Hello! Welcome to issue 6 of Private Scandal fanzine.
Last summer I was re-listening to CHAOSCHANNEL’s monumental album “How You’d Never Been So High, But Then, You’d Never Needed To Be?”. At the time of release back in 2010 the album had been in production for what seemed like an eternity, but when it was finally released in a deluxe CD boxset it was so worth the wait, I was blown away by what I was hearing.
Noisecore/Noise Punk was, and I’m using this term reluctantly, sort of trendy. By no means were bands like Screaming Noise being asked by Lee Dorian to reform for big European festival slots, but there was a small but dedicated group of bands that were spreading the good word of Noise Punk!
Bands like The Wankys, Nekromantiker, Chaos Destroy and Merciless Game were releasing some great slabs of noisy Swankys/Disorder-inspired punk rock, but CHAOSCHANNEL’s album felt like a stepup from any of these bands. It’s a sound that transcends punk, and at the time it felt genre defining, and quite honestly, life changing.
I genuinely thought this album would change the world of punk and people would be converted into CHAOSCHANNEL disciples from then on. But it was not to be! I’m not sure why, maybe it was too out there, both in terms of the sound and the artwork, but as I listened to the album again in 12 years later
it didn’t feel any less impactful. Revisiting the album inspired me to delve further into the CHAOSCHANNEL back catalogue and going all the way back to The Donkeys, a band whose history is unclear.
I thought this zine would be an interesting way to bring the album back into the forefront of people’s minds, so they can revisit it, or check it out for the first time and hopefully be as blown away as I was and learn more about one of my favourite bands!
In other Private Scandal news, since the last issue in July 2021 Private Scandal has seen it’s first proper vinyl release, the debut 7” EP from 133ANDSPEX! A band led by former Slowmotions/Shock vocalist Isami, who I interviewed in the last issue. The reception to the 7” has been great, I was even interviewed on BBC Radio Northampton about it which was interesting to say the least. Huge thanks to Tom at General Speech for his guidance and help in co-releasing it. I’m working on some other cool releases so watch this space.
Thanks to No.6, Mihara Yasuhiro, Mr.Wanky, Bunta.
Gimmick rotten idol. March 2023
gimmickrottenidol@gmail.com privatescandal.bigcartel.com
2nd edition printed April 2023.
The history of CHAOSCHANNEL has hazy origins. One would think that in the era of technology when I receive messages from 17-year-old punks asking about bands like Gaim and Crass Ignorance that the history of the more wellknown bands like CHAOSCHANNEL would be old news, but even now their history is subject to speculation.
The part of the story that is the most confusing is the transition from The Donkeys, a band originally from Kyushu, and how they morphed into CHAOSCHANNEL. The earliest theory that was thrown around on blogs and trading circles when The Donkeys – Serve You Right tape first came to light was that it was simply a case of CHAOSCHANNEL were formerly known as The Donkeys, but there’s more to it than that.
It’s believed that The Donkeys singer Mihara Yasuhiro , moved to Osaka and restarted the band there with Motomu Sadaoka aka No.6, current vocalist of CHAOSCHANNEL.
This Osaka version of CHAOSCHANNEL then transitioned into the band that we know today. Current CHAOSCHANNEL vocalist No.6 has spoken on this subject before, alluding to the fact he and Mihara were friends from a young age and exchanged song ideas but until now there has been no statement
wearing a Disorder shirt in this photo!). I thought getting in touch with him would be impossible, I wrote to the email address for the press on his website but never received a response. Without expecting anything I messaged him directly explaining that I would like to speak to him about The Don-
and not somewhere you would expect the former vocalist of a noise punk band to have a shop but when I visited the shop a few years ago you could see the Punk influence in his work. Handpainted leather jackets with studs were still part of his designs. I asked the staff if he was there to speak about The Donkeys but it was not to be. I left with 2 stickers…all I could afford.
He currently has more than 80 thousand followers on his personal Instagram, there’s even photos of him with celebrities like David Beckham (Mihara is
Hi Mihara, thank you for doing this interview! There has been a lot of speculation about The Donkeys and the early days of CHAOSCHANNEL so I’m glad we can talk about it today and hopefully clear up some of the confusion. Let’s start from the beginning, how did you discover punk? In 1983, at the age of 11 I took up surfing. My older surfing buddies took me to a disco where they were playing contemporary black music, there I discovered breakdancing and music like Afrika Bambaataa.
