Lick Lick

Snoopy’s Zher the ZOO recap

This place is a trip! We made it to our hotel last night after an interminable flight and long-ass train ride. We are like amazons over here, but the culture is very cool. We walked around the section of Tokyo we are staying at and got some great sushi and sashimi and beers last night and today we went and saw a shinto shrine and other sights, then went to the club for sound-check and had some of the best ramen I have ever imagined in my life from this cool place, Tokyo’s version of Casino El Camino.

The club was surreal, it was run by all girls, the stage hands, sound guy (I mean girl), and the bar tender. The show was great, there was a sizeable crowd there and they were going crazy for us!! The cover was $25!!! but it didn’t seem to deter the rockers, so we ain’t complaining.

The first band of the night was Clarabell, a three piece who were a cross betyween the Beastie Boys and a kinder, gentler Rage Against the Machine. They got the crowd jumping and ready for more.

Next up was 100×100(From L.A.) (that’s their whole name – the singer used to be in Minor League) , who bore a striking musical resemblance to AC/DC, complete with a guy on stage in a samauri robe and blow-up doll. Don’t ask.

After these guys, the inimitable Tsu-Shi-Ma-Mi-Re took the stage and laid down the law, Tokyo-style! Those girls rock harder than most men and really blew us all away with their melodic, intense punk rock. Every one of those girls is a master of their instrument.

Needless to say, we we all pumped up by the time it was our turn, the crowd was hot, sweaty, and ready for what we brought for them. The Lick Lick performance was one of the best on record, complete with the crowd jumping, screaming, and making up their own words to our songs. Matt demonstrated why he is known as one of the premier dancing booties in the world.

Finally, The Emeralds finished the night with leather pants, sunglasses, and face-melting rock and roll. Nicely done.

Oh yeah, after our show they closed the club and brought out food and beer for all the bands. We learned how to pour a drink Japanese-style, and there is a ritual where whenever someone gives a toast (which happened quite often) you need to run around the room and touch your glass with everyone else in the room and say “Kampai”( pronounced “Camp-pie-ee”) it was quite a sight seeing 20 rockers running around with their beers!  Also, they give you really small glasses so you lose track of how much you are actually drinking. Man, they drink a LOT over here!

SO anyways, we are making some cool friends and having a really cool time. It’s expensive, but hell, we may only get to do this once, so we am just going with it. Today it’s off to Yokohama, and then Kobe. We miss Austin a little bit and mexican food a lot.
See ya!

Filed by Snoopy at July 15th, 2008 under Japan, Tokyo, Zher the ZOO