Otoboke Beaver at Liquidroom, September 2nd 2022

 

Dirty Old Fart Is Waiting for My Reaction is one of the many hilarious song titles in this band’s repertoire. I confirmed there’s an autobiographical inspiration to their songs as soon as I stepped into the venue. I was expecting and worried about a youngish crowd of Fantano followers and avid Pitchfork readers. To my surprise the place was packed with tons of fellow old dirties; more old than dirty, possibly. My fears of sticking out like a sore thumb vanished.

I took my usual spot near the railing at the front on the left and waited half an hour for the show to start. Behind me a couple of English speaking guys couldn’t wait for the show to begin and join the mosh pit in the middle of the standing area. Unfortunately for them such thing never happened. Not because of lack of energy. This was just not a mosh pit type of crowd.

Things started with Akimahenka, followed by Don’t Light My Fire. From then on the energy never fanned. Other than small pauses to retune instruments and short -by Japanese standards- stage banter, songs were played in a continuous flow, for about an hour and ten minutes. I guess like the Ramones used to do. I never saw them but I’ve heard their live records. That reminds me that during the show I kept on thinking that lots of their songs could be sang by the tune of the Spider Man cartoon theme song, famously covered by the Ramones in their later years.

But I digress and comparisons are not fair, specially when talking about a band as original and creative as Otoboke Beaver. In their music you not only get that relentless drive of early punk, you also get acute and precise time signature shifts, Euro disco bass lines (think Born To Be Alive) and grindcore distortion, blast beats with insanely high pitch vocals sprinkled all around (think Napalm Death’s Mick/Mitch Harris). More often than not you get all this in one song. The band that I associate with them the most is one in my top five live bucket list: Fantomas.

I think humor is missing in most of today’s indie music. Seems like the pathos of the times is more serious and solemn (think  -last one- Greta Thurnberg, I’m a huge fan, BTW). It seems like these days the revolution has a permanent frown and it's somewhat incompatible with a sense of fun. Not for Otoboke. In my opinion they are first and foremost a political band. Gender politics and Japan’s patriarchy are at the core of their catalog. Their social commentary, though, is conveyed through comedy.

They lure you in with their wacky outfits and Angus Young antics to then blow your mind with their chops and songwriting uniqueness. This apparent contrast is in itself a commentary on our twisted stereotypical gender expectations. Otoboke Beaver dismantles all that. They do it as well in their lyrics ,when recounting encounters with annoying male fans or industry types (Pardon?). They insist on doing so from their own perspective, lots of their titles include the singular first person pronoun (Introduce Me to Your Family, I'm Tired of Your Repeating Story). In my opinion the overall concept is not only brilliant, it’s also excellently executed. The musicians have the chops required for this type of music and then some.

You can’t help but smile and be in awe through the duration of the show. By the time they return for six encores, with a less than 30 seconds song for each, you know that you just witnessed something unique that reminds you about the unmatched vitality of the live performance and of those bands that were not afraid of pushing the envelope as far as possible and were able to laugh in the process, like Fantomas or Melvins. You also just saw their whole catalog played live. Can’t wait to see what’s next.  

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