Tojo Yamamoto - The Concession Stand Blitz

This will be the third time that Lexington Kentucky crew Tojo Yamamoto have featured on Clean Sheets. Prior to this came 2023's 山本東条 (Tojo Yamamoto) debut EP, followed by the Turning Face EP earlier this year, both of which can be found on this here website if you fancied giving those a read. I can also certainly recommend picking up both those records which you can do by heading over to the wonderful Forbidden Place Records Bandcamp page.

The band retain their line-up of Larry Joe Treadway – Vocals, Elwood Francis – Guitar, Will Pieralt – Bass and Drummer Darren Howard as they do their hatred of Donald Trump (check out their instagram page for proof) and love of wrestling. As stated in previous reviews, the latter is as prevalent as ever here, with pictures of various wrestlers in the artwork however as someone who doesn't follow it, I couldn't even begin to tell you who these are.

This isn't the first time Tojo Yamamoto have done a cover, a pretty darn cool version of David Bowie's 'Heroes' came out in 2024, thus they are continuing this self-described single series.'The Ballroom Blitz' has been covered numerous times from the likes of The Damned, Surf Punks and Nuclear Assault. Less noteworthy interpretations come courtesy of Swiss Glam-Metal doofuses Krokus (sorry Eddie Trunk) and Pop combo Les Humphries Singers. There's also Tia Carrere's spirited take on it for the Wayne's World soundtrack, though as a 13 year old at the time I was probably too distracted by Tia herself to pay much attention to the song itself. Anyway, Treadway and co give the track a unique spin by not only retitling it 'The Concession Stand Blitz' but also inserting in various wrestling related samples along the way. There's a Rocky Horror Picture Show style swagger and you could easily envisage Tim Curry's Dr Frank-N-Furter doing an absurdly camp over the top performance of it. There's a flamboyant yet streetwise toughness which taps into The Sweet's original, think 70's Proto-Metal and Motörhead Biker Rock but with glitter. Even though I was always orientated towards the artsier, cerebral wing of British 70's Glam, (Roxy Music and Bowie as opposed to Sweet, Slade, Mud, T-Rex) I still think the Tojo boys do a fan-fucking-tastic job here, bravo indeed!

Bonus track 'Loser (Leave Town ReMIX)' is a reworking of 'Loser Leave Town (A Cautionary Tale) from the aforementioned Turning Face! EP. I described the original as 'a little darker but still with those irresistible hooks, like a catchier Jesus Lizard. The music positively swings with a Bluesy swagger which shouldn't surprise considering the aforementioned ZZ Top connection'. Well, as much as Billy Gibbons and co dabbled with Synths in the 80's, this is about as far as one can imagine from the legendary Texans. Nor are there many traces of the Lizard's Noise-Rock even though that band experimented on their then final release, the controversial Blue. Instead judging by the Electronic and Industrial influences, you have a track which wouldn't be out of place on say the Spawn or Crow soundtracks. As a fan of those genres I was left impressed with what I heard here and props to the band for such taking risks so as to try something different. It may piss off some fans but what's more Punk Rock than that, right?

I've no idea about the band's recording plans in the near future but I will continue to keep my eyes peeled so as to review accordingly. Another outstanding and infectious release.