Wow. I really didn’t know what to expect from the September 5th “Summer Vacation ver. Extra” show at Yoyogi’s Zher the Zoo. The only band playing that I had heard of before was Paifuku. The only thing I knew about the others (Strut Berry, Perunanguraata, and Fuzz Float) was that their names were really weird.

Not many people at Zher the Zoo tonight; probably less than 20. Nothing makes a show lose its energy faster than no audience. And the crowd tonight didn’t really seem into anything other than the one band they had come to see. Perunaguraata (ペルナングラータ) was up first. They were OK, but there was hardly any crowd interaction. And when the singer did speak, he did it really softly. I did feel bad for them though: even though he kept mentioning the band name throughout the set, when he asked the sparse crowd if anyone remembered their name…NO ONE SAID A WORD (me either, but hell that name is a a mass of katakana gibberish!)

Paifuku was second and they were pretty damn energetic. Jumps in the air, jumps off of the amps, swinging from the pipes overhead, they did everything. Well OK, they didn’t really do any of that besides happily bounce around a lot but it was still fun. They played a new song that I didn’t catch the title of but it was really nice with a good matsuri/festival sound. If you’re a geek for that kind of music (as I am! Nothing better than a festival and a glass of beer!) you’d like the track.

Fuzz Float came on third. From the time they came on stage, I didn’t know WTF was going to happen. All of the guys were older than the “norm” (and by that I mean 30s probably), and the lead singer had this bowl haircut that was long in the back. It kinda reminded me of a bowl-cut mullet, if mullets were washed with a lot of Panteen. But when the music started, I knew that THIS WAS THE MOST POWERFUL ROCK BAND IN JAPAN!!!!11 The singer was all over the place, jumping around the stage, striking sentai-esque poses and doing other random shit. The music, mostly rock with some punkish/ska-punk tunes didn’t really prepare me for his between-song banter. This guy talked like a baby! Imagine babies speaking English, transplant them to Japan and give them Japanese accents and you had a close approximation of this guy. It was funny as hell! I couldn’t stop laughing and when I laughed, it made Sayaka from Paifuku laugh. Which caused those near us to laugh. It was like the Fuzz Float guy was related to the Joker and had laughing gas spewing forth from his mouth or something. And, not only was the music pretty decent with a charismatic, funny lead, but the final bit that made me love this band was his announcement at the end of the set: “Does anyone want any CDs? They’re FREE! And see these t-shirts we’re wearing? Those are FREE TOO!” Free CD-Rs I’ve seen before, but giving away free t-shirts? In JAPAN? NEVER! Yes, my love and respect can be bought, and the price is “free shit”.

Strut Berry was last and they were OK. Pretty good technically but I was all pumped up from watching Fuzz Float play and wasn’t very entertained. Sorry guys!

If you get a chance, go see Fuzz Float! The singer might try to Ultraman your ass and then talk baby-smack to you, but you’ll damn well enjoy it!

Technorati Tags: Fuzz Flout, live, PAIFUKU, Perunaguraata, Strut Berry, Tokyo, Yoyogi, Yoyogi ZHER the ZOO, ファズフロウト, ペルナングラータ