& Others--Live (#s-A)
Though I did see music shows previous to November ‘96, I didn’t begin documenting them until that time. My reviews of the non-Japanese bands have been edited out here, unless they include some direct comment on the Japanese band. The bands are listed in alphabetical order, and, if more than one show by a band is reviewed, in chronological order.
2Up
Pissed Jeans/Aids Wolf/2Up--Knitting Factory--4/11/08
2UP are two guys on guitar/vocals,
and drums. Their songs were short and frenetic, and though they seemed at
first like sporadic improvisations, it soon became clear that the songs were
structured pieces, and they were the only band tonight that seemed to know
exactly where the endings were. The duo both stopped at once, paused, and
perhaps said a few words respectfully to the audience. The steadily growing
audience answered each song with polite, but generous, applause. Then 2UP
would start into their next song. The songs occasionally moved through slower
passages, but generally returned fairly quickly to the frenetic pace that
was their norm. The drummer concentrated on his playing, usually looking down
with his long hair hanging in his face. The guitarist generally played a rhythm
structure, but would now and then throw in simple repetitive lead lines, sometimes
separately, sometimes along with the rhythm lines. Slides often dramatically
accented the tunes. It was a short set. They stopped, respectfully showed
their appreciation to the crowd, and left the stage.
The 5,6,7,8’s
5,6,7,8’s/The Prissteens/Speedball Baby--Coney Island
High--10/10/97
I actually expected THE 5,6,7,8’S
to be better than they were, but not by much. Ronnie’s guitar playing
was looser than I remember from when I saw her with RONNIE & THE PUSSYCATS
(Ronnie w/ SIT ‘N’ SPIN), but she made up for it, as before, with
great stage presence. This time though, she was all over the stage. Maybe
it was because she had more room with only two other band members. They weren’t
moving, so she was obviously the star. She moved quite a bit and very impressively,
besides just shaking her ass. She rocked and they opened up the set with ‘I
Walk Like Jane Mansfield’. Unfortunately, they only played about half
an hour.
Chip and Murph, who came for
THE 5,6,7,8’S (and liked ‘em, of course), left about halfway through
THE PRISSTEENS’ set. Unfortunately, it was about twice as long as THE
5,6,7,8’S.
The Pretty Things/The 5,6,7,8’s/Optic Nerve--Cavestomp
‘98 at Coney Island High--11/22/98
Dan and I got there early.
We thought THE 5,6,7,8’S were coming up, which is what we had planned,
but OPTIC NERVE took the stage. I moved to the back in the middle of the first
song and left after the third one.
I made it back in time for
THE 5,6,7,8’S. They were dolled up quite a bit more than I remember,
resulting in a much more stylish show. The bassist and drummer also got to
sing more and took a larger role in the performance this time. Unfortunately,
it all seemed to result in what seemed to me to be a more amateurish sound.
Ronnie even seemed to be trying to come off as cutesy some of the time, but
she usually quickly reverted to her rocking, scream-queen role. Her leads
were a bit less together too, and the band occasionally fumbled the tempo,
but still, it was a very enjoyable performance. I was happy to see them again.
The Standells/The Monks/The 5,6,7,8’s--Cavestomp ‘99
at Westbeth Theatre--11/7/99
Wow! What a night! The
first band had already played and THE 5,6,7,8’S were setting up when
I arrived. I was able to get a good spot in the crowd, and shortly witnessed
the best performance I’ve seen THE 5,6,7,8’S give. They were tight,
sounded good, and played well. They were obviously happy to be playing on
the final night of Cavestomp ‘99, and easily translated that joy into
the music. They looked great, too! Ronnie (guitar) and Yoshiko (bass) were
wearing black leather jumpsuits reminding me of both Emma Peel and Catwoman.
The set went too quickly, but I enjoyed every minute of it. My only disappointment
was that they had dropped ‘I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield’ from their
set. Afterwards, I happily chatted a bit with Masayo and Akiko (of THE PLUNGERS,
a fave New York band) who were minding THE 5,6,7,8’S booth. Later, I
spotted Ronnie and Sachiko (drums) spiritedly enjoying THE STANDELLS wonderful
performance.
The 5.6.7.8’s/Sato & Jonny/Sit ‘N’ Spin--Southpaw--6/23/04
At one point SIT ‘N’
SPIN’s front-woman mentioned that they had toured with THE 5.6.7.8’S
for six weeks once, and that she had written a song about Ronnie called ‘Tokyo
Teen Queen’, which she said, “It’s very strange, because usually
I only write about myself.” The sold out audience, who were there to
see THE 5,6,7,8’S, obviously appreciated the opening band’s open
admiration for the headlining act, and seemed to enjoy both of the opening
bands.
When the curtain pulled back to
reveal SATO & JONNY, one of the first things Masayo, the singer and second
guitarist, commented on was what a good band THE 5,6,7,8’S are, “But
you know that already, don’t you?”
The music went off, and I thought
they were going to pull back the curtain, but instead ‘The Girl Can’t
Help It’ came over the sound system, which was fitting enough. Then the
curtain pulled back and there were THE 5,6,7,8’S in silver dresses that
made them look like flappers from the roaring twenties. They launched into
‘Woo Hoo’, one of the songs from their appearance in Kill Bill,
Vol. 1, and Ronnie did her only real strutting out front for the audience.
It was a fine opening, and the trio kept the songs coming. Largely, they stuck
to oldies, but there were a good number I don’t remember hearing them
play before, including ‘Green Onions’ and ‘Hanky Panky’
from their Teenage Mojo Workout CD. Surprisingly, Sachiko actually
did more chatting with the audience than Ronnie did. Before the encore, which
was demanded by people stomping on the floor--the raised area in the back
amplifies stomping really well, Sachiko came out and asked the audience’s
permission to take photos. She took three, so that she could be sure and get
everyone in the pictures. Sachiko and the new bass player both had their hair
up in elaborate hairstyles, typical for THE 5,6,7,8’S, but tonight Ronnie
was looking good in a more modern ‘do. The entire band did a fine job,
and Ronnie handled her leads in good, rough-and-ready style, often taking
special care to make sure she was getting the right sound out of her amp.
For their encore Ronnie announced a special song for New York, and they played
a roaring version of ‘Chatterbox’, which they had contributed to
a Johnny Thunders tribute, and then closed the set with their own ‘Bomb
The Twist’. It’s been a long wait, but it was a triumphant return.
The audience was well-satisfied, and I’m guessing I’ll be seeing
a good number of them when THE 5,6,7,8’S return to the U.S. in September/October.
The 5,6,7,8’s/The Fevers/The Jet Boys/Sato & Jonny--MercuryLounge--10/3/04
By the time THE 5,6,7,8’S
made their appearance, after a good dose of Chuck Berry selections, the room
was packed pretty well, though not actually sold out, and I overheard someone
say that it had been even more crowded the previous night. (I later heard
that Saturday night had been officially sold out.) They had sold out Maxwell’s
on Friday night, too. That’s a pretty big change for our third trio of
the evening, and everyone, including them, is well aware of how it happened.
Thank you, Quentin Tarantino! The band seems a little uneasy with their newfound
fame, and yet, they were obviously enjoying performing to an appreciative
audience. ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ announced that they were
about to begin, and they pleased me immediately, by opening up the set with
‘I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield’. It was wonderful to hear them playing
it again, and after that, for me, it didn’t matter what else they did.
Yoshiko ‘Ronnie’ Fujiyama, guitar/lead vocals, seemed to be trying
extra hard to connect with the audience, and was introducing songs by what
artists they were inspired by. One she introduced as being like Chuck Berry.
One was inspired by THE RAMONES, and she threw in a few “Gabba, Gabba,
Hey!”s. Another time she suggested that a somber ballad about love in
the subway was like THE SHANGRIL-LAS. All of THE 5,6,7,8’S had their
hair up in big ‘dos tonight, and after one of the more enthusiastic rockers,
Sachiko Fujii, the drummer, took a break to put her hair back in order, claiming
it was beginning to look like a volcano exploding. Later in the set, Ronnie
dedicated a song to Masayo Sato, of Sato & Jonny, and mentioned fondly hanging
out with her and playing in the East Village ten years ago. The trio played
through a good number of their most well-known songs, and their contribution
to the recent Johnny Thunders tribute, which was THE NEW YORK DOLLS’
‘Chatterbox’. Only a couple of the songs were delivered with full
confidence. It almost seemed as if the band didn’t quite trust the new
fans to appreciate them for who they really were, but their class and charm
put across every song that needed a little extra help. The audience responded
enthusiastically throughout the show, and when THE 5,6,7,8’S left the
stage, the audience’s whoops and hollers left no doubt that they’d
be back for an encore. Sure, THE 5,6,7,8’S are now playing to a large
number of people who had never heard of them pre-Kill Bill, but Tarantino
presented them as they are, so their new fans are liking them for the right
reasons, and the added exposure all goes in the plus column.
10 Yen Ana Kinoko
Japan-Smacksdown-NYC: Do Thank Anal/10 Yen Ana Kinoko/Petit
Mit/Bossston Cruising Mania/Electric Eel Shock/Techma/Mong-Hang--Continental--10/17/00
This show, apparently presented
by Micro Music who handed out a complimentary CD of their artists, was well
attended throughout the evening. About half the audience wasn’t Japanese
this time, which was nice to see, and Continental was the perfect club for
this event.
I saw 10 YEN ANA KINOKO years
ago, and though I felt they were amateurish, they had a keyboard sound that
reminded me of a carnival, and they were spirited. They’ve turned up
the punk quite a bit, though it was certainly there then too. I was disappointed
that most of the quirky keyboard sounds were gone, but the performance was
still very much like a carnival ride, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, as did
the large crowd. They’re a five piece band, with keyboards and a lead
singer (who now sings lead for local band GELATINE). A male second guitarist
(also of GELATINE) joined them for the second half of their set. It was a
lengthy set, and the band’s energy had us all bouncing up and down, but
too excited to get tired. They rocked it hard with plenty of quirky fun, and
even some wild choreography. For me, it was the high point of the night. Again,
no CD was available.
