“The Adventures of Pie Boy” and the Road to a Taipei Collaboration
As soon as the toddler puts in the cassette tape on the first track from The Adventures of Pie Boy, you know you’re in for a journey of the senses. With a “wam, bam, thank you ma’am” vibe, the appropriately titled first track, “Stick it to ya” feels like the theme song to the talk show you’ve always wanted to host. The following piece explores the journey that led Terry Hsieh 謝燕輝 to record “The Adventures of Pie Boy,” as well as other curveball opportunities that come from being a COVID-19 musically talented refugee.
From Beijing to Taiwan
Native Hong Konger and multi-instumentalist, Terrence Hsieh, hasn’t let the shit-storm of 2020 that left him “stranded” in Taipei set him back. Ever the suave musician who never misses a beat, he has managed to balance his time between rehearsals and live gigs (including being the musical accompaniment for Taipei’s very own Formosa Improv Group FIG), all while accomplishing quite a bit of recording from his one room studio. In between the gigs and performances, Terry and “The Spice Band” have also managed to put together a wonderful collection of songs on their new album, “The Adventures of Pie Boy.” Below is a slice of Terry’s life in post COVID-19 Taipei, as well as a little bit of background story of how the new album came to be as revealed by Terry, all mixed in with an imagined narrative of Pie Boy’s life from infant to adulthood, as created by yours truly.
I first met Terry during the ten years I lived in Beijing. Between my time working at Greater China’s premiere experiential education and culture hub, The Hutong and performing as a core member of Beijing Improv our paths crossed multiple times. My deepest memories of Terry would always be of him creating smooth tunes on stage while performing at Beijing’s Modernista , a bar with excellent live music tucked away in the old hutongs amidst my former stomping grounds in the shadow of Beijing’s historical Drum and Bell Towers. After moving to Taipei in February of 2018, I wasn’t sure when I would get to see or hear Terry’s sweet, sweet tunes in a live setting again. I was pleasantly surprised when he attended one of the improv performances I participated in with Formosa Improv Group (FIG) 佛爾摩莎即興組合. As soon as I saw Terry after the show, I wasted no time in inviting him to be FIG’s musical guest performer for the group’s anniversary show.
“FIG has been really interesting because I’m not a professional piano player. I compose on the piano, but in terms of being confident enough of playing in a musical setting, it’s something I’m terrified about. By playing with FIG, there’s a low risk zone where I can focus on improvising. You have to think simply when playing with improvisers. There’s an element of guesswork before I play every single note. I have to see what the improvisers are doing with body posture, expression of face, what’s been coming before, and make a fast judgement call.” — Terry Hsieh
In addition to playing with FIG, I also dug my own personal claws into this juicy piece of musical talent by collaborating with him to write the theme song for the company where I work, Pershing Technology Systems Incorporated (PTSC). At first glance, it wouldn’t seem like an IT company would need a theme song, but since our company is undergoing re-branding where we try to emphasise the core values of passion, intelligence, and persistence, it seemed like the thing to do to give everyone in the organisation a kick in the pants.
“I’d have to say of those three, the one that sticks with me the most is persistence 堅持不懈。It’s all about discipline. A lot of people assume artists are very flakey, but in order to do it well there has to be consistency and persistence of relentless spirit.” — Terry Hsieh
COVID-19 Refugees lead to Creative Synergies
As much as I’d like to think that Terry came to Taipei in order for our destinies to match up and collaborate with FIG and IT-focused theme songs, I would actually be fooling myself. Way back towards the beginning of the year, he originally came to Taiwan to join the professional Taiwanese aboriginal performing artist, A-Lin as she played in the 小巨蛋 (National Arena) way back in February. Terry was the section leader of the horn section, and the stay was originally supposed to be for 3 nights. Then Beijing closed its borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 3 nights turned into 10 months and running.
