Tokyo Damage Report

Burlesque is definitely a part of gekiteki – especially when there is rock music and instruments involved! Unfortunately I have no idea of most of the burlesque / cabaret crews in Japan, and no idea of the "lines of influence" between them. So anyone who can help, please leave a comment!

情念 (jounen)

MEANING : : passion
CITY . . : tokyo
ERA . . . :  from 2000???
SOUND . . :  motown / karaoke / cha-cha
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . :
STYLE . . . : cabaret / comedy
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . : choreography, props, audience interaction
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . :
TDR REPORT . . .: here , here, and here.

The singer is some kind of fetish writer? She always wears her mummy costume, but usually  with some other costume over it. The backup singers do motown or doo-wop dance moves as they harmonize. The music is all taped, not live. It's kind of uh . . . .synthesyzers. But quiet, not dance-y. The lyrics are all comedy things about sex. Not sure if they are parodies of popular songs or what. They play live a lot.

A lot of the "appeal" seems to come from the main singer being clumsy or not being able to really sing. But perhaps that's true of Japanese pop generally?

花巻組 (hanamaki gumi)

MEANING : :  Hanamaki City Gang
CITY . . :
ERA . . . :  2004 ish???
SOUND . . : cabaret
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . :
STYLE . . . : cabaret
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . : props, dancing, audience participation (willing or not!)
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . : here
TDR REPORT . . .: herrrrrrrrrrre

video (not embeddable) here.

Hanamaki-gumi is more of a traditional, french-style cabaret. They tease the audience and so on . . .hell, I'll just reprint what I said about them when I saw them:

with no warning, A BUNCH OF WOMEN came running in. they had identical silver wigs and granny-glasses, with matching white t-shirts and skirts. . . and were covered in white balloons. They danced around with a big red monster and lip-synched LAWDY MISS CLAWDY (little Richard) while popping the balloons. The grand finale: bowing with their backs to the audience, showing their underwears. Each bloomer had a big letter on it so when they all lined up it spelled 'B-I-T-C-H-(skull and crossbones). '

Then they ran away, only to come back with cheerleader costumes and do basically the same thing. Some amazing queen dragged a 5 foot wide white balloon into the middle of the crowd and popped it, sending goose-down everywhere: the balloon had been stuffed with feathers.

Their third number was some show-tune called 'money money money.' The leader came out with this absurd and nasty red lace outfit with a charming glitter-covered dildo. A two inch long glitter covered dildo!! Everyone else was wearing sequined-up cabaret style costumes. I think the gist of it was, the lady with the 2-incher was trying to pimp them out to the audience: pulling them up one at a time and gesturing for us to look at their sequin-encrusted boobies. . . but at the end they got even with her: they all dogpiled on her and ripped her clothes off. then, out of nowhere a mink coat appeared, and a bowler hat, and the disgraced drag-king ex-pimp turned into LIZA MANELLI. She sang some kind of Liza song, running into the crowd and harassing people. Then the monster came back and they all took a bow.

 デリシャスウィートス (derishasuuiitosu)

MEANING : : : delicious sweets
CITY . . : Tokyo
ERA . . . : 1998~???
SOUND . . :
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . :
STYLE . . . : cabaret
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
それゆけ！ハレンチ！スットンキョ！』1st Album
『デリシャスウィートス実録つっぱしれ！青春』DVD
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE : '60s???

WEB . . . :  here
TDR REPORT . . .:

I  don't know what their songs are about or anything else . . . just that they're a swinging-'60s-London-themed burlesque crew.

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Besides war nostalgia and religion, another  way to be "wayou" (east meets west) is to fuse rock with old-timey Japanese music.

Minyou kyoku= folk songs

kouta = early Meiji era : traditional short, fun songs

roukyoku =  also early Meiji : dark, manly ballads about duty and honor

Ryuukouka =  1920's music that sounded Eastern

Kayoukyoku = 1920's music that sounded Western

Enka = you know what that is

Given that Ryuukouka and Kayoukyoku (and the enka revivial of the '50s) were all about combining traditional older music with emerging pop forms to make something new, it's no surprise that  some bands are combining rock and Japanese music – usually with the scales and the singer's tone-of-voice being the Japanese part.

Frankly the only surprise is that there are not MORE of these bands.

If anyone knows enka/rock bands, please let me know and I'll try to add them. This page is wildly incomplete. . .

Readers wishing to know more about the history of Japanese pop music in the early 1900s can read my report on enka here.

氣志團 (kishidan)

MEANING : : medival knights
CITY . . :  Country suburbs of Chiba.
ERA . . . : 1996~
SOUND . . :
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :  '80s gangster culture.
CLIQUE . . . :
STYLE . . . : retro
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :   the early '80s gangster world

WEB . . . : http://www.kishidan.com/
TDR REPORT . . .:

I think the '80s is old enough to be considered retro, so here is Kishidan. They are a big arena rock group.

Famous for their ‘juvenile delinquent’ costumes, their lyrics often borrow from or parody popular manga or kayoukyoku.

MASAMANIA has a superb collection of kishidan cos-play fans here.

more recent, funny:

earlier, perfect every juvenile delinquent cliche totally REBEL AGAINST FUCKING AUTHORITY ATTACK OF GANG FOREVER FUCKING MAN!!!!!!