50 Kaitenz
50 Kaitenz/Beat The Devil--Pianos--1/6/05
50 KAITENZ set up on stage
with a real camaraderie and joyful enthusiasm. They were in matching pants,
white shirts and ties, and looked to me like they were ready to begin, but
after they got their instruments together, and got the microphones turned
on, they played half a song and left the stage. Less than a minute later they
were all wearing blue suit jackets and standing at the back of the room. The
‘Framed’/‘Evil’ riff started up in the sound system, and
the band bounded toward the stage, and started things off with their theme
song. For the next half-hour they entertained us with spirited, early ‘60s
rock music, which I later heard described as “a little surf with a little
Chuck Berry”. It seemed pretty straightforward early guitar rock to me,
but the 50 KAITENZ had a good deal of joy and enthusiasm to add to the presentation,
and the band, whose playing was quite good, rocked, and jumped about the stage,
shaking their hair, and encouraging everyone to have a great time, which a
good portion of the audience dutifully did. The band sprinkled their set with
a number of instrumentals, and some of the more unusual tunes included ‘Surfin’
Bird’, a song dedicated to THE RAMONES, and a romantic enka (old-style
Japanese pop) number (the only slow song in the set). There was more dancing
in the audience than I’ve seen in a good long time, and at least some
of them were twisting. The 50 KAITENZ ended their set, but the applause was
as enthusiastic as their performance had been, and they quickly agreed to
do a couple more songs for us. Later, two of the 50 KAITENZ were walking around
in RAMONES T-shirts, and I overheard BEAT THE DEVIL discussing adding a 50
KAITENZ appreciation corner to their website.
Pistol Valve/Go!Go!7188/The Emeralds/50 Kaitenz/Asakusa Jinta--Empty
Bottle (Chicago, IL)--3/14/07
I missed Japan Nite in New York.
(I was out of town.) So, here I was catching it in Chicago. It was not the
easiest journey, but, once again, Audrey Kimura had put together one hell
of a show! I sure didn’t want to totally miss it! With help from my friend
Paul Yamada, I rode the trains, busses, and taxis, negotiated Chicago’s
byways, and eventually entered the Empty Bottle. Paul had referred to it as
a dive, but I don’t mind a good dive, and found it quite roomy. The almost
completely wooden and brick interior gave it a down-home bar-room feel, and
tonight it was the place to be for Japanese rock ‘n’ roll.
50 KAITENZ took to the stage
in matching outfits with BEATLES haircuts and white shirts. They got their
sound together quickly, and then launched into a song which may have been
called ‘My Check’, as those seemed to be the only, and oft-repeated,
words to it. It was a nice, rockin’, up-tempo, little number. In truth,
this could be said of almost every song they played, but this one had a special
surprise to it. When they finished it, they immediately left the stage. It
was their soundcheck. They soon returned with matching jackets over their
white shirts, and launched into an energetic set that had them bouncing about
the stage like cartoon characters. The guitarist is especially animated. He
often made faces and stuck out his tongue, and both he and the bassist would
regularly rock back and forth on the stage together, waving their guitars
in sync. Then, off they’d go again, charging about the stage. Regularly,
the guitarist would climb up on the monitors to stare out at the audience,
encourage them to cheer, or just make some more faces at them. At one point,
he even flipped one over, and landed unceremoniously flat on his back, but
he was up again in a moment, and the music never stopped. They rocked it hard
and fast, with a joyful exuberance, and they kept it all surprisingly clean.
They seemed out of control, but the music rocked like a well oiled machine.
My favorite moment in their set was when the guitarist reminded the audience
that Chicago was known for the blues, and then got the audience to sing a
verse and chorus of a blues song. He did this by singing a line, and having
them repeat it back to him. The strength and enthusiasm of the audience’s
chorus showed the great amount they had been stirred by 50 KAITENZ’ exciting
showmanship.
Thee 50’s High Teens
Kissy Kamikaze/Thee 50’s High Teens/Beluga/Gelatine--Knitting
Factory--9/11/08
After about five songs of
BELUGA, I decided I had seen enough and went and talked with Eric of Tokyo
No Records, who introduced me to Yocci of THEE 5O’S HIGH TEENS, who were
up next.
It took THEE 50’S HIGH TEENS
way too long to set up. Janiel suggested they were having some trouble setting
up the organ. Once they started, though, except when they broke occasionally
for announcements, they just did not stop. As soon as one song ended, they
started up the next one. It was a party--aggressive, no-holds-barred garage
rock--and the audience loved it. A good number of people, mostly male, clustered
around the front of the stage, and the great majority of them stayed there
throughout the set. Meanwhile, THEE 50’S HIGH TEENS just kept rocking.
An early song was THE RUNAWAYS’ ‘Cherry Bomb’. This is a different
THEE 50’S HIGH TEENS than the one that put out their two studio CDs,
and their two live CDs. The guitarist, Honey, and the organist, Kei, both
of whom were important assets to the band, not only for their musicianship,
but also for their screaming, which recalled the frenetic passion of LULU’S
MARBLE, have left the band. Ah, but another highlight of the original band
was Tomo’s full-throated vocals, and she’s still leading the band.
Sue, the drummer, stuck with her, and Yocci, on keyboards and background vocals,
and Nami on guitar and her own version of screaming, filled the openings,
and THEE 50’S HIGH TEENS continue. Previously, the screaming had been
reminiscent of horror movies. Nami’s screams tonight were more threatening,
like she was ready to devour you, and looking forward to the meal. Nami also
kept with THEE 50’S HIGH TEENS declaration not to smile for publicity
photos or live shows. Tomo, on vocals and bass, and Sue, on drums, also refrained
from smiling excessively. Sue did smile when Yocci pointed out how pretty
she was, but otherwise she turned her full attention to pounding those drums,
and keeping that beat thumping strong, her long black hair falling in her
face as she did. Yocci, on organ, meanwhile, seemed to be having the time
of her life. She did a good deal of smiling, and excited gesturing with an
arm up in the air. This new version of THEE 50’S HIGH TEENS wasn’t
the tightest band I’ve ever heard. They took their looseness into some
raunchy territory, but they rocked with an intensity that was possessed, and
when the song ended, they gave you one breath, and one breath only, before
the next song was fired out of the barrel at you. They rocked every song hard,
and the crowd ate it up. At close to half an hour, Yocci announced that they
had two more songs for us. They rocked into ‘Elegy Rock’, and the
moshing began for the first time. It lasted only for that one song, but it
was certainly a release. THEE 50’S HIGH TEENS closed out with ‘Shout’,
which had people dancing about, and throwing their hands up into the air.
It was a party, and it was a good party to be at. Afterwards, Eric, of Tokyo
No Records, who have just released THEE 50’S HIGH TEENS’ second
CD, Punch De Beat here in the U.S., said he thought it was the best
show they’d done yet on this tour.
Come to think of it now, Tomo,
of THEE 50’S HIGH TEENS, was blonde, too, so the only singer who wasn’t
blonde tonight was Seiko, of GELATINE. KISSY KAMIKAZE had some people there
to see them, and there were others who stuck around to see them, but the majority
of people had been there to see THEE 50’S HIGH TEENS, and the majority
of them had decided it was time to go home.
Fallen Leaves/Mighty Fine/Thee 50’s High Teens--Don
Pedro--9/13/08
It was a long wait for THEE 50’S
HIGH TEENS to start playing, but almost the first thing they did when they
finally took the stage was to thank people for coming, and to apologize for
the long wait. Then, as far as I could tell, they played through the exact
same set they had played at Knitting Factory, seemingly with a little less
energy. Perhaps that was just because they were more comfortable on a bigger
stage. The stage was a few feet off the ground, too, so it was easier to see
them tonight, but Don Pedro has no stage lighting outside of the ordinary
room lights. In spite of that, it’s a comfortable place, and it was enjoyable
to see THEE 50’S HIGH TEENS rock out again, which they did. It was the
same set, yet it was still good fun, and definitely joyful. I was informed
by Jun, of GELATINE, and Jesus that one of the covers they did both nights
was a big Japanese hit from the '70s entitled ‘6700’ by FIVE FINGERS,
a Japanese band, apparently styled after THE JACKSON FIVE. It’s a hole
in my Japanese musical knowledge, and I’m still not sure which song it
was, or what the original sounds like, but it’s interesting that it was
one of their covers for this tour. This time when Yocci plugged the merchandise,
she actually jumped off the stage and ran across the room to show everybody
exactly where their merchandise table was. Pointing at the table she jumped
up and down, enthusiastically yelling, "Buy! Buy!" Before the show,
Jesus informed me that at the end of the Knitting Factory show they had done
a bit of a WHO destructo act on their instruments, without actually doing
any real harm. I hadn’t been able to see that, except when Sue jumped
up on her bass drum, because the stage was only about three inches high, and
the audience members standing in front of the stage were all taller than the
bandmembers, but at the end of the show tonight, I did see Yocci give her
big red organ a hug, and pull it down on top of her as she fell to the stage
floor. It was nice to be able to see it this time, and though the general
cacophony of their finale was a trifle toned down tonight, it was good to
see them again. They seemed happy to be finishing up their first U.S. tour,
but Yocci was pleased to suggest, when I talked with her later, that they
might come back again next year.
54-71
Peelander-Z/Capability/54-71--Rare--4/30/03
I made it over to the west
side to discover that the new club, Rare, is the old Cooler. When I walked
in 54-71 were already on the stage, but had not yet begun their set. They
were setting up, but it wasn’t clear to me what they were waiting for.