I saw someone wearing studded belts and wristbands, I was intrigued by this style so I asked him “Where can I buy studded belts and wristbands like that?” “At a punk shop” he replied.
I went to a punk shop in Fukuoka, and it blew my mind. The music playing seemed crazy and there were teenagers dressed in punk clothes with their studded jackets. I plucked up the courage to speak to them and they said “there’s a gig coming up soon, you should come!” so I went along to the gig and I was hooked. Seeing the punks go wild amidst the intense noise really hooked me.
The history of the band is a little confusing, some people say The Donkeys are from Hakata, other people say the band is from Oita. I thought you were from Hakata, where is the band from and what year did the band form?
I’m from Fukuoka, so you could say we’re from Ha-
kata. The band started when I was 14 so it would’ve been 1986.
You really were just a kid when you started the band then weren’t you? It’s become a legend that The Donkeys were high school students and that you even wrote some of the songs when you were just 13 years old!
I started playing in my first band when I was 13 years old. I was the drummer. The older members of the band just wanted to play covers of early punk bands. I soon got tired of that and gravitated toward hardcore music. I was buying cheap secondhand records from a shop called UK Edison, which sold imported records, and listening to them. I was writing simple songs when I was 13. But they were improvised, with just bass and drums. Shortly after that, I formed The Donkeys. We were just a bunch of delinquents from the same school.
What bands inspired you to play noisecore? Did you hear bands like Chaos U.K. and Disorder first or were you inspired by local bands like Gai and Confuse?
As I was there at the time, I was inspired by Gai and Confuse in real-time. Of course, I was also influenced by Chaos U.K. and Disorder but the records that influenced me the most were the DIRT records
I know about 3 Donkeys demo tapes: How Does It Feel, Serve You Right, and Fuck Your Life. I believe How Does It Feel is the first demo, Serve You Right is the second, and Fuck Your Life is the last. On the sleeve of the How Does It Feel tape it says “Yasuhiro – Guitar” – were you originally playing guitar in the band and then became the vocalist? That’s right. At first, I was drumming, but I became a guitarist as I was more interested in songwriting and noise guitar, also during gigs, the vocalist and guitarist were easy targets (they would fight while playing) so I wanted to be the frontman.
There are stories that Mad from Confuse taught members of Gai and Sieg Heil which distortion pedals to use. Did any older punks show you which pedals to use?
There was nobody teaching me what pedals to use. Of course, it wasn't as easy to get information like it is now. I experimented with connecting different effects pedals, and even though I tried to imitate Mad from Confuse’s set-up, it didn't work. Confuse’s noise was really something special.
I want to talk about the Serve You Right tape, probably your most famous release! I believe it was recorded at Rockjam. Was this a rehearsal studio or was it a real recording studio? Rockjam was just a rehearsal studio in our neighbourhood.
The tapes are quite rare, and they are becoming more and more expensive, how many copies did you make of each tape?
Because I was dubbing them at home I didn’t have many tapes, I think I made around 100 copies of each.
Did you design the tape sleeves? I love the artwork! It looks like a blend of Gai and Gee Vaucher’s work. What were your influences when designing them?
I designed them. I discovered Crass through DIRT and I was influenced by Gee Vaucher. Her work continues to influence me to this day.
Did The Donkeys play live often? Were you just playing in Kyushu or did you play live in other cities? What bands were you playing live with? Only in Kyushu. Hakata mostly, although sometimes we played in Oita and Northern Kyushu. I don't remember the bands we played with, but they were all delinquents.
When did The Donkeys break up?
I was around the age of 17 (around 1989). There were a few occasional line-up changes. It became difficult to play gigs in Fukuoka. Stories of violence preceded us (more than half of which are false). The situation was that only troublemakers came to the gigs.
Was the band changing at that time?
Yeah! Around that time the sound of our music was
was living in Tottori and was doing a band called Mamango and that you and he were communicating. How did you meet each other?
One day I received a phone call from him at my home. At that time, I was already interested in what was next, as The Donkeys were on hiatus. He was interested in The Donkeys sound. Since then, he and I became friends.
