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Tokyo Thunder

from Carkey Malarkey (Digital Deluxe) by Cark

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Cark has always had a simple formula: Dustin does beats and I do notes. It doesn’t seem that radical, but in most bands the drums aren’t really part of the song; they just support the song with a backbeat. Oftentimes drummers aren’t even brought in until after everything is written and recorded.
The primary place where I see strong interplay between the song and drums is hip hop.
Cark is clearly not a hip hop group. But I’ve always loved old school hip hop in which the emcee raps about their DJ as a character (the Fresh Prince/Jazzy Jeff tune where they trade scat and scratch riffs like dueling jazz soloists is choice). Or the way Jack Black sings about Kyle Gass in Tenacious D; not just a good guitar player, but a magic ingredient that makes the band possible. It has a Homerian grandeur, depicting the group as a tribe mythic of folk heroes rather than just some schmucks making noise next to each other.
And I really think of Dustin’s drumming with that same sense of personality. He isn’t just a guy who counts to four consistently, knows when to hit the cymbals, and could be replaced by anyone else that knows the songs. There is no Cark without Dustin. He’s not just a guy that plays the drums in the band, his creative vision on the drums is half of the band. He’s not just a drummer; he’s the drummer of death, the standing drummer, Dusta Rhythmes, the Tokyo Thunder—a personality and creative force that manifests itself through rhythm.
So this is a song about that: the Tokyo Thunder and the Oregon Mouth; two wandering heroes of noise joining together to become greater than the sum of their parts.
Strangely, though I spent the whole time talking the drums here, this song has way more guitars than any of the others. I layered on like five or six rhythm tracks so it would sound huge and I could play with harmonized feedback. I think it worked. But decide for yourself.

lyrics

Tokyo thunder
Tokyo thunder
Tokyo thunder And he’s back in the saddle again

When the Tokyo thunder met the Oregon mouth
He said I got some jams that we gotta kick out
Don’t need no one else, they’ll just slow us down
We’re gonna rock hard and
we’re gonna rock now.

credits

from Carkey Malarkey (Digital Deluxe), released January 21, 2022

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Tingle Finger Recordings 東京都, Japan

Tingle Finger Recordings is an independent online record label founded by an unknown interstellar rock frontiersman.

Originating in Southern Oregon (USA), as a chronicler of obscure and forgotten rock music of the late 1990s, the label and its members look to continue spreading the Tingle, by delivering sounds of fun and excitement to listeners in various places. ... more

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