JIRO WANG:

INTRODUCTION

Everytime I hear the sound of guitars and drums, a familiar melody, those images of growing up automatically fill my mind. Like my father, that great father; those good brothers with the same interests as me, together immersed in the rock music of our practice room after school; wandering back and forth from the side of construction sites to sides of big roads, even randomly singing and shouting on the street.

My memories also include days of riding my motorbike in the pouring rain, work and the rushed lifestyle between jobs...

At my weakest, most dispirited moments in life, it was this music and these people who accompanied me.
The guitar, drum beats, microphone, rock music, it's as if they can temporarily stop the sorrow; and it seems Father never left. It's like he's always here, always always by my side supporting me!

PART 1
My Father - The origin of my life

A major blow

When I was in high school, without warning, my father was sent to hospital.

My father, whom I believed was the always the strongest, lay on the stretcher and was carried into an ambulance; my mind was suddenly blank for a moment: why did this happen to our family? To my father? I really, really found it hard to believe what was happening before my eyes - however, it was indeed real.

Since I was young, I've been a person who depended a lot on family. My parents married quite late so they had me at an older age, thus I was a single child. They loved me and looked after me with everything they had. Even though I wasn't born holding onto a golden spoon, I had a very close relationship with my family, I never thought that our family was missing anything. This me grew up in a blissful environment, being loved by my parents, I never knew what worries and pain were, until my father, our family's most important pillar, the shoulder my mother and I depended on most, suddenly collapsed. Everything came too abruptly; I'll never forget that day. God, are You joking with me? This can't be true!

It was the day before entrance exam results were out, I happily held the entrance certificate from the #1 school in my heart, Fu Hsing Trade & Arts College; that day was also August 8, Father's Day. Originally I was going to happily celebrate with my father but the image before my eyes was my fallen father and the sound of the ambulance which to this day has not disappeared. All I could think about was what would happen from now on? How long would it be before my father passes the dangerous period and returns to his most loved family?

No-one could answer me...

During that period of time, my father was constantly rushing back and forth between the hospital and home, fully suffering the pain of his illness. My mother was always by his side, looking after him, regardless of day or night, taking care of him in every possible way. Of course, my father understood her painstaking efforts and so the two of them supported each other until the very end. These days were really difficult, as I watched, I couldn't take it, my heart was in pain. So I knew, I couldn't let my father worry about my weaknesses and immaturity anymore during this important period where he had to battle against his illness. So in front of him, I acted strong, sharing everything about school with my father just like before, telling jokes and making him laugh... as if no pain and suffering had ever occurred..

However, when I was alone, that disguise of strength disintegrated, collapsed. My father's illness was more serious than we had imagined, my mother's and my emotions and life went up and down like my father's condition. High school, many people's most carefree and worry-free time of their lives, but felt more like a heavy black cloud shrouding me, pressing down on me until I couldn't breathe. I looked like a happy student that just made it into his school but my heart was at its lowest because I felt helpless; depression and low spirits had already invaded.

As handsome as my father!

My mother often tells me that in her life, she did two things right: one was getting married to my father and the other was giving birth to me.

My father wasn't rich but he really loved his wife. My mother said that when she was dating my father, he would come two hours early and at the entrance of my mother's clothing store he'd look from afar and pace back and forth, waiting for her to finish work. After they got married, he said to her, "You don't have to work so hard to run the store, let me look after you for a lifetime!" He took on all the family responsibilities so that my mother didn't have to worry about anything and but her whole heart into looking after their little kid - that's me.

From my father, I saw the "love" and "sense of responsibility" that a man should have. In the outside world he'd work hard for the family and coming home, he'd use lots and lots of love to protect his family. There was never a day when this would change.

He was the strongest pillar and umbrella too, sheltering his family from the rain and allowing them to always depend on him.

I want to become that type of man.


Since I was very, very young, I've loved singing. When my father took me out to eat dinner with his friends, he always wanted me to perform "Eldest Brother & Father, So Mighty" 哥哥爸爸真偉大.

This song could be considered my... "debut song" (HA)! The actual name of the song is "As Long As I Grow Up" 只要我長大. I guess my father probably loved to hear me sing it because he wanted me to grow up quickly!

