When was Mayday formed?

Mayday (English: MAYDAY) is a Taiwanese rock band with five members. Formerly known as So Band, the band was renamed Mayday on March 29, 1997 . The band consists of Shin (vocals), Monster (guitar), Masha (bass), Stone (guitar), and Kuan-You (drums), with the exception of Kuan-You, who graduated from Normal University High School in Taipei, Taiwan. The band's name comes from bassist Masha's moniker on an Internet forum.

Band experience

So Band (1995-1997)

Mayday's predecessor was the band "So Band", which consisted of guitarist Monster (Wen Shangyi), who was a student at Normal University High School at the time, vocalist Shin (Chen Hsinhong), and the first drummer Chien Yau-hung. The band was formed in 1995 by guitarist Monster (Wen Shangyi), vocalist Xin (Chen Xinhong), and first drummer Qian Youda. They were joined by bassist Masha (Cai Shenyan). After graduating from high school, the four of them went to different universities, but the band did not stop their activities and continued to perform in many bars and restaurants. In 1997, before the Nodai concert, the band added guitarist Shi Jinhang. In order to sign up for the Nodai concert, they used Martha's Internet BBS code name "MAYDAY" as their group name, and officially changed their name to "Mayday" on March 29, 1997, the day of the Nodai concert, and set that date as the band's Mayday" was officially renamed "Mayday" on March 29, 1997, the day of the Nodai concert. Mayday is y influenced by the influence of the Beatniks and believes that rock music has the power to change the world, and conveys the belief of love and peace in its songs, which is very much loved by all the members of the group.

Underground to mainstream (1997-1998)

The cover of Mayday's first album, their first studio album, was shot in front of a locker at the swimming pool of the Normal University High School. After attending the opening of Wild Stage, the band began to send demos to major labels in hopes of securing a release. In June 1997, after listening to the demo, Rolling Stone's producer Jia Minjiu contacted lead singer Shin, and Mayday signed with Rolling Stone two months later. In January 1998, the band was featured on the Brotherwood Underground compilation album, which included their first studio track, "Rolling Cars", released by Cornerstone Music. The band's first studio album, "Rolling Car", was released in June of the same year, and was produced and recorded by Mayday. The album received excellent reviews from music critics and general audiences, sold over 300,000 copies, and was shortlisted for the "Best Vocal Group" award at the 11th Golden Melody Awards. The songs "Chi-Ming and Chun-Jiao" and "Embrace" quickly became popular among young listeners, and became annual No.1 hits on the KTV VOD charts. "Ming & Jiao" was also one of the top ten singles of the year by the Chinese Musicians Exchange Association (CMEA). Shortly after the release of their debut album, the band held their first large-scale concert, "The 168th Concert", at the Taipei City Stadium on August 28, 1999, which attracted many supporters and made them a famous rock band in Taiwan.

Long Live Love and Long Live Life (1998-2001)

Cover of second studio album Long Live Love, released in 2000 On July 7, 2000, the band released its second album Long Live Love, which surpassed its predecessor in sales, reaching 350,000 copies. Mayday also won the "Best Orchestra Award" at the 12th Golden Melody Awards for this album. from August 12 to 26, 2000, the band held the "100,000 Youths Stand Out" tour in Taipei, Changhua and Kaohsiung.

Mayday's third album, "Life is Hai Hai", was released in the spring of 2001, Mayday's first involvement in movie soundtrack production, producing the soundtrack for the movie "Migratory Bird", starring Liu Ruoying and Huang Pin Yuan, and releasing the album. Mayday composed most of the songs on the album and sang on three of them. Two months later (July 6, 2001), Mayday released their third album "Life is Hai Hai", which sold 350,000 copies in just over a month, and Mayday held their first ticketed concert tour, "Where Are You Going", from August 18 to September 1, 2001. Due to member Martha's military service in a few months, the band will temporarily suspend its activities during this period, and this tour will be the band's farewell concert. In the Kaohsiung concert, guitarist Stone proposed to his girlfriend on stage, impressing many fans, and the song "Thinking of You Everyday" was also included in the live album of the concert. In November 2001, Martha officially entered the service of the band, Stone went to England to study recording engineering and record production, Shin and Monster stayed at Rolling Stone Records to continue their music production work, and drummer Guanyou (then known as Proverbs) went to Los Angeles to study rhythm and percussion, and the band took a break.

Recent and Future Plans (2001-present)

During the band's hiatus, in 2002 they released the first autobiographical documentary film in the history of Chinese music, "Rock This", and a soundtrack album of the same name. The movie was released in Taiwan's major theaters and grossed over NT$1.2 million in three days.

