Tsunami Bomb + Audio Karate + Fonzie

If I were in a band, my only goal would be to tour Japan. Japanese music fans are insane. Despite being faced with astronomically high prices for concert tickets (and CDs), they still come out in huge masses to support whatever music is brought their way. Regardless of how many albums a band has released here or how many times they have visited the country, it seems that there is always a crowd of music lovers present to bestow their praise and adoration. Everyone is treated like they are a part of the biggest band in the world. Take tonight’s bill for instance. None of the bands, who hail from the United States and Portugal, had ever set foot on Japanese soil prior to this short tour. However, they were able to come to Tokyo and play two shows for a couple hundred fans that went absolutely crazy for everything the groups did. As the house lights dimmed, a lit up sign bearing the name Fonzie could be seen at the back of Deseo’s small stage. The audience, comprised of punk fans old and new, shouted and cheered as the quartet from Lisbon, Portugal picked up their instruments. Lead singer Hugo M. made his way to the microphone and let loose the first of several “What’s up Japan, you ready to rock?” cries before the band began their first song. Seeing guitarist David M., thrashing around while the group’s bassist bounced all over, got the teens who were congregating up front overly excited, causing a small circle pit to break out. Pausing just briefly enough to raise their metal horns, the band instantly kicked into the next song of their 35 minute performance. Their brand of hard fast punk got the kids even more pumped up. Several teens took turns pulling themselves up into the rafters of the club and hanging upside down while the band played. Although highly entertaining to watch, the band was admittedly a little over the top at times, going through all the various arena rock poses that are usually reserved for much larger venues. Screams of “Thank you, Tokyo” between songs along with a short version of AC/DC’s classic guitar rock anthem “Thunderstruck” didn’t help to dispel these notions. Japan, not generally a country know for its subtlety, ate it up, though. Fans smiled with glee as the band had them count down 1, 2, 3 in Japanese “ichi, ni, san” before launching into “Runaway”. After playing “Sunny Days” they gained more bonus points from the crowd by bringing the promoter of the show, local punker Daisuke Ihorihara, up on stage to handle guitar duties for one song. Going for a way more toned down approach, Audio Karate seemed quite reserved as they took to the stage to play their awesome brand of emo and punk. Although the music was just as heavy as Fonzie’s rambunctious punk rock, it had a more refined and melodic undertone to it. The guys themselves stood still as they belted out their tales of love and heartbreak, causing the audience to relax a bit. The circle pit and pogoing was replaced by head nodding and pumping fists. Fortunately the old adage that it’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for proved to be true. Performing songs from their Kung Fu Records debut, Space Camp, the group gradually worked the crowd back into a heated frenzy as they played songs such as “Rosemead” and “Nintendo 89”. Things came to a boil about half way through the group’s 40 minute set when Tsunami Bomb’s Mike Griffen joined the band for a cover of “Hope” by The Descendants. At the mere mention of the legendary punk group’s name a small circle pit formed. Crowd surfers fought their way towards the stage to sing along, while kids began hanging from one of the lighting rigs. Bending under their weight, it looked like it could snap at any moment but no one seemed to care. As the bedlam below them unfolded, the group seemed to loosen up a bit. Lead singer Art Barrios had a huge smile on his face as he belted out vocals. Guitarist Jason Camacho and bassist Justo Gonzalez began jumping and moving around on stage more. Saying little more than the name of the next song during breaks, the band was more determined to floor everyone with their catchy, hard edged compositions. The strength of their music slowly won the crowd over song by song and they proved to be the best band of the night. After giving all that he could Barrios’ voice was pretty ragged by the time they began their last song. Hearing how coarse it had become Griffen stormed back on stage and poured half a can of beer down his throat while he continued to play. Sounding much better, he and the rest of the band finished their tight performance and headed for the merch tables for a well deserved rest. Tsunami Bomb was given the difficult task of following Audio Karate and closing out the night. After getting their gear ready the band quickly filed out onto the stage and launched into their first song, “Marionette”, from 2001’s The Invasion from Within EP. Front woman Agent M, stalked the stage as she spit out lyrics. Her vocals were complimented by the backup screaming of guitarist Mike Griffen and bassist Dominic Davi. When not screaming the two danced, jumped, and made metal faces at the audience. After quickly playing their second song of the night, Davi informed the audience that Agent M was losing her voice. He was quick to point out that “no one has ever accused us of being good at talking between songs so for those who can’t understand us, you’re not missing a thing.” That being said, he reaffirmed this by making several longwinded speeches during breaks in the show. Although he did have his moments, overall the amount of pointless talking was a bit too much for any country, especially one where English is not the native language. The numerous breaks stopped any momentum, ultimately slowing down the performance. One of the humorous things he did say came after playing a strong version of “Lemonade”. As Davi was introducing the next track, “20 Going On…”, drummer Gabriel Lindeman started playing the intro to a Vandals song. Davi quickly turned around to tell Lindeman, “we ain’t gonna play that one, it’s by the Vandals, you fuck,” before playing the beginning of the song himself. Although when Agent M tried to talk it was evident that her voice was fading, her singing was bang on. Focusing primarily on last year’s Ultimate Escape album, the band was in top form as they performed tracks such as “Russian Roulette”, “Take The Reins”. Much to the delight of the extremely appreciative crowd they also played “Headlights On A Handgrenade” for the first time ever. Although their performance was good, it was overshadowed by Audio Karate’s focused, straight to the point, rock attack. In the area of stage banter, the band definitely would have benefited from the less is more approach. Hopefully the long breaks were taken for M’s vocal chords and are not a staple of the band’s regular concerts. The band left the stage after 40 minutes only to be coaxed back out after the near capacity audience began to chant “One more song”. Showing that no matter how big you are, or where it is your playing, every band’s worthy or being treated like a rock star in Japan.