Hi, welcome to the latest issue of Private Scandal, it’s been a while since the last issue – almost 3 years I think but I’ve been pretty busy since then. I published another magazine, it was a one-off magazine called ‘From Us To Comic’ dedicated to Takashi Uchiyama aka Comic from Last Child, Space Invaders and Cut who sadly passed away in January 2018. I was really overwhelmed by the reaction to this magazine. I printed just over 250 copies and it included a Cut live CD, 2 stickers, 2 badges and a postcard, they sold out in just a few days, some shops in Japan even sold all of their copies within a matter of hours which I couldn’t believe. It was also great to work together with my friends and fellow Cut fans Akira of Kings World Records, Shingo of People and Minami of LARVA/Poikkeus.
I have also started a label called Private Scandal Productions, the first release was the aforementioned Cut live CD that was included as a freebie in From Us To Comic magazine. I have since released 10 CDs by bands such as the C&C, Used Damaged Asshole (ex.The MARGAReTS), Sore Throat, Torcha Shed and The Mr to name a few. My aim for this label is to make some Japanese punk more readily available in the UK and releasing some other bands I like for a reasonable price, I’m currently working on a split discography CD for the Chiba punk bands Visible Fucker and Stinkers and talking with some other bands about some new releases so watch this space! Anyway! On to this issue of Private Scandal, while writing From Us To Comic I was listening to Comic’s bands a lot and although most of his bands releases were released by Kings World Records one of my favourite releases: Space Invaders – The Album was released by Anarchy Centre Recordings. I thought it would be a good idea given the lack of information about the label to compile a list of all Anarchy Centre Recordings releases, review each release and where possible shed some light on the label.
I have attempted to include some information on the bands themselves, I scoured through my back issues of DOLL magazine for any information. I also conducted interviews with Loods of The Speakers, Toriya from Escalaters and Johnny T from Warp, to my knowledge this is the first time these bands have been had interviews that have been published in English, I hope you enjoy them.
Finally, I would just like to give a huge thanks to Loods, Toriya, Johnny T, Packman, Mako, mitsushits, Taichirou and Akira for sharing their knowledge, photographs, flyers and anecdotes.
gimmick rotten idol 2021
gimmickrottenidol@gmail.com privatescandal.bigcartel.com
When you think of Kyushu punk you immediately think of The Swankys, Gai, Confuse and the label that released records for these bands – Kings World Records. Due to the sheer volume of releases on the label the name Kings World Records is synonymous with Kyushu punk, of course there were other record labels who played a part big part in the Kyushu punk scene, namely Blue Jug, KPP, SS Company, Strawberry Records and Violent Party but there was one label who rivalled Kings World Records in the quality of their releases – Anarchy Centre Recordings.
The story of Anarchy Centre Recordings (ACR) is one that is hard to trace the origins of, the hearsay and rumours regarding who is involved with the label run rife with some people even claiming that it was a former member of The Swankys or Confuse who owned the label which just doesn’t seem plausible to me. There are some rumours that it’s merely a Kings World Records sublabel, but the theory that is thrown around the most is that it was a Fukuoka record shop worker who started the label.
What we do know is that Anarchy Centre released its first CD in 1992 and its final release in 1998, a total of 20 releases. In order to finally get to the bottom of the mystery I reached out to the bands who released CDs through the label and Kings World Records, the evidence that I gathered is presented here for you in order to answer the question – Who is behind Anarchy Centre Recordings?
First of all, what is the ‘Anarchy Centre’? Well, you could speculate that the name Anarchy Centre was a nod to the original Anarchist Centre or to give it it’s proper name the Wapping Autonomy Centre in London, which was a short lived but influential anarchist social centre that was funded by the profits of the Crass & Poison Girls split 7” single and a series of benefit gigs organised by Crass et al. Given that the ACR compilation CD ‘And As Chelsea Girls Like A Barbarian’ features a photo of two punk girls photoshopped outside Centre Iberico a continuation of the original Anarchist Centre I believe this is the case I asked Swankys vocalist and former Space Invader Mr.Watch if he could elaborate a little further on the name but being his usual aloof self he declined to comment. On an advert for the classic that is Space Invaders –The Album) the label name is spelled ‘Anarchy Center’ which is considered to be the American spelling, the name was changed to the British spelling of ‘Centre’, you could argue that this irrelevant but if you consider the name was a tribute to the original Anarchist Centre in London you could see why they would want to change the name to the British spelling.
AnarchyCentrecatalogfrom1993included inthefirst3releases
Just what are the origins of Anarchy Centre Recordings then? When myself and Mr Tony Gunnarsson of More Noize magazine interviewed Comic of Last Child, Space Invaders and Cut fame back in 2013 he revealed that Space Invaders –The Album was originally intended to be the sole Anarchy Centre release funded by Watch and Comic. But given that the album sold well the ‘owner’ clocked on that he could make a few bucks and was motivated to release more, when you take this into account the theory that the person behind the label was a former member of The Swankys doesn’t sound too farfetched now does it? But the idea that Watch continued the label and released a further 20 releases doesn’t seem likely.