This is what I heard, The Donkeys broke up and
what we sounded like, the later material was quite technical, whereas The Donkeys tapes were very lofi.
Can I ask what is the connection between you and No.6 (CHAOSCHANNEL vocalist)? I understand he
So you were never a member of the CHAOSCHANNEL? I’d heard that you were a member. Can you please clarify the history? This part of the story is very confusing.
Again, this isn’t true. For starters, I never lived in Osaka. I moved from Fukuoka to Tokyo to become an art student and No.6 started the band in Osaka.
So you moved to Tokyo to study art, did you also study fashion? How old were you at the time? Was your plan to become a punk Designer? At that time, punk fashion shops like Dead End and 666 were quite popular in Japan. I attended TAMA Art University from the age of 20 to study art. I didn’t study fashion. I didn’t want to become a designer. I just wanted to be an artist. In my mind, the punk spirit and art tackle the same issues.
What influence did punk have on your early works?
In the early days, I only made leather shoes. It was more Junk than Punk. I was rebelling against the then fashion trends of the world.
Do you think punk continues to have an influence on your life?
Most definitely!
Do you know CHAOSCHANNEL is still playing live now?
I know, I’m glad they’re still playing.
Thank you so much for your time, I am thankful for the opportunity to talk to you about this, I hope we cleared up some confusion around The Donkeys and CHAOSCHANNEL.
Thank you very much! It was a very interesting interview. I am grateful and proud of No.6 for still carrying on CHAOSCHANNEL and the spirit of The Donkeys. The world is in a terrible state now. That is why we must not forget the human invention called punk.
There we have it; The Donkeys history is not as previously thought. The claims that Donkeys vocalist Mihara Yasuhiro was a member of CHAOSCHANNEL turned out to be bollocks. To summarise, The Donkeys formed in 1986, and due to violence at their gigs and a lack of bookings broke up around 1989. In their short career they recorded 3 now highly sought-after demo tapes of pure Kyushu island noisecore, to be filed with classic demos such as Confuse – Indignation, Gai – Damaging Noise, and Gess – Suffer Damage. By the early 90’s the band had been inactive for a while, and Motomu Sadaoka aka No.6, vocalist of CHAOSCHANNEL was passed the torch so to speak to carry on the spirit of The Donkeys. In 1993, CHAOSCHANNEL begins playing in Osaka.
days in Osaka.
Over the course of a few months and a few long phone calls, in between talking bollocks we conducted this interview.
So here it is, CHAOSCHANNEL’s history from the very beginning by No.6
Hi, No.6. How are you? Let’s start from the beginning. When you were a kid you had a band called MAMANGO in Tottori, right? Was MAMANGO a Noisecore band?
Thank you for this opportunity. MAMANGO wasn’t a noisecore band, it was just a bunch of junior high school kids messing around. We later changed the band name to ROBOT COMPANY. It was around this time I met Mihara Yasuhiro.
No.6 and I have been friends for a while now but we’ve never really spoken about the band’s early
How long was ROBOT COMPANY active for? You said you met Mihara around this time, how did you first meet? Did you ever see The Donkeys live or did you just hear their tapes?
ROBOT COMPANY wasn’t really very active, like MAMANGO we were just school kids messing about. I left high school after one year and I went to Nagoya, I remember it was a spontaneous thing. At the
curious how they were able to achieve this crazy sound, so I called the number on the tape. I promised to carry on the spirit of the band. I never saw them live and I didn’t hear about their other demo tapes until I went to Osaka.
Do you remember what year that was? It’s a common misconception that The Donkeys tapes were
time, I was really into Punk Rock bands with a dance beat like Blondie and Devo, but one day at UK Edison (a chain of record shops in Japan) in Nagoya I found The Donkeys ‘Serve You Right’ demo tape. Demo tapes at that time often had a contact address, phone number etc on them.
I have to say, The Donkeys, and I apologise to Mihara for saying this, never sounded amazing, but I was
released in the early 90’s. I’m not sure of the exact date but they were released in the mid-to-late 80’s. Anyway, by the time you called Mihara, The Donkeys had already broken up?
