HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol.10 & WolfWolf 2012 Japan Tour - THE WOLVES ARE COMING

I finally met the Wolves themselves at Harajuku station and took them on a RnR tour of the town, the usual spots like Rockin' Jelly Bean's shop Erostika, Attractions rockers shop & Jack's for vintage rockabilly addicts where we met Jim Jams' Milky who modeled with their new 7" "The Wolves are Coming!" for us! This is the usual tour you'll get from me if I ever get the chance to take you around Tokyo.

We met up at Poor Cow for the first show on Friday October 10th at Poor Cow, the RnR meeting place in Shimo-kitazawa for the first gig. It's a small bar run by Fifi, best known for his part in Teengenerate but now plays with Firestarter. Taka-Rock, one half of The Runaway Brothers, and waited for Fifi to open the doors. The show started around 9pm while a small audience dripped in which included Mikico of The Yumberries and Detroit Jack. WolfWolf started to play grabbed, shook and strangulized the small crowd there was. They won over Fifi taking pics of their show and I felt vindicated I had brought them over. As an encore they did their slow and ghostly version of the Ramones' "Pet Sematary!"

HOUSE of MYSTERY returned for its 10th volume, a milestone of it's own! With Wolf Wolf growling and ready to go! I made it a Halloween party to kick off the season and had werewolf B-movies playing on a drop-down screen throughout the show. Straight from Yokosuka, the d/i/s/c/o/s dropped their garage punk bomb. Then Beaver Patrol dug thru the grave to expose some 60's punk unknowns! Female-fronted psychobilly startlers VILLAINZ bewitched us with eerie tunes fueled by rapping double bass and haunting organ. Somewhere in there Miss Rita Goldie gave a stunning burlesque performance to make the dead feel like they were 21! She got the wolf boys howling! With silhouetted back-drops of woods, WolfWolf appeared on stage... flashlight attached to Reto's plastic guitar like a searchlight in the Black Forest and Marcel's growling vocals! They let everyone in a 4-kilometre radius know The Wolves Are Coming! With every twang of his guitar, Reto's flashlight hit on every little Heidi girl that was there... then Rita came back on stage to do a little shimmy shimmy to one of their songs! Howling indeed! To wrap it all up, the inimitable gorefest ED WOODS really brought on Halloween with there trash rock 'n' roll, slippin' 'n' slidin' wildness and a monster beach party encore that included a ghoulish "Surfin' Bird!" Halloween had come not a moment too soon! Fiendish and sleazy, DJ duo Yukkum Yukkum provided twisted hits throughout the night along with Yours Truly, The Stately Wayne Manor.

The final night of WolfWolf was for the brave souls who went out to Sex & Fury & RnR Vol. 18 at Orange County Brothers, a hop, skip & a jump away in Yokohama where raucous Aussies BUNT were also on the bill. Another great night that included the Stompin' Riffraffs doing a wild set of frat hop and psycho-instru-mental-ists Bobby's Bar already getting ready for Halloween with a cover The Dickies "Killer Clowns!" WolfWolf, once again set up their home terrain spooky woods back-drops and growled the audience into submission with humorous anecdotes about Swiss girls named Heidi, bedtime stories of werewolves and their favorite food... MEAT! Everybody MEAT! But I have to say the alpha-males of the night were BUNT, who were so hot they blistered the crowd with an electrifying leather jacket moment of pure confrontation that brought back the memory of real garage punk!

WolfWolf's first trip to Japan was a trashy, trapping endeavor which left me thrashing about like a man bitten and turning into some rabid beast every time I look at their color vinyl 7" record! The wolves are coming.... back?!?

WolfWolf 2012 Japan Tour - The Wolves are Coming!

When two werewolves from the deep in the woods of Switzerland asked Yours Truly about coming to Japan, I had to make sure they were all they said they were... So they sent me a crumpled package with a tape cassette wrapped in a stenciled cardboard wolf mask! I got them three shows around Tokyo with some of the trashiest Japanese bands I could find! The brought a brand new 7" record seething with a trash beat & blood-curdling screams. The howling madness was a perfectly demented way to kick of the Halloween season!

