Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Before they played their songs at today’s noontime free in-store at Amoeba Hollywood, Wayne Kramer and Billy Bragg talked about Jail Guitar Doors. The organization was started in England by Bragg, with the intent of raising money to give guitars to prisoners. Not so they’ll be musicians when they are released but so that they have a creative outlet for the rest of their lives. Of course, its namesake is a song by The Clash, and when Bragg was telling the MC5 guitarist about the cause and the tune, Kramer’s response was something like, “That song is about me!” Bragg was embarrassed but excited when the Detroit musician agreed to sign on to spearhead the U.S. arm of the group. When the British punk/folk singer relayed the story to Mick Jones, the singer of “Jail Guitar Doors” didn’t even remember that Kramer was in it!
Most of the time, I feel like I’ve been at the right place and the right time. I’ve been lucky enough to partake in the apex of Saturday morning cartoons, the Marvel Age of Comics, the Showtime Lakers, punk rock when it was still scary, so many cool record stores that have vanished, college when it was affordable and easy to get into, the rise of indie punk and riot grrrl, the Golden Age of Hip-Hop and gangsta rap, the Golden Age of Hong Kong Movies, new waves of Japanese and Korean cinema, the indie toy explosion, the evolution of indie art… The list goes on and on. But last Wednesday, I was actually jealous of today’s kids. That’s when my good friend invited me to take my 3-year-old daughter and 4-year-old niece on the set of Yo Gabba Gabba!
I only know seven Bloodthirsty Butchers songs: one from the split 7″ with fellow Japanese band named after a horror movie Copass Grinderz, three from the double 7″ from with Rocket From The Crypt, and three more from the split EP with +/- (all pictured below). But damn, those songs are great and so is the quality of pairings. And what about the top-notch labels (K Records, Bacteria Sour, Teen Beat) and even artists (Tae Won Yu, Pushead, Yoshitomo Nara) they’ve worked with? With so much quality and so little quantity of information about the band from Sapporo, I was stoked to see the documentary about them directed by Jun Kawaguchi.
It turns out the Butchers’ story resembles that of many bands. They came from a small town and moved to the big city to grow their local success. After 20 years of playing medium paced and ultra melodic but gritty punk rock with everyman vocals, they are grouped with Husking Bee, Eastern Youth, and other heavyweights of Japanese punk yet struggle to survive. The members have to deal with singer Hideki Yoshimura’s controlling attitude and rude demeanor and will most likely never break through, but keep plowing on because the music is all that they have going for them at this point in their lives.