What are some cool bands in Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto?

[Red Floyd]

I'm going to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka soon and I'm wondering if there are any cool bands I should check out? Nothing big and fancy. I was just wondering if there are some cool quirky indie bands to check out. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[GomiGirl]

Of course I have to say...

Do yourself a favour and check out...

Marshmallow Spike

[gomichild]

good to see our PR manager on the ball....

[Mulboyne]

What are your dates? If you want to see live acts, it just depends who is up

[AssKissinger]

DJGizmoe?

[Red Floyd]

What are your dates? If you want to see live acts, it just depends who is up

I'm there for the first week of August.

[kotatsuneko]

go!go!7188

[myothercarisajumpsuit]

be on the look out for:
totsuzen danbou
space streakings


also
yaneura
should have some wacky things going on.

[Mulboyne]

First week of August is actually a tricky time. Fuji Rock is on the weekend of July 31st and Summer Sonic and the Rock in Japan Festival both follow on the next weekend That makes the intervening days a bit of a quieter spot than usual.
Starting Sunday 1st, Shinjuku Loft hosts Pulling Teeth, Cocobat, Robin and others.
Shimokitazawa Club Que (03 3412-9979) has Handsome Kyodai, SKipCows(?) and Struggle Minds on August 2nd. On the same night, The Liquid Room Ebisu (NOT in Shinjuku!) has some UK bands - 22-20s Stills and Keane.
August 3rd has the UK's The Libertines at Shibuya-Ax (minus Pete Doherty)
August 4th has bloodthirsty butchers at Liquid Room Ebisu which should be good but tickets could be tough to get since they are sold out the previous week.
August 5th has two more interesting nights. Shinjuku Loft (03 5272 0382) hosts Melt Banana, DMBQ, Ghost and others (extreme noise - you can read about Melt Banana elsewhere in these forums) while up the road at Shinjuku ACB Hall they have Saboten, Magnet Coating, Shamrock Street and others.
August 6th at Harajuku Astro Hall sees Rogue Faction, Oxygen, Destroyer and Used Cows on the same bill.

[Red Floyd]

Wow, thanks for alll the help!

[mr. sparkle]

First week of August is actually a tricky time. Fuji Rock is on the weekend of July 31st and Summer Sonic and the Rock in Japan Festival both follow on the next weekend That makes the intervening days a bit of a quieter spot than usual.
Starting Sunday 1st, Shinjuku Loft hosts Pulling Teeth, Cocobat, Robin and others.
Shimokitazawa Club Que (03 3412-9979) has Handsome Kyodai, SKipCows(?) and Struggle Minds on August 2nd. On the same night, The Liquid Room Ebisu (NOT in Shinjuku!) has some UK bands - 22-20s Stills and Keane.
August 3rd has the UK's The Libertines at Shibuya-Ax (minus Pete Doherty)
August 4th has bloodthirsty butchers at Liquid Room Ebisu which should be good but tickets could be tough to get since they are sold out the previous week.
August 5th has two more interesting nights. Shinjuku Loft (03 5272 0382) hosts Melt Banana, DMBQ, Ghost and others (extreme noise - you can read about Melt Banana elsewhere in these forums) while up the road at Shinjuku ACB Hall they have Saboten, Magnet Coating, Shamrock Street and others.
August 6th at Harajuku Astro Hall sees Rogue Faction, Oxygen, Destroyer and Used Cows on the same bill.

Wow. The man knows his bands!
Melt Banana is awesome. Also Bloodthirsty Butchers show sounds cool.

[Captain Japan]

First week of August is actually a tricky time. Fuji Rock is on the weekend of July 31st and Summer Sonic and the Rock in Japan Festival both follow on the next weekend That makes the intervening days a bit of a quieter spot than usual.
Starting Sunday 1st, Shinjuku Loft hosts Pulling Teeth, Cocobat, Robin and others.
Shimokitazawa Club Que (03 3412-9979) has Handsome Kyodai, SKipCows(?) and Struggle Minds on August 2nd. On the same night, The Liquid Room Ebisu (NOT in Shinjuku!) has some UK bands - 22-20s Stills and Keane.
August 3rd has the UK's The Libertines at Shibuya-Ax (minus Pete Doherty)
August 4th has bloodthirsty butchers at Liquid Room Ebisu which should be good but tickets could be tough to get since they are sold out the previous week.
August 5th has two more interesting nights. Shinjuku Loft (03 5272 0382) hosts Melt Banana, DMBQ, Ghost and others (extreme noise - you can read about Melt Banana elsewhere in these forums) while up the road at Shinjuku ACB Hall they have Saboten, Magnet Coating, Shamrock Street and others.
August 6th at Harajuku Astro Hall sees Rogue Faction, Oxygen, Destroyer and Used Cows on the same bill.

