5th Threat, Not Quite Right, Ghost Echoes Bar Mode, Palmerston North, November 2nd 2007

I drove down to Palmerston North to catch this show at Bar Mode hoping I'd be able to see No Love Lost. However it turned to be Wellington band Not Quite Right who were playing which disappointed me.

The turnout to this show was disappointing but I don't think any of the bands are well known in this neck of the woods despite the fact that Not Quite Right seem to be playing almost every weekend two hours away in Wellington. They should be arrested for overexposure.

There were about three people at the show when Auckland band Ghost Echoes started playing this band are a punk rock band who put the emphasis on rocking. I was impressed by their girl drummer. They also make good use of two vocalists. Their between song banter is something they can do without as their music stands up without it. Here's a rough youtube clip I made of one of their songs.



Not Quite Right played next. They played a solid start but they played the same first song as every other time I've seen them. They really need to change their setlist. The drummer really pummels his drums and tends to dominate the band's overall sound. I taped their first song but since it's already on this blog in another post there's no need for another.

5th Threat were the headlining band. So they played last. I'd never heard them before as they have no songs on their myspace site other than a Youtube sports video clip. One member of the band stripped right down which gave me a Blink182 type vibe. So I wondered what the hell I was doing there.
Bands playing naked is really nothing new. Early Head Like A Hole did it regularly. Palmerston North punk band Motorsheep also used do it occasionally. I expected the band to be one of those NOFX-type melodic punk bands that appeal to kids who rebel against convention by wearing their baseball caps sideways. They do play melodic punk rock. They also have two vocalists but the Maori guy's vocals stand out far more than the white guys. Below is a part of their set (Sorry, for the slightly more than usual distorted sound)



Ghost Echoes are probably the only band from this line-up I'd be excited about seeing again.

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.