What a sad Christmas 2016 was and I didn't even realise it. I was super busy during December. So busy that I was barely on social media, let alone following celebrity news. But it seems that on Christmas Day, the last Morning Call performance for their '6 years 3 nights' Tour, the groups' synth player, Xiao Ying announced publicly that he was leaving the group.
This shocked fans, as nothing had been announced prior to the performance and there had been no real trouble between band members. The only difficulties that people knew about were Jasper's struggles of balancing his duties as an indie band guitarist and mainstream actor and model.
Following Xiao Ying's resignation, there were fears that Morning Call would break up with 1 member missing and another tied up in his busy schedule. However, it has now been announced that Morning Call will be on an indefinite hiatus. The members will take a rest and focus on their other pursuits while they figure out their next move and hopefully return (soon) as a 4 person band.
An official statement was released on the band's Facebook page by Morning Call's manager Mimi on the 30th of December:
習慣在這個時間發文 決定還是得說點什麼
其實 輕晨電如果加上尋找團員或躲在練團室練團的那些時光 早已不只六年
它們匯總了開心幸福新鮮玩樂以及抱怨質疑不滿和暴走 就跟每一個樂團一樣 。
我們從來沒有故意想要裝成什麼樣子 你們看到的就是真實的我們。
其實 在巡迴過後會休團一段時間 是團員們心裡的默契 當時我也在給livehouse的購票文案裡暗示性的寫著：“請陪我們完成這三夜 因為明天 明天誰也不知道”
對呀 誰也不知道小英在台上會說了那番話 迫使我們提早面對。
這幾天分別與團員聊了很多 包括小英 中間過程的許多起承轉合就容許我們自己消化分解然後深埋心中了 能跟大家說的 是團員們仍然非常在乎彼此 對一起走過的時光充滿不捨 也保留了一點空間給未來
小英退團了 我決定暫將他獨立完成的孤獨三部曲及非甜蜜的歌 雨都 這五首歌下架 那是他的心血 他該保有它們！對喜歡這些歌的人 包括我自己 也覺得不捨 期待有一天 我們將一切思緒釐清歸零的時候 它們的發表將更有意義。
讓輕晨電先沈睡一下吧 謝謝來訪過的或從未離開過的人 如果輕晨電曾經在哪一段時間陪伴過你 那將會是我們醒過來的力量 。
MiMi
樂團經紀人
I'm a little rusty on my Chinese since it's been awhile since my last official translation and I'm not entirely sure that I got the later, more metaphoric part of this translation entirely correct... But this is what Mimi has to say:
From habit or custom at this time, should I send out a statement or say something?
Actually, Morning Call, if you add the time it took to look for members or the era that they spent hiding out in rehearsal rooms rehearsing their music, have been around for a long time; not just 6 years. In summary, they have felt truly happy and blessed, been fresh and playful, but have also felt dissatisfied, questioned their path and have been frustrated - just like every other band or group.
We have never deliberately tried to pretend to be anything else, what you guys see is the real us.
So, the period of rest taken after the tour is one that has been mutually agreed upon by all members of the group at the time. The wording to be written on the tickets that I had given to Livehouse (the venue) also hinted at this nature: "Please accompany us, play with us, for these 3 nights because tomorrow, tomorrow, no one knows what it'll be like..."
But yes, no one knew that Xiao Ying would say that type of thing on stage, forcing us to face this situation earlier.
These few days, band members have individually discussed a lot of things involving Xiao Ying and the process in between to allow ourselves to digest and resolve things, and then to deeply bury it in our hearts. All we can tell everyone is that the band members still extremely care about each other and the period of time they spend together - they are brimming with reluctance to let go and will reserve some of this space for the future.
Xiao Ying has left the band. I have decided to temporarily give him his independence to accomplish his lonely/solitary Trilogy, without sweet song, and to take all 5 songs off the shelf. Naturally, those are his life blood and he should protect them. To those who like these songs, including myself, we also feel a great reluctance to let go and are anticipating a day when all feelings will be clarified and they will return to how they were, that would be even more meaningful.