I’m not sure exactly when I got that demo tape but it was probably 1991, The Donkeys had already broken up. After that, I was also in contact with Dis, the vocalist of CONFUSE. I had discovered the type of music I wanted to play so I went back home...
to Tottori, got ready, and left for Osaka. From there I started CHAOSCHANNEL.
Did Dis have an influence on the CHAOSCHANNEL sound? Was he giving you advice on how to play noisecore? CHAOSCHANNEL started in Osaka in ’93 right? If I understand it correctly no Donkeys members were involved in CHAOSCHANNEL but I did hear Habi (GLOOM) was playing drums in the initial line-up of CHAOSCHANNEL? Dis and I had a lot of conversations at that time but he wasn’t influencing CHAOSCHANNEL we weren’t even talking about noisecore. As I said earlier I was really interested in dance beats but I was inspired by punk.
It’s true, Habi was playing drums when we were rehearsing in the studio. No members of The Donkeys were involved in CHAOSCHANNEL once we were active in Osaka.
I heard a rumour there is a CHAOSCHANNEL demo TAPE called “LOVE BEER OR DIE” that was released before the split tape with ADDICTION, is it true? That’s not true. The split tape with THE ADDICTION was our first release.
py with the recording of the 1st EP?
During the recording of the split tape everyone got together, and we had a laugh recording it. When it came to recording the 1st EP it felt like work, I remember we had a hard time working out the sound. Was I satisfied with it? I always get worried answering this, let’s just say there was a sense of accomplishment.
You recorded the 1st EP at the same studio (Studio CAB), right? The sound difference between the split tape and the 1st EP is quite radical considering it was recorded at the same studio. Were you hap-
I like the 1st EP, but personally, I think the 2nd EP is really where CHAOSCHANNNEL found their sound. I wanted to ask something about the thanks list on this 1st EP. You mentioned The Casualties, Blanks 77, Aus-Rotten etc. Were you writing to and trading with these bands at that time? I also think that we finally achieved what we set out to do on the 2nd EP. We had a lot of help from people on the 2nd EP and I had a vision like “this is the sound I want to make!” I was certain about the sound I wanted to produce on the 2nd EP. From then I wanted to move away from the restrictions of noisecore. We were able to record with a good group of people at that time. After the release of the 1st EP we were interviewed by a fanzine in Osaka and I talked about what we wanted to do as a band. After that, we went to the USA. I’d heard a lot about the US punk scene at that time and I thanked those bands as a mark of respect for that scene. We were only corresponding with Blanks 77.
Is that so? I remember seeing a photo of your wearing a Blanks 77 shirt in 1994, I thought that was quite cool. Do you remember what fanzine that was? Was Takeshi (C.F.D.L) talking about CHAOSCHANNEL to American punks at that time? I think he was corresponding with punks from around the world.
That leads on to my next question about your gig at the BEER OLYMPICS in NYC in 1995. Who invited you to perform in NYC? Was it the Squat or Rot crew?
I can’t remember the fanzine. Takeshi wasn’t involved but Leader, the vocalist of Nagoya hardcore band Out of Touch, gave us advice. It was thanks to the band CODE13 that we were able to play in NYC, but we had help from punks from all over Japan. Abe from Life was there wasn’t he? I read that the Beer Olympics was meant to be in Brooklyn but there was a riot and you ended up playing at the C -Squat in Manhattan. Can you say something about the riot? Did you play any other Live Shows in the USA at that time?
It’s true there was a riot. We ended up playing at CSquat and it was a great gig. Abe from Life was there and so was Leader from Out of Touch. We escaped the riot in Brooklyn and fled to Central Park. We met up with Nori from Tom And Boot Boys and I remember that calmed us all down.
We only played one gig in the US. We wanted to play more but the situation was so bad that we could only play one gig.
Former CHAOSCHANNEL drummer Chikara aka Power elaborated further on the Beer Olympics story.
We’d heard that the Beer Olympics was held every year, but there was a new mayor elected in New York who wanted to cancel the event as he didn’t think a gig should be held in a squatted venue.
There were at least 300 people who wanted to go to the gig and we were all heading back to the station, stopping in the park on the way to hang out when some people who lived near the park were arguing with the punks and a fight broke out. It was about 20 people who lived near the park vs. about 200 punks and squatters.
