Tag: Frank Chickens

FRANK CHICKENS Interview

18 November 2024 /

The recent release of ‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ by Cherry Red Records presented a deep dive into the creative legacy of cult Japanese act FRANK CHICKENS.

The comprehensive 4CD boxed set contained their first three albums and a compilation of BBC live sessions recorded for John Peel, Richard Skinner and Janice Long; it acts as a perfect (re)introduction to world of FRANK CHICKENS.

The classic duo of Kazuko Hohki and Kazumi Taguchi gained a cult following with their unique blend of pop, punk and traditional Japanese music with their humorous quirky songs often challenging racial and gender stereotypes to break down cultural barriers. Their best known songs in the UK are ‘Blue Canary’ and ‘We Are Ninja (Not Geisha)’

FRANK CHICKENS continue to be proudly led by Kazuko Hohki and have evolved into a multi-national ensemble with over 20 members. She kindly chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK and spoke Frankly about getting Chickenized…

Today, South East Asian culture is now everywhere and part of the everyday, be it in cinema, music, gaming, food or fashion. But when FRANK CHICKENS started, Britain was a bit different?

People didn‘t know many Japanese words / things which are now very well known – like sushi, karaoke, matcha, udon, soba, anime, manga and even ninja! We could say anything about Japan and they believed us.

How did you come to the attention on John Peel and become one of his favourite acts?

John Peel must have been familiar with David Toop and Steve Beresford’s music in THE FLYING LIZARDS, THE SLITS. Also his producer, John Walters liked us and he came to see the performance of my other group called JAPANESE AMERICAN TOY THEATRE OF LONDON (JATTOL) which did a pastiche of Hollywood films using wind-up toys. He recommended JATTOL to John Peel for his birthday party’s act. So we went to his house somewhere outside of London and met his family and friends. I don’t remember much but have a very warm feeling about it so must have been a very nice party!

What inspired you do a cover of ‘Blue Canary’?

Sorry, I cannot remember. I have a vague feeling that the karaoke of that song might have been in one of the cassette tapes which I had bought in Thailand while on holiday. We started to use it in our gig and realised it was a very popular song. We were vaguely familiar with the tune as we had that song as a hit, sung by Izumi Yukimura in 50s. The tempo was much slower, though. Recently FRANK CHICKENS were invited to perform at somebody’s retirement party in the village hall in Devon. He is the collector of FRANK CHICKENS music but especially liked that song. We performed there in the same way as we did in 80s (Kazumi and I with toys) and he danced with his wife. Very sweet.

‘We Are Frank Chickens’ was your album title and song but ‘We Are Ninja (Not Geisha)’ became your signature tune and an independent chart hit. You have probably told the story dozens of times but what inspired it and did people get the message?

David Toop was one of the people who introduced hip hop culture in NY to the UK. He was telling us about the street scene in NY where black kids take out their ghetto blasters and rap over the music. It was a process of reclaiming the music and we all thought it was wonderful. David compared that to Japanese Karaoke scene where everybody could start to sing and feel like a pop star, using ready-made music. Steve Beresford and David suggested to us we should make a rap song.

I was reading a popular novel about ninja at that time. As rapping was often about boasting, I thought our rapping could be ninjas boasting their skills. Ninja and Geisha uses the same character (ja-sha) so the concept of “we are Ninja not Geisha” came naturally. We were aware of English expectation on Japanese women (demure, submissive etc) and wanted to comment on it. However it is not a message song, it is primarily for fun and intrigue. Some people get our feminist stance but some people just enjoy it as an interesting creation.

The first two albums ‘We Are Frank Chickens’ and ‘Get Chickenized’ were made in collaboration with David Toop and Steve Beresford, both from THE FLYING LIZARDS, was the creative process with them as fun as it would appear on paper? How do you look back on that classic period of FRANK CHICKENS?

Steve, David and I all belonged to LONDON MUSICIANS COLLECTIVE around that time. LONDON MUSICIANS COLLECTIVE was the first place to visit for me after arriving in England in 1978. It was an amazing place where we paid the membership fee of £7 for a year and could use the vast space – an unused warehouse for the National Rail – for a rehearsal or gig , free of charge. The members were mainly improvising musicians but there were some visual artists, dancers, theatre makers and performance artist. A lot of experimentations and playing – sometimes fooling – around was happening and FRANK CHICKENS came out of that. FRANK CHICKENS had to become less ‘fooling around’ as we were making pop songs but the spirit was always there.

FRANK CHICKENS were involved in supporting The GLC and Red Wedge, was the socio-political climate of the times in the UK become a particular motivator for you creatively? Did you feel like activists as well as artists?