  母檸檬　(haha lemon)

MEANING : :  parody of the "mama lemon" soap of the Taisho era.
CITY . . :
ERA . . . :  2001 ~ ???
SOUND . . : kind of dumb pop, but not dance, more like random pop.
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : flags, and sad Showa era girls, Terayama, Dazai Osamu.
CLIQUE . . . : strawberry??
STYLE . . . : retro
ALBUM TO GET . . . : 愛孕哀歌　(aihara muaika)
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE : Showa

WEB . . . : myspace,
TDR REPORT . . .:

They perform twisted versions of 　童謡 (nursery rhymes)

They have a heavy Showa vibe. Also (along with afurirampo, inugami circus dan, and other female avant-garde bands)  they always seem to rock the red "under-kimono" look which I've talked about elsewhere.

Despite  being around for 10 years, and being big in the whole arty-farty scene (i often hear them mentioned alongside bands like  strawberry song orchestra or inugami circus dan), there is basically nothing at all on the web. Like not even photos. 

Anyone who knows more about the philosophy or influences of the band please get in touch.

  浅草ジンタ (ASAKUSA JINTA)

MEANING : : : Asakusa is a neighborhood in Tokyo famous for temples but also old-school working-class culture, yakuza, day-laborers, colorful drifters, etc. Jinta is a form of chindonya. Chindonya is a kind of small traditional marching band that stores would hire to stand out front to attract a crowd of customers, or to march around the neighborhood handing out flyers as they play.
CITY . . : Tokyo
ERA . . . : 2005 ~ now
SOUND . . : enka-billy
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . : デスマーチ　艦隊, 浅草ジンタ, QP crazy
STYLE . . . : retro
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE : ‘30s

WEB . . . : http://www.asakusajinta.com/, myspace
TDR REPORT . . .: HERE

After Deathmarch Kantai broke up, Dynamyte Oshou formed a new band ? also a retro-‘30s rockabilly marching band ? but different: Asakusa Jinta focused more on enka-ish love songs, songs about matsuri (traditional festivals), and the Asakusa lifestyle.

アザラシ　(azarashi)

MEANING : : : harbor seal (taken from the Stalin song of the same name)
CITY . . : hokkaido
ERA . . . :  ???
SOUND . . :  thrash (early), crappy fast glam (mid-period)
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :  costumes only???
CLIQUE . . . :
STYLE . . . : retro
ALBUM TO GET . . . : 蛆蟲
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . : myspace
TDR REPORT . . .:

need better picture!

My friend said they had  old-school pop (歌謡曲) vocals over hardcore music ???

But nothing I've heard by them sounds like that. Can fans of this band confirm or deny?

In any case, the costumes are from all different eras of Japanese history. Hopefully I'll have more about that later.

Lyrics are almost entirely about heartbreak, but in that very revenge-crazed enka way.

http://cosmichearse.blogspot.com/search?q=azarashi

nice gut-eating horror video:

 霞鳥幻樂団 (kasutori yourakudan)???

MEANING : :
CITY . . : tokyo
ERA . . . : 2008~present
SOUND . . :  happy folk/metal
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . : a la mode
STYLE . . . : retro
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE : Edo, though I'd love to get a breakdown on all the individual costumes.

WEB . . . : myspace
TDR REPORT . . .: hhhhhhereeeeeeeeeee

A new band, associated with the ARTISM and A la mode folks. They play uptempo folk/metal, with a shamisen, accordion, and  a banjo?!?!? yes a banjo.

The shamisen and banjo play iron-maiden-like harmony leads. I don't know what the lyrics are about.

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I'm putting in noise bands that have a theatrical aspect – props, costumes, interacting with the audience, etc. Of course the theatrics come from  performance art moreso than  Shakespeare-type "theater"!

非常階段　（hijokaidan)

MEANING : : 　emergency exit
CITY . . : Osaka
ERA . . . : late 1979~
SOUND . . :
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . :
STYLE . . . : noise / performance
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . : japan wiki, http://noise.as/hijokaidan
TDR REPORT . . .:

This band took performance art and merged it with noise music (a form of electronic music that sounds like radio static).

There is a great English translation of the bandleader telling the story of the band at the website Psychedelic Noise From Japan And New Zealand.

Here is my favorite anecdote, but I really suggest you go to that website (wonder what it's about?) and read the whole thing.

In April 1981 an event called "Answer '81 Part Two" took place at Takudaku in Kyoto.  The performance-art aspect of Hijokaidan became more distinct at this show. In addition to the direct violence which they had expressed before, Oka and Zuke decided to convey physical loathing through every possible sensory medium. To this end, before the show they mixed garlic, raw fish and such like with buckets of putrid water. During the performance they started throwing these buckets around the stage. As it happened, I had not been forewarned about their plans and I was thus struck dumb with amazement. I remember being rooted to the spot, unable to move. Finally I drew some strength from the sight of Taniyan in his loincloth, his face shining with a certain type of innocence all the while continuing to wail on his guitar, and I was somehow able to continue with the performance. This show also marked the first time that Semimaru urinated on stage – a routine that at one time became almost synonymous with Hijokaidan. By the end of our performance, the entire venue stank so badly that it took over a week for the stench to fully dissipate. The next day we denied all knowledge of what had taken place.

another story, also from '81:

If I remember correctly we appeared fourth from last on the bill at the Keio University gig. However because some of our members let off a fire extinguisher they had found somewhere during our set, the audience (not to mention the band) found it difficult to breathe and we were forced to cut short our performance.It also seems that some of the members of Hijokaidan were themselves angry at the PA man's decision to leave and that they ran around breaking the windows in the classroom. The only direct danger that your writer experienced at this gig was caused by my climbing up one of the signboards that had been erected by members of the student protest movement. I was discovered by one of the students who had erected the signboard and he mistook me for a reactionary element. Fortunately one of the promoters of the gig had some influence with the student revolutionaries and things passed over without serious incident.