The information on Discogs added by someone who clearly hasn’t done their research that Anarchy Centre was “organizedbyformermembersofConfuse(probablyPassy)” is even more improbable as Passy had already relocated to Tokyo by the time the first Anarchy Centre releases came out and the address given in the mailorder flyer included in the first 3 releases gives an address in Fukuoka, Kyushu. The second theory that gets thrown around a lot is that Anarchy Centre Recordings was merely an off-shoot of Kings World Records. I’m rather dubious about this idea as I can’t help but ask myself just why would an already established label start a sub label for bands they already have a working relationship with?
You may be aware that Kings World Records did in fact have a sub labelFilth Collection which was set up to release Slicks releases as documented in a previous issue of Private Scandal and fellow Kyushu punk record label SS Company eventually became a subsidiary of Kings World. However with both of these sub-labels the involvement of Kings World is clear, Kings World owner Kenji Kawahara was not one to shy away from a bit of promotion, there is always a credit to Kings World in some way, shape or form on those releases, whether it be as producer, distributor or in some other capacity. Not one Anarchy Centre release even mentions Kings World Records anywhere, - well apart from Rodeo telling KWR to fuck off! So again, this theory just did not add up.
Another point that further refutes the claims that Anarchy Centre Recordings is a Kings World Records sublabel is that Kings World Records had a house style for the layout of their CDs; you could tell it was a KWR release.
One thing typical of Kings World CD releases is that the majority are very basic in terms of layout, more often than not the inner sleeve of the front cover was blank, this may seem trivial but Anarchy Centre releases seem almost luxurious by comparison.
If you compare the CD reissues of Gai’s Damaging Noise on Kings World and Confuse’s Indignation on Anarchy Centre, both are reissues of sought after cassette tapes on the Violent Party label and were released around the same time. The layout of the Gai CD is very basic, again the inner sleeve is blank and layout is very typical of the Kings World house style. The Confuse CD on the other hand features archive photos and a revamped layout credited to “Drug Squad Productions” who did the layout for most Anarchy Centre releases it seems like a real labour of love. One could argue that Drug Squad Productions simply did the layout for the releases and that they were funded, produced and distributed by Kings World, but I can’t help but go back to the question of why? Why not just release them on Kings World? I don’t buy the idea that Kings World has much if any involvement with Anarchy Centre Recordings, I even went straight to Akira Tozaki of Kings World Records who claimed he didn’t know much about Anarchy Centre.
AnarchyCentrelogotakenfromthenow defunctwebsite
The third and most plausible theory about who is behind Anarchy Centre is that it is simply a record shop worker from Fukuoka who started the label; there are 2 names that are mentioned on almost every Anarchy Centre release; Sugar Ray and Fujiyama. This is the most likely explanation as mentioned earlier the early releases give a Fukuoka address as the contact for the label, unfortunately the telephone number listed is now registered to a women’s fashion shop so I was unable to call up and get the answers straight from the horse’s mouth. There was an official Anarchy Centre website that was up and running at one point, which I was able to access via the internet archive, however the information provided is minimal – just an incomplete list of releases and an email address, which unsurprisingly bounced back as it is no longer valid.
AnarchyCentremailorderinformationcirca1993
The next logical step in answering the question was to contact the bands themselves, I started by contacting Loods of The Swankys & The Speakers to ask a few key questions. Who was behind Anarchy Centre Recordings? Was it really just a KWR sublabel? And could he tell me anything else about the label? Being the gentleman that he is he promptly responded “Mr.Fujiyamais theownerof AnarchyCentre Records,heattendeddesign schoolwith KenjiKawaharaofKingsWorldRecordsandlaterbecomeanemployeeof UKEdisonrecordshopinFukuoka”he elaborated further on the theory that it was merely an offshoot of KWR “AnarchyCentreisnotjustanothername forKingsWorld,IrememberthatatthetimeAnarchyCentrehadnorelation toKingsWorld”– great! Finally we’re getting somewhere. I inquired further about the enigmatic Sugar Ray, it’s not unusual for members of punk bands to use stage names, could it be that Sugar Ray is simply a pseudonym used by Fujiyama, unfortunately Loods couldn’t remember as by that time he was living in Tokyo and didn’t know the in-and-outs of what was happening in Fukuoka.
I continued my investigation work by contacting Packman of Space Invaders, mainly to ask “who the fuck is Sugar Ray?!” He recalled that Sugar Ray was someone who helped with Anarchy Centre, but couldn’t remember exactly who. He did corroborate Loods’ statement by confirming that a UK Edison shop worker was the brains behind the operation, the elusive Mr.Fujiyama.