Hearing the praises from uncles, my father would always have a pleased look on his face.

Music club fulfilling dreams

Growing a bit older, I started listening to the songs of the youth at the time like L.A. Boyz, Xiao Hu Dui 小虎隊, Aaron Kwok; a bit older still, I slowly became in touch with Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Bon Jovi and more rock music; I also listened to Japanese like Luna Sea, L'Arc-en-Ciel, X-Japan, etc. I didn't only specifically like a particular genre or band, simply listened lots and absorbed lots. I also took notice of their singing techniques and performance methods.

In high school I was also president of the "Music Club", this is a... club that fulfills people's dreams of becoming singers I guess! We specialised in singing - duet and solo. As president, I first have to sing 1 or 2 songs and then let the members come up on stage one after the other. I'll even ask them very seriously like a host of a large-scale night club, "What song will you be sharing with the audience today?"

"Eclipse" is formed!

"Eclipse" 日蝕 band members: guitarist "Xiu" sitting in front of me; bassist "Deng" sitting on my left; plus rhythm guitarist, Xiu's brother "Jie"; and friend from musical instrument industry, drummer "Meng", and leader singer - me, under no musical foundation whatsoever, formed our group!

Because we loved the same type of music and were classmates in the same grade and also because we had similar family backgrounds and inexpressible tacit understanding, without further thought, a band was formed just like that.

Because we listened to rock and metal, music with heavy beats, "Eclipse" initially very naturally had this style. We didn't have a specified band practice time but we pretty much practised everyday. Everyone was very into it like guitarist Xiu, he slept in almost all his classes and for a period of time when I was name taker (T/N: marking class roll I think), I thought he was pretty much ignoring my existence so I kept a close eye on him. It was only later that I found out, each day he would go home and practise 7-8 hours of guitar, he got practically no sleep at night, so of course he would use the daytime to catch up on sleep!

Xiu's perseverance and determination made me admire him greatly. He wasn't the type of student who enjoyed studying but as long as he had a goal, he would put 100% effort into reaching it and wholeheartedly work towards it and achieve it with perfection. Most student projects will take a few months to prepare but he could pull 2-3 all-nighters and finish it, then put almost all the remaining time into practising guitar. This also made his guitar-playing advance by leaps and bounds, it was really cool.

The most unbelievable thing was that after he graduated, he even made it into university. You need to know that every Fu Hsing arts student in their final year will put pretty much all their energy into their graduation exhibition, painting, making models, sculptures, etc. they simply don't have time to prepare for the university entrance exam. However, because Xiu wanted to get in, originally he was practising 7-8 hours of guitar a day but as soon as he said he'd stop, he stopped and spent an entire month focussed on studying for the exam. It really shocked everyone. The proverb "It's fine if he does not cry, but one cry is enough to amaze all others" probably best describes him! He will always suddenly come out with a "powerful, deadly move" when you least expect it.

Bassist who never asks for anything

Our bassist Deng is yet another type of personality. He's very quiet and doesn't like to talk. Initially when we found him for the band, he couldn't do anything. When he heard that guitarist, drummer and even lead vocalist had been assigned, he said, "Then.. then what about I play bass guitar?" He's a naturally kind person who doesn't fight with others.

He lives in Taoyuan's countryside while the rest of us live in Taipei. We often asked encouraged him to move up here so it would be easier to find work and it was also livelier here which suited us young people more. However, he's very "pure of heart with few desires" and didn't move at all. He liked places where the roads had less cars and there weren't many people. However, the strange thing was that when he stood onstage and started playing the bass guitar, he immediately became a guy with lots of charm. No-one would believe that he was that "peasant youth" from the countryside!

We could sing anywhere

From being complete novices to being able to perform onstage without being shy or getting stage-fright, our "Eclipse" (Ri Shi) band changed its name to "Karma" because people laughed at the name's resemblance to a particular car model. We put a lot of thought into the name "Karma" but didn't realise it sounded so strange when said out loud!

