Part 13-2: Yuichi Jibiki learns about the scene through 'Rockin' Doll,' edited by future ZELDA member Sachiho Kojima. Then, he encounters Beni Tokage (Red Lizard).

Kan Takagi 'Between Rock and Roll...'
Text : Kan Takagi / Illustration : UJT

A popular series from the literary culture magazine IN THE CITY, published by BEAMS, is back. A long essay examining 'rock and roll as imported culture' from the streets.

'The content written inside is extreme, but the lettering is cute.'
Saying this, Jibiki-san showed me a carefully preserved zine from that time (though that term wasn't widespread yet).

'Rockin' Doll,' which was featured in the reader submission column of 'Rockin' On,' was a Japanese underground rock magazine published by Sachiho Kojima, who would later form ZELDA.

All the text is handwritten.
A song by Beni Tokage, sharing the same name as the magazine, could be called the manifesto of this booklet.

'I want to hear your voice
Scream, scream
I want to touch your flames
Scream, scream
Open the door, the door of madness
Come on, let me show you our existence

We are crazy rockin' dolls
Dance, dance
To hell with Nietzsche and Sartre
Dance, dance
The drummer is a sadist, the guitarist is a paranoiac
The bassist is a lunatic, and I am a clown
HEY!'
(Rockin' Doll / Beni Tokage)

That magazine, 'Rockin' Doll,' focused on Beni Tokage, who were beginning to metamorphose into Lizard, and also featured Les Rallizes Dénudés, Murahachibu, and 3/3 before they became Friction. These were bands and scenes that almost all media at the time ignored. Articles about the NO NEW YORK scene were likely also a first in Japan thanks to this magazine.
'I think Chiho (Sachiho Kojima) was still a high school student.'

There is also writing that directly denies the live houses of the time, saying 'Die, Imo-house.'
'Apparently, she was told she couldn't sing The Velvet Underground's 'Heroin',' Jibiki-san explained, but reading the relevant section, Sachiho Kojima is clearly frustrated. Perhaps the fact that the amp was broken, the venue was obsessed only with money, and above all, that the band was booked for the daytime slot, all contributed significantly to this frustration. And it is certain that the reaction born from this kind of frustration became the driving force that led to the opening of S-KEN STUDIO.

Through this magazine sent to him, Jibiki-san learned for the first time that there was an underground rock scene in Japan.
'After that, this arrived.'
On the postcard he showed me, scribbled in red ballpoint pen, it said:
'78 2/4 (Sat) Shibuya Yaneura Live
From 2:00 PM, come right away!! Beni Tokage'

'When I went, it was the daytime slot, and the audience didn't seem that excited. There were a few punk-looking youths, and I learned later that they were the crowd from Harajuku's <SMASH>. Momoyo was even complaining to the audience, saying, 'You guys are like fish on a cutting board. Just staring blankly.'

Regardless of the atmosphere in the audience, Jibiki-san felt something completely different from any Japanese band he had seen before, which flipped a switch for him.
'After the live show, I talked to Momoyo, who was packing up his equipment, and told him I wanted to buy the Beni Tokage EP 'Destroyer' and 'Shiroi Drive' that I saw in 'Rockin' Doll.' He asked, 'You want to buy that kind of stuff?' but I also asked if I could take photos, and he told me to come to their live show at Yamaha in Ikebukuro the next day to take them.'

At the time, free live shows were often held here and there. The band playing with them was ARB, back when they were still calling themselves Alexander Ragtime Band. The drummer, Keith, later joined the reunited Lizard.
'I talked about various things with Momoyo and the others at a coffee shop then. Like how 3/3 was currently in New York, or that Mr. Kite, The Mirrors, and Speed were performing under the name Jump Rockers. All sorts of things.'

For Jibiki-san, rather than a fan's perspective, it was more like,
'I finally found it. I don't know if it was punk, but I thought, maybe this is where Japanese punk is.'
'When I started digging into punk (records), I thought there must be bands like this in Japan, and there should be a movement like this; if there isn't, I have to create it.'

Punk in Japan was initially grasped intuitively by kids as a fashion. Apart from this, although it was a very small segment, it was accepted by older people. Jibiki-san talks about the reason for this.
'For someone like me, who is from the student protest generation and experienced anti-establishment, hippie, and underground culture in the early 70s, I felt that as it gradually died down, there was a sense of incomplete combustion, a feeling that it hadn't burned out. I think Michiro (Endo) was similar. He's from my generation. I think that feeling was smoldering—the desire to create something with our own hands that could change the world, to do something in some form.'

Anyway, Jibiki, having become friends with Momoyo and Sachiho Kojima, went with them to see a screening of 'Blank Generation' at Yaneura.
'The Mirrors performed before the film screening. It was my first time seeing them, and while I didn't really understand it, their reckless energy came across, and I even went to see the Jump Rockers at Chicken Shack in Fussa.'
Later, on April 15, 1978, the 'Rockin' Doll Concert' was held at the Kita Ward Public Hall, organized by 'Rockin' Doll.' This was the first time Beni-Lizard, The Mirrors, Mr. Kite, and Friction performed together.

However, it is said that there was almost no audience, and there were more performers than attendees.
Depressed by the poor turnout, Beni-Lizard participated in a Kansai tour with Panta, feeling that if this didn't work out, they would break up. They gained significant props and returned to Tokyo. That confidence and momentum led to the opening of S-KEN Studio.

S-KEN Studio was born through the help of many people.
Regarding Masahiko Yamaura, who was the greatest contributor and also played bass in the S-KEN band at the time, Jibiki says this:
'At the time, Yamaura-san was a Western music director at Warner and was in charge of the Eagles' "Hotel California," but he felt that was the final form of West Coast hippie culture. He felt something new in punk. He left the company and started the studio as a new base with S-KEN (Tanaka-san), who had just returned from New York.'

May 28, 1978. S-KEN Studio opens.
The movement later called "Tokyo Rockers" began this way.

(To be continued)