PACIFICTION RECORDS

THE FADEAWAYS - (I Wanna Get Some) Action! - New 7" release by Swamp Fiction!

2011-11-17T09:19:00.003-05:00

Swamp Fiction (that's the label branch of Pacifiction Records) has been hard at releasing new & amazing garage punk from the Far East! The latest news is that THE FADEAWAYS, a Japanese band know for crunching up classic North West style garage has been chucking it back Stateside. They performed a short tour of the North East earlier this November, and Swamp Fiction completed their US debut 7" single just in time for them to sell-out of it during their 6 show run!

THE FADEAWAYS brought 50 copies of "(I Wanna Get Some) Action" with them on the road and not a one was left for them to take back to Japan! Lucky for you, you can grab them a Pacifiction Records! The B-side is a cover of Texas trashers THE TROLLS' "That's The Way My Love Is," done faithfully and with enough of that eastern edge to keep you spinning it over and over. And did I mention, it comes in colors? Yes, each record is a pressed with uniquely random colors to give it that collectible knack!

http://www.pacifictionrecords.com/japan/CD/FADEAWAYS_action45.shtml

SWAMP FICTION Recording Artists THE FADEAWAYS & THEEE BAT Live on the East Coast USA!

2011-10-11T09:47:00.006-04:00

Big news this Fall for Swamp Fiction, that's the record label branch of Pacifiction Records, and what all the garage punk nuts out there should be keeping an eye on! THEEE BAT have visited smoky London & played the Funtastic Dracula Carnival in Spain. Now they are making their US debut (along with a new release from Dirty Ugly/Squoodge Records). You can get their first record, a split EP with hi-power UK rock 'n' roll band ATOMIC SUPLEX out on Swamp Fiction, at all of their shows! At the same time, different channel, THE FADEAWAYS will be tearing up the east coast opening for Japanese surf legends JACKIE & THE CEDRICS! They also have a new release, a 7" single by Swamp Fiction entitled "(I Wanna Get Some) Action!" Expect lots more surprises on the up-coming odyssey this November cause this is just the tip of the tentacle!

THE FADEAWAYS, supporting JACKIE & THE CEDRICS on tour!

Northwest garage by way of Japan on the East Coast! THE FADEAWAYS are supporting JACKIE & THE CEDRICS on an East Coast tour. They'll also play with some sharp acts like MUCK & THE MIRES and Crypt legends THE LYRES so be sure to check club websites! Also a trip to the merch table is a must if you wanna pick up a copy of their new 7" single "(I Wanna Get Some) Action!" on Swamp Fiction!

Sat. 11/5 - Precinct Bar (http://precinctbar.com), Boston, MA w/ The Lyres, Muck & The Mires

Sun. 11/6 - Cafe Nine (http://cafenine.com/), New Haven, CT

Mon. 11/7 - The Record Collector (http://the-record-collector.com/), Bordentown, NJ

Tues. 11/8 - Firehouse13 (http://fh13.com/), Provence, RI w/ The Fablous Itchies

Wed. 11/9 - Maxwell's(http://maxwellsnj.com/), Hoboken, NJ w/ The Reigning Sound

THEEE BAT - Takes a bite out of the Big Apple and then some!

Japanese garage punk band THEEE BAT is bringing their Batman-themed, Jack-the-ripper-inspired mayhem to the East Coast! They are rumored to play with some hipshakin' NYC bands like THE BACK C.C.'s, but check club websites for more info. They are also set to open for the legendary Japanese girls rockabilly, garage trio the 5678's at the Mercury Lounge in NYC! Get their first release, a Swamp Fiction EP on yellow vinyl and also snag a copy of the already rare new 7" "I'm Gonna Kill My Baby Tonite!"

Fri. 11/4 - Otto's Shrunken Head (http://ottosshrunkenhead.com/), NYC

Sat. 11/5 - Brooklyn Fire Proof (http://www.brooklynfireproof.com/), Brooklyn, NYC

Sun. 11/6 - Don Pedro's Bar & Lounge (http://www.donpedrobrooklyn.com/), Brooklyn, NYC

Tues. 11/8 - Snug Harbor, New Paltz, NY

Fri. 11/11 - The Little Bar (http://www.littlebarphilly.com/), Philadelphia, PA

Sat. 11/12 - Mercury Lounge (http://www.mercuryloungenyc.com/), NYC - Special opening act for the 5678's

TOKYO TRASHVILLE revisted, Bruce Milne at SWANK & The Stompin' Riffraffs new release!

2011-06-21T09:24:00.007-04:00

Looking back to my college days there were three compilations that got me interested in the Japanese garage punk scene of the early 90's. In no particular order they are Wacky Wild Gift, a Benten label sampler with all girl bands; Hodge Podge Barrage Vol.2, a mix of 90's era Japanese and American garage punk bands compiled by 1+2 Records... And last but not nearly least, Tokyo Trashville, released by Australia's Au-Go-Go Records with a selection of thrilling Japanese tunes hand-picked by label owner Bruce Milne & DJ Hiroshi Sekiguchi of the hit record hop SWANK. Trashville was my first taste of Guitar Wolf and Teengenerate, both of whom do tributes to the Ramones with "Kung Fu Ramone" and "Johnny & Dee Dee," respectively as well as girl garage groups the 5678's and Supersnazz and a number of bands I have seen in some form since coming to Japan to discover the scene for myself and carve out a niche of my own. In fact, I dare to think of my own label Swamp Fiction as a "Child of Trashville!"

While I had the excellent fortune to catch Teengenerate on their 2005 reunion in New York, the first Trashville band I saw in Japan after moving here was Jackie & the Cedrics, who do "Squad Car" on the comp. I still go crazy when I hear them play this frantic ride live! (Incidentally, the inimitable Rockin' Jelly Bean did the cover art Tokyo Trashville, as well as the other aforementioned comps). During this honeymoon period of mine, I had the pleasure of being introduced to Sekiguchi-san himself and also went to a couple of his SWANK DJ parties in Tokyo. As I started getting more deeply involved in the scene, I had the nice opportunity to invite the man himself to DJ at my own "House of Mystery" rockin' frat house Christmas party at Club Heavy Sick, which was, by the way, great fun! Then the rumors started coming to a head... Au-Go-Go Records' Bruce Milne was coming to Japan to spin records at SWANK, needless to say, I promised Sekiguchi-san I'd be there or be considered square!

(Hiroshi Sekiguchi, Wayne Manor, Bruce Milne)

When I arrived at Green Apples, the site of the alleged SWANK rockin' party, I was ushered almost directly to Bruce's table by the kindly giant DJ Wild Ox and sat down for a quick chat. I found Bruce very amiable listening to me babble on about my own endeavors, err foibles, into the Japanese garage scene while we listened to the cool rock 'n' roll tunes on the turntables and waited for the bands to play. The place was small dimly lit and the bill was perfect. Lonely rocker Taka-rock & One Man Heartbreakers opened the show with his oldies covers and jovial personality. The spectacular Stompin' Riff Raffs played a fun-filled set (more on them later!) and I was honored to see that Swamp Fiction's own Theee Bat was the headliner! Yet again I was reluctant to take the last train home, but I was lucky to get a couple snaps with Hiroshi & Bruce before the nite was up.

That nite I was also prodded with the new Stompin' Riff Raffs album "Horror Show" by their sociable bass player Rie and took home a stack with me which are now available at Pacifiction Records! Before "Stompin'," as they are known by familiars, played I asked Bruce if he had seen them before and he recounted an amusing anecdote involving Hiroshi in which he pleaded with him over dinner to get him to drop his chopsticks and get him over to the live house and catch their set... upon reviewing the new CD I found this exact scenario scribed in the liner notes! Just to say a little something about the new album, Stompin' Riff Raff's first effort pays homage to a unique era of early sixties rockabilly & frat rock hybrid style that historically falls in between the fall of the leather jacket greaser and the emergence of the shaggy-haired primitive 60's punk. There's a number of covers including a well-done version of the legendary Ron Haydock's "99 Chicks" as well as the bands original material largely penned by wildman Nao and finely executed by his masked entourage of chicks! Expect a good measure of Nao's rippin' riffs, rhythmic thumpin' by Rie and drummer Saori and some keyboard poundin' by Miku, not to mention little wrigglin' theremin, and if you really try hard you can imagine Saori brightly smilin' throughout each track!

This last bit is a big arigato to all who have made me feel welcome in this very real Tokyo Trashville I set out to discover! Ya'll know who you are & I keep looking forward to more great times with each stompin' weekend!

HEAL THE COAST: A Homespun Tsunami Benefit

2011-05-21T12:55:00.004-04:00

Over the past year Pacifiction Records has evolved in some strange ways... spinning off a record label, organizing events, hosting & DJ-ing our own parties in the heart of Tokyo's garage punk scene.... And then, on March 12, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck, subsequently unleashing a towering tsunami causing immense damage and agonizing loss of life along the northeastern coast of Japan. Fortunately, I am located in Yokohama, just southwest of Tokyo and pretty much out of harms way. Not to say that my area wasn't affected... streets were cracked around Yokohama station causing businesses to remain closed for months, aftershocks continued to rattle our daily lives, numerous neighborhoods experienced energy-conserving rolling blackouts and, because of panic-buying, bread, eggs, milk and other goods were scarce on store shelves for several weeks. Then the fear of nuclear-fallout preyed on everyone's consciences causing a stall in the restarting of Tokyo's nightlife and live house scene. However, charity events soon popped up and donation buckets appeared on bar counters.

As various foreign celebrities like Lady Gaga and Liam Gallagher started their own campaigns for Japan, so did underground efforts begin to mobilize. The UK-based Independent Creative Movement compiled a three volume benefit series titled Punk4Japan with a diverse and raucous roster of bands throwing down to help raise money for Red Cross actions in Japan. Influenced by these efforts, Pacifiction Records contacted numerous Japanese indies bands from a wide array of current scenes ranging in style from garage to punk, ska, psychobilly and Irish folk punk, as well as a few bands from the UK, North America and Taiwan who have strong ties to the local scene to join together for a homegrown charity compilation titled HEAL THE COAST: A Homespun Tsunami Benefit. This downloadable compilation is available on the Pacfiction Records website and features numerous bands familiar to our customers like ED WOODS, THEEE BAT, SPOOKEY, DREX and DOING LIFE. Special thanks are in order to TAKUMiX at Modernedge Records and The Japanese Bastard from UNCLEOWEN MUSIC for their song donations. All proceeds from HEAL THE COAST go to the Japanese Red Cross Society. It is a limited release and will no longer be available after May 31, 2012, so get it now and help the people of Japan get a step closer past this agonizing tragedy.

Get it here:

http://www.pacifictionrecords.com/HEALTHECOAST_tsunamibenefit.shtml

THE HARPY's USA Tour - A Winged Tale of Estrogen & Eyeliner from Japan

2010-09-23T11:33:00.000-04:00

So I finally did what I've been talking about doing for a longtime. I booked a Japanese band in the NY area and went on tour with them, at least for most of the shows. When I wasn't spending time with family whom I hadn't seen in nearly two years, I was chauffeuring Japanese girls band THE HARPY's around, taking them to sights of interest and wheeling so that they got the most out of their trip. Many might recognize guitarist Satomi and bass player Maki from their previous band the infamous Falsies on Heat. For a year now both have been writing new frenzied material with a drummer named Tomo who they conned (without much difficulty) into dressing like a punk rock girl, eye liner and all. The result being a hot buzz band that's won a Fred Perry sponsored contest and released a single on the indie label Due. RECORDS to coincide with their recently completed USA tour which brought them from NYC to upstate NY, the backwoods of Connecticut and back. I'll go into some fine day-by-day details from here...

9/11 - QxBxRx presents... @ CAKE SHOP, Manhattan, NYC

No I didn't actually make it to this one, but I heard from Satomi some interesting details. Falsies on Heat played this party when they came around two years ago, and The Harpy's were welcome to join the city's gateway into the queer underground & metrosexual garage subculture. This time round featured a burlesque show by curvy badgirl Li’l Miss Lixxx and local bands Triple Hex & Boogie Brains. I was also told that Kerry Davis from the Red Aunts (Maki and Satomi started out playing their songs in a high school band) was in attendance at the Cake Shop.

9/12 - Lady Bree Presents... @ DON PEDRO BAR, Brooklyn, NYC

I met up with my old friend and cohort from high school days Chris Webber (http://www.lemondonutphotos.com), who occasionally acts as a tour photographer when I have a Japanese band the NY area. We rode the train down from Port Jervis to NYC and walked in the rain to Other Music then took the L to Bedford Ave and hoofed through Williamsburg to the place where Pass Out Record Shop used to be. Oh well, it's gone.

Then met up with my folks and my sister for her birthday dinner at The Lodge before heading to the show at Don Pedro's around 9pm. At Don Pedro I met Lady Bree, hostess for the evening, Phil & Matt who were helping The Harpy's get around in the city, and Hitomi, drummer for High Teen Boogie. And another friend, Anna Bananarchy, from my days at Radical Records also showed up to see her friends in Devil Eyes, the first Canadian band to cross paths with The Harpy's on this tour. Devil Eyes were killer friendly, and played a hip set of indie punk tunes that included a cover of Please Don't Touch (I bought the 7"!). The Harpy's had no need to adjust to playing on tour and proved themselves infinitely more than capable of holding a lazy Sunday nite crowd's attention. The final band, The Back CC's were the main draw and killed with organ-powered garage punk and frantic stage action with rubber chicken heads! The drive home upstate was a drag, but at least we had a day off before picking The Harpy's up in Manhattan for a Tuesday afternoon road trip.

9/14 - Pete's Warehouse, New Paltz, NY

Drove down to Manhattan with Chris and picked up The Harpy's from Matt's place. On the way out of the city, I fumbled a bit and let the GPS take me through the Holland Tunnel, getting slightly lost in Jersey City then taking a slow and hardly scenic route through north Jersey. Finally made it to my folks place where we had some Bud Lite and deli subs for lunch. Showed them around the house and my Dad's roadhouse barn, which would be like an estate in Japan (Tomo literally flipped out like a hyperactive anime character when he saw the pool!), but with wild gardens & hillbilly junk lying here and there. Then we headed up to High Falls (Tomo, being a country boy, nearly got lost in the brush with Chris), Rosendale (we went on the rail trestle despite it being closed for safety reasons) and finally Pete's house on the outskirts of New Paltz.

(Rosendale rail trestle)

At Pete's house we pretty much waited around for Los Doggies to arrive with amps and set up. At first I was doubtful that anyone would show up on a Tuesday nite, but apparently the big warehouse in the middle of nowhere has a big draw just on word-of-mouth. By the time Pete's band NCM started, a group of teenage crust punks, hitchhikers on their way to rainbow gatherings and old guard New Paltz pirates had emerged out of the woods with about a dozen dogs ready have a rock 'n' roll party! Lighting was a non-issue and Los Doggies played an almost instrumental post-punk set in the dark with flashlights flickering from across the musty expanse of damp warehouse and dreaded heads of dancing crusties. When The Harpy's blitzed through a perfect set heightening the grooves of the dancers with their dogs weaving frenziedly between shifting bodies. During "5x6" I shot off a couple cans of silly string into the crowd right when the music picked up and then all the kids continued to party, slugging warm whiskey, singing folk tunes on an accoustic and wrestling each other, well after the climax.

(Dogs and New Paltz pirates at Pete's warehouse)

9/15 - SNAPPER MAGEE'S, Torrington, CT

Loaded up the family van with amps, drums and gear, then drove up to New Paltz with my hippie biker Dad (who The Harpy's instinctively called Papa!), picked up the the band at Pete's house (with Tomo already in full drag attire) and headed out into the wooded hills of western Connecticut. I was actually bit nervous driving into such uncharted hillbilly wilderness and hunter cuntry with a faux drag queen in the back seat. Especially since we had plans to stop for something to eat on the way. We found a Subway on the NY/CT border and the young Indian clerk seemed really interested that we were all coming from Japan; and he did give a sideward glance at Tomo when he heard us discussing sandwich toppings!

Finally we made it to Torrington for my first visit to Snapper's at this location. I've been familiar with the one in Kingston, NY and previously booked Falsies on Heat where they infamously supported one of punk rock's biggest aberrations The Murder Junkies for a one-shot gig two years ago. This year, The Harpy's were thrown on a bill with Rehab for Quitters, a Canadian band with a penchant for loud fast punk'n'roll, and i,fanblades, a trio up from Delaware whose sound borders on baroque punk and progressive hardcore. Before the start of the show, Travis from Snapper's got us invitations to go on air on WAPJ-FM, Torrington's own independent radio station! We walked two blocks down with Rehab for Quitters and waited in the lobby while they did a short interview. Then Satomi and I went into the studio; one of the world's coolest DJs Sketch asked us questions about the tour and played a couple Harpy's songs on Connecticut radio!

