Goodbye BiSH: A Retrospective

BiSH officially disbands today, June 29th, following their last live at the Tokyo Dome. Like the members in their final official portrait (see the banner image above), the most commercially successful unit in the history of WACK ends their existence virtually unrecognizable (other than Atsuko’s glasses) from the fierce punks with all the naïve promise in the world who were booted from the 2015 Tokyo Idol Festival. While our attention on BiSH has waned over recent years as their music leaned more and more mainstream, our affection for the group and it’s multi-talented members has never wavered. Unfortunately, neither has our disappointment that BiSH, in their eight years of existence, never performed an overseas live.

It is hard to not to fantasize about what could-have-been with a BiSH that didn’t sign to AVEX and subsequently focus the entirety of their attention on expanding their appeal at home at the expense of international ambitions. But then again, a BiSH that didn’t sign to a major domestic label could not have evolved into the significant force in J-Pop music, fashion, and culture that they ultimately became. As Cal reminds me: 

“BiSH ARE one of the most popular groups in Japan with a diverse range of punk and pop rock songs who changed the world for the better.”

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We Interview 14th Generation Toilet Hanako-San

Homicidols caught up with 14th Generation Toilet Hanako-San on the evening before her recent LA performance to talk about her new album, life as an idol during the pandemic, and the possibility of getting her banned Twitter account reinstated now that Elon is in charge. Things have changed since we last talked to Hanako-San back in 2018. She has a new love in Kamen Rider and a new, brighter disposition. But don’t worry: Hanako-San still wants to kill each and every last one of you.

Special thanks to Monsterpanda as always for his expert translation skills. Also, a big “Thank You” to Derek Vasconi and staff at Idol Underworld for coordinating the opportunity for us,

Time Leap Tuesday: The Irrepressible Spirit of THE SPUNKY

Those blessed enough to be at Nagoya’s Club Saru on New Years eve were able witness a priceless event: the momentary resurrection of the most charmingly upbeat pop-punk idol unit ever assembled, THE SPUNKY.

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BiSH Announce Disbandment Plans for the Year After Next

At an emergency livestream called for the morning of Christmas Eve (Japan time) BiSH announced that they will disband at some point in 2023.

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SIPP’s Ui Makes a Solo Play for MV-of-the-Year with “Wonderful Trip”

I’ve been trying to wrap up work and get packed so I can get on a plane for the first time in two years and fly out to Los Angeles for ATTARASHI GAKKO!’s U.S. debut at Head in the Clouds Festival.  Unfortunately, I keep get distracted by Twitter notifications of idols doing idol things. By far, the most disruptive item has been the unanticipated unveiling of this solo project from Ui of SIPP. It’s been so disruptive in fact that I’m putting my travel preparations on hold entirely so I can bang out this post on Ui’s solo debut, appropriately entitled (for my purposes anyway), “WONDERFUL TRIP”.

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PIGGS Are Dropping a New Album in December

PIGGS are dropping a new album just in time for Christmas. JUICYY, their first album since adding KINCHAN as a member, will be released on December 22nd. 

Here’s a teaser:

The album will include 13 total tracks: six new tunes and seven re-recordings of previous songs with the current lineup. From the above preview, it sounds like the “JUICYY.ver” tracks are slightly new arrangements in addition to incorporating KINCHAN’s vocals.  Continue reading

No One is Doing it Better than PIGGS

Following a surprise one-man live where they announced a surprise new member, PIGGS dropped a surprise MV for their new song, “NAKED BORN NAKED DIE”.

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BiSH Runs a Race. Beats COVID

It was a big Tuesday for BiSH. First they dropped an  MV for “CAN WE STiLL BE??”, the opening track off their recent album, GOiNG TO DESTRUCTiON

They followed this announcement with the welcome news that Aina the End, Cent Chihiro Chittiii and Hashiyasume Atsuko had completed their quarantine periods following their recent COVID diagnoses and would all be resuming activities again .  

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Put Up Your Dukes and Fight with buGG

It finally arrived! I first listened to buGG’s new “MY FIGHT SONG” single what feels like a couple of weeks ago, on the Spotify, and figured that there’d be an MV at some point. And now there is!

Watching buGG grow from the fun sidecar PIIIIIIIN little sisters into, well, very much their own thing has been cool. They still have that signature impossible energy and outright bounce to their sound. I just can’t believe it’s only their second single ever! I mean, the discography available online isn’t exactly sparse, just that, like, you usually expect way more singles than other releases, this being idol and all. They’ve only been at this for like three years! But anyway:

Fun fact: Everything about this is hundreds of percents cooler than every American pop punk thing ever done

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Let’s Discover Some Idols: PUNKY RAD PINK

This is a Let’s Discover Some Idols that has been entirely too long in the making. I don’t even remember when I first found PUNKY RAD PINK, but it was a while ago, and they just sat unremarked-upon in my dang queue not quite as long as Fiore did, for instance, but long enough to be shameful. So let’s get right to it!

Hey, have you guys ever heard of PUNKY RAD PINK (Twitter)? You will note, as if it is impossible not to, that they are extremely accurately named, and as such are pretty much bound to be a good time. They’re part of the somewhat cursed class of spring 2020, the Coronaclass if you will, and so may have flown under your radar — I was on hiatus at the time, so at least I have an excuse!

They have no official MVs that I’ve found, but they do have plenty of live video on their channel. For instance:

Membership changes, man

And here’s from their first one-man a few months back: Continue reading