Despite Terry being “stuck” in Taipei, this has not prevented him from performing live at venues, and it certainly hasn’t slowed down his artistic output. Besides recording “The Adventures of Pie Boy” Terry has been able to pick up live gigs in and around Taipei, playing more live jazz performances in the city than in the last two years combined. This fact says a lot both for the Taipei jazz scene, as well as for how well Taiwan has done at controlling the spread of the coronavirus.
The Album
“Make the album you’ve always wanted to make.”
These are the words that Terry’s friend and owner of the record label The Elevenz荒井十一 said to him when Terry first had the inkling to start recording “The Adventures of Pie Boy.” One thing to remember when listening to the album is that, besides the first song, none of the songs were recorded with all of the musicians being in the same place at the same time. This album is a very post COVID-19 product in that everything was recorded separately with locations of musicians including the locations of Taipei, New York, Beijing, Canada, LA, Toronto, North Carolina, Shanghai and Malaysia! It’s the 3rd album Terry has recorded and the 2nd one with Spice Cabinet.
“It wasn’t necessarily more frustrating to record the album under these circumstances, but I had to be more deliberate with the process and what I wanted from the other musicians. I had to let the musicians know which parts they had more freedom, and which parts needed to sound a certain way. Although the coronavirus didn’t produce “The Adventures of Pie Boy,” the album wouldn’t sound the way it does without the situation of the pandemic forcing us to work remotely. There are 9 people that make up Spice Cabinet, and this situation with the pandemic is a general statement about the state of music today where it’s an art form that usually needs people to be together in order for it to work right to create that musical dance face to face. With this album, and in this situation, we’re creating that musical dance, but we’re doing it while facing a wall.” — Terry Hsieh
Stick it to ya
As soon as the babbling toddler inserts the cassette tape into the player, you know that you’re in for a journey of the senses. Prior to the music and the toddler, you hear a foreshadowing for “cheese ramen soda” which is an Easter Egg drop for later on in the album (something you only realise after a second or third listen). I imagine this album as the narrative of Pie Boy, with said character as the protagonist. This piece is clearly the celebration of the birth of Pie Boy. The sky is the limit, the drum beats drop at the end, there’s a flourish of the horns, and BOOM!
Gotta Warm Up 一定要暖身
Appropriately titled, the listener can hear the band talking to each other in the background, perhaps getting ready for the a performance or the rest of the album, or maybe literally just a studio warm up. I envision Pie Boy, the baby, just learning how to crawl. He is wearing a white baby onesie, and he’s crawling around on the floor as he bumps into tables and furniture, the adults in the room continuing to chatter as he crawls towards and out the front door. It’s night, and Pie Boy hears a calling from the Moon. It’s this astral body that gives him energy.
Dali Girl — 大力人家
By this time, Pie Boy is a toddler, and even though he has yet to realise his special connection with the Moon, he knows he’s different from the other kids. At the beginning of this song, the listener can hear local dialect taken from a wet market in Dali 大理 when the trumpeter was walking around casually. With a soft spot for the guitar “wah” peddles at the beginning, this song reflects the joy of carefree youth that Pie Boy clearly lives out his early days in.
Lost in Space — 空中迷路
Pie Boy is thrust into a dream in his early adolescence. Puberty is just starting, and as his body goes through changes, so do his emotions, going up and down. This short number starts off with strings (the beginning of the dream) and soon the listener can hear nefarious laughter in the background.
“This song is a prelude to ‘Big Bots Battle Blue. Musically the whole album is inspired from stuff I listened to as a kid — Japanese anime, hip hop, jazz, video game. There’s a fight starting here between robot pilots and one of them wants to use a secret weapon which is later revealed.” — Terry Hsieh
Big Bots Battle in the Blue — 機器武士鏖戰蒼穹
To my 40 year old Caucasian ears the robotic scream at the beginning is very reminiscent to the Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt 2 (instrumental version). Clearly Pie Boy is discovering his strength here. For the first time in the album the Moon is full, and Pie Boy’s strength is at it’s peak as he tests his powers of flight for the first time. Listen for the supersonic sax solo at 1:40 in this song. Pie Boy breaks through the Earth’s stratosphere and heads towards the Moon only to find an invading robot force hovering in the outer reaches. Time to battle and protect his planet using his power of Moon Vision Stare (2:45) which cause onlookers to immediately freeze up. The listener can hear the struggle and battle that ensues in the empty space between Earth and Moon.