We got back to Snapper's and The Harpy's immediately set up and started to play after checking levels and and a quick sound check. They grasped the attention of a lot of kids unready for it and went beyond the expectations of a couple of Japanese culture heads including a sole lolita fashion girl and a roly-poly bag-piper named Ken who did a little Egyptian dance while trying to get the rest of the crowd psyched up! Oh and since I decided to drive home, "Pa Pa" had decided to suck down a bunch of The Harpy's drink coupons! It was a raucous set that left an amazed audience needing more and The Harpy's did a one song encore hardly satisfying the Wednesday nite Snapper's regulars.

As if the saga ended there...! As mentioned before Rehab for Quitters, the second Canadian band to appear on The Harpy's tour, killed it with my drunk old man cheering "That's awesome!" repeatedly! Assisting the band with getting their drinks, I kept my eye on Tomo, who, with miniskirt and eye liner, did a convincing kawaii. I had to just let it flow when the bartender asked, "What'll she have?" Luckily by the time i,fanblades came on, people had figured it out (I guess) and Tomo had been happily dancing with the jubilant Ken, aforementioned! Then i,fanblades' guitar amp head caught on fire causing a silent uproar in the bar and lead to an improvised bass and drum jam to which Tomo grooved too nicely... He was finally compelled to jump on stage announcing "This is Japanese famous song!" and then proceeded to rap Blue Hearts lyrics to the i,fanblades jam! Something like this:

one! two! three! four!

みてきたことやーきいたことー♪

はじめておぼえたぜーんぶー♪

デタラメだったらおもしろいー♪

そんなきもーちわかーるでしょー♪

こころのずーっと奥のほおー♪

こころのずーっとおくのほおー♪

らららららららーらららららー♪

こころのずーっとおくのほおー♪

thank you！！！！

I realized Tomo truly has no fear! Papa swaggered over to me and shouted, " I have hope for this world!" Satomi just said he's BAKA! Then I had to drive everyone home for two and a half hours with The Harpy's yelling "YOPARAI! " (or he's drunk!) at my Papa!

9/17 - SNUG HARBOR, New Paltz, NY

Woke up, had scrambled eggs & toasted bagels and cream cheese before beginning yet another road trip. Seeing as the weather was overcast and rainy, I popped The Vaseline's in my car CD player and we took off for the Galleria mall on the way to New Paltz. Pointed out cheap gags at Spencers, manga at Borders, they got lost in H&M for half an hour... Satomi emerging with piles of bags of clothes! and Tomo curiously dashing through Forever21... If only they were exchange students when I was in high school! Then we headed up to New Paltz for comic and record shopping... made a pilgrimage to October Country. Then had some sad news when I stopped by Jack's Rhythms, Jack Goldberg the longtime record peddler of Main St. had passed while fighting brain cancer. Sullenly we moved onto the 68 Main Co-op where I saw some of the kids who came out to the warehouse show on Tuesday and then headed across the street, making the New Paltz rounds to Rhino Records. After rapping with staff there and buying some souvenir postcards, we headed to Bacchus for some delicious southwestern by way of Hudson appetizers and our first beers of the evening. Still having time to kill before Los Doggies arrived with gear, I gave The Harpy's a tour of the 300 year old stone Huguenot Houses and the church graveyard along supposedly "the oldest street in America." Maki wanted to check it out but, being after dark, Satomi got scared, Tomo and I were carefree and found places to pee in the bushes! Then we decided to wait at Snugs for NCM and Los Doggies to arrive and set up. By 11pm things were underway and NCM had started while the place was filling up. Then The Harpy's commandeered the stage getting neo-hippie regulars and townies alike grooving to their infectious rhythms and off-beat grrrl pop. They planned an extra long set, so that by the time they did "5x6," the crowd was hyper and yenning for more! After they wrapped it up, Los Doggies blasted out with a bit of Nirvana Paltz, something I had not seen yet since they usually reserve only for Halloween! They began their set with covers from Nevermind and then finished up with original Los Doggies experimental fare. By that time a few old friends and cohorts from old New Paltz days sauntered in as I was sobering up ready for the long ride home. I left The Harpy's at Pete's house, telling them I felt depressed, even knowing that they're gonna play my Mystery Mondays show right after we all get back to Japan!

9/17 - Mr. BEERY's, Bethpage, Long Island, NY

9/18 - Lady Bree Presents... @ DON PEDRO BAR, Brooklyn, NYC

Missed these last shows because I was spending time with family, friends and neighbors. First, got a dodgy email from Lady Bree asking if The Harpy's were canceling at Don Pedro's, then got a frightening called Friday evening from High Teen Boogie's Nonlee asking what time The Harpy's were supposed to arrive in at Grand Central from Poughkeepsie... then called Matt and found out they were together and en route to Long Island and judging from the bits of data swirling around the interwebs, they had great shows at both venues with superb local NYC garage bands. Special thanks to High Teen Boogie and Lady Bree for arranging things this last weekend, wish I coulda been there, but barbecue food and potato salad was calling.

Epilogue - BACK IN JAPAN

So I been back in Japan for two days now, trying to manage jet lag and going back to work with keeping ahead of my upcoming event schedule. For anyone in Tokyo, please head to HATAGAYA HEAVY SICK on Mon. 9/27 for MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol. 3, Mystery Girls Part 1, feat. THE HARPY's vs THE DARLINGS! Also including guest DJs SACHI B (GO HONEY GO!) and KYOKO ( THE LEGS) as well as your host WAYNE MANOR (SWAMP FICTION) and his side-kick DJ MICHAEL (HEAD KICKED IN)!!!! Opens at 20:00 and cover is 1,200 yen (plus 1 drink)!

HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol. 1

2010-09-07T12:33:00.003-04:00

Last Sunday I hosted the my first event in Tokyo which I hope to make into a regular series. My idea for Wayne Manor's HOUSE of MYSTERY is to not only have a savage line-up of Japanese garage & punk bands, but also include sideshow entertainments during entertainments. So last Sunday we were graced by THE FLY's newest fling, belly-dancing princess SHAULA LEE... there was also an arm-wrestling contest featuring the fierce CHRIS the ARM-CRUSHER and little challenger DJ OKD of the demented duo YUKKUM YUKKUM along with psycho-weirdo DJ Mr. DEATH! At the end of the nite I pulled raffle tickets and awarded the prizes like a bobble-head Rat Fink and Doggy Style: The Dogs Tribute, with illustration by Rockin' Jelly Bean! Despite being quite busy 'n getting frazzled trying to keep all the bands on time, play my DJ sets and host these skits, it was all worthwhile!

(CHRIS the ARM-CRUSHER vs KAYO (ex-FALSIES ON HEAT drummer!) & WAYNE MANOR!)

It was also a Bon Voyage party for THE HARPY's who I will actually be flying to NY with for their US tour which kicks off next weekend! I jumped on stage and had an American beer KANPAI with Budweiser to celebrate. Les VIVIAN BOYS played next and gave a very European chic meets Japanese mystique performance. Next I passed out home-made Batman masks and played the original 60's TV soundtrack for a Bat-craze dance party just in time for THEEE BAT to blast a high-power cover of Blue Cheer's "Summertime Blues!" THE FLY & his one-man garbage played his slick garage blues and invited rockabilly double bass & guitar men for a hot tune. ED WOODS freaked out like never before with a frantic room of trash followers, I think Billy showed us his entire collection of Batman dungarees before slipping around on the floor! And ANISAKIS finished up the night with their darkly hyper post-punk that ended in bloody fingers and fretboards. So despite my nerves on the edge of a hectic night, everything turned out very cool. My turbaned head is receiving vibes and I predict the HOUSE of MYSTERY will open its doors once again!

(KUB SHARP of THEEE BAT)

MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol. 1 - Punk Nite

2010-09-07T10:18:00.001-04:00

So last week I started up a new regular event titled Mystery Mondays. The idea is to have a mini-live (or 2 band show) with a couple guest DJs every time. The first was more of a punk nite with the '77 punk and skinny tie New Wave style of THE LEGS, a relatively new band on the Tokyo scene that is still gaining ground.

The headliner SEE HER TONITE was a more melodic Japanese punk with a longer history in the Tokyo punk scene alongside bands like The Havenots and Water Closet. Both bands fit well together and I played a DJ set as The Stately Wayne Manor of mostly new gen garage punk, 77 punk and power pop. The guest DJ was Michael, a half-Russian Japanese kid who is a resident at the Dope Music Bar Foggy in Takadanobaba where he does a regular party called Head Kicked In.

The next Mystery Monday, this upcoming September 27th, is sub-titled Myster Girls Part 1 and will feature female-fronted bands THE DARLINGS and THE HARPY's (first show after their return from their US tour!). DJs will include KYOKO, drummer of THE LEGS and SACHI B who hosts a regular party called GO HONEY GO! at DJ BAR CHROME. I will post another blog about this soon!

Sound-splintering Dimensions of Wan Ting

2010-06-19T21:24:00.002-04:00

The past few posts have dealt with a variety of female rock musicians, so I though I would continue the trend by introducing a prolific Taiwanese artist who I've worked with since opening Pacifiction Record and a new CD of hers that I have been meaning to stock for a while now. You might recall Wan Ting from her surrealist electro project Varo, well, I'm proud to introduce her latest CD release with the math rock/post-punk/post-rock band Tin Pan Alley, Needing Dimensions! Below you can read a short outline of Wan Tings career highlighting her musical contributions to the Taiwanese underground scene.

For the past fifteen years or so, guitarist and producer Wan Ting Huang has been piercing diverse spheres of music and developing her unmistakable tremolo reeving solos to become a veritable Taiwanese indie rock icon. She started her career in the seminal girl punk band Ladybug which was know for its angsty lyrics, yet artistically charged compositions. For more about Ladybug and their exploits, read this article on Island of Sound:

http://www.islandofsound.org/taiwanrocksounds/ladybug.html

After quitting Ladybug, Wan Ting enrolled at Columbia College in Chicago to study sound engineering. At the same time as the post-rock phase was reaching its height in Taiwan, she was being exposed to a wider range of music including jazz fusion. Wan Ting was also taking good notes in order to bring proper underground recording techniques back to Taiwan.

On her return, she tested the waters with a solo record entitled Sedaris and then formed Tin Pan Alley with Xiao Bai, a member of a prominent local post-rock outfit Sugar Plum Ferry and set to putting her new-found knowledge to work. The result was their first lo-fi recording Entering Another Tunnel which became a sensation in underground circles and broadened the horizons for post-rock with its use of loungy saxophone and math rock rhythms. Read more about Tin Pan Alley here:

http://www.islandofsound.org/indierocksounds/tin_pan_alley.html

Next, Wan Ting took her career a step further by forming her own label 7 Inch Vinyl Records and released a couple local indie bands including the Japanese/Taiwanese combination shoegazer group SMOL and her new indie-electronica unit Varo. Read more about 7" Vinyl Records here:

http://www.islandofsound.org/indielabels/7inch_vinyl.html

With Varo, Wan Ting applied much of the same stylized tremolo picking techniques, but this time to laptop-generated loops and beats. Taking influence from the surrealism of painter Remedios Varo, she juxtaposed sight and sound by creating songs named after her favorite indie films, almost like alternate soundtracks, but still with an electro/pop song structure. Varo most recently received a reboot and remix album by the Japanese label Rejectone Records, which I might try to stock for Pacifiction if I get some requests. Read more about Varo here:

http://www.islandofsound.org/electronicsounds/varo.html

Both of Varo's albums, the phenomenal debut Hardcore Beach and the intriguing follow-up My Body is the Tempo are available at Pacifiction Records!

Since the 2006 release of My Body is the Temp, Wan Ting has continued to write new Varo material as well as releasing a new Tin Pan Alley album while reviving old friendships along the way. For example, she has also recently toyed with Chug D Lash, a collaboration with former Ladubug vocalist Mei. Always weaving in and out of the fabric of the past, present and future of Taiwan's underground scene, Wan Ting's discography is also awakening interest in the global community of experimental music listeners.

Please visit The Far East Audio Review for an informative interview with Wan Ting!

http://www.fareastaudio.com/archives/05/06/taiwan_chronicle_4_coffee_with_wanting_huang_by_news.php

THE ROCKTIGERS: Dishin' out some hot Kimchibilly!

2010-06-12T11:49:00.000-04:00

Riding the psychobilly bandwagon jump-started by the likes of Tiger Army and taking influence from the leather jacket Jet Rock 'n' Roll of Guitar Wolf, Korea's Rocktigers have gained a cult following at home while raising eyebrows across Asia. With pinup knockout Velvet Geena as the group's spellbinding center piece, The Rocktigers recorded their debut album Come On Let's Go and were subsequently invited to join Japan's Tokyo Big Rumble in 2004. The Rocktigers followed up with Oldies But Goodies, and most recently Rock 'n' Roll Licence which shows a slight change in style from punk hooks to more roots rockabilly, hot rod and exotica sounds. They also continue to host their own Kimchibilly Nights which showcase a wide array of subcultural acts from the Korean underground scene while capturing the interest of rockabilly fanatics the world over!

Read what the LA Times has been saying about The Rocktigers!

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/13/entertainment/la-et-rock-tigers-20100513
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/05/the-rocktigers-bringing-kimchibilly-to-the-masses.html

And on Korea.net!

http://www.korea.net/news.do?mode=detail&guid=47291

And now available on Pacifiction Records, The Rocktigers smash 3 song single Taste The Kimchibilly and newest hoppin' full-length Rock 'n' Roll Licence!

Nikki Corvette & Gorevette Sideswipe Japan!

2010-05-27T11:51:00.004-04:00

Every year, the week between April and May is a big vacation holiday in Japan called Golden Week and this year Detroit punk legend and girl group enchantress Nikki Corvette came with her latest backing band Gorvette, consisting of members of the Gore Gore Girls. They made a four show tour organized by Nikki's longtime Japanese label Base Records with Yokohama garage band The Havenot's supporting at all stops. First nite was at Nakano Moonstep in Tokyo with additional support from Spookey, an all-girl punk/new wave band got popular in Europe for playing with the likes of the Damned. Next the Gorvette crew headed down to Osaka to play Rockrider with one of Japan's most fuzz-fueled trio of female furies The Go-Devils and the old-school pop punk sounds of Wimpy's (who can be found on the 2007 Raw 4 DVD). Next they were joined by melodic punk/power pop fusion band Water Closet and firewater-guzzling garage punk legends Gasoline at Day Trip in Nagoya. Nikki and company finally wound their way up to F.A.D. in Yokohama where they were opened by some of the most savage & stylish garage bands in Tokyo these days, namely the caveman surf & soul group The Mighty Moguls and spy-theme Mod girl band Six (featured on the first Sex & Fury & RnR DVD). I'm very pleased so many bands that I've come into contact with through Pacifiction Records have participated in Nikki's tour and it was very cool I could promote these artists at the same time.

In 2006, I got to see Nikki Corvette and the Stingrays in NYC when they played with Big Fun, Baby Shakes and The Milky Ways at Cake Shop and Trash Bar. At that time I also met Rico, a Japanese kid living in NYC who plays with WLWL, who I became friends with and met in Shibuya and also the last time I went back to the city. After the show, stragglers (like me and Rico) got pictures taken with Nikki and we all went to another rock 'n' roll bar down the road for drinks and late nite dance party. So, needless to say I had been anticipating when I would see Nikki in Japan. I met up with Detroit Jack outside and rapped with him for a bit before going in where I then met DJ Micky Room, who owns a small record shop in Yokohama where I distro some NY punk. After seeing Six do a blistering set of 60's mod & surf filtered through girl punk intensity and The Mighty Moguls lay down a fuzzed-out primitive groove, I met up with Mika and Kub (Theee Bat) and we all waited for Gorvette to speed out of the graveyard. Nikki met another adoring Japanese audience who seemed to shimmy out of their coffin-cubicle daily life to Corvettes classics, Gore Gore Girls tunes and new co-written material as well. They even graced us with a cover of the Buzzcock's "What Do I Get?" and, during the encore, called a bunch of girls from the audience on stage for a femme fatale freakout! To know more about the amounts of estrogen and the machinations of Mothra read this article from the Phallus Press!