The cover of the fourth studio album "Time Machine" is also Mayday's comeback album after a two-year break. After a two-year break, Martha was discharged from the army in July 2003, and Mayday held a large-scale comeback concert "City in the Sky" at the Taipei City Stadium on August 16th, attracting about 40,000 fans, which was the highest number of fans in the history of Taiwan's concerts. On November 11, 2003, the band released their fourth album and first post-reunion work, Time Machine, which sold more than 150,000 copies within two days of its release[12]. Mayday also won the Golden Melody Award for Best Band for the second time with this album.

In the summer of 2004, Mayday was involved in film soundtrack production for the third time, producing music for the film Love in May, and unlike before, this time the band's guitarist, Stone, was also involved in the performance.On November 5, 2004, the band released their fifth studio album, All God's Children Are Dancing.

Mayday then held a six-month, first-of-its-kind world concert tour, "Final Home", from December 25, 2004 to May 1, 2006, with shows in Taiwan, the United States, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Hong Kong. After the concerts, the live record album "Final Home" was released.

After releasing five albums, Mayday released the anthology album "Contentment" in August 2005, which was divided into two CDs of Taiwanese and Mandarin songs.

On November 11, 2005, Mayday held the "Closest to the Sky Concert Ever" (or the " The concert was held at an altitude of 390.6 meters above sea level, and the label hoped to apply for the Guinness Book of World Records for "World's Tallest Concert".

In 2006, Mayday teamed up with Rolling Stone strategist Chen Yongzhi to set up Believe in Music as a shareholder, which owns the agency contracts of five groups of artists (including Mayday, Pinguin, Stronger, Dingdang and Jennifer Leung), as well as the rights to all of their music, with only the distribution of the albums being handed over to Rolling Stone.

Mayday's Sixth Album "Born for Love "Mayday's sixth studio album "Born for Love" was released on December 29, 2006. in the early morning hours of January 1, 2007, Mayday held the "Most Spellbinding New Year's Autograph Session in History" at Hsinyi Sunbeam Mitsukoshi Shanti Boulevard in Taipei, where autographs were signed for nearly ten hours. On January 6, 2007 in Taipei County Banqiao, January 13 in Kaohsiung Fengshan held "Mayday le power angel, for love and new songs concert", because it is to hold a number plate redemption card admission caused many fans to miss the night queue. And in January 28th Hsinchu, February 3rd and 4th Feng Chia University in Taichung, February 10th and 11th Tainan, February 24th CKSU in Chiayi, February 25th Chung Yuan University in Taoyuan, as well as February 28th in Changhua County Gymnasium, Mayday will be holding other new songs concerts.

Members

Mayday was first formed by Shin, Monster, and then-drummer Qian Yoda at Normal University High School (then known as the "So Band"), and was later joined by Masha and Stone. Mayday changed drummers three times before the release of their first album, except for one of the founding members, Qian Youda, followed by Chen Yongchang, Ren Bozhang (Robert, now drummer of Turbid Water Creek Commune), and the current Guanyou.

Shin (Chen Xinhong, vocals)

Born on December 6, 1975 in Beitou, Taipei City, he graduated from Normal University High School, where he served as president of the guitar club, and graduated from the Department of Interior Design of National Cheng Kung University (currently changed to the Department of Architectural Design). He is one of the earliest founding members of Mayday. In addition to the band's activities, he often helps other singers to write songs and acts as a music producer.

Monster (guitarist and leader Wen Shangyi)

Born on November 28, 1976 in Hsinchu, he graduated from the Department of Sociology of National Taiwan University. He has served as the vice president of the guitar club of Normal University High School and is also the leader of Mayday.

Martha (蔡升晏, bassist)

除了贝斯(低音吉他)之外，玛莎擅长的乐器也包括吉他、钢琴和口琴。born on April 25, 1977 in Kaohsiung City. She graduated from Fu Jen Catholic University with a degree in Sociology and is the youngest member of Mayday.

Shi (石航玮, guitarist)

Born on December 11, 1975 in Taipei City, he proposed to his girlfriend at the "Where Are You Going" concert, and they are now married. He also graduated from Normal University High School and later attended Tamkang University. He was formerly known as Shi Jinhang.

Kuan-You (Liu Guan-You, drummer)

Kuan-You is the fourth drummer of Mayday, joining the band in 1999. His earliest real name was Liu Hao Ming, but he later changed his name to Liu Proverbs after joining Mayday. After that, he changed his name to Liu Guanyou. Graduated from Kuo-Kuang Art School, specializing in drums and keyboards. Born on July 28, 1973 in Miaoli City. He is the oldest member of Mayday and the latest to join the band.