ROCK DAY (6/9, 2012) Showdown! Punks 'n' Skins! Nagoya meets Tokyo @ HEAVY SICK

Way back in December when I making my rounds with THE SPITFIRES from Perth, we met a bunch of punk bands down in Nagoya and Hammamatsu. One of them being a Cali-style street punk band (think bitter Rancid-esque ska with a punch of punkabilly by way of Social D) called RADiXTAR. At the after-party we were talking about playing shows in Tokyo and I said it might be possible to do a punk show in at Heavy Sick in Tokyo. The next day RADiXTAR met up with us in Hammamatsu where another Nagoya band was supporting Aussie indie band THE SPITFIRES. They stormed the stage with blaring harmonica and chugging blues punk which sounded heavily rooted pub rock and also had the raw anger of British Oi! They were called THE SHOCKTROOPS and the latest thing in the Japanese skinhead scene. I was sold. When RADiXTAR frontman U-Key contacted me about a show for their new demo EP, I had to have THE SHOCKTROOPS on board as well.

I decided to throw together a Tokyo/Nagoya punk/skin showcase and was able to book Rock Day, June 9th (it's an unofficial party day for rockers of all kinds in Japan), at Heavy Sick and billed it as a punk rock showdown! Representing Tokyo, I got pogo jumpers THE ERECTiONS and bootboys ROUGH STUFF, as well as melodic street punk band TIMELESS TIMBER to even out the event. TIMELESS TIMBER warmed up the crowd with their poppy hooks and Chisato's bright vocals. With spikes, studded leather and patches flailing, THE ERECTIONS built up the momentum with their rabid chant, "Noise for the Boys!" RADiXTAR hit the stage with a ska pulse havocked by punk intent. Appearing for the first time in Tokyo, THE SHOCKTROOPS whipped up a pub rock concoction for skins and punks alike, and, on one of their last shows ever, ROUGH STUFF brought so much violence from the steets right into the basement venue that I had to keep the DJ station from toppling over!

Wild and weird punk & new wave party tunes were provided by DJ MILKY (from the sadistic all-girl punk rock band JIM JAMS), DJ Setsuko & Yours Turly, The Stately DJ Wayne Manor. It all happened at Heavy Sick. It all happened on Rock Day, 2012, the night House of Mystery went street punk!

HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol.9, "Rock Day, Showdown 69! Tokyo vs. Nagoya!"

Up the punx at the House of Mystery this month! June 9 is a special day in Japan. 6 is "roku" is Japanese and 9 "ku" ... smash them together and you get ROCK! So every 6/9 is "rock day" and there are tons of kickin' events especially if it falls on a Saturday like this year! Welcome to the House's big punk rock party featuring a bunch of Tokyo street punks facing off with RADiXTAR and SHOCK TROOPS from Nagoya who I met while on tour with THE SPITFIRES last winter. RADiXTAR is a bit of a California style ska/punkablilly/street mash-up and SHOCK TROOPS are a boot stompin' skinhead band with a touch of blues garage! They square off with manic pogo punx THE ERECTiONS, the hardcore edge of Chisato's (ex Thug Murder/Vickers) TIMELESS TIMBER and Tokyo's own boot-stompers ROUGH STUFF! Street music, that is a mix of old school punk, ska, hardcore and even more primitive sounds, will be provided by Milky (JIM JAMS), Toyota City native Setsuko and, yours truly, The Stately Wayne Manor! Drink up, spit it out, get your Rock Day on at Heavy Sick!

