Band Review
\nGAIJIN a GO-GO<\/p>\n
Reviewed by Lyle Sylvander<\/p>\n
(Summer 2005 Issue)<\/p>\n <\/span>Last month, I was lucky enough to have stumbled across a band called Gaijin a Go-Go.\u00a0 The Brooklyn-based European pop music (especially British and French) spawned a number of Japanese bands in the 1960s Originally intended to be merely \u201csilly, with style\u201d, Gaijin a Go-Go has grown beyond Petra\u2019s initial ambition. Purchasing information, as well as future performance dates, can be found on the band\u2019s official website Band Review GAIJIN a GO-GO Reviewed by Lyle Sylvander (Summer 2005 Issue) Last month, I was lucky enough to have stumbled across a band called Gaijin a Go-Go.\u00a0 The Brooklyn-based group is the brainchild of Petra Hanson, a fashion designer who fused her interests in Japanese pop culture with her affinity for swinging 60s pop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":59,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-394","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\ngroup is the brainchild of Petra Hanson, a fashion designer who fused her interests in Japanese pop
\nculture with her affinity for swinging 60s pop music.\u00a0 The result is a uniquely entertaining musical concept
\nthat manages to straddle both cultures while having fun in the process.\u00a0 With such tongue-in-cheek song
\ntitles as Wasabi Man (Moog Power) and Foreign Barbaria , Petra and company let us know that they are out
\nto have a good time.<\/p>\n
\nand Gaijin a Go-Go plays on this tradition.\u00a0 Even though only one of Gaijin\u2019s members is Japanese (guitarist
\nYuji Horibe, a.k.a. \u201cKinki Pajamamoto\u201d), they have all adopted Japanese personas.\u00a0 Bass guitarist Sanford
\nSantacroce is \u201cSaiko Mikan\u201d, keyboardist Catherine Craney is \u201cMikasa S. Sukasa\u201d, drummer John Young is
\n\u201cTatami Matt\u201d and lead singer Petra is \u201cKiku Kimonalisa\u201d.\u00a0 This adds an extra element of cultural confusion
\nas they are not merely Westerners impersonating Japanese but Westerners who are impersonating
\nJapanese who are impersonating Westerners.\u00a0 Or, by adding a dash of Austin Powers-ish time travel to the
\nmix, 21st Century American musicians performing as 1960s musicians performing as 1960s European
\nmusicians.\u00a0 This retro-fusion musical concept works well with the lyrics, which poke fun at culture shock
\nand cultural faux pas.\u00a0 For instance, in Foreign Barbarian, they sing \u201cWhen no means yes and yes means
\nno\/when the light says stop \u2026 gaijin go\/Whoops forgot to duck \u2018cause the ceilings are low!\u201d\u00a0 The lyrics are
\nbest when they erupt into such playful cultural collision.<\/p>\n
\nAfter a year-long stint teaching and modeling in Tokyo, Petra returned to the US and created the band as a
\nhobby.\u00a0 She sent a few demo tapes to friends and the tapes somehow ended up on the desks of some Sony
\nexecutives.\u00a0 Sony signed Gaijin after seeing them perform in Williamsburg and released the CD Happy-55-
\nLuck, which is a great introduction to their work.<\/p>\n
\nwww.gaijin55.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"