Wet wet wet and rain is all around. One can easily get depressed with the weather in Taipei. So, let's look at the bright side of life to keep our spirits up.

The Simple Life festival is massive and muddy (as Floaty covered to great effect here). I am thankful that Taiwan finds a way to sustain its musical talents. The longer musicians can keep at making music, the better the chance of something special and magical.

I also want to applaud the ingenious Hard Life festival organisers who staged a DIY festival right next to Huashan under the bridge. Using pots and pails as drums and a diesel-powered generator, it was a true DIY affair. The Taiwanese indie spirit and creativity were on show here. It is not an easy path to be a musician in Taiwan (or anywhere else in the world). This kind of passion and creativity keep the motivation of the scene going.

On the same note, I also want to give a shout out to the numerous livehouses in Taiwan for continuing to support local bands. The more a band gigs together, the better they get. The better they get, the more likely something special might emerge. For example, I saw Acidy Peeping Tom perform last Friday at Revolver. They played a punchy energetic set - Good stage presence. Good rapport with audience. I first saw them months ago at Underworld and they have improved A LOT since. The difference? In the intervening months Acidy Peeping Tom gigged a lot and learnt from experience. The moral? If you are in a band, perform as often as possible. Play like it is the last time you can have an audience. Offer to perform at your local high school - free practice venue, become better performers and influence a new generation of rockers at the same time! If you are a music lover, get out to the livehouses and check out the bands. Or better yet, rent a space and start a livehouse. Go do it! Now!

So what is ahead of us to feed our spirits? We have Spiritualized visiting us to give us our mediciation on 9 Dec. Take two aspirins, turn the volume to 11 and float in space. I have been a fan since I was a young one. I even had the first edition of the "glow-in-the-dark" Pure Phase CD (a feat in pre-eBay days).

Not addicted to painkillers? Then head over to Manic Sheep's CD release at The Wall on the same day (9 Dec). La la la your way to Cocteau Twins inspired bliss. I had the La la la song on repeat for days. Yes, just that one song over and over again for all my waking hours. I am addicted to my La's. Manic Sheep have quite a number of gigs lined up. Use the search function on gigguide.tw to find their gigs. LMSFY*

Acidy Peeping Tom and a bunch of their labelmates (The Looking Glass, The Eternal Flatliner, etc - such interesting band names) are heading south on their DEMO tour 2012. Don't miss a chance to catch them, our Southern brethren. They perform in Kaohsiung on 8 Dec and Taichung on 9 Dec.

Speaking of the South, Don Quan (the Man behind Mercury/film-maker/renaissance man) has been pulling together great gigs at his bar in Kaohsiung. Forests and The Okay Cars rocked there last month. December's lineup looks good too, especially 15 Dec when Slack Tide and the Flamencos take the stage. Things might get loud. Very loud.

Remember bands become the next big thing because YOU make them the next big thing.

* Let Me Search For You