It escalated to the point that riot police were called in and it got really violent. Luckily for us, a friendly local punk offered to help us and hid us in his basement until it blew over.
It was on the TV and everything that there had been a riot.
Some squatter punks were playing a gig and as we had come all the way from Japan, they let us play too. Once the gig was over, they gave us all the money from the door because we’d travelled so far.
The building we played in was totally derelict, there was no running water, and the toilet was filled with shit haha.
Your next recording was the track for the compilation EP released in Finland. You recorded some other tracks during this session (DESTROY, FREEDOM & CHAOS, and SHIT SOCIETY…). Was your intention to release these tracks at the time or was it just an advance recording for the 2nd EP?
We decided to take part in this compilation EP after talking to Kawakami from Disclose. This session was later released as a demo tape. It wasn’t really an advanced recording for the 2nd EP. At that time, I
wanted to move away from a “core” sound, hardcore and noisecore specifically and I wanted to do something more “pop” so to speak. They were rerecorded for the 2nd EP as I remember thinking “I want to do something different.”
Was that the tape that said “Hello England Punks”? Was someone selling that tape in England?
Ah, I don’t remember that tape. They were released on the demo tape that has a popcorn design on the cover.
You’re right, I’d forgotten those songs were on that tape. I think the tape with the popcorn design on the cover is referred to as the ‘Noise Hero’ tape isn’t it? I wanted to ask about the live recording on this tape, was it recorded at Shinjuku LOFT when you played with The Zett?
That’s right, the title was ‘Noise Hero’. It was recorded at that gig with The Zett at Shinjuku Loft. Accomplice also played. Our opening music on that day was the Pink Panther theme song.
I’d like to talk a bit more about the 2nd EP if that’s OK. How did Pon (LAUGHIN’ NOSE) come to produce the EP? Did Pon help you find the sound you were looking for?
As for Pon, I was telling him I would like to use a Les Paul from the 50’s and he said “Belly (LAUGHIN’ NOSE guitarist) has one, I’ll ask him”
He wasn’t really involved in creating the sound we were looking for. I already had that sound in my head, and I knew what guitars I needed for it. It probably came across as rude. Pon also commented on our album after, I was really happy about that.
Was it unusual to have that support from the older generation?
I think our last gig was at Shinjuku LOFT but we were drunk every day back then, so my memory is hazy.
We were young so it’s only natural that we were intimidated by the older generation.
LAUGHIN’NOSE were amazing though. They weren’t worried about engaging with the younger generation and supporting us. I feel like it really gave us confidence.
I heard you played a gig with GISM back in the 90s, was that your last gig?
You played a gig with LAUGHIN’NOSE around this time, too didn’t you?
Yes, at a place called Namba Rockets. At the time the sound of CHAOSCHANNEL was changing and as we had accomplished what we set out to do, we broke up shortly after that.
So that was the last gig? I have a video of that gig and Chikara (Then CHAOSCHANNEL drummer) is wearing headphones. I’ve often thought “I wonder if he told the engineer to turn down the volume of the noise guitar in the headphones” haha.
I get the impression that in the early 90’s the older generation of punks in Japan weren’t really supportive of the younger punks, but LAUGHIN’NOSE seemed to be supporting those younger bands.
No, that gig was in Tokyo at a huge venue, we played with GISM, Death Side, etc but that wasn’t our last gig.
CHAOSCHANNEL restarted in 2006. What was the reaction to your reunion? I guess your sound at that time wasn’t too different to what you were playing in the 90’s. Yeah, that’s true. It felt like we were treading old ground. I can’t say anything about the audience’s response as it’s up to them, but to me, it just didn’t feel right.
We made some new songs and there were a few changes. Our guitarist Tak was playing the bass back then. He switched from bass to guitar as such the type of noise we were making changed.
I didn’t know Tak was playing bass at that time. Was CHAOSCHANNEL playing a lot then? I know you came to the UK in 2007 to tour as Wank Channel. How did it feel to finally play in your spiritual home of Bristol?
Tak played bass for us when we played at LOFT with The Zett back in the day.
After CHAOSCHANNEL broke up Tak became a DJ and an industrial noise guitarist. I really liked the stuff he was doing so I asked him to join the band as a guitarist when we reformed.
