Punk band Jr. Monster at the Que

Jr. Monster at the Que.

Jr. Monster is a humorous, testosterone-driven, pop-punk rock band that I last saw open for the Osaka band Moga the Five Yen. They were playing tonight at Tokyo’s Que with the Clicks and two other bands.

Punk rock subdivisions sometimes confuse me, but Jr. Monster isn’t one of those groups that inspire its fans to slam-dance, stage-dive, crowd-surf and engage in other punk antics. Instead, most of their fans seem to be girls who hop around in place to their songs and shoot up their arms once in a while. The fans are well-behaved.

But Jr. Monster’s (what a wonderful band name...) music itself is fast and energy-packed. Sweat pours off the band members as they head-bang to the music.


Jr. Monster at the Que.

I like their stately plump guitarist, who has a bleached Kurt Cobain haircut and plays an eye-hurting day-glo orange Gibson Les Paul. He’s the guy to keep the crowd entertained between songs, saying crazy things and kissing the microphone.

"Do you love punk?" he asks the crowd at one point.

The girls in the audience murmur ‘yes’ and giggle.

The guitarist pretends to be taken aback by the crowd’s modest response, and says, "OK, this time, when I ask you if you love punk, say ‘YES!’ in your head!"

He asks again, "DO YOU LOVE PUNK?"

A split second of silence later, as the girls think 'YES!' in their heads, he shouts, "Thank you!!", and the band moves on to their next song.