They seemed to be ready a while before they actually began. The singer was
wearing camouflage pants and glasses. He’s a thin, young man, and comes
off as a quiet, sensitive type. It would have helped their show a lot if he
hadn’t been standing on the stage for twenty minutes before they began
the first song, because even with his awkward rapping, and his modern dancing,
it really took him about twenty minutes to wipe away the image of normality
he had projected before the show started. The modern dance included some pantomime
and was mostly quite mediocre, but its uniqueness eventually helped to envelop
the singer into a rich character, half artist/half clown. By the end of the
performance, I had a deep respect for the guy. His rapping (usually in English)
never really took him too far, but he stretched his vocals in many other directions,
and most of them were quite effective. Toward the end of the set he did a
kind of drunken torch song, which totally won me over and elicited many cheers
from the audience throughout its dramatic performance. He was supported by
a drummer, a bassist, and a guitarist. The guitarist subtly mixed what seemed
to be jazz stylings with a simple kind of funk twitch. There was a good bit
of range in the material, but except for one or two numbers that involved
all out epileptic thrashing, the rhythm section kept the beat simple and nervous.
For some reason the bass guitarist performed the majority of the set at the
rear of the stage with his back turned to the audience. It did not detract
from the overall show, though. With a frontman of this caliber, the entire
band could have turned their backs to the audience, and it would have remained
a thoughtful and entertaining performance.
54 Nude Honeys
54 Nude Honeys--CBGBs--3/19/03
54 NUDE HONEYS set up. Guitarist,
Kotome, and bassist, Vivi, were dressed in very hot, black vinyl outfits that
included hotpants, zippers down the front, and fishnet stockings. They stood
on the stage ignoring the crowd, checking their connections, and waiting for
the mics to be checked. When they started up the first song and Yuri, the
singer, emerged, she was wearing the same outfit, though her zipper was about
halfway down. Ryo, the sole male in the band, pounds the drums. The band rocks
in a simple straightforward manner. They make no bones about it! It’s
an impressively strong band, and Yuri controls the stage. Both Kotome and
Vivi had to make sure to keep out of her way, while pounding out their portion
of the rock. Yuri’s passion seems volatile and uncontrolled, which is
illustrated by the way she stalks about the stage, turning and twisting as
she feels it. Her vocal range, or at least the way she uses it, is about as
limited as is possible, but the power of her vocals is almost always coming
straight at you, full strength. At about the halfway point Kotome launched
into ‘Have Love Will Travel’ and it seemed a perfect fit to have
this rugged band cranking out that classic. Toward the end of the set, while
they played one of my favorites of theirs, ‘I’m Rubber Man’,
Yuri climbed up to the ceiling on the P.A. speakers and twisted her body around,
perhaps illustrating the song. The band throttled up the last number, Yuri
came down off her perch, and almost immediately charged out into the audience.
Whenever she wasn’t on the stage, Kotome and Vivi take center stage,
but immediately relinquish it on her return. I look forward to seeing them
again on Monday. No, I doubt if I’ll learn anything new about this band
by seeing them again, but I’ll get another full serving of the rock!
Gelatine/54 Nude Honeys/Dynamite Club--Meow Mix--3/24/03
Wow! What a night! Three bands
I like, with three completely different styles.
54 NUDE HONEYS were up next. They
were wearing the same outfits as the other night, and, if anything, looked
even hotter. They launched into the first song, and Yuri, the singer, pushed
her way through the crowd up to the stage. The show was on. On the smaller
stage, Yuri had to pay a bit more attention where she was moving to avoid
bouncing into the guitarist, Kotome, or Vivi, the bassist. After the first
song, Yuri bent over to pick something up off the floor, and I overheard a
woman next to me exclaim to her female friend, “Ooh, IÕll take a date!”
By this time, the place was packed, and the band definitely seemed to be picking
up energy from the crowd. I believe it was the same exact set they had played
at CBGBs, but they seemed to be playing through it at a faster clip, and tonight
I think I saw Yuri crack a smile or two. Toward the end of the set, a fight
broke out. It was broken up quickly, and most people were so fascinated by
the band, they paid it little notice. The band completely ignored it. For
‘I’m Rubber Man’ Yuri climbed up on top of the bar, and pinching
her throat, jiggled it to get a vibrato effect. She sang the rest of the song
up there, while the band rocked it home. They really are a strong band, and
economical, too. There’s nothing there that doesn’t need to be.
They stomp through one song after another until the set’s done. It was
over much too fast this time, and even the full room of cheering fans couldn’t
bring ‘em back.
Japunks #7: The Spunks/Gito Gito Hustler/Peelander-Z/54 Nude
Honeys/Blue III/Techma--CBGB--5/22/04
Japunks once more treated us to
a wonderful evening of rock ‘n’ roll. I’ve actually seen all
of these bands before, and yet there is no way I would have missed this. It
was a great collection of bands, and the largely white audience got more than
they ever could have wished for. The women carrying the cards with the round
numbers on one side (each set was a round), and each band’s name on the
other, were dressed tonight in black vinyl nurses outfits, with black crosses
rather than red ones. Again, the result was a knockout show!
Before long 54 NUDE HONEYS
were up on the stage in their black vinyl outfits with fishnet stockings.
Their new drummer, though a male, also sported the same outfit. They checked
their sound, and were soon pounding out their fierce garage rock. They are
a quartet, and, except for the drummer, are all women. The drummer used few
cymbals, relying mostly on the drums to pound out his simple but powerful
beat. The strength of the band’s chops, and their no-nonsense tightness
was a hard rocking onslaught. One song after another roared out at us, and
the now good-sized crowd reacted with the most violent slam-dancing of the
evening. Once it started, it didn’t stop, raising a certain amount of
chaos that fought against the methodical stomping roar. Yuri, the singer,
roamed the stage, clutching the microphone, and spitting out the vocals like
venom. Well into the performance she pulled herself up onto the platform which
overlooks the stage. She sang the rest of that song from there, pointing menacingly
out at individual audience members. It was a riveting performance, and it
didn’t let up until late in the set when a song with dramatic stops and
starts halted the slam-dancing, and made everyone truly pay attention. They
closed the set with an instrumental that had Yuri moving about the stage as
if swimming or floating on the waves of sound. I spoke later with Kotome,
the guitarist, who informed me that though Yuri and Vivi, the bassist, were
now living in New York, that she and the drummer were still residing in Japan,
and that though the band would be playing in the U.S. more often now, they
would continue to do shows regularly in Japan.
54 Nude Honeys/Jessie Diamond &The Thousands--Pianos--4/5/05
54 NUDE HONEYS were setting
up as I came back in. They seemed to have some new stage-wear, or maybe they
were just setting up before they changed into their vinyl outfits. The drummer
was wearing his. Then Vivi, the bassist, left the stage and when she came
back, she had taken off her jeans and was wearing what was either a bathing
suit bottom or hotpants. She got some whoops from the Long Islandish crowd
who had come to see the previous band. I think they decided to stay for 54
NUDE HONEYS at that point. Then Yuri, the singer, came out in an even more
revealing outfit, which seemed even more like a bathing suit, and they were
ready to rock. They launched into their set. They’re a good band, and
seemed to have moved on from their punk/garage rock. They still have a touch
of that in their sound, but they’re doing much more of a straight rock
thing now, which the crowd seemed to like, but may have been appreciating
the stage-wear more than the music. Vivi occasionally smiled, Kotome concentrated
on her guitar playing, the drummer kept things moving with a strong beat,
and Yuri moved around the stage like she was right where she was most comfortable.
They were rocking, and it was good to see them again. Toward the end of the
set, Yuri came out into the audience, which seemed to have drawn a few more
people in from the bar. She walked out with moxy and got in a few people’s
faces, even hugging a woman from THE COLOR GAURD, who were coming up next.
Then she moved back to the front of the stage and posed a bit on some stools
that were there, before moving back up to the stage. The last song was an
instrumental, which Yuri introduced as a surfing song, and moved through it
like she was swimming through the surf. At one point she moved off the stage
and down to another stool which she mounted like it was a surfboard and she
was paddling back out to catch another wave. As they left the stage, they
received a good amount of applause from the small crowd, but they obviously
had no intention of playing anymore. That’s alright. I’ll be seeing
them again at CBGB on Friday.
Brother Earth/54 Nude Honeys/Bad Hotel--CBGB--4/8/05
54 NUDE HONEYS took the
stage, and a crowd slowly formed, no doubt in wait to see what these attractive
women would sound like once they started their set. When they did, Yuri, the
singer, stepped out onto the stage, and gave us a bit of a scream to start
things off. The band rocked harder than they had the other night at Pianos,
and Yuri was definitely putting more of herself into the performance tonight.
They seemed to have varied the set some, and it was certainly longer tonight.
They even seemed to have put a bit more of the garage back into the set, and
I recognized more of the songs tonight. Jun kept the drums pounding hard.
Vivi’s bassline moved with a throbbing consistency beneath Kotome’s
guitar, which kept things rocking at a good full pace. Yuri ruled the stage.
She moved about with authority, and sang the songs powerfully, and with a
certain amount of anger. Toward the end of the set she came out into the crowd
for a moment, but soon returned to the stage. For the last song they once
more did the instrumental, and Yuri swam about the stage, and even climbed
up onto the platform across from the stage, and did some more swimming from
up there. Again there was no encore, but after the set I overheard someone
stating to their friend, as if it was a new revelation, “They’re
a great band!” It was good to see them rocking again.
54 Nude Honeys/The Suicide Kings/R.U.O.K./Your New Best Friend/The
Fire And Reason--The Delancey--11/16/05
The 54 NUDE HONEYS were up
next, and it was good to see them again. The costumes haven’t changed.
There was no new material that I recognized, but it’s been a while since
they’ve played New York, and I was happy to be there to welcome them
back! The Delancey basement is not really that good of a room, but I’d
been impressed with the sounds they’d been able to get for most of the
bands that preceded 54 NUDE HONEYS. Probably, part of that was that those
bands had big, full sounds that wedged themselves into the room. 54 NUDE HONEYS,
though, are working with a much more bare-bones garage template. Kotome’s
guitar lines danced out into the room, and Vivi’s bass lines subtly stalked
them. Jun, on drums, pounds things home, and Yuri takes care of the rest.
She shouts and sings, often raising one of her legs up into a stork position
and twisting until the tension releases. It was good, but the sound wasn’t
really coming together as the full onslaught I’ve heard from them before.
