December 2015, and back in Japan for a busy weekend: Private Scandal Party Vol.2 and Chaos U.K. in Tokyo.
After Private Scandal Party Vol. 1 went down well, I decided I wanted to book a
gig. My friend Hiro (CRUCIAL SECTION) recently opened a venue called Pit Bar in
Nishiogikubo. Hiro had previously been involved with a venue called Zone-B in
Waseda which was owned/run by the fella who had run the venue Watts in
Nishiogikubo.
My older friends always told me about gigs at Watts as it was the go-to venue
for punk rock gigs in Tokyo in the late 90s and early 00s. So, the idea of a reasonably
priced new punk venue opening in the same neighbourhood was appealing to me,
and not only that, but Pit Bar also didn’t charge a ‘drink charge’ on entry, unlike
most Japanese venues (a compulsory charge, usually around 700yen on top of the
ticket price). Pit Bar was the only venue where I wanted to book gigs.
The old Kyushu punk band NO CUT was active again, having just released an album on Kings World Records the previous summer so I asked if they would like to play.
They were very gracious in accepting the offer, but not only that, they offered
to play for free! Good lads!
The other bands I had asked to play were RECONSIDERATION, the C&C, and C, a
new Crass-style band featuring Azusa from Stagnation and Passy from CONFUSE.
Originally C couldn’t play due to vocalist, Azusa having to work but he managed
to leave early and about 2 weeks before the gig the final lineup was announced:
NO CUT, the C&C, C, and RECONSIDERATION.
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| Private Scandal Party Vol.2 |
The DJs at the gig were myself and Loods (ex.THE SWANKYS). My friend Rato from London was due to be in town as he was over with his friends following Chaos U.K. on their tour. Rato had previously DJ’d as DJ No Future so he was on the bill!
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| DJ Loods (ex.THE SWANKYS) |
The morning of the gig I got a text from Rato, he’s stuck in Osaka and can’t make it, and will explain when I see him at the Chaos U.K. gig on Saturday…that was the first thing to go wrong but we carried on and the soundcheck went ahead as planned and everybody turned up on time.
At 7 PM the doors opened and about 5 people were waiting to get in, the reason for this? It’s Friday, and most people working couldn’t get to the gig in time for the opening, that was the 2nd thing that went wrong. This meant that for RECONSIDERATION’s set, there were not many punters, a shame as they were fantastic. Their Noise Addicts 7” on Pogo 77 is a brilliant noisecore record to be filed with your SWANKYS and Chaos C.H 7”s.
The 3rd thing to go wrong was something I couldn’t prevent…Pit Bar’s location. Immediately next door to the venue is a small Chinese restaurant. After the soundcheck, C went to the restaurant next door, where they served cheap drinks and decent food. RECONSIDERATION finished their set and there were 15 minutes before C was due to go on and the members were nowhere to be found.
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| RECONSIDERATION. This photo was used on their 'Fuck Your Life' CD. |
They had been in the restaurant next door drinking since soundcheck and had to be pretty much dragged out, they were late to get on stage and were so drunk they could barely play. It was good fun though, and Passy, their bassist, just pogoed while occasionally strumming a note in true Sid Vicious style. At one point, the snare drum fell over and Shun, the drummer, was so drunk that he didn’t notice. It was a chaotic set, but people seemed to enjoy it, it ended with No.6, the vocalist of CHAOSCHANNEL joining the band and freestyling lyrics until they laughed and walked off… punk rock!
the C&C had the tough job of following C’s set, but I remember their set being great, check out the video at the bottom of this post.
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| the C&C. |
The headliners for the evening were Kyushu legends, NO CUT! Thankfully by the time their set started, a few more punters had managed to get to the venue after work, so it was looking quite busy, and they played a great set that had the crowd pogoing. It was nice to see an old band playing in such a small venue and they even said how much they enjoyed it and how it reminded them of their early gigs.
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| NO CUT. |
Overall, I’d say the gig was a success, by the end of the night we’d made enough to pay the venue and give all the bands some cash, but I would’ve liked to have paid them more.
It was a learning experience, and I took a few lessons away from it: Don’t charge 90’s ticket prices. Don’t book gigs on a Friday night when people are working late. Don’t book DJs that won’t turn up. Most importantly, don’t let the bands get too drunk before the gig. I was certain that the next Private Scandal Party would be better.
The next day I went to the Chaos U.K. gig and met up with Rato, where he explained his absence. His mate had lost his passport when they were pissed, and they spent the day calling round the places in Osaka they had been trying to find it.
After the Chaos U.K. gig at the after-party, I walked in to see Ishiya and Akiyama from Death Side grappling each other on the floor and the bar staff having to walk over them, and I had a chat with Jake Bugg’s drummer. It was an interesting couple of days.
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| Kishimoto (Control), Myself, and Sakamoto (Tacos U.K.) at the Chaos U.K. gig at Shibuya Egg Man. |
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