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.

'When we started, we weren't thinking of doing an international music fest,' says Lin. 'We just wanted to do something for the local scene. But later, the opportunity to be more international came.'

Formoz was born in the summer of 1995 as a concert of Taiwanese university rock clubs. When Lin took it over two years later, it was little more than a bundle of documents and a few unpaid bills.

Lin was then, and still is, lead singer for heavy-metal band Cthonic, which performs in full costume and black-and-white face paint.

But he's also a savvy business administration major, and his mother is an accountant. By laying down a solid organisational framework, he helped boost the festival's budget 20-fold during the past six years. To lure more international bands, he forged an alliance with Fuji Rock Festival and befriended its organiser Masa Hidaka. Now, top sponsors are coming on board, including Ford, Taiwan's national telecommunications company, and major breweries.

Still, the event continues to be performed by rockers for rockers, with most of the local scene involved. Lin refuses to sell control of Formoz to TV stations or advertisers. Most of the vending booths are taken by rock pubs, music stores and hipster cafes, and since 2004, Lin has enlisted local record labels and musicians to run different stages.

This year, for example, the DJ line- up at Elektronika Land has been put together by Lim Giong, a mentor in Taiwan indie who was one of the first Taiwanese pop singers more than a decade ago and now releases experimental electronica in France.

'With Formoz, it's like the whole Taiwan indie scene gets together to do it,' says Lin. 'Our purpose is really to nurture this scene.'

At times, even political lobbying has been necessary. Two months ago, Lin helped organise a public hearing in the national legislature that brought about Taiwan's first temporary business licenses for live music venues and helped one of Taipei's most important clubs reopen its stage (Lin is also an investor in Taipei's largest rock club, a 500-capacity venue called the Wall).

Formoz's success stems from its filling a niche and attracting music fans from Southeast Asia and Japan. At least 100 foreign bands applied to take part this year, and about 20 are scheduled, including 14 from Japan.

Japanese bands say they find it more accessible than their own country's summer mega-concerts such as Fuji and Summer Sonic. And for fans from Hong Kong and other regional Chinese communities, there's an affinity in language and a more active scene than at home.

'In Hong Kong, there aren't any big festivals with local bands, and aside from maybe the Fringe Club, there are no regular performance venues,' says Anida Chan Po-wai, who works at Mackie Study, a Causeway Bay shop for books and indie music, many of them from Taiwan.

Mackie Study began selling tickets for Formoz three years ago, becoming the festival's outlet in Hong Kong.

Lin estimates that about 200 Hongkongers travelled to Formoz last year.

Hong Kong bands making the trip have done well for themselves. Indie electronica acts Vibration and Primary Shapes signed with Taiwan labels after playing the fest, and local label God's Child Music signed Japanese punk band, FC Five, after seeing them in Taipei.

'This isn't just Formoz,' Lin says. 'This is the hard work of the past 10 years by everybody in the scene. Now it's coming together.'