Back in 2006 we all lived for Thursday Nights at Tokyo Star. Now I guess that makes little sense to the majority of our readers today; you might be too young to remember that Tokyo Star used to be located in Melville, the most happening place in Jozi. Before Newtown, before Braam and before Maboneng. But it wasn’t the place that made it special. It was the people and the movement. It’s kinda strange to think that everything happening now stemmed from those drunken nights.
This was the time of MySpace, Indie Kids, Nu Rave, Emos and most importantly, fun. And this Thursday at Kitcheners there is a reunion afoot and I believe all of you should jump headfirst into it. Above is an image of the whole old party crew who, without fail would make every Thursday night, often to Jarryd’s own detriment. He actually failed second year because of partying too much: sorry Jaz. I take responsibility. Anyway, all the DJs have written a little piece about why it was so important to them and where it led them, plus they’ve added there favorite tracks from back then. Why don’t you have a little read and listen to why it used to be so special? (Also please note: cameras only had 4 megapixels in those days, so the photos are awful!)
It was the best because it was such a unique, fun and exciting little scene: The Secret, Tokyo Star Thursdays, my record store Canned Applause, Sovereign Academy, Shut Up I’m Dancing that I hosted at the ten pin bowling alley in Bramley, my rooftop gigs at The Lister with kidofdoom, uskidsknow and FiveMenThreeMissing (still the best local band i have ever experienced in SA), Carfax. Tokyo Star was at the core of it all as the weekly party. It was also my first DJ residency. We were playing out a crapload of independent music to a receptive, open minded crowd. The requests still came as they do anywhere else, but what struck me was the amount of people wanting to find out what something was. There was a real connection with the music. I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing now with Kitcheners and Broaden A New Sound if it wasn’t for that little scene. Those days are my roots in the entertainment industry, as a DJ and as a promoter. I cut my teeth as a DJ behind that little perspex shielded DJ booth. Still amazed how that thing never shattered! It was like the rope in a wrestling ring, flexing with bouncing maniacs on the dancefloor! The venue also got that little bit bigger as the scene grew. Those slushies and the brain freeze, stumbling the streets of Melville home, Mighty Dog and Catz Pyjamas 24 hours taking care of our munchies… Those really were the good old days!
What made this time so special? It was the convergence of a bunch of things I guess. Internationally, something huge was brewing. Bands and producers were throwing 90s apathy hundreds of middle fingers in the most fun ways possible. (Following blueprints from Gang of Four) Le Tigre and The Faint kickstarted the sound. LCD and NYPC perfected it. Back home, people were tapping into these new sounds immediately. You had The Secret, which presented people with a totally new way to have fun. The community from those nights spilled over into Tokyo Star’s Thursdays. In numbers, they were small, but so too was the dancefloor, so that worked out well. Things snowballed from there. The nights rolled on, pulling more and more people into the family of DJs and dancers that would descend on the club, week after week. It made for a really electric little space in time that’s now pretty tough to explain to people that missed out on it. I’ve not seen anything like it since, and it’ll go down as the best way I could have hoped to spend my early twenties.
Anyone who ever spent a Thursday night at Tokyo Star in Melville back in the day will know just why it was and always will be one of the coolest things to ever happen during the period. Like moths to a flame, Joburg was drawn to the Asian Pop Diner religiously every seven days with the sole objective of trying to obliterate everything that had happened up to that point in the week. It was like a home away from home for everyone, you knew exactly where your friends would be on a Thursday and you knew that if none of them were, you’d make a couple new ones. It was like pressing a reset button on your life and being about to dance it all away in the process. Worth every lost brain cell!
Brothers Grimm (Dan’s words)
At the tender age of 15, I ventured into Melville for the first time to find Canned Applause and pick up my copy of Be Your Own Pet’s self-titled album. It was that day that I met Ri (Data Takashi at the time) and was introduced to a whole new world of music, fashion and incredible friends. Nothing would ever be the same again. Within two years I had slick new scene hair, a whole new wardrobe, an amazing collection of CDs (real physical copies) and was DJing at parties I wasn’t legally allowed to be at. All with my new best friend and partner in crime, Grimm von Glamour. Seven years have passed since we said goodbye to our Thursday nights and the old crew has gone in separate directions, but I think we can all agree that 2004 – 2007 was a time when indie was king, the kids were the coolest and we sure could Spazz!
Jordan Koen
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