Allow Mr. Morning Call to sleep awhile then! Thank you to all those people who have supported us, and perhaps have never left us before. If Morning Call has accompanied you at any period of time once before, then that will have been the force that wakes us up.
Mimi,
Band Manager of Morning Call
There has been a lot of speculation as to why Xiao Ying has left with various reports referring to him generally feeling like fans were turning up for Jasper rather than Morning Call's music. There are also reports that he mentioned feeling anxious about Morning Call's music not being good enough and hearing criticism about the band's music being gloomy. There have been reports of tensions between him and Jasper. There's a lot of talk that I don't particularly think is true.
If I had to speculate, I would say that Xiao Ying is dedicated to his music and was worried about selling out, which is a huge change that many indie bands have to face when they gain fame and start make decisions regarding their image/music and profitable activity. It probably didn't help that there were a number of fans who only came for Jasper rather than the music....But I wish that he (and the band) knew that a lot of fans love Morning Call for Morning Call, even if they are huge Jasper fans. I definitely love Asian indie music and I'm sure that I would still have loved Morning Call even if Jasper hadn't been in the band (Having Jasper in the band is just the golden cherry on top...) But that's just my two cents, not fact. I'm just voicing what I think happened - not what I know.
Anyway, best of luck to Xiao Ying and to the individual Morning Call members as they embark on new journeys in music, modelling and acting. I hope they continue to be successful and decide to reunite soon to bring us new music and performances. We'll miss you, Morning Call!
From a very very sad fan.
Umm.. not sure where you saw the news about tension between him and Jasper (at least I never see it before), because there was news about Xiao Ying publicly thanking Jasper for being the "glue" that kept the band together during conflicts. He praised Jasper's personality several times, the only member who didn't get into conflict and is always resolving conflict is actually Jasper (if you read their photobook, it's mentioned inside), plus ettoday news mentioned about that too.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it's true that he also felt many fans went for Jasper only (I was in their Kaohsiung concert and I felt even though it's true to a certain degree, the fans came to love all equally as a band) BUT he also understood that their music is the one that is lacking so they failed to capture everyone's attention and he accepts it well, Sui Ling always said in radio interviews that they just have to work harder to catch everyone's attention, and not only because of Jasper (as Jasper's popularity is his own charm/實力/skills so they never blame him for that. Their mindset is very positive. So that's definitely not the reason Xiao Ying quit the band.
My friend went to Taipei's live tour and she heard Xiao Ying making his departure speech. The reason why Xiao Ying left Morning Call is because he had another band with his friends that was formed several years ago (I can't remember the exact band name, I think it was 昏鴿 or something along those line, I saw Xiao Ying's facebook page liking that page (his FB page is now deleted though...)) but could not perform publicly as he was tied with Eelin's contract and he could only perform behind the curtains during performance with that band.
He mentioned he love the feeling of live band performance (and to a certain degree I speculate it's partly because of Morning Call's positioning with Eelin, they tried to make it "commercial" through "variety show promotions and tons of magazine photoshoots" but the songs are actually indie, which puts them at an awkward positioning) because Xiao Ying prefer to do live tours frequently but being in Morning Call, he can only do that in year end (once Jasper's schedule is cleared).
He really want to perform together with his friends so he cried during the announcement in Taipei tour because he also have deep feelings towards Morning Call but feel like he had to make a decision as he have been contemplating on this for a year +.
He said that most of the music Morning Call released are his composition and he felt that the members relied on him too much, he don't mind because he's willing to do that but at the same time, it's actually preventing the members from pushing their potentials further (because they know they will always have Xiao Ying to rely on).
Why hiatus is because Da Kai has to do his army duty next year, Sui Ling will start to go on drama/movie casting (she's an acting graduate actually) to push herself further, while Meng Shu will start to compose more songs (Xiao Ying mentioned that Da Kai, Meng Shu have the potential to be composers but they lack practice so need a bit more). As Sui Ling, she have always been good in writing lyrics so the indefinite hiatus is actually not bye-bye, they're trying to push themselves further and do their own things.