June 9, 2012
HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol. 9
"Rock Day Showdown 69! Tokyo vs. Nagoya!"
HATAGAYA HEAVY SICK

*live*
ROUGH STUFF
SHOCK TROOPS (NAGOYA)
RADiXTAR (NAGOYA)
THE ERECTiONS
TIMELESS TIMBER

*DJ*
MILKY (JIM JAMS)
WAYNE MANOR (Pacifiction Records)
SETSUKO

OPEN: 18:00
START: 18:30

TICKET:
ADV: 1700 +1D
DOOR: 2000 +1D

SHLONK Across Japan 2012 - Canada Scum Punk meets The Wild Dude

Once again, the slithering slimy mess from Canada known as SHLONK seeped up onto Japan's shores for three shirking shows in the Tokyo area. If you don't know the history of this band from my previous posts and the press they've received in Japan, then you're just hopeless! (OK that was mean, but just check Google, cause they just plain kickass!) Straightaway they made a beeline to Poor Cow to meet me for some drinks and chatting with Fifi. Of course he would have a book of the history of Canadian punk with their first album EEE-YOH in it along with some jackets (like SNFU's controversial debut album) that vocalist Al had illustrated!

SHLONK's first show was a HOUSE of MYSTERY mash-up at Heavy Sick which featured a lot of old compadres of SHLONK as well as Yours Truly. The first band was an experimental rock/dub unit called Stupid7Beat featuring some of my old friends from Six o' Minus. Mika from emulsion, an old friend of SHLONK's angie, asked Yours Truly to join in their set and sing a DAMNED song! It was kinda hyper karaoke and I had to mask the fact that I wasn't fully confident with getting it right (despite practicing for two weeks!)... Wayne Manor with emulsion was a two minute blitz of electro-punk, mumbled vocals and a shaving cream attack on the audience to give that Damned Damned Damned effect!



Dressed in bosozuku samurai gear, TOKYO RYOZANPAKU brought an arsenal of 'street' weapons for the audience to parade around with while the lead singer cut himself profusely spouting off right-wing propaganda... yeah, these guys played with SHLONK in Japan before, in 2009. SEPPUKU PISTOLS brought an onslaught of punk rock, tribal electronic noise and Japanese taiku drums, yes, the very big kind reserved for natsumatsuri, or summer festivals in Japan.



Yeah, these guys played the same show as TOKYO RYOZANPAKU in 2009! When SHLONK took the stage at last, the Tokyo crowd was eager, loud and desperate! Al appeared onstage in a tux and took it from there belting out their repertoire with a certain enthusiasm that got kids raging. The kicker for me came with their encore, a very classic hardcore rendition of the NEW YORK DOLLS' "Trash!" which got me hyped for the tour dates to come! And this was just the first night!


(SHLONK with Mika emulsion, empty glasses of course)

The next day, was a bit of a hazard... Yours Truly, went off to shoot a music video for THEEE BAT as an extra. I left pretty concise direction for SHLONK to get to Orange County Brothers in Yokohama... but they took a wrong turn and ended up walking in the middle of bumblefuck Yokohama, yeah the weird suburban area not near much of anything... Well the story goes, they just asked some guys on the street that looked like rockers... and they took them right to the bar! SHLONK ended up bring five people to the show from the street... and they were just like best friends before the end of the night! This show was part of the Sex & Fury & RnR series and featured garage supergroup KUSOKARE, '77-style punk bands THE STAIRS & THE C&C with the headliner being the freaky lolita-gore-feminist grindcore band ZOMBIE LOLITA! Needless to say SHLONK fit in quite well, and moreover brought the party! I showed up while Al was rolling around in his monk's tunic and just in time for their encore... you guessed it "Trash!"
 
The following Thursday nite, SHLOK headed to the upscale Asakusa part of Tokyo for a gig at the live bar Crawfish, set up by fellow Canadian & expat Chris, frontman of the sci-fi surf group ANDROID BEACH PARTY! This place was more suitable for folk, blues and mainstream rock, but SHLONK brought some rowdy friends... and after a half a week working I was ready to cut loose. Al appeared on stage with a tuxedo again, but brought out a maestro wand an proceeded to conduct SHLONK from the audience, which, of course invited hijinx like tackling, stealing his wand and taking over his position dutiful! Yes, I am guilty! Loads of fun, especially on bellies full of beer and chicken & liver yakitori!

