Tojo Yamamoto aka Harold Watanabe (1927 – 1992) was an American professional wrestler born in Hawaii to a Japanese father and an American mother. His stage name was taken from controversial World War II era Japanese prime minister Hideki Tojo and Marshall Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Fleet Isoroku Yamamoto. The band are obviously fans of Yamamoto seeing as his image adorns the majority of their merchandise.
From Lexington, Kentucky the band are Elwood Francis – Guitars, Darren Howard – Drums, Will Pieratt – Bass, Larry Joe Treadway – Vocals, Jason Groves - additional Instruments and Billi Francis – Background (whatever that entails). All the aforementioned members are described in their bandcamp bio as 'veterans of the great noise rock wars of the 1990s' and have featured in the likes of The Mighty Skullhead, ZZ Top, Nine Pound Hammer, Supafuzz, Ted Bundy's Volkswagon, Abusement Park etc. 山本東条 (Yamamoto Tojo) is their debut EP release and the band have recently released a pretty meaty, asskicking cover of David Bowie classic 'Heroes' which is definitely worthy of a listen or three. Despite not being into professional wrestling at all, my curiosity was peaked by the band and I therefore decided to give them a shot. So here we are.
'Scrambler (Dropping Dexatrim with the Carnies)' the EP's shortest release at nearly two and a half minutes, is a deliciously tasty slice of Laughing Hyenas Punk-Blues with Vocals reminiscent of that band's legendary frontman John Brannon. Whereas Noise-Rock has a tendency to stray into abstract, inaccessible territory, that's certainly not the case here. A belting way for the band to introduce themselves to the masses. 'The Mongolian Stomper' is appropriately named with heavy as balls Queens of the Stone Age Stoner Rock and a snot-nosed attitude straight from The Jesus Lizard. The track is proof that unlike say the Nu-Metal genre which utilized Pro-Tools and a Turntablist to produce this much groove, Tojo Yamamoto manage it with a simpler stripped back sound. Its interesting the band's members like wrestling so much as their music would prove the perfect accompaniment for any number of its participants (worth looking into lads).
'Ben There' employs a slightly different approach, the track recalling Oxbow, a band with an uncanny knack for alternating between melodic beauty and outright musical cacophony. This is really mature songwriting, demonstrative of a band who are willing to experiment and diversify their sound as and when needed, outstanding. The mighty Jesus Lizard make their influence known yet again with 'Killer/Victim', a track which feels a little more discordant than its predecessors with an unhinged Vocal performance from Larry Joe with nods to David Yow. Throw in a little Jon Spencer Blues Explosion fashioned Bluesy Funkiness for good measure and you have all the ingredients for a certifiable stone-cold classic, which will please those hankering for the glory days of Am Rep. The sample which opens 'The Sugar Hold' I have to presume is of Yamamoto himself while the title is a reference to a wrestling move (I'm willing to be proven wrong on both points of course). The track has some serious Psychedelic Drone flavours going down with spaced out Guitar action courtesy of Elwood Francis that recalls Manchester (UK) collective Gnod and Holland's Twin Sister. The tripped out sounds here prove an ideal conclusion to the record.
Tojo Yamamoto's members' years of experience in other bands have served them well on this here debut EP. Both the quirkiness of the concept and musical dexterity provides one with an engaging and fun listen.
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