Sunset Rollercoaster


Sunset Rollercoaster is a six-piece jazz-influenced synth-pop band from Taipei, Taiwan consisting of Kuo-Hung Tseng, Hung-Li Chen, Shao-Hsuan Wang, Tsun-Lung Lo, Shih-Wei Huang, and Hao-Ting Huang. The name originated from a Photo Booth picture the group had taken for their MySpace profile in the 2009, which had a rollercoaster in front of a sunset as the background. The band mostly sings in English, despite being based in a Mandarin-speaking country, which, according to lead singer Kuo Kuo, is to allow them to speak indirectly and allow audiences to discern their own meaning.

History

The idea for the band was inspired by Velvet Underground videos that lead singer Kuo found on the internet. The band formed in 2009, released their debut album Bossa Nova in 2011, but then disbanded shortly afterward. Singer Kuo Kuo and drummer Lo Tsun formed another band, Forests, which had a different, much darker sound. Sunset Rollercoaster re-formed in 2015 and released their second album Cassa Nova in 2018. In 2019, the band released the EP Vanilla Villa, which revolves around the story of an alien who loves a human who it wants to take to a villa.
The band played at the Summer Sonic music festival in Japan in 2011. After their hiatus, they performed at SummerStage in Central Park, New York City, as part of the Taiwanese Waves music festival in 2017. They recorded a live studio session at Audiotree in 2018, the first Taiwanese band to do so. The band toured North America as part of the "Business Trip Tour" in 2018.

Discography

YearAwardCategoryRecipientsResultRef.
20189th Golden Indie Music AwardsBest AlbumCassa Nova
20189th Golden Indie Music AwardsBest BandSunset Rollercoaster
20189th Golden Indie Music AwardsBest MusicianTseng Kuo-Hung
201930th Golden Melody AwardsBest Music VideoNamso, Youkim
201930th Golden Melody AwardsBest BandSunset Rollercoaster