Around that time, people’s interest in society or politics seemed more direct than now. Pop music was more keenly connected to social issues. We were influenced by that and thought it is so good compared to Japanese pop scenes where songs were mainly about lost love. I don’t think we could call us activists but we wanted to contribute something to change the world into a better place somehow.

Kazumi Taguchi took a break from FRANK CHICKENS in 1988 and there was a new singer Atsuko Kamura on the third album ‘Club Monkey’, with this reconfiguration, was this a good reason to make a fresh start with new producers? How did you find adapting to working with new people?

The producers of ‘Club Monkey’ (Grant Showbiz, Justin Adams and Clive Bell) were all old friends with whom we have been working together around that time, especially Grant who has been our sound man since we started. ‘Club Monkey’ was based on our Christmas musical produced by Peter Jenner who was our manager at that time and coming out from “Flying Lecords” (silly joke!) run by him. Peter was a good friend of Grant so it seemed more natural to work with Grant and his team then. I was very excited to work with Atsuko as she is from the legendary first all-female Japanese punk band POLKA DOTS FIRE BRIGADE.

This first phase of FRANK CHICKENS is now documented on this ‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ boxed set with Cherry Red, are you happy how it has been packaged and that there is a potential new audience to be found?

I am very happy with the packaging. Martina Elliott at Cherry Red worked very hard enduring many correspondences with me! I hope it reaches new audience especially as we are also digitally releasing all the tracks from the box set and singles of ‘We Are Ninja’ and its remix called ‘Ninja (Betamax Double Vision mix)’ remixed by Betamax, the drummer for THE COMET IS COMING.

Did the ‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ boxed set trigger off any nice memories that you had maybe forgotten about?

We had a brilliant designer called David Thomas with whom I used to share the communal housing in Archway. He designed our first two album covers and several single covers. The artworks of the covers of the box and 3 CD cases in this box set use his designs, so the box set has become a portable mini-exhibition of his work (which reminds me of Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Museum In a Box’. I like Duchamp as he is a real Punk!). This box set has made me realise again how good his design was.

You hosted ‘Kazuko’s Karaoke Klub’ for Channel 4 in 1989, it was sort of ahead of its time as because of Karaoke going into pubs and actual dedicated venues later, it led to more people wanting to be popstars and auditioning for those talent shows that were everywhere in the 21st Century?

I like the idea that everybody can fantasise being a pop star as it is a good exercise for our imagination and if Karaoke has helped people do that, that’s not a bad thing, but I hope they realise that the reality (of being a pop star) is quite boring (though I don’t actually know as I’ve never been a real pop star, but I have sniffed a little bit).

Although ‘Kazuko’s Karaoke Klub’ was exposing a Japanese cultural phenomenon to a British audience, the show really suited the eccentric British mindset… the episode with Frank Sidebottom and John Cooper-Clarke was really quite surreal don’t you think?

I love eccentric British mindset. It creates and accommodates the real multiculturalism! There are a lot of them about in my proximity though they are not famous. They help me to keep being creative, I believe.

When Spike Milligan was on ‘Kazuko’s Karaoke Klub’, you were really trying to hold back your laughter as he wasn’t answering questions conventionally and going off script… would you like to have done more shows if only to meet more characters like him or was being on TV regularly not for you?

That sounds fun but as you say, being on TV regularly is not for me. I prefer performing to people rather than a camera as cameras never smile.

FRANK CHICKENS still continue and now has a large rotating membership, how did this idea to reinvent the group come about?

It sort of naturally happened. I think FRANK CHICKENS should be a community where we can share our love of eccentric British mindset. There is a lot of potentiality for having fun, this way.

I saw FRANK CHICKENS perform at Japan Matsuri 2012 in Trafalgar Square, so did performing to such a big mainstream crowd feel like vindication for you or does that sort of thing not matter to you?

Thank you for seeing us!

We have performed on the Other Stage (second biggest stage at Glastonbury Festival) in 80s. It had 20000 people and I still remember the view of the mass audience from the stage, looking like the sea. It was exciting but a bit alienating at the same time. I have performed my solo theatre show to two people at Battersea Arts Centre, who responded so well all the way through. It was equally exciting (but a bit sad, obviously). I don’t know which is better. Each time we do a gig and feel like we are sharing the excitement with the audience, how many they are, that is vindication for what we do, I suppose.

Which would be your 5 favourite FRANK CHICKENS songs?

All good. I cannot choose. It’s like choosing a child from your children. However I must say I always slightly prefer our original songs to cover, because I am big headed. If I could go off from FRANK CHICKENS, I do like the song called ‘Omoi Ame’ which I wrote with Steve for the record called ‘Love In Rainy Days’ from the French NATO label. It was my first attempt to write Enka (Japanese pop ballad) and Steve’s arrangement is fabulous.

