Saturday, January 12, 2008

Pierced Arrows Adelaide Hotel, Newtown, Wellington January 11 2008








Pierced Arrows are ex-Dead Moon members, Fred and Toody Cole's new band. I've only ever heard one Dead Moon album and had never seen them live before despite the fact they've toured(yes, toured rather than just playing Auckland)New Zealand.

I decided to go and check this band out. I missed the support bands due to getting lost somewhere in Wellington so I have no idea what they were like. I very much doubt they were anywhere near as good as Pierced Arrows who rocked hard and would have been a very tough act to follow. The Wellington Dominion picked this as one of their gig choice despite featuring a large article about Kings of Leon.

I guess the music of Pierced Arrows could be described as folk influenced punk rock. If all bands who play this year have a show as good as Pierced Arrows 2008 will be a great year for touring bands.




I guess it should be noted that Pierced Arrows played a song for Craig Radford from Sticky Filth who let the band know of his presence(Sticky Filth toured with Dead Moon at least once in the past). I talked briefly with Craig and he said that there are plans for a new Sticky Filth single this year so that's definitely something else to look forward to.



My camera started playing up during this show so there may not be anymore of my photos or youtube clips on this blog for a little while.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Ryoko Mizoguchi


Now for something completely different. While I was living in Taichung, Taiwan I lived not too far from a Live House which was an underground music venue that not many foreigners frequented. After watching a Japanese ska-punkers Double Negative and glam metal influenced rockers Trashbox a woman with a keyboard, a microphone and an anime painting, played. She stood out because her music was different from the four on floor rock band format and she was a small woman with a fantastic voice. After seeing Ryoko Mizoguchi play I got her to sign my CD. It's the first time I've ever done this but I had to get the female singer from Japanese hip-hop group Poplar translate for me. I really wanted to know the artist's English name and also wanted her to know I really liked her music.

Here's a snippet of an online English review I found

Mizoguchi's mini-album 1, 2 no 3 de is short, but then my five foot two inch tall mother always told me that the best things come in small packages, and after listening to this record over and over for the past few days I'm starting to think she may have been right all along. Armed mainly with a piano and a voice pitched somewhere between Kate Bush and Cerys Matthews, Mizoguchi has crafted a collection of songs that burrow themselves deeply within your subconscious, then keep bringing you back to them even when you know you ought to be listening to other things.




Full English review and song name list here

A few people I've played the CD say she sounds like Bjork but I find Ryoko Myzoguchi far more listenable than I've ever found Bjork

Download 1, 2,no 3 de here

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Red Hot Pussy Liquor -Broke, But Not Broken CD-R(Demon Nation)


This 2007 Red Hot Pussy Liquor CD-R is one very impressive package presentation wise. The layout and design and lyric sheet rivals a lot of regular CD releases. I didn't realize it was a CD-R until I tried playing it on a CD player I have that refuses to play it.

In his excellent New Zealand music book Ready to Fly New Zealand music writer/poet/reviewer, David Eggleton wrote something along the lines that a lot of New Plymouth bands were influenced by heavy metal and were heavy on comic-shlock imagery. The cover to this CD carries on that tradition in fine form. Pussy, Drugs, Liquor, complaining neighbours are Red Hot Pussy Liquor's main lyrical themes.

On to the music, it's punk with a touch of a metal influence. The album was recorded live in one hour so there's very much a live feel to this release. To my ears the drums sound louder than they really should be in places but I suspect that's due to live recording. At times vocalist Grady Waite sounds a lot like Sticky Filth's Craig Radford but that's hardly a complaint.

The first song Live For One Day is a song that wouldn't sound out of place on a Sloppy Seconds album.
The band's theme song Red Hot Pussy Liquor is a raging chug-long sing-song. Pussy Liquor!!
Smack the Bitch Back is a great revenge anthem. Some call me a loser. Some call me hardcore. I'm just glad I broke this motherfucker's jaw
S.O.S. is a song where Grady's voice reminds me a lot of Sticky Filth. The chorus is catchy as hell.
Suicidal Land shows the serious side of this band. This is another song that reminds me of Sloppy Seconds with a touch of the Ramones and sprinkle of Suicidal Tendencies.
Wicked Wicked is one of the highlights. An ode to rock and roll and women that is bound to offend a few.
40 hour week is another highly catchy number about the futility of working life. Buteel street is the first song about a complaining item and there is a copy of the newspaper clip that this incident is about attached to the lyric sheet.
Burn Mikey Burn is a highly catchy punk number that could either be about a boy racer or someone that has an expensive car for show rather than driving. I love the fast chorus.
Drugs and Scum would be my pick for the best song on this release. The mixture of slow and fast parts are perfect.
A few of the song on this CD can be heard on Red Hot Pussy Liquor's myspace page

To order this release email demonnationmusic[AT]gmail.com

Beastwars - IV

After over a year off for various reasons, we have returned solely because we wanted to review the new Beastwars album. I really w...