 I don't think it's an overstatement to say that this gig has now become legendary. Almost all the audience laughed with blank amazement at the sheer Kansai-ness of Hijokaidan. Then the next moment they were forced to flee in panic by the direct assault from the stage – at the same time they were unable to look away, transfixed as though by some terrifying sight. In a word I think their wide-ranging violent experience can be summed as being akin to extreme culture shock. The shaven-headed Oka and Zuke stood rigid in their combat clothing as they threw around buckets of gunge, ripped up raw fish with their teeth, using their own flesh as musical instruments.

Are there any Hijokaidan fans out there who can tell me what "using their own flesh as musical instruments" means? Did they tape contact microphones to their body, or just bash their heads with a microphone?

We bought some earthworms and lugworms at a fishing tackle shop and mixed these in buckets with eggs, milk, squid, salmon roe, raw fish and so on. During the performance we upended these buckets over our heads (in order not to damage the stage we had covered it with cardboard boxes we had found in the street. I remember fondly that Taniguchi and I had wandered around Shinjuku looking for these cardboard boxes and we sometimes came to blows with the homeless over them). It was too detailed a performance to be seen by the audience but I noticed that Oka carefully allowed the earthworms to hang from his mouth. The instruments we had brought along were soon unable to produce any proper sounds. In a gig like this where we were 200% hyped up we of course played our bodies and howled, resulting in a performance centred around badly connected noise. There was also an incident where Ebi-kun, a devoted follower of Hijokaidan and pyromaniac, got so turned on by the performance that he threw a firecracker on to the stage. The sight of him running around after the gig with a squid in one hand, a sea cucumber in the other and a big grin on his face, is one that has remained with me.

An 82 show with The Stalin:

Then it was the turn of Sta-Kaidan, eagerly awaited by the entire Kansai punk scene. From the Stalin side the line-up was Michiro, Shintaro, some guitarist I can’t remember, and Jun on drums. From Hijokaidan the line-up was Jojo, Oka, Yuka, Woo, and Hayashi. While The Stalin played songs such as The Jacks “Marianne” that had been selected by Michiro, Oka upended buckets of fermented beans, raw fish, milk, eggs and god knows what else over his head. In order to avoid defeat. The Stalin also started throwing around chicken carcasses and a pig’s head, and more buckets and flooring segments came flying from the audience. The Seibu Kodo and the 800 audience members dissolved into total anarchy. When a bucket thrown by someone in the audience hit me on the head, Hayashi charged out into the melee swinging a shovel. However this kind of chaos had been warmly anticipated by the audience and I believe that both they and the bands both enjoyed the show. I have very little memory of what we actually sounded like. Before the gig we had decided that this was to be a strictly one-off affair and so we purposely agreed not to record or video what happened. The event had grown out of the friendship between Hijokaidan and The Stalin and so we wanted to avoid it being turned into a commodity at some later date. Another episode that sticks in my memory – we had bought some shovels to use on stage, and after the rehearsal Hayashi and I put our heads together and dug a pit in the garden behind the venue. Ishibashi, one of the staff from the Seibu Kodo was good enough to fall into our pit twice – a comedy classic that still raises a laugh to this day.

But perhaps the most offensive part of their performance was : saxiphone solos. Not only that, but other noise guys like NIKUDOREI copied the saxophone format.

QP CRAZY

MEANING : :
CITY . . :
ERA . . . : 1994~
SOUND . . : hard rock
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . :
STYLE . . . : noise / performance
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . :
TDR REPORT . . .: here.

The Crazy SKB is the vocalist. He is a pro wrestler, on the indies circut. He also runs his own label, 殺害塩化ビニール (satsuga enka vynyl), which has a lot of "geki rock" acts of various genres, such as 大日本意識革命軍狂暴 (as seen Gekiteki 5), Shine Shine Shine Dan, and 毒殺テロリスト.

In fact, the Hijokaidan guy talked about Crazy SKB  showing up to their shows and being on their jock. I guess he was a Hijokaidan fan before he became a musician. But his pivotal insight was: marrying the high-art stylezzz of Hijokaidan to the low-art  performance style of pro-wrestling!

His live performances are full of wrestling-style moves.  Back-flip diving onto a "fort" of flourescent light bulbs a meter high, erecting a chicken-wire fence between stage and audience, filling the fence with firecrackers,  then attacking the fence with a spiked bat as the firecrackers go off and burn the audience. . . and hitting band members with flourescent lights.

When I saw them, Crazy SKB had a megaphone that shot fireworks, a giant flaming head of Asahara Shoko (head of the murderous AUM cult), and a bunch of Buddhist funeral sticks that had "666" painted on them. He finished the show by back-flipping off a speaker cabinet onto the giant Asahara head, which was on a giant sheet of glass which was on cinderblocks. BLAM. wtf!

肉奴隷 (nikudorei)

MEANING : : meat slave
CITY . . : ???
ERA . . . : 1996~present ???
SOUND . . : noise / performance
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : ???
CLIQUE . . . : 組織暴力幼稚園, SENTIMENTAL 出刃包丁, 病気マン、肉奴隷
STYLE . . . : noise / performance
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . :
TDR REPORT . . .: HERE

What are his lyrics about???

