The Gerogerigegege

The Gerogerigegege
Origin Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Genres Avant-garde, experimental, noise, punk rock, musique concrète, performance art, noise rock, grindcore, industrial, power electronics, ambient, drone
Years active 1985–early 2000s, 2013-present
Labels Vis a Vis
Members Juntaro Yamanouchi
Past members Tetsuya Endoh (Gero 30)
Toshinori Fukuda
Hironao Komaki

The Gerogerigegege (Japanese: ザ・ゲロゲリゲゲゲ, pronounced [za ɡeɽo ɡeɽi ɡeɡeɡe]) is a musical ensemble organized in 1985 in Shinjuku, Tokyo by Juntaro Yamanouchi (山ノ内純太郎), who runs and maintains the Vis a Vis record label in Japan.

Biography

Though they are often categorized with Japanese harsh noise acts such as Merzbow and Masonna, The Gerogerigegege has also released albums of more straightforward rock (Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male), noise (45 RPM Performance), and ambient music (None Friendly, Endless Humiliation), in addition to several seven inch records mixing these styles with found recordings. The group is best known for their 1990 album Tokyo Anal Dynamite. This album consists of 75 songs, which serve as a fusion of the Ramones' punk jams (replete with Juntaro yelling "1 2 3 4!!" over and over) and John Zorn's frantic Naked City project.

Over the years, The Gerogerigegege has included many members, the most notable and consistent other than Yamanouchi being Gero 30 (also known as Gero 56, real name Tetsuya Endoh), an exhibitionist known to masturbate onstage during live performances. Masturbation is called "senzuri" (千擦り; lit. "a thousand rubs") in Japan and it has become the group's trademark. Yamanouchi met Gero 30 at an S&M club in 1986. Other members have included Toshinori "Dynamite Gero" Fukuda on drums, Hironao "Dee Dee Gero" Komaki on guitar, Junko "Gero Grace Seijoh" Katoh, their live manager, and Masatoshi "Gero Route 66" Katsuya, the band's driver. Yamanouchi's mother is a famous classical pianist.

The Gerogerigegege is known for their releasing extremely limited edition records such as 1989's 昭和 (Shōwa), which bookended a recording of people having sex with "Kimi ga Yo", the Japanese national anthem (the sleeve was a picture of the Ramones with nothing mentioning The Gerogerigegege at all), and the Night EP, which features what seems to be a recording of a man defecating into a toilet after the usual "1 2 3 4!!" count. The album Recollections of Primary Masturbation contains 338 songs, including the entire Tokyo Anal Dynamite album as one track and ten minutes (spread over two tracks) containing 223 previously unreleased songs. There are also some non-musical conceptual releases, including This Is Shaking Box Music part 2, which is a destroyed cassette copy of the Mother Fellatio EP. Another, "Art is over" consists of a single octopus tentacle housed in a cassette box. These non-music releases were typically released in even smaller quantities than the actual music releases, in quantities of 50 or less. Similar concepts are rampant throughout the band's catalogue, and often, the more ridiculous the theme or packaging of a release is, the more sought after it is by collectors. Copies of some Gerogerigegege records go for hundreds of dollars.

Gerogerigegege have been inactive since the unexplained disappearance of frontman Juntaro Yamanouchi. He was rumored to be dead, institutionalized or simply unwilling to acknowledge the project anymore. It was also said that his brother died in a car accident and he got very depressed and eventually became mentally ill. However, August 27, 2013, a Twitter post from "Kaitai Gidayū" stated that he was contacted by Juntaro Yamanouchi in hopes of recording some new material: "Juntaro called me about a new album and live concert and I want to help him. Are we going to do something amazing? Perhaps." [1] The nature of this release is unknown, however this news confirmed that Yamanouchi is indeed alive.

Discography

Albums

Singles and EPs

Compilations

References

  1. ↑ https://twitter.com/ase_bose/status/372326241598058496

External links