Peelander Z blasts the midstate with wild wacky cartoon punk

This past week, I was surveying my friends to see who was going to see Peelander Z. The responses were very simple. Their replies, respectively, were

God no

and

Hell no.

I asked one of them why the hate? That answer was also simple: they suck.

Suffice it to say I wasn't quite sure what I was in for when I made the trip down to The End in Nashville this past Friday. My main interest was in seeing chiptune pioneers Anamanaguchi, so at least if Peelander sucked it wouldn't be a totally wasted trip.

So how was this wild, weird cartoon/action/whatever the fuck band from Japan? I, too, will keep my verdict simple:

Fantastic.

Peter Berkman rocks a hacked NES like none other.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. First you need the lowdown on Anamanaguchi, the warm-up act. As you may know, these New York rockers compose music in a very unique way - by drawing from the sound template of hacked NES and Gameboy systems.

That's pretty much the highlight of their live show - taking in the energetic video gameish music and analyzing the nuances of the composition. The records are a blast to listen to, but the raw energy and spontaneity doesn't translate quite as well to the stage.

Instrumental-wise, drummer Luke Silas is impressive, but the guitar and bass playing doesn't stand out much. There is probably the potential to create a pretty neat stage show around their initial chiptune/video game idea, but as it is their live act is solid but not top tier.

Peelander, on the other hand, is a trip.It's the most random and bizarre performance you're ever like to see while also being most entertaining and enrapturing at the same time.

The frontman, Peelander Yellow, takes center stage with his bald head, stringy hair, and dinged up guitar looking not unlike Goldmember from that awful Austin Powers movie.

In a little over an hour, the band blasted through a set filled with songs about tacos, songs about ninjas going to high school, even songs about wild tigers. Musically this band gets ragged on a quite a bit, and understandably so.

But they have improved with the addition of their new guitarist, Peelander Black. Dude is by far the best musician in the group and provides a solid musical backdrop whenever the rest of the band is goofing off with other antics.

I'd like to say more to give you an idea of what this band is like, but at this point it's the type of show that is better described with pictures than words. So:

Peelander Z goes Super Saiyan on your ass.

A giant fish guitar on stage? Why not?

Peelander Red provides support with the four string

Hey look! Peelander fans can play guitar just about as well as they can!

Time to get hyped up for the mad tiger!

To infinity! And beyond!