Hello, welcome to another issue of Private Scandal, hot off the heels of the last one. To tell the truth I almost finished the last issue in late 2019 but I was busy, then Covid came along and forced everybody into lockdown. In an ideal world being stuck in the house meant I had all the time in the world to finish it but I just didn’t have the motivation. I was focusing on releases but it finally came out earlier this year and I was really pleased with the response to it. I think it was worth the extra money having it printed in full colour. I have even been thinking about doing an expended edition of issue 3, the Chiba punk special. It seems to me that recently there has been more interest in the Chiba punk scene, in particular the C&C and The Margarets. The Visible Fucker/ Stinkers split CD I released sold out in less than 24 hours, I couldn’t believe it, I repressed a few more copies which I still have for sale. Before I do that I feel like there is another stone that remains unturned – the early 90’s Tokyo punk rock scene. You would think being Japan’s capital city that the bands from Tokyo would have plenty of exposure and be household names but there was a scene of 70’s style bands who were playing frequently who were victims of poor distribution or limited releases, more often than not on their own labels, bands such as The Slinks (not to be confused with The Slicks), Shock, The Strip and The Goddamns to name a few. As such I feel the scene has largely been forgotten despite the fact of the people who were part of these bands are still part of the punk scene today. I have been working with The Goddamns on a discography CD which should be available by the time you’re reading this, but I liked the idea of writing an issue of the zine focusing on this scene. I reached out to the people I knew who were part of it who were more than happy to talk about their formative years in the Tokyo scene. I hope you enjoy it…
I also wanted to interview my old mate Tony Gunnarsson from More Noize as his zine was the inspiration for me writing my own zine and the world hasn’t heard his musings on punk rock for a while.
And finally Kaos of the mighty Chaos U.K. is back with a new band called Fear Of The Known who have been busy recording, a short but sweet crash course in what they’ve been up to closes the issue.
Cheers, get in touch! gimmick.
gimmickrottenidol@gmail.com
privatescandal.bigcartel.com
There’s a small shop in Nakano, Tokyo called Flower Records. I had heard rumours of the shop from Japanese friends saying it was like a rubbish bin in there, everything was covered in dust and it was notorious for apparently stocking some GISM items that caused such a stir the shop issued a public apology to GISM vocalist Mr.Sakevi.
The first time I went to the shop was with my friend Pat Toole, it took us a while to find the shop in the narrow streets off of Nakano Broadway (a famous shopping arcade) but we eventually came across a small sign that read ‘Flower Records’ we climbed a staircase of what looked like a block of residential flats to a hallway where there are a row of small brown metal doors, barely any with signs on to give you an idea of what is behind them but there was one door open - the door to Flower records. We gazed in amazement into the shop. It can only be likened to the home of a hoarder, floor to ceiling cardboard boxes filled with collector’s treasures. The entry to the shop is so narrow due to the boxes piled high that we had to shuffle inside sideways. Once inside there was a gentleman by the name of Mr.Tomizawa who sat on a small chair behind the counter with his dated Mac computer adding listings to Yahoo Japan Auctions with a pile of rarities surrounding him and his radio playing a Baseball game at full volume. The ceiling had records, CDs and tapes in small polythene bags that have then been precariously pinned to the ceiling and the room was littered with boxes, all almost overflowing with stock.
There’s a rough order to things, “this is the Kyushu punk section” Mr.Tomizawa said as he pointed to a small corner of the ceiling, “this is the Japanese hardcore section” as he gestures to a box of records on the floor - the term ‘crate digging’ is literal in Flower Records, you have to move boxes and dig to the bottom of each box to see what he has, sometimes the boxes are filled with crap, other times you’ll find a gem.
Mr.Tomizawa and I began chatting and formed a friendship over the next few years, I would frequently give him updated wantlists and sure enough he would manage to locate most of it, albeit some of it pricey.
One day when visiting the shop he handed me a CD -R copy of a tape by band called ‘The Strip’ I had never heard of this band but the cover had a topless woman on it (typical of the Kyushu punk bands) and some Jamie Reid style ransom note lettering, he explained he wasn’t sure if the band was from Kyushu but it might be something I like, he wasn’t wrong.
The tape called ‘The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Masturbation’ contains 6 tracks with titles such as Scandal, Love Song and Dog Fashion I had an inkling of what it might sound like, it definitely leans towards the more lighthearted sound of Crack The Marian, a sort of Pistols meets Toy Dolls sound rather than the cynical snottiness of The Swankys for example.
I was curious to hear more so I asked around and my friend Mitsuru informed me that he saw the band several times in the very early 90’s and that he thought one of the members was in fact a roadie for Crack The Marian. He also informed me that The Strip broke up and some members went on to form a band called Sex Magazine who played their first gig in January 1993.
I reached out to my friend Go of Junior - a friend of Crack The Marian from back in the day and asked him about The Strip, he revealed that he was a roadie for Strip and that unfortunately he hadn’t heard from any of the members for years but was happy to share any information he could.
Hi Go, how are you? You were a Strip staff member back in the day then? How long were you doing this?
I’m fine! Yeah, I was part of The Strip staff. But really it was more a case of going to gigs we became friends and were hanging out almost every day. Then they said “you can be our roadie” I was handling any problems when they played live etc… I did that for about 2 years.
I heard one of the Strip members was a roadie for Crack The Marian is that true? I know they played together and Strip appeared on VOS Video with Crack The Marian. That’s not the case.
The roadie for Crack The Marian was Bingo who was the vocalist of Stinkers, I owe Bingo a lot…
The doorway to Flower Records.
The Strip.
The Strip.
by the way the guitarist of Stinkers was Shingo from Spunky Boys. The live footage of Strip from that VOS video was from a 3 day event at Shinjuku Antiknock organised by Crack The Marian called ‘Viva La Scandal Party’. Of course I went to all 3 days but I remember it was really hard to get tickets as this was at the height of Crack The Marian’s popularity.
Can you tell me about ‘All The Young Age’? I have an compilation tape called ‘All The Young Age’ with songs by The Strip, Spunky Boys, The Waiats etc. Was this a gig series?
Yeah, All The Young Age was a gig series organised by a band called The Studs. They always had a mix of different style bands playing, I used to go to those gigs, I remember I went to a few. If I remember correctly that cassette tape was given to people who came to the 10th All The Young Age gig. This has got me feeling nostalgic! I might be able to find the tape somewhere if I look for it.
Did The Strip record anything else other than the demo tape?
As far as I remember they only released the tape with the pink cover (The Great Rock N Roll Masterbation) and the 2 tracks on the All The Young Age comp tape. The guitarist of the Strip on those recordings was a guy called Ittoku who was a rock ‘n’ roll/rockabilly style guitarist.
The Strip broke up, and some members formed Sex Magazine. Do you remember which members of Strip joined Sex Magazine?
The Strip didn’t really break up, they just changed their name to Sex Magazine. Before they changed the name the members of the band were Aikiken (vocals), Hide (guitar), Nozz (Bass) and Nobu Tee (Drums) and these were the four members of Sex Magazine. I wonder if they’re all doing well… After I joined Junior, Aikiken the vocalist of Strip came to see us a few times but we haven’t seen each other in over 10 years. It’s been even longer since I’ve seen the other members. I hope they’re well, I’d love to see them again.
Everyone at the time was older than me, but we all hung out together! We were like brothers.
What other bands did you like at that time?
I had an eclectic taste haha. Aside from 70’s style gigs often went to Skinhead gigs, psychobilly, hardcore, garage, ska, you name it I went to it. At that time I was always hanging around venues like “let’s go hang out at the venue!”. I was going to Shinjuku Antiknock, Koenji 20000V and Shimokitazawa Yanuera almost every day. Back then there were loads of gigs with bands of different styles/genres, it wasn’t categorized as much as it is now, it was great fun! The bands I saw the most then were Crack The Marian, Spunky Boys, Switch (aka.Dundees), Tokyo Sex Pistols and The Strip, most of these bands came from Kyushu.
In terms of bands I was friends with I was good pals with Crack The Marian, Switch (aka.Dundees), Harry (Hooker from Junior’s old band, by the way their drummer was Doku from No Cut), Psychic Spider Parade (this was a kind of positive punk/death rock band featuring Kensuke the vocalist of The Shams
The Strip flyer from the collection of Go Yamada.
SOS free paper with The Strip featured on the cover January 1992.
/Cash. He lived near me so we always hung out), The Gust, The Strip, Jet Boys, The ピーズ (The Pees), The Flamenco-a-go-go, 16Tons, The Scanty (who were high school classmates of mine) and a few others.
