|
australasia
diy tour circuit |
ni hao! ++ february 2006
tuesday
feb 14th + empire hotel, sydney
(the thaw, rose turtle ertler ++ scooter
show)
wednesday feb 15th + mandarin club, sydney
(with the thaw, vincent over the sink, le paper dolls)
thursday feb 16th + baropen, melbourne
(with baseball, sabot, the thaw)
friday feb 17th + public office, melbourne
(with grey daturas, the thaw, dad they broke me, eddie current suppression
ring)
saturday feb 18th + pony, melbourne
(with witch hats, twitch of the death nerve, bad cop bad cop, (2am)
the thaw)
pic: ben butcher
ni-hao!
pony, saturday 18th february
not to
be mistaken as chinese (as the name, a mandarin greeting, may
suggest), the red, green and blue tracksuited girls of ni-hao! are three
friends from kyoto japan. each member is personified by their signature
colour, and this night appeared in tracksuit skirts adorned with lace
and
their own band t-shirts in corresponding colours. singer, songwriter
and
mastermind yukari (blue) is also a member of kyoto's limited express
(has
g one?), who have blown melbourne audiences away on two separate tours.
b oth yukari's bands stay true to a japanese fondness for the avant
garde,
in keeping with experimental acts such as the boredoms, and the piercing
squeals of melt banana who have been tweaking, thrashing and making
barely
tolerable noise albums for years. ni-hao! fuses schizo screams with
an
adorable j-pop sensibility, while offering substance to their
cute-japanese-girls-in-matching-outfits schtick.
blue yukari, red ariko and green leo stormed the stage with infectious
enthusiasm and boundless energy. consisting of two bass guitars and
drums, ni-hao! cleverly filled out its sound with chorus vocals and
harmonies and
a stage performance that included the occasional choreographed finger
snapping dance routine. the band dynamically delivered songs from their
two albums
red, blue, green (comprising three previously released mini albums)
and
g orgeous, recently released on john zorn's tzadik label. a highlight
of
the set was a rendition of the ramones do you remember rock 'n' roll
radio?,
which can also be found on the latter album. paying homage to one of
their greatest influences, the band thrashed and yelled their way through
the
song with hilarious tongue rolling results.
t he pony gig was the last of five consecutive nights of shows in both
s ydney and melbourne for the band, and the girls were clearly on a
high. with
s aturday night's offering of four stand-out acts (bad cop bad cop,
twitch
of the death nerve and the irrepressible witch hats) costing a mere
$6 entry
and an 'entry by donation' performance a few night before, green's
incessant demands that the audience buy cds, t-shirts and badges seemed
a fair
trade-off.
claire wiltshire
