Yakuza Smile

Yakuza Smile is set to take up where Hand Bites Dog left off and can now do what the Dog never could - fit on a 3-seater couch. That's right; they're now a 3-piece! As Hand Bites Dog, the lads had previously played around the traps of Amsterdam 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 George, the lead guitarist, left for New Zealand and drummer Martijn, 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… And in the oozing pits of the Amsterdam’s seediest underbelly, he was soon tracked down. 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, Mr 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 rowdy to a chorus of 'Sweet Child O Mine' in a Serbian karaoke bar, Yakuza Smile 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. Add to that the incongruous bells and whistles of the MicroKorg and the result is more beautiful than mating a dolphin with a rainbow, but not as gay.