Adventures in Japan

My Pal Deerhoof

So I was writing, ages ago it seems, about the live shows we took in a few weeks ago. I did a very poor job describing the Afriampo experience. I shall now attempt to do the same for Deerhoof. Part of the problem, this is where I try to shift the blame off of me and my lacklustre 'skillz', and onto something (anything) else, is that the venue, Fandango, kinda sucks. I like the look of the place. From the outside it looks like a hole in the wall. The inside is covered in fliers and posters for interesting looking bands and graffiti. Really kinda grungy, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

But the stage is too small and too low. Way too low. Especially if the audience is full of white people. Which this one was. We couldn't see Afrianpo. Occasionally I could see an arm. And I liked to watch their shadows.

The place was pretty smoky too. Not much of a fan of that. But not much of a choice, either, not in Japan.

So yeah, not the best of environs.

Anyhoo...

I've already mentioned that Deerhoof's sound is hard to describe, so I'll just describe the band members. In no particular order...

The drummer looked like a cross between Joss Whedon and Ron Howard. He writes and directs great banter-centric character driven emotionally manipulative middle of the road movies. He did the bulk of the between song banter. His Japanese sounded like it was at about my level.

The lead singer was the only Japanese member of the band. You know how I could tell? She was the shortest. By far. She was about as tall as the drummer when he was seated. Very energetic. Very sweaty. And not very young looking, which is odd for Japanese girls.

The guitarist had a bored, distant look in his eyes. Occasionally, a slight smile would slide across his face, as if remembering an amusing anecdote. Looked a bit like a cross between Nate and the lead Singer of Maroon 5. Which is to say that he looked exactly like John Travolta. (that joke is so inside even I don't get it)

The bassist looked as if every note played by anyone else was an affront to him, a challenge. His jaw and lower lip stuck all the way out except for when he smiled. Which was about half the time. It looked like his face was constantly at war with itself. Occasional 'O' face.

They all had haircuts that looked like they keep meaning to get haircuts but just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Even though Deerhoof has an explosively eclectic sound, they played really tight. We were digging them all to pieces. The tall, slightly stoned looking, ugly white guy behind Carla was dancing his little heart out. Which was too bad for everyone around him. The guy who looked like a greasier Colin Farrell (I know!) was moving his hands about in an excited fashion.

Then it got better. They played the Panda song.

Here are the lyrics for the Panda song:

Panda panda panda panda pan- panda


Fantastic. I was so happy. As was everyone. Ben turned to me and remarked about how awesome it all was. I told him that I preferred 'Come See the Duck'.

They saved that gem for one of their two encores. Here are the lyrics to 'Come See the Duck':

Come! Come see the duck!
Come!
Come!
Come see the duck!

You can really see the band's progression, lyrically. Also, the lead singer made her hands look like ducks. I liked that.

As I said, they played two encores. Both were only one song long. Both were very short songs (the duck song and the bunny song, she jumped about like a bunny). These lacklustre encores caused the ugly white spastic guy to boo. I wanted to punch him in the face. And smack his hand with a golf club.

Two bands down. Two more to go.