A classic noise act. His performances include: screaming while wearing nothing but a gimp mask, while being penetrated by a dominatrix with a dildo, setting himself on fire and being carried at a dead run to the nearest hospital (by ANOTHER dildo-weilding band, still in costume), playing with a succession of female saxophone players (including the singer of Gallhammer at one point), and other terrible incidents.

 ゴキブリ・コンビナート (gokiburi konbinaato)

MEANING : : cockroach factory
CITY . . :
ERA . . . : 2000~now ???
SOUND . . :
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . : 組織暴力幼稚園, SENTIMENTAL 出刃包丁, 病気マン、肉奴隷, QP crazy

STYLE . . . : noise / performance
ALBUM TO GET . . . : 粘膜ひくひくゲルディスコ
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . :http://www.geocities.jp/goki_con/
TDR REPORT . . .:

These guys are like an updated version of a traditional Japanese carnival freak-show (called misemono). But they generally play with rock bands, not with other misemono acts. They start out in contemporary street clothes and then usually get naked. Compared to traditional misemono, there is less actual deformed or handicapped people, and more vulgarity, almost a South-Park style button-pushing: they make fun of the handicapped or retarded people, suicidally depressed people, and people with “conjoined fetus syndrome”. . . and put on skits using “domestic abuse of the elderly” is the funny point. They take a popular kids’ song “dangosan kyoudai” about a kind of 3-ball shishkebab and change it so that the shishkebab pierces the cheeks of 3 members of the group, welding them together. Also their performances are in a “play” format, with the various grotesque acts being part of the “plot.” They also do occasional songs to backing tapes, but that is not their main thing.

The main guy also has a solo act, under the name of  病気マン (byoukiman, sort of a super-hero name like Sick-Man). I have no idea what that is about.

 関西ゼロ世代

MEANING : : : west-side zero generation
CITY . . : osaka
ERA . . . :
SOUND . . : early boredoms worship.
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . :
STYLE . . . : noise

West-side Zero Generation is a sort of clique or mutual-support group of Osaka bands with avant-garde or noisy leanings. Unlike most "scenes",  none of the bands sound the same. I'm including it here because so many of the bands are gekiteki. Does anyone know when this scene started? Or if they have a manifesto, something that explains why they think performance is such an important part of music?

Main Members: afurirampo, zuinoshin, oshiri penpens, Midori

Other members: azurashii, dmbq, bogulta, ワッツーシソンビ (WATUTSI ZOMBI)　NECO眠る. 巨人ゆえにデカイ, パイプカットマミヰズ, アウトドアホームレス, N'夙川ボーイズ, 宇宙三輪車

あふりらんぽ　(afurirampo)

MEANING : : :
CITY . . : osaka
ERA . . . : 2002-2010
SOUND . . :
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . : 関西ゼロ世代, 鉄劇団
STYLE . . . : noise / performance
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . : choreography, audience participation.
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . : wiki, http://www.afrirampo.com/
TDR REPORT . . .: herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre

No costumes or props, but choreography.  A lot of the songs have movements that go with the notes, which is quite an accomplishment since they are also playing instruments at the same time. For instance, in their Onigiri song, they pantomime making onigiri (rice balls). 

Do they count as gekiteki? I think so!

Here's an excerpt of a review from  the CLEAR AND REFRESHING website:

"It ends with drummer Pika leading a sizeable chunk of the audience out into the streets screaming "Puripuripu-pu-pu!" at all the stylish Tokyoites in the stylish cafes, then round in a circle and up onto the pedestrian bridge overlooking the venue, where guitarist Oni has led the rest of the crowd onto the pavement, thus commencing a nonsensical call and response shouting match."

This sort of take-the-crowd-out-of-the-venue was pioneered in Japan by guess who? Terayama. So there's that.

zuinoushin

MEANING : : :
CITY . . : osaka
ERA . . . : 2004???
SOUND . . : noise
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . : 関西ゼロ世代
STYLE . . . : noise / performance
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . : here
TDR REPORT . . .: here

One of the Osaka west-side generation bands. . . way better than afurirampo, but they never got big because they're not cute girls.

Here's what I thought of them when I saw them:

kind of like early boredoms. Totally spastic and percussive but yet really tight. Too bad they decided to use like 39 effects pedals so we could not hear any actual notes. But still they got all crazy, plus the drummer had a fucking rayon SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK shirt. Fucker!

センチメンタル 出刃包丁  (senchimentaru dekabouchou)

MEANING : : sentimental big knife
CITY . . : Tokyo ???
ERA . . . : ???~ 2008 ???
SOUND . . : punk
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : none
CLIQUE . . . : 組織暴力幼稚園, SENTIMENTAL 出刃包丁, 病気マン、肉奴隷

STYLE . . . : noise / performance
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . : myspace fan site
TDR REPORT . . .:

on that) this guy is the Japanese G.G. Allin, they say. Pissing on  and cutting up the audience, the whole 9 yards.

I have no information on him other than that. Total underground outlaw.
 

