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Ken Yokoyama on the Green Stage at FRF '06
One of the more humourous bits of Green Stage banter I caught at FRF ’06 was between Ken Yokoyama and his former bassist Serge Verkhovsky during Yokoyama’s rainy Saturday afternoon set.
During a pause between songs, the pair wondered aloud which of the many mountains surrounding the beautiful Naeba Ski Resort was Mount Fuji. After picking one to be the famed Fuji-san they continued to rile up the already excited wet masses with more melodic skate punk cuts. Check out Dom’s Fuji Rock Express report of the performance here.
Yokoyama made his FRF debut in 1999 as the guitarist for Hi-Standard. When the trio parted ways in 2000, he turned his focus to BBQ Chickens and his Pizza Of Death Records imprint, which is now one of the Japan’s most successful indie labels. Pizza Of Death’s Hawaiian6 will also be making their return to FRF this year (having previously played in 2005) and Comeback My Daughters were with us at the fest in 2009.
Yokoyama debuted as a solo artist with 2004’s “The Cost Of My Freedom.” He’s released four full-lengths to date including March’s fittingly titled “Four.” Under his own name, he’s gigged throughout the country playing everywhere from dingy live houses to the famed Nippon Budokan. His appearance at the latter was filmed for the 2008 DVD, “Dead At Budokan.”
Along with “Four,” in March a new acoustic three-way split EP from Yokoyama, Joey Cape (Lagwagon) and Duncan Redmonds (Snuff, Billy No Mates) called “Don`t Wake Up The Kids!” also surfaced. I wouldn’t expect much softly strummed material from Yokoyama and his backing band when he performs at FRF ’10 on July 30, though. Instead, look for a fast-paced set of high-energy punk standards and lots of smiling, bouncing bodies.
Here’s the music video for “Punk Rock Dream” from “Four.”
Here’s a live version of “Running On The Winding Road” from “Dead At Budokan.”
*Photo by Hiroqui are used with the permission of Fuji Rock Express ‘06.