We played regularly and as you said we toured the UK as Wank Channel (a collaboration of Wankys and CHAOSCHANNEL members). The Bristol gig was great fun, especially having a laugh with Gabba from Chaos UK. Shout out to Staff for booking that gig.
When did you start to think about the sound you wanted to make on the album? What was inspiring you? I know it took a long time for you to record it. I remember reading “CHAOSCHANNEL album is coming soon” for what seemed like years! It took a long time because the album was an experiment.
I wanted it to be a jumbled mess of sounds. I was influenced by the type of minimal techno music that Tak was DJing back then, I wanted to incorporate that with a punk essence, so I didn’t want it to be perfect. I wanted to include errors. Odd BPMs, weird rhythms with errors. That was my goal. The only bass player I could think of who could help us achieve that was UNO, so I asked UNO to join the band.
I worked with Uno in the design world, together we were able to dramatically change the image of CHAOSCHANNEL as well. We changed the logo from English to Hiragana handwriting. I was conscious of expressing the concept of humanism. I wanted the CD packaging of the cardboard box with the handwriting to be like something kids would play with, like a box of sweets. Making the music was like swapping out parts that haven’t changed with new parts. Case in point, the song Olly Olly Oxen Free we wanted to be neither punk rock nor noisecore.
Was it difficult to achieve that sound? For example, how long was it taking you to programme the drums for each track?
Yeah, it was difficult to achieve the sound we wanted. It took a long time, we were working on it for several years. It was a new challenge, and we couldn't settle and say “that will do!”. We even tried playing it live at Tak's house with Uno Hiroyuki, but something was different each time, so we repeated it again and again until we finally achieved what we set out to do.
Were you satisfied with the finished product? When you listen to it now what do you think about it? When you listen to it now do you think “I wish I could add more noise in that track” for example. CHAOSCHANNEL is always evolving isn’t it?
I am satisfied. We were able to do more than we imagined. I think the reason we achieved the sound we had in mind was because Mr Katsumi (ex.OUTO), who produced it, brought out a lot of things in me. I'm very satisfied with the sound, too, because he went above and beyond.
I’d like to ask about your artwork. Your job is a designer, right? Did you find that because the artwork is not typical ‘punk style’ that people would not buy your records?
That's right. I run a design company with our bassist Uno. I was very pleased to hear that the style was not well received and it didn't sell. We like punk and have always cherished that feeling, but what is punk? I think the opposite is true. I think the result of this project was not a joke, but a serious rebellion against the idea that designing in a punk way is the way it has to be.
OK, well, for example, I think that some punks outside of Japan are more closeminded and they want a punk record to have a typical ‘punk style’.
Are there any artists that inspire your artwork? I want to know about the 12” version of the album. The artwork is very minimalist. What was your inspiration for this design? My interpretation is that the 12” sleeve is very minimalist, but the music is the opposite.
As you know, musically, Chaotic Dischord, has
influenced me in every way. As for the artwork, I still feel that it's not very punk. I think it's a bit punk-ish. I was inspired by John Maeda, that was it, really. The 12" sleeve was a one-handed sketch I made while I was talking to Tak on the phone, and later I coloured it in. I think it was a good balance of what I wanted to do, what I wanted to try and what I wanted to challenge myself with.
What’s next for CHAOSCHANNEL? Are you working on any new music? Not right now
How about WANKCHANNEL?
It was a fun project with Mr Wanky. I'd like the opportunity to play again. I'd love to do some recording or something!
Can you say something about IGAIGA?
No comment! haha
There are certain bands that just have a bond, CHAOSCHANNEL and England’s The Wankys have a connection. Older blokes united in noise. Splitting eardrums around the world.
Mr.Wanky is a connoisseur of noise punk and a long time fan of CHAOSCHANNEL.
One Sunday afternoon Mr.Wanky and I had a long phone call talking about CHAOSCHANNEL, here are some highlights…
When did you first hear the band and what was your first impression as there weren’t many bands playing noise punk at the time were there?
I was still trading tapes into the 90’s, I got the Destroy, Freedom & Chaos tape from Bunta (Punk Tribe) he was distributing that tape, the split tape with The Addiction and also the CFDL/Denial split tape.
I had heard about CHAOSCHANNEL from friends in Nagoya like Takeshi from CFDL and Takacho from SDS as they were sending me gig flyers like those Punk And Destroy flyers.
