacks.
Brad Tindall, the lead man for the Risng Hedons can appear to be possessed at times while [...]

This years Tainan May Jam was a lot of fun. Thanks to Axel for throwing one of Taiwan’s real gems as far as community and music goes. Good vibes and good times dominated the weekend, as did the beautiful weather. I managed to get a few photos and some video clips which [...]

Been busy before this years May Jam. I’ll be there sometime around 3 today to dust off my jimbe and join the drum circle for a while. I probably won’t be there for very long though, as I need to be at the Armory at about 7:30 to make sure those shows [...]

The May Jam schedule is out. It may have to be tweaked if any bands can’t come or what not, but this is as close to the final schedule as can be right now, and there are a lot of bands waiting anxiously to see their time slots so, here you go.
May Jam [...]

Just to let everyone know, the schedule for this years May Jam will be released soon (Monday night possibly around 11-12???). This year’s event had quite a few last minute submissions so the schedule is a bit late. Apologies to those that applied earlier. Thank you to the all of [...]

This year, there have been some problems with the band application process for the May Jam. Several emails to Axel have had problems so bands, if you haven’t heard anything, send me the an email with the name of your Band, how many members, kind of instruments you play, three recent picture of [...]

This years May Jam promises to be the best on ever. Bands, you need to get your applications in for this years May Jam soon. The Event is on May 3rd and 4th. Here is a message from Axel:
Hello May Jammers!
This year’s Tainan May Jam will be on the 3rd and 4th [...]

I received an email from a friend regarding some bad Spring Scream news:
Today, being April Fool’s day, almost 30 bands were notified that they aren’t play Spring Scream due to performance VISA issues.
Except it wasn’t a joke, and it’s well past noon already.
If any of the bands that aren’t allowed to play, actually play, there [...]

Here is a list of the Spring Scream 2008 bands that have been accepted to play this year. Some of these bands may eventually drop out and not play, but his is a good idea of who will actually be there.

Update:
The guys at Spring Scream caught wind of the error. I [...]

Spring Scream Rat
I have been getting a bit pissed off at the Spring Scream management this year because all of the emails I sent them never got any response. This site is one of the best archives of information and photos for Spring Scream and has been doing at our own cost for some [...]