爱华网Mayday (Chinese: 五月天; pinyin: Wǔ Yuè Tiān), is a Taiwanese rockband that was formed in the late 1990s with five members, namelyAshin (vocalist), Monster and Stone (guitars), Masa (bass) and GuanYou (drums).
Formerly making music under the name of So Band, they officiallycame to be known as Mayday in 1997, with the name originating fromMasa's online nickname.
Musical Style and Influences
Mayday's songs are written mostly in Min Nan (Taiwanese dialect)and Mandarin. They are popular for capturing the zeitgeist ofTaiwanese youth in the 1990s which was an era of dreams, growingup, loneliness, love and disaffection.[2]
Mayday has made no secret of itsadmiration of the Beatles whom they cite as influencing theirideals of rock music. )[3] The eighth track of their fifth albumhas a track called John Lennon (约翰蓝侬) where the band espouses itsdreams to become the "Beatles of the Chinese World" (华人世界的披头四) andone day, to become better than them. Other diverse musicalinfluences include the Irish band U2, the British band Oasis, theJapanese pop music artists Mr. Children, Sting as well as theChinese rocker Wu Bai and China Blue.
In lyrics on recent albums, Ashinhas also alluded to several cultural icons notably the Chinesemythical monkey-god Sun Wu-Kong, Mickey Mouse, Superman, NeilArmstrong and Che Guevara. The song "Armour" (武装) was alsoinfluenced by a Chinese drama 《孽子》and Haruki Murakami's novel,Kafka On the Shore.[4]
[edit] History
[edit] Formation and Early Years :So Band (1995-1997)
Mayday evolved from So Band which was formed by Ashin, Monster andthe first drummer Qian You Da (钱佑达) in 1995 while they werestudying in The Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan(师大附中). They were later joined by Masa and Stone, who wereattending the same school. After graduation, the members went todifferent universities but continued to cut their teeth performingin pubs and eateries. They were also actively involved in promotingthe growing rock music trend in Taiwan [5]. In 1997, the bandregistered under the moniker Mayday [6] in order to join the FormozFestival (野台开唱). This would become the official name of theband.
[edit] Early Recording Career :(1997-1999)
Shortly after participating in the Formoz Festival (野台开唱), the bandbegan to actively send demo tapes to various record companies inthe hope of sealing a record deal. Their demo impressed RockRecords executive Lee Zong Sheng (李宗盛)[7] who described them as"the ones who would usher in the sound of thefuture".[8]
As a result, they signed theirfirst record deal with Rock Records in 1998. In the same year, theyalso took part in the release of the Taiwan Independent CompilationAlbum 《ㄞ国歌曲》by indie music label tcm (角头音乐) which included theirfirst studio recording Racing Car 《轧车》. [9] In June 1998, they alsoreleased the Embrace《拥抱》 compilation album for which they took onmost of the songwriting, production and recordingduties.[10]
In 1999, Guan You became theband's fourth drummer and they went on to release their firstfull-length studio album 《五月天第一张创作专辑》under Rock Records on July7th, 1999. Their debut received critical acclaim and gained afollowing among the Taiwanese. It went on to move more than 300,000copies, a feat for a new band in the then pessimistic and saturatedmusic industry. [11] They were also nominated for the 11th GoldenMelody Awards under the category of Best Band (十一届金曲奖最佳乐团奖). [12]The tracks "Peter and Mary" 「志明与春娇」and "Embrace" 「拥抱」 also caughton among the youth, and became the top songs in the KTV list."Peter and Mary" was one of the top ten songs of the year accordingto the The Association of Music Workers in Taiwan (中华音乐人交流协会). Onthe 28th of August, they held their first large-scale performancecalled "168 Performances 「第168场演唱会」," cementing their position asone of the rising bands in Taiwan.
[edit] Release of Viva Love andPeople Life, Ocean Wild : (1999-2001)
The band's second album Viva Love 《爱情万岁》was released 7th July,2000. Sales of Viva Love exceeded their previous album, shiftingmore than 350,000 copies.[13] Additionally, Viva Love won them the"Best Band" award at the 12th Golden Melody Awards(十二届金曲奖最佳乐团奖).[14] Mayday also held a series of concerts called"Ten Thousand Youths Standing Up" (「十万青年站出来」巡回演唱会) in Taipei City,Zhang Hua and Gaohsiung City. The concerts were famous for havingthe most concert-goers in 2000.[15]
In 2001, Mayday worked for thefirst time, on a movie soundtrack and accompanying score for themovie Migratory Bird 《候鸟》which starred Rene Liu and Huang Pin Yuan.Two months later, Mayday released their third album People LifeOcean Wild 《人生海海》, sales of which hit more than 35,000 copies afterjust a month.
[edit] Temporary Hiatus :(2001-2003)
In view of Masa's impending military call up, Mayday decided totake a temporary hiatus at the height of their popularity. This ledto their farewell concerts titled Where Are You Going? 「你要去哪里」from18th August 2001 to 1st September 2001. Tuo La Ku and Japanese rockband Glay were special guests at the concert. Memorably for manyfans, guitarist Stone chose the occasion to propose to hisgirlfriend and the proposal song was also included in the liveconcert album. In November 2001, the members temporarily disbandedwith Masa going into the military, Stone heading to England tolearn production techniques and Guan You to Los Angeles in order tohone his drumming skills. Meanwhile, Monster and Ashin remained inTaiwan with Rock Records, taking up recording and production dutiesfor other label mates.