There were some other bands I saw often then that I wasn’t so close with such as The Slinks (they scared the hell out of me! Haha, as you know some members are now in Seppuku Pistols), 狂乱 (Kyoran - some members are also in Seppuku Pistols now), Hot Scat (an old drummer of Spunky Boys played for them) and Strawberries (I think they were old Skinheads?).
Do you have any funny stories from the early 90’s Tokyo Punk Scene?
Back then there most people in the bands and at the gigs were teenagers or in their early 20’s and everybody was cool, there was a great atmosphere but there were also scary times, which was exciting!
I joined the Crack The Marian baseball team and basically we got together during the week, played baseball and got drunk. We had a match once with the band and once it was over we sat in the park drinking. We ended up becoming so rowdy haha I was a mess! Haha It was great though as we became good friends even outside of the venues.
Here’s a funny story. The Gust organised a gig at Shimokitazawa Yanuera where Switch and Eastern Youth played. Sadayuki the vocalist for Switch was drunk and he kept heckling Eastern Youth. Yoshino the vocalist of Eastern Youth got so pissed off that he threw his guitar down, jumped into the crowd and punched Sadayuki! It turned into a huge brawl in the venue haha, it was like Kyushu Punks versus Skinheads haha. I got punched a few times, I later learned that Yasuo from Raiya/Bull The Buffalos was on the Skinhead side, we talked about that night recently and how funny it was.
Also, you know Joe Alcohol who was the bassist of Jet Boys back in the day? He started a band called Hong Kong Knife. Before he called the band Hong Kong Knife I was helping them out playing the saxophone. I was with them on their first gig! Anyway… they used my membership card for the rehearsal studio and they used it for ages even after I stopped helping them haha.
Cheers Go! I owe you a pint!
The Strip flyer from the collection of Mitsuru K.
The Sex Magazine flyer.
In 2010 I saw Tokyo punk band The Slowmotions at Moonstep in Nakano, I enjoyed their records but their live performance was great, particularly the singer who was climbing the speakers and wearing a pair of sunglasses shaped like cakes that said ‘Happy Birthday’ on them. The next time I saw them they had a different singer and it just wasn’t the same. Around this time I bought a flexi disc by a band called Shock on the basis of the artwork and the fact one of the members was wearing his underpants over his jeans from Record Shop BOY in Tokyo and the owner Satoru told me that he thought there was some connection to The Slowmotions. It took me a while to piece two and two together and make the connection that Isami the vocalist of Shock was the vocalist of Slowmotions when I first saw them. My friend Pooly later sent me the Shock/ Registrators split CD and I totally loved it, it was miles better than the flexi. On this CD Shock play quite angular and jarring sounding punk rock that reminded me of the early Japanese bands such as Friction and Mirrors mixed with 70’s UK punk along the lines of the X-Ray Spex (who they cover on their demo tape) and Buzzcocks. Isami (aka 133) was more than happy to share stories of his old band Shock in this exclusive interview.
Hello Isami, how are you doing? I wanted to talk to you about Shock. Over 10 years ago I saw The Slowmotions live. I was really impressed with your performance and I loved the Slowmotions records with you on vocals. I was curious when I found out you had another band called Shock. When did Shock form?
Hello, I’m fine! I’m glad you saw us a long time ago haha. I formed Shock in 1988, I think I was about 16 years old at the time.
Was Shock your first band?
Yeah it was my first band. I started writing some original songs then a friend said “do you want to open for the Continental Kids?” Suddenly our first gig was booked! We had to do it. It was 33 years ago but I vividly remember everything from our first rehearsal to when we played our first gig.
Shock flyer.
Who were your main influences? I know you love X-Ray Spex, you even covered them on your demo, but the Shock songs from the split CD with Registrators remind me of Tokyo Rockers sound (early Japanese punk such as Friction, Mirrors etc). Were you inspired by these older Japanese bands at all?
I wonder if people will think these influences are cool… Aside from 70’s punk I really liked Samurai and The Roosters in terms of Japanese bands, Kakokyoku (80’s Japanese pop) too! Also Kenji Sawada and 80’s Idols (Japanese female pop singers). Our bassist Hiroki loved the Tokyo Rockers stuff, I liked 8 ½.
I didn’t want Shock to sound like an old band. It’s up the listener how they interpret it but I’ve always wanted my bands to sound like something new...
Shock. Outtake from their flexi cover photo shoot.
I hope that’s still the case?
Speaking of Tokyo Rockers, is it true that a member of Mr.Kite was the producer of the split CD? How did that happen?
There was a studio called ‘Studio Panic’ in Yamanashi (just outside of Tokyo) that was run by Waku from Mr.Kite. It was basically his home studio, we went there with The Registrators for a week to record. It was organised by our friend Azumi from The Young Ones. Azumi was from Yamanashi and knew Waku.
Aside from the split CD you released a flexi disc on Creep Show and a tape. When was the flexi released? Was Creep Show your own label? I think the flexi was released in 1990. At the time there was a venue in Koenji called Lazy Ways. Noboru from The Hamsters was organising gigs there under the name Creep Show. There was also a Studlys release but Shock was the first band from the Creep Show gigs to release something, but there were no other Creep Show releases after that haha.
Can you say something about Shocking Night? Were your organising gigs then? If so, what other bands played these gigs?
We were actually organising gigs called ‘Rascal Brain’ at 20000V in Koenji. Loads of bands played those gigs such as Studlys, Goddamns, Atomic Bombers, Switch, The Margarets, Registrators, UG Man, No Think, Assfort, The Strip, Cunninglingus (pre.Fuck On The Beach), Junk Radio, Dead Creep, Noisy Tape Recorders...too many to name!
You often performed live together with The Studlys who were on a skinhead compilation. Also, I heard a rumour that a member of Shock joined the Skinhead band United Changers. Is it true? Were Shock part of the Skinhead scene? I was on good terms with the Skinhead scene then but I didn’t really have anything to do with it. Our bassist Hiroki was originally in United Changers. The other members Shinji (vocals), Etsuomi (guitar) and Shinpei (drums) were friends from high school, I met them at a New Rote’ka gig.
When did Shock break up? Did you join any other bands before you joined The Slowmotions?
Shock played our last gig in February 1994. We went out with a bang at an all night gig at 20000V in Koenji. After Shock I formed U-Turn, then Shot, then I joined The Slowmotions and finally 133ANDSPEX. You are now singing in 133ANDSPEX. Can you say something about this band? 133ANDSPEX will be the last band in Isami’s lifetime! 4649!
Isami Shock vocalist.
Shock flyer.
Shock live.
Are you planning to release anything by 133ANDSPEX soon?
I say it every year, but this year we will record something! We’re looking for a label to put it out if anybody is interested!
Thank you Isami! Thank you very much!!
133ANDSPEX has several videos on YouTube that are well worth checking out, I would also recommend his work with The Slowmotions. The best starting point is the Dial Eleven LP/CD that compiles most of their singles and is very cheap.
http://s-p-e-x.wixsite.com/ Twitter: @133Spex Instagram: @133spex
Goddamn’s were a name I was unfamiliar with until I saw an advert for them in an old issue of DOLL Magazine, they were dressed like the Sex Pistols and had a ransom note logo so of course I thought to myself “I have to hear this band” - I asked my friends who laughed as if to say “I can’t believe you’re asking about THAT band.” but eventually one friend gave me two of their CDs. The music was typical of the Kings World Records sound of the time, catchy ‘77 punk with a vocalist who had a particularly nasally voice that cut through the music - I loved it! A few months ago I got in touch with their bassist Inkichi and we have been working on a Goddamn’s discography CD. When I started writing this issue I knew I had to interview them as they were an integral part of the 90’s Tokyo punk scene and one of the most prolific bands from that scene.
Let’s start from the beginning. How old were you at the time and how did you meet?
In 1990 Visha (Guitar, 24), Me - Inkichi (Bass, 20) and Carrot (Vocals, 19) from the band Rude Cats recruited Crow (Drums, 19) to join the band. It was decided that the name would be changed to Goddamn’s and we started playing ‘Shokipan’ (70’s style punk). The four of us were sat in the square outside of Seibu Shinjuku station until the early morning thinking of a band name.
Goddamn’s.
