Tokyo's Coolest Sound

Two weeks ago, on August 10, I had the chance to see what I believe was the first show by Club Aloe, a new band by 5 ex-members of Modern Choki Chokies, a collective that used to feature several dozens of members, one of my favorite bands of all time from the early/mid-90's.

The new band features Nullpyon (vocals), Isoda Osamu (guitar), Kajino Hideki (bass), Yoshigaki Yasuhiro (drums), and Inoue Kōichi on "electric taishō-goto". While describing themselves as "beauty and health punk band", they're actually a mix of many genres. Formerly in Modern Choki Chokies, I believe Nullpyon used to be a sort of dancer/entertainer, with some vocal parts.

All the band members were just way too good for the tiny venue, Mandala 2 in Kichijoji, making me feel very spoiled! Isoda Osamu's crazy guitar solos were awesome, and the bass and drums really tight. I was also amazed by the taishō-goto, a rare instrument I hadn't seen before, actually a 100-year old type of koto, here in an electric variation.

And Nullpyon! What a character! His voice and singing were really powerful. He never stopped singing or talking throughout the whole 2+ hour show! You'd think they'd manage to fit some 20 songs in a show of that length, but he spent about as much time joking with the band members between each song. There was also a lot of interaction with the crowd too. It was all hilarious, and somewhat felt very Osaka style!

The show actually contained a few songs from Nullpyon's album from 1994 under the band name "kaminari Marathon", and also what seemed to be a bunch of original songs. Watch a clip from the show below, the song is "Antmusic".

By the way, that old album can be actually heard entirely at Club Aloe's MySpace, but I just had to buy it on my way out of the show. I hesitated also getting the cool "Punk Again" T-shirt, will have to next time I see them!

Larger sizes at Flickr