So that begs the question, what happened to Mr.Fujiyama? I continued to ask Packman and he confirmed that Fujiyama stopped the label after a disagreement with Kenji of Kings World Records, he didn’t elaborate any further but a friend who prefers to remain unnamed speculates that Fujiyama started the label to help the punk scene, whereas KWR was merely out for the money and that Fujiyama got sick of the silly arguments that were happening, although this is merely hearsay, it’s not known whether this is true. Unfortunately nobody I contacted was able to confirm Fujiyama’s current whereabouts or whether he still plays a role within the punk scene. One thing that is certain is that Fujiyama and Sugar Ray left a legacy of amazing releases in the label’s short lifetime, the Anarchy Centre website was last live in early 2002, 4 years after the final release on this legendary label. One can only begin to speculate what other releases were on the cards that never saw the light of day – an official reissue of the original 10 track version of Confuse’s Indignation tape? Some Confuse live recordings? More Swankys reissues? I can only dream that one day the Anarchy Centre archives are uncovered.
After Kyushu’s punk rock heroes The Swankys went their separate ways with Watch and Radio forming Space Invaders, guitarist Loods and drummer Beer formed the Kyushu punk all-star band The Mercurys with Fanny, Kazuyuki and Passy from Lydia Cats, the band was short-lived and Loods and Fanny then formed The Speakers, in this exclusive interview Loods tells us all about both bands.
Hi Loods, thank you for this rare interview!!
How are you today? I want to ask about your postSwankys bands, everybody loves The Swankys, but I want to know about The Mercurys & The Speakers
Hi!It'sOK!
ArareliveperformancebyTheMercurys
After The Swankys broke up you and Beer formed Kyushu Punk All Star band
The Mercurys with Fanny, Passy & Kazuyuki from Lydia Cats.
How and when did The Mercurys start? And when did you break up? Was The Mercurys a serious attempt at a new band or just for fun?
BeerandIthoughtaboutforminganewband,andweformedMercuryswith LydiaCatswhowerealsofrustratedatthattime.Absolutely,yes.Wewere serious.
The Mercurys released one 7” single on Kings World Records, the record came in a giant cardboard box! Who came up with this packaging idea?
Itwasmyidea.Igotangry becauseofthecost.
The one live recording of The Mercurys from 1989 I’ve heard contains 6 songs, all of these songs are great! Did you record more Mercurys songs in the studio?
Weonlyrecordedthetwo songsingle
TheSpeakersoriginallineup
After The Mercurys broke up, you and Fanny (aka FM) then started The Speakers with Tossa and Who Fat Boy, how did you meet Tossa and Who Fat Boy? Did they have any bands before The Speakers? TossaandWhohadknowneachotherbefore.Thetwoofthemformeda bandcalledBastlyBacks.
TheSpeakersflyer fromthe collectionofmitsuruk
The Speakers first CD release was a live CD from Kings World Records recorded in Tokyo in 1989, can you say something about this release? The sound is a little bad, but I think it’s a great release! How did the audience react to this new sound? The vocal effects on ‘Complex Baby’ are crazy and cool!
KWRliveCD??Irememberthatthere wasavideoreleasedatthattime,but Imightbewrong?DeliciousScratch Transformerwasactuallythefirst Speakersrelease.TheSpeakerswas formedin1990,andthedateof1989 ontheTokyoliveCDisincorrect.ThatCD’saudiosourcewasfromJanuary 1991atShinjukuAntiknock.Atthattime,therewerenobandsinJapanthat hadadigitalsound,soitwasseenassomethingunusual.
TheSpeakers2ndalbumlineup Loods,Tossa,Fannyfromthe collectionofKingsWorldRecords
Your first album was ‘Delicious Scratch Transformer’ from Kings World Records, what can you say about this album? I heard that the lyric insert is a little rare, is this true?
Wewantedtodomore,butwith thefinancialproblemsandthe engineer'srefusaltounderstand thesoundweweregoingfor,we couldonlyachieveabout50%of whatwewantedtodo.Lyric sheet?!Sorry,I'mnotsure.
On some other flyers I saw you played many shows with Switch, but also The Sex Magazine and Stinkers, can you say something about these bands? I think they were Tokyo bands, but was their style Kyushu punk style!? IperformedwithSwitchonlyonce,in 1998.Idon'trememberanythingabout Stinkers&SexMagazine.
I saw that Slicks & Snivel Monster from Hakata played a show in Tokyo with Speakers & Stinkers in 1994, how did the audience in Tokyo react to these Hakata bands?
Idon'tknowbecauseIleftin1994.
