Artist Introduction: Tokyo Sapiens

Do you remember the scene in the film Snatch where Brad Pitt knocks out a Goliath-sized giant of a man with one punch? Or when Zhang Ziyi renovated a bar with only a sword and a handful of more Goliath-sized men in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? If you know you know, if you don’t then firstly you need to go watch those movies and secondly you need to watch the mad live show of the awesome Tokyo Sapiens, because that is what it feels like watching them. Like a bad ass fight scene from any of your favorite action movies.


Tokyo Sapiens are 4 men that once they hit the stage are on a constant full tilt. dealing in freight train riffs and highway pileup drumming. Their lead guitarist is prone to bouts of scorching guitar solos and don’t forget their bassist as he brings up the band’s bottom end with a tone that sounds like Chuck Norris breaking bricks with his teeth. The funny thing is that on stage they are merciless but they’re actually really nice to talk to, the hangover I had after I told them I loved their set and chatted about our favorite metal bands is testament to that.

In a way, it might be fair to say that Tokyo Sapiens come from an older school of Rock and Heavy Metal, as their love for powerhouse bands like Rollins Band or Helmet is pretty evident but they never feel like a throwback, as they bring some of that Mars Volta ingenuity to mix up the formula. At the end of the day, if I haven’t thrown enough heavy metal platitudes at you to make you understand the music of Tokyo Sapiens, then really there’s only one thing for it. Come and see them live and in the almighty words of the Clan, “you best protect ya neck”.

The one failing of Tokyo Sapiens is that there is barely anything recorded from them. So when they’re done tearing it up on stage, stop them after a show and tell them to get in the goddamn studio and make an album, or at least an EP.


See Tokyo Sapiens on May 29th at ロクでもない夜.

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