INTERVIEW: Annual Taiwan Hardcore Event – Dirti – Introduces Latest Taiwanese Hardcore Acts

INTERVIEW | Winston
Dirti, Defeat the Giant

SE Asia rightfully gets lots of the world’s attention as one of the MUST-go locations on the global hardcore map. The scenes are HUGE, local bands are straight FIRE, and of course, the famous Asian hospitality is untouchable.

But there are, and continue to be, much smaller scenes in other parts of Asia where bands don’t hit often (or at all). One of those places is Taiwan which for 7 years now has had its own mini-hardcore fest called DIRTI run by the dudes who’ve been flying the Taiwanese hardcore flag for years now. That band? Defeat the Giant.

Today, Winston, vocalist of the band, has given us some background on Dirti’s upcoming 7th edition which for the first time features a non-Taiwanese band in the lineup – the almighty Whispers out of Thailand. But also does an awesome job giving us an update on the current state of Taiwanese hardcore.

Check it out below…and if you’re in Taiwan – GO HIT UP THE SHOWS!

UA: Congrats on the 7th edition of the fest man! Tell us all a little bit about the bands taking part this year. 
Winston: I would say DIRTI is a show based in Taichung City, Taiwan with a Taiwanese hardcore line-up. It is now DIRTI’s 7th year which is a bit weird for me as I never thought DIRTI would run for this long.

DIRTI was actually just a little show that we (Defeat The Giant) wanted to create that fulfilled our vision of what hardcore is – something raw, DIY, maybe a bit random, but the real deal. For example, DIRTI doesn’t actually have a specific time of the year that it’s held. Sometimes it’s in August, April, November, December, or January and this time it’s being held in February. It just happens when we think that we have to do it, and it’s still the case to this day.

We had From Ashes, which was a hardcore band from Taichung, with all young generation kids. But they stopped, unfortunately; We had Deadpan, a hardcore band from Kaohsiung with amazing groovy music that was supposed to be huge. They’re no longer that active now after the guitarist Scott moved to Australia; We had Spit! (pictured above), which has a unique twist on the hardcore punk sound. They won’t be playing this year because they were pretty active last year, so they’re slowing down this year to take care of some family stuff.

But this time we still have Hateful Rezpect, who have performed at every single DIRTI from day one. They’ve stayed true to their passion for hardcore at their own pace since the beginning. Their riffs always bring the audience closer to the band.

This year we also have a brand new band called Toxic Bald, who are a shining new star from the Taiwanese hardcore/punk scene. I’ve never seen a band that presents hardcore the way they do. We can tell they’re highly influenced by 80’s DC hardcore, but I will NOT believe you’ve seen a punk band that interprets DC hardcore with a kind of humor aesthetics. It both sounds outside the box and yet still within the box somehow. They’re definitely a band that you should keep an eye on.

We have Lazyfinga, the soul of the party, the vibe-creating masters, and the secret key of DIRTI. We also have L-Schema, who is the most real-deal crust punk representative in Taiwan; Bazooka, the king of Taiwanese metal without a doubt; and Flin, a newer act who’s making emotional sounds with energetic voices.

And for the first time, we have a band from outside of Taiwan – Whispers from Thailand. I’ve known Gap of Holding On Records for many many years. This time we were finally able to make something. We all know that Whispers is now one of the shining stars in the worldwide hardcore scene. And Taiwan’s hardcore/punk scene is still in the early stage of development, so this would be a good way to help promote our scene. By them coming we’re excited to see what’s going to be happening next and we believe Taiwan is ready.

2.4 (SAT) DIRTI vol.7
VENUE: Legacy Chako
Taichung
w/ Whispers, Defeat The Giant, Hateful Rezpect, Toxic Bald, Lazyfinga

2.5 (SUN) DIRTI House Special
VENUE: PIPE Live Music
Taipei
w/ Whispers, Defeat The Giant, Bazooka, L-Schema, Flin