Shaft is pumping up another Saturday night gathering in a cranny of Tokyo. Just as the five musicians lope to the end of the first verse of their self-proclaimed rock anthem "Shaft of Light," the infectious dribble of sticks across bass drums reels the audience into the chorus.
The local band helped to lure some 80 people -- an even mix of foreigners and Japanese -- to the Fiddler this evening. The basement pub in Takadanobaba could not have comfortably squeezed in more.
Across town in Ebisu, Orangey stirred up their own commotion three days earlier at the more spacious What the Dickens.