When I first heard the name Goddamn’s my friend said “Goddamn’s are Tokyo’s answer to The Swankys!” - he wasn’t wrong, your sound is very similar to the later Swankys sound. Were you influenced by the Kings World Records bands such as The Swankys or were you more inspired by classic 70’s punk from the UK? Our vocalist Carrot was originally from Fukuoka, Kyushu and loved 70’s style punk, he soon discovered the local bands on Kings World Records who played this style. I think Last Child, who used to play a lot in his hometown, were a big influence on him. One of our motivations to play the style that we did was that we loved the Sex Pistols and there were only a few bands playing that kind of style in the early days of Punk, even though many bands were calling themselves Punk at the time.
Goddamn’s original line-up. This photo was used on the inside of the ‘Never’ sleeve.
Your next release was a VHS tape called ‘Fool’. Was this your take on The Swankys - Public Television VHS? Where did you film the videos? I have to say I love the music videos on it, they have a real DIY feeling about them.
“Fool” was released on a VHS tape. We shot it at Red Brick Warehouse in Yokohama, which was abandoned at the time, we took the photos for the cover of the ‘Never’ 7” at the same place. The editing was done on a VCR at Yo-1’s (who later joined us on guitar) house. So it was really a case of doing it ourselves. I think we made 200 of those.
You released your first EP in 1991 called ‘Never’ from Knock Out label. Was this your own label? Do you remember how many copies you pressed?
It was our own label, we pressed 300 copies of that single.
On this 7” 4 tracks are listed on the cover but only 3 tracks are on the record. The song ‘Headache’ was only released on cassette tape. Why was this? Was it too long to include on the record or was there another reason? The reason we released that song a cassette was simply because it wouldn’t fit on the 7”. It wasn’t until after completing the recording that we realised it wouldn’t fit, so we decided to release it on cassette.
After this you released your first CD called ‘Look At The Pretty Face’. The cover features an old man wearing punk sunglasses. Who is this old man and why was he on the cover for your CD? That old guy is Mr.Imai, who worked with myself and Carrot as a scaffolder. He was covered in tattoos even his eyebrows were tattooed. I lent him the sunglasses and took the photo, he thought it was good fun. We pressed 1000 copies of that CD.
Crow and Carrot.
Advertisement for the ‘Never’ 7” record from DOLL magazine.
I saw a lot of advertisements in DOLL magazine for your CDs. Did you sell a lot of CDs as a result of these advertisements?
I don’t know if the adverts in DOLL helped to sell any CDs because we never made any money on them haha. However, there were a lot of people who came to our gigs after seeing those adverts so at least something good came out of it.
After the release of ‘Look At The Pretty Face’ you didn’t release another CD for 4 years. What were you doing during this time? Were you still playing live?
After the release of that CD, our guitarist Nao disappeared and our drummer Crow left the band due to family commitments. After that it was just me and Carrot. We continued writing songs in the studio using a drum machine for about a year. Eventually Yo-1 (who helped with our VHS tape) joined on guitar and Crow (aka Hiroshi) rejoined the band and we began recording again.
What can you say about the Tokyo punk scene at this time? It seems there was a 70’s style punk band boom! For example bands like Shock, Slinks, Atomic Bombers etc
I'm not sure about the recent punk scene in Tokyo. But I'm glad that the people who were in bands back in the day are still active. In fact, Crow (Hiroshi) is currently in a band with the vocalist of The Travis who were playing around the same time as the Goddamns.
Did you ever perform live together with Kyushu punk bands? For example The Speakers and Switch were based in Tokyo at this time. Yeah, we played with The Speakers (ex.Swankys),
Aggressive Dogs and Spunky Boys.
In 1997 you released ‘DA.DA.DA’ CD single. It was your final release. By this time I think the Tokyo Punk Scene had changed and Pogo Punk/ Street Punk was more popular. Do you remember how the CD was received at the time?
I remember at the time bands like Nirvana and Korn were extremely popular in Japan and their influence was massive, even in the punk scene. The number of bands playing 70’s style punk dwindled. I remember thinking that punk bands with beards playing slap bass was unthinkable but it happened! Goddamns didn’t really have our finger on the pulse so we weren’t really aware of this but I think even we developed a harder and heavier sound, but that was due to mine and Carrot’s song writing, especially when it was just the two of us. I’m not sure how well that CD was received.
Advertisement from DOLL magazine.
Goddamn’s flyer from the collection of Mitsuru K. Goddamn’s.
You recorded some demo tapes after this then the band broke up. Do you remember your final gig? What bands did you play with?
Our final gig was in 2000 but none of us can remember who we played with! Apparently there is a live video of that gig so I will digitise it and upload it if I come across it.
It’s now 2021, we’re working on a Goddamn’s CD on my label. Did you think that in 2021 people would still be interested in the band?
After you sent me a message I searched for Goddamn’s on social media and found out that a handful of people remembered the band and seemed to like it. Also, when I listened to those songs after 20+ years I thought they were pretty good. I think there are a total of about 100 people in the world who will be interested in the CD and I think they will like what they hear. I hope that more people in Japan will listen to us again.
Is there anything else you would like to say?
Can we expect a reunion soon?
There are no plans to reunite soon. But if there are a lot of people who are interested in us and want to see us live, we may reunite for them. Thanks to you Connor for your interest in Goddamn’s. Thank you!
The Slinks are one of the most obscure bands of the early 90’s Japanese punk scene, their sole release a CD album titled ‘Go In One Ear And Out The Other’ was released on their own private label and is one of those under the radar classics that needs to be heard if you like The Swankys, Gai, Confuse etc. It’s a perfect mix of 70’s punk rock and Disorder style noisy hardcore. Their album was one of the only releases in the comprehensive FLEX! Japanese punk discography book to not feature a review as it’s so difficult to come by. Considering The Slinks are such an obscure band you may be surprised to hear that 3 of the members are now in one of Japan’s most popular punk bands: Seppuku Pistols. The Seppuku Pistols started as a solo project, then became a 4 piece playing what can only be described as ‘electro punk’ mixing Sex Pistols samples with their own riffs. However when the Fukushima nuclear disaster occured in 2011 the band completely changed their style abandoning the electric instruments and sound in favour of traditional Japanese instruments such as the Shamisen and Taiko drums. They have since gone on to play in Times Square in New York and have had coverage from international mainstream music press such as The Wire. Leader of The Slinks and Seppuku Pistols Mr.Iida is true to his punk rock roots and the band has a strong DIY ethic and operates as a collective of musicians playing and working together, he agreed to this interview in order to shine some light on his current activities with Seppuku Pistols and his time served in The Slinks.
Translation by Katsuya Nonaka (Seppuku Pistols) and Takeshi Evolstak (!NO!).
Goddamn’s live.
Hello Iida, how are you? Thank you for doing this interview. Did you know Slinks CD was recently included in FLEX! Book about Japanese punk? It didn’t have a review because nobody knows about Slinks, so I thought we could inform people about the band in this interview. Not a problem, I didn’t know about the FLEX! book, but sure let’s talk about it.
First of all, how old were you when you discovered punk and what was your first impression of punk?
It was then I was 12 years old (this must’ve been 1981-82) I was hanging out with my friend and his older brother had a mohican and was wearing a leather jacket with metal studs in it and called himself a punk! He played us a Chaos UK record so that’s how I heard them. I was convinced that punk was some type of evil organisation that was going to conquer the earth.
When did the Slinks form? And what age were you all when you started the band?
The band formed in 1988-89, I was 19 or thereabouts. The other members were about 18 or 19.
Who were the members of Slinks? On the CD you all have nicknames (Johnny Pistols, Still Jaws, Paul Book & Sidny Vitch).
Vocals: Hiro (me)
Guitar: Jun (who passed away, RIP)
Bass: Shinya (currently in Seppuku Pistols)
Drums: Taichi (currently in Seppuku Pistols)
In this issue I’m writing about 70’s style punk bands that were active in the early 90’s in Tokyo. I think Slinks was one of the best of that time
because you had such a unique sound. Were you influenced by Japanese bands? I think some of your songs, You Are Robot and This Is Hardcore Song in particular sound like Japanese noisecore, like Gai or Confuse.
Of course we were influenced by Japanese bands, even now I love Gai, Swankys, Confuse etc.
Can you tell me what the punk scene in Tokyo was like in the early 90’s? What bands did you play with at that time?
Well, Koenji where I lived at the time was full of punks back then wasn’t it? I’d say so haha but we weren’t really pals with any Tokyo bands, we felt we had more in common with bands like Kyoran from Saitama and Parasite from Chiba.
The Slinks live.
Slinks vocalist Iida (Johnny Piston).
The Slinks flyer featuring Iida’s artwork.
