I used to love Lolita No. 18. The real garage stuff with harsh cartoony vocals screaming out "Hang on Snoopy" (SIC) was great.  Benten used to be a real kinda garage girls label. But Lolita, ever since they did a collaboration with Toy Dolls and had a significant line-up change, have become more of an oi punk thing in Japan. Poni-Camp has the guitarist from Lolita No.18 and they have more of a powerpop/punk sound. But all the real great Benten bands from the 90's just don't exist anymore.

ANYBODY REMEMBER FIFI AND tHE MACH 3 ?

John Battles said:

OH , YEAH , I THINK  I  SAW THEM. I'VE ALREADY PUT A LOT OF THE JAPANESE 90'S/00'S BANDS BEHIND ME , THOUGH.

swt said:

I'm a big fan of the Benten bands.

Here's Lolita No. 18 covering a Sex Pistol classic

hee

The Michelle Gun Elephant was pretty bitchen too.

I did a whole set of Japanese rock on my podcast a couple of years ago. It's here: http://garagepunk.ning.com/profiles/blogs/big-enchilada-27-forbidden

OH , YEAH , I THINK  I  SAW THEM. I'VE ALREADY PUT A LOT OF THE JAPANESE 90'S/00'S BANDS BEHIND ME , THOUGH.

swt said:

I'm a big fan of the Benten bands.

Here's Lolita No. 18 covering a Sex Pistol classic

hee

The Michelle Gun Elephant was pretty bitchen too.

I did a whole set of Japanese rock on my podcast a couple of years ago. It's here: http://garagepunk.ning.com/profiles/blogs/big-enchilada-27-forbidden

QFT. When we saw the Fadeaways play last fall, I asked my husband if he thought the drummer knew how cool his hair looked while he was playing.

John Battles said:

 If you're Japanese , any of you , take pride in the fact that you have the best fucking HAIR in the world.

I'm a big fan of the Benten bands.

Here's Lolita No. 18 covering a Sex Pistol classic

hee

The Michelle Gun Elephant was pretty bitchen too.

I did a whole set of Japanese rock on my podcast a couple of years ago. It's here: http://garagepunk.ning.com/profiles/blogs/big-enchilada-27-forbidden

Drop what you're doing , all of you , and look up The Golden Cups' "Hey Joe" , if you've never heard it. UNFUCKINSANE !!!!!!!
 
Old School Hero said:

THIS. I love 60's Group Sounds. Gotta love that wyld version of Hey Joe by the Golden Cups. Also can't forget Blind Bird (Please Kill Me) by The Mops. 
 
John Battles said:

....I kind of got off most of the Japanese Garage bands that were popular (Well , KNOWN TO SOME , put it that way.) mainly in the 90's. I liked The Sleez Sisters , still do , tho' I only have one single and maybe a track on a comp (If I did'nt trade it in.). Just kinda fun , catchy  all - girl Punk. I still like Mescaline Drive , who were an all - girl Psych/Garage / Pop outfit. Very catchy tunes. There's live video on youboob (Touche , Kopper.) .

But , I'm a little surprised , seems no one's mentioned Group Sound , where this whole thing began in Japan. Group Sound is what they called the mid - 60's Anglo - American - influenced bands in Japan. A lot of this stuff is pretty insane , fuzztone overload sonic boom , but , some , like The Tigers , who were huge in Japan , is more Pop - oriented. Some bands swung both ways. Musically. But , I'd recommend The Spiders , Golden Cups , Carnabeats , Voltage , Beavers , Dynamites , Outkast , Playboy , Rangers , Swing West....The Spiders and Golden Cups were among the biggest , so there IS footage on You Tube, more of The Spiders , last I checked. The excellent "G.S. I Love You" series on Big Beat , curated by Alec Palao , will definitely set you in the right direction. That , and the Teen Trash From Tokyo series (3 volumes , released on colored vinyl , from Italy , they tell us. These came out Late 80'S OR EARLY 90's.) , if you can track 'em down....But , before even that , there was the Elecki movement ,fronted by Guitarist , Singer , Composer and Arranger , Yuzo Kayawa.  Elecki was inspired by The Ventures and Surf music. If you like Los Straitjackets , you already like Elecki. As Group Sound took over , Kayawa got into film sountracks , including some of the popular Giant Monster -Sci Fi films. But , his work in that area was also very Psych and Garage oriented.  I think he still records today. I saw video from just a few years ago , and it still sounded like the early Elecki stuff.  I've only recently taken any interest in post - GS Japanese Rock , but , the first Glam band inJapan , Vodka Collins , come recommended by me , and probably several others , here. Vodka Collins was actually lead by  a White guy from the East Coast , Alan Merrill , with two Japanese band members. Man's Ruin put out a CD of their recordings , very Bowie/Bolanesque with a good , hard guitar sound. Merrill moved to the UK ,and had a hit with The Arrows. That song would go on to be one of the biggest Rock singles by a female artist in the last Quarter of the 20TH Century.

