FIVE YEARS AGO, Taiwanese concert organiser Freddy Lin felt it was time to bring some real bands to Taiwan.
So, the 25-year-old took out a 20-year mortgage on a flat owned by his mother, raised more money through a traditional loan collective, and then blew most of it on the band Megadeth, which ended up playing to a small crowd at 4am in a dilapidated warehouse as a typhoon skirted the island.
Sitting in his Taipei office last week, Lin joked that he still owes NT$2 million ($480,000) on the mortgage, and for a while had to make money as a human guinea pig for pharmaceutical companies to meet loan payments. 'I don't care if you tell people,' he says, 'But if you do, tell them not to submit themselves to pharmaceutical testing. It pays well, but it's not a good idea.'
That first show is an example of how Lin has ensured Formoz's position as one of the top Asian music festivals and probably the biggest in the Chinese-speaking world. Last year, Formoz drew about 10,000 a day for three days, with international acts Moby and Lisa Loeb headlining a showcase of Taiwan's top indie bands and drawing at least 1,000 fans from around the region.
This year, Formoz will be held during the last weekend of July, with a bill headed by Welsh pop rockers Super Furry Animals, Japanese rock star Nanase Aikawa, Japanese ska group Kemuri, and Hong Kong singer-songwriter Chet Lam.
All up, there will be about 100 bands playing on eight stages divided roughly by genre - with the likes of the Rock for punk and metal, Back Woods for folk and acoustic, and Elektronika Land for laptop pop and DJs.