I know you often played at 20000V in Koenji, and Antiknock in Shinjuku, did you ever play outside of Tokyo?
You’re right, we mostly played in Koenji and Shinjuku, I don’t recall ever playing outside of Tokyo. You released one album called ‘Go In One Ear And Out The Other’ on Public Impotent Ltd. Was this your own label?
Yeah, that was our label.
Do you remember how the album was received at the time? I saw one advert in DOLL magazine but I have never read a review, it seems it’s a cult album now.
I think it probably has a bad reputation. We recorded some demos by ourselves but never released them, they were crap compared to the CD! Haha
Can you remember how many copies of the CD you pressed? Would you ever be interested in reissuing it?
I think we pressed 500. I lost mine about 10 years after it was released. I’ve heard it’s been sold on second hand sites but even I don’t have one.
Can you tell me about the song ‘Brand Destroy’? Is this song criticising Vivienne Westwood? I know you were making your own clothes then, was this a song about having a DIY mindset? At the time whenever we played gigs I would see people changing into punk costumes backstage and I thought “what the fuck? Is this what punk is to you? A costume?” I’m sorry but I was very serious about punk. I was and still am very particular about things like punk principles which could be misconstrued, but after I saw that I went crazy haha
I would like to ask about the Slinks image, the designs of your CD, flyers and shirts were amazing - who designed your artwork?
Thank you! I did the artwork.
When did the Slinks break up? Did you release anything else other than the CD?
I think we broke up in 1993. We didn’t release anything else.
After the Slinks you formed a band called Can Gero can you tell me something about this band?
Once the Slinks broke up I was thinking about starting a new band with some former members but I didn’t want to play traditional punk. I wanted to remodel the idea of punk, I wanted to do something original so we were working on songs and came up with something cool, we were like a tribe. All of the members of the band had the idea of almost having no ears, like we wanted to cut off our own ears in an attempt to not be influenced by what we were hearing around us. Our lives were getting worse, we were broke, but we were happy spending our days having fun like pop while living in that shit situation.
Advertisement for the ‘Go In One Ear And Out The Other’ CD from DOLL Magazine.
Sidney Vitch and Johnny Piston.
You are currently leading a band called the Seppuku Pistols. I think you are one of the most interesting bands in Japan. How would you describe the Seppuku Pistols? Is it a collective? How many members are in the band currently? Thank you! Well, in a nutshell Seppuku Pistols are against the modern-age, anti-modernity. “It’s cool to be against it” I think it’s strange when people say that to me. We were originally 4 members, then after the Fukushima nuclear disaster we were inspired to do something different. We didn’t really know how to play these traditional instruments like the shamisen and taiko drum but we kept at it, we recruited more and more like minded people. There are now more than 20 members in the band.
You play traditional Japanese instruments and wear traditional Japanese clothes - what is the message behind the Seppuku Pistols music? Are you against the modern world? We’re playing these traditional instruments and wearing these traditional clothes but we’re not musicians or artists, we’re just people. I think the traditional way is the best way. As I said before, we’re against modernity
I think you are the only punk band that has played in Times Square, can you please tell me how this happened? Did you ever think your band would be playing in New York?. Well, I wouldn’t really consider us a punk band now, especially not a traditional punk band. I love punk, but I don’t think people would call us a punk band. Sometimes we get invitations from people overseas but as we have over 20 members it isn’t cheap. In 2018 our documentary maker Ume-san said “would you like to perform overseas?”…
We thought it’s 150 years after the Meiji Restoration, it’ll be like the opposite of the Black Ships landing in Japan. What better reason to go. To put it nicely, we went to see things from a different perspective, also it’s New York City! Ume-san paid for most of it out of his own pocket. We also played in venues, on the street and even at an outdoor punk festival. There was a young punk from Washington who came to one of our gigs there that saw us at the Kappunk festival in Japan. He had a tattoo on his face. I felt humbled.
You recently released your first vinyl record, was this released on your own label? Like the Slinks CD?
Yeah, it contains Okami Shinko (Wolf Faith) and 3 other songs. It was limited to 500 copies and sold out immediately, I don’t have one. It was selfreleased.
Well, that’s it - thank you so much for your time Mr.Iida. What are your plans for Seppuku Pistols in the future? And where can people find out about the Seppuku Pistols?
Thank you for reading this interview! In the future we will continue to be against the modern world and ultimately we aim to create a world where a disaster like Fukushima will not happen again, even if that means abolishing nuclear power altogether. Thank you again.
http://seppukupistols.soregashi.com/ Twitter: @seppuku_pistols Instagram: @seppuku_pistols
The Slinks flyer.
Seppuku Pistols.
TOKYO PUNK DISC GUIDE
The early 90’s Tokyo punk scene did see an influx of 70’s style punk bands, despite this few of them actually recorded and released anything and many of these were self-released. I have compiled a list of what I see as the essential releases from this time. As a rule of thumb I have tried to focus on bands that were active in the early to mid 90’s (although some were active in the late 80’s) and played what I would call snotty punk rock, basically Swankys style punk. There was a separate scene led by bands like Teengenerate that whilst it did produce some great punk rock records it doesn’t quite fit with what I’m focusing on in this zine. Some of the bands I have included in this list went on to become quite popular not only in Japan but overseas as well, bands like Jet Boys and Registrators, also there were several Kyushu punk bands that were based in Tokyo at the time such as Crack The Marian, Spunky Boys and The Speakers but these bands are Kyushu bands based in Tokyo as opposed to bands formed in and from Tokyo itself. I hope you find a new favourite release from these recommendations, where the bands have gone on to release other things not included in this list I have noted and a search on Discogs should bring up the rest of their releases. Enjoy!
3P Mayonnaise - Crazy Monkey Punk ‘N’ Roll IdolSelf-released1992
I believe this band was based in Ibaraki, which is just North East of Tokyo, however they often played in Tokyo. As far as I’m aware this tape is their sole release but it’s a great one! It contains 9 tracks of pure Pistols inspired punk rock, there’s even a song called ‘Never Trust a Hippy’. The rough sound reminds me of Lydia Cats - Image Down EP. Apparently one of the members went on to join the immensely popular Visual Kei (Japanese poppy hair metal) band Malice Mizer. The band briefly reformed in 2011 but never recorded anything upon their reformation.
Capsule Corporation - It’s Invader Rock - Copy Kiss Records - 1997
The sole release on the Copy Kiss label I suspect this is in fact self-released. Not a lot is known about Capsule Corporation and this is their only release that I am aware of, although I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a demo. Capsule Corporation clearly took inspiration from the early Space Invaders releases and played Devo/ Screamers inspired punk with a techno twist. A really unusual but intriguing sound. Fans of Space Invaders and Warp take note.
Chop - No.1 - Self-released - 1995
Chop are from Kanagawa, a prefecture to the south of Tokyo, however they were part of the Tokyo scene. This band’s claim to fame is the fact they feature members that went on to form Dust Noise, although the sound bears no resemblance to the Disorder inspired racket that Dust Noise made. Chop is more 70’s punk influenced, I’ve heard that Shock were a huge inspiration to this band you wouldn’t immediately think this as their sound is more akin to early C&C rather than the choppy angular sound of Shock. A great tape, they went on to record 2 more before disbanding.
Dead Creep - Rebel Days Gig - Self-released1991
Recorded during 1991 at 2 different gigs a live tape may not seem the best place to start with a band but this tape features a great soundboard recording and the band are on top form, well rehearsed it’s almost as good as a studio recording. Musically this band has more in common with The Star Club than the Sex Pistols although the sound definitely has a 70’s edge to it - there’s a slight Clash feel to it. I believe they released 2 other tapes and maybe a CD but I have not heard them. The band has recently reformed and I understand they are currently working on a new release.
Ebi - Nihonjin/Minna No Tokyo - Shimin Label1989
trashy punk numbers and longer more bluesy Last Child inspired rockers. The vocalist Carrot has a particularly great high pitched voice that really gives off a ‘Johnny Rotten from Japan’ vibe. These CDs are hard to find now but check out their discography double CD on Private Scandal.
Gust - Fight It Out - No Growin’ Recs - 1993
After a series of tapes this was Ebi’s (Shrimp) first proper release, a 2 track flexi disc - Nihonjin (Japanese People) b/w Minna No Tokyo (Everybody’s Tokyo) on Shimin Label which I believe was their own label. Clearly inspired by bands like Toy Dolls and The Dickies this band definitely has a more fun take on the punk sound but don’t let that put you off. It’s catchy as hell and this flexi is still fairly cheap. They often played with The Strip/Sex Magazine and Crack The Marian in Tokyo. They later went on to sign to a major label (WEA) and finally disbanded in 1995, their major label stuff isn’t great but this flexi and first album are well worth checking out. If you need any further encouragement this flexi was recorded at the legendary Our House studio where Bastard and Death Side recorded.
