Tour Reveals Clubs In Japan Teeming With Musical Talent

Rarely in our quest for new rock music do we look further east than the dismal, self-indulgent pop sounds raining down over England.

So it’s not too surprising that rock fans ignore most of Japan’s stunning musical exports.

These same people buy into a stereotype of the Japanese artist as nothing more than fluffy pop acts mimmicking the same cliches bloated American Top 40 stars did five years ago.

Or even worse, the first image that enters people’s minds when they think of contemporary Japanese music is a drunk businessman singing karaoke in a lounge with all of his corporate buddies goading him on.

That’s all rubbish.

Japan, particularly the underground, is teeming with burgeoning talent. Some are known; most aren’t. The most recognizable bands are the Boredoms, the Pizzicato 5, Teen Generate, Shonen Knife and Cibo Matto.

I just returned Sunday from a two-week tour of Japan with The Makers. So I can report, based on first-hand experience, that Japan is breeding some amazing bands.

Over the course of the trans-Pacific tour, The Makers played six shows - five in clubs in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Nagoya and an in-store show at a Nagoya record store.

At each show, The Makers, a Spokane band of the garage-punk persuasion, were teamed with like-minded Japanese bands.

The Makers, who play their first show since arriving home tonight at Ichabod’s North, were floored by the bands that opened for them, which says a lot being that the band penned a veracious anthem called “We Don’t Love Anything.”

On stage, vocalist Mike Maker and bassist Don Maker frequently plugged their favorite Japanese bands.

Among the bands the Spokane garage bandit took delight in were the Magnitude 3, Gasoline, Guitar Wolf and Switch Trout.

At the Nagoya gig, Switch Trout, a mostly instrumental surf band, whipped out two Makers instrumentals, “Kushticaw,” and “Operation Mindbomb,” and did them more than justice.

In Osaka and Tokyo, Mike Maker joined the Magnitude 3 on stage for impromptu covers of “Gloria” and “For Your Love.” (Incidentally the Makers sparred with the Magnitude 3 on a split 7-inch that was released on a Sympathy for the Record Industry two years ago.)

The aforementioned bands and a few others were schooled in ‘60s and ‘70s punk and American pop culture. For the most part, their interpretations were fairly straightforward. Nonetheless they were authentic renderings and they beat the pants off any of the U.S. new school of so-called punk.

(You can read all about The Makers grand tour of Japan in the Nov. 10 Spokesman-Review IN Life section.)

Of course there was a segment of the Japanese underground we never got a chance to see, but that’s largely due to those bands’ music not wedding well with The Makers’ style.

These bands compound their native Eastern influences with Western ones, formulating music that is strangely exotic, meticulous and clamorous. Such bands include Zeni Geva, which played Spokane last month, the Boredoms, the Ruins, Space Streakings and, coming to Ichabod’s North on Sunday, Melt-Banana.

Melt-Banana was virtually unknown here until Bay Area sonic nuisance Mr. Bungle escorted the Tokyo quartet around the country last year.

People who bought tickets to see Mr. Bungle came away Melt-Banana fans.

Melt-Banana forges music more foreign than their native tongue. The female-fronted noise terrorist makes a jazzy mess with its barrage.

Their second album, “Scratch Or Stitch,” contains 22 songs clocking in at a psychotic 25 minutes.

You might be saying, “So what? Anyone can play thrash.”

Not like this band.

They make getting run over by a bullet train seem like both an educational and exhilarating experience.

Indeed the band moves swiftly over its material, yet its sound isn’t just about bowling over listeners.

Melt-Banana’s songs are cleverly constructed with unique, virtually mechanical, discordant and quaking rhythm patterns. The band then fortifies the volley with heaping proportions of grating guitar noise and monosyllabic yelps of vocalist Yosuki Onuki.

The combination should make for an interesting show Sunday. But bring your ear plugs.

Music starts at 9:30 p.m. The cover is $4.

Tonight’s show at Ichabod’s North with The Makers and guests starts at 10 p.m. The cover is $4.

The cure for insomnia

Seattle cranky-noise trio Sleep Capsule returns to Outback Jack’s on Saturday. If you haven’t seen this band live yet, you’re missing out.

No, it will never score the big record deal; commercial sensibilities are absent from Sleep Capsule’s foray into behemoth rock.

I saw the band last February in Seattle open for Hammerhead (which, by the way, just played here) and it pulverized with as much brute force as its contemporaries in Minneapolis.

The band has a fine new 7-inch out on Sub Pop plus two albums on Spanish Fly Records.

Portland’s Chum and Pork Finger are also on the bill. Music starts at 9:30 p.m. The cover is $4.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: NIGHTWATCH PICKS Best bets at area clubs: TONIGHT: The Makers at Ichabod’s North SATURDAY: Sleep Capsule, Chum and Pork Finger at Outback Jack’s SUNDAY: Melt-Banana at Ichabod’s North