Chicks Rock

Japanese riot grrrls step out

Miki Six

Women have been a growing voice in rock ‘n’ roll over the years, but the same couldn’t be said of the supposedly future-thinking, yet actually primordially testosteronal, world of dance music. Now a crew of young women DJs look to leverage all that great female rock into a new, girl-centric club event.

Chicks Rock is an offshoot of Tokyo clubbing institution Vanity and is being put on by Miki Nakamura, aka. Miki Six, a regular Vanity DJ, and her cast of young female cohorts. The approach will be a similar mix of rock, electro, disco and ’80s post-punk, with the kicker being that the music will be one hundred percent girl-fronted.

“I got the idea for Chicks Rock after I saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ live show in July,” says Nakamura. “[Singer] Karen O was so powerful on stage. She inspired me. I know a lot of great music made by women and a lot of girls who play music or DJ. There’s a different feeling when a girl is performing. Plus, there are so many rock bands that feature boys, and too many big male DJs. There are many great women artists in the world. In the future I hope to book Chicks on Speed, Annie, MIA, Peaches, DJ Chloe or Karen O to perform at Chicks Rock.”

Dorothy

Meanwhile, after leaving La Fabrique, Vanity continues to float around at venues including Unit, Ever and JZ Brat. Its offshoot Dazed and Confused events occur monthly at Velours in Aoyama, while Vanity resident Paul James says he’s launching a Tuesday residency at the new Le Baron Tokyo, an offshoot of the Paris club...

In another women-focused new club event, pole dancing slithered out of the gentlemen’s clubs and into a Shibuya discotheque recently with the launch of Night Birds. Slated for every Tuesday at Module, the event was started by dancer Kayo, one of the regular “Bond Girls” from Tokyo’s longest-running women-only party, Goldfinger.

The idea is to create an affordable, after-work lounge party that capitalizes on the recent surge of interest in pole dancing among women, providing them with an opportunity to have a look without having to step into a strip club. Needless to say, the frisson of pole dancing should also draw in plenty of male punters looking for alternatives to the usual Shibuya happy hour.

Chicks Rock@JZ Brat, Oct 13. Night Birds takes place every Tuesday at Module. See club listings for details.

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