After the set, much like in NY, Nikki and company hung out with fans getting pictures taken with them and dancing to the music being played DJ's Micky and Kent-low. Kub and Mika gave Nikki a copy of their new 7" split on Swamp Fiction Records, the first release of a new garage punk label I'm trying to kick start. After much drinking, introducing and chatting, we all let the flashback fade away and parted ways waiting for the next chance to take a spin in the Gorvette time machine.

Japan got ATOMIC SUPLEXED!

2010-04-13T12:56:00.004-04:00

ATOMIC SUPLEX, the high-power UK rock 'n' Roll band, came to Japan at the end of March to celebrate the release of their split 7" EP alongside Tokyo's most frantic garage punk trio THEEE BAT on the new Swamp Fiction label.

This time Stuart came with the Emma (guitar) and Dan (bass) and were backed up by support drummer Joe (who lent his hands to SHLONK last October). They had four gigs lined-up and the whole tour ensued as some kinda twisted circus wrestling match between the Strong Man, Sword Swallower and Bearded Lady. Read on if you will...

March 25th, 2010 - K's Dream, Inage, Chiba

This first show of the tour was in Chiba at K's Dream where some familiar faces from the SHLONK tour showed up. ED WOODS played first, but I missed it because I had to come from work in Yokohama. When I got there I met Howling Hideki, the madman guitar-slinger for HOWLING GUITAR and found out their friend had traveled to NY with GOLDEN and met my father a month earlier. SURGE, a very cool 90's indie, powerpop, alt-rock stylized band also played as well as THE WORLD APARTMENT HORROR, a jumpy DAMNED-influenced garagey rock band with catchy songs who are relatively new on the scene. When ATOMIC SUPLEX came on chaos broke out. Mika Bat and Kub Sharp from THEEE BAT enticed the local Chiba folk to violence and it all came to a sudden halt just short of 20 mins when the mic stand got thrown around and a jockish guy smacked it down into Stuarts's face like a bo staff. It was like a record needle being ripped of their Rock 'n' Roll Must Die 7", the curtain closed and that was the end of the show. Suplexed indeed.

March 26th, 2010 - BAR GIG, Motomachi, Yokohama

While Stuart had broken a few teeth the night before, everyone was ready to go for MACKY RAMONE's "BUZZ ATTITUDE," the best punky party in town. Everything went much smoother. The event was opened by BEAT GENERATION frontman KENYOU, who played solo offering acoustic punk by way of CLASH covers. BUZZ ATTITUDE was marked by special appearances by VIVIAN BOYS (long time friends of Stuart) with their stylish punk and powerpop hooks, fashionista punks TRIOL who could have been called The Che Guevara's (cause they all looked like him!) but played full-bodied Detroit rock and the legendary JET BOYS who recently released a kick-ass album. ATOMIC SUPLEXS ripped through a bunch of great songs that the crowd could really feel to the center of their bones, lot's of happy drunken shaking going on.. Special thanks to Macky for letting me strip the rust from my DJ skills and breakout as The Stately Wayne Manor.

March 27th, 2010 - JAM, Shinjuku, Tokyo

This show at JAM was an all-niter hosted by THE FADEAWAYS as part of their "Teenage Shutdown" series. I was DJ-ing as The Stately Wayne Manor alongside Adrian, a British mate who's got a killer collection and great sensibility at choosing a playlist. On the bill were LEGS, a new band with old school punk tastes, MIDDLE's (not from Tokyo) who had new wavey Paisely Underground organ stylings; both bands look at the world through a garage punk lens tho. THE PAPPY's, an all girl garage punk band returned to the stage and went wild. THE FADEAWAYS sounded highly charged and fun as usual, but literally caused a freak-out when one onlooker fell backwards with a seizure causing 3 people to simultaneously call 119! (He was OK, took 5 in an ambulance and came back to enjoy the rest of the show!!!!). Sounding probably the they have ever in Japan were ATOMIC SUPLEX who had the audience carrying around people while simultaneously slipping around on the mud slick dance floor. THEEE BAT ended the night with one of their best shows ever, including guest guitarist and saxophone player, who held together Mika and Kub's naturally chaotic tendencies which made their sound come across in a more frat-rock, surf group kinda way. It was a long night but those who missed it, really missed it!

March 28th, 2010 - AOIHEYA, Shibuya, Tokyo

Everyone forced themselves to drag themselves out of bed the next day and some arrived at the chambre des chansons in Shibuya a bit later than others (ahem Emma and Dan... haha). This show was presented by ED WOODS as "Swamp Trash Nite" in order to celebrate the foundation of the new Swamp Fiction label and the first release, the 7" split EP feat. THEEE BAT and ATOMIC SUPLEX! Phenomenal bands like Japanese new wave pioneers ROCKET JACK VADERS, blues garage band THE VOLUME OUT! and the hip shakin' freak show THE FLY & HIS ONE MAN GARBAGE (with special burlesque dancer MISS TARANTULA). Both THEEE BAT and ATOMIC SUPLEX played electrifying sets to ignite more rioting over their newly released split record. Special thanks to DJ MR. DEATH and MC OKD for having me, The Stately DJ Wayne Manor, spin garage & punk tunes side by side them.

Wrap-up

The band and some friends who participated in the tour came out for an after party at Stay Free - Poor Cow, Fifi's rock & roll meeting place in Shimokitazawa. And I was able to get together with Stuart, Dan, Emma (ATOMIC SUPLEX) and their crew, Mika, Kub (THEEE BAT) and Tommy (VIVIAN BOYS) for a HANAMI party in Koenji before everyone had to part their separate ways.

Very Special thanks to SURGE & K's Dream for helping out in Chiba, MACKY RAMONE for having us join BUZZ ATTITUDE in Yokohama, THE FADEAWAYS for inviting us to Teenage Shutdown and ED WOODS for organizing Swamp Tash Nite. All these bands and organizers have acted helpfully and selflessly so that ATOMIC SUPLEX could play shows and so that I could promote the new Swamp Fiction release in Japan. They all have a true rock 'n' roll spirit that I greatly appreciate and will try my hardest to reciprocate while in Japan and in this lifetime. DOMO ARIGATO to all the wild cats, bats, rockers, punks and trash!

Life goes on, the band plays on...

2010-03-21T23:28:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I attended a funeral in Japan for my friend Kensuke who was the lead vocalist, guitar player & songwriter for Six o'minus. Only twenty seven years old, he committed suicide last week leaving his friends, bandmates and wife of less than one year in a state of shock, bewilderment and sadness. Many who came to pay their respects were friends I hadn't seen since Kensuke's wedding last spring when we all drank and laughed together. This time we hand few, if any, words and simply nodded in silence. Kensuke's bandmates were such an important part of his life that they helped with the funeral services which lasted all Saturday night and finished by Sunday afternoon. After I arrived for Sunday services, I signed in at the reception desk and then waited in line to pay my respects. As I approached the casket I could hear the music of Six o'minus, Kensuke's music and his voice. I bowed to his family then prayed to his casket which had a small alter before it with his guitar and other treasured belongings. My vision was so tense I only remember seeing a Beat Generation book, a similar passion that bonded me to the members of Six o'minus. After everyone finished bowing and praying we were all asked to view the the open casket and see our friend for the last time. Everyone crowded around, the sobbing and crying became deeper as we laid flowers on his broken body. Then the hearse took him away to be cremated as "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" played. Taisuke and Shunsuke of Six o'minus marched off with immediate family to be with him one final time.

Please take the time to listen to the music of Kensuke and Six o'minus:

http://www.myspace.com/sixominus

Six o'minus was the first band I saw live in Japan after moving here over three years ago. The drummer Taisuke was dating an old Taiwanese friend who told me to check them out. After that we became good friends and I took a couple trips with them to Taiwan for festivals and tours. The Taiwanese underground community will be just as shocked and saddened when they get the news of this tragedy.

I'd like to take this time to remember two other friends and musicians who have recently decided to take their own lives. Shortly after moving to Japan in 2007, I got word that Taipei punk A-han, the leader of the sloppy teenage street punk band Sexy Lips, had committed suicide. They were my hope for Taiwan punk to break away from poppy melodies and put more boot stomp into the music. Read more about Sexy Lips here:

http://www.islandofsound.org/punksounds/sexy_lips.html

Nearly a year and a half ago, Denton, a friend from my high school and a talented musician and songwriter left us. After I had already started college, his high school band Ear Candy became infamous playing at talent shows and parties my sister threw at our family's barn. He later moved on to numerous experimental indie projects including Egon Strangler, the Please Dept. and Brainweise. We worked together and hung out a bit before I moved to Japan and I remember driving home after seeing X in the city, I played a mix CD of Taiwanese indie bands that he was genuinely enthusiastic about. His death deeply affected my sister and her group of friends and left the local underground music community at a loss.

I'm not writing this delve into the issue of suicide and suicide prevention. Even being a good friend is not always enough and often there are no "warning signs." My purpose is to simply remember how these friends affected my life in interesting and positive ways. My heart goes out to the closest friends and family of Kensuke, A-han and Denton because they are the ones who I see suffering the most.

228 PEACE MEMORIAL DAY: Songs and Lyrics

2010-02-28T00:37:00.001-05:00

228 Day or Peace Memorial Day is a day to celebrate a dream for world wide peace while solemnly remembering the massacre of the Taiwanese people by the ruling KMT party that was started on February 28th, 1947. Several artists have begun to speak up and write songs confronting the effects of the tragedy in hopes that new generations will not forget their history. The following post includes lyric and explanations of some of the songs I know to confront this day in history.

PART ONE: THE TONIC "Modern Age"

"Modern Age" was written by Taike (Taiwan rock) band THE TONIC for their album 鯤島 which tells the island's history in sequential order on each track. This song is about the end of Japanese rule in 1945, the new rule by the exiled Chinese KMT party and the 228 Incident that sparked a period of White Terror and martial law that wouldn't end until 1987.

Below is and explanation I found on website in Chinese:

http://snow.ilvu.net/~emerge/tonic/taiwan.htm

7. 現代
1945年，美國的兩顆原子彈，結束了二次大戰，日本宣佈無條件投降。在戰爭中節節敗退的中華民國政府，意想不到地成為戰勝者。同年10月25日，代表中華民國的陳儀將軍在公會堂（後改名為中山堂）接受日軍投降，當時毫無疑問地稱之為「台灣光復」。島上居民歡欣鼓舞地迎接「祖國」的到來，曾在日治時代從事抗日運動的人士，如陳析、葉榮鐘等，籌組了「歡迎國民政府籌備委員會」，在各地張燈結彩，迎接國民政府。

然而，新來的國民政府卻以「征服者」的姿態對待台灣。首先，在台灣設立了一個和中國大陸各省不一樣的制度，「台灣省行政長官公署」，作為統治台灣的總機關，此機構集行政、司法、立法、軍事等各項大權於一身，戰後台灣的政治、經濟、社會等資源也幾乎壟斷於此新「殖民體制」之下，也為日後的二二八事件埋下伏筆。

國民政府將中國文化中「家族政治」的特色，「光復」到台灣島來，裙帶關係、壟斷權位、貪污腐敗；經濟剝削、物價暴漲，人民生活更加困苦；軍紀敗壞、擾民欺民、治安嚴重惡化、社會動盪不安…。於是，1947年初發生的欺民事件，引發出一連串全面鎮壓與屠殺人民的歷史悲劇。1947年2月27日，專賣局台北分局查緝員傅學通等人在台北市太平通（今延平北路）一帶查緝私煙，查獲中年婦女林江邁於天馬茶房前（今延平北路與南京西路交叉口附近）販賣私煙，林婦苦苦哀求勿全數沒收，查緝員以槍管敲擊林婦頭部，致林婦頭部出血暈倒，圍觀群眾群情激憤，向查緝員理論抗議，查緝員向民眾開槍，不幸擊中市民陳文溪（隔天不治死亡）。民眾更加氣憤，包圍警局和憲兵隊，要求交出肇禍人員法辦，但無結果。2月28日，台北市民示威抗議，在官署前警民衝突，造成死傷。群眾奪占廣播電台，向全島人民播報事件原委，呼籲大家起身反抗。台北民間首先成立「二二八事件處理委員會」，與官方協調交涉，並要求政治改革；官方一面和處理委員會談判，一方面連絡仍在南京的國民政府主席蔣介石，蔣決定派兵來台鎮壓反抗。 3月8日，國民政府派來的軍對在基隆登陸，進入台北，繼而向南挺進，在各地展開鎮壓與屠殺，企圖以武力來堅固國民政府在台的統治權威

Here are lyrics taken from the album's liner notes:

And an English translation of the passage above (taken from Babelfish so beware the errors):

7. Modern age in 1945, US's two atomic bombs, ended the Second World War war, Japan announced the unconditional surrender. Republic of China Government which retreats in defeat again and again in the war, becomes the victor unexpectedly. On October 25, represents Republic of China's General in the same year Chen Yi after the male meeting hall (changes name for Zhongshan Hall) accepts the Japanese forces surrender, at that time called without a doubt it “recovers Taiwan”. On the island the resident dances with joy greets “the motherland” the arrival, once governed the public figure who in the date the time is engaged in the opposition to Japan movement, like Chen Xi, Ye Rongzhong and so on, organized “have welcome the National government Committee”, was decorated with lanterns and colored streamers in each region, to greet the National government. However, comes newly National government actually by “vanquisher” the posture treats Taiwan. First, has set up one in Taiwan with the mainland China various provinces dissimilar system, “the Taiwan Province chief executive government office”, the achievement rules Taiwan's total institution, this organization collection administration, the judicature, the legislation, the military and so on each power authority in a body, postwar resources and so on Taiwan's politics, economy, society also nearly monopolizes in this is new “colonizes the system”, also will lay down the foreshadowing for in the future 228 events. National government in Chinese culture “family politics” characteristic, “recovering” to the Island of Taiwan, relationship through female relatives, monopoly authority, embezzlement and corruption; The economical exploitation, the price rise suddenly, the lives of the people are more poverty-stricken; The discipline ruins, harasses the people to bully the people, the public security serious worsening, the society unstable…. Therefore, at the beginning of 1947 occurred bullies the people event, initiated a succession of suppresses and slaughters the people comprehensively the historical tragedy. on February 27, 1947, monopoly bureau Taibei Sub-bureau investigation Fu Xuetong et al. pass (now Yanpingbeilu) in Taibei area to look up the apprehending smugglers smoke peacefully, ferrets out middle-aged woman Lin Jiang to step before the white fox waiter (now Yanpingbeilu and nearby the Najingxilu road intersection) trades the private smoke, Lin Fu does not implore urgently the total confiscation, the investigation by the barrel rap forest woman forehead, sent the forest woman forehead hemorrhage to faint, surrounds the populace public sentiment to be indignant, protested to the investigation theory, the investigation opened fire to the populace, unfortunately hit residential Chen Wenxi (previous day to die). The populace are more indignant, the surrounding police authorities and the military police corps, the request hands over the causing an accident personnel to deal with according to law, but is inefficient. On February 28, the Taibei residents demonstrate protested that the police people conflicts before the government office, creates the casualty. The populace seize the Broadcasting station, disseminates news the event whole story to the entire island people, appealed that everybody sets out to revolt. The Taibei folk first establishes “228 event processing committee”, with the official coordinated negotiation, and requests the political reform; The official negotiates at the same time with the processing committee, on the one hand contacted still in Nanjing's National government President Chiang Kai-Shek, Jiang decided that dispatched troops to come to Taiwan to suppress the revolt. On March 8, the National government sends the armed forces to land in Jilong, enter Taibei, subsequently pushes onward to the south, launches the suppression and the slaughter in each region, attempts to come the firm National government by the military force in Taiwan's dominant authority

And finally if your interested in THE TONIC's album, visit Pacifiction Records:

http://www.pacifictionrecords.com/taiwan/CD/thetonic.shtml

PART TWO: SOFTBALL "0228"

Japanese girl punk band SOFTBALL became attached to Taiwan after playing there about ten years ago. They continued to play the island's Say Yes to Taiwan event every year throughout the early '00's. After SOFTBALL broke up, leader MOE SUZUKI continued to appear at the event with her new band AKIAKANE who met with then Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian and took part of a human chain that stretched up and down Taiwan's west coast symbolizing unity and solidarity.