  組織暴力幼稚園 (soshikibouryokuyouchien)

MEANING : : kindergarten of organized violence.
CITY . . : Tokyo
ERA . . . : ???
SOUND . . :
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : white kimono covered with writing, similar to those worn by singer of Junior High School Casket.
CLIQUE . . . : 組織暴力幼稚園, SENTIMENTAL 出刃包丁, 病気マン、肉奴隷

STYLE . . . : noise/ performance
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :
No JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : in the lyrics. unintelligible, but pretty sure he’s not happy.

WEB . . . :
TDR REPORT . . .:

They started as a rock band, who would scream abuse at the audience and finish the show by diving headfirst into the trash-bins and wearing it for a hat while rolling in trash. Of course there are a lot of bands who do that nowadays, but what makes Soshikibouroykuyouchien so special is a few times they’d continue the live-show by marching outside into the street (followed by the audience) and smashing shit until the cops came.

ブッシュマンズ・インポテンス (buschmann impotenz dv)

and the side project: 汚名らんど (omei Land)

MEANING : : Omei is named after a Lip Cream song.
CITY . . :
ERA . . . : 2007 ???
SOUND . . :
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . :
STYLE . . . : noise / performance
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . :
TDR REPORT . . .: hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhere

The youtube is of them being less tribal, more slick, wearing matching fundoshi and welders' helmets. When I saw them – an April Fools' day show at night in a cemetary packed full of cherry blossoms – (!!!!) they played tribal noise – sort of like CRASH WORSHIP i suppose? Improvised tom-tom drumming with feedback over it, plus layers of pedal-driven "noise" over that, and the singer screaming.

There's an omeiland video, but it's not embeddable. go here to see it.

LOGISTICS

CITY . . :
ERA . . . : 2008 ???
SOUND . . : butthole surfers
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : : fundoshi, Japanese construction worker costumes, decorations of b-movie Japanese stars. (politicians?)
CLIQUE . . . :  QP CRAZY
STYLE . . . : noise / performance
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . : multi-media, stage decorations, costumes.
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . :
TDR REPORT . . .: here

These guys had a sort of psychedelic, multi-media performance (props, video projections, thrown objects)  that was like a more sedate butthole surfers, mixed with Weird Al comedy rock. Anyone know who those giant heads are?

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These bands are "theatrical" because they are inspired by  the pomp and bombast of  – to say nothing of the shock value of – Japanese military culture from fascist era (roughly '31 – '45) 

Any discussion of militarist Japanese rock has to start with "the nazi thrash epidemic" of the late '80s: a sort of  'arms race' where each band had to take the gimmick further than the last band. I'm not so offended by the nazi symbolism. I'm more offended that the music combines really high-quality thrash (=good) with crummy glam (=bad).

mein kampf

MEANING :
CITY . . : tokyo
ERA . . . : 1985
SOUND . . : thrash / early visual
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . : Mein Kampf, Rommel, Harenkreuz, Rosenfeld
STYLE . . . : militarist
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . : metal archives,
TDR REPORT . . .:

ROSENFELD

MEANING : :
CITY . . : Tokyo
ERA . . . : 1986=~
SOUND . . : thrash / early visual
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . : Mein Kampf, Rommel, Harenkreuz, Rosenfeld
STYLE . . . : militarist
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . : metal archives
TDR REPORT . . .:

ROMMEL

MEANING : :
CITY . . : Tokyo
ERA . . . : 1987
SOUND . . : speed-metal, shred-tastic solos, kind of x-japan choruses
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . : Mein Kampf, Rommel, Harenkreuz, Rosenfeld
STYLE . . . : militarist
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . : metal archives
TDR REPORT . . .:

harkenkreuz

MEANING : 'twisted cross' as in you-know-what
CITY . . :
ERA . . . :
SOUND . . : thrash / early visual
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . : Mein Kampf, Rommel, Harenkreuz, Rosenfeld
STYLE . . . : militarist
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . :
TDR REPORT . . .:

INSANE OMNIBUS PAGE OF ALL NAZI THRASH VIDEOS:

 さあぐ　（殺悪愚,  pronounced SAAGU)

MEANING : : : literally “Murder Bad Foolish”, but phonetically “thug”, the English word. This sort of pun is called ‘ateji’ (当て字) and is a very very bousouzoku style of humor.

The English "translation" is Spiritual Agony Agitate Guerilla
CITY . . : osaka
ERA . . . : ???
SOUND . . : hardcore
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : bousouzoku costumes, gunka
CLIQUE . . . : ???
STYLE . . . : militarist
ALBUM TO GET . . . : 異形, 唯一
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . :http://sound.jp/saag/saagtop.htm
TDR REPORT . . .:

WWII army music plays on the intro. . . fade into the sounds of 100 motorcycles revving, singer comes in in full biker gear, throwing lite fireworks into the crowd, then into some old-school Japanese-style hardcore punk. There is no shortage of thug-core bousouzoku hardcore bands, starting with Anarchy (one of the first punk bands in Japan, before hardcore was invented). But saagu is noteworthy because they have a theatrical approach to the bike-gang lifestyle, and also a pro- (rather than anti-) authority attitude.

Pro-Emperor lyrics and such.

