Golden Week is Japan's longest national holiday and the only time Kyoto's frenzied punk-rock-garage quartet Otoboke Beaver can tour, as it's culturally frowned upon to take more than one week of holiday in Japan, so the band tour in short bursts, much like their songs. The band’s name is taken from a local ‘Love Hotel’ and they describe themselves as: “Japanese girls ‘knock out or pound cake’ band”.

Formed in 2009’s summer at Kyoto University’s music club (where Emi Morimoto of Shonen Knife had learnt drums a few years prior) the band consists of Accorinrin (Lead Vocal & Guitar), Yoyoyoshie (Guitar &Vocals), Hiro-chan (Bass &Vocals) and Pop (Drums &Vocals). Inspired by 70's/80's alternative Japanese acts such as Yipoos/Hikasyu and more recently Afrirampo, Otoboke Beaver created their own abrasive sound that became faster the more they enjoyed it until it was at break-neck speed. They only sing in Kyoto slang reflecting the proud ‘Kansai triangle’ music scene of Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe that produced Boredoms, Acid Mothers Temple and Shonen Knife.

Live the band often invade the audience and drill through 18-20 songs in a set. Regular touring has built a strong fan-base in Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo where they shared stages with Shonen Knife, Guitar Wolf, Pika☆, The Floating Guitar Borchestra of Boredoms, Dmbq, And Bo Ningen.

May 4 - Leicester, The Musician

Nine-time Grammy–­winner Dan Auerbach has shared the music video for ‘King of a One Horse Town’.  The poignant video was directed by Aaron Hymes, and follows a day in the life of a “king of a one horse town,” who Auerbach describes as “anyone who’s scared of the outside world.  Anyone who’s afraid to go beyond their own block for fear of failure. It could be a drug dealer.  A drunk.  A professor. That’s a feeling any of us can relate to.”

Waiting On A Song is Auerbach’s follow-up to 2009’s Keep It Hid and is a love letter to Nashville.  As such, he recruited some of Nashville’s most respected players to write and record his latest, including John Prine, Duane Eddy, Jerry Douglas, Pat McLaughlin as well as Bobby Wood and Gene Chrisman of the Memphis Boys. Auerbach said about working with his musical heroes: “Living in Nashville has definitely changed the way I think about music and the way that I record it. I didn’t have all of these resources before. I am working with some of the greatest musicians that ever lived.”

Auerbach moved to Nashville from his native Akron, Ohio in 2010 and with this release, his first solo album in eight years, it is clear that he has made Music City his home. During the summer of 2016, taking a break from the non-stop touring he’d done with The Black Keys and the Arcs, he finally got acquainted with the city he loves so much, as well as the world-class musicians who live there, and subsequently collaborated with some of Nashville’s heavyweights. Of the process he reveals, “They’d come over, and we’d be in a little room in my house with the door closed, and we’d just write. Monday through Wednesday we’d write, and then Thursday through Sunday we’d record, every week.” Auerbach wrote seven songs with John Prine–the one that made the album is the title song. Mark Knopfler’s immediately identifiable guitar elevates ‘Shine on Me’ into an anthem. Iconic guitarist Duane Eddy is featured on ‘Livin’ in Sin’ and the cinematic ‘King of a One Horse Town’.