New Releases!!

Three bands released new EPs to coincide with this year's Formoz Festival . Orange Doll's two-song EP sold like hotcakes after their show Sunday on the Fire Stage. They moved 70 units in about 15 minutes. Unbelievable!

Fire Ex completely rocked the joint on the Wind Stage Saturday evening. Sam and OR were in a serious accident the week prior, when a tire blew on their car while on the freeway. The car spun out of control and was destroyed, but thankfully no-one was seriously hurt. OR was instructed by doctors to wear a neck brace for several weeks, which he abandoned for both his Shy Kick Apple and Fire Ex shows at Formoz. This accident did nothing to prevent Fire Ex from putting on one of the most memorable shows ever. The boys also released a new EP at this year's event, which comes with a free Fire Ex guitar pick!

Finally, Shy Kick Apple also put out a three-song EP entitled VOOMM!, which has a comic-book themed insert designed by Maho's A-Chang. The three songs were recorded in Kaohsiung, and is being released independently. A great weekend for Kaohsiung bands despite Day Three of Formoz being downsized by the threat of Typhoon Phoenix.

Formoz Festival-5 out of 6 Ain't Bad!!

As the headline says, 5 of the 6 bands featured in our upcoming film will be appearing at this year's Formoz Festival . This year's event is very special for the bands from the south, as Fire Ex, Orange Doll, Shy Kick Apple and KoOk are all releasing new EPs/albums to coincide with Formoz. The Kaohsiung collective will have a merchandise booth onsite, where concertgoers can come and buy any of the aforementioned items, as well as other band merchandise (hats, T-shirts, buttons, stickers). The "Voices From The South" filmmakers will also be on hand manning the merch booth periodically (when we're not away filming bands). We will also be selling special buttons to help raise funds towards the making of this movie, so stop by, buy some stuff and help support independent music in Taiwan!

Performance times are:

Maho 07/25 (Friday) 6:00 PM, Rock Stage
Shy Kick Apple 07/25 6:50 PM, Rock Stage
koOk 07/25 8:50 PM, Fire Stage
Fire Ex 07/26 (Saturday) 6:40 PM, Wind Stage
Orange Doll 07/27 (Sunday) 5:30 PM, Fire Stage

Rockin' Weekend!

Orange Doll have two shows in one day this July 12th, first in the afternoon (2 PM) at Urban Spotlight, the outdoor cafe/park in Central Kaohsiung (Wufu Road/Chung Hwa Road intersection), and then again in the evening (9 PM) as part of the 'Big Bang' show presented by Womb Bloc Arts. This show will again be presented at Join Us, due to the ongoing problems with Womb Bloc's uppity neighbors, who continually summon the police as soon as one girl with an acoustic guitar starts playing. The Big Bang show will also feature Polygon (see their link to the right of this page) and Aphasia from Taipei.

Kook are performing at the Hohaiyan Festival on Saturday. Their new album has been pushed back to an August release, but it has been confirmed that the return of the Music Orgy show next month will be the official Kaohsiung release party for the album.

This Sunday will see Shy Kick Apple, Maho and Fire Ex performing along with Japanese punkers Last Target at Join Us, see the venue's link on this page for more information!

Formoz Festival lineups have been posted for most of the bands, check out Formoz's website for information. Shy Kick Apple, Maho, Fire Ex and Orange Doll have all been confirmed for this year's event.

VFTS will soon have a dedicated website, keep checking here for more information!!

KoOk-New Album Out Soon!

KoOk guitarist/singer Leslie has confirmed that their new album will be released sometime in mid-July!! The indie music scene eagerly anticipates a big release party in Kaohsiung... Further details about the album are pending...check out their website through the link at the right of this page.

Shy Kick Apple are wrapping up the recording of their new 3-song EP. The guys were busy most of June with final exams and whatnot, but now that summer break is here, they will devote all their time to completing it as soon as they can.

A relatively quiet month was June, with few shows happening. Womb Bloc kept the local music fans happy, bringing in Freckles and Bitter on the 10th, and having their first "Out Of The Womb" show (their first concert not held within their own venue), presenting five bands (Blood Orange, Fire Ex, Maho, Polygon and KoOk) at Join Us on the 28th.

VFTS will soon have a dedicated website with trailers, photos, band information and more. The film has been pushed back due to technical glitches that forced us to re-shoot a lot of the band performances. As it stands, we are looking at a September release date.

One last item: August will see the long-awaited return of the Music Orgy festival!! Maho guitarist A-Fang has confirmed that they will present another of their one-day mini-festival of bands at Join Us. Band lineup and date have yet to be finalized... more info is on the way.

The Humid Press of Days...

June has been a slow month for Kaohsiung's bands. Maho will be playing at Join Us on the 21st, and Fire Ex will be doing a show in Taipei on the 22nd. Other than that, all has been rather quiet. Shy Kick Apple are currently in the studio recording three new songs to be released as an EP sometime before the Fall (hopefully). They will be performing July 13 at Join Us with Fire Ex and Maho in an all-punk show that will feature Japanese band Last Target.

VFTS is currently in the editing stages, as most of the footage, save for a few band interviews, has been filmed. Tentative plans (if all goes as scheduled) are to have the film featured at this year's Formoz Festival in Taipei, which will give the southern bands some much-needed exposure in the north.

Video of the Week!

Live from Kaohsiung-A-Palooza, it's Shy Kick Apple rocking Join Us with their newest song, "Happy", April 26, 2008!!

Womb Bloc Re-Opens!

Womb Bloc has been a fixture in the Kaohsiung scene since 2006, providing a venue for local artists, photographers, filmmakers, DJs and bands. It recently re-opened at a new location, and the organizers hosted an all-unplugged show on May 10th featuring Maho, Polygon, Fire Ex and Orange Doll. For Maho, this was their first and (according to guitarist A-Fang) last ever 'unplugged' show. Their set featured cover songs, new material and drummer Popo showing off his skills on the guitar!! Polygon had an eclectic set which featured their shoegazer pop augmented by an array of offbeat instruments including a melodica and a toy piano. Fire Ex performed old and new material alike, and Orange Doll demonstrated that their jangly pop songs come across very well in a stripped-down, acoustic format.


Maho are performing double duty on the 17th, performing both at the annual Southern Rock Festival at Chung Shan University and later in the evening at Join Us. Orange Doll and Polygon will also be featured at the former, while Shy Kick Apple will be appearing at the Join Us gig that night.