Guitar Wolf @ Amplifier, Perth(09/12/11)

Wed 14th Dec, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Rock and Roll. What do those words mean to you? Yes, it’s a genre of music, you smart arse, but what does it mean in the year two thousand and eleven? The little upstart known as ‘Rock’ has had quite a history since its humble beginnings well over half a century ago, it has been distilled like a fine spirit, sipped, sucked and even skulled until the taste has become well known, loved. Some might suggest that the bottle has been left open, growing stale and over time, the essence has been tainted and the sweetness forgotten. Modern rock and roll is a very confusing thing to define; luckily there’s a dedicated trio of Japanese individuals known as Guitar Wolf that, whilst existing as an eastern parody of a western style of music, seem to embody the nostalgic spirit of an increasingly distant past style of performance with a quite hilarious and enjoyable precision that is rarely seen in modern live ‘rock’ acts.

Such thoughts emerge over the course of the evening at Perth’s Amplifier Bar. In itself an example of the modern music condition – originally an intended homage to rock music but currently much more popularly attended for the purpose of dancing away to DJ’s in the late hours of the morning. Chainsaw Hookers took the stage with their sludgy demeanour, belting out a series of very heavy, tight and succinct jams. The Volcanics followed soon after, again, a tight unit and accomplished musicians in their own right, yet neither of the support acts were particularly affecting. The room was searingly vibrant with noise, the amps turned up to eleven and all ears tuned in – yet the experience was disengaging. Both support acts were great performers. They were polished and precise in their playing. Good musicians with great instruments played with perfect nuance is very pleasing to the ears – yet this was exactly the problem. Rock and Roll isn’t meant to be polished, it isn’t meant to be perfect. Perhaps this is crucial element that is lost on a generation of bands that hold on to the ideals of a popular music that is past its heyday.

Guitar Wolf get it though, and then some.

As the leather clad, sunglass adorned Japanese trio took the stage, there was a firm hope that our guests would alleviate the problem. To a somewhat smaller fanfare than expected, the trio launched into a sloppy cacophony of sound to welcome the growing crowd of devotees. Seiji (Guitar Wolf) clamoured around the place almost struggling to handle his guitar, stopping briefly to skull a full bottle of beer. This tradition taken care of, they busted into Machine Gun Guitar. It took some time for the audience to come to terms with the assault they were faced with. Guitar Wolf were sloppy as hell. It seemed as though there was plenty more alcohol consumed pre-show backstage than what we were privy to during the introductory antics. After the pitch perfect ‘rock’ performances prior to the headliner, the questionable timing and aggressive discordance of the Japanese rock trio came as a shock, but also a revelation.

Guitar Wolf use no fancy effect pedals, no frills with their amplifiers – a standard Fender Bassman and Marhshall stack as backline. Seiji plays on a Epiphone SG (not a fancy Gibson guitar, no sir) with its neck pickup ripped out, and every single knob and control removed except for one – volume. U.G. (Bass Wolf) performed on a partially destroyed Fender P-Bass, with only three strings, the nut and headtstock for the fourth almost torn off the guitar and the body itself seemingly in pieces. They play awfully shitty instruments, with a truly sloppy attention to detail and a complete carefree attitude.

It is fucking brilliant, and it is Rock and Roll.

It is all it ever needs to be, and all it ever should. Guitar Wolf break down this ageing genre into its primordial elements and essentials – perhaps all it ever needed was the foreign filtered digestion of the rock and roll culture to realise exactly all that was ever required of a rock band – to not give a fuck and make the audience have a good time. 1, 2, 3, 4. Go. That’s what it has to be about.

By the time they got to Fighting Rock the floor erupted with pogo-ing, moshing reckless bodies. The amplified screaming mess of audience and band on this night never threatened to slow down as the band ripped through a fine selection of their epic back catalogue in what seemed like only a few minutes. A particular highlight was their classic scream-along Jet Generation from the late 90’s album of the same name. Cue stage diving and excessive crazy mosh pit circle dancing and the memory of what song was which gets increasingly questionable as the crowd became even more supercharged with energy.

Was their performance pitch perfect? Tightly executed? Sound great? No, not really, to be honest. But was it fun? Absolutely.

To their credit they did become increasingly powerful as a unit as the set drew on, particularly the skills of Drum Wolf Toru who assaulted the kit with intense divine rock power. The set drew to a close with Seiji pulling up an audience member to take over guitar duties, not the brightest tool in the shed, unable to decipher Seiji’s Japanese meets English commands to “Jump-U! Jump-U!” requiring annoyed audience members to come up and translate into clear English for him. Hilarious and entertaining, however.

Guitar Wolf blasted their way in, and back out of the Amplifier in a blaze of incredible glory. Finishing with front-man Seiji taking the stage solo to perform his cover of I Love You, OK? – the perfect comedown to such a blistering live experience. Rock and Roll is indeed a funny thing, something that the world has lost touch with, the spirit and the energy that was born from a musical movement that enticed the world once upon a time. One could dismiss Guitar Wolf a ‘joke’ parody band, but there is an underlying genius in this obvious stupidity – they are a band that taps into a part of history that was undeniably invigorating and inspiring, and rather than insulting the memory, pay it homage and do it bigger and better than almost anyone before them.

Check out denissudak’s shots from the Sando