What is next for FRANK CHICKENS?

First, we have to survive Christmas!

We have been organising annual one day festival called Ura Matsuri featuring ESEA (East and South East Asia) artists based in UK including FRANK CHICKENS, since 2016. We have just finished our 8th version at Hoxton Hall in October and our next one in 2025 will be in the Southbank Centre in July. We have started working on that (mostly the fund application!) now.

We are going to have the launch event for the online streaming of Ura Matsuri 2024 at Hackney Chinese Community Service in Shoreditch on March 9th.

Before that we will be playing at Posh Club produced by Duckie in Peckham and Stoke Newington in January. They are the daytime swanky clubs for pensioners. Great audience!

Meanwhile I hope to put more songs in Bandcamp so please watch out!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Kazuko Hohki

Special thanks to Matt Ingham at Cherry Red Records

‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ is released by Cherry Red Records as a 4CD boxed set, available from https://www.cherryred.co.uk/frank-chickens

https://www.kazukohohki.com/about-frank-chickens/

https://www.facebook.com/frankchickens001

https://x.com/FrankChickens_

https://www.instagram.com/frank_chickens_ninja/

https://frankchickens.bandcamp.com/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
18 November 2024

FRANK CHICKENS: Ninja Legends 1983-1989

11 October 2024 /

Japanese punk pop performance group FRANK CHICKENS release a retrospective boxed set ‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ on Cherry Red Records.

As befitting the title of the set, FRANK CHICKENS (who were named after a brand of Japanese stationery) have a significant cult following and have often been credited for introducing Karaoke into the UK mainstream via their founder Kazuko Hohki’s Channel 4 show ‘Kazuko’s Karaoke Klub’.

Included are their first three albums and a selection of BBC sessions recorded for John Peel, Richard Skinner and Janice Long; their delightful cover of ‘Blue Canary’ recorded for the former with a spoken introduction about a miserable Japanese housewife in Milton Keynes was placed at No42 in his 1984 Festive 50.

Although originally a trio, the eventual nucleus settled on Hohki and Kazumi Taguchi; the former arrived in London as a tourist and had grown up reading English children’s books with their awkward humour. Having observed the London Musicians Collective at play on her second day, she decided to stay in the UK having found a place where artistic misfits like her could thrive. Performing that day were David Toop and Steve Beresford of THE FLYING LIZARDS who would later become FRANK CHICKENS collaborators.

It was while at Camden Arts Centre that Kazuko met Kazumi who was invited to watch a performance of the Japanese American Toy Theatre which Kazuko had co-founded. Part of the performance saw Hohki singing a Japanese pop ballad using Karaoke backing. Afterwards Kazumi suggested to Kazuko she could sing it better and that they should form a band.

Influenced by pop, punk and traditional Japanese music, FRANK CHICKENS came to the attention of John Peel who invited them to record a session for his late night radio show in 1983. About the same time, the original three-piece appeared on stage at London’s Clarendon Hotel Ballroom. In the audience was David Toop who afterwards enthused to his colleague Steve Beresford about how they could help realise FRANK CHICKENS’ ethos into original collaborative songs.

With Toop and Beresford co-producing, FRANK CHICKENS released their debut single ‘We Are Ninja (Not Geisha)’ in March 1984. This slice of quirky electro art funk became an independent chart hit, showcasing their socio-political constructs of borders, race and gender through eccentric but humorous storytelling.

Expressing themselves as women in a manner than would have been frowned up in their own country, there were however prejudices to overcome in their adopted home of the UK. In a more racist environment than today, not helped by the then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s anti-immigrant stance, FRANK CHICKENS challenged the myths separating East and West, while highlighting the absurdity of the dual stereotype that saw Japanese women as submissive geisha or mysterious femme fatales.

On a roll, the parent album ‘We Are Frank Chickens’ followed and was also an independent chart hit that combined multi-cultural pop with the avant garde. It was an impressive debut with opener ‘Cheeba Cheeba Chimpira’ falling under the spell of hip hop while ‘Mothra’ played more with traditional exotica elegance.

Like an uptempo crime series theme, ‘Yellow Detective’ had slinky sax thrown in amongst the electronic squelch and sampled strings. But combining synths and Japanese traditional textures, ‘Shellfish Bamboo’ threw in spoken narrative and street rows about men with long necks in the market while ‘Fujiyama Mama’ was delightfully oddball.