Were the 7” EPs hard to get a hold of in England or did you get those later?
I got those later. The only person who I think might have sold them was Mike from
Inflammable Material records as he had a relationship with Overthrow Records. You have to remember this was in the days when you got an A4 distro list in the post and you would send off some dole money to find out they no longer had it!
Let’s talk about No.6. How did you first meet him, was it on your first trip to Japan?
The cassette was the first release I got a hold of and I loved it. As you said there weren’t many bands playing that style then. Chaos UK and Disorder didn’t sound like they did back in the day, so it was great to hear a band playing that kind of Swankys meets Chaotic Dischord style.
I didn’t meet No.6 when I first went to Japan, but I met Uno, the bassist of CHAOSCHANNEL. He was still playing in Result and Black Ganion at the time and was a friend of Bunta’s. It was great we finally ended up becoming friends years later when he joined CHAOSCHANNEL.
The first time I met No.6 was through Facebook. I sent him a message and we began communicating this is when we discussed the idea of the CHAOSCHANNEL UK tour which evolved into the Wank Channel tour, this was around the time that a great live video of CHAOSCHANNEL surfaced online, did you hear the story about that?
No, what happened?
No.6 paid a guy to record and produce a live DVD with multiple camera angles and professional production. Apparently, the guy made this 1 song preview which was uploaded to YouTube and disappeared. Somewhere someone has a recording of the full gig!
Back then even the Wankys were getting a reaction like “what the fuck is this?” so the reaction to myself and Mr. Bash The Bishop (Wankys bassist) plus No.6 and Kohey from CHAOSCHANNEL was pretty much the same.
I asked No.6 how it felt to play his spiritual home of Bristol and his most endearing memory of that gig was having a chat with Gabba haha, was the Bristol gig quiet? Who played the Bristol gig? Bristol and London were quiet. It was just us and Threat Of War from Leicester, no local supports that night.
So Leicester was the best gig?
By default, yes, as it was the busiest but even then people didn’t know who CHAOSCHANNEL were.
What was the furry glove that No.6 was wearing at those gigs about?
The glove came from Mr.Bash The Bishop, he got the glove from a promotional Halloween box of Strongbow cider and told No.6 he should wear it. No.6 had a great time pretending he was a bear.
What kind of reception did Wank Channel get in the UK? Were people even aware of Chaos Channel?
I believe you recorded a Wank Channel demo but it’s never been released. Any chance it’ll ever see the light of day?
If I remember rightly Kohey recorded all the drums, I asked Mr.Bash The Bishop to record the bass and he kept saying “Yeah, I’ll do it next week.” And never got around to it, after months of asking he said he’d forgotten the songs! I could’ve recorded the bass, but Wank Channel was the four of us, not just me, Kohey, and No.6.
Were the vocals recorded?
The plan was for No.6 to record the vocals in Japan but as the bass was never recorded it never happened, I’m not sure I even recorded the guitars so the Wank Channel demo is just Kohey playing drums on his own!
I want to ask about The Wankys Japan Tour in 2010, specifically about CHAOSCHANNEL. I understand that this tour was the debut of their current sound combining noise punk with dance beats. How did it go down? Were people ready for it?
People were just blown away by the sound, I was blown away by it. I was seeing it every night and I was gobsmacked. I think people were in awe of it, they weren’t going mental, but they weren’t walking out either, I don’t think they knew how to react.
What about their album, you released a split CD-R for the Japan tour which had some rough recordings which are so different to the finished album and I guess you heard demos but what was your first impression when you heard the finished product?
As you said we did the split CD-R and he sent me demos and recordings of ideas he had for the album but when I first heard the finished product I was blown away. the difference between the early demos and the finished product is night and day. The layers of noise, every different frequency that fills your ear, the thick sound, and the drum sound, which No.6 will tell you is not a drum machine, it’s programmed drums.
No.6 thinks about every detail, he thinks a lot about fidelity. He even wanted to record some of the album in England as he believed the difference in humidity would’ve resulted in a different sound, but Uno and Tak were integral to achieving that sound.
He did say that a few years before the album Tak was DJing minimal techno and doing industrial noise guitar performances and this influenced the sound they wanted for the album. I believe that, it’s a heavy record.
