“I Don’t Speak English. But I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll!” (Japan Nite, Knitting Factory) [EDIT]

This is Tsuru.

Wind him up, watch him fly.

Like I said about a year ago this time, if there are a bunch of Japanese bands playing together you go.  You will be entertained.  It inspires fanboyspeak:  Bands bring it.  Crowds go apeshit.  I really should check Rock of Japan more often than I do; when I saw this on the Knitting Factory schedule it was a no-brainer.

Frustrated that the 4/10 Magneta Lane show at the Merc is sold out?  Go see Gito Gito Hustler at CBGB’s instead.  There.  Done.

These Japan Nite packages are turning out to be a bit more erratic than the old JaPunks collections;  last year’s headliner was a ukulele duo, this year saw a jazz outfit.  Mostly, though, you go for wall-to-wall energy and good-natured, rock-solid fun; mostly, they deliver.

This show peaked way early.

The Rodeo Carburettor was coming on stage when I walked in and they totally blew me away.  Though they easily have one of the worst band names I’ve ever seen – something lost in the translation, hopefully – they seriously, seriously rockthefuckout.  Listen:

The Rodeo Carburettor – God of Hell (mp3)

Intense, grungy (or is it post-grungy?) rawk.  If it weren’t for the heavy basslines and the foreign language – and who gives a damn about the lyrics, anyway? – I’d’ve felt like I was at a Local H show.  There is no higher praise.  Absolutely made my night, maybe my month.  I don’t want to write about them, I want to be back at the concert.  The only tragedy was that the merch table was such a clusterfuck no one could find their CD.  Aaaargh.  The album is apparently coming stateside in May.  I hope they come back with it.

*

“We... like... Ramones.”

And it shows.  Stance Punks play good, melodic punk... but they absolutely explode on stage and take the room with them.  Lead singer Tsuru has a great, goofy rock face and endless amounts of energy.  He’s a bit of a cartoon, which may be why the band was recruited to write the theme song to Naruto, an anime series:

Stance Punks – No Boy, No Cry (mp3)

Music to bounce off the walls to.

(Their stingy myspace only has song clips.)

*

Then things went horribly awry.

Most of the audience, it seems, was there to see Ellegarden, an English-speaking, English-singing group from the suburbs of Tokyo.  They came out, warmed up with the first verse of Weezer’s “Undone” and then spent the rest of their set playing very standard (and very popular) pussy mallpunk.  The sort of stuff that sounded dull even before the Get Up Kids got up and went*.  The same castrati vocals, the same metronomic beats (with the same chugga-chugga-chugga asides), the same breaks for ballads.

They were horrible.  The crowd loved them.

Ellegarden – Red Hot (mp3)

There had been plenty of moshing during the previous two sets, but the whole Knitting Factory floor swarmed and shoved to this shit.  A good many of the moshers were diminutive Asian girls.

The guitarist had feathered hair – the tips of which had been dyed hot pink – and a nose ring.  It’s “punk” – heavy on the quotes – for the Hello Kitty set.

The band seemed genuinely shocked anyone in America even knew their songs.  I was shocked that shallow emo-pop had taken root overseas.  You could tell a lot about a band by its pre-set music:  The Stance Punks played Ramones and Modern Lovers; Ellegarden had “Beverly Hills” and Wheatus.

The crowd loved them, and the room thinned out considerably after they left the stage.

Ugh.

*

Here, listen to this and see if your jaw does the same thing mine did, last night:

Pe’z – Let’s Work (mp3)

Starts off all nutso and aggressive over some Buddy Rich-wannabe rumble, then after a brief ska segue settles into schmaltzy pop-jazz.

Their promo photo tries to punk them out, but Pe’z – not pronounced like the candy, no, not at all – turns out to be a high school jazz band-level outfit.  They stay together, but don’t seem to be on the same page:  The trumpet player came out dressed in a flat grey full-length beltless (I’m assuming traditional) robe; the sax player was conservative and modern; the drummer was punked up; the upright bass player was – well, he was hidden behind the largish trumpeter.  The keyboard player was the oddest duck, in a bowler, goggles and running outfit – and the most interesting one to watch... if only because he looked as bored with it all as I was.

The crowd was – bless them – receptive, but I left during Pe’z’ set.  I’d missed openers The Emeralds, but have seen them before – they play straightforward, shtick-free rock n’ roll – and left before headliner Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re, whom I saw last year.  They’re okay and all, but they weren’t what I needed to hear.  What I needed was more Rodeo Carburettor.

Photos are slowly making their way to my Flickr account; I’ll direct link when everything’s sorted.

*Full disclosure:  I own 3 Get Up Kids CDs.  And I’m not sure they’ve disbanded, but they may as well have.

*

I was in Tower Records yesterday, and there was an endcap sale featuring two Big Black CDs.  That’s right:  Songs About Fucking is being promoted at Tower Fucking Records.  I’m not sure where that falls on the awesome scale, but let’s hope it finds its way into the hands of someone whose life needs changing.

tags: stance punks  ellegarden  rodeo carburettor  japan nite  pez  tsuru  

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