For more info on SOFTABLL, AKIAKANE and Taiwan check here:

http://www.islandofsound.org/friends_of_taiwan/akiakane.html

Ever politically charged and influenced by historical events, MOE SUZUKI even wrote a song about the 228 Incident and how it's being covered up and forgotten. Here's the English lyrics to SOFTBALL's "0228"

0228
作曲：SOFTBALL
作詞：MOE
The history was wiped out by the carnoise and crowd.
Shaped and erased history. Skillful way of doing it.
An old man shut his mouth, unwilling to tell so much.
Blood, tears sank into the earth, concealed with the asphalt.

Responsibility of the past war.
An excuse of great people. I don't want to know such things.
I just want to know the truth.

Aimless destination. We're treated as a trash.
But we can tell you forever what an old man's word mean.
Over the generation. We're going to build a bridge.
We have to make revolution with singing a peace-loving song.

blood bath is just wrong we know. We have lived a not so long life.
If there's the Dragon's Palace story, have to find something from legend.
It is fine to face an impossible thing sometimes.
Anyway, we addicted to the vacant reality.

We will gaze at that, as we flow down with an idol.
Let's open our eyes, if we can make his dream true.

Aimless destination. We're treated as a trash.
But we can tell you forever what an old man's word mean.
Make sure of imitation. Oppression suppressed the feeling voice.
If we can know its meaning, we'll be able to have a good sleep.

And here's a scan from SOFTBALL's Lamp album:

And the Japanese lyrics:

車の音と人ゴミにかきけされた歴史は形を変えて消されてゆく
それは巧妙な手段でやってくる
老人たちは口を閉ざし過去を多くは語らない
土の中に沈んだ血と涙はアスファルトに覆われた

過去の戦争の責任や
偉い人たちの言い訳が聞きたいんじゃない
ただ真実を知りたいだけ

あてもないがらくた扱いされた僕等だけど
あの老人の声を永遠に届けることはできるよ
僕等は世代を超えて橋を架け
改革をしていかなきゃいけない平和の唄を歌いながら・・・

僕等はそんなに長くは生きてないけど血を流す戦争がまちがいだってことくらいは解ってる
昔話の竜宮城が存在するなら僕等はその言い伝えから何かを見いださなきゃいけない
時にはかなわぬ物に向ってもいいじゃないか
僕等はこの空っぽな現実にふけっているのだから

僕等の力であの老人の思いがかなえられるなら
偶像に流されながらもそれに目を開きみつめようよ

あてもないがらくた扱いされた僕等だけど
あの老人の声を永遠に届けることはできるよ
にせものを見極めろ権力で閉ざされた心の声
もしその心の声を聞くことができるならゆっくりと眠ることもできる

Here's the album cover for Lamp if anyone is interested in tracking it down.

PART THREE: CHANG JUI-CHUAN "Hey Kid"

Taiwanese rapper and college professor CHANG JUI-CHUAN has been probably the most vocal artists to pursue the truth about the events surrounding the 228 Incident and use history as a way of educating Taiwan's youth to reinforce a national identity for the future. His song "Hey Kid" does just that. It teaches history and serves as an attention call for a new generation to take pride in its native culture.

http://www.myspace.com/juichuanchang

Here are the lyrics to "Hey Kid" in English:

Hey kid, you must remember
History teaches us to forgive mistakes, not forget them
You have to turn around, see where you’ve come from
If you want to figure out where you should go
Hey kid, you must remember
History says that people may disagree with you, anger you
Understand and respect each other, work it out together
If you oppress and exploit them, one day the tables will turn
And you’ll have nowhere to hide

In 1945, a group of people landed on this yam-shaped island
Saying Taiwan was a province of Great China
“Come back to us. We KMT will love and look after you.”
Within two years, the people’s expectations crumbled
Bum soldiers pissing and shitting on the streets
Loot, abduct, kill, burn, eat free
Chen Yi’s government confiscated farms and land, corruption via monopoly
You’re a lowlife if you don’t speak Chinese
On February 27, 1947
Their police pistol-whipped an old lady selling cigarettes
Shot a young bystander
“Can’t stand it no more. Let’s strike! Let’s go to Toa-tiu-tia (大稻埕)!”
Then Chinese soldiers went on a cruel shooting spree
Pierced the palms and ankles of people with a lead wire
Tie them up. Execute one by one
20,000 lives were ended in two weeks

Hey kid, you must remember
History teaches us to forgive mistakes, not forget them
You have to turn around, see where you’ve come from
If you want to figure out where you should go
Hey kid, you must remember
History says that people may disagree with you, anger you
Understand and respect each other, work it out together
If you oppress and exploit them, one day the tables will turn
And you’ll have nowhere to hide

What ensued was thirty-eight years of the martial-law era called “White Terror”
Doesn’t matter if you’re a Mainlander, Formosan, Hakka, Holo, or Aborigine
If you mess with the Party, you’ll vanish in no time
Or be butchered like the mother and two daughters of Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄)
Lei Jhen (雷震) was imprisoned for ten years for criticizing Chiang Kai-shek
Yin Hai-guang (殷海光) was under surveillance for his political articles until he died
James Soong (宋楚瑜) banned all the Taiwanese TV shows
Even puppet shows and Taiwanese Operas must be aired in Chinese
Brave Taiwanese souls fought and struggled for democracy and freedom
Beautiful Island Incident for political reform, 520 Farmer Protest
Jail after jail, kill after kill
Jheng Nan-rong (鄭南榕) burst into flames that’ll last forever for free speech
Hey kid, you must remember
Their blood and sweat, torment and sacrifice, gave you the air you’re breathing
Don’t forget the revolution for democracy has just begun
You won’t see the spring buds if you don’t go through the winter snow

Hey kid, you must remember
History teaches us to forgive mistakes, not forget them
You have to turn around, see where you’ve come from
If you want to figure out where you should go
Hey kid, you must remember
History says that people may disagree with you, anger you
Understand and respect each other, work it out together
If you oppress and exploit them, one day the tables will turn
And you’ll have nowhere to hide

I wish you all the best
I pray you can distinguish
I hope you’ll change society in the future
I wish you all the best
I pray you can distinguish
I hope you’ll fight injustice and oppression

One more strong Taiwanese kid
One more unbreakable brick of the Taiwanese spirit
So you must exercise every day and drink eight glasses of boiled water
No cigarettes and drugs. Drink tea, not coffee
Read a book every week because knowledge is power
If you know more you’ll have more control of your life
Pay attention in school. Ask questions
Do homework. You don’t need cram school
You’re fortunate if you can afford buying food, clothes, books, and music
And go to the mountains and beaches on holidays
Don’t be greedy, buying stocks and Rolex
Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all evil.”
Don’t be like those cowards going to China singing and dancing
Saying they represent Taiwan but calling China the “mainland” all the time
The KMT’s party property is worth hundreds of billions of dollars
Who killed Yin Cing-feng (尹清楓)?
Hey kid, my kid, you must remember
[Translation]
Hey kid, you must remember
History teaches us to forgive mistakes, not forget them
You have to turn around, see where you’ve come from
If you want to figure out where you should go
Hey kid, you must remember
History says that people may disagree with you, anger you
Understand and respect each other, work it out together
If you oppress and exploit them, one day the tables will turn
And you’ll have nowhere to hide

In 1945, a group of people landed on this yam-shaped island
Saying Taiwan was a province of Great China
“Come back to us. We KMT will love and look after you.”
Within two years, the people’s expectations crumbled
Bum soldiers pissing and shitting on the streets
Loot, abduct, kill, burn, eat free
Chen Yi’s government confiscated farms and land, corruption via monopoly
You’re a lowlife if you don’t speak Chinese
On February 27, 1947
Their police pistol-whipped an old lady selling cigarettes
Shot a young bystander
“Can’t stand it no more. Let’s strike! Let’s go to Toa-tiu-tia (大稻埕)!”
Then Chinese soldiers went on a cruel shooting spree
Pierced the palms and ankles of people with a lead wire
Tie them up. Execute one by one
20,000 lives were ended in two weeks

Hey kid, you must remember
History teaches us to forgive mistakes, not forget them
You have to turn around, see where you’ve come from
If you want to figure out where you should go
Hey kid, you must remember
History says that people may disagree with you, anger you
Understand and respect each other, work it out together
If you oppress and exploit them, one day the tables will turn
And you’ll have nowhere to hide

What ensued was thirty-eight years of the martial-law era called “White Terror”
Doesn’t matter if you’re a Mainlander, Formosan, Hakka, Holo, or Aborigine
If you mess with the Party, you’ll vanish in no time
Or be butchered like the mother and two daughters of Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄)
Lei Jhen (雷震) was imprisoned for ten years for criticizing Chiang Kai-shek
Yin Hai-guang (殷海光) was under surveillance for his political articles until he died
James Soong (宋楚瑜) banned all the Taiwanese TV shows
Even puppet shows and Taiwanese Operas must be aired in Chinese
Brave Taiwanese souls fought and struggled for democracy and freedom
Beautiful Island Incident for political reform, 520 Farmer Protest
Jail after jail, kill after kill
Jheng Nan-rong (鄭南榕) burst into flames that’ll last forever for free speech
Hey kid, you must remember
Their blood and sweat, torment and sacrifice, gave you the air you’re breathing
Don’t forget the revolution for democracy has just begun
You won’t see the spring buds if you don’t go through the winter snow

Hey kid, you must remember
History teaches us to forgive mistakes, not forget them
You have to turn around, see where you’ve come from
If you want to figure out where you should go
Hey kid, you must remember
History says that people may disagree with you, anger you
Understand and respect each other, work it out together
If you oppress and exploit them, one day the tables will turn
And you’ll have nowhere to hide

I wish you all the best
I pray you can distinguish
I hope you’ll change society in the future
I wish you all the best
I pray you can distinguish
I hope you’ll fight injustice and oppression

One more strong Taiwanese kid
One more unbreakable brick of the Taiwanese spirit
So you must exercise every day and drink eight glasses of boiled water
No cigarettes and drugs. Drink tea, not coffee
Read a book every week because knowledge is power
If you know more you’ll have more control of your life
Pay attention in school. Ask questions
Do homework. You don’t need cram school
You’re fortunate if you can afford buying food, clothes, books, and music
And go to the mountains and beaches on holidays
Don’t be greedy, buying stocks and Rolex
Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all evil.”
Don’t be like those cowards going to China singing and dancing
Saying they represent Taiwan but calling China the “mainland” all the time
The KMT’s party property is worth hundreds of billions of dollars
Who killed Yin Cing-feng (尹清楓)?
Hey kid, my kid, you must remember

And in Chinese:

囡仔
張睿銓 / 阿弟仔
*原曲收錄於張睿銓《創世記》﹙2006﹚，莫尚混音版收錄於張睿銓《重生》﹙2007﹚，阿弟仔音樂工作室發行。

囡仔你就要會記
歷史教咱錯誤可以原諒但是不能忘記
轉頭回來了解你對叼位來
才有法度知道要對叼位去
囡仔你就要會記
歷史有講別人的意見有時候會給你生氣
互相了解互相尊重鬥陣才會出頭
鴨霸剝削有一工就換你無底躲

一九四五年一群人來到這個番薯島
他們說台灣是偉大中國的一省
回來祖國我們國民黨會疼惜照顧
無兩年人民的期待變作土土土
乞丐兵路邊放尿放屎無衛生
囂張搶婚搶劫殺人放火白吃白喝
陳儀政府佔田佔地貪污專賣
你若無水準才會來講台灣話
一九四七年二月二七他們的警察
用槍敲一個賣煙歐巴桑的頭
開槍碰死一個站在邊仔的少年仔
人民擋不住來去抗議來去大稻埕
中國兵狠毒拿槍掃射
用鉛線殘忍穿過一排人的手和腳
綁給緊一個一個槍決
二萬人的生命二禮拜了絕

囡仔你就要會記
歷史教咱錯誤可以原諒但是不能忘記
轉頭回來了解你對叼位來
才有法度知道要對叼位去
囡仔你就要會記
歷史有講別人的意見有時候會給你生氣
互相了解互相尊重鬥陣才會出頭
鴨霸剝削有一工就換你無底躲

續來戒嚴三十八年白色恐怖
管你外省本省客家河洛還是原住民
黨看你不爽你就馬上無去
林義雄老母二個查某子全部殺死
雷震批評蔣介石被關十年
殷海光寫冊被監視逼死
宋楚瑜全面禁止台語節目
連布袋戲歌仔戲也要講北京話
勇敢的台灣人打拼追求民主自由
政治改革的美麗島農民抗爭的五二零
關的關死的死鄭南榕為言論自由
點起的那把火還未燒完
囡仔你就要會記
他們的流血流汗艱苦犧牲給你自由的空氣
不可忘記民主革命才開始
無經過寒冬的風雪看不到春天的花蕊

囡仔你就要會記
歷史教咱錯誤可以原諒但是不能忘記
轉頭回來了解你對叼位來
才有法度知道要對叼位去
囡仔你就要會記
歷史有講別人的意見有時候會給你生氣
互相了解互相尊重鬥陣才會出頭
鴨霸剝削有一工就換你無底躲

我祝福你可以好勢
我祈求你會曉分別
我希望你可以改變以後的社會
我祝福你可以好勢
我祈求你會曉分別
我希望你可以改變不義的一切

多一個勇健的台灣囡仔
台灣就多一塊敲不破的活氣磚角
所以每工要運動喝八大杯煮過的水
不要吃煙毒喝茶不喝咖啡
一禮拜要看一本冊知識就是力量
認識越多自己做主的信心越強
學校上課要專心聽無就要問先生
認真寫功課也不需要補習
賺錢有夠吃有夠穿有夠買冊
聽音樂放假去山頂海邊走走就好
不要貪心還要買股票和名牌手錶
提摩太六章十節金錢是萬惡之根
不要像那些俗仔去中國唱歌演戲
講自己台客卻歸工歸嘴內地內地
國民黨的千億黨產誰殺死尹清楓
囡仔囡仔你就要會記

This is the first rap (and might be the first musical composition, to my limited knowledge) ever that depicts the February 28 Massacre of 1947 in Taiwan, launched by Chiang Kai-shek and his Chinese Kuomintang (KMT, also known as the Chinese Nationalist Party), and the thirty-eight-year martial law era that followed the Massacre. More than twenty thousand people disappeared or were slaughtered in the Massacre, countless more in the martial-law era, as is typical of extreme political persecution and witch hunts (generally referred to as "White Terror" in Taiwan). The song is a tribute to all those brave souls - both Formosans and newcomers - who died fighting the KMT and its dictatorial government, which was finally ended by Taiwan's fledgling democracy in 2000.

-CHANG JUI-CHUAN

For more info on CHANG JUI-CHUAN's albums, visit Pacifiction records:

http://www.pacifictionrecords.com/taiwan/CD/joe_genesis.shtml

Rock 'n' Roll Circus in Taiwan - Dec. 2009

2010-02-19T08:53:00.001-05:00

OK, I might not have been at this gig, but I really feel like it deserves mention on my blog. In an effort to throw down some seriously needed RnR raves (as opposed to techno house raves) in Taiwan, THE DEADLY VIBES have been organizing an event called Rock 'n' Roll Circus on the island for the past few years. I wrote about it previously on Island of Sound here:

http://www.islandofsound.org/events/rock_n_roll_circus.html

In recent times the VIBES started inviting Japanese bands, like THE DREXEL, after they were impressed by the rockabilly group's traditional sound when they played together on their Japan tour in 2008. Last December, THE DEADLY VIBES invited another band that supported them in Japan, the crazy trash rock 'n' roll trio ED WOODS. At my behest, I asked them to add the MINNESOTA VOODOO MEN to the bill and their label manager Harry the Hempstead Heath to bring his old school RnB 45s and DJ some sets. Miss Cabaretta, one of Tokyo's top burlesque dancers tagged along making this year's RnR Circus even more titillating!