デスマーチ艦隊 (desumaachi kantai)

MEANING : : : the ‘march’ was a popular form of SOUND . . : in the ‘30s. kantai means a Navy fleet, and ‘death’ refers NOT to a fleet that is all marching off to die , but refers to the fact that this band is the ‘death metal version’ or ‘heavy version’ of marching-band SOUND. Got all that?
CITY . . : tokyo
ERA . . . : 1997~2005
SOUND . . : gunka-billy ! standing bass, and horns!
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : Showa-era marching bands, WWII.
CLIQUE . . . : デスマーチ　艦隊, 浅草ジンタ
STYLE . . . : militarist
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . : navy uniforms with shironuri and faces covered in scars : zombie sailors!
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE : ‘30s, ‘40s

WEB . . . :
TDR REPORT . . .:

They started out a psycho-billy band, and gradually evolved into a full ‘30s style marching band, with over 10 members and plenty of traditional Japanese instruments, tycho drums etc. The lyrics also evolved to be about the Imperial war ERA . . . :, including covers of gunka (war and military songs) of that time.

The band-leader is named Dynamyte Oshou, and his family is kind of famous for running a big butsudan company (butsudans are the family Buddhist altars one keeps in one’s home to pray to one’s ancestors).

大日本意識革命軍狂暴 (DAINIPPONISHIKIKAKUMEIGUNKYOUBOU)

MEANING : : Great Japanese Consciousness Revolutionary Army Frenzy
CITY . . : Nagoya
ERA . . . : `97-2004 ???
SOUND . . :  ???
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . :  QP crazy
STYLE . . . :militarist
ALBUM TO GET . . . : 97『時代錯誤』, 2001『原石の庭』, 2002 『誉-ホマレ-』
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE : early Showa era ('30s , '40s)

WEB . . . : http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~kyoubou/,
TDR REPORT . . .:

the singer is wearing a cross between a Navy General WWII costume and a Vegas-era Elvis jumpsuit????

The guitarist is dressed like a kamikaze. The bassist looks like he collects every Evangelion figurine ever.

WTF. Even my Japanese friends who are familiar with the "nazi thrash epidemic" of the late '80s are puzzled that a band like this would be able to exist.

rad photos of them, more info than i seen anywhere online, but only recent middleage pictures

http://kurotokage.net/070815k.html

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Religion is another way to mix up East and West. Some of these bands are serious, deep Buddhists, and some are metal-heads who embrace  Japanese pagan or shamanic stuff in order to reject Christianity and Christian Rock (this is a common theme of metal worldwide ever since Norwegian rockers started wearing Ren-faire garb and singing about Thor in the early '90s)

people

People was some session musicians who got together to experiment with the theme "rock plus buddhist sutras". It didn't go very well – lots of terrible blues guitar solos and confused minimal bits where nothing goes on. But hey – it's the first time anyone tried combining Japanese religion and rock. Here is the only halfway good song:

五人一首 (gonin isshu)

MEANING :

literally “five people, one neck”, this appears to be a take-off of hyakunin isshu, which is a hundred-card card game based on the form of poetry known as tanka (sort of a grown-up precursor to the kids’ card-game karuta). Anyway there are five people in this band so it seems they changed hyakunin (100 people) to gonin (5 people)!
CITY . . : tokyo
ERA . . . : 1997~
SOUND . . : progressive melodic death metal
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : vocal melodies, 作務衣 (monk’s work clothes), yokai
CLIQUE . . . : sigh (same drummer)
STYLE . . . : pagan
ALBUM TO GET . . . : Naishikyo-Sekai ???
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE : general old-times Japan
WEB . . . : http://www.gonin-ish.com/ ,  myspace
TDR REPORT . . .:

Their lyrics are about yokai (traditional monsters and faries of traditional folk-tales)
Their sound is very influenced by Dream Theater and kinniku shoujotai
 

凶音 (magane)

MEANING : : : most horrible or ill-fated sound.
CITY . . : tokyo
ERA . . . : 1999 ~2005
SOUND . . : black metal
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : Shinto mysticism, kimono, onkai (a Japanese scale)
CLIQUE . . . : sigh
STYLE . . . : pagan
Shinto. Early Japanese b.m.
ALBUM TO GET . . . : Mortes Saltantes Full-length, 1999 , Beginning at the End Full-length, 2003
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . : They’d wear kimono and shironuri. The vocal was a skinhead who would paint extra eyes all over his head.
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE : early Shinto times of Japan – I guess you could say it was Japan's bronze age.

WEB . . . : myspace , http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/ro/yomituti/
TDR REPORT . . .:

The first black metal band in Japan, before Sigh, though they did often play together. Applying the BM idea of “pre-christian back to the roots of my people, anti-modern-society” thing to Japan. Most songs are about Shinto myths (shinwa), especially creation myths of various deities.

One of the guys is now in 捜血鬼, souketsuki, a gagaku black metal band!

The drummer was named 黄泉槌, yomitsuchi, literally hell hammer. Ha ha

  ごつとつこつ 元突骨

MEANING : : a famous warrior from the Chinese “sangokushi” (‘warring states’) period. Also the name of a popular videogame in Japan.
CITY . . : saitama
ERA . . . : 2000~
SOUND . . : death metal with slap-bass
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : samurai armor!! (known as yoroi 鎧), Lyrics about noble warriors from the Japanese (not Chinese) warring-states period, known as Sengoku (1467-1573)
CLIQUE . . . :
STYLE . . . : pagan
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . : Their between-song-banter is delivered in character, all SCA/Renfaire style, but very tongue-in-cheek. For example, they’ll refer to the ‘fast Saikyosen horse’ they took to the gig, Saikyosen being the railway that runs to Saitama.
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE : Sengoku

WEB . . . : myspace, http://gotsu.komusou.jp/index.html
TDR REPORT . . .:

Bassist of defiled.