The Speakers style also changed style with more New Wave influences like Sigue Sigue Sputnik and The Plastics! What did people think about this new style?
Iwantedtoplaydigitalpunk,andIprioritizedtherhythmmachine. Also, Ihadan interestinon-stageexpressions,such asusingoverdubbingtechniques. Japanesepeopleareconservative,assuch therewasonlyonereaction,whichwas, “why?”.
In 1995 you released your 2nd album ‘Excrete To The Guppies’ from Anarchy Centre Recordings, on this album you feature a female vocalist, who was she? Did you recruit a female vocalist to sound more like The Plastics?
Ileftbeforetherecordingofthe2nd album. ThatwomanwasbroughtalongbyFanny. SorryIdon'tknowherverymuch.
This album was originally advertised to be released in 1993, but wasn’t released until 1995, why was there a delay?
Probably,,,IthinkeverythingwasdelayedbecauseIjustdisappearedandleftbeforethe recording.
Can you say something about Anarchy Centre Recordings owner Mr.Fujiyama?
IhadagoodrelationshipwithFujiyama,but wehavenocontactwithoneanothernow.
Flyerfromthe
I saw an advertisement for this album in DOLL Magazine which says the album was recorded in Tokyo and mixed in London & Paris, is this true? Who mixed the album in London? Did The Speakers have any fans in London at that time?
IhadsuchaplanbeforeIleft,butI don'tknowwhathappenedafterI left.
After the release of your 2nd album you released some songs on omnibus CDs from Kings World Records and Anarchy Center Recordings, but after that….nothing! What happened to The Speakers? Did you have more plans? When was your final live show? When did Speakers disband?
ThelasttimeIplayedwiththem wasinSeptember1993atShinjuku Antiknock.Thebandreformed oncein1996atShimokitazawa BasementBar.
Tossa,Fanny&LoodsfromthecollectionofKings WorldRecords
What is your favorite memory about The Speakers? Do you have any interesting or funny stories to share?
OurgiginSeptember 1990atHakataDrum wasfun!Onthatday,it wasLastChild’sfinal gig.Spaceinvadersand Speakersweretheopeningacts.Theaudience wassoexcited,people wentnutsduringourset! Ihadablast!!
Well, this is the last question, I am sorry to ask so many questions about the old days … Thanks once again!
Thankyoutoo!Iapologizefornotbeingableto respondtothingsthat happenedalongtime agothatIcan'trememberandthosethatoccurredafterIleft.
Escalaters were a short lived Kyushu punk band who are probably most famous for featuring Cut guitarist Toriya. During their short existence they released one CD which was one of Anarchy Centre Recordings earliest releases, the now sought after Pop Is Nothing CD. There isn’t a lot of information available currently about the band so Toriya kindly agreed to this interview.
Hi Toriya, how are you doing?
Yeah,nottoobad.
As you know I am writing about Anarchy Centre Recordings for my magazine right now, one of the earliest releases on the label was your old band Escalaters CD, could you please tell me more about Escalaters? When did you start playing?
1990Ithink…
Who were the members of Escalaters? And how old were you at that time?
VocalistwasMasami Guitaristwasme(Toriya) BassistwasYamasaki DrummerwasWho
Wewereabout19yearsold. Was it your first band?
Yeahitwas…
What bands inspired your sound? It has a very traditional 70’s punk rock sound, but it reminds me a little of Last Child too.
WewereinspiredbypunkbandsfromSaga,Fukuoka&England.*
*SagaandFukuokaaretownsinKyushu,hometobandssuchasCrackThe Marian,SpunkyBoys,TheSwankysandLastChild.
What other bands did you play gigs with then?
WeplayedwithbandslikeCockSuck6,Slicks,CrackTheMarian,The Waiatsetc…
You released one CD called Pop Is Nothing on Anarchy Centre Recordings, how did this come about? How many copies were pressed?
Wewereplayinglivea lotandgoingthrough themotions,butwe wantedtoreleasearecord.
Comichadworkedwith AnarchyCentreRecordingssotherelease cameaboutthroughhis connections.
Ithinktheypressedbetween500and1000 copies,AnarchyCentre didagoodjobofthe release!
When did Escalaters break up?
Iguesswejust stoppedwhenI joinedCut.
What did the other members do after that?
Masamithevocaliststartedaband calledBatch.
Thanks for your time!
Mymemoryisso bad
Hi Johnny T, how are you today? I’mfine!
Another one of Anarchy Centre’s earliest releases was Warp – Choice Kick Choice CD. Warp were a short lived band featuring former members of Last Child, guitarist Johnny T was kind enough to agree to this interview which as far as I’m aware it is the first time he has been interviewed about Warp.
Can you please tell me the history of Warp? I understand you were originally called Cock Suck 6 and featured former members of Jet Boys and Last Child. When did Cock Suck 6 form?