As I mentioned before I didn't actually go to Taiwan, but I did dredge up a couple articles on the interwebs that are worth taking a look at.

http://shuflies.blogspot.com/2009/12/rock-n-roll-circus-2009.html

http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2009/12/rock-n-roll-circus-taipei-taichung/

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2009/12/18/2003461205

http://www.waakao.com/en/music/bands/538-halloween-christmas-and-your-birthday-all-in-one-night

MINNESOTA VOODOO MEN @ 89K, Taichung

ED WOODS @ 89K, Taichung

SHLONK 's Two Fisted Japan Tour 2009

2009-11-18T08:25:00.001-05:00

Occasionally Pacifiction Records helps out overseas garage and punk bands with touring in Japan. This can be a result of having personal ties or, in the case I don't know you, if I really like your band. And ultimately it comes down to being able to afford the trip and expenses. That's just a fact of touring the country. I latched onto SHLONK, largely because of their obscure history in the NYC punk scene playing alongside performance/art punk bands like Lunachicks and GWAR and guitarist Anji's grimace-inducing comic strip of GG Allin's trip to Canada. Also the fact that at the time they started out as a grrrl band with vocalist Al Warnock as an onstage tranny. SHLONK sent me a bunch of their 7" BRUTE EP from 1994 with beautiful silk-screen sleeve depicting beach girls being ravaged by killer sharks which I distro to a couple shops (Micky Room and Senseless Records) in Japan. You can also buy it NOW online here. Then I got word from Anji that they were recording a new CD and wanted to make a tour in Japan. So I started casting out the lines to see what I could come up. The end product was a 6 date tour of shock, awe and debauchery that hit Chiba, Yokohama and Tokyo. Here's a short summary of that week of horror:

October 28th - Chaotic City @ Club Goodman in Akihabara, Tokyo

Mochi from GROUNDCOVER was one of the first contacts I asked about getting a noise punk/experimental show together for SHLONK. When I found out that Mika from EMULSION was an old friend of Anji's as well as Mochi, I suggested that the two bands work on it together. Unfortunately members of GROUNDCOVER were busy preparing for their Taiwan trip and Mochi could only perform with his electo-noise unit VWVW which blast through about 5 mins of screeching and grindy guitar effects. EMULSION played an energized set with more emphasis on progressive hardcore. SHLONK made their Tokyo debut with Al dressed in Jesus robes and gave his benediction to the host of Club Goodman.

October 29th - Fuck the Bitch Goddess @ Heaven's Door in Sangenjaya, Tokyo

Girl bands with wicked attitudes marked the theme for SHLONK's first show hosted by trash rockers ED WOODS. ANAAKIES gave their creepy, evil nun performance an extra dose of neo-feminist chinko talk! The HARPY's keep putting more energy into their cabaret garage act and BO-PEEP played a tight energetic set of female alt-rock. During SHLONK's set, AL came out wearing a sailor girl uniform and their T-shirt as a daiper which eventually came off and was offered to the audience as a freebie to whoever dared to sniff it! I think Harpy's Satomi ended up taking it home!

October 30th - NO MATTER IN FIGHTHING TOUR! x SHLONK JAPAN TOUR! @ Club 24 West in Yokohama

This was the only pure hardcore show of the tour with Yokohama bands like STOOPS, ECHO meeting head-to-head with Tokyo heavy hitters PADLOCK and AKUTARE. Al came onstage wearing a sailor uniform, this being Yokohama Port and all, and started yelling, "Where're all the whores???" The irony was a bit lost in translation and he looked more like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man rolling around on the floor... Nonetheless, SHLONK managed to grip the 24 West scene and get the respect of some crazy local punks!

October 31st - NAKANO HALLOWEEN PARTY @ Moon Step in Nakano, Tokyo

Halloween Nite was a horror show carnival with the grotesque droogie punk styles of HAT TRICKERS, monster lovin' zombie trash band ED WOODS and Nagoya's hardcore group ADA-MAX. I came dressed as the invisible man and dran a bottle of red wine before the nite was up. Al dressed once again in holy robes and Anji chose to attire as a spooky New Orleans voodoo doll. Lots of freaks in the audience this nite! Read more about it on Detroit Jack's blog here.

November 1st - Fuck the Scum Rockers @ Zone-B in Waseda, Tokyo

Everything wound itself up tightly to this point... and then sprung at Zone-B. The nite was kicked off by ED WOODS again followed by samurai punk/yakuza rock 'n' rollers TOKYO-RYOZANPAKU who brandished katana blades and sported sumo loin cloths. Punk SM diva Eliza Royal got friendly with Al back stage and performed a set of feedback scorched punk classics with her band ECO-DAMNED.

Bringing back the sounds of MC5, NY Dolls and Johnny Thunders, HOWLING GUITAR rocked with original punk attitude and were even joined by BOROCK1 vocalist who did a fuck-all Iggy Pop impersonation for "I Wanna Be Your Dog." SEPPUKU PISTOLS arrived onstage and threw around the mic stands and drum kit amidst a cyclone of nationalistic breakcore techno. SHLONK arrived on stage with all wearing his sailor top and tighty whitey long johns which got pulled down frequently during the band's frenzied set. TOKYO-RYOZANPAKU vocalist stripped to his skivvies and the Iggy Pop lookalike assaulted Al in a faux-moerotic orgy! After SHLONK the legendary JET BOYS took to the stage blasting through a set that included songs from their new release ending with the white radish grating, milk drenching antics regular fans are used to. Climax indeed.

November 2nd - Riot Grrl in Japan - K's Dream in Inage, Chiba

K's Dream is a pretty cool grunge themed club in Chiba (K stands for Kurt, get it?) with an upstairs bar and top notch live house downstairs. The opener for this event was a Bikini Kill cover band, called, um... BiKiNi KiLL. But they kicked ass and covered a bunch of classic and obscure riot grrl tunes. Not strictly adhering to the girl band rule, GNOSSIS played a Seattle grunge inspired set.

Before SURGE came on with their throwback 90's alternative sounds, Al appeared onstage with a pink wrestling mask which he rocked with hardcore attitude and SHLONK surprised the hipsters and barroom rockers with their tightest and cleanest set of the tour. Rated PG for the teenage grunge heads in Chiba.

Novemeber 3rd - Sayonara Party - Poor Cow, Stay Free in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo

I got the idea to arrange a Sayonara Farewell party at the coolest RnR bar in Tokyo, Poor Cow, operated by Fifi of the coolest garage punk band Teengenerate and more recently Firestarter. I met up with the SHLONK crew at the station and guided others I met at the station to the living room sized bar filled with records and RnR videos. Attendees included Billy and Jet Trash of ED WOODS, Mari of ANAAKIES, Maki and Satomi of the HARPY's, Mika of EMULSION, the tantalizing Eliza Royal from ECO-DAMNED, TOKYO-RYOZANPAKU vocalist and the Iggy Pop lookalike from the Zone-B show, among other Poor Cow regulars from bands like Hey, Supersnazz, Kannana Speedcats and Young Parisienne. We gabbed about the tour and weird times telling stories until the last train... which I missed!

During this tour, original SHLONK members Angie Shlonk and Al Warnock were joined by support members and Japan residents Matt (bass) and Joe (drums). The band recorded a new CD over the summer in Canada with more or less a stable line-up entitled Two Fisted Tales of Christ which can be purchased by contacting the band. They got T-shirts from the tour, and they're clean too!

http://www.myspace.com/shlonk

BACK from the GRAVE! : Halloween Ball '09 featuring THE MUMMIES in Tokyo!

2009-11-16T23:32:00.005-05:00

Well, So much for promises. I never got my Minolta sorted with a flash and I also still need to buy a battery for it. And to top it off I didn't actually get to see the MUMMIES at Shinjuku Loft. Tickets sold out lightning quick and I was feeling rundown after partying several nights with SHLONK, a scummy Canadian band that hit Tokyo for Halloween week. However, my girlfriend did muster up the strength to stay out all nite after seeing SHLONK with me at Nakano Moon Step (more on that later). She used my Pentax digicam and came back with some alright pics!

And here's some of the GO-DEVILS in neko neko mode:

I missed a bunch of other cool shit like Dai from the BAIT ONES joining THEEE BAT onstage... The Fly & Miss Tarantula, Jackie & the Cedrics, 5678's... this list goes on and on and on. And also some bizarre announcement I read about that the MUMMIES decided to actually be mummified upon their deaths?! Well, kinda pissed it was the first Back from the Grave Halloween Ball I missed in two years, but hanging with SHLONK was a week-long roller coaster of scum and villainy that I'll post about next!

DEMONIC FREAK SCENE! Get the BAIT ONES and THE GO-DEVILS on one CD here!

A-BONES in Tokyo!

2009-09-12T07:24:00.005-04:00

Legendary NYC garage punk band the A-BONES came to Tokyo a couple weeks ago for the a 20th anniversary celebration of Tokyo's Back from the Grave scene. There was about 30 bands and I took three or four successful pics. I'm mostly upset that I didn't shoot the 5678's who played as the original band and wore traditional kimonos. I used a crappy Pentax digicam, but when the MUMMIES come around this Halloween I will try to have a better camera.

First up is the classic style punk band JET BOYS:

In contrast I got the country, swing and rockabilly group HOT SHOTS.

And here's a couple decent ones of the A-BONES!

So many other bands I would like to have gotten including Jackie and the Cedrics (Lars Espensen joined them onstage for a couple numbers!), King Brothers, The Feminine, The Fadeaways (Toyozo did a frontflip off the bass drum as a finale!), The Fly & Miss Tarantula and Theee Bat (who had Sheena & the Rokket's daughter from Darkside Mirrors pounding on sticks!) and the Bait Ones bringing psychedelic trash stomp! But the night was long and left me wiped out with cold for 2 weeks!

I promise to be better prepared for when the Mummies come this Fall for the Back from the Grave 20th Anniversary Halloween Ball!

BORDER CROSSING: Fast Cars in Japan!

2008-04-24T09:10:00.004-04:00

Again thanks to 1977 Records, the same label that brought The Kids to Japan a couple months ago, arranged for the UK power pop/mod revival group The Fast Cars to play a string of shows across Japan in celebration of their 30th anniversary. The band is know for appearing on the same bill as Joy Divison, The Jam, The Rezillas and other power pop, punk and post-punk acts of the day. In Japan, they were backed by some of Japan's best punk and new wave revival bands including Water Closet, NanoX and the Romanes.

I saw the Fast Cars at their Saturday nite show at Shinjuku Red Cloth. When I arrived, pogo-punks, greasers and parka sporting mods crowded the joint watching The Romanes, an all-girl Ramones cover band, who played a set of rough but appreciable classics! Then the spastic organ-powered neo-wave group NanoX took the stage making a few pogo-ers quite happy.

(S. Takahiro---->Bass---->Nanox)

The Fast Cars played a set that included their classic repertoire with songs like "The Kids Just Wanna Dance" and "Every Day I made Another Mistake" (the lyrics ironically foresaw their cult popularity in Japan!) alongside songs on their new album Well... You Started It! The Red Cloth show was particularly lively with spiky haired punk girls jumping on stage and stage diving. After much "We Want More!" cheering, the band came back out to do an encore that included covers of The Buzzcocks, Sex Pistols and The Undertones.

(The Fast Cars live at Graf in Hakata!)

After the show, The Fast Cars showed their appreciation by meeting and taking pictures with the audience. Another special thanks to 1977 Records for bringing a great classic band to the Land of the Rising Sun.

BORDER CROSSING: Mindless in Translation

2008-04-14T19:50:00.004-04:00

Last month I came across a Myspace bulletin announcing a free Mindless Self Indulgence show in Roppongi and figured I'd go check it out. I listened to them nearly 8 years ago when a college party friend played "Bitches" all around our dorm floor and a bunch of us went out to see them at the Chance in Poughkeepsie. My friend ended up becoming their publicist and quite successful in the NYC goth/shock rock scene. Anyway, being from NY and having this connection, and also the advantage of it being a free show, I headed out to Roppongi for my first time.

(Japan Promo Spot)

I made it from the station past all the hustlers to the club, to find a line of Japanese and foreign teenage alterna-kids waiting in a line which started shortly moving. Despite it being a "free" show, in Tokyo you still gotta pay 500 Yen for a drink ticket. Another cool thing was that MSI were the only band on the bill, so the kids got into it right away. Admittedly, I'm not up on their new material, but I was happy to hear some of songs that I knew from the college days for nostalgia's sake.

Afterward, the band hung out with the audience for pictures and autographs. I introduced myself and Pacifiction Records to the guitar player Steve and he surprised me with his Taiwanese language ability... he learned GAN INIAN (meaning"Fuck Your Mother" in English) from a Taiwanese elementary school classmate. That being said, Mindless would be a great act for the Formoz festival in Taipei.

BORDER CROSSING: Taiwan indies in Tokyo

2008-03-17T21:23:00.005-04:00

While The Wall was hosting a plethora of foreign bands in Taiwan, a couple notables from the Taiwan indie scene visited Japan for a couple shows. Unfortunately, I'm always the last person to hear about these things and I missed them.

First up, post-rock/slowcore group Sugar Plum Ferry played at a free Nike sponsored event. Yeah, kinda strange, but you can check up on it at this website:

http://blog.clubberia.com/party/116728

Interesting to note, they were on the bill with Hisham Akira Bharoocha a.k.a Soft Circle and formerly of Black Dice. On this page there is a link to an interview with him on my friends' NYC-based webzine PetiteMort.org which can be read here:

http://www.petitemort.org/issue03/29_bharoocha/index.shtml

The second Taiwanese band to come play in Tokyo last month was the mod-style folk pop groove group Won Fu. This is one of Taiwan's most successful indie groups and one of my favorites. Promoting their new release in Japan, Won Fu played three shows in Tokyo at Club 251, Club Quattro and Shinjuku Marble as well as a spot on the NHK Radio program Asia Pops Sounds. you can read up on Won Fu's adventures in Tokyo on the On the One indie music blog:

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/ontheone/20080226

Hopefully, next time some Taiwanese indie bands come to Japan, I'll know about it beforehand.

BORDER CROSSING: Head Phones President in China

2008-03-17T20:38:00.002-04:00

OK, I'm a little late on this entry, but I figured I should mention it. Head Phones President have been friends of mine since I met them on tour in NYC in the winter of 2006. Following my move to Japan, I kept in touch with the band and arranged to have them play at the Formoz Festival in Taiwan and the Pacific Media Expo in LA. This past February, I was invited to tag along with Head Phones President to Beijing, China. Unfortunately, I didn't have the extra time or the cash, so I didn't go and I can't give many details.

(HPP in China)

They journey started in Shibuya at Club Quaatro where Head Phones President opened up for LA metal band In This Moment. Then both bands headed to Beijing to play the Yu Gong Yi Shan Live House. You can see some pictures on the HPP Blog and get more details if you can read Japanese. I wish I could have gone myself, but I was just honored to have been asked. Cheers to HPP!

BORDER CROSSING at the Wall

2008-03-01T02:45:00.006-05:00

This past February saw a lot of "border crossing" action at Taipei's premier live music venue The Wall. Unfortunately, I don't live in Taiwan anymore and can't give all the details, but at least I can acknowledge the bands that made the trip and give credit to The Wall's management for bringing more desperately needed foreign acts to the off-the-beaten-path island.

First up was the gender-bending ex-Pierrot Japanese duo LM.C who made their second trip to Taiwan since performing at last summer's Formoz Festival. Next, the Austin, Texas based instrumental post-rock band Explosions in the Sky performed no doubt to the delight of the vast Taiwanese indie rocker college crowd with their unique tri-guitar ensemble. In 2004, I saw Mogwai at the Autumn Tiger fest, so Explosions' presence fits the island's scene. Three nights later, The Wall was visited by a couple Hong Kong bands: Alt-metal rockers 戳麻 (Chock Ma) and experimental shoegaze group Elf Fatima who had previously contributed a song to Lobo III, a Taiwan indie compilation series. Actually, Elf Fatima's Jesus & Mary Chain/My Bloody Valentine influenced sound has recently begun to captivate me.

(Explosions in the Sky at The Wall)

Closing the month was a double date appearance by The Plastic People of the Universe, a Czech group originating in the late 60's representing the Prague underground and fighting against the country's normalization period when the communist government cracked down on the Arts. The Plastic People performed at the Spirit of Taiwan festival held last year on Taiwan's 228 Peace Memorial Day. This year they played on February 28th as well, leading me to believe there is some political agenda equating their struggle in the Czech Republic to Taiwan's own opposition to communist China's grasp on the island's independence. Being a fan of 60's world psyche and garage, I would have loved to see this band, especially after reading that they are influenced by NY avant rock like the Velvet Underground and The Fugs.

Let's give a round of applause to The Wall for organizing these diverse events. Seeing that the Canadian baroque pop indie collective Broken Social Scene is coming this month, The Wall has more coming in the way of foreign artist.