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!

MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol.14, "RONIN meets ROVER at Heavy Sick!"

So the fate of Mystery Mondays hangs in the balance... seriously though, I am basically rescheduling my life in the coming months and I hope to have the time to continue the Monday nite madness! In the meantime, check out the killer Sat. nite House of Mystery parties coming up!

This months Mystery party presents a shamisen blues project called 石舞台 featuring MARI from ANAKIES and Black&Blue tapping into the Japanese psyche with some eerie folk tunes with a western blues touch. Then Ally Band will take to the stage for a set of Irish punk with blaring bagpipes straight outta hell! They play Wild Rover the day before so come join us for a bit of hair of the dog at Club Heavy Sick!

THE JAPANESE BASTARD from UNCLEOWEN will be spinning some wild rustic tunes and yours truly, The Stately Wayne Manor will create a balance with some traditional Irish records and old school Japanese group sounds! RONIN meets ROVER at Heavy Sick!

HATAGAYA HEAVY SICK
March 23
MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol. 14
"RONIN meets ROVER at Heavy Sick!

feat.
ALLY BAND
石舞台

Roaming DJs
THE JAPANESE BASTARD (UNCLEOWEN)
The Stately Wayne Manor (Swamp Fiction)

MYSTERY MONDAYS: THE 13th PARTY feat. TAKA-ROCK & ED WOODS!

Right now I am lamenting MYSTERY MONDAYS... It was such a fun time just seeing what kinda folks would just ramble in off the streets on some dubious Facebook or Tokyo Gig Guide tip. For the 13th edition of MYSTERY MONDAYS I had TAKA-ROCK & ONE MAN HEARTBREAKERS play with the uncontrollable ED WOODS no-less! The wild Irish DJ NOEL and AKKO CHAMPION of LOS CHAMPIONS were the guest vinyl spinners for the night but the two Finnish wanderers, Henri and Hanne, that showed up out of nowhere made the night for me! They captured this small glimpse of the last days of MYSTERY MONDAYS and a brilliant intro to the Tokyo gore garage scene to share with the world at large!

PS. Check out Henri's own mega-powerpop-rock band THE DEATH of GAGARIN!!


(Highlights of MYSTERY MONDAYS "The 13th Party")


(THE DEATH OF GAGARIN - Le Grunge Blues)

MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol.13, "THE 13th PARTY"

MYSTERY MONDAYS resumes! Well only for a little while... The 13th party will happen, then the Stately Wayne Manor will take a break from his manic Mondays after March 26th. Don't fret, there are still three Saturday nite HOUSE of MYSTERY events scheduled for April ( Atomc Suplex Crypt LP release party!), May (Shlonk scum attack!) and June (Rock Day Showdown between Tokyo & Nagoya punks!), but more on this later!

Come on out to Heavy Sick on Monday, February 27th for a killer night of lonely garage crooning and trash rock 'n' roll by TAKA-ROCK & ONE MAN HEARTBREAKERS and the inimitable gorefest that is ED WOODS! Killer DJs the wild Irishman NOEL & AKKO of Los Champions join yours truly to spin some devious punk, psychobilly and garage unknowns!

HATAGAYA HEAVY SICK
Mon. Feb.27
MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol.13
"THE 13th PARTY"

feat.
ED WOODS
TAKA-ROCK & ONE MAN HEARTBREAKERS

Guest DJs
NOEL (Almost There)
AKKO (Los Champions)

Host DJ
The Stately Wayne Manor (Swamp Fiction)

Open: 20:00
Ticket: 1200 +1D

THE FADEAWAYS' Record Release Party "We Are All Teenage Shutdown!"

