Half Japanese

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Half Japanese is a seminal punk rock band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair in their Uniontown, Maryland bedroom around 1975 - 1977. Like The Shaggs, the Fair brothers were self-taught and thoroughly unconventional musicians; their early raw, unvarnished sound careened between naïvely amateurish-sounding canoodling and avant-garde experimentation.

Their quirky song lyrics often deal with monsters and the supernatural (especially as influenced by campy "creature feature" and scifi movies), in addition to more conventional themes, such as the visceral thrills of crushes and infatuations. They have stated that all their songs are either "love songs or monster songs."

Fans of Half Japanese include Penn Jillette, who helped the band release some of their albums on his ad hoc 50 Skidillion Watts label, and the late Kurt Cobain, who had them open for Nirvana's 1993 tour. In fact, Cobain died wearing a t-shirt featuring the band. Over time David Fair became less involved, ultimately quitting the band in favor of married life. Subsequently, the band was plagued with a revolving door group of musicians for a period.

The line-up stabilized when guitarist, multi-instrumentalist John Sluggett (who is also a longtime member of Moe Tucker's band), joined in 1988 and when Jason Willett, also a multi-instrumental experimentalist joined in 1990. Willett was invited by Jad and also given the task of recruiting the new lineup, which included drummer Gilles Reider.

They have worked with Moe Tucker from the Velvet Underground, who produced Fire In the Sky (1990), Don Fleming, Fred Frith, and John Zorn, among others.

The band's history and influence was chronicled in the 1993 documentary Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King by Jeff Feuerzeig.

[edit] Discography

Half Alive (1977)
Calling All Girls 7" (1977)
Mono/No No 7" (1978)
Half Gentlemen/Not Beasts (1980)
Loud (1981)
Spy/I know how it Feels...Bad/My Knowledge Was Wrong 7" (1981)
Horrible (1982)
50 Skidillion Watts Live (1984)
Our Solar System (1985)
Sing No Evil (1985)
Music To Strip By (1987) -- (1993) re-release has bonus tracks
U.S. Teens Are Spoiled Bums 7" (1988)
Charmed Life (1988)
Real Cool Time/What Can I Do/Monopoly EP (1989)
the Band That Would Be King (1989)
We Are They Who Ache with Amorous Love (1990)
T For Texas/Go Go Go Go 7" (1990)
Everybody Knows, Twang 1 EP (1991)
4 Four Kids EP (1991)
Eye of the Hurricane/Said and Done/U.S. Teens are Spoiled Bums/Daytona Beach EP (1991)
Fire In the Sky (1993)
Postcard EP (1991)
Best Of Half Japanese (1993)
Boo: Live in Europe 1 (1994)
Hot (1995)
Greatest Hits (1995)
Best Of Half Japanese Vol. 2 (1995)
Bone Head (1997)
Heaven Sent (1997)
Hello (2001)