BORDER CROSSING: Shorty Cat at Benten's Wacky Wild Party

2008-02-28T09:02:00.006-05:00

I when I found the flyer for a Benten Label Wacky Wild Party, I was ecstatic. My introduction to Benten bands nearly eight years ago was a Wacky Wild Gift sampler I found at the Rhino Records store in New Paltz, NY as a college student. Many of the groups on the comp have since disbanded, but the flyer in hand listed three of those fabled bands on the bill, namely, Petty Booka, Noodles and Lolita No.18. And to boot, this Wacky Wild Party was held in celebration of Lolita No.18's 18th anniversary, with perfect coordination, on February 18th! Also, participating in this nite of girl punk fun was Shorty Cat, a cutesy, street punk/riot grrl influenced Korean girl band who I had stumbled across about a year ago. I quickly shot Audrey Benten a myspace message asking to be put on the advance ticket list at Shinjuku LOFT and voila, I was on my way.

I arrived 15 minutes after 6pm while Teenager just started their set. They are a three piece with a very definite Lolita influence but have more back-and-forth vocal interaction between the bass player and guitarist. The highlight for me was when Misia of Droop joined the Teenager girls on the Flamenco A-go go song "I'm Your Mom." The Benten spirit felt alive! However, when they finished, I realized I missed Petty Booka's 10 minute set. I was a bit crushed and tried to drown my sorrow in a quick cup of beer from my drink ticket.

(Shorty Cat's MV "With the Punk")
Being divided by two stage areas, this show at Loft had a festival feel with people migrating back an forth. Next up was Arinco Gang who fill the room with enough cute pop showing exactly how Ketchup Mania's influence has spread like, well, a derailed ketchup tanker. Soapland Momiyama picked things up with their tantalizing cave woman garage rock. While I grooved to Azarashi (MAGO +Sammy)'s set of electronic bongo/theremin driven pseudo-exotica, I surprisingly ran into a recent friend... Billy Trash from Ed Woods! He recommended the next band Who the Bitch, easily the most danceable group of the night. Radicals from Osaka, dressed to the ninety-nines, played a fun rockin' set girl punk tunes. Seeing Noodles, for the second time in Japan, I thought they are always pleasant with their surfy hooks and softer indie motifs. Throughout the nite I noticed quite a few Japanese street punk kids with studded leathers and heavy eyeshadow, I kinda figured they came for Shorty Cat and I was right. With diverse audience giving them a warm reception, these girls punched through a bunch of rambunctiously cute punk ditties leaving everyone shouting for more despite the fact the ladies of the evening were up next, Lolita No. 18 that is. Now I count Lolita No. 18 as one of my all time favorite bands and Masayo continues to sing in her deliciously grating voice but, being a fan of the old songs, I can't seem to get into the recent live shows. It pains me to write anything remotely negative, but I thought for their 18th anniversary show I would hear some of the classics like "Bobby Tank" and "Tokyo Mushroom" and their unforgettable renditions of "Rockaway Beach" and "Hang on Sloopy (sic)." But I guess it's something to Masayo's credit to want to move forward with her band. Nonetheless, it was a cool scene for Lolita No.18 to bring all the bands that played on stage for a Wacky Wild encore with "Saloon," everyone's all time favorite!

After the show, I met up with Pheobe from Shorty Cat and got some CDs for Pacifiction Records. After the show, I met up with Pheobe from Shorty Cat and got some CDs for Pacifiction Records. Two nights earlier they played another border crossing show at Nakano Moonstep with One Man Stand from the UK alongside local bands like Rough Stuff, Springers, The Prisoner, Drex and The 100-Hooligans.

For some pics of this show, visit this Flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/philipjbigg/sets/72157603937678816/

For more info about Shorty Cat. visit the following links:

http://skunklabel.com/english/200510riotcats.html

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fm20080208l1.html

http://asiancinemaempire.com/php/wordpress/2007/07/29/interview-shorty-cat-south-korea/

BORDER CROSSING: Mike Watt in Japan

2008-02-19T17:39:00.008-05:00

In recent years, I've been into going out to see the legends of punk rock. A couple years ago, I went to CBGB's and met Captain Sensible, dare I say the closest thing I could have to an idol?! If I listened to the Damned much in high school, I was definitely attached to Mike Watt and the Minutemen in college. I remember I picked up Double Nickel on the Dime at the Salvation Army across from my share house, what a find! And around the same time a free jazz nut named Space Noodle started crashing illegally in the small "living room" connected to my room. He lent me a copy of Watt's solo album Contemplating the Engine Room, often described as a "punk rock opera" paying homage to the Minutemen as well as his father who served in the Navy. My own grandfather had been in the Navy, so I guess growing up around pictures of him in his uniform at Grandma's house endeared me to this record.

So when I heard about Mike Watt coming to Japan, I was ready to go see what it would be like. I knew, with exception of his recent activity in the Stooges, he wasn't doing much in the way of punk rock, but I was ready to see him wail on the bass! And I chose to go the show where Melt-banana was the opener! The name of the place is Highti, not a live house at all, but a warehouse performance space connected to some artists house off-the-beaten-path near the Arakawa River. After bumbling my way around the neighborhood, I finally stopped a taxi driver who used his GPS to show me the place was two blocks over! He wouldn't even take me there and I had to walk, getting lost again before finally finding the place. I actually pride myself on my sense of direction, but Japan seems to mess with my built-in radar.

Anyway, I paid my cover (really cheap for a Japanese show, only 1000 yen!), chuckle inwardly at the Uno card which is my free drink ticket and size up the area. I felt like I was at a warehouse gig in Brooklyn, that is if the ratio of Japanese to foreigners were reversed. But he decor was all there, random art on plywood walls, a weird swing with a pink hippo hanging over the front of the band area and a tribal charge of electrified guitars and saxophone blasts holding everyone's attention. The next band called 2up invited Mike Watt to play on a couple songs with them and surprised him and everyone else with a over of "Man without Nature,"which was enjoyable because nobody expected it, not even Watt who just went with it giving his best.

(2up with Mike Watt on the right, Photo taken from Highti's Blog)

Melt-banana played a set with their fullest intensity and it was pretty cool to see them so close to an audience that just jammed along to the fast-paced punky quirks and Yasuko's high pitched yells. After they played, I saw Yasuko hanging up some T-shirts to sell. I mentioned that I saw them in Yokohama a year ago and that Pacifiction Records now carries Doggy Style: The Dogs Tribute with Melt-banana doing "GST 483." I also mentioned Taiwan and if she would be interested in going there for some shows, and one of her friends said he went to the Formoz festival the previous year with YMCK... I said I was at the same show! It's a small rock n roll world!

So I went back in to see Mike Watt play with his improv group which consisted of Watt on bass, a drummer and a second bass player. While Watt put everything he had into the bass his little Rilakumma doll bouncing in his flannel jack-shirt pocket as frantic as he was bouncing on stage. The drummer occasionally shouted into the mic in time and the second bassist did some acrobatics forcing his instrument over a beam in the ceiling. Japanese punks, hipsters and cats of all kinds grooved to it all. And, Mike Watt proved he was The Man In Japan With A Bass In His Hand!

For hardcore fans, please dig Mike Watt's Japan Tour Diary on his Hoot Page.

BORDER CROSSING: The Kids in Japan

2008-02-17T16:45:00.005-05:00

The recent surge in reformed, touring '77 punk bands has dredged up many of the forgotten obscure sounds when the youth movement was sparking up all over th UK, Ireland and also mainland Europe. Well, at least in the West these bands remained obscure until labels like Bomp! and ROIR revive them; but in Japan, many of these acts have a continuous and ongoing fandom and when they finally make it over to tour, they are received by enthusiastic Japanese fans waiting patiently to take a snapshot with the band and get their original LP's autographed. It was like this for Nikki Corvette (a Japanese friend first turned me on to her garage punk sounds), The Dogs who were recently celebrated with a tribute album here, The Cannibals who joined Back from the Grave and The Stems who have had CDs reissued by two separate Japanese labels. It was no less the same for The Kids, the cheeky, untamed Belgian punk group who were known to have played alongside Iggy Pop and Patti Smith when they came to Japan for a two niter at Shelter in Shimokitazawa.

Honestly, I had not heard about The Kids before, but I had been listening to some of their old recordings recently. I'm also very interested in world punk, especially from the original punk era, so I was excited to see what it would be like. I learned earlier that The Kids were really kids when they started out, being between the ages 12 and 20, in 1976. They are also accredited to being the first Belgian punk band.

Their Sunday night set at Shelter seared many of their songs into my brain upon hearing them; I couldn't forget "Do You Love the Nazis?" "I Wanna Get a Job in the City," "Freedom, Liberty, Democracy" and of course "Radio Radio." After playing a very full set to a packed audience who kept yelling for more, The Kids came back out and played a double encore appropriately including Sham69's "If the Kids are United" and "Blitzkrieg Bop." Be sure to view The Kids' Japan video tour diary on YouTube!

The Kids were brought to Japan by 1977 Records, a local label that reissues many classic punk and power pop bands. They brought the Stems here last November and have organized events for The Fast Cars and Private Dicks later this year.

BORDER CROSSING: Kou Chou Ching on Okinawa

2008-02-04T18:52:00.000-05:00

Continuing my blog series on groups working with Pacifiction Records who cross borders, I'll talk a little about Kou Chou Ching's recent trip to Okinawa. I actually didn't attend this event so there's not much I can really say about it. After coming to Japan last Summer to play a show in Tokyo with underground Japanese hip hop artist Bubble-B, they maintained their connections, flew a brief 30 minutes from Taiwan to Okinawa and jammed with several Japanese DJs on the tiny tropical island. If you have Traditional Chinese character reading ability you can get details on their blog (http://blog.roodo.com/kou/archives/5259263.html).

Kou Chou Ching come from Taiwan and they make sure you know it in their music which is made with local samples and traditional instrumentation from their native country. They have a forthcoming album, following up on FuKe, which will be available on Pacifiction Records shortly.

(Fan by a Torii in Okinawa)

Back from the Grave 2008

2008-01-16T19:51:00.000-05:00

Last weekend a two day Japanese garage rock event called Back from the Grave was held in Tokyo a two different venues, Red Cloth in Shinjuku and Club UFO in Higashi-Koenji. Years ago I was introduced to Japanese garage rock via the Tokyo Trashville and Hodge Podge Barrage compilations which featured now legendary acts like Teengenerate, Guitar Wolf, 5678's, Jackie & the Cedrics, Muddy Frankenstein, Mutant Monster Beach Party and Great Mongoose. Around 15 years ago, these bands among many others made up a scene called Back from the Grave, illustriously named after the Crypt Records LP series.

In recent years some of the old bands have taken a break or called it quits, but there has been a new wave of screaming big beat stomp trash rock n' rollers to step up and support the older Back from the Grave bands that continue to play around Japan. Last weekend, a two day Back from the Grave garage blast was organized to celebrate the Japanese release of The Cramps' Live at Napa State Mental Hospital. Featured at Red Cloth on Saturday nite were The Titans, The Fly (a one man... er man with a fly-head garage blues band!) and his go go girl assistant Miss Tarantula!, Los Rizlaz (Mexican luchador surf garage!), the astonishing Go-Devils, surf challengers Jackie & the Cedrics, psychobilly act Spike and Cramps A Go Go, a Tokyo-based cover band. The Cannibals, the UK garage revival "trash" band fronted by Mike Spenser, headlined on Sunday's show at Club UFO. Openers included, The Mighty Moguls (cavemen rock!), Thee Bat (wild rockers with British constable helmets!), 96Tears (mod revival sounds), The Bait Ones (stomp scream and a show for true Cramps fans!) and the Young Parisians (mimicking the effeminate look and dirty sound of the NY Dolls).

Being such an aficionado of 60's garage and Nuggets sounds as well as the Tokyo Back from the Grave scene, it's exciting when these types of shows come around. And while the classics rarely play anymore, I can't complain because I was lucky enough to catch them earlier: Guitar Wolf at last year's Rock n' Roll Summit, Teengenerate at their reunion show at Maxwell's in 2005 and 5678's on the beach at Taiwan's Ho-Hai-Yan Festival in 2004. And some bands just never get tired; Jackie & the Cedrics play a couple times a month!

BORDER CROSSING: The Vickers at Anti-pop 2

2008-01-08T08:05:00.000-05:00

This past weekend the Tokyo monster rock 'n' roll band The Vickers joined Anti-pop 2 in Taiwan for a three show mini-tour taking them to Groove City in Taichung and Lounge 808 in Taipei. Anti-pop is a recent drive by the Taiwan-based expat band Consider the Meek and their label Leek Records to get more foreign performers to play the off-the-path island country. Last November, the all girl pop punk band Akiakane played the first Anti-pop series and Kev Lee of Consider the Meek plans to organize such events about every 2 months in hopes of attracting more bands from Japan, the US and elsewhere. Opening up for the foreign headliner are several up-and-coming local bands that have included Rabbit is Rich, The Hand Knife (ex-B.B. Bomb), Kenny from Casino, the Hindsight, New Hong Kong Hair City, Faded Moment, False Arrest, Winsky, Casanova, Jindowen, Deadly Vibes and To a God Unknown.

The Vickers, having previously played Taiwan at the Formoz Festival (I actually saw them for the first time at the Formoz 2004), were eagerly anticipated by Taiwanese punk fans and bands alike. Below are some pics I found on the Anti-pop myspace profile of The Vickers' performance at the 808 Lounge in Ximen Ding, Taipei.

(Rockin' Ryu)

Here's a list of links relevant to this article:

THE VICKERS' website: http://www.vickersjapan.com/

THE VICKERS' Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thevickers

ANTI-POP's Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/antipoptaiwan

(Chisato of The Vickers!)

Year End Review Part Three: Border Crossing

2008-01-04T07:28:00.000-05:00

This is the final installment in the 2007 Year End Review blog post. Mainly, I've been writing about the great shows and festivals I attended over the past year. This final post will deal with specific instances when one or more of the bands promoted by Pacifiction Records made a trip to another country or when I attended an event or festival where a band from another country had been invited to play from another country.

I started off 2007 in Japan last year with members of Head Phones President. We all went to a countdown party where some of Anza's friends were performing in a kind of a posh J-pop musical review. It was a mild way to spend New Years Eve for me, but I was happy to be with new friends and seeing as I didn't have much money to paint Yokohama red. Anyway, HPP invited me out the following February to a big Street Rock and Shock Rock festival at Studio Coast called Independence-D. One of the reasons I mention it here is that Chthonic, the infamous black metal band from Taiwan played the same stage as Head Phones President. In fact, several of the big Japanese hardcore/ punk bands that played the two day event including Nature Living and FC FiVE I had previously seen on Taiwan at festivals like Formoz and Autumn Tiger during my stay in 2004. A couple other interesting connections to Taiwan include the fact that the Australian punk group Frenzel Rhomb shared the stage with Japan's Softball at the Say Yes to Taiwan fest in 2003. Also, the other major foreign act, Strung Out from the US is rumored to be included alongside Consider the Meek on a forthcoming Leek Records split. While the only band directly working with Pacifiction Records that performed was Head Phones President (and they didn't cross any borders) it's interesting to see all the other connections to Taiwan.

Following Independence-D, I wanted to fly to Taiwan for the Spirit of Taiwan Festival memorializing the 228 massacre but couldn't find the time or money. The big guests of 2007 were Akiakane from Japan, Muse from the UK, Strike Anywhere from the US, The Plastic People of the Universe from the Czech Republic and Punk God from China (currently in exile for playing at a previous Say Yes to Taiwan event). The featured Taiwan bands included Tizzy Bac, LTK and Chthonic.

However, I wouldn't cross the border to Taiwan until April's Double Pig Scream Scream. This being a major event, I'll try to just list the foreign bands I know that played last year. First off, I took a plane trip with the Tokyo poetry rock group Flight of Idea and hung out with them in Taipei before heading down to Kenting for the big fest. We hit up the Underworld, Mo-Relax cafe and we ate dinner at a restaurant run by the Taike (Taiwan Rock) band Chairman and managed by my old friend XiaoCool. Flight of Idea played a show with the Japanese avant rock group Groundcover who were also heading down to Kenting to play with us. When we finally got to the Kentington dude ranch resort (the site of the 2007 Spring Scream) the weather was perfectly overcast (no rain and no bright sun!). I remember randomly meeting Snoblind the ambient indie electronica duo from Hong Kong and the indie rock band Lowercase p from Boston, MA. As usual People's Records brought a slew of bands including girl punk duo Bubblelovele, punk rockabilly combo Hot Dog Buddy Buddy, Double Negative and Savas. Independently several Japanese were booked to play Spring scream. Flight of Idea amassed a bunch of spectators taken in by Azuma's charisma and the groove of the music. Groundcover astounded people with their wild noise rock and Green Pepe, a trio of Japanese girls dressed in white frocks and green face paint that made them look like Martian ghosts played kind of Osaka style avant rock. Some of the big names from North America included Mates of State, One Ring Zero, Attash and Girl + the Machine. There were several other bands from around Asia, America and Europe, but I can't list them all; you'll have to check the Spring Scream website for a comprehensive roster.