Last year Yours Truly was hard at work releasing THE FADEAWAYS 7" single "(I Wanna Get Some) Action!" (on my own SWAMP FICTION label) just in time for their November tour of the North East USA! In mid January 2012, we had a mighty fine record release party at HATAGAYA HEAVY SICK as part of my HOUSE of MYSTERY series titled "We Are All TEENAGE Shutdown!" featuring some of their contemporaries in the Tokyo garage scene, namely Toyozo's belle's girls-in-the-garage group MELVINS, THE SHALLOWS with their edgy take on group sounds meets beat stomp, psyche/garage stompers 96TSUBU NO NAMIDA and SWAMP FICTION labelmates THEEE BAT!!! WILD OX of SWANK and killer retro art shop EROSTIKA spun some kerthwapin' garage tunes along side myself, The Stately DJ WAYNE MANOR! Here are some highlights caught on film!


(THAT'S THE WAY MY LOVE IS originally by THE TROLLS!

HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol.6, "We are all TEENAGE SHUTDOWN!" - THE FADEAWAYS 7" Release Party

While THE FADEAWAYS official release of their brand new 7" single "(I Wanna Get Some) Action!" coincided with their first jaunt to the US with six shows in the north eastern states last November, the Japanese release party will take place this coming Sunday at Heavy Sick in Tokyo! It will be a garage punk & 6t's mods affair with Swamp Fiction labelmates THEEE BAT as well as 96TSUBU NO NAMIDA, THE SHALLOWS and garage girls MELViNS filling the bill. Special DJs in the garage on hand will be WILD OX (EROSTIKA), NOEL (ALMOST THERE) and yours truly, The Stately DJ WAYNE MANOR (SWAMP FICTION) spinning wild tunes for your forlorn teenage hearts screaming for some Action!

HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol.6
"We are all TEENAGE SHUTDOWN!"
HATAGAYA HEAVY SICK
SUN.1.15

THE FADEAWAYS 7" release party!

feat.
THEEE BAT
ザ・シャロウズ
96粒の泪
MELViNS

Sh-sh-sh-shutdown DJs...
WILD OX (EROSTIKA)
NOEL (ALMOST THERE)
WAYNE MANOR (SWAMP FICTION)

OPEN: 18:00
START: 18:30
TICKET: 1800 +1D(ADV), 2300 +1D(DOOR

Brought to you by SWAMP FICTION label!



And for those that only heard tell of THE FADEAWAYS and their trip to the States... Here are some pictures from their extraordinary nite at the legendary Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ! Photos provided by Phil Simkowitz.

THE SPITFIRES - 2011 JAPAN TOUR w/ The Stately DJ WAYNE MANOR

As some of you might remember, THE SPITFIRES from Perth, Australia came to Japan way back in December, 2011 for a Japan tour including a couple Xmas parties in the Tokyo Yokohama area and a week of Xmas hangover shows down to Nagoya, Hamamatsu and Osaka.  


(THE SPITFIRES - SHALLOW GRAVE PV, featuring highlights of the 2011 Japan Tour)

Yours truly organized a fateful Friday nite of indie garage goodness at Orange County Brothers in Yokohama, the Friday before Xmas with special guests including VIVIAN BOYS, DEAD BAMBIES, THE PHANTASMS, ANDROID BEACH PARTY & HOWLING GUITAR!


(THE PHANTASMS in Holiday Regal at Orange County Bros.)

 
(DEAD BAMBIES Going Christmas Crazy at Orange County Bros.)

Christmas Eve was a real wild Xmas bash called "Chiki Chiki Cherry Bomb Vol.41," thrown by CHERRY TIMES, the cutest, kookiest garage zine in Tokyo, run by a bunch of nutty Japanese girls into the current retro garage punk sounds around town. They graciously invited THE SPITFIRES to play and yours truly to deejay some rare & unknown Christmas jingles. Girls-in-the-garage-influenced MELVINS opened & THE FADEAWAYS played an EASY BEATS cover for our Aussie friends. THEEE BAT made a ruckus and the infamous JET BOYS started a riot! KUSOKURAE (aka Fuck You!) made some wild noise & THE IMPACTS, special guests from Kobe went wild. And that's how THE SPITFIRES experienced their first real Japan show at SHINJUKU JAM! It was all documented in a special edition of CHERRY TIMES!