This page is updated pretty often and is comprehensive. Tokyo only though.

[Mulboyne]

Great link, Captain! That's going to save a lot of trawling through Pia.

[Captain Japan]

Shinjuku Loft (03 5272 0382) hosts Melt Banana, DMBQ, Ghost and others (extreme noise - you can read about Melt Banana elsewhere in these forums)

You can read about Ghost here as well.

They've got a show next week in Koenji. For more info go here.

But that page I listed before doesn't list either this show or the one Mulboyne mentioned for next month! So much for my "comprehensive" tag.

Mentioning the Butchers takes me back. I met those guys after a show once in Shimokitazawa. I had managed to pull some strings and get backstage for a Discord tour of Japan. The Butchers were the opening act. A very understated bunch, at least when you consider their name.

Hey Slim, you remember? You were the one who pulled the tickets.

[djgizmoe]

There a bizillion good J-indies acts. Whether or not they'll be playing is a different subject...
Here's a few links:

Tokyo Gig Guide: http://www.geocities.com/mrcraige/

Osaka's BEARS live house: http://home.att.ne.jp/orange/bears/

Osaka's Fandango: http://www.fandango-go.com/

Club Quattros: http://www.net-flyer.com/

My website: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/nipponunderground

I for one am going to check out the VOORDOMS (i.e. Boredoms) concert at the new Liquid Room in Ebisu. http://www.liquidroom.net/front/index.html

>>>"August 5th has two more interesting nights. Shinjuku Loft (03 5272 0382) hosts Melt Banana, DMBQ, Ghost".

And this one looks AWESOME as well. All those bands are great live, and DMBQ is my favorite Japanese rock band...period.

If you tell me what dates, I can give you a few more specific recommendations.

[GomiGirl]

Marshmallow Spike

Dates:

Four Valley Yotsuya
Thursday July 29, 6pm (but will be on around 9pm)
Tickets: 1,500

Club24 Yokohama
Wednesday August 11, 6pm
Tickets: 1,600

Shinjuku Jam
Sunday August 22, afternoon (time TBA)
Tickets: 1,200

Club Statto - Musashi Sakai
Friday August 27, 6pm
Tickets: 1,500

Click on the above link for the venue maps.

Come and hang out with the gomi-twins.

[glynn]

Hey guys, I came across this message board when I was searching the net for my friends band, and theyve been mentioned in this thread so I thought id sign up and post about them...

Im from a town in England UK called Telford and I go to college with some mebers of a band called Rogue Faction. The bassist is Japanese but the other members were all born in England (im pretty sure lol), so the bassist (Akira Fukotomi) thought it would be a good idea to organise some dates in Tokyo. He visited some venues sometime last year and sent some emails and managed to get some dates.

Unfortunetly I cant afford to go to Japan and catch the tour , but if you guys are going to any of the shows please show the guys as much support as you can, and if you really want to freak them out tell them 'Glynn told us about you'

Theyll be playing at these venues:
Tokyo:
03/08/04 Shibuya Kinoto
04/08/04 Club Phase
05/08/04 Shimokitazawa Yaneura
06/08/04 Astro hall
08/08/04 Tau Kitchen

Followed by some dates in Osaka, but they havent told me where yet!

You can hear the band here: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/3/roguefactionmusic.htm
& get more info here: http://www.roguefaction.cjb.net/

have fun m/,
Glynn.

[Mulboyne]

Thanks for the heads up. Always good to get some background on bands. Your man got some good venues. A lot of up-and-coming overseas indie bands play Astro Hall in Harajuku and Shimokitazawa is band-central in Tokyo.
If the guys get any good pics when they are out, post them here.
Cheers

[mr. sparkle]

Hi Mulboyne,
What are your main suggestions for 8-11 thru 8-23?
Looks like a bit of a lull, no?

Hey, how was that Ghost show?

[Mulboyne]

A few things on over that period as far as I can tell. I can't vouch for them all but you never know what you might stumble across.

August 11 - the band apart/Mo'some Tonebender at Ebisu Liquid Room. MT have almost made it to the mainstream after slogging it out on the livehouse circuit. They can give a good show in small venues but I'm not sure if they can carry it off in a larger hall.

August 12th - Suns/Owl/United/Pulling Teeth at Kawasaki Club Citta

August 13th/14th - Rising Sun Rock Festival in Ezo. Bands like The High-Lows/Jude/Char/Bump of Chicken/Original Love. Not my taste but Shibusa Shirazu are performing and they are usually good. A bit of a schlep. OR SlimeBall/Asparagus/Tropical Gorilla at Shimokitazawa Shelter on 13th. Asparagus are getting popular and playing one man shows now.