Then they launched into ‘Rubber Man’. Suddenly, the power was there,
and Yuri was completely in control. She stalked the stage, and then climbing
up onto a table at the side of the stage, she edged out along the wall. They
closed things down with an instrumental, ‘Lost In Forest’, with
Kotome shooting out waves of surf-guitar, and Yuri swimming around the stage
on those waves. Those two songs brought the set and the evening to a wonderful
close. My head’s still swimming.
54 Nude Honeys/Bad Hotel/Sexred/Your 33 Black Angels--Continental--11/18/05
Finally, 54 NUDE HONEYS came out
and rocked us. After the last two bands, I was so in need of a good rocking,
that though I certainly enjoyed seeing 54 NUDE HONEYS rock through the same
set I had heard on Wednesday, it was coming off a bit flat. They were rocking
fine, though, and Yuri was putting on her show. Jun, who’s virtually
a support drummer, has been with the band for two years now, and is a technical
ace whose drumming is so clean, even wearing a 54 NUDE HONEYS vinyl outfit,
he remains anonymous behind the three beautiful women out front. Some jerk
tried to stick a dollar bill in Yuri’s boot, and she just ignored him.
Again, the last two songs took things up to their top level. This time during
‘Rubber Man’, Yuri came out into the audience, walked straight through
those of us gathered in front of the stage, and stepped up onto a small table,
which immediately fell over. Yuri swiftly moved to the center of the next
table and continued singing the song. Next she stepped over onto the seat
divider, and did a series of sexy poses for everyone’s delight until
the song neared its close. Yep, it was time for her breaststroke dance. At
one point she laid down on the stage, and a female fan, who had whispered
to me after the poses, “Isn’t she hot?”, pantomimed spanking
her. Yuri seemed to make a point of ignoring any fans trying to gain her attention,
and there were a few. Afterward, everyone I talked to had loved the show,
and raved the band. We all agreed, 54 NUDE HONEYS rock!
Accel 4
Accel 4/The Plungers/Catspaw--Continental--5/23/99
Then it turned out there
was a Japanese band I’d never heard of playing after THE PLUNGERS. My
ears are still ringing.
When ACCEL 4 first took the
stage, Aimee (who left about two/thirds of the way through the set) said,
“They all look like THE RAMONES.” Then the non-stop, sonic assault
began. For most of the show they didn’t even give the audience a chance
to respond. The songs were varied, but the sound was so loud and indistinct,
it was impossible to judge them. I bought their CD, so I can do that later.
The show was wild! They’re a trio and seem an inspired GUITAR WOLF imitation.
The drummer wasn’t quite up to the speed of the rest of the band, but
his blonde hair looked good. The bass guitarist sang a couple of songs including
‘Sonic Reducer’, and managed to move quickly and artfully enough
to keep out of the guitarist’s way as he hurtled from one side of the
stage to the other. The guitarist/front-man had some amazing moves, and managed
to make a lot of noise. Toward the end of the set, he launched the band into
a version of ‘Wild Thing’, during which he jumped out into the audience
and, later, poured gasoline on the arm of his jacket. Masayo, of THE PLUNGERS,
lit it on fire for him. She basically played stage-hand and heckler for the
band the entire set, but she didn’t upstage this guy.
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paradaiso U.F.O.
Acid Mothers Temple/Electro-Putas/Beautiful Skin--The Cooler--11/9/00
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE surprised
me. I didn’t know what to expect, so anything could have surprised me,
but this is a full-on band that launched themselves from the first moment,
and were quickly out into deep space. They’re a hard-rockin’ band
with a variety of subtle and not so subtle flavors. The main synth player
regularly sang in a falsetto voice. One of the guitarists also played keyboards,
and there was a drummer, a bassist, and another guitarist. The other guitarist,
who took the leads, took them dynamically, and often the guitar seemed to
be flying out of his hands as he chased it around his body. At one point the
band did a long a cappella intro for a song, and there were some other surprises
too, but for the most part this was a band that raved into long spacy instrumentals
that seemed to sail out into strange untraveled sections of space. They reminded
me in many ways of AMON DÜÜL II, but rocked much harder, and were
definitely more intense. On the last song, while the lead guitarist finished
up his lead, and finally let the guitar get away from him, the guitarist/keyboardist
had wrestled his keyboard to the floor and was mercilessly pounding on it.
Beers were passed to him, and he promptly poured one down his throat and one
over his head before following the guitarist through the stage door. One by
one the remaining members left the stage until the drummer was alone, still
pounding away. Sadly, he too finally stopped and followed his bandmates through
the stage door.
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paradaiso U.F.O./Major
Stars/Sunburned Hand Of The Man--Local--3/24/02
Local is a decent club, though
the stage is quite small and only about a foot off the floor. This particular
night was like a timetrip back to the early ‘70s, and the authentic psychedelic
light-show certainly helped set the scene. Plus, for a Sunday night, there
was a good-sized crowd to experience all the freaky jams.
Between the sets three dancers
in rather silly costumes danced to one of the strangest mix of songs I’ve
ever heard a DJ put together. I only recognized two songs the entire night,
the first by THE HI SHERIFFS OF BLUE, and later one by BLACK SABBATH. It was
odd, and kind of cool to have these clowns play go-go dancer, but then two
of them continued dancing through ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE’s set, which was
nothing but an obnoxious distraction. For the first couple of songs I thought
the band was performing as a quartet with keyboards, but then I realized the
guy who plays guitar, keyboards, and occasionally some type of handheld theremin-sounding
device, was playing off to the side, in front of the stage. Only rarely did
he jump up on the stage to play the keyboards. They rocked hard, and the songs
often ended up sounding quite similar, but they always took very different
paths to get there. The music sounded like it was coming from distant planets.
The bass guitarist handled the lead vocals, but if the band was playing you
usually could only barely hear him, even if he was screaming. He did get a
few chances to exercise his vocal hijinks, and a couple of times in a cappella
the entire band would sing what sounded like old Japanese travelling songs.
Occasionally songs would rise up to a pounding abrasive roar, but there was
almost always a strange beauty involved. I was surprised how long the set
was. They played a couple more songs than I expected, and then closed the
set with one of their hardest rockers. It was an energetic, joyous, and powerful
set, after which only about twenty of us remained in front of the stage intermittently
shouting our approval. Surprisingly, they came out for an encore, and played
another hard-rocking song which they introduced as an old song called ‘Zombie
You’. It was a great way to end a fun and adventurous evening.
Acid Mothers Temple/The Occasion--Canal Room--10/21/05
THE OCCASION’s guitarist
introduced the last song by saying what a wonderful time they had had touring
with ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE.
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE began setting
up, and when they were almost ready the lead guitarist began testing his microphone
by talking about what a sexy, sophisticated place Canal Room was, and that
it seemed like some jazz band should be playing. He talked more about the
different types of jazz bands that might fit the place well, and finally suggested
that maybe it should be a sexy, sophisticated, freeform, freak-out jazz band.
Was he slyly warning us what was coming up? ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE have a wide
range of styles, and certainly engage in a good deal of relatively freeform
freak-out, but few would call them a jazz band. There were two drummers tonight,
a bassist, two guitarists, and the front and center guitarist with long grey
hair and a white robe also played keyboards, using them mostly for spacy oscillation
effects. They started off with a noodling jam while they got their sound together.
Once they said, “Hi!” to the audience, and expressed their happiness
at being back in New York, they started into what sounded like a very soft
and gentle number, and the guitarist was over on the side playing an instrument
I couldn’t see, but it had a traditional sound. I checked it out later,
and it looked like a guitar set up on a stand so that he could play it without
removing his other guitar, but when I checked closer, the brand name on it
was “Sitar”. That explained the traditional sounding plucking that
colored the sound for that song as they took it out into a cosmic groove.
The keyboard effects were often used to start the songs. Then one by one the
other musicians would come in, the guy on synthesizer would switch to guitar,
and often the bassist would start in on vocals. When he came to the chorus,
which would often be one phrase repeated over and over, the two guitarists
would sing the phrase along with him, and when they’d all done that long
enough, they’d take off into a long extended jam that would move into
the psychedelic realms of their own cosmic kingdom. The two drummers kept
things fully propelled, and all three of the fretboards got a good workout.
About halfway through the set the lead guitarist announced that as always
they had lots of merchandise, but that they had way too many extra large and
double extra large T-shirts, that they had had the idea that Americans were
really big, and that they were offering a discount for those extra large sizes
because they had way too many of them. During the last song, whose freak-out
intensity seemed to have pulled out all the stops, the lead guitarist, who
had seemed to be wrestling his guitar all night, took the strap from around
his neck, allowing him to wrestle it into a few extra positions and raise
it over his head in celebration of the ecstatic waves of sound the band was
sending out into the crowd. As they took this last jam further out than any
of the previous explorations, the second guitarist went back to his synthesizer.
The lead guitarist smashed his guitar, and one of the drummers came out to
the front of the stage and was shoved into the audience by the bass player.
It was a wonderful chaos, and it just kept getting wilder. The guitar was
smashed into a number pieces, and thrown out into the crowd, all while the
sound twisted itself into new mutations. The drummer made it back up onto
the stage, the guitarist began playing a second guitar, and eventually things
were brought to a climactic resolution. While I was checking out the “Sitar”
afterward, I saw about six different people getting pieces of the guitar autographed
by the lead guitarist, and as I passed the merchandise table, I saw that they
were selling a guitar case along with the CDs and T-shirts.
