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This is how I finally knew that the Last.fm event system works, when it recommended me seeing MAD3 at Dirty Water Club. I tried to catch them on all my trips to Tokyo always missed them by weeks or days. So I was quite excited to finally get to see them live!!

I was with Mischa and Rupert and our girlfriends and wives, ready for the perfect gig.

Let's cut to the chase: I saw Eddie Legend hanging round in the corner during the support, already in his leather studded get-up. I couldn't believe my luck, and my adrenaline level started to rise ...

when the DJ wound down and put on their intro The Ride Of The Valkyries "from" their 10" Napalm In The Morning I was too excited to hold my mobile cam still, this is the sh!t.

Seems like they do the same routine all the time, here is a video from a Tokyo gig, intro and all.


Anyway, this was the loudest piece of gig I have been to in my life, I ended up standing right in front of Eddie speakers. My ears were beeping for 3 days, ouch.

shot 2 mobile pictures and 2 mobile videos for the athmosphere ... (more pics in Rupert's journal).


Setting up (dig that frock)


In full swing


Playing Caravan I think


They did this long solo section where everybody could show off their skills. The drummer ended up banging the bass.

One of my best gigs ever, poor ears. check out their new album Lost Tokyo

From the description:

Filmed on 3/25/2005 at the Exit Inn in Nashville, TN. This was within a week of his death. He had one show after this in Atlanta, GA.
I was standing probably 5-10ft from the stage when he became really angry and began smashing his bass against it. Seiji (Guitar Wolf) looked really confused and the show ended right afterwards. I'm pretty sure it wasn't staged. The Fender bass looks identical to the one he uses in many of the Guitar Wolf videos, though I'm not sure if he had several versions or what. Still, it was frightening but awesome to see him tear up the stage one whack at a time.

RIP Billy, you went out with a bang.

I can only second that. Few men leave earth in more style.

while we area on that topic here is his grave.

and here is someone who made it there:

watch out for releases hitting the streets via the man rupert, he should also make sure this journal is proper.

Yeah smoke it baby!

25 Oct – Castanets, Phosphorescent, Rabbit's Moon

Back in the boudoir, seems like I'm here every week now. Next week is Erase errate but at the Spitz. First off this night was great, but too much talkers in the crowd for such a "quiet" event. Oh well.

First up Rabbit's Moon, 4 guys in hawaiian shirts and one guy wearing an elephant mask as a hat. so far so cliché. have to say though, worth watching these guys, the "vocalist" restricted himself to animal noises (no elephant on the head), the drummer was ace, actually everybody was ace. with their lounge inspired noise rock mish mash. Decent stuff.

Actually I missed the real first act, a guy on drums "stumbling" over some percussion and noise flopping while a black clothed girl with white muslin wrapped around her head and hands was doing expressive dance moves. hmm, might have another beer ...

Then the evening kicked off. Phosphorescent ... eye openingly astounding. Single guy with guitar and knowledge of his sampler pedal.

He wore a jeans jacket tuned up with a light chain (what you call dat in english, you need to check the video) had the light turned off and was basically some deep sea creature in the dark, making blissful music. ah!

Here is him layering one of his first loops, while tinkling with the amp, which is why he bobs in and out of view. (if you haven't realized yet, the mic on my phone sucks, I like distortion but there wasn't that much, think acoustic)


I stopped recording too early, this became a brilliant song which I made out as "Worry Blues" but I might be mistaken. I also didn't film all this because the song was too good. (replaced with the promoter's video, better quality, enjoy)


And here is him singing a bit more, i love that jacket, but it broke after this number and the rest continued in full light ...

His last one was a sublime version of Endless Pt. 2. Using his sampler he was layering vocal layer upon vocal layer, until a whole choir and a ton of different keys was a-singing for the glory of him. Amazing skill, beautiful harmonies, has to be seen to be heard ;-) what a last song! Hats off! (you need to turn it up a bit)


The guy was back on stage as drummer of Castanets. And that was a fitting progression. Psychy Americana or whatever, feedback and slow guitar sparse drumming and good vocals. And a bass that sounded like it was tuned a few steps too low, nice and droney. Castanets go go go.

