Hanatarashi (), meaning "sniveler" or "snot-nosed" in Japanese, was a

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

band created by later

Boredoms Boredoms () (later known as V∞redoms) is a rock band from Osaka, Japan formed in 1986. The band's sound is often referred to as noise rock, or sometimes Japanoise (Japan's noise music scene), though their more recent records have moved towar ...

frontman

Yamantaka Eye (born , 13 February 1964) is a Japanese vocalist and visual artist, best known as a member of Boredoms, Hanatarash and Naked City. He has changed his stage name three times, from Yamatsuka Eye, to Yamantaka Eye, to Yamataka Eye, and sometime ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in 1983. The other core member during the early years was later

Zeni Geva Zeni Geva is a Japanese noise rock band featuring singer and guitarist KK Null and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida. Formed in Tokyo in 1987, the group's name translates roughly as "money violence" ("Zeni" is an old Japanese term for money, and "Geva" co ...

drummer and Boredoms co-founder Ikuo Taketani.Entry at discogs.com
/ref> After the release of the first album, the "I" was dropped and the name became "Hanatarash". They used a variety of unusual noise-making objects, including

power tool A power tool is a tool that is actuator, actuated by an additional engine, power source and mechanism (engineering), mechanism other than the solely manual labour, manual labor used with hand tools. The most common types of power tools use electric ...

drill A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a drill bit for making holes, or a screwdriver bit for securing fasteners. Historically, they were powered by hand, and later mains power, but cordless b ...

s, and heavy machinery.

Allmusic entry AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the data ...

/ref>

History

Hanatarash was formed by

, Taketani Ikuo and Mitsuru Tabata (

guitarist) in 1984. From 1985 onwards, the band released three self-titled albums. In 1989, Ron Lessard of

RRRecords RRRecords is a record label and used- and new-record shop based in Lowell, Massachusetts. RRRecords was the first American record label to publish underground "noise music" in the early 1980s as well as publishing the first American vinyl by Mer ...

released a Hanatarash demo cassette on vinyl without waiting for the master tape Eye intended to send. This misunderstanding, due to cultural and linguistic differences between the Japanese musician and the American label, became legendary among fans. The band ceased operations in 1998.

Live shows

Hanatarash was notorious for their dangerous live shows. Some of the band's most infamous shows included Eye cutting a dead cat in half with a

machete A machete (; ) is a broad blade used either as an agricultural implement similar to an axe, or in combat like a long-bladed knife. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the Spanish language, the word is possibly a dimin ...

, strapping a

circular saw A circular saw or a buzz saw, is a power-saw using a toothed or Abrasive saw, abrasive disk (mathematics), disc or blade to cut different materials using a rotary motion spinning around an Arbor (tool), arbor. A hole saw and ring saw also use ...

to his back and almost cutting his leg off, and destroying part of a venue with an

excavator Excavators are heavy equipment (construction), heavy construction equipment primarily consisting of a backhoe, boom, dipper (or stick), Bucket (machine part), bucket, and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The modern excavator's ...

by driving it through the back wall and onto the stage.A slideshow of photos from the excavator incident
/ref> Hanatarash was quickly forbidden from performing at most venues, and were only allowed to return to live performances in the 1990s after Eye would agree to cease his destructive on-stage behavior.

Music style

Hanatarash is affiliated with the Japanoise scene. They use a wide range of incongruous objects to make noise, including power tools such as drills and large construction machines. Despite the spectacular brutality and chaos of their performances, the noise produced by the destruction of unamplified objects is often drowned out by the cries of the audience. They are inspired by the German industrial scene, in particular

Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The band currently comprises founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments, percussion, ...

Partial discography

*''ハナヅマリ'' (Condome Cassex, 1983) *''Honey Go-Go'' Cassete (Condome Cassex, 1984) * ''Noisexa'' Cassete (Condome Cassex, 1984) * ''Man Of Noise=ノイズ個人'' (Condome Cassex, 1984) * '' Dead Eye'' (Condome Cassex, 1984) * ''Take Back Your Penis!'' Cassette (Condome Cassex, 1984) * ''Bombraining'' (Condome Cassex, 1984) * '' Texas Chainsaw Massacre!!'' (Not On Label 1984) * ''Hanatarashi'' LP (

Alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

, 1985) * ''2'' LP (

, 1988) * ''3'' LP (

, 1989) CD (

, 1992) * ''Live!! 88 Feb. 21 Antiknock / Tokyo'' CD (MoM'n'DaD Productions, 1992) * ''The Hanatarash and His eYe'' 7" (Public Bath, 1992) * ''Live!! 84 Dec. 16 Zabo-Kyoto'' CD (MoM'n'DaD Productions, 1993) * ''Live!! 82 Apr. 12 Studio Ahiru / Osaka'' CD (MoM'n'DaD Productions, 1993) * ''4: AIDS-a-Delic'' CD (Public Bath, 1994) * ''5: We Are 0:00'' CD (Shock City, Trattoria, 1996)

References

Japanese noise musical groups Japanese industrial music groups Musical groups from Osaka {{Japan-band-stub