Goddamn’s - Look At The Pretty Face - Knock Out Company - 1993
One of the more prolific bands from this scene Goddamn’s were active for 10 years releasing 2 CDs and a 7” from their own Knock Out Company. This is my favourite release of theirs, a good mix of snotty 2 minute
A self-released CD from The Gust here, a mini CD in oversized packaging nonetheless! Got to love those strange Japanese formats. Musically speaking this may not fit with the theme of this zine but the band was playing frequently with bands like Shock and The Strip so I feel it’s worthy of inclusion. It sounds like the band had a bit of a rift between the members, some wanting to play a more street punk/Oi! sound which reminds me of some of the early Japanese Oi! acts like Baws at times, particularly on the song ‘No Growin’’ which you can listen to on YouTube. On the other hand you have the song ‘My Town Bitch’ which is a definitely more 70’s sounding. It’s a bit of an odd mix, maybe it would’ve worked better if those opted for one style and ran with it but it’s not bad by any means.
Jet Boys - Teenage Thunder - Captain Records1992
The first album from this long running band is nothing short of a bonafide classic! They get labelled a garage punk band but I don’t think this is entirely accurate. Perhaps the later records have more in common with some of the Goner Records bands like The Reatards and The Oblivians but this first album is nothing short of pure Heartbreakers style punk rock ‘n’ roll. It’s as if they played L.A.M.F. on 45RPM and decided to form a band that sounds like that, it’s brilliant! Great guitar leads, catchy songs like Fuck You...
Tokyo, Get Out My Girl and Goodbye Generation. Unfortunately the original CD came out at the tail end of Captain Records run as a label and is quite hard to track down now, however it was reissued on vinyl about 15 years ago on Demolition Derby out of Belgium and is still available for a really reasonable price so do yourself a favour and track this down! The band still plays today and has gone on to release a few more albums and singles.
Kyoran - Kyoran - Mediacapsule - 1994
A really interesting CD here and one I’m not sure entirely fits with what I’m covering in this zine but given they often played with the other bands covered I feel it’s a worthy inclusion. I know nothing about the band other than they feature a member who is currently in Seppuku Pistols with some former Slinks members. I believe Kyoran means Frenzy and it’s an apt name. The music on this CD is difficult to categorise, it’s definitely got a 70’s feel to it in places but not Sex Pistols, maybe a bit of PiL and Gang Of Four, hell maybe even The Fall - it’s punk but it’s avant garde. The guitars are extremely noisy so it could fall into the Hardcore/Noisecore category along with bands like Confuse or Disorder but with an Aburadako/ADK Records vibe. A really unusual but interesting release that demands repeat listens. If you’ve even imagined what it would sound like if Confuse were jamming with Gang Of Four then this will be right up your street.
the more major label catchy/melodic punk sound of bands like The Star Club and Laughin’ Nose. The Flex! book says there’s a bit of early California hardcore sound in there which I sort of get as the intro on this flexi does remind me of Agent Orange but I think that’s entirely coincidental rather the band being influenced by that sound. A good flexi which for some reason demands a ridiculous price on Discogs - don’t bother with those prices as this flexi should be reasonably priced. They released another flexi and a 7” record much in the same vein but I reckon this is their best, short and sweet.
Registrators - Terminal Boredom - Rip Off Records - 1996
Ra-Bee’s - Get Out! - Betty Record - 1989
A bit of an early release but a good one, this band is noteworthy for playing with Kyushu bands such as Spunky Boys and Crack The Marian and also featuring Ikki on drums who also played for Shock. The late 80’s is considered to have had a band ‘boom’ in Japan - basically loads of bands starting up and releasing records, some good, some abysmal. Tokyo’s Ra-Bee’s are the former, this is their 2nd release and my favourite of theirs - a 2 track single sided 8” red flexi disc which is the most Japanese format possible. Musically there is definitely a hint of the Kyushu punk sound, think Lydia Cats, Spunk Boys, Last Child, later Swankys etc but also a bit of
Registrators are probably the most well known band from this scene. They cut their teeth at gigs at Antiknock and 20000V with bands like Shock and The Margarets but went on to become one of the most prolific Japanese bands of the 90’s/00’s releasing 3 albums and a load more singles, Terminal Boredom being their first album. Registrators like many bands on the Rip Off label worship at the altar of 70’s punk rock, but almost exclusively those bands that were inspired by the first wave of bands like The Damned and Sex Pistols to formed their own bands such as The Carpettes, The Cortinas, The Users etc. 14
Tracks of no nonsense punk rock with the longest song on the album not even breaking the 3 minute mark this is the perfect album for numpties like me with a short attention span. This album is still available for a really reasonable price on Discogs and is on Spotify if you haven’t heard it before.
Rotten - Who Fucked The Bambi? - YSR Company - 1990
With the name and the photo on the cover you know what this sounds like…
another Sex Pistols worshipping band! This time from Yokosuka, a little south of Tokyo but close enough to be included here. This flexi was released on YSR Company which was a label specialising in releases by bands from Yokosuka. I don’t need to wax lyrical about the tracks, you know the deal. If you like The Swankys, you’re gonna like this! This flexi is still quite reasonably priced and is well worth it They had 1 more track on a compilation 7” released by the same label.
Scandals/PC Engine, The Telephones recorded 2 tapes. Iori went on to front 2 further bands, Tokyo And Tokyo Piss who released one tape and Tokyo Magazine who released one tape as well. Again, both bands play the same style of catchy ‘77 punk inspired by the Kings World Records bands, this all took place between 1995 and 2000 so as you can see Iori (aka Tokyo) was an extremely prolific musician, I wouldn’t say all of these tapes are essential but The Scandals - Scandal Night certainly is.
Sex Magazine - Noting
Doing - Self-released1993
Scandals - Scandal Night - Self-released - 1996
The history of this band is a little confusing, they were originally called PC Engine and cited the C&C as their main influence, apparently vocalist Iori (aka Tokyo) approached the members of the C&C and professed his love of the band to them and told them he was starting his own band called PC Engine who recorded one rough but decent tape. At some point they changed their name to The Scandals and even featured Kichi Vader (the C&C, Visible Fucker etc) on bass for a short while. As far as I know they recorded 2 tapes as The Scandals but I have a vague recollection of seeing a third online. Vocalist Iori was rather prolific as you’ll find out. This particular tape contains 3 tracks and is a studio recording so it really shows the band at their best, it’s not all out C&C worship but the influence is definitely there, I would say the sound is closer to bands like Last Child and early Slicks, it’s very catchy. The band had a close knit relationship with the ‘Drunk With Party’ scene in Nagoya at the time, bands like Kick The Bollocks (ex.Chaos Channel), The Scantys and Bou Sou Nezumi (pre.Zymotics) and often played with these bands in Nagoya and booked gigs for them in Tokyo. From this point it’s a little confusing as to whether the band broke up or simply changed their name but at least 2 members of The Scandals went on to form a band called The Telephones who continued in the same vein as The
The first and only tape of the band formerly known as The Strip. This is a 3 track tape given out at a gig in January 1993. The sound is quite rough so it wouldn’t surprise me if this was recorded live (possibly while they were still called The Strip). Musically they have decided not to rip off the Sex Pistols, but instead rip off the Ex Pistols! They even have a song called Hope & Glory. Recommended if you like Last Child, the vocals in particular remind me of them.
Shams - Let’s Start A New Life - Eikokukan Records - 1988
The only release from Tokyo’s The Shams on what I thought was their own label, but the Flex! book claims the label also put out a split between Light Cider and Rebel Waltz but I’ve never heard of that one. The Shams play a mid tempo take on 70’s punk with some rocking melodies reminding me a bit of The Vibrators. The vocalist has a great style that is snotty like Watch from the Swankys in parts but more gruff in others. They thank Strawberry Records (Crack The Marian, Spunky Boys etc) on the sleeve and I’ve got some flyers from when they played with Spunky Boys and Ra-Bee’s. A cool record that I’d say is almost a poor man’s Last Child - No Give Rock 7”. They contributed one track to the 2nd Ranchiki
Omnibus 5x flexi set, yes, a compilation that comprised of 5 flexi discs! Got to love the Japanese… At some point the vocalist started a band called Cash, then another band called Psychic Spider Parade but I’ve heard neither.
