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| The RockNRoll Hi-Fives |
Live & Sake
On Saturday night in Kyoto, The RockNRoll Hi-Fives -- America's finest family rock and roll band -- began their string of shows in Japan. The band were kind enough to invite me along to help document their adventure; and, after two days of starting to get acclimated to a new time zone and a new culture, we were all ready to begin the musical part of the tour. Custard Core, a Japanese indie label and music promoter, organized the entire tour; and they put together a show on Saturday that was an explosive kick-off.
Custard Core's Maki Morita has been a wonderful host and guide during our stay, and we met her at the train station for our trip to Kyoto. The venue, Nega-Posi, is a beautiful space on a quiet street in Kyoto. Their slogan is "Live & Sake," and the bar is adorned with a wide selection of sakes and beers artfully arranged among paper lanterns and other items. The RockNRoll Hi-Fives did their sound check, and then we all headed out for a pre-show coffee.
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| Maki of Custard Core |
Shows seem to start quite a bit earlier here than they do back home with the first band hitting at around seven and things being wrapped up just after 10. It's pretty nice, I gotta say. On Saturday, the first band was キーマカリーズとチチワシネマ, which translates to Keema Curries to Chichiwa Cinema (Maybe? That's what I was told.). The bass player came out in a kewpie doll mask, and the lead singer wore an umbrella hat. Then they proceeded to blow the room away with a short set of amped-up punk.
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| キーマカリーズとチチワシネマ |
Fight Club followed them with some loud and fast hardcore-with-a-sense-of-humor. The lead singer and guitarist hoisted one of the cinder blocks from which the stage was built over his head, ripped his shirt off, and gave the sweat-soaked garment to Joe of The RockNRoll Hi-Fives. It was great.
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| Fight Club |
Things took a more melodic turn during N-16's set. Their sound was somewhere between garage rock and poppier punk. The bass player's husband was filling in on guitar, so the couple had no sitter for the evening. That meant that the whole family was in attendance; and, a couple of times, young children made their way onto the stage. Made perfect sense for a night headlined by a family band.
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| N-16 |
The RockNRoll Hi-Fives closed things out with a set that was split between new songs and songs from the back catalog with a couple of covers thrown into the mix. Custard Core, in conjunction with Little Dickman Records, have released a Japan-only RockNRoll Hi-Fives compilation; and the label did a great job getting the word out. There were people in the crowd wildly singing along with songs like "(You Got Me) Tongue Tied" and "El Sueño."
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| The RockNRoll Hi-Fives |
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| The RockNRoll Hi-Fives |
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| The RockNRoll Hi-Fives |
There are no confetti cannons on this trip, but that didn't dampen the party. Eilee was in hair-tossing overdrive. Joe pogo-solo'd. Gloree egged the crowd on during "We Got the Beat" between bass parts. Evren went at the drums as hard as I've seen him go. I think the first-show adrenaline rush combined with the energy of the other bands on the bill motivated The RockNRoll Hi-Fives to go all out.
As for me, I did my best to get some shots that captured the energy and good vibes of the evening. I loved catching -- and really enjoying -- three bands to whom I was coming absolutely "cold," having never heard a single thing from any of them before last night.
We said our goodbyes and made our way back to Osaka (with Maki's help), grabbed some yakitori on the way back to our apartment, and tried to get some rest for doing it all again today. Then we did it all again today, but that's a story for another time.
Stay tuned.
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