Akiakane

Warning: This is a while I living in Taiwan post and features a Japanese all girl punk band plus self indulgence.




Before I left Taiwan I made sure I caught the 2006 Formoz festival in Taipei which is organized by Freddy Lin of the Taiwanese death metal Chthonic featured UK bands Dirty Pretty Things and Super Furry Animals amongst the swag of Asian bands.


I spent a good portion of the day walking around and checking out the metal/punk stage and caught the impressive Japanese all girl punk band Akiakane. Lead singer/guitarist, Moe Suzuki was originally in the hugely popular all girl pop punk band Softball I really wanted to check out Akiakane because I'd heard good things about Softball.


Akiakane play a more high energy pop punk than Softball. Akiakane are more politically aware than softball and this reflects in their lyrics and often the shows they play. The band claim the the political motivation was inspired by bands like The Clash and The Dead Kennedys but they really don't sound like either. Earlier this year they played the 2/28 show in Taiwan which celebrates Taiwan independence. The American punk fanzine Razorcake described their sound as Kix with a bunch of fruit loops thrown on top. Personally I don't really think they sound like a glam metal band at all.





Akiakane at Formoz 2006 Pic by Camilo

The band are currently signed to Korean American, Mike Park's Asian Man Records label. I picked up both a T-shirt and a copy of their album Kasumisou (which is also called Samurai Punk Rock Girls). According to Punknews.org there are two versions of this album, a Western release with both English and Japanese lyrics and a Japanese release with Japanese lyrics only.

Some of the songs retain their original Japanese lyrics and vocals (a version of this same album released in Japan is sung completely in their native tongue) and thus, their messages will unfortunately be lost to non-bilingual Western ears. What won't be lost to Western listeners however, is the music itself. The aggressive quotient of Ms. Suzuki's songwriting has been upped several degrees, but so has the melodic content.

If there is any true drawback to Kasumisou, it is only that in places, Moe Suzuki's vocal delivery on the English-language tracks may come off frantic or not easy to catch on first listen. Her English lyrics, apparently self-translated, tend to read awkward (a by-product of having to fit a translated lyric into a melody initially composed to go with a Japanese-language lyric), however the points she makes in those lyrics still come across fairly well.


Surfing the Akiakane's official site I came across this pic of some dumb white kiwi guy checking out the band's merchandise with a bunch of Taiwanese Akiakane fans.





Here's a couple of examples of Moe's English lyrics.

Uncle Sam

MacArthur to Bush
Skill aggression
Pull the wires democracy
Shame freedom Uncle Sam

Asia Arab Black Slaves
Do you still want stars? AMERICA
Terrible Take away Shot gun
Cruel history Anglo Saxons

Be conscious of that! Be Quick! Please my baby!
Before your heart is violated by his greed

Dead forest in Viet-Num Gray skies in Hiroshima
What did we lose? What did we leave for?
Sunny afternoon Young boys and girls
Maybe they have gotten use to giving away

Akiakane - Uncle Sam MP3

Fuckin' Media

Evil Robot of fuckin' media
I do not fear yeah - oh yeah!
Money and collusion fuckin' media
I don't give a shit yeah- oh yeah

Green pepper head crams dumpling into himself
Twisted common sense He stretch it to suit his purpose
Quotation childish mistake over and over
Shallow imitation and disorder peaceful time

He works himself to the born for audience rating
He waves his hand with forced smile on his face

Timid paracemium was wearing a lion
Platonic things die by the road side critically
Trouble hush-up it's useless match wits
An apple polisher turned his hand up side down

Here is a youtube clip of Akiakane playing Fuckin' Media and another song live in Liverpool 2007

There's also another clip of Moe talking in English to the English audience which is near incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't spent a good deal of time living in Asia.

Akiakane are due to play back in Taiwan next week according to their myspace site Then back to Japan and an EU tour in 2008. Incidentially the new song on ttheir myspace is very catchy pop punk and not like the material on the Kasumisou album. My favourite song on the album is '1945' which is also on the myspace plyer. Where Moe Suzuki puts herself in the shoes of a warplane pilot in "Kaze to Tomoni" and gives a 21st century young adult's view of World War II history in "1945." This song was apparently inspired by Ms. Suzuki's encounter with one Takeshi Maeda, a former WWII Japanese Navy pilot who became a peace advocate after the end of that war. It's just nice(sic) to hear a a song about World War 2 from a Japanese viewpoint. I'd really love to catch this band live again and definitely look forward to hearing from Akiakane.

Wellington Punkfest October 21

Went back to Punkfest about an hour before the first band started with beers in hand. Ended up giving most of my beer to stupid punk girls who told me I didn't deserve to be there and I was too old to be at Punkfest because I refused to give them all my beer and told them to go forth and multiply but not in those words. It must be nice to know you'll move on and to plan on stopping listening to music and going to shows.
As I was early back into the hall one of the organizers asked which band I played in. I caught the nearly all girl band Co-exister. They played a hardcore style which really did nothing for me. The thing I liked best about them was their drummer's Kreator Pleasure To Kill T-shirt. It was only their second show so they should get better musically and/or show off more impressive band T-shirts.



