INTERVIEW: MELTING MARROW PRODUCTIONS Discuss DOLDREY, GIBRALTAR Taiwan Tour

INTERVIEW | Melting Marrow Productions
TAIWAN

“It’s always been my belief to fully dedicate myself to underground music and culture.”

A few weeks ago we saw a flyer for an amazing Taiwanese tour that featured dark hardcore/death punk bands from around Asia all on a joint tour. That shit blew our minds! It’s not easy for bands to hit the road so it’s rare to begin with, but to have THREE bands hit the road together? And none of those bands are from the US? Instead they’re from our own world? INCREDIBLE.

As something like this doesn’t often happen in Taiwan (regularly happens in SE Asia where traveling is far cheaper), we had to hit up the Taiwanese promoters, MELTING MARROW PRODUCTIONS, to find out more about how this all came together. “First of all, thank you for your interest in the tour! It started when Farhan, the drummer of Doldrey, messaged me on Instagram after seeing that powerviolence/hardcore band BODYRAG from Malaysia had toured Taiwan. That’s when we began discussing the idea of a Doldrey Taiwan tour in detail.

“Prior to this, I had already been following Doldrey for a long time. I saw them perform in Singapore last year when they hosted a show for the death/doom band Mortiferum, and I remember thinking, “Someday, I’ll definitely bring Doldrey to Taiwan.” I also reached out to Aidil, the vocalist, last April when I saw their Japan tour announcement. Unfortunately, they were too busy at that time.”

Much like ourselves at UNITE ASIA, it seems like you caught the bug for the magic that is the Southeast Asian hardcore scene.

“Yes—if there are good shows happening I sometimes travel just to attend them. When Converge announced their Southeast Asian tour, I decided to go to the Philippines to see them. Unfortunately, they postponed the tour due to Kurt’s foot injury. Still, the organizer—SLEEPY BOY COLLECTIVE—went ahead with the event. That’s where I saw GIBRALTAR, and they impressed me a lot.”

“I mentioned to Farhan that maybe we could also invite MASAKRE and Gibraltar to join the Taiwan tour. Masakre and Doldrey have played together many times already, and when Doldrey toured in the Philippines, they also shared the stage with Gibraltar. I knew there was a strong connection between them, so I felt the lineup would be truly epic. All the drummers from the three bands then joined a WhatsApp group to discuss the tour logistics.”

As mentioned above, not a lot of bands head out to places like Taiwan to tour. Taiwan certainly has a strong metal scene as witnessed by the highly influential CHTHONIC and most recently DHARMA, but still isn’t known as a hotbed for hardcore and even lesser known for its death punk/grindcore/powerviolence chaotic hardcore scenes. So it certainly begged the question as to what was the inspiration to make this happen in the first place.

“The main reason is that we don’t have many underground gigs in Taiwan—especially not in genres like hardcore, grindcore, crust, or other forms of extreme music. The Taiwanese scene is more focused on indie music, and that’s exactly why I started Melting Marrow Productions. It’s always been my belief to fully dedicate myself to underground music and culture. I hope that through this tour, Taiwanese audiences can really feel the energy of underground music—and that it will help strengthen the underground community across Asia.

As a Taiwanese person, I often feel that we’re a bit isolated. People here are usually focused on their own individual paths, and there’s a lack of deeper connection with others. But from my travels, I’ve seen how tightly bonded the underground scenes are in Southeast Asia—whether it’s in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, or the Philippines. That’s the kind of energy and connection I want to bring into the Taiwanese scene.”

“The upcoming tour is named “Pact of Calamity”—it sounds dark and cult, which fits the spirit we all love. I believe Doldrey, Masakre, and Gibraltar feel the same. But of course, the name doesn’t mean we’re promoting warfare or actual catastrophe. The world already has more than enough of that. As Saifu, Masakre’s drummer, said in his Instagram bio: “Worship and long live nothing”. There’s a linguistic theory about the Austronesian language family, but to be honest, I think many Taiwanese people know very little about our neighbors—countries like Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. If we’re part of the same family, why shouldn’t we try to learn more about each other?”

“This tour is a great opportunity to build connections with our regional neighbors. I also want to show the Taiwanese audience that Southeast Asia has so many great underground bands. All the bands are stoked for the upcoming tour and have deep respect for one another.”

And when we finally asked for a quote from the bands, they collectively responded:

“We’re looking forward to making new connections and having a real cultural experience in Taiwan—especially enjoying the local cuisine, lol.”

Hit up MELTING MARROW PRODUCTIONS for all tour/ticketing info: https://www.instagram.com/meltingmarrowproductions/