(Photography by James Chen)
On Sunday, March 8, the energetic and whimsical Japanese three (plus one) piece band GOKUMON returned to perform for eagerly-awaiting fans in Southern California after a two year absence. Fans packed the house at The Echo in Los Angeles to experience the band’s signature “Life-Immersed Loud Rock” live.
GOKUMON is actually an abbreviated version of the band’s full Japanese name: Uchikubi Gokumon Doukoukai (打首獄門同好会). As the band began expanding their activities outside of Japan, the shortened form of their name seemed easier to handle for foreign fans and audiences.
GOKUMON are Atsushi Osawa (lovingly referred to as “kaichou”, meaning “chairman”) on 7-string guitar, Asuka Kawamoto on drums, and Junko on bass - the three members all contribute vocals. The “plus one” member is live support member “Kazenoumi” who is the VJ for live shows and tours, and a nonstop head-banging hype man.
During the show, Kaichou was flanked on either side by Junko and Kazenoumi, who are both bursting with energy and basically never stop bouncing around the stage. Both are constantly headbanging, with Junko doing impressive hair flips with her extremely long locks, and Kazenoumi rocking out so hard his head comes close to the floor of the stage… all the while performing VJ duties on a stationary laptop and device with buttons as well as making use of a Famicom controller-shaped remote device.
The Sunday night show started off loud and with plenty of audience participation as the band and audience did squat exercises together during “Kinniku My Friend” (“Muscle My Friend”). The sonic backbone of the set was anchored by Kaichou’s seven-string guitar and Junko’s five-string bass, a combination that gives Gokumon’s music a distinct low-end weight. Their sound is heavy, genuinely and physically heavy, and yet the band’s signature approach, which they call “Seikatsu Micchaku-gata Loud Rock,” or “Life-Immersed Loud Rock,” keeps it grounded in something universally relatable and whimsical. Songs about not wanting to get out of bed, cats, not wanting to go to work, rice, seafood, and so on.
The night’s set included last year’s collaboration with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), “WAZA” (“Techniques”). The song served as the theme song of an NJPW tournament and is a high-speed list of pro wrestling moves and techniques. The accompanying video appropriately viscerally showcases each technique in action, eventually venturing into the territory of banned/illegal maneuvers.
GOKUMON’s latest release, “I wish I could speak English”, released just days before embarking on this current North American tour was also a hit with the crowd. There was something genuinely moving and relatable about a Japanese rock band playing a song about the struggle to communicate in a foreign language while performing that song on foreign soil. Although GOKUMON have been missed by fans in California since their 2024 appearance, they have continued being active in the U.S. by making appearances at SXSW in Austin, Texas for three years in a row - in fact, their next show is tomorrow at SXSW!
Behind the band, a large rear screen displayed images and song lyrics throughout the set, a practical touch for first-timers, but also a visual element that gave the show an immersive, almost theatrical quality. The VJ’s work was synchronized throughout, elevating the experience beyond a standard rock show into something closer to a fully produced performance event.
A GOKUMON show would be remiss without playing “Shimaguni DNA” (“Island Nation DNA”), a metal anthem that is a love letter to Japanese seafood culture. Similar to the formula applied to other beloved GOKUMON songs, “Shimaguni DNA” is essentially a list of types of fish and seafood and the various ways of preparing them. The live experience features inflatable fish tossed out to the audience, who enjoy bouncing them around until the end of the song, where Kaichou explains to the fans that the band needs the inflatables returned to be used in subsequent shows lol.
The set nears its end with perhaps GOKUMON’s most iconic single, “Nihon no Kome ha Sekaiichi!” (“Japan’s rice is the best in the world!”). Another song that is essentially a list of rice-centric Japanese dishes, this song served perhaps as a template upon which “Shimaguni DNA” was crafted.
This ode to Japanese garnered so much popularity and attention that in 2019, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture (the actual government agency) gave official recognition to Kaichou for the band’s role in promoting domestic food culture. This created a unique partnership which utilized the band’s viral hits to enthusiastically connect younger audiences with the hard work of domestic farmers and agricultural workers.
GOKUMON closed out the night with an encore consisting of the most perfectly appropriate song for the day, “Natsu no Uta” (“Summer Song”). Despite it being early March, the day had been uncharacteristically hot, with a high of 90 degrees Fahrenheit around Los Angeles. The song laments how excruciatingly hot summer days in Japan can be… apparently just like early March days in L.A. “Seikatsu Micchaku-gata Loud Rock” (“Life-Immersed Loud Rock”) undoubtedly rocks hard, and is undeniably relatable.
