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[urbanadventurer]

Is there an indie music scene in Taipei? Interesting venues or performance spaces, good dive bars, tastefully stocked guitar shops ?

[phdinfunk]

Well, they sometimes say Taiwan is 10 years behind the rest of the world. When I got here in 2007, they were moving from grunge to Post Rock. Now they're discovering Dream Pop, I think.

There's also a zillion Taiwanese bands that sound about the same. Either a band with a female lead singer ending with an explosive rendition of Four Non Blondes "What's Goin' On?" Or else a rock/metal/emo band that sings and screams.

Here and there are some lovely exceptions to the rule. And you never do badly catching a Japanese band in town. World's end girlfriend was one of the best shows I attended, and the Deadly Vibes brought a Japanese Psychabilly band around (nor were they bad themselves) a few years ago. Mostly I go with the flow, check out the festivals, and see whatever band says "Japan" beside their names.

Music stores: They will double the price versus in the USA. For example, a Fender Squier that should be 300 USD will be 600 or more. A thousand dollar USA Fender will be two thousand. I've saved money buying parts and having them shipped here. Example, my main axe now is a Fender Squier Jazzmaster Body, a Standard Made in Mexico Neck (left handed, for coolness) and Curtis Novak pickups for the electronics. Shipping and Handling and all of it and I got out for 500 USD. I paid maybe a thousand five hundred NTD extra to have a bone nut cut and installed to make that neck work on my right handed guitar, have the inside coated with copper tape, and have the whole thing wired up and set up nicely.

The same money would have gotten me a stock Fender Squier, maybe. I once saw a Squier Avril Lavigne Tele for 12,000 NTD over in Taichung, which was one of the better prices I've seen in a guitar store here.

So, in other words, no I wouldn't buy from music shops here. On the other hand there are local swap lists on Facebook with good deals, crappy deals, and amazing deals. If you've got time, wait and get a good deal there.

[guobaoyobro]

Look up Skip Skip Ben Ben. Follow them, and you'll figure out where everything's at, like "The Wall", etc.