Konnichi wa everyone! This is Johnny Sexdrive again with the scoop on the Dirty T's Tuesday night show in Yokohama at Club 24 West. First of all, this was a last minute gig arranged by Wotlie and our good buddy Jeff (reporter / photographer / extraordinaire).
Jeff hails from Yokohama and knows where the good stuff is at, so he thought we should have a taste of the super supportive music scene.

Since the show was in Yokohama, it was a bit of a task for the T's to make it to the show. T-bone Bucho had to come from work in Saitama and I had to come straight from a rockin BBQ with my buzz already fully intact. Adding that to the fact that we had to carry our merchandise and equipment to the gig by train, it was a laborious journey. To make it worse, Wotlie hadn't had a beer in two days.

So we finally rocked up to Club 24 West. Sitting outside were a nice mix of young rockers and high school students in full uniform. If you don't know Japan, it's a little tough to explain the uniform phenomenon, but the scene was a welcome change from the suits that we play to at the "Gaijin bars". We proceeded down into the basement to meet the other bands. 

Opening the night was a really heavy mosh trio "Hedgehog". They played all original music which had good changes and a healthy dose of kick ass. Their set got the audience loose and a few high school girls were taken out in the mosh. It was little hard for me to watch, but hey, that's the nature of the beast, isn't it. 
The next act was quite different. "Potato Croissant" is a 4 piece Japanese girl band that sings kind of J-pop songs. Their drummer was spot on and the guitarist and bassist could barely make the notes, but they rocked it. I'd love to play with them again for sure.

Finally, with no warm up, the Dirty T's hit the stage like redneck on a buttermilk biscuit. With such a young crowd, we thought they might have to run home or catch a train to the beyond. That wasn't the case at all. As soon as we took the stage, the crowd moved to the front, as a good crowd does. We got them moshing and head banging way before the first chorus. It felt really good. The only strange part was we kept holding up our beers to say cheers only to notice most of them were too young to drink. That didn't stop us and it certainly didn't stop them. The whole set was harder, faster and heavier than we have ever played. It goes to show that the audience truly makes the gig.

We finished the set off with the whole house shouting "One More". Wotlie got all the girls on stage for the encore. And we used that energy to put us over the edge. When we finished, Tomo and I were freaked out that our arms felt swollen. Very unusual, even after playing for hours in the past.

Another very encouraging point was at the end of the show, most of the audience wanted to buy our T-shirts, hats, stickers and CDs. Compared to playing the gaijn bar scene, this audience was more willing to give up their allowance for a Dirty T's CD than a rich suit who earns millions of yen that creeps around the gaijin bar looking for freebees. I'm not saying it's about the money. It's all about the support. And this audience was the most supportive we've had so far. There is something special about playing for people who truly enjoy your music and show it. 

So, to Club 24 West, to Hedgehog, to Potato Croissant, to Jeff Richards. to Kannai rockers, and to Yokohama.......YOU TOTALLY ROCK!!!!!!


Johnny Sexdrive