Shock - Don’t Fashion - Creep Show - 1990
The debut release from Shock is a 2 track flexi disc, the first song ‘Use Of The World’ has a odd jarring rhythm and vocals that are spoken (someone said rapped but I don’t get that), it’s hard to describe this song, it doesn’t sound like PiL but it gives me the same vibe as PiL - jarring rhythms, jarring vocals, an odd one, not their best. The second song ‘Shocking Days’ is much better, a pogo inducing 70’s punk style number that reminds me a bit of the Spunky Boys. An interesting release but not their best, the sound of a band still finding their style. They released at least 1 tape around the same time called ‘All Fuckin’ Shock’ which was recorded live and is a much better representation of their early sound.
ing Shock’s songs, this is one of their first releases and luckily they don’t fall into the trap that Shock did with their flexi and present a sound that lacks direction, they knew what they wanted to do - show their pure love of early punk rock. This isn’t even close to being their best release but it’s still great, that’s how good they were. Sadly this CD has become a rarity and is almost impossible to find now but if you do come across please by all means buy it. In the meantime check out some of Registrators other releases, there a lots that are still very reasonable.
Slinks - Go In One Ear And Out The Other - Public Impotent Ltd - 1992
Shock / Registrators - Split - Aloha Records1993
This is one of the best releases of the era, a split between 2 greats of the scene. In just 3 years Shock have gone from a flexi that lacks direction to this split which really shows what they’re all about. The jarring rhythms and arrangements are still there, it isn’t a genre exercise in Pistols worship like some bands from the era. I feel like this band wouldn’t have been out of place playing in CBGBs in the late 70’s they have the unusual arty take on Punk that bands like the Voidoids had while channeling that through the early Japanese punk sound of bands like Friction and The Mirrors. It’s a classic sound but with a then modern take on it, it doesn’t sound dated at all, even now. It still sounds fantastic, a really great set of songs from Shock. You then have the Registrators who have the job of follow-
Without a shadow of a doubt on ofmy favourite releases from this scene and one of my favourite Japanese releases ever The Slinks CD is a cult classic. The easiest way to describe this is like a combination of the Gai - Extermination flexi and The Swankys - Neo Damage EP, in layman's terms 70’s punk rock filtered through the noisiest era of Disorder, think Never Mind The Bollocks meets Under The Scalple Blade nothing short of fantastic. The album is really well recorded and has a mix of slower swaggering punk rock songs and short, fast, loud hardcore songs (there’s even a song called This Is Hardcore Song). The lyrics are spiteful, almost nasty and either delivered in a sarcastic demeanour or barked. A really amazing release and one that fans of The Swankys, Gai and Confuse should do their best to track down out of all the releases featured here this is the one I would love to see reissued.
Strip - Great Rock N Roll Masturbation - Selfreleased - 1991
The only release from this Tokyo band who often played with Crack The Marian which isn’t a terrible comparison for how they sound. A bit more lighthearted take on the traditional 70’s sound, there’s some ‘borrowed’ Pistols riffs here and some great guitar leads that give me some New York Dolls vibes. They also give me a bit of a budget Spunky Boys feeling. If I was able to track down members of this band I would happily offer to reissue this as I think it’s a great tape and it’s a shame it’s forgotten about.
Studs - Demo Tape - Self-released - 199?
The only release from these so called ‘Spirit Punk Rockers’ I assume the name is a reference to metal studs as opposed to Big John Stud! Definitely more inspired by the popular Japanese punk of the previous decade this sounds like a mix of The Blue Hearts catchy almost Ramones-esque sound and The Star Club, perhaps a bit of major label era Laughin’ Nose too, their contact details on the tape are ‘Office Glory’ which may well be a nod to Laughin’ Nose’s anthem ‘Get The Glory’. This band played an integral part in the Tokyo scene booking the ‘All The Young Age’ gig series in which Kyushu punk bands and the new generation of Tokyo bands played together. A good catchy punk rock tape albeit a little light on the snottiness.
Tokyo Sex Pistols - Tokyo Sex Pistols - Selfreleased - 199?
As you can probably gather this band is a Sex Pistols cover band from Tokyo, however the band is famous for featuring members who went on to become famous in the fashion world, Hikaru who runs Bounty Hunter and Jun Takahashi who runs Undercover, both of which are popular fashion brands. This release is a set containing a VHS tape and a CD. It’s pretty entertaining see-
ing them dress up in their original Seditionaries gear basically playing fancy dress covering the Pistols’ classics Pretty Vacant, God Save The Queen, Bodies and Holidays In The Sun - Bodies being the highlight, an almost noisecore take on a classic. They did record one original song called Bloody Mind which is surprisingly good actually, a mid tempo swaggering number that reminds me a bit of I’m Gambler by The Swankys which may well have been an influence as Hikaru/Bounty Hunter went on to make official shirts for The Swankys and the band did share the stage with Kyushu punk bands like The Speakers and Crack The Marian. This isn’t essential but it’s entertaining. Someone has uploaded some stuff on Youtube so by all means check it out.
V.A. - All The Young Age - Not on label - 199? As confirmed by Isami in the Shock interview this tape was released by The Studs who were organising a series of gigs called ‘All The Young Age’. There are a total of 6 bands and each band contributes two tracks. The Studs sound like a mix of two classic Japanese bands - The Star Club and The Blue Hearts. The Waiats were a Kyushu punk band with links to Strawberry Records (Crack The Marian, Spunky Boys) but their sound is more rock than punk, it actually reminds me of the later Cult records particularly Electric. Spunky Boys are a legendary Kyushu punk band; these two tracks weren’t available on their Kings World Records CD or their records but were recently released on a CDR compilation of their demo and live recordings. Radix are an unknown band to me but their song ‘Tokyo Anarchy Boy’ is one of the best on this tape, a real ‘77 punk stomper, I’d love to hear more from them. The Strip contributed 2 tracks that were previously released on their demo tape. Finally The Wanderers who were more well known for releasing a double 7” on AA Records before relocating to Tokyo, they play a real melodic take on Oi! not too dissimilar to the later major label releases by Cobra or former label mates Cockney Cocks.
V.A. - Power Plant Of Punk Rock - Crown Record Co Ltd - 1992
A major label release here and a pretty good attempt to provide a snapshot of the Tokyo scene in the early 90’s, it was compiled by somebody who worked at the Antiknock venue which was almost
ground zero for this scene along with 20000V. Most of the bands on this aren’t really my cup of tea but there’s a track by a band called The Hamsters which is absolutely worth the price of this CD alone. A total Swankys style punk rock tune. There’s a few other stand out tracks for me by bands like The Greed, Never Ending Holidays and The Low Life.
V.A. - Street New Brand Gig - S.M.O. Record1993
Another Antiknock production but without the major label backing this time. It’s all recorded live but it’s recorded through the soundboard so sounds great. I would say that this CD provides a better snapshot of not only the Tokyo punk scene at the time but also the Chiba punk scene, you get tracks from some aforementioned bands like Dead Creep and The Gust but also some unknown bands like Junk Radio and The Sparks. There’s also a great track from Chiba’s punk heroes The Margarets, one of the highlights however is the track from Chiba’s Noisy Tape Recorders - a really cool track that sounds influenced by very early Mad Capsule Markets filtered through the classic Chiba sound of bands like The Margarets and Visible Fucker. By no means essential but a worthy addition to any collection of the more underground Japanese punk scene.
More Noize was a godly fanzine that ran from 2009 to 2013 for a total of 10 issues. Initially starting as a 4 sided A4 newsletter each issue was bigger and better than the last. More Noize was the first fanzine I remember buying and the impact on me was nothing short of monumental. I’d heard about zines and read a few issues of Maximum Rock N Roll but I never thought I would be reading a fanzine almost exclusively dedicated to noisy international hardcore punk. What inspired me the most though was the writing style, it was conversational and unpretentious. Other publications I had access to at the time were professional and a million miles away from what I was capable of, but More Noize was something that I could have a go at, so I did. I published my first fanzine Pogo And Laugh as a direct result of reading More Noize and it goes without saying that if it wasn’t for More Noize I wouldn’t be writing this zine today. So if you think my writing is shit you can blame More Noize! Well, without further ado, from the Resthome for Senile Old Punks we have Mr More Noize himself, Tony Gunnarsson.
