Dear Diary: The DHDFD's Do Japan

Auckland punks DHDFD's have recently returned from an trip around with Japan with their Nishinomiya City counterparts King Brothers, following the release of the two band's split album The DHDFD's vs King Brothers. The DHDFD's provided us a wee insight to their trip with some holiday snaps and tracks from some of the bands they met on their travels...

Left: This is King Brothers playing with DHDFDs. Since we covered each other's songs on the split we thought it best to play them together. Right: The Mayor of Nishinomiya Receiving The DHDFD/King Brothers Split.

We had never done this kinda stuff before, but it happened in most cities we went through...

After arriving in Tokyo, we had a few days so hung out with some friends. We went to some usual touristy places like the Meiji shrine, Harajuku, Yoyogi Park and in Akiba we also went to visit a 'Maid Cafe', where the staff were all dressed up like cosplay maids and a did lip-sync dance routine to Babymetal. All in all a very weird experience that was probably not worth the 250 bucks it cost for a beer and a Polaroid. The aptly named Guitar Street provided us with a place to get lost - and the instruments for the rest of the tour. The first gig was in the "hip" area called Shimokitazawa. Totally packed and all the bands threw down. Crowd surfing, chanting, stage dives, the lot. This set the pace for the rest of the tour.

Next was Nagoya, which had the world's dodgiest ladder to the green room. We stayed in a 'Ghost Hotel' where the ephemeral guests seemed to fart a lot. Or at least get blamed for it.

Third was Osaka, where we played with Watusi Zombie (who toured with us last time) and thought it was weird that the opening band was kinda better than us! We had another few days off here, and stayed in these two tiny rooms in Tobita, a notorious Yakuza hangout and red light district. Our friend John Lee took us for a walk around the 'pink houses', to our horror and amusement. On the third day, workers started demolishing the bathroom on our floor with loud-ass drills and shit. This being King Brothers' home town, we joined them on a local radio station and chose some songs.

King Brothers - マッハクラブ ...

Watusi Zombie - NO!NO!NO!...

After the break we travelled south to Okayama and met Tricot, a rad math-rock band who also came with us to the next show in Fukuoka.

After Fukuoka was Oita, where we met the inimitable Vottones. Walking (or jumping, running, flipping) the line between genius and madness. Giving your band member an atomic wedgie and then putting your head through the offending undergarment was not beyond these lunatics. When Scot asked if they wanted to come to New Zealand, the Google-translated response was: "I yearn for New Zealand heroin".

The final show in Hiroshima ended with both King Brothers and DHDFDs set up in the crowd playing 'Get Away' twice in a row. Then all the bands went out to an okonomiyaki restaurant and got real drunk. It was basically a booze-and-cigarettes-fueled cultural exchange where the parties were united by rock and roll and Google translate.

We played couple shows with Tricot , who are a very tight all-girl pop group...

The Vottones are the most disgusting band I have ever seen live. No words can describe...

N'shukugawa Boys  are one ex-member of King Bros and one current member playing Jpop...

These women travelled around to every show we played in. It was fucking crazy. They would turn up early to the venue to drop off a munch and drinks, then ask you to sign something like the back of their Iphone or the lens of their glasses. 100%

My drink of choice while travelling through Japan...

The DHDFDs are playing this Friday at Whammy Bar in Auckland alongside Dead Meat and Road Warriors. Here's the details.