Photo: Coexister

Next up were Punchbowl. I didn't really enjoy this group when they played a support slot for Melbourne band, A Death in the Family
mainly because their style didn't seem right for that particular night. After Co-exister I enjoyed them a lot more. They seemed to have a better night, better sound and seemed to be enjoying themselves much more. This time I could make out some of what was being 'sung/shouted' into the microphone. Their song Man in Uniform can't resist was dedicated to the New Zealand activists who were recently arrested under the terrorism suppression act.





Photo: Punchbowl

Next band were Shortlived. They're yet another hardcore act. Not my thing but others enjoyed them much more than me. If you're interested in checking this band out Stig from Mad Blasts of Chaos made this recent post complete with Mp3s.





Above photo: Shortlived



Hamilton's Bludgers played next and played Rancid/Clash style punk. I thought I heard a Sham 69 in there as well but I could be wrong.



Above Photo: The Bludgers



Nelson's Basura Blanca were a band that actually sounded original. A rough description of their sound would be Fugazi meeting Helmet. This band made my jaw drop as they were great and would the right promotion are a band that should go further. I managed to film their first song. They got even better as their set went on.



Next band were The Wrongmen from Auckland. More hardcore. Great stage presence but I'll pass on even commenting on their music.



Above pic: The Wrongmen

Melbourne bandPisschrist were up next and impressed even more than they had at Valve on the Thursday night. The crowd was whipped into a frenzy of stage diving. Their frontman has to be one of the most energetic I've ever seen. Pisschrist are one hell of an impressive live act.

Auckland band Missing Teeth had the dubious task of following Pisschrist. They delivered the goods. Missing Teeth play catchy punk and are also a great live act. I'd listen to their music at home over and over again while Pisschrist's music I'd only probably only play a few times before I start looking for something else. Missing Teeth played a cover of New Zealand 80's punk band No Tag's song Mistaken Identity. When they announced they were going play a No Tag cover I may have been alone in hoping for Legalise Dogs.





Above Pic: Missing Teeth

I could have gone and seen Motorhead two nights in a row in New Plymouth instead of Punkfest but other than New Plymouth long time punk rockers Sticky filth (who use a Motorhead influenced bass in their own sound) who incidentally replaced Aussie rockers, Rose Tattoo the support bands really put me off going. Chinese water torture is more appealing than sitting or standing through Dawn of Azazel and 8 Foot Sativa. I can't imagine a whole lot of Motorhead's older fans enjoying death metal. Rose Tattoo however are a whole different kettle of fish. Five bands is too many anyway when the event is not a festival.


I don't think the promoter realized the broad appeal of Motorhead and the limited appeal of death metal.

Anyway pick of the punkfest bands to watch out for are Basura Blanca.

Punkfest Sat 20 October

Headed back to Wellington after work for the Saturday afternoon of punkfest. I didn't take Labour weekend traffic into account so a 1 hour trip became a 2 hour trip. I missed seeing a band called Manicanne and another called Shit The Bed so I have no idea what these bands were like.
I managed to catch the windups who were an all girl band with guitar keyboards, drums and a monotone singer. They weren't really my thing but I could imagine them slotting on the 1979-1982 NZ compilation album It's Bigger Than Both of Us quite easily.



Pic: The Wind-ups



Next up were Vicious Rumour from Napier who very much fitted into the punk rock mould. They had a strong set and were nicely dressed with a frontman who had the hugest mohawk I've seen in New Zealand in recent years.



Vicious Rumour.

Last up were psychobilly band Dick Dynamite and the Doppelgangers. They had to be the highlight of the afternoon. The band played as a three piece with a frontman who plays upright bass like a man possessed and an excellent drummer who stands and plays drums on a kit stripped to the minimum. I video recorded one of this band's songs. Here is Dick Dynamite and The Doppelgangers - performing "I like girls who can't dance well"

Punkfest 19 October 2007

Punkfest is a yearly two/three day festival in Wellington, New Zealand that showcases mostly New Zealand hardcore punk bands. The festival has been running for ten years now and is now held in the Newtown Car Club. This year there were two Australian bands. This year I made it along for the first time ever.

Palmerston North band, Gaylordz were the first band up and they sound influenced DRI, Suicidal tendencies and Municipal Waste. This band make good use of two vocalists and are a damned hard to film. I'd never seen these guys before but they're a fantastic live band (it may have something to do with coming from my boring hometown) I made rough youtube footage of these guys.




Click here for more info on gaylordz

Next up were The Dregs who come from the farming town of Masterton. They played catchy melodic punk but had already been upstaged by the Gaylordz.

Also coming from my home town was solo act, Boss Christ is comparable to Tom Waits. His music is just him and his slide guitar but he outshined a lot of bands I've seen.
His my space site describes him as Wolfman gets Monsterbilly, which is accurate.

Check out Bruce Springsteen sux and Party at Boss Christ's house on his myspace site

Boss Christ at Punkfest video below


Goodtimes played next and were more of a hardcore band with four girl members and a guy vocalist. Musically hardcore isn't really my thing but they were a good live act. Standout member musically was the drummer.

Scab were up next. More spazzy hardcore. Not my thing at all.

Sydney band, Crux played last. I didn't enjoy them as much as the previous night for some reason.

Met a guy who had seen The Ramones and The Clash in Wellington during the eighties so I didn't feel quite so old. Drove home to get some sleep before working a few hours the next day so I could make the next day.