aNNa jAponicA

Thanks again to everyone who turned up to the Year 11 Leavers Concert on May 12th to support us! The gig went really well from our point of view, apart from the fact that since you guys have been told not to jump around, you've hardly even moved! There were plenty of rock 'n' roll antics lined up for you, but you just weren't rockin' enough! Ah well, well done on the sit down protest during The Missing Link's set! You put them boys in there places!

New Song(s)

I been a busy boy since we has lefted school and I has come up with two (at the risk of sounding like Zane Lowe... *winces*) killa brand new tracks and we now have enough material to compile an EP! Btw, does anyone out there know anything about how we could maybe 'lay down a few tracks as they say in the business,' i.e. record? If so, would you be so kind as to get in touch with us through the guestbook... cheers!

aNNa jAponicA are an Alternative Indie-Rock band from the Norwich area with a line-up reading like a who's who of anyone... who's... in the Norfolk area. This outstanding line-up consists of Alex "Nelly" Nelson on guitar and vocals, Stephen Hogarth on bass and vocals and Francis T Bell on drums. They have a set-list of covers and a handful originals at the moment, though Nelly says he is working on a batch of new songs and an EP should be out around the end of summer!

The foundations of aNNa jAponicA started back in November of 2005 when Cameron Black suggested we team up and do a rendition of The Libertines 'Can't Stand Me Now.' I accepted and me and Cameron grafted in Stephen on bass and Francis on drums for the performance. The performance went well, and I (Nelly) suggested to the three others that we stay together as a band. Cameron was otherwise engaged with his own band Rupert (www.myspace.com/cameronmoandjamesband) and so unfortunately decided against my plans. However, Stephen and Francis, despite also being otherwise engaged with their other band Penfold, said yes to my suggestions and so iLover Ape was born. Named after a magazine in the cult comedy classic, Nathan Barley. Called Sugar Ape, it was usually spelt as sugaRAPE. We were following the same tactic with iLoveRAPE, thinking 'how cool would that be to be printed across posters around school?' etc. Alas, this was picked up on when we signed up for our first public gig (we had to resort to being called iLove Ape). So to avoid any problems in the future we plumped for the safer option of iLove An Ape, but since leaving school, have decided to call ourselves aNNa jAponicA after going for a name that reflected our style of music a bit more honestly.

The band are heavily influenced by artists such as The Cribs, Editors, Franz Ferdinand, Gang Of Four, The Hives, Mudhoney, Placebo, Sonic Youth, The Specials, The Subways and The White Stripes among others. We sound like a load of pissed guitar techs/roadies/Thurston Moores gettin together, settin' their pickups to the out of phase position and using a copper based pick such as a one pence piece to play with, distorting the magnetic field of the neck pickup, giving a a dull, damp sound which often cuts in an out rhythmically (this actually works) especially when Nelly is goin' through a phase of the Youth, in which case the noise at their gigs never stops, with crazy feedback here and mental effects there! On a good day though, they sound like Franz Ferdinand if they were looser in their playing and had the rock 'n' roll charisma, Wakefield twang and general greatness of the Jarman brothers (especially Ryan ;-)!) Basically, Franz covers from The Cribs!