ＤＬＬＬhttp://www.bloodyearsnbeer.blogspot.com/

picture ???

cavo

MEANING : : :
CITY . . : osaka
ERA . . . : 2000
SOUND . . : doom w/ folk elements
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE :
CLIQUE . . . : birushannah, cavo, ryokuchi
STYLE . . . : pagan (shamanic)
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . : costume ???
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE : ancient pre-literate Japan

WEB . . . : discography here
TDR REPORT . . .:

The most underground , not-on-web, holy grail shit ever. no myspace, no fan pages, no torrents, no DLs, no youtubes, nothing. Fitting for a band that was very anti-the-modern-world.

Not only are the lyrics in a made-up language, but dude made up his own alphabet like tolkien. Why? He wanted to take it even further back than Magane: performing shinwa (神話= legends of the gods) from Japan’s shamanic cave-man era, before the Japanese language had even been invented! Shaman metal!

Members of cavo and tetsuo went on to form birushannah.

The sound is ritual sludge! repetitive low guitars and chanting. Hella ambiguous.

If you’re wondering why Corrupted began to do super long, almost ritual-sounding songs with 10-minute “dark” acoustic intros, it’s because of Cavo.

Cavo is the missing link between birushannah and corrupted.

birushannah

MEANING : : : ???
CITY . . : osaka
ERA . . . : 2002~still active
SOUND . . : technical folk metal with industrial metal percussion
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : Buddhism, traditional Japanese tyko drums, Japanese melodies.
CLIQUE . . . : birushannah, cavo, ryokuchi
STYLE . . . : pagan
ALBUM TO GET . . . : akai yami
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . : myspace
TDR REPORT . . .: YESSSSSSSS

the thing you got to understand about Birushanah is, they’re taking deep, thousand-year-old Buddhist, occult, living-in-the-woods Japanese folk melodies and melding them with NEUROSIS-style tribal metal sludge. That’s their deal. Also: fretless bass WITH STAINLESS STEEL MIRRORED NECK being fingertapped basically the whole time.

If that sounds too good to be true, it is.

I really want to like Birushanah because they are so deep and uncompromising, but their shit is all OVERPLAYED. That is to say, everyone plays too many notes and progs out too much and they are all in each others’ way. Too many chefs spoiling the pagan,neurosis soup, if you will. The bass is finger-tapping the whole show . . . every riff is too complex to be tribal or catchy- and to make matters worse, the "regular" drum guy, instead of playing accents, tries to duplicate ALL the bass notes. The "industrial" drummer just plays constant 16th notes no matter what anyone else is playing. the guitar was too distorted for me to even attempt to critique it.

On the other hand – the melodies are super long and complex – maybe they take 40 seconds to repeat. And: Lyrics about Buddhist philosophy. Also melodies have a little Indian influence.

They cover a kids’ song, カゴメカゴメ　but their version is called アナグラ

pic ???

  緑血 (ryokketsu)

MEANING : : : green blood
CITY . . : osaka
ERA . . . : 2002-2008
SOUND . . : sludge doom
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : Buddhism, samue (Buddhist monk’s work clothes), onkai
CLIQUE . . . : birushannah, cavo, ryokuchi
STYLE . . . : pagan
ALBUM TO GET . . . : shinshou
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . : prog archives
TDR REPORT . . .:

When I saw them, they were a 3-piece: bass (like Birushannah, fretless and mirrored-steel neck!), western drums, and tribal drums. A groovier, more chanty version of Birushannah, I guess you could say. Their lyrics are also about Buddhism.
 

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Literary bands  – for some reason all metalheads – use old-timey Japanese authors for their lyrics. Usually horror or surrealist writers from the Modernist period of the '30s.

Literature is a big part of ANGURA (underground) culture  . . .even if your band isn't metal, even if you don't  have literary lyrics, you're supposed to  know about 4 or 5 guys if you're any kind of hipster at all: Mishima Yukio,  Edogawa Ranpo, Dazai Osamu, Yumeno Kyuusaku, and Yoko Mizo.

And of course many "literary" bands take lyrical inspiration from even further back: traditional folk tales, yuurei (ghost stories), noroi (curse stories), and so on.

人間椅子 (ningen isu)

MEANING : : human chair – The band name translates as ' The Human Chair', it's taken from the title of one of Rampo Edogawa's novels
CITY . . : Aomori (many songs are in the Aomori dialect of tsugaruben)
ERA . . . : 1987~
SOUND . . : doom with folk melodies
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : fashion (often cosplay characters from folk tales or old horror novels) and lyrics, some Japanese instruments, and the authors Yumeno Kyusaku, Rampo Edogawa, and Yoko Mizo,
CLIQUE . . . :
STYLE . . . : literary
ALBUM TO GET . . . : first alb (ningen shikkaku) and kaijin nijuu mensou (man with 20 faces, based on the Yoko Mizo novel of the same name)
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :　taisho era, edo era.

WEB . . . :http://ningen-isu.com/ , myspace
TDR REPORT . . .:

The two major literary influences are Yumeno Kyusaku 夢野久作 and Yoko Mizo, as well as – to a certain extent – Ranpo. Mix this with Black Sabbath and a little King Crimson, and you've got Ningen Isu.

Yoko was kind of the Flannery O`Connor of Japan. Ranpo’s stories were set in the cities, but Yoko’s were set in the deep countryside where every small town had terrible secrets and the traditional ghosts/monsters lurked round every corner. In other words, Yoko’s novels- although at the same time as Ranpo’s and in the same genre – were much more Japaneesy.