I know you told me before about seeing some really early Godflesh gigs, was it akin to that? Yeah, definitely. The audience reaction to CHAOSCHANNEL and Godflesh was the same.
How about the US tour in 2012? CHAOSCHANNEL played in the US in 1995 and I guess they were still only really known for their early stuff over there.
How was the crowd’s reaction to this new and radically different sound?
The tour was a financial success, but again the audience were either in shock, awe, or disbelief! People were going nuts at a handful of the gigs and Miyachi, the drummer, was being a clown, which people loved.
Were the limitations of DIY venues in the US a hindrance to their sound? I imagine the difference between the professional Japanese clubs and DIY venues in America meant it was quite a different experience.
I think it was a challenge for them having to use something like a vocal PA in someone’s basement when they were used to Japanese venues. I remember something as simple as a table for the laptop to play the programmed drums was even hard to get. We ended up buying a little fold out table that came on the tour!
I guess nobody really knew of the new CHAOSCHHANEL sound as the CD was quite expensive when it came out and as you know people outside of Japan are turned off by CDs, especially expensive ones. Do you think people were going along to hear some early stuff?
I don’t even think many people knew the early CHAOSCHANNEL stuff aside from a handful of maniacs. I think most people were just curious about seeing a band from Japan.
Did No.6 enjoy going back to the US? Finally, they toured the USA after the ill-fated 1995 experience!
I think No.6 was hoping to see familiar faces in New York but it was a really quiet Sunday night gig. Philly was rammed though, it was a gig in a basement, I couldn’t get anywhere near the front.
Your own band
The Wankys reworked a classic CHAOSCHANNEL track ‘ABC I Love Punk’ – how did this come about? What did No.6 think?
What can you say about the relationship that The Wankys and CHAOSCHANNEL have? You’ve toured and done split records with loads of bands but The Wankys and CHAOSCHANNEL relationship seems different.
First of all, they’re good friends of ours. I guess we’ve always championed each other over the years. I’m surprised we haven’t done a split record, to be honest. I can’t put a finger on what’s special about our relationship, they’re just great guys and really easy-going. As long as No.6 has a bottle of whiskey and Uno and Tak have some weed they’re sorted. I remember when we toured Japan Tak bought a new Fender guitar as he said he thought I’d enjoy playing it. It must’ve cost him hundreds of pounds but he did it just because he’s a nice guy.
I think when we did the Wank Channel tour I wanted to play that song and he was pretty adamant that CHAOSCHANNEL doesn’t play it anymore, but he told us that we could have the song. I don’t even consider it a CHAOSCHANNEL cover, it’s a Wankys song now.
I remember when I booked a gig for them there was a typhoon in Nagoya, No.6 was in Tokyo at the time so he was at the gig but we were unsure if the rest of the band would make it but to their credit they did, because they didn’t want to let me down, I was really touched by that. Yeah, they’re fantastic guys.
What do you think of the legacy of CHAOSCHANNEL as an early adopter of the Swankys-style noise punk sound and a band that despite the limitations of the noise punk style has managed to reinvent themselves and continue to make amazing records? Do you think people will ever be ready for CHAOSCHANNEL?
I’ll always be a fan. I don’t care if other people don’t realise how amazing they are, and I don’t think they do either. Maybe one day in 10 years someone will pick up on how fantastic the album is. It might even take someone trying to copy their sound to get people to go back and re-evaluate it.
What can you say about No.6 and his artistic vision? Is he a genius or a madman? He’s certainly a man who is dedicated, inspired and willing to spend the time and effort to find likeminded people to help realise his vision, but you can’t underestimate the role Uno and Tak play in helping create what is CHAOSCHANNEL.
His vision for the Wankys – Knock One Out CD with the transparent printed plastic cover was to make a noisy piece of art. It’s a really interesting concept and something only No.6 could come up with.
You know he designed the sleeve for SDS’s Ameber?
The 12” version, right?
Yeah, the idea for that was that the “old” format of the 12” record would have digital artwork and that the “new” format of the CD would have hand-drawn art.
To answer your question, is he a genius or a madman? I don’t know, probably a bit of both.
Can you say something IGAIGA?
You’d have to ask No.6 about that…