"I Love Rock'n' Roll".

 If you're Japanese , any of you , take pride in the fact that you have the best fucking HAIR in the world. Even his mudflap looks great ! Great threads , too . And , look , the kids are dancing to Rock'n'Roll. I remember that.

OK , the hair and clothes don't play Rock'n'Roll , but , they sure did ! Thanks for sharing.

 John Battles said:

The Stalins ( Punk.80's , still active ?)

THIS. I love 60's Group Sounds. Gotta love that wyld version of Hey Joe by the Golden Cups. Also can't forget Blind Bird (Please Kill Me) by The Mops. 
 
John Battles said:

....I kind of got off most of the Japanese Garage bands that were popular (Well , KNOWN TO SOME , put it that way.) mainly in the 90's. I liked The Sleez Sisters , still do , tho' I only have one single and maybe a track on a comp (If I did'nt trade it in.). Just kinda fun , catchy  all - girl Punk. I still like Mescaline Drive , who were an all - girl Psych/Garage / Pop outfit. Very catchy tunes. There's live video on youboob (Touche , Kopper.) .

But , I'm a little surprised , seems no one's mentioned Group Sound , where this whole thing began in Japan. Group Sound is what they called the mid - 60's Anglo - American - influenced bands in Japan. A lot of this stuff is pretty insane , fuzztone overload sonic boom , but , some , like The Tigers , who were huge in Japan , is more Pop - oriented. Some bands swung both ways. Musically. But , I'd recommend The Spiders , Golden Cups , Carnabeats , Voltage , Beavers , Dynamites , Outkast , Playboy , Rangers , Swing West....The Spiders and Golden Cups were among the biggest , so there IS footage on You Tube, more of The Spiders , last I checked. The excellent "G.S. I Love You" series on Big Beat , curated by Alec Palao , will definitely set you in the right direction. That , and the Teen Trash From Tokyo series (3 volumes , released on colored vinyl , from Italy , they tell us. These came out Late 80'S OR EARLY 90's.) , if you can track 'em down....But , before even that , there was the Elecki movement ,fronted by Guitarist , Singer , Composer and Arranger , Yuzo Kayawa.  Elecki was inspired by The Ventures and Surf music. If you like Los Straitjackets , you already like Elecki. As Group Sound took over , Kayawa got into film sountracks , including some of the popular Giant Monster -Sci Fi films. But , his work in that area was also very Psych and Garage oriented.  I think he still records today. I saw video from just a few years ago , and it still sounded like the early Elecki stuff.  I've only recently taken any interest in post - GS Japanese Rock , but , the first Glam band inJapan , Vodka Collins , come recommended by me , and probably several others , here. Vodka Collins was actually lead by  a White guy from the East Coast , Alan Merrill , with two Japanese band members. Man's Ruin put out a CD of their recordings , very Bowie/Bolanesque with a good , hard guitar sound. Merrill moved to the UK ,and had a hit with The Arrows. That song would go on to be one of the biggest Rock singles by a female artist in the last Quarter of the 20TH Century.

"I Love Rock'n' Roll".

I hit reply by mistake....The Plastics (80'S NEW WAVE) , SHEENA AND tHE ROCKETS (same), The Stalins ( Punk.80's , still active ?)

It's been a while , but I'd still recommend Mescaline Drive , a 80's - 90's (?)  all - Female Psych/Garage / Pop / Punk kinda band . A guy in Japan was nice enough to tell me about their current offshoot band , their name escapes me , now.

 Sleez Sisters - All Female , 90's , Punk .ONE 45 ON SYMPATHY with a version of "Sick on You" by The Boys and a great "Theme song". Holds up pretty well.