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paradaiso U.F.O./Sonic Suicide Squad/Floating Action--Mercury Lounge--4/17/09
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARADAISO U.F.O. took the stage. There were four of them. Kawabata was on guitar. The guy with gray hair played both guitar and a synthesizer, which added a very spacy aspect to their sound when he played it. The drummer was the one musician who consistently played very simply. He kept the beat, and kept pace, or led the pace, as many of the songs sped up as they went off into crazy improvised freak-outs. The bassist handled the lead vocals, and he sang a good deal more than I've ever heard ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE do before. There was also more audience interaction than I've seen them do before. The bassist also at various times played an accoustic guitar and a flute. They started up with some squanking, just a bit of low-key improv, and the bassist began in the voice of an old man, as if he was telling the story of his life as it occurred to him. Then he backed off from the microphone, and they played a bit more. When he started talking again, one of the things he said was "We are experimental." He repeated that, and then added, "but not like John Zorn." At a later time in the show he repeated the statement, "We are experimental." and added, “but we are not real experimental. We are fake experimental." I believe it was Kawabata who explained, "We are not intelligent enough to be real experimental. We are only intelligent enough to play rock." There were all kinds of shouts from the audience in answer, including "Rock!" and "Led Zeppelin!" That was when the bassist pulled out his accoustic guitar, and Kawabata pulled out his violin bow. It had an English folk feel, and slowly picked up some volume, and then the drums came in, and the bassist switched back to bass. As Kawabata continued with his probing, but gentle lead, now without the bow, the bassist began to really fill out the sound. Regularly he had let his fingers wander all over the bass fretboard, but this was the time he really stood out, and was playing some amazing things. Then again, his playing on bass was outstanding throughout the set. Of course, they eventually got that song rocking out hard with Kawabata raising his guitar in the air and wailing, and the synthesizer sounds whirring, bleeping, and buzzing, like meteors streaking through space, and the drums moving things along at a faster and faster pace. At another time between songs the bassist began speaking, or shrieking, what seemed to be rapid nonsense, which reminded me most of Damo Suzuki of Can at his most crazed. Then he began to intermittently shout out, "Please, somebody stop me!" Throughout the show he not only seemed to be surprising and entertaining the audience, but also the other members of the band. Another thing he said early in the show was, "We are oriental. Are we anything else? We are ethnic." At a later time in the show he added, "We are Japanese." I believe it was Kawabata again who answered him, "No, we are not Japanese. All Japanese have careers!" Toward the very end of the set Kawabata began playing something that sounded very much like Robby Krieger's intro to The Door's 'The End'. The bassist put down his bass, took the microphone, and though he didn't sound like Jim Morrison, and wasn't singing anything like 'The End', he did manage to bellow a bit, and sang out strong, theoretically in Japanese. Soon the band had joined in, starting with a kind of primitive, almost tribal, kind of thing. Kawabata began playing a five note run, which he repeated over and over. The band slowly rocked it up and sped it up, and the five note run kept speeding up till Kawabata just took off, and the rest of the band rocked out in probably the most powerful song of their set. Toward the end of it Kawabata was holding his guitar by the neck, and spinning it around like a windmill. Finally, using his guitar strap, he hooked it up on the lights above the stage and left it hanging there and feeding back. The band kept rocking as he shook hands with people up front, and then left the stage, soon followed by the rest of the band. The rhythm guitarist/synthesizer player shut off Kawabata's amp as he passed it, and the show was over. They had played a good range of music for easily over an hour and a half to a full house, and though there was certainly some applause and cheers as there had been throughout the show, no one seemed to expect an encore. We had seen a show!
Acid Mothers Temple SWR
Japanese New Music Festival: Acid Mothers Temple SWR/Zoffy/Ruins
Alone/Ronruins/Zubi Zuva X/Shrinp Wark/Akaten/Seikazoku--NorthSix--9/3/06
The Japanese New Music Festival
was Atsushi Tsuyama and Makoto Kawabata of ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE, and Tatsuya
Yoshida of RUINS in various combinations. The only exception was RONRUINS,
a project of Yoshida’s which included Ron Anderson on guitar and vocals,
and Jesse Krakow on bass and vocals. The majority of the people attending
understood the situation. All the bands were there. They were just made up
of the same three people, and many didn’t play more than a few songs.
At one point I was just going to do one report of the entire evening, but
as it turns out, I’ve divided my reports up for the different “bands”.
Throughout the evening, the three principals regularly welcomed us to “The
Japanese New Music Festival”. They did it so often, it became a running
gag. All three of the principals sang in most of the “bands”, though
Kawabata tended to stick to back-up vocals.
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE SWR were the
triumvirate of the evening. Tsuyama played bass. Kawabata let loose again
on his guitar, and Yoshida pumped out another flurry of drum beats. They rocked
it up, and closed the evening in an exuberant manner, with Kawabata stretching
out on guitar, Tsuyama proving his familiarity with the bass guitar, and Yoshida
pumping up the beat to maximum volatility. They put their all into it, and
if it had been the final jam of the night it would have been fine, but the
crowd quickly brought them back for one more. That last one began with Yoshida
on electronics, Kawabata on his electric toy xylophone, and Tsuyama began
on flute. Kawabata and Tsuyama soon switched to guitars, (Tsuyama his little
pink one), and Yoshida came in on drums, but they kept things lower key this
time, and the evening came to a close. The people were obviously there to
hear something new and strange, but everyone seemed to be pleased to have
the evening closing with something more traditional, at least for ACID MOTHERS
TEMPLE.
Tomomi Adachi
Kiiiiiii/Tomomi Adachi--Tonic--4/3/07
Another wacky night at
Tonic. There won’t be many more. Yep, another New York club is closing.
Tonight, though, the wackiness was a lot of good fun.
Tomomi Adachi is a unique artist.
He began his set with a synthesizer strapped into the palm of his right hand.
Seemingly, the way he moved his arm changed its affect on his vocals. Sometimes
it changed the pitch of his vocals, which were a wide variety of odd noises
and sounds. Sometimes it seemed to add a delay to the vocals so that he was
able to add new noises to the ones he had just made. Sometimes he just made
clicks and clucks, sometimes high-pitched humming, sometimes rapid talking
as if he was doing characters, and at times he approached an odd form of singing.
With the synthesizer there was a wide range of odd sounds, and he actually
seemed to be the person in the room most fascinated by the variety of sounds.
He seemed to be trying to get out every sound that was possible with that
set up. Then he sat down, pulled out a plastic box to which had been attached
a variety of paper clips, rubberbands, strings, and who knows what else. Next
to it was a box filled with other objects and gadgets that he would occasionally
pull something out of and add it to his growing sound collage. There was a
microphone attached to the box, so that when he tapped on the paperclip it
sounded like he was banging on a railing. Something else sounded like a gong.
A string, one end of which he held in his mouth, when stretched and loosened
sounded like a washtub-bass. A small toy sounded like a big motor. Again,
he played with these until he seemed to have extracted every possible combination
of sounds he could think of. To finish off the set, he put on a shirt with
eight little synthesizers attached to it. With the small synthesizers strapped
in each of his palms, that made ten synthesizers working at once. Then he
began vocalizing again. With the various delays he achieved a whole chorus
of voices making all kinds of sounds at various pitches, and managed to create
the most fascinating piece of his set. Previously he had managed an odd silliness,
which was at times amusing, and at others interesting, but with his shirt
of mini-synthesizers, and his arms moving about as if he was conducting a
lunatic orchestra, he led his solo chorus to a curious crescendo.
Afrirampo
Spunks/Gelatine/Band De Amor/Afrirampo--Meow Mix--7/7/03
When I arrived, I was told that
there was a Japanese band that had been added at the last minute. They were
doing their soundcheck when I walked in, but after many adjustments they stopped
and left the stage, so I headed home for my camera. They were back on stage
when I returned, and this time wearing sparkly, string bikinis with tassels.
It seemed a bit strange, because they didn’t flaunt their sexuality at
all, but no one complained. AFRIRAMPO are two women from Osaka, one plays
drums, the other plays electric guitar, and they both sing. They were competent
on their instruments, and as they began playing I wondered what idiosyncrasies
might be unveiled. The rock songs they played were fairly straightforward
and charming enough. The most interesting thing was their vocals which were
sweet at times, humorous at others, with shouts and screams accompanying the
climaxes. The songs sometimes rocked, often with a comic edge, and sometimes
went for a spooky sound that seemed partially tongue in cheek. At one point
toward the end of the set they did an a cappella duet with heavy reverb on
their vocals. It started out as a rhythmic chanting and developed into a very
primal grunting. From there the instruments came back, and they went into
a bit of improv where they seemed to be teasing each other. It was an intriguing
set, but, more importantly, it was good fun.
Afrirampo/The Paybacks/Rockets And Cars/The Brass Tacks--Pianos--7/15/03
AFRIRAMPO were up next, and
a good number of people stayed around for them. I also saw them at Sub-Tonic
last week, and they put on a wonderful show there. “I didn’t know
it,” someone stated loudly after their set, “but that was EXACTLY
what I needed!” Several people immediately agreed. Here they were again,
and each time I’ve seen them they’ve been louder, and the louder
they get, the more they celebrate their music, and the more intense it becomes.
The drums pound. The guitar roars and squeals its feedback, with the odd surf
riffs occasionally spinning out of the mix, and AFRIRAMPO’s vocals go
into that improv realm that they own. The good sized crowd was very enthusiastic,
but good things, like AFRIRAMPO visiting NYC, come to an end, and once again,
they announced their last song, and then played their longest, most striking
number, improvising it out to the usual fifteen minutes, but this time, the
roomful of cheering patrons managed to convince them to play one last song.
It was a simple rocker, but it was a nice gesture, as I hadn’t seen them
do an encore before. They’re a unique band, and I was glad to see them
again. I stayed for about half an hour after the show talking with a friend,
but people were still hanging around, talking with, and basking in AFRIRAMPO’s
attention when I finally left.