SHLONK meets THE WILD DUDE! Three years ago, SHLONK guitarist Angie contacted the trash rock 'n' roll gorefest that is ED WOODS about setting up some shows which resulted in their first Japan jaunt. This year, I asked ED WOODS to reignite the bonfire and do another show with them. It just so happened that ED WOODS was releasing their latest full-length effort WILD DUDE! and they invited SHLONK to join the record release party at Sangenjaya Heaven's Door. The Harpy's returned to support SHLONK just like they did when they first started out in 2009. That's where the chick party stopped and the Wild Dude took over! Bizzare Cramps-style punk band THE PAPAPA took to the stage, the frontman screeching and howling and eventually crawling in a loin cloth along the filthy, beer-soaked floor of the club.



The audience then braced themselves for killer hardcore group CxPxS, a volatile cocktail of new wave make-up, over-sized Roman helmets and mesh one-pieces and plastic bag tunics and a surprisingly normal-looking frontman, that is until the music starts and the shirt comes off! I was warned guard the DJ station and make sure nothing got damaged. Batten down the hatches! A couple recycling containers got emptied but the turntables made it thru OK. SHLONK, being part of the same stringy thrash punk DNA that created CxPxS, followed with another raw slash of stone-washed punk riffs. This time, Al donned his Jesus robes and halfway thru the set his huge undies some how slipped down around his ankles and, soon enough, they were being tossed around. Maki from The Harpy's got a nice whiff and tossed them right back at Al on stage!



Despite all the half-naked punk rockers, the Wild Dude had yet to unleash his full fury! ED WOODS took to the stage like a redneck revenge outta hell! Inspiring a bunch of trash-baggers like Taka-Rock, Chris Android and Yours Truly to get the full 'Wild Dude' experience. Shirts came flying off and about 15 sweaty Dude-wannabes started jumping around to the monster twang and double bass thump exploding like a gasoline can on a bonfire! The Wild Dude lives! He's alive! Alive!

And so the SHLONK across Japan tour of 2012 passed. A lot of good times eating, drinking, talking & catching up with old friends. Great shows & wild memories! I'm waiting for the next time these sleazy slurkers decide to shlep their guitars back to Japan!

HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol. 8 "Scum Attack from Canada!" & SHLONK Across Japan 2012

Legendary Canadian scum punk band SHLONK, originally from Montreal, are a somewhat a mix hamper of grungy hardcore, precocious art punk and crusty metal. Originally, an all-girl band with the exception of stage-transvestite Al on vocals, they tranny-splanted themselves in NYC playing alongside similar groups on the fringe of hardcore like GWAR and LUNA CHICKS and also befriending GG ALLIN along the way. They were responsible (more like culpable) for the only time GG ALLIN left the US. In fact, a couple SHLONK girls including guitarist Angie backed him as the SWANFUCKS at the Shock Art Festival in Montreal in 1988. By the mid 90's, SHLONK had a couple records out and were squatting around Europe and playing to all kinds of sick audiences, but were nearly disbanded by 2000 and Angie came to live in Japan for a while. Fast forward to 2009, Angie and Al have regrouped in Vancouver and played their first few shows in Tokyo, Yokohama and Chiba. Now in May 2012, they have returned with their scum onslaught and will reunite with numerous old friends as well as play with some new insane bands at select live spots in Yokohama & Tokyo.

Sat. 5/12 @ HATAGAYA CLUB HEAVY SICK

HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol.8 presents...

"Scum Attack from Canada!"

*live*

SHLONK (CAN)

SEPPUKU PISTOLS

emulsion

TOKYO RYOZANPAKU

stupid7beat

 *DJs*

KIMURA MICHIRU (CATEGOLIZED)

WAYNE MANOR (PACIFICTION RECORDS)

SETSUKO

 

Sun. 5/13  @ YOKOHAMA ORANGE COUNTY BROTHERS

SEX&FURY&R'N'R Vol.16

*live*

SHLONK (CAN)

ZOMBIE LOLITA

KUSOKURAE

C&C

STAIRS

Thurs. 5/17 @ AKASAKA CRAWFISH

*live*

SHLONK (CAN)

ANDROID BEACH PARTY

LIQUID COURAGE

Sat. 5/19 @ SANGENJAYA HEAVEN'S DOOR

ED WOODS presents... "Wild Dude" CD release party!

