O2 Academy Islington, London
8 July 2011
Two very different Japanese interpretations of the idea of rock’n’roll descended upon The Angel Islington.
Compare and contrast the constructions of rock’n’roll energy, of gtr-bs-dr dynamics between the leather-clad machismo of Guitar Wolf and Bo Ningen‘s more androgyne angle. Bo Ningen favour the Acid Mothers Hendrix approach, riffing and cavorting at an angle to the regular hard rock template at the junction where Flower Travellin’ Band, the Butthole Surfers and Keiji Haino intersect.
Guitar Wolf take on wholesale the template laid out by The Ramones of a hairy, shades-wearing confrontational power trio vigorously reinventing bubblegum pop and garage rock in a fast, harder and definitely louder version. They open bombastically, leaping from the drum riser and getting more uproarious from there on in.
Complete with pulling (apparently) random members of the audience onstage to play lead axe while Bass Wolf and Drum Wolf hold down the rhythm and Guitar Wolf himself gets up close and rock’n’roll on the shoulders of the by-now frenetic crowd, and then dragging eager bodies onstage to form a human pyramid vantage point to his – and rock’s – glory.
So when the house lights come on and the sweat starts to cool off, Guitar Wolf just doesn’t stop, miming silently with a pulled PA as the crowd finally wanders back into reality.
-Antron S Meister-
