Explosion, the livehouse in Kagurazaka, central Tokyo, must have been named with nights like this in mind. Billy Trash, who's covered in blood, has discarded his double bass and stripped to his tiny, gonad-garroting Batman underpants. He charges into the crowd, pouring water over his head, then smothers himself in shampoo. The mixture of suds and blood turns him into the Pink Goo Monster from Planet Rock. He then dives to the rough concrete floor, and on his well-soaped chest slides torpedolike from one side of the venue to the other as fans hop out of his way. When the music stops, he briefly flashes his penis to the crowd and exits stage right.
"This entertainment business can be painful," Billy says after the show, wincing as he displays a mosaic of nasty red welts on his torso, some of which ooze blood. "If I had lots of cash, I'd decapitate myself on stage like Alice Cooper, and it probably wouldn't hurt as much."
Ed Woods are named as a nod to one of their heroes — the B-movie director who gave the world cringeworthy "classics" such as "Glen or Glenda" and "Plan 9 From Outer Space," and who was played by Johnny Depp in 1994's brilliant bio-pic "Ed Wood." Billy, guitarist Johnny Trash (his brother), and drummer Jet Trash have been raising hell at live venues throughout Japan for a decade, and have four albums under their belts — from their 2000 debut "Galaxy Attack" to last year's "Monster Trash." Now they are about to play a series of Tokyo dates.