Fresh Off the Box: Basement Bar in Shimokitazawa

Watusi Zombie at Basement Bar

I finally made it out to Shimokitazawa. It's a pocket of shopping and night life located a few stops away from Shibuya. It's a great place to go to check out live rock music and then grab some drinks at one of the many izakayas. Compared to the mass of swirling humanity that is Shibuya, Shimokitazawa feels cozy and relaxed.

Shimokita (the short name) is about a 30 minute walk from my apartment. (Man, if I just get a bicycle, I'll be able to check out so much more of the city!) I went to see a band called TsuShiMaMiRe. I last saw them at the Silverlake Lounge in LA -- it must of been six years ago? Electric Eel Shock was also on the lineup, so double bonus for me!

Basement Bar, June 4, 2009
2800 yen plus 500 yen for a mandatory drink ticket

Electric Eel Shock
The Novembers
TsuShiMaMiRe
Watusi Zombie

The Shimokita crowd was pretty laid back, mostly college aged and more than 50 percent women. They weren't vibing the rock-laced antics of EES who opened the show. The Novembers were too emo for my taste. A group of fan boys came out for TsuShiMaMiRe and moshed for the whole set. Mari, the lead singer, jumped into the crowd for one song and the action really picked up. It seemed that most of the people were there for Watusi Zombie, who weren't that bad. At the end of their set, the drummer brought the whole kit off the stage into the crowd and that really blew up the night.

After the show I walked around Shimokita and there were still a lot of people eating and drinking late on a weekday night. I grabbed a kimchi-yakiniku rice bowl for about 700 yen. I have to go back and explore more! I especially want to find a Doraemon shop that I saw on the now defunct PingMag website.