(Baseball in Moscow)

Over the summer, I was supporting two big tours. The Pixies/Dirty Three stylized Australian indie punk band Baseball booked a major European tout which took them from Finland, down Russia, through Germany to Croatia, Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and finally England! In the beginning of summer the Taiwan-based activist punk outfit Consider the Meek did a tour of Japan from Osaka to Nagoya, then Tokyo and back. During their stay in Taiwan they played a show with the legendary NYHC group Murphy's Law (interestingly, I had just seen my friends in Armed Suspects and Soul 4 Sale open for them in upstate NY a year earlier).

Mid-summer I would head back to Taiwan for the Formoz Festival, this time leading Head Phones President. Also playing the fest were my friends from the live dub, post rock project Six O'Minus booked along with the renowned Tokyo psych rock group Luminous Orange. This fest had so many diverse Japanese bands from Jrock to punk, ska, nu-metal, indie pop and video game pop. The big Japanese band names were Anna Tsuchiya, L.MC, Rise, Teriyaki Boyz, Quruli, Buffalo Daughter, The Aprils, YMCK, Aonami, Elekibass, Six O'Minus, Lumious Orange, Head Phones President, Yum Yum Orange and Ging Nang Boyz. Since I was mostly checking out the Taiwanese bands I hadn't seen in such a long time, I didn't see too many of the big acts, however, I wouldn't miss the Ging Nang Boyz show. I think they toned down their show for a Taiwanese audience because the songs had more of a classic rock vibe. However, Mineta did strip down and looked nicely like Iggy pop writhing on the big monitors by the stage side. He picked up an acoustic and did a rather suicidal sounding solo number before going back into punk rock insanity, running naked out to the audience, snatching an unsuspecting spectator's water bottle and lobbing it into the center crowd, getting him arrested and deported the next morning. Best performance from a punk band that weekend! Coming from the US were mostly indie bands with the exception of 80's metal legends Testament. Biggest name from US was Yo La Tengo, but Asobi Seksu and Dean and Britta from NY gave the audience great sets (even if they did play too early and soccer stadium felt like a sauna in the tropical humidity!). As for Pacifiction bands, Six O'Minus played a great set that got good reviews on the Island's Taiwan Nights website and Head Phones President managed to win over a large audience despite being unknown on the island; they even got an interview with local MTV. As for Formoz border crossing, I think that's it.... Oh I forgot, one day a stage was almost entirely dedicated to Korean metal!

Also during the summer time, ZMN Records in Taiwan sponsored a couple tours to China for their bands. During the first tour, Semi-Con and Duct Tape hit up several venues in Wuhan, Changsha and Beijing. Later in the summer, Stay Gold would follow in their footsteps.

(Kou Chou Ching battle with rhymes and puppets at Labu in Tokyo)

When Summer Sonic happened in Japan, several Taiwanese friends came to Japan to go to the festival and do some sightseeing. I hung out with members of Braces, Freckle, Kou Chou Ching and Children Sucker in Japan and Kou Chou Ching even played an all night underground hip hop/Miami bass show at Labo in Yoyogi... Their performance incorporated a humorous puppet show and adroit comedic samples, but compromised none of their dignity. A couple days later, the girls from Braces, Ben Ben from Freckle and Taisuke from Six O'Minus and I all had a party at an Izakaya.

(Chillin' in Brooklyn with Flight of Idea)

In the fall, I organized a NYC tour for Tokyo poet Azuma Yuichiro and his no wave/Beat generation influenced band Flight of Idea. With the help of Amy Uzi, Karate Rice, Rebel Night, Jake Noodles, Pass Out Record Shop and Frank Wood, I got them set up at some of the hippest places around town including Karma Lounge (Azuma solo), Cave Canem, Don Pedro's, Otto's Shrunken Head and an impromptu spot at a Pass Out Saturday show. I've been told that despite challenges caused by the language barrier, they were well received and people want them back!

Just before Flight of Idea headed out to New York City, met an original Australian retro mersey beat, 60's RnB, reggae band called The Basics. They were just coming back from a tour to the UK and I managed to snag some of their CDs for my shop when I saw them play at Club UFO with Supersnazz and nanoX (at the same time I snagged their CDs as well). In return, I got The Basics a slot on Azuma Yuichiro's Shibuya FM radio show "Everybody Knows?" (past guests have included local legends like Guitar Wolf and Shonen Knife as well a greats such as David Johansen and Joe Strummer). The Basics are also known for supporting The Bawdies, the Beatles style Japanese band on their Australian tour.

In November, I booked Head Phones President to play the Pacific Media Expo (PMX), an Asian pop culture convention held in Los Angeles. I arrived a day after HPP and found my way to the VIP room in the hotel where I received the best hospitality I could have asked for from the PMX staff; and to boot they were really cool to talk to about music! The expo had many events including discussions on manga, movie screenings, a Lolita fashion show, karaoke and guest speakers including anime voice actors and James Kyson Lee of the cast from Heroes. Several of the bands on the bill included Candy Spooky Theatre, D&L, LiN Clover, Thee Out Mods, The Slants and Head Phones President. During my stay in LA I was also able to meet up with one of the bands I had been working with over the past year, Wolfgang Bang, a leather jacket punk band with Japanese members. I was really lucky and happy that The Slants were opening up for HPP because they were such great party animals! Actually Simon contacted me a year earlier due to my interest in Taiwanese underground music. My trip ended up working out well because I could touch base with Wolfgang Bang, make friends with The Slants and feel the satisfaction of bringing a beloved group like Head Phones President closer to their fans abroad.

Later that month, a group of Taiwanese came again to Japan for a mini tour by the Taike (Taiwan rock) band backQuarter. Because no one told me about the show, I missed it but I did go out with Bear and Yifun from Braces to a Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re show. Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re were hanging out before the show and I got to talk to them (I talked to them in NYC and at previous Tokyo shows) and I introduced them to the Braces girls... Mari was pretty excited and even ranted how she has fans from Taiwan and the US in the audience. During the show, she jumped out into the crowd and somehow the mic got shoved to Bear to hold while Mari screamed into it! Needless to say, the Braces girls loved it!

(Yifun & Bear from Braces with Mari from Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re)

Around the same time, Akiakane from Japan made a trip to Taiwan for the Anti-pop 1 concert series organized by Consider the Meek in conjunction with Chaos Punk and Vicious Circle. The second Anti-pop series is happening at the moment in Taiwan with guest supporter The Vickers, monster rock n roll from Japan.

While the Taiwanese indie/post rock trio 8mm Sky's US tour was shot down because of visa issues, Chthonic, ever-popular among metal audiences overseas, joined last summer's Ozzfest. Making American music fans aware of Taiwan's push for recognition in the UN with their "UNlimited Taiwan" protest song, the band played a NYC show at the Highline Ballroom entitled "UNlimited New York" amid protests supporting a coinciding petition from Taiwan to join the worldwide political organization. Local Asian fusion band The Hsu-nami, lead by er-hu wielding Jack Hsu, opened up for Chthonic at this date.

Throughout my first year in Japan, I also saw several classic garage, punk and rock n roll bands from foreign lands. The first was a show at Shinjuku Red Cloth where I went mostly to see Jackie and the Cedrics, but was glad to catch the spooky sounds of The Ghastly Ones, a band I had discovered years earlier in my search for garage and surf music. I saw the Stems, an Australian garage band from the early eighties and I didn't want to leave the show so early to catch my train home! By the way I hate Sunday shows! Lastly, the Dogs... forgotten mothers of Detroit rock! Next best thing to the Stooges... and they were preceded by the Go-Devils, Jackie and the Cedrics and the Gimmies! In fact this show was to support a new Dogs tribute featuring many classic and unforgettable Japanese indie bands.

Well that about raps up all the international music experiences connected to me. If I can remember more I'll add it later. And I'll definitely keep better tabs on my blog for next year!

Year End Review Part Two: Music Festivals and Major Events

2007-12-04T07:35:00.000-05:00

In my last post, I mentioned all of the great shows (and some of the smaller ones) I went to over the past year. I also attended several major Asian indie music events across the Pacific region, usually with a band that I was working on promoting through Pacifiction Records. These fests and expos provided an exciting atmosphere for networking and shaping the style of Pacifiction.

By the tail end of my first winter in Japan, I had already seen some small shows, but I was trying to save money. Shows generally cost about 2000 yen to 3000 yen, even for small local bands. Getting on the guest list, usually only means you get an advanced ticket; but that really depends on the band. I had already made friends with Taisuke from Six O'Minus who was also drumming for Flight of Idea at the time and we were talking about hitting up Spring Scream at Kenting, Taiwan in April. The other band I hung out with was Head Phones President who I already met in NYC the previous November. They took me out on New Years' Eve which was completely awesome and also invited me to the Independence-D festival at Studio Coast in Shin-kiba the weekend of February 2nd and 3rd. This event was a 2 day affair, with punk and "street rock" being billed on one day and metal and "shock rock" the next. I had already seen some of the Japanese punk, emo and hardcore bands already in Taiwan, such as, FC Five at Autumn Tiger 2004 and Nature Living at Say Yes to Taiwan 2005. The big foreign headliners were Frenzel Rhomb (who had also made a name for themselves on Taiwan years earlier) and Strung Out who will soon appear on a split with Consider the Meek from the Taiwan based label Leek Records. Surprisingly, Head Phones President played the "shock rock" day along with the now classic and world renowned Taiwanese black metal band Chthonic! Overall, here were a lot of different bands ranging from hard indie to psychobilly to visual kei and post-hardcore. Balzac was one of the main headliners, but failed to impress me. I always heard them compared to the Misfits, but their songs lack the deep wailing choruses and dangerous sound that Danzig wielded. They're just a visual band to me that gets sold alongside the recent Misfits franchise. The bands that really did it for me were the psychobilly acts like Robin, machinegun upright bass attacks; Cracks, a zombie-metal hootenanny; and yakuza-attitude rockers Revenge of the Ninjamanz! I probably would have enjoyed the weekend a little more if I wasn't so strapped for cash (I had enough for the train home), but this event was a little too "modern" rock for me with it's focus on newer alternative genres like post-hardcore, emo and visual bands.

The next big music festival to see was Spring Scream the following April in beautiful Kenting, Taiwan. I hopped on a China Airlines flight, sat alongside my new found friends in Flight of Idea and headed for Taipei. As usual, everything is a bit rushed when you have to take a 6 hour bus to the concert location, but we made it just fine and set up camp in our log cabin at the hokey Kentington resort made to look like a scene from wild west B movie saloons and all! I want to list all the bands I saw at the time, but it's nearly impossible. To name a few of the bands I was happy to see again since living in Taiwan, I'll start with Braces, 8mm Sky, Full House, Maho, Fire Ex, Children Sucker, Heavy Smoker, Freckle, who managed to amass from the cutesy side as much as the punky, and 88 Balaz who were the main event for me; not even military service can break them and they just get more raucous. I was happy to hear them playing a lot of the same songs I new from 2004. Some new bands that caught my ear were Radiobear, Rabbit is Rich, White Eyes, Duct Tape, Selling Us Everything and traditional crossover hip hop group Kou Chou Ching. Honestly, I wish the scene, which saw so many good bands disperse in the past three years, had developed a little more since I left. Same songs and new bands that don't quite measure up despite the effort. Among the Japanese bands from People's Records were punks Double Negative and Savas; returning for the 3rd year, Bubblelovele; souped up rockabilly rollers, Hot Dog Buddy Buddy. Booking independently from Japan, Ground Cover and Flight of Idea captured a generous crowd of foreigners and locals. This year's Spring Scream also had a stage area closer to the beach with more mainstream acts like Cheer Chen and Tizzy Bac (presumably the sound was better, I hope). Sadly, I didn't make it out there and stay landlocked at the dude ranch until catching the bus back to Taipei and then the flight home to Tokyo.

It's typical for big live events in Japan to start at around 2:00pm and finish around 11:00pm with opening bands playing 15 to 20 minute sets and headliners to get around 40 or 50 minutes. I went to a couple of these over the summertime which I mentioned in the las blog. One was the Rock n' Roll Summit at Shibuya AX with Bawdies, Jackie and the Cedrics, Midori (avant punk with insane singer in schoolgirl fashion), Neat Beats, Sheena and the Rokkits, Midori, Mad3 and Guitar Wolf. The other was the Mozilla Firefox Festival at Shibuya Boxx with Sluggers, Qoomalangma Tomato, Midori (I've never seen so many kids going wild for jazz punk!), 101A (very stylish), Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re and Shonen Knife headlining. There was also a smaller stage with random smaller acts i(including a duo in burlesque bunny suits playing accordian and singing cabaret!)

Also during the summer, I headed back to Taiwan for the Formoz Festival; this time bringing Head Phones President with me and hanging out with Six O'Minus all the while. Again, I saw many great bands I hadn't seen since I left Taiwan since the first time most notably were WonGu, those indie rockers with Mod style and 60's pop sound; 1976 doing their Brit rock; The Peppermints who were spry and on point; Digihai, who have improved dynamically; and, the crazy as ever LTK. On the punk end of things, Maho didn't disappoint and Stay Gold were fun. I wish I had time to check out Fire Ex and their rude boy compatriots Shy Kick Apple. Fullhouse showed they mean business with their growing rockabilly sound. Shine, Shine, Shine, and Shine and Space Cake gave me renewed hope for the indie scene alongside the faster rhythms of Rabbit is Rich and The White Eyes. Out of the myriad Japanese bands that played this year Gin Nang Boyz were the highlight with Mineta's Iggy Pop intensity that landed him a night in a Taipei slammer. He even played a solo acoustic song, but security couldn't handle nudity and hurling water bottles into the crowd, I guess. Luminous Orange played a cerebral set before Six O'Minus opened the third eye with their post-rock dub. Head Phones President manged to gather a crowd of 60 plus even as band unknown to islanders. The fun time ska of Yum Yum Orange was cool to bop around to in the summer heat as well. Some hip indie bands that played Quruli, The Aprils, YMCK, Elekibass and Buffalo Daughter while some of the big J-rock artists included RIZE, Anna Tsuchiya, LM.C and Teriyaki Boyz. The major foreign bands that performed were Testament, Yo La Tengo (so cool to catch a bit of the set in Taipei), OK Go, Dean and Britta (Galaxy 500 are a favorite in Taiwan) and Asobi Seksu (very cool to see them, they should have played later though). And if that isn't diverse enough for you I didn't mention the Korean death metal, the techno/electronica tent or the aborigine folk stage! Needless to stay the sauna-like humidity, the after-parties at the Underworld and running around meeting up with old friends, indie label people and random sightseeing burned me out and I was very happy to return to my air-condition-less Yokohama flat!

Most recently, I got in touch with the Pacific Media Expo in Los Angeles and arranged forHead Phones President to play this year's event just last November. I made a last minute decision to join the band on their trip and booked a flight to LA. It turned out to be a really good move because I got to meet The Slants who were scheduled to open for HPP and I was able to hang out with Wolfgang Bang, one of the first bands whose CD was available on Pacifiction, at their dingy studio building. I also got a chance to check out the LA-based Japanese punk group Thee Out Mods from Seven Samurai Records and Japanese indie rockers LiN Clover. On the J-Rock tip were Candy Spooky Theater and D&L. There were many Otaku culture and cosplay events including karaoke but I had the most fun partying with The Slants and the staff from Anime Food and Jrock Events (USA)! The PMX staff was completely hospitable, amiable and hip to cool sounds. It was a big chance for me to promote Pacifiction Records face to face with people who wouldn't see my site otherwise. As for the music, The Slants showed they were more than just great at partying when they played their set of "Chinatown dance rock" and Head Phones President truly blew people away. They were happily surprised at the reaction to their performance and enthusiastically delighted with their reception at the signing after the show.

Since returning from PMX, I've been planning which major festivals I will be attending next year. There's Spirit of Taiwan in February, but I doubt I can make that one. I'm thinking Spring Scream 2008 will be a definite.

Next blog post will be Year End Review Part Three: Border Crossing. I want to make a list of events where bands associated with Pacifiction have played in other countries. I'll keep the list down to short bulletins since I'll probably be repeating some events I already listed in the past two blog posts.