Alright mate, seems a bit weird doing this given we’ve known each for ages but I thought it would be nice to talk about your previous life as a fanzine editor, before that I want to know about your punk rock beginnings. Where did you grow up and at what age did you discover punk? My image of you growing up in 1980’s Sweden is one of you and Jonsson from AntiCimex drinking beers in the park talking about Discharge but I imagine that wasn’t the case. Alright, lets go! I grew up in Tidaholm, a small countryside town in the middle of nowhere. I remember discovering punk at a really early age. My mate Ola Beglert’s older brother Henrik was a ‘real’ punk, and Ola had sneaked into Henrik’s room to copy his tapes then he was handing out punk mixtapes to his mates at school. I’d like to think this was in like year 1 of primary school, so 1987-88 or thereabouts. I still remember what was on those tapes – G.B.H., Toy Dolls, Discharge, GG Allin, Ramones, Rövsvett and some other Swedish punk stuff. Pretty wild to get a mixtape of such calibre when you’re just 7-8!!! A year or two later I watched Great Rock N Roll Swindle on the telly with my parents. My stepdad was taking the piss and making jokes about ‘Johnny The Rat’ and I remember hating him for that. I loved the Sex Pistols – still do – and would sit in my room sing along to cassettes and trying to make out the lyrics. I was totally sold on punk from day one.
Speaking of Discharge, I know you’re a big fan, do you remember hearing them for the first time? Were you already well versed in Swedish Hardcore punk like Cimex and Shitlickers by then or did it totally blow your head off? No, I don’t remember the first time. I mean, I did have a few songs on one of my first punk mixtapes but I had no idea it was Discharge, hell I didn’t know shit back then. It would be a stretch to say that I recognised that they were particularly special back then haha but I remember liking the Possibility of Life’s Destruction with the intro (‘a giant door slamming in the depths of hell’). But to be fair, it was all just punk to me. Discharge worshipping came much later, probably around ’93-94 or so. I got the Never Again comp LP from the UK from some DIY distro (with a screen printed back patch of Q: And children?) and it had a huge impact on me. The imagery, the lyrics and the music really resonate. I’d listen to that record from morning to night and it really did shape my perspective on the world. Strictly musically, listen to Discharge got me really hyped and then I’d go skateboard as hard as I could haha. Yes, for sure, I had already become a huge fan of local hardcore bands, particularly Anti-Cimex of course, because they were huge local heroes, everyone loved them. My mate got GBG 1982 at some point (you could totally find it in shops still at the time, crazy when you think of it!) and of course I taped it and listened to it all the time. Other local bands I loved were G-Anx, Raped Teenagers, Rövsvett, Asocial, Totalitär and Avskum. But I grew up at a strange time when access to many of the greats of Swedish hardcore was actually impossible, unless you knew someone who had the records or the tapes and then
they would have to make you copies. At the same time, the punk scene was very focused on ‘trall punk’ with bands like Ebba Grön, KSMB, Strebers, Asta Kask and Radioaktiva Räker and a zillion other bands that basically plagiarised those bands. So like everyone, I’d listen a lot to all of those bands too. But it got easier with time, like when Distortion Records started up and then later the start of the great Swedish 1990s d-beat revival, all of this got Swedes into proper hardcore punk again.
Were there any local fanzines you were reading growing up or was it mainly Maximum Rock N Roll, Flipside etc that you had access to?
Yes for sure! Sweden had a great fanzine culture back then. Actually, my mates and I had already done DIY comic zines for years. My first underground love wasn’t punk, it was underground comic books! You know, like ‘alternative’ comics, or ‘adult comics’ as it used to be called. The cross-over from comics to punk was organic too in a way– most second-hand record shops also sold and traded second-hand comic books and of course us kids would go and cash in our old comic books etc. But what really set my friends and I off on punk fanzines was this travelling exhibition on youth culture at the Tidaholm Museum called ‘To Be Do’ in like 1991. Entrance to the museum was free and we’d bunk off school to go there and hang out, someone found the punk section, and there was we found zines to read and records to play on a turntable. Of course, we stole everything from the exhibition hahaha. One of the ones I stole was called Lever Korv and was a sort of underground punk and alternative music zine, covering Swedish punk bands but also
the Cure and other things like movie reviews etc. I thought it was super cool – and worlds apart from my life in my small town. The dude had written something like ‘now do you own zine’ and he had even included his phone number in the zine. After some doubts I called him to ask how to do a zine… The rest is history as they say.
Did you ever have a crack at writing zines back then?
For sure. My mates and I, a group of maybe 5-6 people aged between 13-15 max haha, collectively figured out how to make zines, by sending off questions to bands and then do the layout with scissors, marker pens and glue. Someone had gotten in touch with Swedish punk legend Peter Punk who had a punk distro and tape trading business so there was a ready distribution model too. All you had to do was photocopy your zine and then he’d trade 10-30 copies for other punk zines, tapes and demos, which was great incentive for all of us. There was at least 5 or 6 zines from my small group of school pals. My first zine was really fucking shitty – the name was a play on Texas Chainsaw Massacre and mince-meat (in Swedish) which didn’t make any sense. The cover was inspired by Nazi Punks Fuck Off inspired cover and it didn’t even have any band interviews inside, just some nonsense in crap handwriting. I didn’t do any copies of that one, luckily!! But then I did a second zine called Köttfärs (mince-meat in Swedish) and it came out in like 3 or 4 numbers. I’d send off letters to basically all and any punk band, based off addresses on demo tapes I had gotten from Peter Punk, meaning mostly Swedish trall-punk bands. Basically I just copied questions from other much better fanzines, like ‘who plays what instrument’, ‘what are your plans for the future’ and stuff like that haha. It was really naïve but also great fun, and it allowed me access to shit tons of new music. All in all I probably
made 100-200 copies of this zine. Later on my mate Ola and I did a zine together dedicated to fucking dbeat and proper hardcore, called Jävel Mag, this was when we had reached puberty and thought we were really hard haha. But we basically copied our favourite fanzine Sika Äpärä to death (hi kids, google it).
Fast forward 20 odd years and you’re living in Hackney, London and you’re about to publish a new zine titled ‘Distort Hackney’ with a name and logo ripping off Gauze - can you tell us a bit about this zine? I know it didn’t properly come out but what was the deal? What made you want to write a zine?
I eventually moved to London at 18, which was the thing to do at the time. There were no jobs in Sweden then but because of free movement across the EU you could just move somewhere else and try to have a bit of adventure instead. I mostly moved because of skateboarding to be fair (weather’s much milder than Sweden innit), but eventually I found my way back to London’s punk scene. By my late 20s I had a boring fucking daily life shitty office job. At work, I spent all my days exploiting this new tool called the internet, to find information about punk bands and hear weird punk bands from around the world that was impossible when I was growing up. I ended up starting a blog –called Only In It For The Music, from the E.N.T. song and from the thing we crusties used to say to posers in the 90s, ‘oh he’s only in it for the music’ i.e. someone doesn’t care about the politics – to begin with to maybe write something about some new obscurity I had just found, often while sharing a file to mp3s. After a while, maybe 1-2 years, I got bored of filesharing and realised it was sort of parasitic in a way, decided that there ‘must be more than files’ to paraphrase Disordaaarghh. Distort Hackney was kind of lame, just put together quickly using a computer, and of course I didn’t have any money to print the fucking thing. But I ended up re-using some of the material in More Noize.
Distort Hackney
You then moved on to what became More Noize fanzine (named after the Disorder 7”), the initial issue was a small newsletter but with each issue it got bigger and better, was your intention to just publish these small newsletters every now and then or did you know you wanted to publish a full size fanzine? Was the first issue you testing the waters so to speak? Precisely so. The first issue was an attempt to make a zine/newsletter than I could afford to print (i.e. copy on the sly at work) by squeezing together all the text I had intended for Distort Hackney on one double sided A4. The idea was to have a news section at the start, because it had to be an active participant in the scene, not just a bystander, so I’d do a newsround up of sorts for eg talking about what the Wankys were up to, then one or two band interviews, with tons of reviews at the end. No images, no waste of space, haha. But it kind of worked! I just wanted to do something other than be a bystander (or, just another downloader).
Yes, it was intentional. I saw that Mark Wankys and the Wankys were promting a specific style of punk and it was starting to influence a new style around the world and I wanted More Nozie to be a zine that covered this scene specifically. Also of course, thanks to Mark I had gotten into the Swankys and Confuse so the zine totally followed my own interest in music.
