ATOMIC SUPLEX, the high-power UK rock 'n' Roll band, came to Japan at the end of March to celebrate the release of their split 7" EP alongside Tokyo's most frantic garage punk trio
THEEE BAT on the new Swamp Fiction label.
This time Stuart came with the Emma (guitar) and Dan (bass) and were backed up by support drummer Joe (who lent his hands to
SHLONK last October). They had four gigs lined-up and the whole tour ensued as some kinda twisted circus wrestling match between the Strong Man, Sword Swallower and Bearded Lady. Read on if you will...
March 25th, 2010 -
K's Dream, Inage, Chiba
This first show of the tour was in Chiba at K's Dream where some familiar faces from the SHLONK tour showed up.
ED WOODS played first, but I missed it because I had to come from work in Yokohama. When I got there I met Howling Hideki, the madman guitar-slinger for
HOWLING GUITAR and found out their friend had traveled to NY with
GOLDEN and met my father a month earlier.
SURGE, a very cool 90's indie, powerpop, alt-rock stylized band also played as well as
THE WORLD APARTMENT HORROR, a jumpy DAMNED-influenced garagey rock band with catchy songs who are relatively new on the scene. When ATOMIC SUPLEX came on chaos broke out. Mika Bat and Kub Sharp from THEEE BAT enticed the local Chiba folk to violence and it all came to a sudden halt just short of 20 mins when the mic stand got thrown around and a jockish guy smacked it down into Stuarts's face like a bo staff. It was like a record needle being ripped of their Rock 'n' Roll Must Die 7", the curtain closed and that was the end of the show. Suplexed indeed.
March 26th, 2010 - BAR GIG, Motomachi, Yokohama
While Stuart had broken a few teeth the night before, everyone was ready to go for
MACKY RAMONE's "BUZZ ATTITUDE," the best punky party in town. Everything went much smoother. The event was opened by BEAT GENERATION frontman KENYOU, who played solo offering acoustic punk by way of CLASH covers. BUZZ ATTITUDE was marked by special appearances by
VIVIAN BOYS (long time friends of Stuart) with their stylish punk and powerpop hooks, fashionista punks
TRIOL who could have been called The Che Guevara's (cause they all looked like him!) but played full-bodied Detroit rock and the legendary
JET BOYS who recently released a kick-ass album. ATOMIC SUPLEXS ripped through a bunch of great songs that the crowd could really feel to the center of their bones, lot's of happy drunken shaking going on.. Special thanks to Macky for letting me strip the rust from my DJ skills and breakout as The Stately Wayne Manor.
March 27th, 2010 - JAM, Shinjuku, Tokyo
This show at JAM was an all-niter hosted by
THE FADEAWAYS as part of their "Teenage Shutdown" series. I was DJ-ing as The Stately Wayne Manor alongside Adrian, a British mate who's got a killer collection and great sensibility at choosing a playlist. On the bill were LEGS, a new band with old school punk tastes, MIDDLE's (not from Tokyo) who had new wavey Paisely Underground organ stylings; both bands look at the world through a garage punk lens tho. THE PAPPY's, an all girl garage punk band returned to the stage and went wild. THE FADEAWAYS sounded highly charged and fun as usual, but literally caused a freak-out when one onlooker fell backwards with a seizure causing 3 people to simultaneously call 119! (He was OK, took 5 in an ambulance and came back to enjoy the rest of the show!!!!). Sounding probably the best they have ever in Japan were ATOMIC SUPLEX who had the audience carrying around people while simultaneously slipping around on the mud slick dance floor. THEEE BAT ended the night with one of their best shows ever, including guest guitarist and saxophone player, who held together Mika and Kub's naturally chaotic tendencies which made their sound come across in a more frat-rock, surf group kinda way. It was a long night but those who missed it, really missed it!
March 28th, 2010 - AOIHEYA, Shibuya, Tokyo
Everyone forced themselves to drag themselves out of bed the next day and some arrived at the chambre des chansons in Shibuya a bit later than others (ahem Emma and Dan... haha). This show was presented by ED WOODS as "Swamp Trash Nite" in order to celebrate the foundation of the new
Swamp Fiction label and the first release, the 7" split EP feat. THEEE BAT and ATOMIC SUPLEX! Phenomenal bands like Japanese new wave pioneers
ROCKET JACK VADERS, blues garage band
THE VOLUME OUT! and the hip shakin' freak show
THE FLY & HIS ONE MAN GARBAGE (with special burlesque dancer MISS TARANTULA). Both THEEE BAT and ATOMIC SUPLEX played electrifying sets to ignite more rioting over their newly released split record. Special thanks to
DJ MR. DEATH and
MC OKD for having me, The Stately DJ Wayne Manor, spin garage & punk tunes side by side them.
Wrap-up
The band and some friends who participated in the tour came out for an after party at Stay Free - Poor Cow, Fifi's rock & roll meeting place in Shimokitazawa. And I was able to get together with Stuart, Dan, Emma (ATOMIC SUPLEX) and their crew, Mika, Kub (THEEE BAT) and Tommy (VIVIAN BOYS) for a HANAMI party in Koenji before everyone had to part their separate ways.
Very Special thanks to SURGE & K's Dream for helping out in Chiba, MACKY RAMONE for having us join BUZZ ATTITUDE in Yokohama, THE FADEAWAYS for inviting us to Teenage Shutdown and ED WOODS for organizing Swamp Tash Nite. All these bands and organizers have acted helpfully and selflessly so that ATOMIC SUPLEX could play shows and so that I could promote the new Swamp Fiction release in Japan. They all have a true rock 'n' roll spirit that I greatly appreciate and will try my hardest to reciprocate while in Japan and in this lifetime. DOMO ARIGATO to all the wild cats, bats, rockers, punks and trash!
