Two men in their early 30s, drenched in sweat, face each other on a cramped stage. They're staring at one another, taking turns screaming. The audience is doubled over in laughter.
The pair are members of the Aichi Prefecture-based group BBBBBBB (that’s seven Bs) and they have traveled to Bushbash music venue in Eastern Tokyo on a Sunday night in September to present their brand of digital hardcore. They’re already halfway through an intensely physical set in which they’ve hurled themselves across the stage, nearly falling onto the audience. The screaming bit resembles a variety show segment, albeit with a hefty dose of distortion. When the music plays, one performer screams until it stops. The bursts of noise gradually get shorter, to the point where their howls last a mere second.
“I wanted to be a comedian,” BBBBBBB founder Ryuseigun Saionji tells me a few days after the show. “But I gave up that dream and moved back here. I always liked music, so why not (combine the two)?”