Hanatarash

The Japanese unit Hanatarash is notorious for abrasive, weird music and violently industrial concerts. Prior to founding the Boredoms, Yamatsuka Eye indulged his abrasive, experimental side with this noise troupe. The venture was based in extremism, and tracks were often produced using such noisemakers as power tools, heavy construction equipment, turntable deconstruction and tape manipulation. The song titles were often explicitly sexual or scatological. The project also resulted in live albums that are rife with machine shop discord and shattering glass. The group's concerts have become clouded in legend due to Yamatsuka's exploits; in fact, he once sustained a serious leg injury from some equipment used in an onstage set up. There's also a legend -- one that, much like Keith Moon's mythic Rolls Royce-in-the-swimming-pool stunt, is pervasive but not entirely confirmed -- that has Yamatsuka driving a small back-hoe tractor into a concert hall (intending to use it onstage) and proceeding to tear the place apart. The group debuted with the album Hanatarashi in 1985, following it with 2 (in 1987) and 3 (in 1990). A couple of live albums (which are confusing, one-dimensional documents of the intense, war-like atmosphere that must have culminated on stage) came out in the '90s. ~ Erik Hage, All Music Guide