Seppuku Pistols are bringing their guerrilla taiko music live performances to a set of venues across the UK’s capital city and they will also perform a secret gig in Bristol. Details below:
Fri 02nd, 19:30: cafe OTO
Sat 03rd, at night: Brixton’s Baddest
Sun 04th, 12:00: William Morris Gallery
Tue 06th, 19:30: Paper Dress Vintage
Thu 08th, at night: secret gig in Bristol
With regards to the William Morris Gallery gig, a ‘geta’ talk and making workshop (for adults) follows the performance and is scheduled to begin at 14:00 and end at 15:00. Read more and book for this event HERE.
For those needing something of an introduction, Seppuku Pistols was “officially” formed when ex-punk rockers threw away electric-powered instruments in favour of older music-making methods following the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant meltdown in 2011. Their ethos seems to continue that punk tradition as they continue to disrupt the status quo, albeit in a unique way that references a pre-modern era of Japan:
Through traditional instruments like the shamisen, shinobue flute, and taiko drums, they make music while rocking clothes that have a traditional style. Their hanten jackets and geta give them a peasant farmer look while their crests have a particular focus on their use of wolves as a form of symbolism since wolves are extinct and reference the lost culture of the Edo period after so much modernisation and westernisation of Japan. It makes for a stunning contrast to contemporary cities, right?
To sum up their style of performance based on videos seen, it is like guerilla concert/parade that sees them rock up at a venue and rock out impromptu. They have performed around the world in places like night clubs, schools, temples and shrines, on beaches and in nursing homes and in the mountains in across Japan and further afield in America.
Despite performing for a long time, the group only released their first single back in 2020:
Seppuku Pistols really burst into international consciousness of film fans with a live-streamed Tokyo-set performance that accompanied the Japan Cuts screening of Toshiaki Toyoda’s Day of Destruction back in 2020. The performance saw Toyoda record Seppuku Pistols, along with actors like Kiyohiko Shibukawa, parade through Shibuya to a concert hall where they performed on stage.
As well as the aforementioned film, they have also scored Toyoda’s Wolf’s Calling (2019) and been the subject of a documentary, The Seppuku Pistols (2019) which I hope to cover soon, so stay tuned!
You can check out their website that shows the Edo-era inspired creations that members of Seppuku Pistols make and you can find more details of the group and the craftspeople involved in Seppuku Pistols below:
This news is available on Twitter and it’s recommended that you follow the Seppuku Pistol’s account for updates