*live*

SHLONK (CAN)

ED WOODS

CxPxS

THE PAPAPA

THE HARPY's

*DJs*

CHUCK (DEAD BAMBIES)

WAYNE MANOR (PACIFICTION RECORDS)

ATOMIC SUPLEX - Japan Tour 2012 / Bathroom Party LP (Crypt Records) Release Parties in Tokyo!

Celebrating their debut LP release Bathroom Party from the seething clump of action THwup! that is Crypt Records, Atomic Suplex ventured over to Japan for another string of shows in the Tokyo area. It has been nearly customary to set up some shows for them, and this year I felt like the band had been "made," yes, in the Goodfellas sense, that they were now a Crypt band and our Japan circle could enjoy benefits (or just plain fits) by association. After all Kub from THEEE BAT appears as support on Bathroom Party and I released the first split 7" with ATOMIC SUPLEX and THEEE BAT on my Swamp Fiction Label. Whatever, it was just a great excuse to party in Japan in the toilet or wherever!

The first show, Sex & Fury & RnR Vol.14, took place at Orange County Brothers on Friday, April 6 in Yokohama. The 2010 Atomic Suplex tour was well documented in a special DVD in the Sex & Fury & RnR video series and features other Japanese garage bands too many to name here. This nite was notable for being BRAZIL UFO's last show before lead wild man Bancho headed for sunny Okinawa. ATOMIC SUPLEX got warmed up to the feedback, then witnessed ED WOODS' splatterfest, 少女 サバト's lolita grind-core and punk rush of the JET BOYS.

MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol.7 blasted off on Saturday nite with a bent towards a British vibe. One-time London resident and DAncer DAnger front-woman Tommi Tokyo, being friends of friends of ATOMIC SUPLEX, expressed delight at sharing the stage with them at Hatagaya Heavy Sick.





THE VOLUME OUT joined their second ATOMIC SUPLEX Japan jaunt. The MINNESOTA VOODOO MEN, recent returnees from a stint in the UK and EU, brought a slick mod beat to the bash while Tokyo Back from the Grave frat-crunchers THE GREAT MONGOOSE helped turn the show towards a more Crypt-crunched direction. Sandwiched in between all this noise 'n' madness was a burlesque show by the beautiful cutie MIWA-ROCK! By the end of her electrifying performance, she stripped down to pasties on her nips (which put some naughty ideas into the head of Atomic Suplex's Emma... to be continued).



ATOMIC SUPLEX took to the stage blaring and blazing. Churning out their brand of high-power RnR while Stuart growled from the guts straight into the mic attached to his commander helmet... all of a sudden, Emma's shirt comes off to reveal Miwa's very own pink nipple pasties! Suplexendous! Until one pasty took a nose-dive leaving Emma to cup her boob... while still shredding along to "Diamond Skull!" or whatever song they were playing, I can't remember! Before the end of the set, Mika & Kub from THEEE BAT made a special guest appearance for a frantic session! Throughout the night garage party music was provided by Yours Truly & DJ Akko Champion as well as DJ Daddy-o-nov... what would a Crypt Record release party in Japan be without the mastermind behind Tokyo's own long-running Back from the Grave garage punk rave!



