Toquiwa
On Friday the 2nd of November I went to see a great band in the Button Factory called Toquiwa who were supporting the Wedding Present.
The band was formed in 1998 under the name The Pinky Piglets and they came third in the 2008 global battle of the bands. The Tokyo all girl three-piece really rocked the venue that night with their hi-energy J-punk. They brought a smile to everyone’s face with their crazy antics and contagious smiles. Their trojan horse assault of cute moves and explosive punk rock riffs always leaves an imprint on all their audiences around the world.
The band have already achieved great accolades to date, they’ve hosted their own radio show on one of Tokyo’s largest stations, penned a song for a TV theme tune and have shared stages with punk rock legends Bad Religion, Guttermouth, Regurgitator and, of course, The Wedding Present.
I spoke with David Gedge the lead singer of the Wedding Present at the gig and he said “Of all the support bands we’ve ever had, I’ve never seen an audience blown away by the support band quite like TOQUIWA”. From the opening dynamite of single ‘Tokyo Merry Go Round’ it’s clear that the band pair up the riffs of Dinosaur Jr with the melodies of The B52s and they add their own candy-covered sound.
When Gedge first saw the band in 2011 it was clear to him that The Wedding Present needed to adopt the band and embark on a cultural exchange between Scopitones and J-punk. A series of shows together followed, including a North American tour, SXSW and The Wedding Present’s own ‘At the Edge of the Sea Festival’. The bands have now just finished touring Europe and the UK together. And Toquiwa are the first band outside of The Wedding Present (and side project Cinerama) to release a debut on Scopitones, a self-titled debut that is on digital release and limited edition tour CDs available since October 2012.
By Jason Mc Donnell