Came on stage with a little story. They had played in Brighton the night before, and a guy on the street ask the lead (Raymond Raposa) "you in a band", "yeah", "what's it called", "Castanets", "Oh I thought you were The Killers". So Raposa said, "if I'd had a razor I shave that goddamn moustache off".


Awesome gig, no time for filming was too good. Shot the last song (I think), a version of

Lover Lover Lover. Raposa stepped into the crowd, announced the hommage to the man himself and let rip. Here is the result. (remember the mic, yeah?)


What can I say, amazing stuff, go watch them all, soon!

Noise rock from Osaka, how can I not go there. oshiri penpenz are the sh!t.

I half missed the first band Park Attack. Very nice "I don't know what they call it nowadays" all over the shop rock. Was standing in a dark corner so no pictures.

if you like Lightning Bolt you'll like them, too. good stuff.

Next up Arrington De Dionyso an experimentalist to the core. All the stuff he performed was vocal, the first thing he was playing some sort of pipe, that looked like binoculars with membranes instead of lenses, and by touching the membranes in the right place you get the sound.

bit like a mongolian throat drone as an instrument, very nice, here is a quick shot of this, you need to be imaginative.


He then played the alto sax, and some other stuff which I forgot, but his mongolian tint went a bit further as this guy is an accomplished throat singer. First he did it through some foil horn contraption, see video, and later I think he played guitar and throat sang purely. A real talent. I am not being funny.


Time for the guests of honor, the oshiri guys were hiding behind the merch table for ages being really nervous, couldn't tell when they went on stage.

OK, first off, for us non-japanese, their name means "slapping your behind" a term used to scare japanese kids. "if you don't shut up you'll get oshiri penpen", oshiri being bum.

The singer greeted the crowd by saying "I like t-shirt" a number of times, and then he took it off. seems to be his thing never to wear a t-shirt. would have been a shame anyway, as he had some interesting scars on his chest. a big slashed X in the middle of the chest and a few more cuts. says something about "self-immolating violence" in the bio, I was wondering where you get such "nice" scars. also he had "omeko" tattooed on his arm, the osaka slang word for the woman's thing. cool guy.

anyway. listen to their music over yonder: Oshiri Penpenz. can't be bothered to describe something like that ;-)

so they kicked off and it was just nice. sounds like cack thru the mobile mic but you can listen to the album and watch the muted video, ey?


I was totally mesmerized by the drummer, such a furore of jazzy moves, this guy is extremely talented. i hope he sticks around and I can see him live more often, with the penpenz or others, just watch him enjoy himself ...


the whole thing became more and more chaotic, then the singer walked into the crowd (low stage) to have a go at a lovely lady who had been pogoing away as much as the tight space allowed. in the meantime, a japanese fan hopped on stage grabbed the mic and continued the shouting, this is where the video starts, it lead to a stage invasion and the end of the gig. what a night.

Should have changed the name of the place to Hippodrone for the day, oh well.

It is my greatest pleasure to report from this astonishing gig. I never really listened to much Sunn O))) but I think I always knew that whenever they are to be seen live, I'll be there.

And boy was I right. If you like these guys, if you like guitar distortion, if you want to make your whole body resonate with 90 minutes of guitar drone, than this is for you. Even more physical than acoustic, the gig of a lifetime.

Quick mention of the supporting acts: Leopard Leg (we'll see where these girls go in the future, some nice drumming, less nice moaning/wailing), Burning Star Core (cool violin drone, think Purified By The Fire, nice vocal garglings, think Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock and plain good more elctro drone) and Haswell + Hecker (a bit of an anachronism nowadays, apparently they have been researching tonights set for 3 years, hmm, well, pointless digital fidgymaglitchbronfgwar, if boredom were an art...)

anyway. this all took rather long, but some time 23.30 or so sunn o))) came alive.

first the filled the whole place with uber thick smoke, while their vocal growling, hissing, barking, whispering, made everybody feel aware of a darker presence, which slowly melted into the first waves of distortion. 1 stroke every 3 minutes, sustain and feedback in full frequency overlaying swing.