Detroit Jack (of Future Now Records) was present in full effect, getting roped into some mischief and tide up in all the right ways! Thanks to him for the pics I ripped from his pseudo-blog, which can be viewed here:
http://futurenowrecords.blogspot.jp/2012/04/latent-atomic-residue-beyond-wonka.html



Too bad I can't speak for Beaver Shot! at UFO CLUB on Sunday, April 8th. Yours Truly had to commit to a Monday morning work obligation, so I wasn't there. But this was the 'old friends' nite with VIVIAN BOYS, THEEE BAT and organized by BEAVER PATROL, with members of THE FADEAWAYS! THE CHOCOLATES also gave their first performance with ATOMIC SUPLEX. I heard reports of destroyed drumkits and more venue banning, so I guess it all went alright!

Last MYSTERY MONDAYS! RONIN meets ROVER! feat. 石舞台 & ALLY BAND

Due to uncontrollable circumstances yours truly, The Stately DJ WAYNE MANOR, had to stop the MYSTERY MONDAYS series at HATAGAYA HEAVY SICK. The final party was a meeting of cultures and folk styles that could only happen in Japan. ISHIBUTAI, consisting of Black&Blue's bewitching songstress MARI coupled with an expert shamisen (that's a traditional string instrument native to Japan) played a haunting set of blues twinged with traditional Japanese sounds. Accompanying the set was a kinda didactic, cryptic even, photography show-and-tell of local history & art. Then, fresh from playing the mega St. Patrick's party WILD ROVER, ALLY BAND gave us a set of trad Irish music; bagpipes outta hell with a punk edge! And the gang had the energy to go meet up with THE POGUES on their Japan jaunt later that week! UNCLEOWEN records chief sauntered out too and spun some tunes from his label and collection while I played a mix of group sounds & Irish folk tunes! Only in Japan!!!! Unfortunately I could only find a vid of ALLY BAND for this nite, so I will post a vid of ISHIBUTAI shining on another occasion.


(ALLY BAND at the last MYSTERY MONDAYS; ALLY GO BRAGH!)


(Shamisen blues unit ISHIBUTAI!!!)

HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol. 7 & ATOMIC SUPLEX Japan Tour 2012

So it's that time of year again when the cherry blossoms bloom and the geezers lay out their blue tarps and drink sake under the pink flowers dreaming of samurai & geisha of old and then ATOMIC SUPLEX lands tearing a hole in the fabric of the collective conscious of thousands of years of Japanese culture! Three rip-roaring RnR shows celebrating the release of the new Crypt Records LP "Bathroom Party!" A bunch of Japanese kids are going to be cramming into the local park's WC to listen to this one while their parents get drunk under the beautiful sakura trees!



On Friday, April 6 ATOMIC SUPLEX trashes up Yokohama with the best of 'em at Sex & Fury & R'n'R! Come out to Orange County Brothers in Tennocho Yokohama for some killer RnR action with ED WOODS, JET BOYS, a special last performance by BRAZIL UFO and more!

Then confound and mystify your self at HATAGAYA HEAVY SICK on Saturday night April 7! The Stately Wayne Manor presents HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol. 7! A super spectacular garage punk showdown with some of classic acts like THE VOLUME OUT, MINNESOTA VOODOOMEN & THE GREAT MONGOOSE championing ATOMIC SUPLEX's new Crypt Records LP release! Back from The Grave hearse driver DJ Daddy-O-Nov will be on hand to for this ghastly "Back from the Crypt" party!



And if you still got gas, head on out to UFO CLUB on Sunday nite for "Beaver Shot!" If you like THE FADEAWAYS' "Teenage Shutdown" party, this is kinda like it's evil twin... Toyozo has a new band BEAVER PATROL and there will be some of the old guard namely THEEE BAT & VIVIAN BOYS supporting ATOMIC SUPLEX as they have done for countless years past! Not to mention raunchy blues garage band THE CHOCOLATES!

ATOMIC SUPLEX JAPAN TOUR 2012 explodes the first weekend of April, so get your riot gear ready and be sure to pick up the ATOMIC SUPLEX split 7" with THEEE BAT, the Sex & Fury & R'n'R Semi-special DVD or their latest CRypt Records LP "Bathroom Party" so you can take it home with you and drive your neighbors up a wall!