Oncenth Trio . Barrel House

C and I decided to head down to our nieghbouring bar and electronic mecca Ikebukuro. We where particularly in search of a live rock house called Barrel House which was hosting the Oncenth Trip and special Guess Hon (Guitarist) and Saga Yuki (Vocalist). We found it, walked in, sat at the bar and ordered a beer. The bar walls where lined with records and various posters of distant rock and blues idols such as John Lee Hooker and Jim Morrison. The audience of fifteen or so applauded the song that just came to an end, and by what we heard it was odd improv jazz ensemble. We where correct. Saga Yuki turned out to be seriously the most hyped up and whacky performer I have seen in a long time. She made all sorts of odd squeeling sounds that sort of worked and she sporadically used rattling toys as percussive accents. Each musician had strong talent and C and I where quite impressed with the Double Bass players solos. He went completely bananas at times. In the 'intermission' the band members seemed to be drawn to C and I, the only gaijins in the place, to say hello. We expressed our delight in thier entertaining performance so far. Yuki-San burst in greeted us with an explosive "hellllow!". What a lady. Soon, the band piped up again and played a few more tracks, more whacky than the first couple we heard. The encore performance is posted here. After the show, I purchased their CD and they all signed it. So cool. and we chatted a little more with the band members and received the details of their next gig. One of the highlights of the evening was when the bar owner (I assume) asked us in his best English "why Ikebukuro?". For those that know Tokyo, Ikebukuro is the black sheep of the satellite meccas of Tokyo (others being Shinjuku, Shibuya etc.). The countless backstreets of Ikebukuro are lined with pink salloons, whisky bars, darts bars, love hotels and alternative live houses. So seeing two gaijins in his bar must have seemed odd to him. We explained we lived within walking distance and he understood.

When our glasses where empty we stood up to say goodbye and the whole bar turned around to cheerfully wish us a safe journey home.Inspired by the owners odd question, we decided to do what did last time we where in Ikebukuro and that is scour the seediest streets looking for cool and interesting bars. It was a monday night of course and so we only found the seedy places so we headed home agreeing that Ikebukuro is underrated and that Barrel House is a great place.