What do you know about sex and food?
TsuShiMaMiRe destroys Los Angeles.
I’ve never been to the Moroccan Lounge in DTLA adjacent to Little Tokyo –the heritage center is right across Vignes Street–, but its homey charm immediately won me over. Most of the venues I cover have been on the larger size so it is always refreshing to be somewhere closer to the tiny clubs of my youth. If that sentence sounds familiar, it’s because that’s my nostalgia. It was also quite fitting that our proximity would be so close to the Japanese heart of Los Angeles since we were about to get our faces rocked off by a Japanese band, but first…
Up first was a surprise opener, skapeche mode, who are precisely what the name suggests: a Depeche Mode ska cover band. In between incredibly well-arranged covers, they mixed in musical key jokes like starting with a cover of “Enjoy the Silence” with Miley Cyrus’ lyric “You Hit Me Like A Wrecking Ball” and ending a cover of Real Life’s “Send Me An Angel” with David Bowie’s “Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am-” outro of “Suffragette City.” They were absolutely infectious and fun, the way a ska band should be.
TsuShiMaMiRe kicks absolute ass. I mean, holy shit, this trio is so in tune with each other after 25 years that they’re capable of making longer-standing bands look amateur. Yayoi is one of the most insanely talented bass players I have seen to date, performing a string of pantomimes, high kicks, and an insane backbend without missing a goddamn note. Not only are they technically skilled as hell, they can own a stage like no one on this planet. Don’t trust my words; trust my photos.
This was the first LA show the band played since 2004, according to Mari (guitar vox), which was at the Silverlake lounge, which I’m told (by friends I ran into at the gig) is a shithole; their words, not mine. Not only that, this was their 25th anniversary as a band so it was a pretty fucking special Thursday. Everyone in attendance came out that evening with a sense of elation and pure joy for being part of the overall experience. I only hope that they come back a lot sooner than the last time.
