Last night, I think I got about as close to Brooklyn’s early 00’s punk mess as anyone these days should come. Before everyone started talking about this borough ad infinitum, there was the great and all-powerful Japanther representing, and last night at Music Hall of Williamsburg they came out in force to celebrate ten years underground, along with buddies Shellshag and Heavy Cream.
Now a decade old, they’re reaching middle age time, where they’ve become something of a reluctant institution. The hipster symbol of last night’s party, complete with a decades’ worth of silly string, telephone microphones, and a weird but enthusiastic stagediving hypeman with wooden wings on stage to remind us of why mosh pits still work for shows like this. While some members of the crowd looked a bit more grizzled after 10 years of hipster flag waving, Ian Vanek and Matt Reilly themselves still looked fresh out of Pratt, and their hour-plus set of exhausting, high-energy wailing dared anyone to count how many years it’s been since they formed way back in 2001.
Japanther haven’t given us a new LP in too long, (though Tut, Tut Shake Ya Butt still works in its weird little way) but the pair still do that messy party thing better than any of their peers. Their noisy bass/drum/Casio SK-1 combo worked great in my faves ‘She’s the One’ and ‘Surfin Coffin’. Happy ten years Japanther!!! – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)
P.S. Japanther in 2005 declined to be featured on the cover of The Deli. Asked to explain why, they answered: "It’s not our kind of thing, you know? We are not that good looking either… You should put a good looking band on the cover, like our friends Matt & Kim"