Year End Review Part One: Tokyo Shows

2007-12-03T10:04:00.000-05:00

After a year of blog inaction, I just decided to wrap everything up in a one shot deal. I saw so may amazing shows, visited so many cool places and most importantly I met so many cool people that have helped shape Pacifiction Records. In retrospect, I've followed so closely to the ideals that got Pacifiction by continuing to make cement friendships in the Asia-centered independent music world. All the while checking out some fantastic bands and attending some of the hippest Asian music events. I'll make a list of some of the coo things I've done and seen, some related to Pacifiction and others more of personal interest.

At the beginning of last year I remember seeing some great bands like Melt Banana for the first time at Club 24 in downtown Yokohama. The next big show was at Shinjuku Loft for Lolita No.18 who I've been dying to see for the past 7 years. My only regret was not catching them in NYC or better yet 15 years ago when Hang On Snoopy their staple and their sound was unpolished and truly abrasive. The same show had The Crough Patrick, a raucous Irish punk band, and Num 41 a novelty punk cover band that mixes children folk tunes to their mix and The Sect a blitzing street punk outfit on the bill.

Next up was Mad 3 at Shelter with a blistering metal, punk and fuzz riot... I can still hear the viking opera theme intro! The same show had the Baitones an insane Cramps style trash punk/ stomp rock band from Kobe and the wildest Japanese Elvis impersonator Little Elvis Ryuta! I was also excited to catch Jackie and the Cedrics at Red Cloth (another band I had been following for some time) with The Bawdies, a 60's RnB Beatles throwback band and Minnesota Voodoo Men... rock n roll at it's best with a Yardbirds cover and stage acrobatics to leave you breathless.

Later at Red Cloth I would see members of Pebbles in their new 60's pop/ garage groups with the country folk and blues band Hot Shots who invited me to check out their show with the American rockabilly queen Rosie Flores!

I caught Bawdies, Jackie and the Cedrics and Mad3 again at the Rock N' Roll Summit held at Shibuya AX along with the legendary Sheena and the Rokkits, Neat Beats, Laughing Nose and Guitar Wolf! At a similar afternoon long music fest broadcast over live-feed by Firefox, I caught Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re opening up for the great Shonen Knife kind of showing just how far Japanese indie girl bands have come today.

Towards the end of the summer, I caught up with The Vickers who I had seen several years ago at the Formoz fest in Taiwan. Around the same time, I got to see another key member of Thug Murder, Ryoko with Last Target! Playing with them was Akiakane, who I had also seen in Taiwan at the Say Yes to Taiwan festival. Both bands opened up for old school Japanese punk rockers Star Club.

In my search for some of the Japanese garage bands I knew from comps like Hodge Podge Barrage, I found a show with both Supersnazz and Great Mongoose as well as a great chick trash rocker group whose name eludes me opening up for The Basics, a retro merseybeat band from Melbourne! Also at the show was nonaX, a hip new wave band whose keyboardist hails from Chicago. Pacifiction now carries The Basics release Stand Out/ Fit In as well as Neo Wave Nastros which features nonaX!

One of the recent highlights was the Back from the Grave Screaming Lord Sutch Tribute Halloween Party at Shelter with a list of ghoulish bands that would get the morgue boppin' back to life for sure. The list of players goes: MAD 3/JACKIE & THE CEDRICS/PINKY AOKI(ex PHANTOM GIFT)＋K.N.R.S./GASOLINE/SATURNS/THE MINNESOTA VOODOO MEN/THE MIGHTY MOGULS/THE PSYCRONS/thee 50's high teens/LOS RIZLAZ/TOKYO CRAMPS. And all in costume too! Gasoline played their set in Yohinoya uniforms! Minnesota Voodoo Men frontman hung from the rafters dressed as a mummy! The 50's High Teens screeched to delight! Tokyo Cramps did a frightening impersonation of the originals! And to top it all off Jackie and the Cedrics dressed as the 5678's did a cover set in tribute!

The end of the year is seeing an invasion of classic garage and power pop bands from all over the world which started with the Stems a couple weeks ago and will continue with the Dogs, Chinese Telephones and the Fast Cars all playing with incredible local bands that I'm discovering each week.

I can't forget to write about Head Phones President, who I actually met one year ago in NYC. Throughout 2007 I saw them several times and even helped them perform in Taiwan and the US. One of the cool HPP Tokyo shows was at Club Havana with Goofy Style; I had seen Goofy Style in Taiwan at Spring Scream 2005 and after hearing HPP for the first time I thought they had a similar style. After hanging out with HPP in Japan, I found out they were pretty good friends.

While these were the most memorable shows for me because I've been wanting furiously to see these bands for a long while now, I have to mention the lesser known Japanese bands that I've struck up friendships with as well as business collaborations including Water Closet, ELMOC (who played a great set with Drunken Boat from Portland, OR), Six O'Minus and Flight of Idea. All the tons of other bands I could list but don't have time, I tip my hat you! It's been a great year of live music in Tokyo!

Stay tuned for Part Two, a list of festivals and major events I went to!

Shinjuku Motion

2006-12-28T07:13:00.000-05:00

I went to my first show in Tokyo last week at Shinjuku Motion. I was on the guest list because I knew one of the bands from some friends in Taiwan. Six O' Minus actually played Taiwan several times including Spring Scream, the Formoz fest as well as some shows at the Wall in Taipei. Well I took the elevator up to the fifth floor, paid the 1000 yen entry fee for 2 drink tickets (yeah, guest list in Japan doesn't mean free), the indie girls at the door handed me what seemed like a booklet of flyers and I entered the small but cozy loft bar.

I found my new friends from Six o' Minus and had a couple drinks watching the opening bands. The first was called something like Hnywo with two girls on guitar and bass playing some disco beat rock n' roll. Next was Nanocycle, another band I met while hanging out at the venue that created some wall of sound shogazer music with a laptop, guitars and female vocals on bass. Six o' Minus didn't disappoint me with their melding of dub reggae and post rock. There were a few other bands that night, but I spent a lot of time talking to the guys from Six o' Minus about Taiwan, Spring Scream and Pacifiction Records.

Pacifiction Records: Items for Sale!!

2006-12-07T19:32:00.000-05:00

OK... Finally I have some stuff for sale on Pacifiction Records:

1) Baseball - ep - Manic Pixies/ Dirty Three influenced indie rock with searing violin!

2) Chasing Sparrow/Fall of this Corner - split CD - Two of Taiwan's only post-punk bands. Sounds ranging from minimal indie punk to screamo!

3) Armedalite Rifles - Orange County NY mod influenced punk with reggae and a touch of 80's hardcore.

4) Love Cinema Vol. 6 - North Jersey trash punk by way of Takashi Miike, complete with bondage anthems and Blondie covers!

Yokohama, Mon Amour!

2006-12-07T19:25:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm living in Japan now! I arrive at Narita airport with a few battle scars. One of my large bags was left behind in Toronto and I started getting a sore throat on the airplane. Well, I got the bag back two days later and I finally feel a little better. But the first weekend I was in Japan, I missed Guitar Wolf, the Vickers aaaaannnddd Last Target!!! T_T And this weekend, there's not much going on... why do I always have such bad timing. Well looks like it will be a punk rock X-mass cause I'm planning on going to see Guitar Wolf and the Vickers on Christmas in Nagoya!

Last Barn Party

2006-12-07T19:12:00.000-05:00

The weekend after Thanksgiving was my official last weekend in the US, so I threw a barn party. I invited a bunch of bands and people but only a handful of people that I invited showed up. Special thanks to Ideal Brain Tonic for bringing the crowd! The night started of with Soviet Spies and the Robotapocalypse from West Point with sampling and screaming. Then Ideal Brain Tonic with their out their experimental hard rock. The night ended with Third Part Reverse from north Jersey playing stoner post-rock accompanied by the theremin. Thanks to Deuce for stopping by and although all members of Butterface were in the same time-zone, they were all too hung-over to do a reuinion show.

Rebel Night!

2006-12-07T18:46:00.000-05:00

Well, usual, I have some blogging to catch up on... a lot has happened in the past 3 weeks!

About two weeks ago I had Good Bye NYC / Pacifiction Records website launch party at Otto's Shrunken Head in the East Villiage. It was also Rebel Night with guest DJ Mike Mortician spinning incredible rare 50's rock n roll and rockabilly (he even threw in a car/motorcycle noise theme set!!). It was a real sock hop with all these Japanese cats with pompadours and white tee-shirts doing the Twist! The girls in more 60's mod fashions did occasional line dances to the slower songs and there were a lot of couples spinning and shaking at the rave!

I have to thank all my NYC friends who cam out: Amy Uzi, Tony and Chris, Anna Bananarchy and Mary, Paul Wheeler (Rock of Japan) and my web designers Antonio and Peggy (Freckles Studio) ans well as all the people they brought with them.

I also have to thank the DJs and Rebel Night gang: Sei, Kick and June!

Head Phones President

2006-11-05T13:58:00.000-05:00

Something very unusal happened at work today. Nothing every seems to happen at Radical Records, at least recently, but on Friday we had guests form Japan. My boss's friend Frank Wood who is a booking agent for a host of NY bands asked to stop by with Head Phones President kind of a spiritual hard rock group from Tokyo with a wild fairy like lead singer.

The next day I stopped by the Pass Out Record Shop and coincidentally they were the opening band for a day long rock event. It was amusing trying to talk to the band with my very limited Japanese ability and only my photocopied text book notes to work from, but I felt like I made some new friends I could meet up with when I get to Japan.

While talking with Head Phones President, there was another Japanese cat hanging around the store front. I found out he's in a band called Das Boot... one of the original Back from the Grave Tokyo garage bands! While I'm not familiar with Das Boot, they were on one of the Hodge, Podge, Barrage comps and are from the same background as bands like Guitar Wolf, Ginnyvamps, Great Mongoose, Jackie and the Cedrics and the 5678's!

TV Party!

2006-11-05T13:42:00.000-05:00

So I was on public access TV in Port Jervis, NY last Thursday nite playing Mandolin with Rich Murphy and the Barn Boys! Rich Murphy is a 79 year old WWII vet who started playing guitar and yodelling when he was a kid. He played real country rock n' roll in bars all throughout the 30's, 40's and 50's and after putting down the guitar for 20 years, he stepped in to VFW open mic hosted by my father's friend GT and blew the crowd away with his classics.

After a year and a half of backing up Rich in my father's barn, we got invited to play a public access TV show called Keepin' Country Strong (kind of a Hee Haw type showcase of local country and rock acts). We played some classics like Blue Moon of Kentucky, Wabash Cannonball, Okie from Muscogee and Pictures of Life's Otherside. It was a lot of fun and I'll try to get some of the show on Youtube one of these days!

Boo!

2006-11-05T13:32:00.000-05:00

So I spent my Halloween weekend in New Paltz, my old college town. I saw a host of old friends like Matty Pants who I went up to Cabaloosa with to see an female-fronted Misfits cover band and Pitchfork Militia. Some girl dressed as snot remember me from jumping off the roof at a party a year ago and I was flattered. And at the end of the nite Joker and Harley Quinn waltzed in. Fantastic!

Halloween in New Paltz is always cool. I wore my usually Chinese ghost mask which always creeps a lot of people out. I went up to the haunted house with some new friends and then actually went Trick or Treating for the first time in 10 years!

Suicide Girls vs. Benten Girls!

2006-11-05T13:07:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago I saw Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re open for the Suicide Girls burlesque show. I hung out at the merch table before they went on and I met Paul Wheeler, the wiz behind the Rock of Japan website. I had just had business cards printed up, and made some Taiwan indie sampler to pass out. I had previously corresponded with Paul via email, but was happy to finally meet in person. As a hobby, he goes out to any Japanese rock events around NYC and writes show and CD reviews to give exposure to these otherwise under-the-radar bands. When I first found his site I noticed it was that it's goals where similar to my own site for the Taiwan underground music scene, Island of Sound. Look for a Pacifiction Records banner add on Rock of Japan sometime soon!

Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re played a great fun set, with my favorite songs Ebiharu Shinji and Tea Time Ska! I love watching Yayoi dance like a maniac! Benten bands are so cool and I can't wait to see groups like Lolita No.18 and Mummy the Peepshow when I go to Japan. After the show, I hung out at the merch table with Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re. As the Suicide Girls did bare-breasted tricks on stage with little black X's on their nips, I thought to myself, Suicide Girls?.. I prefer Benten Girls!

Pacifiction News!

2006-11-05T12:48:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm not the greatest blogger, cause a lot has happened in the past couple weeks and I haven't taken the time to post anything.

First off, I met with Freckles Studio almost a week and a half ago. The site is looking great and should be well into the programming phase right now. I hope to meet with the designers this week to see what's up. The next step is to create a PayPay account and get that integrated.

As for stocking CDs, I've been talking to 7 Inch Vinyl about getting Varo, Tin Pan Alley and SMOL. And I will be carrying Dolly's Pillbox's new EP as well as the new 8mm Sky full length from Silent Agreement. Also on the way is the Chasing Sparrow/ Fall of this Corner split and the Australian band Baseball's EP. Once I figure out how to pay these labels and bands and get them available on my site, we'll really be rolling!

All CDs so far will be shipped direct from Taiwan by my friend Once. He's acting as kind of a manager for me and helping me out in a very big way.

I'll write more about Pacifiction Records after my next meeting with Freckles Studio.

End of the Century

2006-10-18T12:16:00.000-04:00

This past weekend saw the closing of the beyond legendary NYC punk haven CBGBs. On Saturday nite, Debbie Harry smiled at me from stage and then HD Manitoba from the Dictators assured us all that NYC will always have rock n' roll as long as he's around. And it was great meeting all the characters on line and at the gallery even though I didn't get to see Patti Smith. Special thanks to Matt Pless for the acoustic punk jam.

R.I.P. CBGB

(Me an' the Captain at CBGBs; Dead Man Walking show November 2005)

What goes on.

2006-10-12T20:39:00.000-04:00

I have another meeting with Freckles Studio next week to discuss the progress of my new website for Pacifiction Records. So far it's looking good! And I've already made tentative plans to leave for Japan on December 1st this year. Hopefully I will have enough time and money to visit Taiwan in January or February for Chinese New Year. In the meantime I will be arranging things between indie labels in Taiwan and setting up my Paypal account.

Now I'd like to stay away from deep political discussions and focus on this new business venture of mine, but I saw a very provocative and emotional documentary about people in Japan and Korea who are fighting to protect their environment as well as their peaceful way of life. I was invited to a screening of Yukihisa Fujimoto's documentary "Marines Go Home!" The film discuss the damage to the ecology, the disruption of daily life and the accidental killings of innocent civilians due to the unnecessary, and arguably, unlawful US occupation of Korea and Japan. Stroll with a man in Hokkaido who refuses to leave his home in the middle of a training camp, celebrate with Korean villagers of Maehyang-ri as they see the closure of an air force bombing range and share the distress of Okinawan protesters as attempt non-violent means to stop a survey for a new military base at Henoko. It's truly chilling to see these devoted environmentalists take their canoes out to sea, block the surveyors, and even struggle with their own stance of non-violence while they are being pulled into the water from the survey stands and threatened by those working for the Japanese government. Fujimoto-San is taking this film on tour across the US to various universities. I was lucky to catch it last night in NYC at Bluestockings Bookstore.
www.hayaokidori.squares.net/marines_go_home/

Special thanks to my Japanese tutor Yuko who invited me out for the screening as well as dinner with the director, his crew and some students from Okinawa University traveling with him. ( By the way, I met Yuko at an Afrirampo show at Tonic last year, just to tie this all in with music.) As far as documentaries go, this one is a bit choppy cutting back and forth between the three locales, but the true-to-life filming gives the outsider, whether they are an American from Nebraska or a Japanese Mainlander, vital insight into these critical issues.

Go for Broke!

2006-09-15T13:30:00.000-04:00

After spending a year in Taiwan going to shows and fests at every chance, I started documenting the underground scene on a website called Island of Sound. The basic goal of the project was to give exposure to some of these great bands that would otherwise go unheard. About a year later, and maybe 3 months ago, I decided to open my own online store called Pacifiction Records where you can find mostly Taiwanese indie rock, punk and electronica but also other rare Asian underground music.

The website for Pacifiction Records will be launched in early November and shortly after I will be stocking Taiwanese indies such as Varo, SMOL, Dolly's Pillbox and 8mm Sky. So get ready!

On a side note, I like the the phrase "Go for Broke!" as a way to describe my decision to leap into a somewhat risky business venture. The phrase was used as a slogn and battle cry by Japanese Americans fighting in World War II. The 1951 movie Go for Broke is pretty good watch.