AfterLastChildbrokeupIwantedtostartanewband,soIstartedCock Suck6withsomeothermembersofLastChild.
Who were the members of Cock Suck 6?
GaowhowasthedrummerfromthelatereraofLastChild,formerJetBoys* vocalistAge,andYachiandIfromLastChild.
Age– Vocals
JohnnyT– Guitar
Yachi– Bass
Gao– Drums
*JetBoysfromHakatawerea shortlivedbandwhoreleased onedemotapetitledNewCondition.Theyareunrelatedto thegaragepunkbandfromTokyoofthesamename.
I have one Cock Suck 6 live recording, the quality isn’t great but the music is 70’s punk rock style, you even cover Dead Boys, did record anything in the studio?
Unfortunatelynot,Iwantto hearthisliverecordingthough.
At some point you changed the band name from Cock Suck 6 to Warp, were the members of Cock Suck 6 and Warp the same?
Yeah,thesamemembersbutwith theadditionofaCQsequencerand aS950sampler.
Why did you change your name to Warp?
WhenweaddedtheCQandS950 wefinallybecame6members,butI feltthestylereallychangedwhen weaddedtheseelectronicelements,Ifeltwetransformedand thenamedidn’treallysuitourstyle anymore.
Warp released one CD from Anarchy Centre Recordings and it is amazing! Did you have other releases?
No,nothingelse.
I thought Warp’s style was amazing, it was the perfect mix of Punk Rock and New Wave, how would you describe Warp’s style?
CockSuck6flyerfeaturingHarry (ex.NoCut/Derange)
Thankyou,IguesswhatWarpideologywas“devolutioninevolution”, there’saveryfinelinebetweenthosethings.Peoplethinkwearejustheadingtowardsthefuturebutweeventuallybecomecontrolledandendupgoing backwards,itwasthatcontradictionthatwewantedtoexpress.Iguesseverybodynoticesthesethingswhentheygetolder.
Were you influenced by Tokyo New Wave legends Plastics at all? I think the sound is quite similar I’dsayweweremoreinfluencedbyNEU!andDevothanPlastics.
Did Warp play many gigs? If so, which bands did you play with?
Weonlyplayed3gigsasWarp,weplayedwithEscalaters.Weplayedalot moregigsasCockSuck6though.
When did Warp break up?
Ourlastgigwasonthe11th ofNovember,1992atBe-1.Webecametiredof workingwiththeelectronics,wefeltabitlikewewerebeingcontrolledby them,IthinkourdrummerGaofeltthisespecially.Theoldequipmentwe usedwasjustdifficulttoworkwith.
Thank you so much for this interview, would you like to add anything else?
Gaosadlypassedawayattheageof27,IlaterjoinedMouseandourbassistAritaalsopassedaway,andnowComic…fromnowonIwilllivemylife beingmoreconsciousofdeaththanevenbefore,butIwilltrytofindthe truemeaningofindependenceinlife.
SPACE INVADERS – THE ALBUM –
CHAOTIC:CD-001 / CHAOTIC:CD-001R 1992
The debut release of Anarchy Centre was, at the time intended to be the last album of Kyushu’s premier hardcore rap trio Space Invaders. Space Invaders originally started as a new wave sounding 4 piece featuring former Swankys members Watch and Radio. Their sound quickly evolved from the Sex Pistols meets Devo techno punk of the initial releases to the hardcore dirty punk rap that you can hear on this album, this is due to the changes in line-up and Packman introducing the use of sampling. The easiest thing to compare this album to would be a Paul’s Boutique era Beastie Boys but with 3 foulmouthed punk rockers shouting obscenities at the top of their voices, it has to be heard to be believed. There are several Space Invaders releases that are readily available but this is their magnum opus. It was later reissued with updated artwork and a bonus track in 1998 by Anarchy Centre as CHAOTIC:CD-001R then once again with more bonus tracks by Kings World Records in 2006 so it shouldn’t be too hard to track down, the initial pressing comes with a hype sticker claiming that it is limited to 10,000 copies which is of course utter bollocks.
The story of Warp starts with seminal Kyushu punk band Last Child. After the demise of Last Child guitarist Comic joined Space Invaders, vocalist Anti dropped off the face of the planet and the remaining members Johnny T, Yachi and Gao started a new band with former Jet Boys (not to be confused with the Tokyo band) vocalist Age. Originally called Cock Suck 6 their sound picked up where Last Child left off, snotty ’77 punk rock, they even covered classic Dead Boys number ‘Sonic Reducer’ at gigs. Cock Suck 6 was a short lived band as their sound evolved and they began incorporating more new wave influences to create their own “techno punk” sound, the band was renamed Warp and although it was another short lived project they left us with this CD. The sound is still firmly rooted in the classic 77 punk rock sound of the members previous bands but with a clear influence from Devo and Tokyo new wave group Plastics, this is one of my favourite Anarchy Centre releases that I play regularly.
