All the rest I can do without

Japanic were an arty punk/dance band from Houston that made it down to Austin semi-regularly back between 1999 and 2002 or so. I got their debut disc to review for Pop Culture Press and wasn’t overwhelmed by it but since they came into town a lot I figured they were worth seeing. Their live show was outstanding and full of energy that their disc didn’t capture – particularly how lead singer Tex Kerschen always appeared ready to leap into the audience. He had a great intensity that wasn’t menacing but after a few songs you generally noticed people right in front of the band move back an extra few steps. Those songs never matched the performance levels though, so they didn’t make much of a dent. However a little while later I got their second disc and it was light-years better and a lot more fun to listen to had me looking forward to seeing them live.

They played a gig at the Hole in the Wall in Austin back in 2001 (February 24th, 2001 from a quick glance at what’s left of the band’s site) where the new material was in full bloom. For the tour they were on the band had put together some new stage effects (monitors, the band’s name in flashing letters and more) but I noticed things didn’t always work as they were supposed to. After the show I ran into the guitar player and when asked about the lights he rolled his eyes and said the band loved having it but it never worked right. They had tested it for weeks with local shows but once they left Texas it stopped working with any regularity. He finished his Lone Star, slammed it on the bar and said they would have thrown it out of the van in the middle of the highway some night if they hadn’t spent so much money on it. He figured they’d finally get it home and burn it in effigy or something fun after the tour was over. I wish I’d kept in touch with him – it turned out the band only lasted a few more months. I like to think set that bad boy aflame as a final act as a group. It would have been great to have pictures of a huge ‘Japanic’ display going up in flames. In their memory, the best track off The Social Disease, “Those Affected.”

PLAY:

DOWNLOAD: Japanic - Those Affected