muttler.net

Category: music

  • OTOBOKE BEAVER!!!

     

    11/12/2022

    So what was I heading off to in Nagoya?

    Well, my favourite band of the last couple of years has been an incredible punk-ish band from Kyoto called Otoboke Beaver. Their album “Itekoma Hits” has easily been my most played album of the last few years and their new one this year “Super Champon” is just as good. They haven’t come to Australia and I always dreamt that when we came to Japan that I may be able to luck out and see them live for the first time, after watching ALL their livestreams during the pandemic years.

    So of course, what looked like it would happen? They played a show in Osaka just days before we arrived. And then… yep… THREE shows in Tokyo from the NIGHT WE LEAVE (including one with Melt-Banana!!!). I thought I was doomed never to see them. It was crazy just how unlucky I was being.

    Then it looked like their MIGHT be a chance. It turned out they were playing a show in Nagoya while we were in Kyoto. Yes!!!

    I tried all the things I could to get a ticket but alas I couldn’t as I had to have a Japanese phone number in order to buy a ticket online. Ugh. I was resigned to it not happening.

    But what I did was the day we arrived here, I tried my chance in a Lawsons, which has the Loppi machines for buying tickets. And… SUCCESS!!! I GOT A TICKET!!!

     

     

    So I left Kyoto and headed back to Nagoya, about an hour away. I got to the venue (a great space on the 5th floor of a nondescript office building), and caught the end of the second band. It was in fact a 5 band bill, all quite different styles. A band called Cinema Staff were OK, a bit of 2000’s emo throwback.

    Anyway, the time came. I respected the venue wishes for no mobile phones or photos, as did the whole crowd. That in itself was awesome.

    The band soundchecked a couple of songs (including Yakatori!) before launching into the set.

    It is one of the greatest hours of live music I have ever been part of. The band was everything I could have hoped for. Equal ferocious and hilarious. But seriously, the 4 of them have to be 4 of the most talented musicians on the planet…. it is insane how technically amazing they are. Yoyoyoshi on guitar, Hiro-Chan on bass, Kahokiss on drums, and Accorinrin on vocals.

    It was a dream. Probably at least 20 songs in about 50 minutes. I could not stop grinning the whole gig.

    Then to cap things off, the girls met about of a dozen of us after the show and were super happy to pose for photos. I had some really sweet and fun chats with them all, mostly in very broken japanese from me and broken english from them. But it was THE BEST.

     

     

     

     

     

    Anyway, I’ll stop gushing. Along with King Gizzard, no other band has probably helped me get through the past few years, and to see them and meet them was just something else.

  • Record Store Day Adventures… Flightless Edition!

     

     

    Hi all.

    Just a super quick update with some of my record store day adventures. This is the Flightless Records edition!

    You all know about my obsession with King Gizzard and Flightless Records in general. I feel remarkably lucky to live in the same city as the label and band, as it means that on occasion I get to indulge in something unique and amazing. Gizzfest… midnight record launches… regular tour warm up shows. And for Record Store Day it was no exception! Eric opened up the Flightless doors and let a bunch of us nutjobs in to indulge in some record buying and best of all chatting with the lads and seeing much of the amazing original artwork by 8th member Jason used for the album art.

    So here are some quick snaps I took. And yes, that is a Test Pressing of Willoughby’s Beach that I managed to score for all you vinyl nerds 🙂

    Enjoy!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Unleashing the Inner Bogan

    The Ecstasy of Young Metal Dudes

    OK. So I admit it. I listened to the Hysteria album by Def Leppard back in the day. But as lead singer Joe Elliott told us at one point in the evening, it is now 25 years old, so cut me some slack that I was young and didn’t know what I was listening to and hadn’t discovered “good music” yet. But that is doing it a bit of a disservice… go listen to “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and then tell me you didn’t just do a little bit of rockin’ out.

    Anyway… when I found out that Def Leppard and Poison were doing a show in Denver, it went from a joking “I should go”, to a “no really, I should go”, to everyone I mentioned it to saying “damn straight you should go!”. It seems that everyone around my age has a sense of nostalgia (or perverse interest) in the 2012 versions of both Def Leppard and Poison. So as those of you who read my blog post yesterday will have seen, my interest resulted in a ticket to said arena spectacular.

    I arrived at the Pepsi Centre, rockin one of my black t-shirts I thankfully brought with me (a Boris t-shirt, but black nonetheless). It wasn’t the sea of black I expected, but a strange mix of older metal folk, a little more countrified guys and gals and a healthy mix of “kids”. Not the demographic I would expect back home.

    (Oh, throughout this you will have to make do with my crappy iPhone pics too due to the strictly enforced no camera policy too. Boo.)

    Heading into the centre I was greeted to Lita Ford, 80’s hard rock “hottie”, just kicking off. Many of the older guys in the crowd clearly still hold a torch for Ms Ford as she belted through half an hour of hits (along with some new material), with quite a few of the gents in raptures. Nice start.

    Bret Michaels makes his entrance

    But really, most people were here for the other two bands, in seemingly equal doses, as when the lights went down again in preparation for Poison, people started losing their collective shizz. And when they opened with Look What The Cat Dragged In, I figured we were going to be in for a pretty fun ride, especially if they stuck with the hits. And they pretty much did. When you consider the 10 song set included Fallen Angel, Unskinny Bop, Every Rose Has It’s Thorn (in which the older woman next to me teared up bless her), and the great finisher Nothin’ But A Good Time, it was exactly what I wanted really.

    Poison got me in a rockin’ mood

    It is at this point too I have to acknowledge the dude to my other side. A younger dude with his gal, he lost it multiple times during Poison (a sign of things to come for the whole show) which was quite endearing to be honest. Sporting his Van Halen jersey, he was clearly here for a good time (and is the devil horn sporting chap in the top photo). I really should have got a photo with him.

    The Def Leppard show begins!

    And so on we go to the main event. Def Leppard arrived to a backdrop of a huge Union Jack and then proceeded to rock out in that 80’s British hard rock / soft metal fashion they’ve pedalled for the last 30 years. Rocket from said Hysteria album got a run second up, so I was thinking oh yeah! this shall be fun.

    At least the light show was OK

    And you know… it kinda wasn’t unfortunately. As their set progressed through pretty much the whole Hysteria album along with other tracks (including the now-obligatory acoustic rock out section in the middle of the set) I found all the songs blended into a mash of kinda-boring mid-tempo soft rock. Apologies to any Def Leppard fans who find this… I mean no disrespect… but it wasn’t quite the rock show I wanted. I think I got wrapped up in Poison earlier, and even listening to Pour Some Sugar On Me just a few days earlier.

    Do I regret going? No way. But the longer it went on, the more kinda bored I got. Sure, Pour Some Sugar On Me was second-to-last which meant I got to get my air guitar out before I left, but the show just wasn’t as rockin’ or actually as bombastic as I would have hoped… Poison were easily the highlight for me.

    So kudos to Def Leppard for making 1000’s of Denver-ites either relive the 80’s, or wish they grew up in the era of 80’s metal. They lapped it up, especially the young dude next to me. But me, I just wanted to rock out a little more.