I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 2, 2022] Otoboke Beaver [rescheduled from from April 9, 2022]

I wanted to get to this show early because it was sold out and I knew it would be crazy.   But between one thing and another I wound up arriving at 8:25.  Only to find out that the opening band (opening bands at Johnny Brenda’s tend to go on a little later than advertised) was DONE.  Apparently Soft Torture, a Philly hardcore band, did a super-fast set (their debut EP has nine songs in about 13 minutes).  Listening to it, they sound really tight with a great vocalist.  Shame I missed them.

But I was there for Otoboke Beaver.  And so was the rest of the riotous crowd.

About their new album, SUPER CHAMPON (ス​ー​パ​ー​チ​ャ​ン​ポ​ン) the band says:

CHAMPON is a Japanese noun meaning a mixture or jumble of things of different type.

Our new album is a mixture of songs from love to food, life and JASRAC. Our music is genreless and has various elements. We hope that it will be our masterpiece of chaos music!

Otoboke Beaver are a four-piece from Japan.  There’s Accorinrin on vocals, Yoyoyoshie on lead guitar (and crowd surfing), Hiro-chan on bass and Kahokiss on drums.  The band plays primarily hardcore, but with a comical and fairly wild edge.  But even that is an extremely limited view of their set.  The songs shift without warning, from frenetic punk to … well, anything else.  It’s amazing how tight the band is that they can keep up with these twists and turns.

Accorinrin is up front.  She stomped around the stage, sometimes pointing finger pistols at the audience, enagaging really well with everyone.   Stage right was Yoyoyoshie who is as ferocious on guitar as her howls of “Otoboke Beaver!” between songs.  On the left was Hiro-Chan standing bare-footed (the band has pleaded that people not put any drinks or throw anything on the stage to protect her feet).  She seems remarkably chill given the frenzy around her, and her growls are awesome.  Kahokiss on drums somehow sounds fantastic while all of this is going on.  How on earth can she keep all of this straight?  It’s really amazing.

They started with the chanting singalong “Yakitori” and then launched into the blistering “Akimahenka.”  It was immediately followed by “Don’t Light My Fire” with Accorinrin doing her own hand and arm gestures as the song builds from frenetic moment to chant to frenetic moment.  It is also really fun hearing Hiro-Chan’s ferocious growls.

“Bad Luck” runs through about six genres in two minutes, from clap-along rock, to sing-along chant to funky bass to a wild punk followed by a swaying waltz.

It’s hard to believe it took 5 songs (true, it was only about ten minutes) for a mosh pit to start.  “Love is Short” got the crowd moving and I was glad I wasn’t up at the stage, even though it was a pretty mild pit.

The hilariously titled “What do you mean you have talk to me at this late date?” has a bunch of false starts before launching into a screamfest.

And the set went on like that for about an hour.  The band was having a great time.  The audience was having a great time.  LIke during the almost last song “First​-​class side​-​guy (​一​級​品​の​間​男​)” which has a kind of childish sing along during the middle before the stomping ending.

There was a moment when Accorinrin said she forgot the English name for a song.  She said a few words and someone shouted out “I put my love to you in a song JASRAC” and the band was super excited by the help.  Indeed all the songs are in Japanese (with the occasional lyric in English).  But it didn’t matter. They were expressive enough that you could usually tell what was going on (the English titles certainly helped).

During the last song, “Anata Watashi Daita Ato Yome No Meshi” Yoyoyoshie stage dove while playing.  She didn’t surf for all that long (other videos I’ve seen she gets pretty far out there).  She was quickly back on stage ready to rock out while the band screamed the title.

A few times they joked (but not really) that they ha a lot of merch to sell.  This was solidified by the final song “Let’s shopping after show.”  The crowd found it very challenging to mosh to its stop start rhythms.

It was such a fun show.  When they announced that they were coming back through town in the new year, I immediately grabbed a ticket.