Because we gradually gained more confidence in our performances, almost each time we heard there was some sort of ceremony somewhere, we would all go there to perform and join in the celebrations. As long as we could go onstage, we would give it all we had! The places we went to most often were construction sites, roadsides and of course, not excluding school campuses. As soon as our equipment was set up we would start singing, not caring at all whether the audience knew who we were or understood what we were singing. Sometimes when a bus or truck drove past, passengers would turn around in curiosity to see us, there were also grandpas and grannies watching the excitement, kids who had nothing to do, people who just happened to walk by... we didn't care at all, still sung no matter what!

The greatest were our school campus performances! Ha! These were our highest, craziest times because the students understood our music!

This is probably what they call "the happiness of youths"! Very free, very simple, only music, no worries, no burdens of being an idol, no limitations set, you can have no goals and not care about a thing, sing whatever you wanna sing, as loud as you can.

First group of fans

Although we hadn't anticipated becoming famous, as we performed at various places, fans of our band emerged. They would come regularly to our performances; at first us guys were a bit shocked!

Once when we were recording at a TV station, there were people waiting for us when we came out. They wanted to take photos with us, have stuff autographed, once someone even recognised me on the streets and called out my name.

--- Okay, to tell you the truth, secretly it made me feel pretty satisfied, like I'd received affirmation. I'd never imagined this would happen so I was quite happy.

Band gave me a way to release my emotions and be accompanied

To me, the care and support of my good friends who shared my joys and sorrows during high school when my father was seriously ill and I suffered both mentally and physically, even feeling helpless, filled up the very deep void I felt. They also made me realise: I wasn't really alone.

The large amounts of shouting in rock music, gave me a way to release my initial gloom. Everytime I held a microphone and shouted with all my might, all my sadness would be washed away and vented out.

I loved my group of friends even more, being onstage performing with them and putting all our energy into our music. Guitar, bass, drums - everyone had their niche and gave their most brilliant performance to the audience. All the same time, all the band members must have the best tacit understanding between each other and when we combined everyone's strengths, we could release an explosively surprising and harmonious strength.

Within the band, everyone has their own characteristics that can't be absent in the group. If we were to go without an instrument or a particular member, our music would sound strange. Here I found a "sense of existence" - a sense of belonging, acknowlegement and warmth.

Music isn't just simply music

Therefore, to me, music isn't just music anymore. It builds friendships, it's what youth become absorbed in, and share.

Also, leaving us afterwards, our ---- father. Everytime I stand onstage to perform, it's like he's standing in the audience somewhere, like when I was a child, smiling, supporting me, focussed on hearing my singing.

As long as I can perform, it's like I can always be with my father.

My music, is for him in Heaven.

Guys liking motorbikes, pretty normal, right! Plus, since I'm rather tall, riding a scooter... would probably be too cramped!

Riding a motorbike also has another advantage, that is.. when you're with
friends and drawing out keys, it's very useful! Because more people
want to draw out yours, riding it out would catch the attention of
passers-by more... ha!

In the past I've ridden some large
motorbikes like FZR, Wolf (野狼), etc. very shuai, body leaning forward,
all your weight supported by your forearms, once you're done it feels
like your arms are gonna fall off! Also, because you're leaning forward
while riding, you can't even feel your speed when you're going fast, to
be honest, it's quite dangerous.

My beloved motorbike is a
Yamaha Drag Fire. It was originally green and silver but later, I made
it become yellow and black. [T/N: color changed from riding it too
much? xD] When I have time, I often go out riding at dusk or in the
middle of the night, to enjoy the feeling of sunset or I'll ride on the
bridge and quietly think about things. It's like as long as I'm riding
my motorbike, I can grasp "freedom", nothing to restrain me at all.
Naturally I'll forget all my worries and no matter how much pressure
there is, it's not a problem anymore.

Motorbike to drive back and forth love

My dream is to one day own a genuine Harley, like the one we borrowed for this photoshoot...
$600,000 RMB, not bad for taking a couple of photos!

I've also imagined, in the future if I have children, I'll be able to send
them to school on my motorbike or bring them lunch at noon. Their
schoolmates will definitely be very surprised and say, "Wah, my
goodness! Such a handsome person and motorbike, who is it!" My kid
would very proudly say, "It's my dad!"

Then I'd take the
lunchbox out and say very coolly, "Be good! .. I'm going now!" Then
ride the motorbike, slowly disappearing far into the horizon...
Germaine blogged on 3:39 AM
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