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THE
TITS
"Profoundly Prolific Pan Pacific Perfidious
Post Pop Punk Protagonists", THE TITS are:
Jared F. Swanson III, Sako Tikanawa, Yoshi
Inamoto and Jimmy Po.
Billy Phantom of now defunct Motorcyclespedticket also performs
with The Tits.
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THE
TITS - SOUNDBITES
"We’re
like a solar cell of new media punk" - Sako
"Q - How would you describe your music?
A - Puppy. You know? Like a small dog" - Yoshi
"It’s like all that was good about punk,
and you know, three chord rock and like “angry” music
has just slipped on a banana skin. Man." - Billy
"What the fuck does perfidious mean anyway?" -
Jimmy
"The Tits. After a while you forget that its sort
of rude" - Jared
"I hate them. All of them. Little bastards. Smell
like noodles" - Oscar Van Heldenburg (producer)
"They owe us money" -
Heroes for Zeroes
"We're not a Japanese band. We're
not an American band. We're a punk rock band... well, sort of"
- Jared
"Not everything you read on the site
may be true. The Tits will confirm or deny nothing"
- a titsrock.com spokesperson
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THE
TITS - A LITTLE BACKGROUND
The Tits are a Pan Pacific (Japanese, American & Australian)
punk rock group comprising Jared F Swanson III (vocals), Sako Tikanawa
(bass), Yoshi Inamoto (guitar) and Jimmy Po (drums). Billy Phantom
(aka William Spectre) long-time friend of the band and formerly
of leather punk group Motorcyclespeedticket has been working recently
with The Tits as a collaborator, vocalist and guitarist.
They typically release material on a boutique label making past
work difficult to find and adding to their mystique. Usually they
manufacture only a couple of thousand copies of each release, often
on vinyl and distribute only in a limited area at any one time.
They have enjoyed a cult underground status in the vibrant Californian
and Japanese punk scenes for many years and disappeared, rumoured
to have broken up in the early 2000s. Far from the truth, they had
relocated to Europe (allegedly for tax and family reasons) taken
a well-earned break and reassessed their musical direction. They
are currently working with producer Oscar Van Heldenburg on an album
expected to be released in 2008.
Their style is experimental yet directly drawn from classic and
hardcore punk and is self described as "Puppy" although
it could also be classified as dance punk, hardcore and even garage
punk. It is believed that the "puppy" term originated
as a simple combination of the words Punk and Yuppy, itself a sarcastic
overture to the alleged affluent background of the bands members.
Other sources indicate that the term was invented by the band's
producer, Oscar Van Heldenburg when joking that their sound was
not unlike that of a deformed newborn mongrel.
The Tits material owes much to the influence in music and style
of Japanese bands Guitar Wolf, Electric Eel Shock, Melt Banana and
Teengenerate and American bands like The Ramones, Fugazi, Dead Kennedys,Pixies
and Beastie Boys. Gang of Four, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Henry Rollins
and Butthole Surfers are other obvious influences.
The Tits claim to name themselves after a breed of bird, the Japanese
Tit (parus minor), but obviously chose their name for typical punk
reactionary value with the obvious sexual slang overtones similar
to bands like The Slits,The Spunks or Swallow (another band employing
a similar trend of bird / double intendre nomenclature who also
happen to have Yoshi's brother, Onuki as guitarsit).
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THE TITS - HISTORY
Inspired by bands like Minor Threat, Black Flag, The Circle Jerks,
Sonic Youth and Pixies, Jared F Swanson III and Yoshi Inamoto formed
a punk cover band, Free Fall Fun, in Switzerland in late 1989.
They soon started to write their own material and promptly signed
to now defunct punk label, Slashed Records just before finishing
high school. A hectic year of touring followed the release of their
debut album "Look No Hands" which saw an acrimonious split
from their manager and a short prison term in his homeland Japan
for Yoshi. ****(see footnote)
Here, he met Sako, a bored janitor (or so the story goes). After
leaving prison early for good behaviour to complete a community
service sentence of road sign painting, Sako and Yoshi started writing
songs together, songs that would eventually become 1992's "Subtle
Murders", The Tits debut album recruiting American Dave Kruetch
as session drummer.
Major label hype followed, though never materialised and prompted
a move to LA for the recording of "Stereo Scream" (1994),
the band's most difficult album. They often say their hands were
forced to rush the release of the album following the success of
"Subtle Murders". A year and a half without a break and
too much indulgence took its toll on Kreutch who was by now the
fourth official Tit, being unceremoniously fired for consistently
failing to show for rehearsals and expensive recording sessions.
It was even alleged that he tried on several occasions to sabotage
their notorious high energy live shows. Unfortunately we will never
know as Kreutch was found dead in suspicious circumstances on the
morning of 8 April 1994 - the same day Kurt Cobains body was discovered
in his Seattle home. One local newspaper reported the incident with
the headline:
"The Tits take no prisoners. And they tell no tales."