ESCALATERS
Another short lived band here, this time it’s Escalaters who are probably most noteworthy for featuring Toriya from Cut, Mouse, Michael Jackson Friends etc on guitar. This 5 track mini album could’ve quite easily been released on Kings World Records as their so-called ‘sensational’ punk rock sound brings to mind bands like Spunky Boys and Last Child, although their sound is firmly rooted in the classic ’77 snotty punk rock sound it has an almost arrogant rock ‘n’ roll swagger to it which I love! Despite being a short lived group their influence on the Kyushu punk scene carried on well into the 00’s as La’Alts even ripped of their logo! Toriya continues to play in Cut to this day, their vocalist started another band in the mid 2000’s called Batch who released a few tracks on the Punk Pollution compilation CD including one incredible track called ‘Baby Shitter’ which is a staple of my DJ sets. Fans of Last Child and The Swankys take note, this is one to keep on your radar, word on the street is that Escalaters opened for The Ramones when they played Fukuoka back in the mid 90’s.
SPACE INVADERS – VIDEO –
CHAOTIC:VT-004 1993
This is the first of Anarchy Centre’s releases that never saw the light of day. The reason why this VHS tape was never released by Anarchy Centre is unclear, thankfully Kings World Records picked it up and released it a year later this time titled ‘Future Eroticism’ - better late than never I guess. The video itself features a series of promo videos shot and directed by the band themselves, the best of which is probably of Comic and Watch in Watch’s house badly lip-syncing to one of their slower numbers, oh, and Comic’s ‘Cheers’ shirt!
THE ROBOTS – ELECTRIC DUMMY – CHAOTIC:CD-005 199?
A little while ago the mastermind behind The Robots – Packman shared some items from his archives including several cassettes tapes, artwork and a few unreleased items, one of which was a CD on Anarchy Centre Recordings! I couldn’t believe it, this is the stuff that keeps me up at night! I couldn’t help but notice that the 5th release from the label was missing from the early mailorder leaflets, I’d speculated about what it could’ve been and finally Packman answered one of my burning Anarchy Centre questions. It goes without saying that I contacted Packman immediately to ask if it even went into production and he confirmed that sadly it did not, he created the artwork and even sent Anarchy Centre a master tape of the songs but for unknown reasons it was never released. Perhaps one day when the Anarchy Centre archives become available this album will finally be released.
TheRobotsfromthecollection ofPackman
ANARCHY CENTRE RECORDINGS – T-SHIRT –
CHAOTIC:TS-006 1993
The 6th release if you can call it that, is oddly enough an official Anarchy Centre Recordings t-shirt, I can only think that the reason this is listed in the discography as an official release is that they knew it would become a collector’s item. The shirt itself was issued in one size only (Large) and is a white tshirt with a black screen-printed ACR logo on the front, it came sealed in a clear plastic bag with a blue ACR sticker.
SPEAKERS – EXCRETE TO THE GUPPIES –
CHAOTIC:CD-007 1995
Originally scheduled for release in September 1993 this album didn’t see the light of day until 1995. For those who may not be aware The Speakers formed after the break-up of two seminal Kyushu punk bands; The Swankys and Lydia Cats playing classic ‘77 punk rock that is very typical of the Kings World Records sound which you can hear on their debut album released in 1990. Shortly after the release of their debut album the band took the decision to become Japan’s answer to Sigue Sigue Sputnik, and the influence is obvious, I’m talking use of a drum machine, samples and unusual vocal effects, the bassist Tossa even wore cropped red t-shirts with slogans adorned on them like Tony James, it’s nothing short of amazing! If you’re not ready to hear the 6th generation of rock ‘n’ roll I would recommend starting with their debut album ‘Delicious Scratch Transformer’ then working your way up to this.
CONFUSE – INDIGNATION –
CHAOTIC:CD-008 / CHAOTIC:LP-008 1997
What can be said about this release that hasn’t been said already? I’m not going to bother talking about the music as you already know the score, I’ll just say this, it’s a noisecore masterpiece. This reissue of this classic tape originally released on the Violent Party label was issued on both CD and vinyl formats with updated artwork, the vinyl version was issued with an insert and a hype sticker in an edition of 1500 copies.
V.A.
PUNK – CHAOTIC:CD-009 1995
Anarchy Centre doing the lord’s work by reissuing this seminal omnibus tape from the legendary Violent Party label, sadly no vinyl edition this time but a fantastic CD reissue with updated artwork that remains faithful to the original and includes several rare photos from Blue Jug magazine of the bands that are included on the CD. If you’re not aware of this Kyushu classic it’s essentially a crash course in the early-mid 80’s punk scene in Kyushu. It features tracks from Gai, Confuse, No Cut, Gess, Craps & Gedon. The highlights for me are Gess’ pogo inducing noisy numbers and Gai’s amazing ‘Two Mohicans’ – an interesting tidbit, apparently the vocalist of Craps was Gai/Swankys vocalist Watch’s girlfriend at the time.