 
 (THE IMPACTS at CHIKI CHIKI CHERRY BOMB Xmas Party at SHINJUKU JAM!)

On Sunday, everyone came out for "Christmas with THE SPITFIRES" at HOUSE of MYSTERY! Yours truly, The Stately DJ Wayne Manor, threw a party that went down in the annals of HEAVY SICK history! Heavy Sick being the club where I have my HQ and delight in entertaining guests with numerous indie bands, special burlesque performances and, for Xmas, present giveaways! This year we had bunch of bands play their classic sets but with some Xmas covers thrown in; the line-up included THE HARPY'S, the STOMPIN' RIFF RAFFS, ED WOODS & THE FLY & HIS ONE MAN GARBAGE! There was a short intermission for COCO FLAME to give SENIOR SANTA a very special dance before he had to go on his merry way back to Mexico! Both COCO & SANTA reappeared on stage and raffled of some very special presents from the bands to customers! The lovable, lucky MASAKO got a real gone boomerang from THE SPITFIRES themselves!


(SENIOR SANTA gets a special dance from Tokyo burlesque queen COCO FLAME!)

Loaded up on goodies and good-times, feeling the Christmas hangover, THE SPITFIRES & WAYNE MANOR embarked on a bullet train ride to Hamamatsu where we met TAKUMiX from the punk label MODERNEDGE. He drove us to the next gig, Monday nite in Nagoya at SONSET STRIP for "THE BOOT UP Vol.8" with some crazy punks like RADiXTAR, SUGAR BOYZ, TAKAO ISHIDA (THE 4-MATION) & TAKUMiX himself with his mates! I DJed with a hip Nagoya mods selector by the name of FUJJY. Then we headed on back to our hotels in Hamamtsu for some much needed resting.


(SHOCKTROOPS cranking it out at G-SIDE in HAMAMATSU!)

TAKUMiX hosted "THE BOOT UP Vol.9" at G-SIDE in HAMAMATSU, a very cool venue which also houses the MODERNEDGE HQ and TAKUMiX's new mods/punks/skins shop. This show was a riot of underground music featuring cali-style punks RADiXTAR, TAKAO ISHIDA from THE 4-MATION, garage-blues influenced skinhead group SHOCK TROOPS, hard-rockers KILLER-Q & TAKUMiX MITSUDER-MAN & MATES with special guest vocalist PeCo Baby (a very lovely artist and model) doing roots ska and enough slick punk to make any neo-mod swing a bit. THE SPITFIRES really got the crowd roaring at this one!


(THE SPITFIRES saying good bye to TAKUMiX at HAMAMATSU Station)  

Sadly we said our good-byes to the Hamamatsu/Nagoya scene and got on a trainful of mishaps that took us to Osaka just in time for sound check at NAMBA MELE! There we checked into our hostel, more like a beatnik trap for wandering artists, and headed to the club where we met WONDER 3 who hosted the Wednesday party titled "HIGH NUMBER!!" which was the final night of THE SPITFIRES Japan tour. Yours truly handled MC duties as well as spinning a mix of classic garage/mods tunes. Opening was a Kansai noise trio called 鹿鳴館 giving us a glimpse at local flavor. THE CADILLACS rustled out some alternative rock for the kids and THE OOH-MELS gave me what my Tokyo-garage-garage-lovin'-ass need to get me through the last leg! After THE SPITFIRES got the crowd going, The WONDER 3 rousted up some comedic suit-wearing mod RnR to end the night!

The rest, well, let's say we all got safely back to where we needed to be and my girlfriend & I met up with SPITFIRES vocalist Sean and his girlfriend Ellie back in Tokyo for some drinks and final good byes before the calling of the New Year! From meeting THE SPITFIRES at the SWANK Rockin' Yule Xmas party to the last day of the tour they were mates! They have since relocated to Aussie indie rock centre Melbourne and I hope to see them back in Japan sometime soon!