TsuShiMaMiRe at the Raccoon Motel -- April 23.
Tuesday, April 23, 6 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
Praised by the Memphis Flyer for "eschewing de rigueur hoarse screaming for simple but effective melodies (and yes, screaming!)," resulting in "an irresistible combination," the Japanese punk rockers of TsuShiMaMiRe make their debut at Davenport's Raccoon Motel on April 23, the female trio famed for mixing pop instrumental sounds with idiosyncratic, quirky, and oftentimes funny and disturbing lyrics.
With the outfit currently composed of Mari Kono, Yayoi Tsushima, and Maiko Takagi, TsuShiMaMiRe originated in 1999 when the former two musicians and co-founder Mizue Masuda (who left the band in 2017) were all still college students. They started playing in various clubs in the Chiba prefecture, as well as releasing their first demo single "Hamburger Set" in 1999, which was then followed their second demo "Bloody Mohawk" in 2001. Three years later, they toured with other Japanese bands Petty Booka, Bleach, Noodles, and Kokeshi Doll in the United States, and also performed at the South by Southwest Japan Nite showcase. On August 25 of 2004, TsuShiMaMiRe released their first full-length album Pregnant Fantasy on Benten Label.
In March of 2005, the musicians toured the United States once again in the “Japan Girls Nite US Tour.” Along with some of their previous tour mates, this excursion included notable rock group The Pillows, and although the short tour only went through a few cities such as Chicago, New York, Seattle, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, it was met with raves and prompted Benten to release the musicians' first album and future records in the United States through the Australian Cattle God label.
TsuShiMaMiRe's musical style can be broadly classified as punk rock, with eclectic influences of noise and Japanese pop music. Several of their songs begin with strong bass lines by Tsushima, but Kno's guitar and Takagi's drums make equal contributions. Several songs combine sweet female vocal harmonies with hard drum playing and punk-guitar riffs, for a deliberately ironic effect, as in their signature tune "Tea Time Ska". The lyrics are consistently quirky and idiosyncratic, with the most common themes being sex, food, and death, and sometimes all three at once. Underneath TsuShiMaMiRe's sweet vocal harmonies, however, the lyrics frequently hint at far darker, scarier themes, with some of their most powerful songs addressing death and its inevitability.
TsuShiMaMiRe headline their Davenport engagement on April 23, admission to the 6 p.m. concert is $19.84, and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.