August 14th - Comeback My Daughters at Shimokitazawa Shelter.

August 15th - cafelon/Bank$/cafe & cigarettes at Shimokitazawa Club Que. Bank$ is a getting a big push right now and seems a fairly decent songwriter. On the poppy side of indie. OR The Slowmotions/The Basements at Shimokitazawa Shelter OR Assfort/Laffin Nose?/Sobut at Shinjuku Loft. Sobut are a regular on the hardcore scene

August 16th - Hermann H. & The Pacemakers/DoubleO Teresa/Dr. Strangelove at Loft OR D'EspairsRay/Voodoll/Fatimaat Shibuya O-East OR ZZ/Crack/Pink Flamingo MG at Shibuya O-West OR Pet Time Bokan/Unscandal at Chelsea Hotel OR Merenge/Rankhead/Motorworks at Liquid Room Ebisu. I don't know any of the last three bands but the gig is part of the Vintage 2004 festival and the other nights have good bands so it might be worth a look.

August 17th - Shocking Lemon/Acashicrecord/deepsea drive machine at Loft OR sacra/The Rainmakers/Cirrus Minor at Shibuya O-West OR Wipeout/Bite The Lung/Teruru at Shimokitazawa 251 OR bonobos/Tsubaki at Shibuya Ax. bonobos are cool but their laid-back style will get lost in Shibuya-Ax

August 18th - Wild Mild/The Neutral at Shinjuku marble OR Vasallo Crab 75/aplia/Soul Mission Shelter at Shimokitazawa Shelter OR Semi Human Size/The Jetze Johnson/Response at Shimokitazawa 251 OR Setsunaburusta/King Brothers/The Local Art at Shinjuku Loft OR syrup 16g/Straightener/ The Back Horn at Shibuya-Ax OR Nona Reeves at Star Pine's Cafe.Nona Reeves and The Back Horn are big now so that is a draw but for me it is no contest - got to be King Brothers

August 19th - China Chop/Custom Mummy at Chelsea Hotel OR Chester Copperpot/Soulsberry/Solt at Shimokitazawa 251 OR The Pillows at Shibuya-Ax. Go for The Pillows.

August 20th - Crave/Roundscape at Chelsea Hotel OR ephonoscope/The Local Art/Pick2Hand at Shimokitazawa 251

August 21st - Lunchtime in Odaiba (12:00 start) with Guitar Wolf on the bill OR Matthew Sweet/Velvet Crush at Ebisu Liquid Room OR NeverFear/Bonkin' Clapper/BankRobber Project at Shibuya Cyclone OR No Use for a Name at Kawasaki Citta OR Kazumi Nikaido at Super Deluxe. I actually can't find a mention of the Kazumi Nikaido gig anywhere but the page mentioned by Captain Japan but it sounds like her kind of event. I'd love to see her but it is a nightmare clash with Bonkin' Clapper and No Use for a Name.

August 22nd - Shibusa Shirazu at and others at CAY. Saves you the hassle of catching them at The Rising Sun Festival

August 23rd - Matthew Sweet/Velvet Crush at Shibuya Quattro OR La'cryma Christi at Shibuya-Ax. The second one only if you want a dose of visual-kei

August 24th - if you can swing one more day, I'd go to see Hate Honey on a bill at Loft

I'll be in Tokyo so I'll probably be showing my face here and there

[Mulboyne]

OMIGOD...I Forgot....
and

Marshmallow Spike
Shinjuku Jam
Sunday August 22, afternoon (time TBA)
Tickets: 1,200

[mr. sparkle]

Just what I was lookin' for. Thanks for taking all that time to compile the shows. You ROCK!

[Mulboyne]

Just spotted this date too:

August 18th - Lolita 18 and others at Shibuya Chelsea Hotel
I've read so much about Lolita 18 that I've almost convinced myself I know them well. However, I haven't heard anything they've done so that would be delusional.
I can't say if this would be a better bet than seeing King Brothers. Djgizmoe would likely be a better bet to judge.

[kotatsuneko]

found some more pics of Marshmallow Spike here:

http://biginjapan.japanphotographer.com/gallery/Marshmallow

rock n raawwwl baby

[gomichild]

Hehehehe actually the next gig is looking to be a real rocking time....club 24 yokohama, rockers...let's show this jaded club how to have a good time

[kotatsuneko]

talking off a rocking good time.. the 5,6,7,8s are playing in london`s 100 club on monday or tuesday.. if i can, i`ll check them out ^^

btw GomiChild, it sure looks like you guys really go for it !

how bout a Marshmallow Spike VS Gaijin a GoGo gig with EvilPongi as MC?