On stage you couldn't see anything. The lights were organised in a way that, once in a while a sinlge white hand on a guitar would emerge from the mist, as the 6 guys on stage were all wearing black cloaks (the grandmaster had some red decorations on it too).


the stage


balcony view

Slowly the whole danse macabre would become visible with the 6 nazgul (sorry) circling in the mist on stage, worshipping the lord of distortion with coordinated attacks on the strings (as I said, rarely touching their guitars with slowly swung hands formed into claws).




danse macabre

as far as I remember, there was 3 guitars, 1 bass, 1 moog and the grandmaster on mic, hissing away.

check the remaining pictures and "videos", to get an idea what it was like.


speakers like spaceships


sweeping the pit


a presence in the mist


final minutes (turn your head)


the glorious end

Wow I thought when I read that listing. THE Wanda Jackson live in London??? Still rockin? I never bought tickets that fast.

So the gig was on at the Luminaire support by Vincent vincent apparently no Villains this time, I will never know coz I missed him, riding my Vespa across London from Hackney to Kilburn while he was on. Tough luck I am not his greatest fan. Anyway here is them at another show so it gives you an idea.


Swiftly moving on, i.e. having made it there first thing was an array or custom cars in front of the house, alright the crew is already here.


Inside sold out crowd, with a lot of grease in the hair. Hey I was wearing a helmet to get here so no competition. Anyway next support Piney Gir was on. Really upbeat well exectued country, which was alright, but I like it a bit darker.

Here she is a-playing the accordion


All over, and booya loads of 60+ people mingle on stage, setting up their gear. Part of Wanda's backing setup was actually Wes McGhee on Guitar who afaik played for the Comets of Bill Haley And The Comets.

Then Wanda was announced by her hubby with a few jokes and a call to vote for her to get a place in the rock 'n' roll hall fame.


Then Wanda came on to a frenetic crowd, fresh 69 years old and sounding not much different from before, the real thing. I have to say it is quite awe inspiring to see such originals of rockabilly and country inthe flesh doing their thing like it was 1956. Couldn't believe my luck.

Here is Wanda a-smiling


and a-singing


Anyway you have to see this to believe it. I found a clip on youtube of her doing a gig recently, seems like, as she is wearing the same outfit as yesterday night. This is a snippet of her doing her kick-ass number Funnel Of Love (a b-side to a shmoozing number). This song is the daddy. And that shall be it. Wanda Jackon the Queen of Rockabilly and I hope she makes it into the Hall of Fame, she sure deserves it. If you are into this stuff (seems like or you weren't reading) get to one of those gigs, money wisely spent.

Alright, events schedule keeps rolling, busy busy busy. mischa and I and our girls went to the Spitz Festival of Folk, thanks skr for flogging me your tickets, I was going anyway, no way I am going to miss Mr. David Viner.

I saw that guy 2-3 years ago, playing with Holly Golightly at the Dirty Water Club, when he was still a single man blues gig. Check out his amazing albums This Boy Don't Care is a favourite of mine, rocking track Nobody's Business (argh wrong metadata on last.fm, oh well).

Anyway now he is a sure fire neo folkster. Actually dark folk or whatever they call it no idea. More Will Oldham than somebody else i can't think of now. So his new stuff is really nice and appalachian mountain sound whine or something, oi I am not a music journo.

His new stuff rocks that's for sure, if you get a chance check him out.

Here he is doing his thing


And here is his upright bassist who was wearing a Squarepusher T-shirt. I actually read that him is a good bassist. sure drills the bass.


Next up the headliner (yeah I missed the first band). The Eighteenth Day of May (ok no numbers). I didn't expect much to be honest. But they were really good. Nice and psychy with a very talented spaceed out nymph of a frontwoman, who convinced by the fact that she plays either dulcimer, flute or harmonium, very baroque.

The good thing is that there spaced out music mixed tres well with little miss' coquetterie with the crowd, she really knows how to look kinda high on absinthe, sing muse-ish and shake that green flowing dress slowly, while squeezing the harmonium in a way that it looks like exotic massage, pfoo. I am a dirty man.

Well worth checking out if you like Spacemen 3 like folk that trances on and on. (video below)

Here's some massage




and here is some flute playing


Good old youtube has a video of one song that was advertised with harmonium squeezing so I thought that's worth sharing. have fun