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Ladybug. Prepare to fall in love

02/17/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Four charming and talented young women from Taiwan are here to bowl you over with a glorious sound. Vocals that range from soft murmurs to cussing rants, all backed by incredibly fuzzed and melodic guitars.The four highly individualistic women of Ladybug - Mei Mei, Wan-Ting (Hope), Xiao-Bao and Ah-lli (Ellie) - have created a sound that is simply WONDERFUL. All the girls were individually involved in other bands (one charmingly named Puker), when one day they looked at each other and in essence said, "Let's join up." Ladybug's first show was aboard a moving truck as part of a political rally. The audience had to walk (and often run) behind the truck to keep up with the performance. "When the traffic light turn red," they recall, "some of them go dancing on the zebra-stripe crossing." Ah, the English languange. The girls actually speak it quite well, far better than most of us speak Chinese. Their affinity for swear words is right up there with your local sailor's. But sometimes others don't see it that way. They remember with fondness the time after a show at home when a foreigner approached them and told them they'd be great if they'd only sing in English (they do).The band continued to play the ever changing Taiwanese alternative scene at venues such as Scum. Last year,they were asked to participate in a large Youthfest. All this punctuated by being booked, unheard, by some venue in the country that had heard of the "vocal group's" popularity but hadn't heard the music. After fifteen minutes, the surprised and horrified pub manager pulled the plug. The Osmonds they are not.The band has been the focus of much attention in their home country. MTV Asia included them in a "Women In Rock" piece, and they were the subject of an hour long documentary on Taiwanese television. But the girl's favorite story involves a male fan, apparently overcome with joy at tehir performance at the Screamfest festival, who jumped on stage, removed all of his clothes, and began to dance. And dance. Through several songs. (One of the girl's boyfriends at that point decided to step in.)The songs speak to all the emotions and experiences of youth worldwide. "Fuck Off, Creep" is about an overzealous gentleman at a dance club who could not take "no" for an answer. "Classroom 501" is about the experience of smoking too much and not bathing for several days and then having none of your classmates wanting to sit near you. "Motorcycle" and "Cigarettes" is about the love of those classic symbols of rebellion."