2012.09.17 tacobonds / 百蚊 (hyacca) / MIR @ Studio Zot (live review by Geoff Spence)
Geoff had a great time at Ero Fes but apparently this event blew it out of the water and was one of the best shows he's seen in his life: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Steve,
Here is my review of the Hyacca/Tacobonds/MIR show. My apologies for the delay......jet lag has been kicking my ass all week.
The day after EroFes, Tacobonds had organized a gig with Hyacca and themselves each playing hour long sets, and with guests MIR playing a 30 minute set in between. This event took place at 3pm (ugh....another early start!) at Studio Zot, which is located in a residential area. Studio Zot is not really a live house......it's a recording studio/rehearsal space. It does hold live events occasionally though. Admission was only ¥1000 ($12), however, you had to know someone affiliated with the event to get on the guest list. Thankfully, Ian got me added before the show sold out.
That day my head was still a little foggy from the previous two days worth of festivities. On my way to the venue I decided to clear the fog with some 8% Chu-hi Strong. The first can partially lifted the fog. A second can lifted the rest.
When I arrived at the venue the first thing I thought was "I have seen bathrooms bigger than this". The second thing I thought was "how f-ing cool"! It was as if the bands had set up in someones small apartment living room. It doesn't get much more intimate than this. I think the room can probably hold about 20 people comfortably......but I would say there were nearly 40 people crammed in there. People were flowing out the door and into the lobby. The next thing I noticed was that it was rather warm.......you could practically sense the fear in the air emanating from the band members at the prospect of having to play for an hour in such heat. This really was an amazing venue to see these bands. The only unfortunate part was that each band experienced technical glitches to varying degrees.......but those glitches were not always such a bad thing.
The first band up was Hyacca. Their very first song was "Angel Fish" from the album Sashitai (an incredible and amazing album). This was a great song to start the set with. When Steven first introduced me to Hyacca, via his blog, I liked the band immediately. However, I didn't care much for this particular song until I actually heard them play it live at the Rivoli during one of the Next Music From Tokyo gigs. I never seemed to be able to get past the first minute or two of the song before I would skip to the second track, "RIOT", which is such a great track. "Angel Fish" is a song that takes around 4 minutes to build until it starts to kick into high gear. I never got far enough along into the song to appreciate that before. lol. It is now one of my favourite Hyacca songs. Hyacca played through their entire catalogue (I think) including one new song. I managed to get the setlist.
They played for over an hour, a total of 16 songs (ヤスクニ was omitted). I think somewhere around the 8th or 9th song the band started to sheepishly complain that it was too hot.......this prompted some shouts of "ganbare" from the audience. It was an amazing set and I am extremely glad that I got to see one of my favourite bands play for over an hour (Hyacca's regular sets are only 5 or 6 songs long).
MIR were up next. I went outside after Hyacca's set to get some fresh air and some more beer. I went to the supermarket to stock up and got stuck behind some old lady arguing with the cashier about some coupon. I ended up missing the beginning of Mir's 30 minute set. Mir were doing an electronic set as a two piece. Unfortunately for them, they were probably the worst hit by the technical difficulties. Their mics kept cutting out and at times they would just abandon the mics completely and start shouting out lyrics. This technique actually kinda worked well because the room was so small. I think it added something to the performance. Mir ended with the song "Dance". Members of Hyacca joined Mir and performed the "Dance" dance (I have no idea if this 'dance' actually has a name......and if it does, I doubt that it is "dance") . You can watch a clip of the "Dance" dance here from a different show:
This song is relatively simply.....but it's pretty catchy. The performance at Zot also ended in a mass congo line just like in the video above. Everyone in the room joined in except for one dude who stood in the middle with his arms folded and refused to join in. It was pretty funny.
Speaking of MIR's song "Dance"........it will appear on Call and Response Records fantastic looking new compilation CD “Dancing After 1AM”. It also features the new Hyacca song, a new recording from Tacobonds, and new tracks from other great bands such as Jebiotto, Otori, New House, The Mornings and many more. I can’t wait to give this a listen. More info can be found at the Call And Response Records website here: http://car-records.blogspot.ca/
Maitake from Zibanchinka was also in attendance and Ian introduced us. I told her I was a Zibanchinka fan from Canada.......Ian interjected, "he is the only Zibanchinka fan in Canada" lol. I tried to find out if another Zibanchinka album is in the works.........doesn't look like it's gonna happen anytime soon. Two of the members now reside in Tokyo and the other two are in Kagoshima. Singer Iguz has another band called Futtachi that has just started up. Hopefully, they can find some time to get together and lay down some tracks for a new album. The fans in Canada demand it!......uh......I mean............I demand it! lol.
Tacobonds were the last band to go on and by this time the venue was pretty damn hot. Tacobonds put on an entertaining and energetic performance. The picture of Tacobonds drummer was taken after their set. He was DONE!
This concert was legendary. What a blast!
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Man! I am so jealous. At least I'll get to see Hyacca tomorrow in Nagoya. They're playing in Hiroshima tonight with Macmanaman but that's a bit too far to go by train. Thanks so much for the fantastically detailed review with photos no less! I felt like I was there watching it myself even though I was stuck in Toronto at the time. A regular 5-6 song set by hyacca is exhausting enough. I don't think I could handle an hour of frenetic moshing induced by hyacca's music.