Afrirampo/Made In Mexico/Mouthus--The Hook--9/11/04
Finally, AFRIRAMPO set up their
equipment. It took a while, and then, as usual, they left the stage, and the
DJs played some of the most annoying noise collages of the evening. By the
time AFRIRAMPO walked back on stage again, with their stage costumes, Hawaiian
leis, and make-up, the audience was in a foul mood. Oni and Pikacyu put their
fingers to their lips to try to quiet the crowd, and when they managed to
bring the noise level down a bit, they began to gently repeat the phrase,
“We are so cute!” over and over, louder each time, until they were
angrily shouting it. Then Oni began taking swipes at her guitar, and Pikacyu
began pounding away on her drums, and their set was underway. A couple, wildly
dancing into as many people as they could, pushed their way up front, and
in no time at all what normally might have been a mosh pit, became a surging
crowd with about three couples writhing around inside it, and everyone else
pushing and shoving each other around. AFRIRAMPO’s live sound has expanded
quite a bit, and in many different directions. Generally, quiet intros, from
soft guitar chords, timpani mallets, and nonsensical baby talk back and forth,
would give way to roaring guitar, screaming, and Pikacyu pounding every which
way on her drums, inspiring so much pushing and shoving in the front of the
crowd, I was forced to pay more attention to remaining on my feet than what
AFRIRAMPO were up to. They continued switching back and forth from soft to
loud. During the softer moments, several couples, and a number of individuals
slowly writhed in anticipation of the next episode of active moshing. Several
times AFRIRAMPO both went to the ground at the end of songs, beginning the
next songs softly while crouching or laying on the floor, with only the people
in the very front able to see them. The third time this happened the next
song began with Pikacyu softly tapping at the strings of Oni’s guitar
with her drumsticks. That developed into a kind of wrestling, and primal grunting.
It was an amazing set, and the crowd had responded more vigorously than I
would have earlier imagined possible. As they left the stage, I overheard
a woman next to me exclaim, “That band was awesome!” That summed
it up. AFRIRAMPO had made it well worthwhile snooping out yet another club
in Brooklyn, but The Hook, a good sized room, is so out of the way and hard
to get to, it would take another band like AFRIRAMPO, who haven’t been
seen in these parts in a while, to get me back there again.
Afrirampo/Xtatika/Angel On The Nod & The Phantasy Defylment--Tonic--9/15/04
Tonight, AFRIRAMPO started things
out with the phrase, “They are like ‘60s hippies!” repeated,
until Oni’s power chords, and Pikacyu’s rampaging drums started
up. Tonight’s quiet, attentive audience was quite the contrast from Saturday’s
surging mosh-pit, and AFRIRAMPO may have even toned down their set a hair
to stay in touch with this crowd, but it could be that every AFRIRAMPO show
has some structural similarities in the antics and songs, but that improvisational
moments are built into certain portions of the set. Oni has added more power
chords to the repertoire, and in some of the softer moments she gets a chance
to twist some of the surf riffs into arty, primitive, half-chords that occasionally
wandered into some beautiful moments. Meanwhile, Pikacyu varies her drumming
between simple, repeated, stop and start accents, and active explorations
of her entire drumkit, which, though Oni is often continuing to play--perhaps
her impression of an acid-inspired lead, might as well be drum solos. Some
of the most interesting moments, and a break from the regular cacophony, is
when they stop playing their instruments, and both go into playful vocal games,
half planned and half improvised like their music. The most amazing aspect
of these interludes is that the vocal shenanigans are amazingly intricate,
making the most of each of the pair’s favorite vocal gymnastics, which
at times are like an invented dialect, and at others are both rhythmic and
melodic at the same time. Tonight they only fell down onto the floor once.
They lay still, and then, as the audience began to audibly heckle, or play
along, Afrirampo started up one of the most colorful of their vocal interactions.
I’m not sure how they made a few of those sounds, but occasional echo
and sustain effects accounted for some. While the vocal games continued, Pikacyu
arose with a plastic, blow-up guitar, and began using it to tap away at Oni’s
real guitar, while Oni tried to incorporate it into the sounds she was creating.
Oni did most of the talking in between songs, early in the set repeating,
“I don’t ever want to let you go.” At other times she talked
about magical nudity, that we should be ourselves, and that we could become
nude anytime we liked, which seemed to have more to do with having a “nude
mind” than anybody actually becoming naked. The wonderful thing about
AFRIRAMPO is not that they have created such unique music. Other people regularly
create, strange, new, evocative music, but much of it is abstract and pretentious.
AFRIRAMPO have escaped the most frightfully serious aspects of freeform music
by adding a wonderfully large helping of joyful humor. It’s what keeps
them pure.
Lightning Bolt/Afrirampo/Maniac Mansion--Tonic--7/22/05
AFRIRAMPO came out with
stuffed animals scattered about the stage and did a soundcheck in which Oni
asked for “more inside”, and the soundman, after figuring out that
she meant more vocals in the monitor, admitted that he couldn’t give
her any more. They got their sound together as best they could, and then instructed
the soundman to turn the music back on, meaning, of course, that AFRIRAMPO
still had to change into their stage costumes. When they returned, both in
red outfits (to match Tonic’s curtain?), they opened the show by introducing
themselves, and making faces at us, over and over again. Then they started
off with a couple of the songs I remember from previous tours, including ‘Do
Do Do Do’, a favorite live tune. After some newer songs, someone brought
out a birthday cake for LIGHTNING BOLT’s drummer, Brian Chippendale.
He even came up on stage to blow out the candles, which he managed effortlessly.
The amount of variety in AFRIRAMPO’s newer material was pretty impressive.
I especially liked a slower song where Oni used an effects box to get a kind
of slide guitar sound, while Pikacyu pounded away in a tribal drum mode. Soon
after that song, Pikacyu came out from behind her drums, and helped Oni on
her guitar. They each had a small toy which they rested on Oni’s strings.
Turning handles, they caused something in the toy to move against the strings.
It was probably more interesting visually than musically, as it looked like
they were intently performing an odd sex act, but they did achieve an interesting
sound as the toys lightly scraped against the strings. Though Pikacyu occasionally
burst into strange vocal sounds, tonight AFRIRAMPO’s vocals were much
more restrained, settling for more normal vocal modes, but still very much
playing off each other. Oni’s guitar work continues to grow in intriguing
ways, and Pikacyu continues to dazzle with her powerful drumming, which she
plays with an enthusiasm that keeps things both fun and exciting. The last
song was the longest and the hardest rocker of the set, and AFRIRAMPO revved
it up into high gear, Oni banging away on her guitar and coaxing feedback
out of her amp, while Pikacyu pounded frantically around her set. They built
things to a wonderful roar, and then accented a dynamic closing beat by both
jumping into the air, and slamming the beat home, gleefully repeating it a
number of times. They followed that rousing finale by jumping into the audience.
While Oni hung her guitar around a fan’s neck, Pikacyu bent over toward
the floor, and made her way through the crowd while clicking and clacking
her drumsticks against the concrete floor. As they made their way back to
the dressing room, the guitar, in new hands, continued to growl.
I’m not sure exactly
what happened to the birthday cake, but a good deal of it ended up on Oni
and all over Brian Chippendale’s drumkit. I was told that at times Brian
was licking cake off his cymbal as he played, and Oni and the birthday boy
were still cleaning the cake off his drumset as I made my way out of the club.
Afrirampo/Ni-Hao--Japan Society--12/8/06
The Japan Society has a beautiful
theatre, and I’ve seen many movies there, but this was the first real
rock show I’ve attended there. The assigned seating was the biggest surprise,
but I had bought my ticket early enough to be fairly close to the stage. Photos
were not allowed, though I noticed various camera phones documenting the event.
The seats are comfortable, and it was nice to see the bands in a “high-art”
setting, on a big stage with professional lighting.
After a short intermission, during
which many of us repaired to the lobby and cashed in our drink tickets, Oni
could be heard tuning up her guitar, and the seats began filling up again.
AFRIRAMPO left the stage, and soon, two women came out and performed a tea
ceremony. They got a volunteer from the audience, and served him tea. Then
AFRIRAMPO came out singing and expressively waving their arms. Oni sang, “Iiiiii”,
Pikacyu sang, “Uuuuu”, and as they repeated it, the two women who
had performed the tea ceremony, who I later learned were their mothers, good
naturedly joined in by singing, “Ahhh”. They repeated it slowly,
each taking turns, and eventually members of the audience began trying to
join in in various ways. AFRIRAMPO’s mothers left the stage, Oni slung
on her guitar, Pikacyu got behind her drums, and they launched into ‘Dodododo’,
and followed it with a few of their other more familiar tunes. Even their
familiar songs include a generous amount of improvisation, especially in the
vocal realm, and it wasn’t long before you could feel the audience’s
support firmly behind them. Pika stepped out from behind her drums, Oni took
off her guitar, they stepped out front, and before they had met at centerstage,
they had launched into an acappela improvisation, whose feedom, beauty, and
humor, showed how comfortable and adept they’ve become in their own,
invented, freeform vocals. When Pika introduced the phrase “Sonic Youth”
into the duet, the crowd’s obvious appreciation, insured its repetition
a number of times. Then they were back to the drums and guitar, but they were
introducing some new songs. I began to notice a folk music influence I hadn’t
heard in their music before. They still regularly return to their frenetic
rocking, but now and then Oni’s guitar softened, and some of the songs
seemed to have more of an obvious structure. When they add a repeated vocal
chorus to that, they achieve a soulful richness I hadn’t heard in their
music before. The next time they put their instruments down (though Pika was
carrying her floor tom), they moved out into the audience, climbing over the
seats and the people, until they were in the middle of the room. Oni was leading
a cheer, which changed each time, and when they got to the middle of the room
Pika began pounding on her drum and providing her own changes to the cheer.
When they returned to the stage, it was to leave the stage, but they got the
applause they deserved, and though it took a while, the applause never abated.
When they came back out, Pika put on the guitar, and Oni got behind the drums.
Oni didn’t do much more than pat the drums with her hands, but Pika strummed,
and sang a song they had written during their three-month stay in a pygmy
village in Africa. Together, they sang the recently translated, English version
of the song, and if there had been a bouncing ball, I’ll bet the audience
would have happily sung along with them.
Agatsuma
Festival Haiti/Agatsuma--Lincoln Center Out Of Doors--8/27/04
I got there late, but believe I
caught most of Agatsuma’s set. As I approached they seemed to be doing
a rock/blues jam thing, except instead of guitar, their lead instrument is
a shamisen (a three-stringed traditional Japanese instrument). Otherwise,
they’ve got bass, drums, and keyboards. So, it’s a traditional rock
band format with the shamisen replacing guitar. It’s an intriguing sound
and led me to consider that a banjo could probably front a rock band, too,
but it’s already been done in country music. Next, the band left the
stage and Hiromitsu Agatsuma did a more traditional shamisen performance.