Sledge Hammer (80's?) - Surely the only Japanese skinhead band to cover "Merry Jingle" , the Christmas medley recorded by key members of Thin Lizzy and The Sex Pistols as The Greedies.

70'S -VODKA COLLINS , Glam , fronted by roundeye gai - jinius , Allan Merrill (He wrote "I Love Rock'n'Roll". Joan Jett still owes him one. ).

60's - Yuzo Kayawa - Spearheaded the "Eleki" movement ( Influenced by Surf and The Ventures.)  , movie soundtracks , even Garage and Psych . Considered one of the true forefathers of Japanese Rock'n'Roll. Still active.

Group Sound ( Garage /Psych and Pop sung in English and Japanese) - Spiders , Tigers , Golden Cups , Playboy , Carnabeats , Dynamites ( Also with Allan Merrill), Outkast (yes.) , Mops , Beavers , Swing West , Voltage ,. A ZILLION OTHERS.

Dead Boy,

Thank you so much for this!  I'm going to try to order it through diskunion, and, if that doesn't work out, I'll try to contact them via myspace to see if I can purchase some merch from them directly or find out if they plan to come to the USA for a tour!

Andrea

Dead Boy said:

Hi.

I know nothing about that band, but I just found these record shops which sell their CD.

The Disc Union  (It's a big record shop.)  They have some MP3 samples.  If you can buy it from their, you may get a bonus limited edition CD only for the Disc Union which includes unreleased tune(s) (about 15 minutes).

Happyend (I haven't bought anything from their.)  If you can buy it from their, you may get their badge.

http://e-happyend.sakura.ne.jp/blog/2011/06/_s_gos.html

But I don't know if they can accept international orders. :/

They have:

http://www.myspace.com/shallows1

If you can't buy it, ask me.  I'll ask a friend of mine who runs a record shop.  If he can special order it, I think he can sell and send it to you.

Hi.

I know nothing about that band, but I just found these record shops which sell their CD.

The Disc Union  (It's a big record shop.)  They have some MP3 samples.  If you can buy it from their, you may get a bonus limited edition CD only for the Disc Union which includes unreleased tune(s) (about 15 minutes).

Happyend (I haven't bought anything from their.)  If you can buy it from their, you may get their badge.

http://e-happyend.sakura.ne.jp/blog/2011/06/_s_gos.html

But I don't know if they can accept international orders. :/

They have:

http://www.myspace.com/shallows1

If you can't buy it, ask me.  I'll ask a friend of mine who runs a record shop.  If he can special order it, I think he can sell and send it to you.

ZantiMissKnit said:

I'm bumping this thread, as it is relevant to my interests.  Yesterday, I just discovered The Mercies and The Captains, and am on my way to owning merchandise for them.

I also found THIS GENIUS:  The Shallows?  They're called The Shallows and I found, via googling their LP title, "The World of the Shallows", a link on Amazon where allegedly you could have once purchased mp3s, but they are no longer available.  I NEED TO FIND THIS!!!  Is anyone else familiar with this incredible group?

There are loads of cool Japanese bands on our Japan 2010 tour DVD. 

*Shameless plug*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SSb0cr6flA

Tsushimamire is always fun...not str8 RNR but Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her is fun, too.

enz

Apologies to anyone who mentioned the Royal Fingers already, but they're fantastic.  I bought this album about 4 years ago, surprised to see the price here but I'm sure you can find it for cheaper elsewhere:   http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Eleki-Deluxe-Royal-Fingers/dp/B00005EBJF

Eleki Boom!

I played with this Japanese girl band in 2005 called Megababe. They were almost like a Japanese all-girl ramones or something. Pretty cool 

not sure if you are interested in older bands but check out the trash from tokyo comps (I think I may see them over at paradise of garage comps site right now, wink -wink)

Shonen Knife.

i'd definetely suggest The Golden Arms, hiroshi is refered to as the japanese johnny thunders, here's their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/goldenarmsjp

another band which i stumbled upon by accident and i really enjoyed is called Yura Yura Teikoku, check them out they're really cool!

I don't think I'm covering any new ground here, but my son (he's two and a half) loves The 5.6.7.8s and Thee 50s High Teens. The new album from The Routes is a strong candidate for my year-end favorite albums list.

Supersnazz - they're Japanese, and female... their song 'Uncle Wiggly' is on the playlist on my page (go listen!!)