‘Pikadon’ experimented with reggae inflections while the ‘We Are Frank Chickens’ title song with its abstract chant took on the rhythmic influence of Prince. The wonderful ‘Sake Ballad’ closed the album with a melancholic drama about how “I drink to kill my memory”, lamenting a love that cannot be, soundtracked by gorgeously sad string quartet.

Released in 1987, second album ‘Get Chickenized’ continued the satirical mockery of cultural stereotypes but touched on other topics; lesbian love was the subject of ‘Two Little Ladies’ while the rockier ‘One Million Hamburgers’ reflected on consumerism. ‘We Say You Say’ utilised an R ‘n’ B backdrop and a “GET CHICKENIZED” hook to challenge ethnic stereotyping further but entering Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis territory, ‘Solid Life’ made a good go at the soulful pop of the period.

Featuring lively LinnDrum and brassy synths, FRANK CHICKENS referenced Gary Cooper in ‘High Noon’ as an example of ‘Sacred Marriage’ while ‘Street Angels, Tokyo’ drove along with speedy programmed cowbell like it was taken straight from a Jerry Bruckheimer action movie of the period. Further reflecting the broader musical church of the record,. ‘Monster’ burst with surf guitar  while ‘Yellow Toast’ headed to Greece with bursts of bouzouki to provide an unusual twist and another challenge to racial stereotypes. To close ‘Get Chickenized’, ‘The Dark’ provided an experimental slo-mo séance and ‘House Of Ninja’ surprised as if on the nose with current trends in a spacey upbeat house track.

After a tour of Australia and New Zealand in Spring 1988, Kazumi Taguchi decided to take a break from FRANK CHICKENS and was replaced by new singer Atsuko Kamura on the third album ‘Club Monkey’. There were more changes as Grant Showbiz, Justin Adams and Clive Bell stepped into the studio team. With Kazuko now co-writing with them, themes changed with the ‘Club Monkey’ songs inspired by Hong Kong martial arts and zombie films. Based on a story about a club where an English aristocrat gets defeated by two Asian women, the idea had been premiered as a Christmas musical 1988 with money from the Greater London Arts Association.

‘Club Monkey’ opened with the smooth sophistipop of the album title song and ‘Waiting For A Dog’ offered more adventures as it explored the blues. ‘Burn That Body’ ventured into pacey electro and the gorgeous traditional ballad ‘Revolution’ put ethnic sounds into mix. ‘Night Drain’ was an idiosyncratic funk collage with chants of “mind the gap” while ‘Feed Me’ adopted a sunny Spanish flavour. But the album’s highlight was the synth driven ‘Jackie Chan’, a celebration of South East Asia’s biggest action film star did all of his own stunts.

There were further explorations into other musical territories like ‘Shaken By God’s Hand’ with its cowboy accordion and harmonica while ‘M.Y.T.H.’ ventured into the indie-rock of THE SMITHS. Concluding ‘Club Monkey’ was the album’s thematic outlier ‘Do The Karaoke’ which saw Kazuko and Atsuko take turns to prophetically tell the world about a plug-in machine where you “no longer need a band” to sing along to ‘My Way’!

There were two more albums ‘Pretty Frank Chickens’ in 1991 and ‘床下 Underfloor World = Yukasita Underfloor World’ in 1994 both co-produced Clive Bell that were issued only in Japan, but while there have been no new releases since, FRANK CHICKENS continue to be proudly led by Kazuko Hohki.

Today South East Asian culture now everywhere and part of the everyday, be it in cinema, music, gaming, food or fashion. With the group now expanded to a multi-national performance ensemble with over 20 members, FRANK CHICKENS participate in events ranging from one-off happenings at The Barbican or Union Chapel to huge outdoor culture showcases like the annual Japan Matsuri in London’s Trafalgar Square… who would have thought that would happen in 1983?

Speaking Frankly, FRANK CHICKENS ‘The Movie’ from 2012 says at the start “Laugh at them, laugh with them, above all – enjoy them!” While not everything is this set hits the spot, ‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ is a perfect (re)introduction to world of FRANK CHICKENS. It will make you smile 😊

‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ is released by Cherry Red Records as a 4CD boxed set on 18 October 2024, available from https://www.cherryred.co.uk/frank-chickens

FRANK CHICKENS will appear at Ura Matsuri on Saturday 19 October 2024 which takes place at London’s Hoxton Hall – tickets available from https://www.uramatsuri.com/

https://www.kazukohohki.com/about-frank-chickens/

https://www.facebook.com/frankchickens001

https://x.com/FrankChickens_

https://www.instagram.com/frank_chickens_ninja/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
11 October 2024

© 2017 ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK | Email: [email protected]
Privacy Policy

Up ↑