His playing was impressive, and though he used a traditional pick (rather
large) his fingerwork was much like that of a lead guitarist, even on the
traditional song. The fingerwork was fast and intricate, and regularly received
much deserved applause, as did the other members of the band when they returned
and were each given a chance to show their stuff on their individual instruments.
Of the three others, the bassist impressed me the most, but the drummer played
to the crowd by throwing his drumsticks up in the air behind him when he was
done with them and ready to switch to other sticks and other drums. The keyboardist
was also pretty amazing, and now and again he’d toss in joke bits from
songs that it seemed everyone but me recognized. All the songs were instrumental,
though the shamisen player regularly talked with the audience between songs.
The last few songs they played had an adult pop/jazz feel and were well received
by the crowd. As I left the area and moved to where the Haiti performance
would take place, I passed the table where they were selling Agatsuma CDs,
and the crowd waiting to buy CDs was easily five people deep all around the
table.
Air
Air--Knitting Factory--1/24/01
I got there, traded in my ticket
for the cancelled EX-GIRL show, and waited with a small crowd that was more
than 95% made up of young Japanese. AIR soon took the stage. They’re
a trio of guitar, drums, and five-string bass. The bassist had three different
bass guitars set up on stage. The guitarist had a guitar tech off on the side,
who was kept busy retuning guitars, and regularly handing him new ones to
play. The music was a light pop, but the arrangements were inventive, and
technically the various members of the band were quite good. The bassist especially,
regularly added nice surprises to the songs, and though certainly pop, the
technical prowess added jazz aspects to the sound. The guitarist sang most
of the songs and provided the only stage-show, with occasional hops into the
air. The bassist sang a couple of songs and regularly provided back-up vocals.
To expand their sound they sometimes used tapes. Toward the end of their set,
the guitarist announced they were going to play some “hard and heavy”
tunes. The last three songs were neither hard nor heavy, but they did thump
more than the rest of the set, and they managed to add a bit of a funk groove
to the mix. The crowd, though generally quiet and polite, clapped enthusiastically
after each song, and the enthusiasm grew as the set continued.
Akaten
Japanese New Music Festival: Acid Mothers Temple SWR/Zoffy/Ruins
Alone/Ronruins/Zubi Zuva X/Shrinp Wark/Akaten/Seikazoku--NorthSix--9/3/06
The Japanese New Music Festival
was Atsushi Tsuyama and Makoto Kawabata of ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE, and Tatsuya
Yoshida of RUINS in various combinations. The only exception was RONRUINS,
a project of YoshidaÕs which included Ron Anderson on guitar and vocals, and
Jesse Krakow on bass and vocals. The majority of the people attending understood
the situation. All the bands were there. They were just made up of the same
three people, and many didnÕt play more than a few songs. At one point I was
just going to do one report of the entire evening, but as it turns out, IÕve
divided my reports up for the different ÒbandsÓ. Throughout the evening, the
three principals regularly welcomed us to ÒThe Japanese New Music FestivalÓ.
They did it so often, it became a running gag. All three of the principals
sang in most of the ÒbandsÓ, though Kawabata tended to stick to back-up vocals.
AKATEN was just Tsuyama and Yoshida.
For the first song Yoshida played with his electronics while Tsuyama played
with the zipper on his pants, zipping the amplified zipper up and down. For
the second song they played a duet with amplified toothbrushes, which ended
when Tsuyama began brushing his hair with his toothbrush. On the third song
Yoshida used the advance mechanics of a camera to keep a percussive rhythm,
while Tsuyama sang a ballad about the camera along with tapes of a piano.
The forth song featured Yoshida shredding a daikon, while Tsuyama blew over
the tops of a set of plastic bottles that were connected so that they vaguely
resembled a pan flute. They were having a good time, and obviously enjoying
each othersÕ jokes and clowning. They closed out by opening a bottle of wine,
pouring out two glasses, and toasting each other, all to taped sounds of the
same provided by YoshidaÕs electronics.
AKB48
AKB48--Webster Hall--9/27/09
AKB48 played their first U.S. show tonight, and I was there. Actually, I was there because I got an invitation from New York--Tokyo. Otherwise, I doubt if I would have been there. Surprisingly, though, a lot of people were there, and many were very enthusiastic. One person even told me they wish they had had earplugs, not because of AKB48, but because of all the screaming fans! Where did all these screaming fans come from? I’ve got to suppose that a good number of them came from the anime festival. What is AKB48? AKB48 are one of a small collection of Japanese groups made up of a large number of young Japanese girls, and they tend to play upbeat, energetic, and usually very happy pop music. Tonight AKB48 consisted of sixteen girls who sang, danced, and charmingly entertained us for a good hour and a half plus. That included two encores. Why do they call themselves AKB48? Because there are actually forty-eight girls involved, which if you do the math, means that they actually have three separate groups, much as Broadway plays have groups touring and doing the plays in other cities. I also learned later, from members of GELATINE, whose exciting set I was able to catch most of immediately after AKB48’s show downstairs below Webster Hall at The Studio, that AKB stands for Akihabara, Tokyo, (often referred to by Tokyoites as Akiba) where the AKB48 theater is located. The show started off with the sixteen girls coming out dressed as schoolgirls with a few extra sparkles, and they sang a few songs, which each included a good deal of choreography that moves the girls around the stage a good deal, so that when they take their turns singing they're usually in the front of the stage. That involves a good deal of choreography, as all sixteen girls get their turns to sing, sometimes all at the same time. Their vocals are quite good. The dancing isn’t always as in sync as it could be, but it’s not bad, and the music is prerecorded and pumped through the sound system. After three songs, each of the sixteen girls introduced themselves, and most commented about being in New York. Each comment brought cheers from the audience, so that took a while. The ones who announced their ages ranged from fourteen to eighteen. From then on, groups of the sixteen girls ranging from four to twelve came out and sang songs, mostly dressed in different summer dress style attire each time, though once a group of seven came out dressed as various animals. The songs were sweet and happy pop music, with a song now and then about loving and needing. Late in the set four women came out seductively dressed in sparkly, black vinyl raincoats, and what looked very much like black vinyl lingerie. They sang a couple of slightly sexier love songs, chatted up the crowd a bit more, and presented us with the idea that we were expected to choose our favorite member of AKB48. Soon after that, all sixteen members were back out on stage, and though the early songs had often included a word or phrase of English, toward the end they sang a few songs completely in English. Near the very end, each of the girls went offstage and returned with a red scarf. They had handed out scarves as you entered the ballroom, and we were encouraged to wave ours when they waved theirs. The two encores were well earned by both AKB48 and the audience, who cheered and shouted long enough to give the entire group time to change their costumes yet again and reemerge in “I Heart NY” T-shirts. Each time the entire AKB48 left the stage, they left it in a very unchoreographed fashion, but each of them were waving to the audience and saying, “Bye-bye!” repeatedly. It was not a moving show, but AKB48’s enthusiasm and energy definitely made it an enjoyable show.
Akima & Neos
Spunks/Cyclones/Akima&Neos/DynamiteClub--CBGB--3/7/04
AKIMA & NEOS set up impressively
quickly. There were two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and two attractive
back-up singers. Everyone I talked to about this band before and after the
show mentioned T. REX, but IÕve seen T. REX live, and believe me, AKIMA &
NEOS are no T. REX. People mentioned AkimaÕs Marc Bolan style hair-do, but
Marc BolanÕs hair was always immaculately styled. AkimaÕs isnÕt. I liked AkimaÕs
yellow pants and red sports jacket with the big lapels, and the lead guitarist
had a very quirkily stylish look. Technically, everyone in this band was obviously
quite good, including Akima, who laid down some hot leads himself when he
wasnÕt singing. The band seemed tight, energetic, and enthusiastic, as they
ran through their repertoire. Both the guitarists covered the stage well,
and the back-up singers smiled broadly as they danced their simple choreography
and sang their hearts out. The lead guitarist was especially gifted at strange
feedback effects that shrieked and shimmered as the band pounded away. Unfortuantely,
he was way too loud, and the artful noise he created overpowered everything
else in the band except the drummer. The three vocalists were shouting loudly,
but could only barely be heard, and the rest of the band could only be heard
as a constant roar. If the catchy rhythms of T. REX, and the slick pop surfaces
of glamrock were there, they were lost somewhere inside that roar. I occasionally
heard something that sounded reminiscent of the tribal repetitiveness of Gary
Glitter, but even that was buried deep within the loud roar that no one seemed
to have control over. I appreciated their showy performance, but the roar
was mystifying. I bought a CD just to see what it was supposed to sound like.
On CD, AKIMA & NEOS are a different
band. AkimaÕs vocals, virtually buried at this show, are front and center,
and the T. REX comparisons are understandable and obviously desired. His studio
vocals are as warm and cute as a Marc Bolan imitatorÕs vocals should be. ItÕs
really quite good, and done with an impressive slickness. As imitators, they
should probably watch out for the inherent hokum, unless that's the point,
which with T. REX it may very well be. The lead guitarist, who is also out
front in the recordings, deserves to be. He's almost as impressive in the
studio as he was live.
Sex Slaves/Akima & Neos--Don Hill’s--6/1/05
AKIMA & NEOS were already on
stage when I arrived, but they must have just started, as I was still able
to see a good number of songs. I was immediately aware of a much better sound
than the last time I saw them. The vocals were out front, and everyone could
be heard, though at first the lead guitarist seemed to be buried, and Akima
did the leads on the first couple of songs I heard. Though Akima, in spite
of his haircut, is not Marc Bolan, AKIMA & NEOS really have captured the T.
REX sound. There are really no other bands that have gone for that sound,
or at least none that have come close enough to notice. If you like Marc Bolan
and T. REX, and you never got a chance to see them, this is about as close
as youÕre going to get. Technically, everyone in this band is quite good.
