|
文＼Wade（春天吶喊創辦人）
When I first saw 88 Balaz play in Taichung so many years ago, the
only thing I really remembered was Ah Chang rushing off stage in the
middle of a song and climb to the top of a nearby tree. I also
remember all the happy faces in the audience. 88 Balaz Seeds made
them smile…made them laugh. That's what I remembered. I didn't
remember the music. That was more than ten years ago. Every Spring
Scream since then, I have made it my priority to see the 88 Balaz
show. It was always good. It was always funny. And the audience
always loved it. It was shows like theirs that kept me inspired to
do Spring Scream every year. But I still never remembered the music.
Just the good times and happy faces. It wasn't til this year when I
was listening to the Spring Scream band demos, that I came to a
shocking realization. I was listening to the 88 Balaz demo song and
it totally rocked. There were no costumes, no stage antics, just
their music pouring out of the headphone, filling my head with a
crazy mixture of rock, blues, jazz, and punk, while still remaining
simple and mysterious. I had to double check to make sure I was
listening to the right track. Sure enough it was 88 Balaz. It makes
sense to me now. They have always rocked. It was just now that I was
appreciating the full meal deal. Their combo of intensity and witty
positivism is what shined through those distant memories. Now it is
their music that shines and makes you want move closer. They have
matured into a professional act while maintaining their purity of
spirit, humor and wit. With so many years of performing and life
experience behind them, they are only more of what they started out
being. Having honed their musical skills and the technical abilities
of delivering them, they are poised and ready to present themselves
to the musical world at large as ambassadors of Taiwan rock.
PS：Balaz is Pronunciation of Chinese, his meaning is: 88 guava seeds
（漢譯）
第一次看到88顆芭樂籽，是多年前在台中的某個地方。那天我只記得兩件事，一是；主唱阿強歌唱到一半，就衝到台下，爬上舞台附近的一棵樹上。另一個是；當時台下觀眾臉上的表情，個個嘴角上揚、開懷大笑。我記得的只有這些，至於他們到底表演了什麼，我卻怎麼也沒印象了。
想一想，那一場表演距離現在，應該十年有了。
後來每一年的「春天吶喊」，我都會特意去欣賞他們的演出；他們也從沒讓我失望過。八十八顆芭樂籽那別具特色的舞台風格，總會讓台下的觀眾喜愛得不得了。也因為有像他們如此幹勁的演出，才能激勵我年復一年地繼續舉辦「春吶」。然而，這麼多年來，對於八十八顆芭樂籽的印象，也只限於每回台上的生猛有力的演出，卻始終沒能仔細去研究他們究竟彈了些什麼東西。直到今年（2008），當我仔細聆聽他們寄到「春吶」報名的DEMO時，才驚訝地發現：『It
totally rocked!!』
不經刻意設計、也不譁眾取寵，融合搖滾、藍調、爵士、龐克，八十八顆芭樂籽神奇混合了眾多音樂元素。當他們那充溢著搖滾本色的音樂從耳機流洩出來時，卻一股作氣地鑽進了我的腦門裡。當下，我不得不重複倒帶，確認自己真的沒有聽錯。是的！這就是我熟悉的八十八顆芭樂籽。我心中突然明白了，"They
have always rocked."
，那濃烈奔放的音樂表現與幽默獨特舞台風格的結合，正是讓八十八顆芭樂籽這一路走來，能在眾多搖滾樂團中獨樹一格的原因。
現在，他們正帶著光芒四射的音樂作品，展現他們多年來的成長。在「肆十肆隻石獅子」的專輯中，八十八顆芭樂籽從一個單純演出的樂隊轉變成一個專業成熟的音樂製作人，精準地傳達了他們的搖滾信念與最純粹的音樂靈魂。成團這麼多年的他們，雖然歷經幾近散團的種種危機與考驗，但並未減損他們那熱血搖滾的虔誠信仰，反而更加堅定。我深信，歷經多年的磨練後，八十八顆芭樂籽已經準備好了，他們足以代表台灣的搖滾樂，正要向整個世界吶喊。
|