What was your first exposure to this kind of punk rock? Gai, Confuse, The Swankys etc… I remember hearing Confuse for the first time and thinking “what the fuck is this?” as it’s such a departure from Disorder and Chaos UK. Hahaha. Yes me too. I knew about some of these bands from seeing Dean in E.N.T. wear Confuse tshirts but had no idea of knowing how they sounded until the internet. I remember I downloaded Nuclear Addicts off a blog by a young punk in the Netherlands, who sadly died from cancer (RIP), and the music was so outlandish I couldn’t make it out. What the hell is this??? I was already a huge Disorder & Chaos UK fan, had been for years, but this was something entirely different I felt. Also the image of Confuse on that first flexi is so striking. There is no doubt that this is the real shit. You know what I mean. In my mind I wanted to look like that too but I was in my late 20s, had a baby and worked in an office hahaha.
It was shortly after the first issue came out that we started corresponding via email, I ordered the latest issue of More Noize which was the 2nd issue, a split zine with Vapaus #4. I distinctly remember reading this issue front to back numerous times as I was totally blown away by the content you were covering, this issue featured Schizophasia, Merciless Game, Lebenden Toten, Death Dust Extractor and CFDL to name a fewwas it a conscious decision to focus on this niche area of punk? Specifically ‘noisecore’extremely noisy Disorder inspired hardcore punk for those unfamiliar with the term.
Alongside the fanzine you were also doing a small CDr label called More Noize Records you released a few CDrs for bands like The Wankys, Schizophasia, Chaos Destroy - we even did a split release between More Noize Records and my old label Pogo Punx Records. Were there any releases you were working on or would like to have released that never came to fruition? I was always dead broke back then, still am to be
More Noize issues 1-10.
Swankys mania!
fair. But imagine if all those would have been released on vinyl!! That would have been really cool. As it is, no one really cared about the releases, but I’m glad I did them in true DIY fashion spent hours burning CD-Rs on my girlfriend’s laptop and putting together the sleeves etc then posting off around to all the corners of the world. I think all in all I probably ‘produced’ 800 CD-Rs on the Mor eNoize label in the end, and that’s fucking crazy when you think of it. My favourite is probably the People tour CD-R (ltd ed 50 copies in a paper bag haha). I’m also very pleased that I did get to co-release one actual vinyl record though – a 7” of the first Sun Children Sun demo.
Yes, well obviously you and I were going to do a REFUSE discography record, but I can’t remember what went wrong haha (Sorry Nob!!!). Maybe I daydreamed about making Confuse live LPs at one point. But the real shocker is that Jesus and I were talking to Cherry about re-issuing the Zouo EP at one point. Yes, true story. Cherry actually approved it too, but then about a week later he came back super apologetic and said sorry but he had already promised it to Crust War Records. Would have been sick if it had happened, then I’d be a millionaire from licencing it to Relapse Records for the reissue rights hahahaha.
You were also writing a regular column for Maximum Rock N Roll, to be honest I wasn’t buying the zine regularly then so haven’t read most of them but was this basically your vehicle to talk about bands that didn’t fit the typical More Noize area of coverage? You also had a young daughter at this time so how were you juggling all this? Did your wife ever tell you to stop writing about shit noisy punk records? Yeah, MRR totally stole me away from making my own zine haha. I had already submitted a few interviews to them, I had done a really big insightful
interview with Rob from Amebix but it got rejected because this was before they had started playing again. But nah, I felt it was up to us who were in the scene to make MRR into the mag we wanted it to be so I started sending my better interviews to them, or they would ask me to interview some band, at one point they also asked if I’d write a regular column. To be honest, I was totally disorganised, and never had anything planned until the coordinator asked me for the column ahead of the deadlines, so I’d just write what was at the top of my mind. It wasn’t necessarily stuff I wouldn’t include in More Noize though, but for sure I saved anything noisecore for the zine. Yeah, my wife hate punk in general and fanzines in particular and would never for a second give me time away to write or work on my punk shit.
It was all done at work haha.
I’d like to ask about one issue in particular, the final issue - the Kyushu punk special. I remember you working on this issue as for about 2 years prior to it coming out we were sending each other parcels almost monthly with Kyushu punk records, CDs etc and sharing stuff by email. Were you thinking it was a gamble writing an issue that was even more niche than your previous issues? It’s almost entirely focussed on The Swankys/Gai and Confuse.
Not at all. I was like fuck it – this is what it will be and who cares if no one likes it. The plan was for this to be the most complete English-language fucking bible of information on Kyushu punk ever. Haha.
It did pretty well in the end. I remember you sent me a copy of the fifth (!!!) and final run of 100 copies in 2016, do you remember how many copies you made in total in the end?
I reckon I did at least 1000 copies of that one. Maybe 1200.
Do you think fanzines still play a role within punk in 2021? Maximum Rock N Roll is now online only and just the other day they posted some zine reviews with a photo of a note enclosed with one of them saying ‘not sure if MRR is doing zine reviews anymore…’ - is it still possible for someone to discover a band from a review in a zine in the age of finding everything within 10 seconds on Discogs?
I think fanzines on paper will always be relevant. To be honest, fuck the internet. At the same time, today is a very very different world than 10-15, never mind 20-30 years ago.
I don’t even know what it would entail to be a kid discovering punk today – and how this kid would go about searching out bands etc. I mean, I spent 15 years thinking about Amebix before I even heard any of their music!!! You know that Disclose record with Swedish hardcore covers? That was my reference to Swedish 1980s hardcore for years. Today all you have to do is type in the fucking band name on Youtube or Discogs and you will soon know everything about the band and how they sounded. All sense of mystery is dead in the internet age. As for me, I don’t even pretend to be interested in bands I don’t already know, definitely not new bands, but then as you know I already like about 10,000 punk bands already and that’ll see me through another 40 years of hardcore punk obsession!
Finally, were there ever any articles you would like to have written or bands you wish you could’ve interviewed for More Noize that never happened? And what do you think about the legacy of More Noize? Some issues have sold on Japanese auction sites for upwards of £50! Thanks for your time, mate! It would have been sick if I had finished issue 11, ‘Very Last of Zine Part 2’, which has that KWR records interview and some other cool additional Kyushu stuff. That also had that late Confuse interview that Zach translated from Japanese that Tom used in General Speech. To really complement this I would have liked a proper Anarchy Recording piece (but you did that in your last issue, well done) and at least a few more new things with Watch, Loods and other Kyushu heads. The dream would have been to include real insights on those super obscure Kyushu bands like Shit, Piss and whatever they’re all called hahahaha. But ultimately, I realised nothing
like this would happen unless I fly out to Japan and spend a few months there, and with a family and a career etc I accepted that this would never ever happen. I had so to speak reached a logical deadend so fuck it all. As for my legacy, fuck my history. Thank you very fuck off!
Cheers Tony!
You can read some back issues of More Noize and Tony’s earlier fanzine Distort Hackney on the online fanzine library ‘Punks Is Hippies’ https://issuu.com/punksishippies/
One of the better things to come out of the lockdown was a new band from Kaos (Chaos U.K.) and Steve Allen (Disorder) called Fear Of The Known. Formed in 2019 with members spread across the globe including Andy Lefton (War//Plague), Timmy Twotimes (Frustration) and Yuji Kawaguchi (Rose Rose) the lockdown hasn’t slowed down the band who are operating like a well oiled machine recording parts separately they have so far managed to record a 7” EP which is slated for a September release on Phobia Records which will contain a bonus flexi disc featuring two covers of Disorder and Chaos UK classics and limited to 500 copies. Word has it they have also been working on an album.
Despite the band being no spring chickens they haven’t mellowed in their senior years and produce some unrelenting, barnstorming hardcore punk.
Yours truly with Mr Tony Gunnarsson, London, 2018.
Tony in 2021.
I’m currently working on a CD for Yokohama’s Caravana Anarquista who play totally improvised noisecore inspired by Disorder which is due to be released in late July/August.
Alongside the band the members operate a label called Death Pint Records which has recently released a benefit compilation for the Food Not Bombs collective in Myanmar featuring songs Myanmar’s own The Rebel Riot, Deathside, Doom, Exitstance, Fear Of The Known and more, they’re currently working on producing a 2nd volume which will be available through Bandcamp.
https://fotk.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Fearoftheknownofficial https://deathpintrecords.bandcamp.com/
The sold out Sore Throat Who Killed Gumby? CD (PSCDR006) is now available for streaming on Sore Throat’s bandcamp page: https://sorethroat.bandcamp.com/ and I believe it will be reissued on vinyl at some point later this year.
Thanks for reading.
