All photos by Bob Lee for the Los Angeles Beat.
Even if they don’t claim to be fully punk, the existence and widespread popularity of Kyoto band Otoboke Beaver is proof that punk’s not dead. Although theirs is an extreme expression of it which incorporates a lot of other stimulus that is not necessarily common in American punk, the sheer brashness and good time high-energy of it registers in the American brain as “very punk” despite those other influences. We have no built in detector for the influence of Japanese comedy or pop music if we don’t consume that stuff, so “punk” in America they shall be, and they seem to be OK with that. It sure doesn’t seem they are at any risk of being mistaken for the Offspring here in the heart of OC, to an audience young enough not to necessarily be referencing famous bands of the nineties – let alone seventies and eighties – as their punk rock starting point. (Minutes after I wrote that line, the lead singer posted a photo of herself with the guitarist from the Offspring, backstage at this show, on Instagram.-Ed.) In front of a packed Observatory, they were resolutely themselves and gave us an hour of that thing they do, which after fifteen years, shows no sign of going out of style.
This band are a lot of fun to watch, each in their own colorful corner. Hirochan, on bass, is blue, like the sea and the sky, the environment which defines the shape for their strange forms. Kahokiss, the drummer, wears green like the meadows and the fields and the mountains. She forms the rhythmic floor upon which the stories can be told, the complex yet naturalistic structures that make them interesting. Guitarist Yoyoyoshie is orange, the spark, the fire under the feet of the band that makes them play with such incredible speed and urgency. And Accorinrin is pink, the reddened face and beating heart of the human being that pushes out thoughts such as “I Won’t Dish Out Salad”, “Take Me To Meet Your Family” and “I Don’t Want To Die Alone” as song topics, with terrific intensity. Not since Kiss in 1978 have a band been so thoughtfully and effectively color coordinated.
(Photo gallery after the break.) Continue reading