Also this band is one of the bands that got embiggened by mainstream TV talent show IKASU BAND TENGOKU – an example of how a mainstream TV show stimulated underground music in Japan at that time.

Because of their TV fame, they were able to kick off a whole "bunkei" (literary nerd rock) movement, which was a sort of counter-reaction to the more jock-ish metal and visual kei scene which had dominated the '80s.  Even non-metal bands such as Strawberry or Inagumi cite Ningen Isu as an influence.

Here's a video for a song called KAIJIN NIJUU MENSOU (The Beast-Man with Twenty Faces). Not only is it based on a horror novel, but each band member is cos-playing a different character from the novel.

ニンゲン・カクセイキ (ningen kakuseiki)

MEANING : : :　it’s a pun ? they deliberately use katakana, forcing the reader to imagine the two possible kanji combinations which both sound like ‘ningen kakuseiki’: 人間覚醒記　(chronicles of human awakening), and 人間拡声器 (the human megaphones). But which is it really? Neither! The name exists perpetually in an in-between state of ambiguity and double-ness. This Hisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Shondigger’s-Cat-like property of the Japanese language is also a big part of the lyrics, which are also full of such kanji puns and double-MEANING : : s. Epistemological prog!

CITY . . : Tokyo
ERA . . . : 2000-2006
SOUND . . : fast metal
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : literary Kanji puns, Terayama, Natsume Souseki (author), Evangelion, Yukio Mishima
CLIQUE . . . : : jr. high school grave, Magdalena, 人間　かくせいき
STYLE . . . : literary
ALBUM TO GET . . . :
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . : http://www.ningenkakuseiki.com/
TDR REPORT . . .:

In the beginning, there was a big Terayama influence. They were called ニンゲンカクセイキ・CaptorCrat, and they wrote an entire new set-list of songs for every performance. The songs were playful and philosophical, full of puns and palindromes. For example, one time they'd do a Shakespeare parody. Another show would be about 人動説 戦争 論争戦 : the belief that humans make the stars revolve around earth (geocentrism?!?)

Then they got a new drummer, and made a stable setlist, mostly about “what-if?” scenarios involving famous historical people, both real and fictional:

Natsume souseki (author)
Kafka’s cockroach tale
Evangelion,
Yukio mishima.
Etc.

マグダラ呪念 (magudara junen)

MEANING : : : the curse of mary magdalene
CITY . . : Tokyo
ERA . . . : 2003
SOUND . . : doom
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : kimono, kayoukyoku melody, kabuki voice/kobushi (vibrato)
CLIQUE . . . : chuugakuseikanake, magudara junen, 人間　かくせいき
STYLE . . . : literary
ALBUM TO GET . . . :2 eps 何の因果でこうなった and 念の音
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE :

WEB . . . :http://www.gyokumon.com/bonten/index.htm ,myspace
TDR REPORT . . .: YESSS

Lyrics similar to chuukauseikanake, but more abstract. They do sing in different characters for different songs.no real literally or theatre influence.

中学生棺桶　(chuugakuseikanake)，now known as 例のK.

MEANING : : : jr. high school casket
CITY . . : tokyo
ERA . . . : 2004-5??? ~ present
SOUND . . : doom
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INFLUENCE : kayoukyoku melodies, difficult, old-school Nihongo, Osamu
CLIQUE . . . : chuugakuseikanake, magudara junen, 人間　かくせいき
STYLE . . . : literary
ALBUM TO GET . . . : 神頼みの似非不良に抗う
THEATRICAL POINTS . . . :
HISTORICAL ATMOSPHERE : Showa

WEB . . . :http://jp.youtube.com/user/haizanbu, myspace

TDR REPORT . . .: HERRRRRRRRRE

Big GG Allin influence attitude-wise, and big Sabbath influence in the riffs, but both filtered through this Japanese occult Showa-era filter.

Vocalist’s name is ようぞう, a character from an Osamu novel. The white kimono covered in chinese letters is a thing some of these gekiteki bands do. Is that a Terayama thing ???
The songs have a GG-ish theme of cursing society and having a huge grudge against everyone. But the songs are structured like stories where the singer isn’t “Me” , he’s a character who is literally placing a hex or curse on the world, and the lyrics are often invocations or chants. うらみぶし。

In the photo above, the singer is wearing a white kimono, called shinishuuzoku. The kimono dead bodies are buried in. The kimono is covered with writing. This sort of graffiti-ed death kimono is worn by several other geki-teki bands, such as Soshiki Bouryoku Youchien.  Mr. Mochi says there are two origins for this kimono;

1) a "kaidan" (ghost story) called Miminashi Houichi. About a demon that likes to eat people in the village. But a buddhist priest advises a villager to wrap his whole body in white cloth covered with Buddhist sutras, which will make him invisible to the demon. But the man forgets to wrap his ears, so the demon  says, "Hey look, two floating disembodied ears! I'll take them!" and thereafter the villager has no ears.

2) the funeral custom of writing buddhist sutras on the shinishuuzoku to prevent yuurei (evil spirits) from corrupting the recently deceased and enlisting them in the yuurei's campaign of revenge on the living. Also the family of the deceased would write good things on the kimono – things they'd miss about the deceased. Like a written eulogy.

Of course, the bands here write fucked up stuff instead.

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