The White Eyes

By Ronald Lin (Host of the HitFM Radio Network)

In 1994, Green Day's release of "Dookie" helped pull pop punk into the mainstream and attract a large a large fan base for fast-paced, angsty music. Since then, pop punk and post punk revival groups have sprouted up all over the world, telling their youth-filled stories with power chords and racing drum beats.

Though the genre has no shortage of acts and catchy one-hit wonders, there are few bands that are original, memorable and able to stay consistently popular for more than two months. In Taiwan, the scene is no different.

Passion-filled stage performances make up for lack of serious, innovative musicality and the young age of the musicians gives the appearance that they lack much experience. In Taiwan, popular young bands include Loh Tsui Kweh Commune, who are known for their criticism of society, strong character and sporty onstage image, and 88 Balaz, another local punk pop band that strives to write quality lyrics.

There are, however, certain exceptions to the punk-pop formula and, in Taiwan, we see that difference with The White Eyes. The group, which just won an award at the 2008 Hohaiyan Rock Festival, is a great example of a punk pop band that stands out from the rest.
The group has been around for three years and released an EP in April. The White Eyes is made up of lead singer Xiao Gao, guitarist Telecat, bassist Chung Yu, and drummer Xiao Ju Hua. In Chinese, "white eyes" means "idiotic" and the members first used this name as a joke until it eventually grew on them.

y female in this band, vocalist Xiao Gao, has exaggerated on-stage moves and her eclectic, sometimes revealing wardrobe remind me of Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Live performances feature the guitar and bass, cranked up, of course, so the audience can feel the ground shake with the reverb. Xiao Gao has an outstanding voice, quite explosive to be exact, which gives her music a chaotic energy. She really radiates energy and pulls the audience along right with her, so the scene quickly gets a bit out of control. And, really, isn't that what it's all about?

The style and music of The White Eyes reminds me of Sonic Youth. Their on-stage energy and stage presence makes them a one-of-a-kind band in Taiwan. Recently, The White Eyes started the show at the first annual Hohaiyan Rock Festival, which was also a release concert for 88 Balaz. The fact that they were first is a preview of a new generation of pop punk energy that Taiwan is about to release. This makes me look forward to their official debut album. Though I'm a bit impatient for it, I know it will be worth waiting for. - TaiwanFun.com

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Vocal & Guitar: Gao Xiao Gao / Bass: Balafun / Guitar: Telecat / Drum: Little Dassy


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Back in April, I caught a show at Mao Live by this Taipei Band, The White Eyes, and I was completely utterly unabashedly impressed!!! The Performance was entertaining, the band was tight and… let’s call it what it is… They’re freaking NUTS…
Here is my write up on that show:
http://beijingdaze.com/tunes/2010/04/08/the-white-eyes-band-live-mao-livehouse-beijing/
and here is a little video of the performance:
Well, the band was in Beijing at the time to record a CD, Kiss Your Eyes, which was released on 9/24.. I’ve heard a couple of the songs and I like them but I am most looking forward to catching them live again. I just got an answer from Xiao Gao, lead singer pictured above, about it: November 5th at Mao Live…. hell yeah!!!

Mark the date folks… Xiao Gao is one hell of a personality on stage and you will be entertained, trust me! I’m not even a fan of this type of music usually but I’ll make an exception in this case! oh yeah, the rest of the band aint bad either!

More info about The White Eyes at their official website: http://www.thewhiteeyes.com where you can download their new single for free and view their music video. - Beijing Daze

By Beijing Daze in Tunes under the moon
I heard rumors of this crazy Taiwanese band a few weeks ago from the good folks at Kungfuology and decided to keep an eye out for their Beijing show which i mistakenly wrote down as being on April 17. As I shuffled through Mao Live’s website, I saw their listing for last night and I just had to get over there no matter what. It was to be “Female Punks” Vs. “Men of Steel” : A midweek Rock-off with Taiwanese band the White Eyes in the blue corner and Beijing’s Steely Heart, me ?me & the Dancers in the red corner.

Show started a bit early and i caught the latter part of me ?me which was alright.. the performance was navigating clear water of inoffensiveness! That’s not a bad thing in Beijing!