V.A – …AND AS CHELSEA GIRLS LIKE A BARBARIAN –
The first and only Anarchy Centre omnibus CD, I’m not counting the Violent Party CD as an Anarchy Centre omnibus as it’s a reissue, this 8 track CD features 4 bands and provides a snapshot of the of the Kyushu punk scene at the time, consider this ACR’s equivalent to Kings World’s ‘The Big News Are That Punks’ CD. The bands featured are Speakers, Fuckers, Swap & Radio Babylon, you could not get a more eclectic mix of styles. The 2 Speakers tracks are remastered from a 1991 demo tape where they began experimenting with the Sigue Sigue Sputnik-esque sound they mastered on their 2nd album. Fuckers were at the time Kyushu’s premier peace punk band, they showcase 2 re-recorded tracks from their demo which brings to mind the ferocity of Conflict’s Ungovernable Force, this is one band that I wish released more records. Swap deliver 2 fairly unremarkable tracks of ’77 punk rock and Radio Babylon appears to be a solo dub project which to my ears sounds influenced by bands like A.O.S.3 and Radical Dance Faction...
as far as I’m aware this is his only release but he delivers one of the most interesting songs I’ve ever heard where he samples the acapella track ‘And There Wuz Cows’ by Chaotic Dischord over a bass heavy dub track, it sounds like a joke but it works surprisingly well. The cover art for this release features two punk girls photoshopped outside of Centre Iberico which gives some weight to the theory that the name ‘Anarchy Centre’ was a homage to the original Anarchist Centre in London.
THE DUNDEES – THE SEX SWITCH UNDERGROUND – CHAOTIC:CD-
011 1996
Originally called Switch this band featured former members of Spunky Boys, Confuse, Speakers and Bastly Backs and was marketed as a ‘featuring ex.members of…’ band by ACR. Sources claim that at the time they used to play just 3 songs at each gig, leaving the crowd begging for more. Switch played their final gig in December 1994 before returning as The Dundees shortly after and were active until at least 1997. This album was recorded whilst they were still called Switch and features 10 tracks that pick up where the Spunky Boys left off but with a heavy Rolling Stones influence particularly on the final song that basically rips off Sympathy For The Devil. The stand out track on this album is ‘Nostalgia’ which is a great melancholic punk rock number.
RODEO – LAST CHAOTIC SHOW – CHAOTIC:CD-012 1996
Rodeo are a strange band, they’re clearly influenced by their punk heroes The Swankys, Watch even produced their last studio album (Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s Rodeo), but they were also influenced by what was the flavour of the month at the time, namely Rancid. The nods to Rancid are subtle, but they’re there as some of their songs have a ska tinge but don’t let that put you off if you’re not a fan of that style, it’s still snotty punk rock reminding me of Eater at times! This live album is like the band themselves –strange, in the sense that it was released not only on CD by Anarchy Centre, but also on VHS by Kings World Records and on the band’s own Savage Republic Records. This leads me to believe there was a disagreement between the band and their former label Kings World as not only did they opt to release their last gig on two other labels. The artwork for this CD features several anti-Kings World messages such as “FUCK KWR” all housed in a tasteless sleeve made up of artwork lifted from some Nazi exploitation flicks. The sound quality of the recording itself leaves a lot to be desired, it’s by no means high-fidelity but the urgency of their snotty punk sound comes through, they fire through 10 songs in just over 20 minutes! Ending with their pièce de résistance ‘New Punks Destroy’.
CONFUSE – NUCLEAR ADDICTS – CHAOTIC:CD-013 1996
Once again, a release that needs no further comment, any punk rocker worth their salt should be aware of this absolutely essential hardcore punk classic...
If you don’t own a copy of the original flexi on Blue Jug there was a hard vinyl bootleg released in 2012, but do yourself a favour and track down this official reissue. As with all of the Confuse reissues on ACR this release features updated artwork which is faithful to the original and a rare archive picture of the band.
FUCKERS – HUMAN – CHAOTIC:CD-014 1997
Fuckers were a 3 piece anarcho/peace punk band, their sole release ‘Human’ was originally released as a cassette tape on the band’s own Penis Records in 1993, thankfully ACR stepped up to the plate and made this fantastic release more readily available in the form of this handy CD reissue. The music channels the intensity of Conflict with strong anti-war messages that remind me of Confuse, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to hear that this CD reissue was actually produced by Confuse vocalist Dis. Unfortunately the band’s only other output was 2 tracks on the ACR compilation ‘And As Chelsea Girls Like A Barbarian’ which sound even more powerful than this CD. One member of Fuckers later joined fellow Kyushu anarcho peace punkers COO (Contradict Of Outcast) and played on their 2nd album released on Kings World Records.
