The Gerogerigegege

The Gerogerigegege is a controversial Japanese noise/experimental band, founded in 1985 by Juntaro Yamanouchi. After a 15-year long hiatus, during which Yamanouchi had entirely vanished from the public's view, the band released a new album 燃えない灰 (Moenai Hai) in 2016, and since then produced over 10 albums/EPs with archival and new material. The band's name is an onomatopoeia for vomiting and diarrhea: Gero (vomiting) + Geri (diarrhea) + non-lexical vocable GeGeGe. While many Japanoise artists sought inspiration in fetish, pornography, BDSM (particularly bondage, 緊縛 kinbaku) and similar concepts, Juntaro took his obsession with 千摺り senzuri (male masturbation) to an unprecedented level, dedicating many aspects of Gerogerigegege's work to sexuality, gender identity, homoerotica, and etc. It revolved around Gero 30 — Yamanouchi's muse and artistic partner, a much older exhibitionist and sex performer Tetsuya Endoh who he met at some random S&M club in Shinjuku. By that point, JY already released '85 1188525 C-30 cassette via Masami Akita's mailorder ZSF Produkt, and had been rehearsing with drummer Dynamite Gero and guitarist Dee Dee Gero. Now he started performing with Gero 30 at various sex/fetish clubs, and the Gerogerigegege's early 'concerts' were some of the most disturbing acts in the history of Japanese extreme music (alongside infamous Hanatarash demolitions). Built on GG Allin's raw punk aesthetics, they featured little music: Gero 30 would masturbate on stage, moaning and groaning in the microphone, rolling in his own bodily fluids and feces. Three complete '87–91 senzuri shows with crowd reactions can be found on 321948 CD. The Gerogerigegege published first non-DIY records in the next few years: surprisingly melodic songs on '88 934147 7", and two LPs on a newly established Vis A Vis Audio Arts label: '87 593284, full of electroacoustic noises, and Showa — pornographic musique concreté preceded by Japan's anthem (released soon after Emperor Hirohito passed away in Jan '89). It wasn't until the '91 パンクの鬼 (Tokyo Anal Dynamite) CD that Gerogerigegege really started gaining admiration and cult following. Each of 75 tracks on this 35-min live session opens with a track title and '1-2-3-4' in broken English. Juntaro embraced this rock-n-roll shout from listening to live Ramones albums obsessively, and eventually coined the term 1-2-3-4 noisecore to describe Gerogerigegege's music. Further notable releases in this style include 7" on A.I.P.R. and Yellow Trash Bazooka 7'' on SOA Records in 1993 (with Jeff Warmouth on bass/electronics), and the true pinnacle of the 'genre' — '94 Instruments Disorder (170 Songs CD) — speedy noise/thrashcore with Tatsuya Yoshida on drums and NP on guitar & bass. The year 1994 marked a shift towards more serious musical forms, showcasing Juntaro's ambitions as a composer: a quiet ambient 593229 CD on Japan Overseas and 410148 — collage of easy-listening with lowercase synth electronics, and Takeshi Ohmura's sax. Two similar albums followed in 1999: None Friendly (a dynamic, refined, melodically rich ambient soundscape, perhaps the most sonically pleasing work under the Gerogerigegege's name), and 191398 on Dirter Promotions, credited as 'final tribute' in the liner notes. (The last official release came two years later, though: Saturdaynight Big Cock Salaryman CD EP recorded in Apr 2001.)