Bore Now Bore

August 9, 2010 8:25 AM

Though the Boredoms have long been renowned for non-traditional, envelope pushing, and occasionally confrontational performances, frontman eYe's earlier group, Hanatarash, were reputed to have been even more extreme, trading in ultra-violent displays with no regard for performer or audience safety. In particular, there was a story of eYe driving a full-sized backhoe through the back wall of the venue. It's the kind thing you hear about and assume that some level of exaggeration is going on...until you see the pictures.

The same slideshow, with musical accompaniment

Hanatarash in a less destructive mode, here merely hurling plates of glass towards the audience.

posted by anazgnos (24 comments total)

Here's some more on Hanatarash's live antics.
posted by swift at 8:34 AM on August 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

It's the kind thing you hear about and assume that some level of exaggeration is going on...

Having seen a few Boredoms shows in Boston in the 90s - one of which involved lots of sweaty, way-too-close-for-comfort nudity and the near-pulling down of a light-rig on the band - I wouldn't have put this past him.

Anyone know what the venue was for the backhoe show?
posted by ryanshepard at 8:34 AM on August 9, 2010

Aren't they adorable? And raging so impotently like that against nearby inanimate objects.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:37 AM on August 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's almost like somebody went to a GWAR show, and thought "Wouldn't it be great if all this was real?"
posted by schmod at 8:39 AM on August 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME. I only wish that I went to a punk show where this had happened.
posted by josher71 at 8:40 AM on August 9, 2010

Maybe they can open for SRL.
posted by adipocere at 8:41 AM on August 9, 2010

Man, the Boredoms are nuts. I actually prefer their more recent hippy drum jam band incarnation to their early stuff, but seeing it live is giving me a whole new perspective on that obnoxious schizo noise stuff they were doing way back when.
posted by Kirk Grim at 8:49 AM on August 9, 2010

you know, the Boredoms were never quite my thing, but god damn it eYe has a rock and roll soul burning way down inside him. God bless that guy.
posted by shmegegge at 8:50 AM on August 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

In particular, there was a story of eYe driving a full-sized backhoe through the back wall of the venue.

That's not a backhoe, that's an excavator. Also, no way, no how is that a full-sized excavator. That said, these guys fucking rock.
posted by stet at 8:54 AM on August 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

And raging so impotently like that against nearby inanimate objects

"Impotently"? He drove a backhoe through the wall of a club!
posted by Kirk Grim at 9:02 AM on August 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

> Aren't they adorable? And raging so impotently like that against nearby inanimate objects.

THAT FOOKIN SINK CALLED HIS WOMAN A HOOER AND HE'S NOT LETTING IT GET AWAY WIT THAT!
posted by ardgedee at 9:06 AM on August 9, 2010

I get the impression that Burhanistan doesn't care for this. Does anybody else get that impression?
posted by barrett caulk at 9:27 AM on August 9, 2010

Aren't they adorable? And raging so impotently like that against nearby inanimate objects.

Isn't Burhanistan adorable? Raging so impotently at artists he only just now learned about and summarily dismissed from a cursory reading of a single post. This is not your lawn, grandpa, so take the churlish disdain elsewhere, kindly.


Having seen the Boredoms open for Nirvana at the State Fairgrounds here in Detroit years ago, I can only imagine what they would be like in a small club-environment. Terrifying and even more awesome, I imagine. Thanks for sharing.
posted by joe lisboa at 9:32 AM on August 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

Whoa.
posted by ph00dz at 9:36 AM on August 9, 2010

Man, the Boredoms are nuts. I actually prefer their more recent hippy drum jam band incarnation to their early stuff, but seeing it live is giving me a whole new perspective on that obnoxious schizo noise stuff they were doing way back when.

Me too, but I like the sense of continuity you get looking at the early stuff through to now. No matter how blissed out they get you can still get the feeling Eye kind of wants to kill you.
posted by anazgnos at 9:41 AM on August 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

I wouldn't characterize their recent stuff as a hippy drum jam band. The show I went to had four drummers pulverizing my ear drums while eYe ran around in circles screaming about the sun and making noise by banging on samplers. I was one of the loudest and most intense concerts I've ever been to.

I think they're interested in exploring the spiritual and sublime aspects of noise and krautrock. Not all noise needs to be dark/angsty.
posted by naju at 9:47 AM on August 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

And now that I'm looking at some of those Boredoms videos in the link, maybe it does seem tame - there is simply no way a YouTube video can accurately capture the sonic intensity of their live shows.
posted by naju at 9:55 AM on August 9, 2010

I wouldn't characterize their recent stuff as a hippy drum jam band

True enough--I guess that was one too many gym sessions on the treadmill with "Sea Drum" and "Ant 10" blasting on my iPod talking. But even in their noisier days, I found the edge on their aggressive tendencies to be kind of fun and goofy rather than dark.
posted by Kirk Grim at 9:58 AM on August 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Just remember kids it's all fun until someone loses a finger...eyeball...possibly their entire head.
posted by emjaybee at 10:04 AM on August 9, 2010

eYe is a creative force to be reckoned with.
posted by Liquidwolf at 10:12 AM on August 9, 2010

god, I love me some Boredoms. And I have to agree with naju, the BOARDRUM stuff isn't really hippyish so much as it is tribal (while still being noisy.) Seeing eYe banging on a huge rack of guitars with a big stick while 9 drummers all go to town in a room about the size of a small high school auditorium counts as one on the most awesome moments of my life.
posted by namewithoutwords at 10:14 AM on August 9, 2010

So, just as a measure of how much anyone watched, how many caught the Cape Fear bit in one of the clips?*

I saw the Boredoms back in 1991, opening for Sonic Youth. We loved that the 5-minute bursts of noise were invariably followed by a polite, "thank you" from eYe after each song.





*-Yes, there is.
posted by el_lupino at 11:11 AM on August 9, 2010

emjaybee: "Just remember kids it's all fun until someone loses a finger...eyeball...possibly their entire head."

IIRC eYe disbanded the Hanatarash after making a large vertical incision in his thigh with an angle grinder (he had been in the process of chopping a car to bits on stage). If the cut had been the same depth but horizontal he would have likely bled to death.
posted by idiopath at 11:28 AM on August 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

eYe is a law of nature. Like tornadoes, flash floods and earthquakes. And I just absolutely can't believe he didn't tear his vocal cords to shreds years ago. That man can scream.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:17 PM on August 9, 2010