Husking Bee - Grip LP

Pizza of Death (1996)

Husking Bee is a band that I discovered when I used to run the old website for Snuff.  Through that site I made friends with a guy from Japan named Tetsu.  He was the first person I knew in Japan that would help me buy records.  He also made mix tapes for me of Japanese punk rock and he put Husking Bee on one of those early tapes.  I absolutely loved them and had Tetsu help hunt me down everything by them he could find.  I never got any of the albums on vinyl back then, but he did hook me up with the CDs of their first two albums.  It was pretty weird to see the second Husking Bee album, Put On Fresh Paint released in America a bit later.

But back to this album.  Grip is the first Husking Bee full length and it came out on Pizza of Death.  This one was never released in America and while I've had the CD for about twenty years now, the vinyl has eluded me.  I finally caved in when a copy on Discogs dropped to a price I was comfortable paying and I'm just really happy to have this record in the collection.  Those first two Husking Bee records are pretty much perfect.

Grip is a straight forward pop punk record, with dynamic hooks, tons of energy and melodies that have been stuck in my head for decades.  I've feel like on this album in particular, there are a lot of similarities to the old midwestern band Walker, particularly in the guitar riffage.  Husking Bee vocals are gruffer and more melodic, but I feel like they are kindred spirits.  Songs like "8.6," "Share The Joy Of Our Tour" and "Anchor"kick my ass after all of these years, but I'll always keep coming back to the song "Question."  It's different from everything else on the album as it's built on a bouncy piano riff, but it's just so great and one of my favorite songs the band ever did. Unfortunately it's not one I can find on YouTube.  Trust me, it's great.

Husking Bee - "8.6":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHTBjnqLv64

Husking Bee - "Anchor":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfbN7mw0qr4

V/A - All Temptation 7"

Coconut's House (1996)

This four band compilation 7" is another record that I picked up record shopping in Tokyo two years ago.  Since Husking Bee was one of the bands on it, there was no way I wasn't going to buy it, though I wasn't familiar with the other three bands.

First up on side A was Crickets with their song "Sad Rubbish."  They reminded me a bit of the UK band Exit Condition and also a little bit of the band Reverse.  Their song has a strong melody and a catchy chorus with a pretty cool tempo change.  It looks like they put out a few other releases back in the 90s, so I may have to look into them a bit more.  Next up is Scrap Yard Dogs.  They're a little bit faster and a gruffer than Crickets, but have a similar knack for putting together a catchy song.  While I'm not sure I'm as inspired to go try to find more of their record as I am with Crickets, it's still pretty good.

On the B side we have "Listen To This Song" by Scape Goat.  Scape Goat is a band name that I'm pretty sure I've heard before and I wouldn't be surprised to find out I own some other Japanese compilation that they are on.  That said, this is my least favorite song on the 7", built around that galloping NOFX style drum beat that is never my favorite thing to hear on a pop punk song.

Last up is Husking Bee and their song "Only Way."  This song is also on their first album Grip, which I highly, highly recommend if you haven't heard before.  Husking Bee has been a longtime favorite of mine, ever since an old friend named Tetsu put them on a tape of Japanese bands he made for me back in the 90s.  He was such a big part of helping me discover a lot of non-Snuffy Smiles bands and it makes me sad that I lost touch with him.  I often wonder if he still listens to punk rock as one of the last emails I remember getting from him was him telling me he was mostly listening to techno, but It's probably been twenty years since I last heard from him.

V/A - All Temptation 7":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfXN-he6FS8

Husking Bee - Put On Fresh Paint LP - Green Vinyl (Japanese Version)

Ini-Ini (1998)

A few months ago I posted a review of the American version of this LP that I had picked up super cheep in Japan.  It was something of a place holder as I really wanted the Japanese version the most.  Lucky for me, Kazu @ Waterslide records found one in his travels and grabbed it for me.  This is one of my favorite albums, so I'm pretty excited to finally have a copy.

I didn't realize that the Ini-Ini version was on green vinyl, so that's just a bonus.  If you want to read more of my thoughts on the actual record, you can check out the last time I reviewed it here.  For now, just enjoy the vastly superior artwork of the Japanese version and if you don't have any version of this record, you should go pick it up.

Husking Bee - "Sing to Me":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaBF_HoZ25g

Husking Bee - "Single Word":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd6hCU8o9vo

Husking Bee - Four Color Problem LP

Ini (2000)

Although I ended up buying the American version of Husking Bee's Put On Fresh Paint LP, I was able to find the Japanese version of their follow-up Four Color Problem.  It's especially gratifying as the artwork on the American version of this album is just awful.  This Japanese version looks so much better.  Again, I hope to add the Japanese version of Put On Fresh Paint to the collection someday (As well as their first album Grip - so if you ever see either, let me know!).

Four Color Problem is the last Husking Bee record that I really liked.  It was the first album to bring on second guitarist Kazuya Hirabayashi, but his vocal contributions are mostly limited to some background singing here and there.  By the time Husking Bee's next album came out, Kazuya was the lead vocalist on about half the songs and my interest in the band plummeted.

But at least on Four Color Problem, things are pretty good.  It kicks off with one of the best songs on the album, "#4."  It's an octave heavy rocker with impassioned vocals and a stellar chorus.  The album is filled with Husking Bee's trademark bouncy, popped up punk sound.  There's always a little more pop than punk and this band has always been one that can avoid the trappings of some of the cheesier moments of the genre.  I'll never really understand what happened to Husking Bee after this record.  They essentially became a completely different band.  But from Grip to Four Color Problem, they were pretty damn great.

Husking Bee "#4":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAR6t-MyjjU

(Something funny, whoever uploaded this to YouTube used the American artwork, the artwork is of a promo CD from the radio Station WPSC, which was the college station I was music director when this album came out.  Someone must have stolen the stations copy at some point...)

Husking Bee - "Sketch":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGYmDU9YrLE

Husking Bee - Put On Fresh Paint LP

Doghouse (1999)

This might be a slightly odd choice for the first record to write about that I picked up in Japan.  But, as I've been out of commission with the sickness for the past few weeks, I haven't really gotten the chance to spend as much time with most of the new records that I bought.  Put On Fresh Paint, however, is an album I've been listening to for almost 20 years, making it much easier to write about.

This isn't the Japanese version of this Husking Bee album.  I looked for the Japanese version while in Tokyo, but I didn't come across it.  However, I did find the version on Doghouse records and it was only four dollars.  So to me, that's an easy buy and I'll have to keep looking for the Japanese one.

I first heard of Husking Bee a couple of years before Doghouse put out the album in America.  Back in the 90's, I used to run Snuff's website.  As their fanbase was much more based in the UK and Japan rather than the US, I ended up with a lot of people from other countries getting in touch with me.  One of those people was a fellow named Tetsu from Japan.  We struck up a friendship and used to send each other records that we thought the other would like.  Husking Bee was one of the bands he sent me.

Of Husking Bee's pretty extensive catalog, Put On Fresh Paint and their first album Grip were always my favorites.  They played a super catchy strain of melodic punk rock with those catchy choruses that I love so much.  The vocals are somewhat gruff, but still very tuneful.  The guitar riffs are big and full and they always manage to sneak in an extra hook or breakdown that really sets their songs apart from your run of the mill pop punk band.

I am excited to have this on vinyl finally and it was great to get it at such a cheap price, but part of me is now even more obsessive about finding the Japanese version of the vinyl.  That's OK though, maybe it gives me another excuse to try to get back to Japan.

Husking Bee - "Sing to Me":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaBF_HoZ25g

Husking Bee - "Single Word":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd6hCU8o9vo