The drummer especially impressed me tonight. The lead guitarist did turn up
a bit after a few songs, and in the one ballad, ÔMy Dear FriendÕ, he stepped
out and just laid down a beautiful lead. The technique was pure heavy metal
flash, but his playing flowed smoothly and intricately to places that totally
caught me by surprise. He and the drummer were the only ones in the band that
werenÕt obviously having a great time. They were no doubt concentrating on
their playing. The ones having the best time were the two back up singers.
They did dance routines as they sang, waving their arms in the air joyously.
This time I could hear their vocals, and I got it. Their vocals are a play
on the Flo & Eddie back-up vocals from Electric Warrior and The Slider. In
truth, Flo & Eddie did a noticeably better job, but AKIMA & NEOSÕ back-up
singers are a lot more fun to look at, and they dance better, too. Akima does
a good job fronting the band. His guitar is multi-colored, like a mosaic,
or maybe a stained-glass window, and twice in the set he raised it up above
his head, and somehow turned on small electric lights which shone across the
front of it. Obviously, copping a known sound has a certain amount of limitations,
but AKIMA & NEOS were having a great time up there, and their joy was infectious.
Asakusa Jinta
Pistol Valve/Go!Go!7188/The Emeralds/50 Kaitenz/Asakusa Jinta--Empty
Bottle (Chicago, IL)--3/14/07
I missed Japan Nite in New York.
(I was out of town.) So, here I was catching it in Chicago. It was not the
easiest journey, but, once again, Audrey Kimura had put together one hell
of a show! I sure didn’t want to totally miss it! With help from my friend
Paul Yamada, I rode the trains, busses, and taxis, negotiated Chicago’s
byways, and eventually entered the Empty Bottle. Paul had referred to it as
a dive, but I don’t mind a good dive, and found it quite roomy. The almost
completely wooden and brick interior gave it a down-home bar-room feel, and
tonight it was the place to be for Japanese rock ‘n’ roll.
ASAKUSA JINTA are a seven
piece band. It was hard to imagine what they might sound like, and, in fact,
difficult to describe once you had heard them. There was a female on accordian,
another female on trumpet, a drummer, a stand-up bassist, a guitarist, another
trumpeter, and an alto-horn player. Paul suggested it sounded like a klesmer
band. I was thinking it sounded like a jazz swing band with some rockabilly
influence. It was a kind of hybrid I had never heard before, and is almost
certainly unique unto itself. The most important thing, though, is they were
spirited, and out to have a good time, and like all the bands tonight, were
well skilled at encouraging the audience to have a good time, too. We did!
Japan Nite 2009: Detroit7/Asakusa Jinta/Grapevine/SA/Sparta Locals/Omodaka/Flip--Bowery Ballroom--3/22/09
Ah, Japan Nite 2009! Japan Nite has become a tradition. Once a year, Audrey Kimura, of Benten/Sister Records organizes the Japanese bands for SXSW, and after the SXSW shows, she takes a bunch of the bands on a short, but slowly expanding, tour of some of the bigger cities of the United States. Thankfully, New York has always been included. Sometimes Audrey comes back later in the year, but the March Japan Nite show has become a tradition, and it’s often the best show of the year. This year she brought seven Japanese bands. Wow!
ASAKUSA JINTA came out and tried their hardest to get the audience going again. They repeatedly called out for dancing, and though the band bounced around the stage almost constantly, it never resulted in much dancing out in the audience. Asakusa Jinta are an odd band. They consist of a drummer, a guitarist with a double neck guitar (one a twelve string), a trumpet player (who sang back-up a good deal), a female soprano saxophone player, a french horn player (who, when he put that down often picked up a cowbell and banged away), and the lead singer who also played stand-up bass. Their music bounced around as joyfully as the band members did. Sometimes they rocked, sometimes the horns provided a jazzy feel. At times there was a bit of a folk feel, as if they were a skiffle band who'd gotten together and were enjoying improvising just to see what they could come up with. One song toward the end of the set started out with the bassist, who proved what an excellent bassist he is, and then launched the band into what sounded like a rockabilly tune. They were just all over the map, and they were having themselves a great time. It was a surprising, and enjoyable set, and their enthusiasm for the music made it a joy to experience. They never really did get the audience as excited about it as they were, but everyone was having a good time on and off the stage.
Asakusa Jinta/Retada/Gelatine--Southpaw--3/24/09
I was barely ready for another night of Japanese rock, after only six hours sleep since Japan Nite two days ago, but then, I wasn’t gonna miss it, either. GRAPEVINE was playing in another part of Brooklyn, and I was torn between the two shows, but this one won out, because ASAKUSA JINTA was more fun, and GELATINE, one of my favorite local bands was opening up the show.
ASAKUSA JINTA started up with a little introductory number which fittingly sounded very much like a fanfare. If anything, they were even more energetic tonight, and they played a good deal longer than they had played at Japan Nite. For one song the woman even put down her soprano saxophone, and played her tenor saxophone. The way the horns are used in ASAKUSA JINTA adds a bit of New Orleans jazz style to their sound. They played many of the same songs they had played at Japan Nite, but played quite a few others too, and the new songs continued to stretch the boundaries of what this band is. I was describing ASAKUSA JINTA to Yusuke and Maria before the set. I knew that Asakusa was an area in Tokyo, but they explained to me that “jinta” was a type of small band used in Japan in the early twentieth century to promote things. The jinta band would walk through town playing, and passing out flyers and such. ASAKUSA JINTA, being a six piece band these days, is quite a bit different than that, but I do see similarities in their joyful bouncing about, their party atmosphere, and their constant promotion of more dancing. Tonight it worked! By the end of the night Jesus and a number of others had created a kick dance that brought square dancing into the mosh pit. It was a joyous set, and the joy was contagious. Nearly everyone in the club was up front and enjoying the show. Tonight the woman, reading from a piece of paper, told us, “This song was written for a violent world, from a small island called Japan. It’s called ‘Star’, and we hope you will enjoy it.” The upright bass player put down his bass, and with guitar accompaniment, he began slowly singing what seemed to be an enka number. The band eventually joined in, but it was the one song that avoided their party spirit. They followed that up with the song where several of them pull out scarves and wave them over their heads. At Japan Nite that song had closed their set, but tonight they played a couple more songs before finishing up, and then were called back for an encore of a few more songs. Tonight they had totally brought the party to the audience.
Attack Haus
Attack Haus/The Unbearables/Biirdie--Pianos--6/27/05
ATTACK HAUS were next. There
were six people up on stage, and it wasnÕt long before they started testing
their instruments, and it seemed like they were all testing them at once and
not listening to each other. It reminded me of an orchestra tuning up. What
sounded like an anime soundtrack eventually began playing, and five people
now remained on stage: a woman in a very attractive black dress on guitar,
a guy in the back corner handling the various programming, the drummer, and
two guys with trucker caps up front on either side of the stage. ÒAttack HausÓ
was written on the bill of the caps. About half the time these two guys sang
and danced energetically, at other times one of them played bass, and the
other played guitar. Their singing was often rap inspired, but they kept the
lyrics short and concise. Though the techno was a fairly constant aspect of
the ATTACK HAUS sound, it was impressive the variety of sounds they presented
within it. The woman guitarist, and the men on either side of her in the caps
handled the singing. A few of the songs were catchy exercises in pop music
with all the vocalists helping out. Almost always there was a big strong beat
going. Some of it was programmed, but when the drummer kicked in, each of
his beats seemed to land effortlessly, and the ATTACK HAUS beat stomped along
like a magical machine. The highlight of the show was ÔB.N.A.Õ, where during
a repeated part of the song the three in front jumped up and down, like energetic,
pogoing children, as they played and sang. The enthusiasm of the band throughout
the performance was infectious. The music filled the room with its pounding
beat, and when it came to an end we called them back for an encore. Unfortunately,
the club had been running late the entire evening. Though the band was ready
to oblige us, the soundman nixed the idea, and ATTACK HAUS began packing up
their equipment.
Attack Haus/Gray Star--CBGB--6/30/05
I came back inside and ATTACK HAUS
were setting up on stage. When a lush pop number started up, I knew their
set was beginning, because youÕd never hear something like that between sets
at CBGBs. ATTACK HAUS started into their first number, and I immediately noticed
that the guitar was louder than it had been at Pianos. They soon took it down
a notch, but it remained noticeably louder, and helped give ATTACK HAUSÕ sound
a bit more of an edge. There were a good deal more people in the audience
tonight. Some of the young Japanese had probably come to see a local Japanese
band, UZUHI, that had played earlier, but I actually met a couple fans who
had come all the way from Japan to see ATTACK HAUS play at CBGB. About half
of the Japanese in front of the stage danced throughout the entire set, and
obviously had a great time. I happened to be surrounded by members of a paler
race, who stood like boards thoughout the set, though the guy next to me did
manage to nod his head to the slamming ATTACK HAUS beat. The larger CBGB stage
allowed the three members out front to move around a good deal more than they
had on Monday. Fujino, on guitar, was wearing her black dress again; and Makko,
on bass, and Masashi, on guitar, happily danced about and did their rap style
vocals when they werenÕt playing their guitars. I noticed the interplay of
their vocals more tonight. They regularly seem to trade vocal lines, and then
sing the refranes together, though both had songs in which they handled the
majority of the vocals. FujinoÕs vocals often acted as a sweet spice on some
of the poppier numbers. Even those poppier numbers had the bombastic ATTACK
HAUS beat pumping up the energy, though. Kenichi, on drums, seemed to be stomping
things out even harder tonight, with the smooth, sure grace I had noticed
the other night; and Suke, manipulating the programming, seems to be adding
a little bit of everything to the mix. Together, the members of ATTACK HAUS
mix stomping rock with rap and techno to create a new sound that would kick
almost any party into high gear. They saved ÔB.N.A.Õ for their encore tonight,
and closed their set with a true energy burst. There were lots of people jumping
along with them out in the audience tonight, but during that last song the
three up front members of ATTACK HAUS bounced around that stage with an energy
that should have shamed that audience for not moving more.
& Others--Live (B-C)