The Venice Gondola
A dormant period followed for The Tits seeing Sako leave to record
his jazz soundtrack to "The Stiff", a film by Australian
filmmaker Philip Nechelles. The time was well spent however, as
it was here he met Jimmy Po, performing with his band in a Sydney
punk club, and convinced him to return to LA to work on The Tits
next album, "Tamogotchi Overkill"(1998) a kneejerk hardcore
reaction to the Skate Punk sound of bands like Green Day, Blink
182 and Offspring that were dominating the Californian scene.
Jimmy's joining had lifted the spirits of the band. With the line-up
complete once again things began to pick up steam. Within a short
period they had written reams of new material with all of the songs
being recorded in 1 or 2 takes and left for the most part raw and
non-produced. The band were back to what they considered to be their
core sound and a polar opposite to the glossy production of their
previous recordings. They toured Europe for the first time enjoying
smaller more intimate (or easily bruised) venues.
After a lengthy battle they retained full ownership and publishing
of their material. The rapidfire "Tamogotchi Overkill"
tour blew everyone away. It was these electrifying live performances
that elevated the band from underground noisemakers to noteworthy
punk.
"We take the sound of our lean American counterparts
and inject it with a sleek Japanese twist of our own." - Sako
Tikanawa - Red Noise Magazine
Once again, however, their hectic schedule caught up with and consumed
them. 2001's poorly received "Dagenham East" reflected
this. Recorded mostly on the road and filled out with Japanese and
European live recordings the band were clearly beginning to tire.
A well-earned break through 2002 saw Jimmy become a proud father
and author of a cookbook/tour diary , "Tourbus Cuisine".
Yoshi and Jared decided it was time for the band to relocate to
Tokyo, prompted partly by the terminal illness of Jared's father
Col. J.F Swanson II and also by the desire to leave the Southern
Californian scene and immerse themselves back into the vibrant japanes
hardcore scene. Tokyo was already a second home to most of the band.
"Heaven didn't want us and Hell was afraid to let us in"
- Jared Swanson - Non Music Engine magazine
May 13th 2002. A date The Tits will never forget. Moshu Records,
the bands headquarters, in downtown Tokyo was totally destroyed
by fire as the result of an explosion in a nearby fireworks factory.
Luckily, there was no loss of life. The bands entire back catalogue
however, was destroyed. Since being ‘forced’ to record
"Stereo Scream" in LA, Yoshi had relentlessly sought to
regain control over all their past recordings to keep them forever
beyond the reach of all but the band. All their masters were destroyed
in the inferno. Also lost were photographs, film archives and many
personal possessions of the various band members.
“It left us hollow” – Jimmy Po, on
Tokyo Rock 46
After a period spent re-grouping with their families and far away
from the studio, the band again returned to LA to begin work on
a new album. That album was the ill-fated "It's All Lies"
and really should have been called “It’s All Over”.
They moved back into the same house in the Hollywood Hills where
they had recorded "Stereo Scream" in the early nineties,
a choice that many thought to be insane considering the drug fuelled
chaos and tragedy that occurred during those recordings, climaxing
in the mysterious death of Dave Kreutch. The band however, saw things
differently and felt it was a ghost they needed to exorcise.
It didn’t work. The band simply fell apart. Little is known
of what happened in LA during the summer of 2003. Oscar furiously
quit. Yoshi and Jared did not speak for almost a year. Sako relocated
to Paris with his wife working and exhibiting as a photographer.
Jimmy moved to London to work with Motorcyclespeedticket and long
time friend Billy Phantom. Then Yoshi spent some time with Sako
and they started writing new material and they liked what they came
up with.
“I think with so many creative people at work
in what feel like a small headspace sometimes it’s inevitable
that you will explode. It’s more a clash of vision than ego.
I think we were all tired. The physical destruction of everything
we owned in Tokyo should have been an opportunity for rebirth but
we did not see it that way and we fell apart. Only after a time
apart could we see what was necessary to move on. We don’t
do this for recognition or money. We do this for it what it means
to us.” - Jared – London – January 2006
Excited by the prospect of returning to the studio afresh, the band
started recording new material almost by accident. Demos were sent
to Jared in Delaware. Finally in summer 2005, Airway Avenue, a tentative
EP started to take shape and that confidently saw them regroup and
begin work on a new album in recording sessions in Dublin and London.
****(We don’t know
for sure if Sako and Yoshi actually met in prison – it is
claimed that they really met in a private school for the children
of diplomats in Switzerland in the nineties. Apparently The Tits
are notorious for contradicting themselves and sensationalising
their own story to the point of incredulity. For example, Sako is
also rumoured to have spent time in prison in Belgium for destroying
a radio station studio during an interview. This cannot be confirmed
at the time of writing.)
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