Indie Spotlight: Sorrys!
My first time watching Sorrys! was at an AMAZING show of "no-name" bands at Shinjuku Motion in Feb 2008. There were 8 bands, 7 of which I had never heard of before: birds melt sky / YOMOYA / school food punishment / knock note alien / sorrys! / viridian / ふくろ / the Mornings. I was there to watch school food (who were also obscure at the time) but every band that night ended up kicking serious ass.
Sorrys! originally started with just 2 members (Takashiu & Teppei) but back then they had 4 members in total. They had a 2nd gutarist (who is now in a great band called Hinomari) and a different bassplayer. Actually the bassplayer looked really weird. He wore crazy loud neon clothing and looked incredibly effeminate. I thought he was gay for sure! But after the set I discovered the bassplayer was a girl playing with them for the first time. Being a "rookie" they had hazed her by dresssing her up as a guy in ridiculous clothing. I think they even gave her a feltmarker monobrow. I felt so sorry for her but she wasn't phased at all. In fact after she washed off the make-up the guys had caked on her she looked kinda hot. Her name's Akemi and although she no longer plays bass for Sorrys! she has her own solo career (folk/acoustic) and sings/plays guitar for a couple of punk/HC bands.
Currently, Sorrys! is a 3-piece band that looks like:
Drums: Teppei Gt/Vx: Kikuta Takashi Ba/Korg: Makoto (aka MKT)
Sorrys! play an "in yo' face!" brand of lo-fi rock akin to the Beastie Boys (think "Sabotage or "Stand Together") Some of the songs are sample heavy (eg "Bet It" "royal straight TEENAGE flash", others are powerful "emo ballads" (eg "Jumbo" "Today") and the rest of the songs fall in the straight-up garage punk variety. Takashi is slick on guitar and makes great use of his pedals to achieve fresh sounding tones and effects. Teppei is a BEAST on drums. You do NOT want to lend this guy your snares or cymbals unless you prefer your gear looking FUBAR'd. Makoto is always rocking some type of basketball jersey. I wonder if he plays? I wonder if I could school his sorrys! ass one-on-one. Koji of sgt. also plays ball. He issued me a challenge but we never had the time to find a court and play while on tour. We'll have to settle the score in Japan in december. =)
As of now Sorrys! only have one 4-song demo under their belt (I actually have an earlier handmade 2 song version from 2007) but they'll be releasing their 1st full length album "そう今すぐ そう全部" fairly soon. (it might even be out already). They've played at Abaraki Fes and at Zepp Sapporo and are starting to make some noise around Japan as an up & coming band to watch out for. I'll definitely catch their set during Swan Song Council in December.