Junk! Osaka Farewell Concert at & Bar, Shinsaibashi

The temperature inside the intimate venue quickly rises as the crowd gathers and hustles, the clinking of bottles and wine glasses the only audible sound above the mish-mash of anticipant chitter chatter.  There is excitement in the air but it is ever-so slightly tinged with sadness as people talk about this being JUNK!'s last gig in Osaka for some time and how the South Koreans will be blown away when they get to hear him.  Every now and then somebody else will shoot a glance in the direction of the man of the hour and see him in deep concentration, fishing intently through a matrix of wires and equipment while setting up.  Suddenly the lights dim and there is a brief moment of calm.  The projector fires the first visual onto the stage's white screen and the JUNK! experience begins.  He sticks with his usual opener My Name Is Glen, and the crowd begins to bounce and sway.

It quickly becomes apparent to all that are watching that Lloyd is putting 110% into this final gig and in the river of sweat that is gushing down his face you can see reflected the wide grins on the faces of the audience as they begin to mosh a little harder with each successive song.  The venue, a French restaurant by day, is muggy and too crowded and the smell of beer and bodies starts to override the perfume.  This place is by no means perfect but he makes it work, provoking the crowd like a glam rock matador as he approaches and flaunts his sequinned cape and shades before retreating, teasing the crowd into utter obedience.

Lloyd performs for close to two hours and goes through much of the material from his first album Women and his second self titled release as well as a couple of new additions to keep the crowd guessing.  The room explodes into ecstasy with some of his more popular songs, especially Matzo Ball Soup and its final regaling of grandma's old recipe.  In between these eruptions of emotion, the energy is still maintained at a constant high level by the master of ceremonies and by the end everyone is dehydrated, exhausted and elated.  A great way to go out Glen JUNK! Lloyd, South Korea is in for a treat.

     

Get Ready for JUNK!

Ever been unsatisfied by the music you hear?  Ever just felt... flat when listening to that same song with the same infuriatingly repetitive melody churning on and on through your crappy car radio speakers?  Ever imagined a sound so perverse, so usurping of the rules of Pop music that it makes your pants tight and your cockles hot with excitement?... me neither, but ladies and gentlemen, the sound is here, it goes by the name of JUNK! and it kinda sounds like Bowie being raped by The Scissor Sisters (while Rick Astley watches).

Founded back in 1999 in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, The Noise Floor (as the band was originally coined) was the result of one man: Glen Lloyd and his mission to create something beautiful and completely different from the late nineties boy/girl pop pandemic that had mercilessly infected his friends' Sony Discmans.  Initially with no place to produce his art, Lloyd set about converting his suburban, inside-of-a-lava-lamp-looking bedroom into a studio and the sound began to take shape: energetic, fiercely original and slightly wacky... much like the decor.  By 2005, his parents had made a permanent move to their beloved beach house, leaving a mid-twenties Lloyd to his own devices in the family home.  In between countless house parties and prank calls to Dominoes, he expanded the studio into the living room, bought more equipment and, taking inspiration from the countless empty beer cans and pizza boxes that now surrounded him, began to hone in ever closer to the sound that would later become his own.  In the midst of this creative period JUNK! was born, and like so many of Lloyd's greatest ideas it was the result of a bathroom epiphany:

"I was thinking that my band name "The Noise Floor" was too serious… so one day I was having a shower; I looked down and thought "that's it!" and I changed the name to JUNK!"

Since that fateful day, JUNK! has gone on to perfect his sound and gig frequently; gaining notoriety in alternative communities internationally.  In 2011, after touring his native Melbourne with the help of long-time friends Peter King (bass) and Kaz Pink Square Seiger (keys),  Lloyd relocated to Japan and went back to performing JUNK! as a one man band, where he quickly became an underground hero throughout the Kansai region; spreading the gospel of sound like a modern-day Jesus with a bad haircut and a costume to match.

So what exactly is the JUNK! sound?  Well, to describe it as a mind-fucking fusion of Electronica, 80s Synth-Pop, Chip Music, Soul and Hip Hop (to name but a few genres in there) would be to tell only half the story.  Simply put, JUNK! isn't just a musical act, it's an experience that blends often stripped-down, ingeniously simple accompaniments with hilarious, parodic lyrics that address everyday issues like the breaking down of relationships, hating your boss, not being able to dance and guidance on how to make the perfect matzo ball soup.  The result is a (molotov) cocktail of high-energy vibes that at certain times border on both the sublime and the ridiculous, often simultaneously.  Either way, the one true constant of this act is fun, with edited clips of bad movies and fifties news reels firing from a projector to add further hilarity to this already rollicking and yet at times poignant piece of audio/visual art. JUNK! is definitely one to watch, and if you don't fancy shelling out for a plane ticket to Osaka to see him live, do the next best thing and get his music. 

http://www.youtube.com/user/glenwithonen?feature=watch

https://www.facebook.com/junkyglen 

http://www.myspace.com/junkyglen