An Australian, an American and an Englishman all walked into a bar.While walking into the bar hurt immensely, they all hit it off immediately. Tom (the Australian) walked in with a newt on his shoulder - he introduced it as Tiny, "Because he's my newt". Corey (the American) asked for a packet of 'helicopter' chips. Unfortunately the barman only had 'plane'. Finally, Kit (the Englishman) asked for a double-entendre. So the barman gave him one.
After a few drinks, these three allies joined together to become Yakuza Smile and decided to take on the world, through the medium of rock. They would start with their home in Amsterdam anyway. In fact, two of them were already allies from their previous Amsterdam-based band Hand Bites Dog. And the above story, if you hadn't already figured it out, is a slight exaggeration of the truth. This is how it really began…….. Begin flashback sequence…………………dodadodoo, dodadodoo, dodadodoo, dodadodoo………..
As Hand Bites Dog, the lads had previously played around the traps ofAmsterdam to much accord and released the video to their single 'She Lives on Oxygen' on YouTube. Combining the psychedelic effects that a cocktail of Amsterdam's finest ingredients has on a young man when watching the pigeons parade through Dam Square, this video was soon more popular than Paula Abdul's 'Opposites Attract'. However, when thel ead guitarist left for New Zealand and the drummer for Sydney, former bass player Corey stepped up onto drums and with Tom maintaining the helm of the good ship, they set sail in search of a bass player. The land was scoured far and wide, yet there was a man in waiting, waving his hand in the air, beseeching the opportunity. He was a man who had answered an ad in the personals to be the yard boy in Tom's expansive mansion on the Singel canal. While polishing the phallic statue of a giant dildo crushing the sun, given to Tom by asuperstitious tribe of Papua New Guinea after he saved them from the evils of liquor after drinking the last bottle of moonshine in the distant township of Ullawahtoonga, the garden boy heard the distinctive riff of 'Shake my tree' being blasted from the easterly tower window of Morgan Manor. He knew it was his chance to impress and from that moment, he made it his sole mission in life to join the band with his own brand of rock. He even knew that the song was in the key of A. Or was it A minor? While Tom knew that the gangly, bespectacled oath upon his grounds was a fan, he had no idea of his name. While sorting out his tax affairs on a rainy Sunday afternoon, being the fine upstanding gent he is, Tom saw the name of his garden boy scrawled upon a timesheet: Mr Kit Ballantyne. Sharing a first name with a talking car, a name that also sounds like a Dutch rude word if pronounced in a New Zealand accent, and a last name that combined with the first, equaled pure rock, Kit Ballantyne was chosen purely for his handle alone. Kit soon stepped up to the plate, and it was obvious that his rock prowess matched his moniker. Henceforth, Yakuza Smile was formed.
Taking their name from the evil grin given to them by a Japanese mafia boss who once threatened to 'Go Mr Miagi' on the boys 'lily-white-asses' for spilling saki on his suit while getting too rowdyto a chorus of 'Sweet Child O Mine' in a Serbian karaoke bar, YakuzaSmile took some of the songs of the Dog, added a handful of new ones and hey presto, Yakuza Smile soon formed into its own entity. Playing high energy, original, dirty rockn'roll with a 70s and 90s influence, Yakuza Smile have folded in segments of garage rock, punk rock, alt-rock, stoner rock, reggae, drone rock and country rock, all while keeping a charming pop sensibility.
The time has arrived!!!!...Quartz Lock Records official launch on
monday Nov.!6 2009. Available at all of your favorite download
sites...Beatport, Itunes, Juno, Amazon etc etc....we keep dance music
in sync!!!! Thank you for all your support:)
Feel free to browse any of the links below to hear our tunes and to download our dj mixes....ENJOY THE MUSIC!!!!!
Hey guys, how's going? we played with a band called 'automatic sam' and I had to think of your music. Great sound, good songs and nice performance... Maybe you'd like to check it out. Oh, and by the way, Yesterday I got a mail from Rafi. We recorded a song with him at sae institute and now he's organizing a party in winston; the 10th of march.... Too bad I can't come. Good luck and greetings to Rafi! See you later ruben/yellowknife