[edit] Return to the Music Scene :(2004)
During their hiatus, Mayday released the autobiographicaldocumentary titled The Wings of Dream 《摇滚本事》, with ticket saleshitting more than NT1.2 million in barely three days. [16]. Theyalso released an accompanying soundtrack.
After Masa's official release fromthe military, the band regrouped and made a return to the musicindustry. To mark the event, Mayday held their City of the Sky「天空之城」 concert on the 16th of August 2004 at the Taipei Stadium(台北市立体育场举办). The concert attracted nearly 400,000 fans which brokethe record for most concert-goers at a concert, a record previouslyheld by Michael Jackson.[17]
On the 11th of November 2003, theband also released their 4th studio album Time Machine 《时光机》. Salesof the album hit more than 15,000 within two days[18] , with Maydayseeing no decline in their popularity despite their hiatus. TheTime Machine also won Mayday their second "Best Band" award at the15th Golden Melody Awards.
In the summer of 2004, Mayday alsoparticipated in the making of an accompanying soundtrack for themovie 《五月之恋》in which they also presented new arrangements of someof their old songs. Guitarist Stone also had a supporting role inthe movie.
5th of November 2004 saw therelease of their 5th studio album God's Children Are AllDancing/Flying Angels With A Falling Soul 《神的孩子都在跳舞》. This albumused the simultaneous recording technique to create a "live-band"sound and the band flew to Japan for the recording. In 2005, theyalso released a best of compilation album Just My Pride(《知足最真杰作选》)，which included six new songs and favourites culled fromprevious albums.
[edit] Final Home Concerts :(2004-2006)
Near the end of 2004, Mayday embarked on an ambitious worldwideseries of concerts called Final Home - When We Are AllTogether「Final Home 当我们混在一起」. This took them round the world toAmerica, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan. Theconcerts lasted for six months until early 2006. A compilation oflive performances from those concerts were released in a DVD-CDformat and simply titled 《Final Home》.
Not content with performing on theground, Mayday also took to the top of the Taiwan 101 building toperform. Called the "Nearest to the Sky Concert"/"Our HeadsReaching the Sky Concert" 「史上最接近天空演唱会」(or「头顶天空演唱会」)，Maydayperformed at a height of nearly 390.6 metres from theground.
[edit] Continuing the Dream :(2006-present)
Born to Love 《为爱而生》was released on the 29th of December 2006, withMayday organising an autograph session lasting ten hours thatbecame the first in 2007. In conjunction with their new album andsponsored by Le Tea, they also held Born to Love 《五月天 le power天使，为爱而生新歌演唱会》 concerts around Taiwan. Tickets to these concertswere packaged within the first edition of the Born to Love albums,and fans formed lines overnight in order to get their hands on theactual tickets that allowed them entrance into the concerts. Maydayplayed a total of 12 concerts, and the best performances arecompiled into a DVD that was packaged with the third edition of theBorn to Love album.
2007 also saw the release of Jump!(Leaving the Surface of the Earth) 《离开地球表面》, which included severalnew songs, live performances from the concerts of the same name andthe promotional tune Going Crazy 《抓狂》 for the video-game Halo 3.Included also is a duet with singer Cheer Chen, Elope to theMoon《私奔到月球》. Not to be outdone by the previous year, Mayday held aconcert 《突然很想见到你》on January 1st of 2008 that lasted from 1:00 AM toaround 6:00 AM.
Presently, Mayday are in the midstof preparing for their Returning to the Surface of the Earth《回到地球表面》 concerts which will take place in mid-2008. They have alsobegun planning for their 7th studio album which is slated to bereleased sometime in 2009.
[edit] Members
[edit] Ashin
Real Name: Chen Hsin Hung (陈信宏)
Date of Birth: 6 December 1975
Place of Birth: Taipei, Taiwan
Instrument: Vocals/Guitar/drum
Position: Vocalist
Height/Weight: 180cm/74kg
[edit] Monster
Real Name: Wen Shang Yi (温尚翊)
Date of Birth: 28 November 1976
Place of Birth: Hsin-Chu, Taiwan
Instrument: Guitar
Position: Leader
Height/Weight: 168cm/62kg
[edit] Stone
Real Name: Shih Chin-hang (石锦航)
Date of Birth: 11 December 1976
Place of Birth: Taipei, Taiwan
Instrument: Guitar
Height/Weight: 172cm/67kg
[edit] Masa
Real Name: Tsai Shen-yen (蔡升晏)
Date of Birth: 25 April 1977
Place of Birth: Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Instrument: Bass, Guitar, Piano, Harmonica
Height/Weight: 172cm/66kg
[edit] Guan You
Real Name: Liu Yen-ming (刘谚明)
Date of Birth: 28 July 1973
Place of Birth: Miaoli, Taiwan
Instrument: Drums, Keyboards
Height/Weight: 178cm/60kg