GAI – TOTAL CONTROL – CHAOTIC:CD-015 1997
An official reissue of Gai’s 1981-1985 tape here which oddly enough omits 8 tracks from the original tape so we’re left with 10 tracks, the remainder were issued on The Swankys – Swank! Demos CD. This CD is an amazing document of the early days of the Kyushu punk scene and Gai’s violent noisecore sound, it features classic tracks such as I Don’t Know, Freedom and Open The Window. What I will say about this CD is that Anarchy Centre did an amazing job remastering it as the original tape sounds very muddy, whereas this sounds almost hi-fi by comparison without compromising on the intensity of the original recordings.
CONFUSE – CONTEMPT FOR THE AUTHORITY AND TAKE OFF THE LIE + 3 TRACKS – CHAOTIC:CD-016 1997
This CD was one of the first Kyushu punk releases I ever bought, the production of this recording really does Confuse justice (it was produced by a member of famous Kyushu mentai-rock band The Roosters). Whilst their Indignation tape and Nuclear Addicts flexi are short violent blasts of noisecore this EP really shows the evolution in their song writing. All 4 tracks of this EP are bonafide classics! As a bonus this CD reissue of the classic 7” EP features the 3 tracks from the Jisatsu Label 8” omnibus EP.
UNKNOWN – UNKNOWN –
-017
The most likely explanation for the lack of a 17th release on ACR is simply that it is a cataloguing error and they missed out a number by mistake. I can’t be sure as ACR have had ‘releases’ on their label that aren’t CDs, records or tapes so I can only speculate that it may or may not have been something like a postcard or t-shirt, perhaps ACR issued some Confuse postcards that we’re not aware of. Unfortunately this is just another Anarchy Centre mystery that for now remains unsolved.
THE SWANKYS – THE REST OF HERO THE SWANKYS – SWANK! DEMOS –CHAOTIC:CD-018 1997
A compilation of various Swankys demo recordings here including some previously unreleased tracks (Yes!! Future!! And Watch Out) and different mixes of well-known tracks such as No Bondage, the CD even opens with an almost Space Invaders-esque remix of Belief that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the original recording. Some of the tracks on this CD were from the Gai 1981 – 1985 tape and were also released by Kings World Records on the ‘Control Demo’ CD. The sound quality varies but it provides a great snapshot of the Swankys throughout their career, recently someone in the US has released a bootleg of these recordings on vinyl which I’ve heard through the grapevine were sourced from MP3s on some irrelevant blog, it goes without saying that buying this vinyl bootleg should be considered a last resort and that if possible you should track down the original CD.
THE SWANKYS – PERIOD THE NOISE TOUR 1985 LIVES – CHAOTIC:CD-019 1997
A great Swankys live set here, recorded at Rock May Kan (or Rock May Cunt as it’s credited on this CD) in Meguro, Tokyo. As the title suggests this is from their noisecore punk era just after the first album was released. The recording is actually great quality and you can hear the band really clearly unlike some other official Swankys live releases (Last Punk Show LP). Unfortunately however this CD does not feature the full live set which is a shame, but the 7 tracks showcased here are fantastic and well worth tracking down!
THE SWANKYS – SWANK! & LIVES – CHAOTIC:2CD
-018-019 1998
This handy double disc set compiles both the Swank! Demos CD and Period The Noise Tour CD, one can only speculate that the original CD pressings sold relatively quickly so they were reissued as a double CD set.
THE SWANKYS – PUNK LIVES – CHAOT-
IC:PC-020 1998
The 20th release on the Anarchy Centre label was a glorious full colour postcard of The Swankys which parodies the 1980’s classic punk mag ‘Punk Lives’ I believe these were issued at the same time as the Swank! & Lives double CD and included in orders placed directly with the label.
SCREAMING NOISE – FUCK THE HERO –
-021 – 1998
This release is the black sheep of the label’s catalogue as it’s the only release by a band not from Kyushu or featuring members of Kyushu punk bands. Screaming Noise from Chiba began playing in the late 90’s and although short-lived they released 2 sought after 7” EPs, the first self-released on their own Eat Noise Records, the second released on Anarchy Centre records. You’ll no doubt be aware of Screaming Noise and their take on Disorder’s classic noisy hardcore punk sound. I asked Screaming Noise bassist Zen how the EP came about - “around1997orsoAnarchyCentrecontacted usandaskedustorecorda2ndEP,sowewentandrecordedit,theypressed 1000copiesifIremembercorrectly”.
