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Guitar Wolf Guitar Wolf are cool. They know it. The crowd knows it. The sense of excitement is palpable in the audience. The question is, just how cool will Guitar Wolf be? They don't disappoint.
There were an energetic couple of support sets from The Ponys, who came over from Chicago to play their first UK gig, and London-based The Hells, a bass guitar-less trio made up of Ippy and Kevin on guitars and Jeff Watson hammering away on the drums. The Hells, in particular, had some cool songs, and it's a shame that Ippy embarrassingly tripped and fell on her ass during the last song and rushed off stage, red-faced.
Guitar Wolf are Tokyo's premier garage punk band and one of the greatest live bands in Japan, possibly the world. Made up of Seiji (Guitar Wolf), Billy (Bass Wolf) and Toru (Drum Wolf), Guitar Wolf play no-nonsense, blues based rock and roll, inspired by the dense sounds of The Ramones. But that's only half the story: they look hot, with greased back rockabilly hairstyles and drainpipe leather pants, snarling, exuding the kind of sweaty sex appeal only a band who always wear sunglasses on stage can.
UFO-obsessed, they starred in the cult zombie movie Wild Zero; they are here to save the Earth from alien invaders, as long as there is a rock and roll venue to play in.
After some technical difficulties that delayed their entrance for 15 minutes, Billy and Toru stroll on stage in black leather and shades to loud cheers and start playing a build up to Seiji's appearance. After a few minutes he joins them and the build-up continues, complete with crowd chants led by Seiji, who punches the air with rock and roll hand signs, and theatrically drinks a bottle of beer down in one. Guitar Wolf are cool, and they know it.
Then Seiji shouts 1-2-3-4 and Guitar Wolf plough into a sonic onslaught of energetic, frantic rock and roll that threatens to blow the roof off The Garage. The crowd surges forward and begin moshing, jumping, dancing and shouting.
Guitar Wolf turn their amps up to eleven and put on a show, setting the benchmark that just about every other band have to match. Seiji and Billy strut and pout, with Billy even taking time out to comb his hair, smoothing his DA back into shape. This is exactly what the crowd were hoping for. Guitar Wolf are cool and the London audience, normally a cynical bunch, love every black leather moment of it.
The sound is crap, Seiji's voice can hardly be heard and the songs blur into one long rock and roll anthem, but it doesn't matter. Guitar Wolf love rock and roll and their energy is infectious. At one point Seiji randomly screams WHAT IS ENGLAND'S TALLEST MOUNTAIN? and the crowd are momentarily puzzled. England doesn't have any mountains. More on this outburst in our forthcoming Guitar Wolf interview, but the band, undeterred by the lack of mountains, build their own mountain of sound.
Seiji drags a kid out of the audience, puts his guitar on him and tells him to play. Dazed, the kid confesses he can't play guitar, but unphased Seiji produces a guitar pick and tells him to play anyway. Rock and roll knows no boundries. Wide-eyed at being on stage with Guitar Wolf, the kid goes crazy and almost threatens to jump into the audience with Seiji's guitar. What could have been an awkward moment - who knows what a random guy in the crowd will do? - turns into a great part of the sprawling, chaotic show.
Finally getting his guitar back, Seiji climbs the amps, leaps into the air, plays guitar behind his head and throws just about every clichéd rock shape imaginable. Only Guitar Wolf make this stuff look good. They come back for two encores, with Seiji almost having to be dragged off stage by The Garage's management.
Drained, sweaty and exhausted I stumble out into the London air, with my ears ringing. Guitar Wolf may not do anything new, but what they do do, they do better than anybody else. If Guitar Wolf are playing in a town near you, you owe it to yourself to go and see them.
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