“This song has echoes of a show I used to watch when I was a kid, and you can hear Gundam Wing Mobile Suit. It’s a show where there’s a war that takes place between the Earth and people who went in search of the stars. It’s filled with lots of levels of astrological political intrigue.” — Terry Hsieh
Pie Boy Moon Bone — 派仔月亮骨
Pie Boy is more like Pie Young Man here in his early 20s. You can feel that he’s gotten a bit cockier with his powers and he’s used this to his advantage, scoring commercial gigs and performing shows which highlight his powers and Moon Vision Stare as the ultimate finale.
“This one’s an homage to Bruce Lee and Stephen Chow movies. There’s Cantonese at the end which is actually just someone reading the recipe to 排骨湯 (pork bone broth soup) which was originally meant as a placeholder, but I decided to keep it. The title here is the actual name of a dish that I ordered when I stayed at a hotel for 3 months in Changsha, Hunan. I liked the name of the dish. It wasn’t especially delicious, but very mysterious.” — Terry Hsieh
Bittersweet — 苦樂
Pie Boy is now in his early 30s here and experiencing heartbreak for the first time. The romance he had with Buncake Girl seemed so ephemeral, and yet it felt like it could last forever. He can’t get her out of his head, and yet she left him behind. Sentimental and introspective, ‘Bittersweet’ is a song for walking along a busy street in the Fall, Autumn leaves blowing at your feet as you window shop by stores that never seem to open and were always too expensive for you anyway.
Echoes of Shangri-La — 香格里拉的回聲
Recovered from his heartbreak, Pie Boy/Man now lives on the Moon, using it as his base where he can easily see invading robots entering from outer space. In this short piece Pie Boy/Man explores the dark side of the Moon where he can get true peace and solace from the rest of the universe. There’s a dream-like quality to the music as it fades out in the end and the listener is left floating in space.
Sugoi Smash — すごいスマシュ
This is when Pie Man comes back around to being comfortable with who he is and what his place is in the universe. He accepts that he is different from others, and although he may not have the love of Buncake Girl, he does have the respect and affection of the entire human race and a kind of personalised love from the Moon itself. In this song he has has returned to Earth and has reconnected with his estranged son whom he is preparing cheese ramen soda for.
“The song starts with music that is inspired by Super Smash Brothers. The Japanese voiceovers are made by a friend of mine who is a professional voice actor. I asked him to make a ridiculous fake Japanese commercial and he has this dialogue between a father and son about cheese ramen soda which is perfect.” — Terry Hsieh
Outro
Calm and collected, the outro is miles apart from the opening song and the warming up that follows. Almost sentimental in tone, the tunes fade out as Pie Boy looks back on his life to the retrospective chords of the piano. The monologue about rituals and meditation is overcome by the music, and the cassette player that the toddler turned on in the first track clicks off, bringing the album full circle.
The album itself is currently available on itunes and is best done when listened to multiple times as Terry has hidden surprises that the listener picks up only upon a 2nd or 3rd listen. For the untrained ear, it’s fun, energetic, nostalgic, and triumphant. There are mythical Japanese anime snacks that define a father/son relationship, snippets of marketplace banter from an ethnic minority in rural China, and the annihilation of robotic foes with sonic sax solos and “wah” guitar ray guns. Grooving and snazzy, power punching and smooth, “The Adventures of Pie Boy” is the escape we all need from 2020. Get on the rocket and make sure to pack your ramen.
