普通高中英语阅读理解文章材料(2)

　　普通高中英语阅读理解文章(三)

　　Advice for bands

　　TAIWAN rock and roll band Mayday is in their heyday (全盛期) right now, but they have had to overcome difficult times that are hard to forget.

　　"One time, we had more band members than fans when we held autographing sessions (签售会)," recalled A-shin, the lead singer of the band, "Another time, we gave performances (表演) for a restaurant, and the boss didn’t give us any pay."

　　As the leading pop band in the Mandarin music scene, Mayday is in search of their successor (后继者) through the upcoming Pepsi Voice of Next Generation Contest (盖世群音乐队大赛). The contest prize for the top winner includes the chance to record an album with Hollywood producers in the US and have a national concert tour. Over 10,000 bands around the country are expected to enter the contest.

　　The Mayday band, which celebrates a positive life attitude in their songs, has some advice for young bands to beat their competitors.

　　"The most important thing for a band is not their performance, but the spirit behind their music," said Stone, a lead guitarist, "So the band must have a soul or theme, which means they must have a message that they want to convey (传递) to listeners. Music without meaning sounds dreary (沉闷的) and pale."

　　While many bands have split (分开) to become solo (单独的) acts, Mayday has stayed together for ten years. Its members are still at the peak (顶峰) of their careers. They said that learning to adjust to (适应) others was important to keeping the team united otherwise the band will break up easily.

　　"A band is made up of different individuals (个人), so they need to spend plenty of time together and work out a way to cooperate (合作) with one another," said Guan You, the drummer, "So taking part in this competition is a good chance to test things out."

　　He also jokingly pointed out the advantages of being in a band: "It would be lonely if I recorded or did interviews all by myself. And of course, as a group we also have more wisdom to deal with problems. "