Steely Heart was up next, holding the mantle for the Men of Steel (insert virility-related joke here.) It was my first time seeing these guys and I came out fairly impressed with their musical ability. The crowd at Mao was really into them and they have one interesting guitar player in there.. the kid had more energy than the rest of the band combined!
As a unit, Steely Heart performed well but their lead singer seemed quite uninspired at times, as if going through the motions. During one or two songs though, he came alive and showcased his potential. I’ll definitely be interested in seeing them again but i won’t go out of my way for it.
Finally, it was time for the headliners, holding the torch for Female Punk: The White Eyes! Still confused as to how a band made up of 3 men and 1 woman can represent females but hey, TIFC so who said things had to make sense?

As the band launched into their opening notes, Xiao Gao (singer) ran out from backstage and caused half the crowd to go WTF (in Chinese though)… Words can’t quite describe the reaction but her outfit was amazingly done and in the dim lights of Mao Live it looked as if there was bush sighting!
The band ripped through 9 songs, all high energy and displayed an amazing musical ability as well as great onstage chemistry. The songs were highly reminiscent of Sonic Youth with heavy punk edge and the clear stand out of the night was a song called No No No off of their latest album and available on douban for a listen.
I stand corrected on this next part by Gao Gao herself.. The song which we thought was ??? is actually “???”(Love Hurts)..
yes, there was the gimmicky side of things with the outfit that Xiao Gao was wearing but the show itself was amazing regardless! The songs, the stage antics, the jumps and rolls, and the level of enjoyment that you could see on the band’s face! It was clear that the madness and the antics were not rehearsed, just genuinely fun! The Rock-Off was a no-contest and The White Eyes won it hands down!
Alas, the show ended and we had to scatter away ( or get back to work as was the case for yours truly) but i did snag their 2 CDs which were priced at a reasonable 30RMB or 2 for 50. I also had a little chat with their manager “Lemon” who explained that they only had this one date booked but they would be in Beijing until almost end of April. So if you’re a music promoter reading this, you could do alot worse than look up these kids and book them for a few dates in Beijing. Honestly, last time I was this impressed was the first time I saw ZIYO play…. The White Eyes are just as good and while Xiao Gao might not be as talented as Helen Feng, She can definitely give her a run for her money when in comes to performing. It’s a shame the show didn’t get more of a push and happened on a wednesday night.
If this is a small example of what that little island across the strait has to offer as underground music, I must say that they are clearly ahead of the mainland! Beijing underground live, you’re put under notice - Beijing Daze

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Here’s a band to watch out for. The White Eyes play garage rock but avoid the trap of getting lost in their own noirish, playful sound. Keeping everyone’s attention is lead singer Gao Xiao-gao (???), whose girlish voice leads a swirling storm of electric guitars and retro-punk beats.
No No No starts off this five-song EP and is a fun, emotionally dynamic number. The band’s sonic DNA gets laid out in the first 20 seconds: a fuzzy distorted rock riff from the guitar on the left, a laser ray sound from the guitar on the right, then a “Wha-oh!” from Gao, lifting the song into a tension-building groove that explodes into grungy angst. Her voice turns sultry at the bridge, and her moaning is both creepy and sexy.
The droning, hypnotic Narcissism Personality Disorder (??????) builds into a frantic groove that hides ska and funk beats underneath. The song, a character sketch of a person who feels suffocated in a relationship, resolves nicely by leaving listeners to wonder about a “secret” yet to be told.
Gao shows promise for her versatile vocals, which no doubt played a role when the White Eyes won the Ho-Hai-Yan Rock Festival’s (?????) battle of the bands in 2008. She sings with brash, youthful verve and thankfully never falls into gimmicky cutesiness. For its part, the band is tight when it needs to be, and treats the songs with the right balance of roughness and polish.
Comparisons to Sonic Youth and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are inevitable in light of the band’s overall sound, but there are hints of Taiwanese indie rock in their music, particularly in the dreamy musing and post-rock stylings of A More Beautiful Life (??????) and All the Things.
The White Eyes say they plan to release a full-length album later this year. Until then, this EP will satisfy a craving for fun, raw rock ’n’ roll.
— DAVID CHEN - Taipei Times, Feb. 18th, 2009