Half Japanese
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
1993 brought Half Japanese the greatest visibility of their career. Longtime fan Kurt Cobain -- a champion of innocent, amateurish indie rock acts like the Vaselines and the Raincoats -- invited Half Japanese to open the East Coast leg of Nirvanas In Utero tour. A documentary film on Half Japanese, titled The Band That Would Be King, after their recent album, was released to art-house theaters by director Jeff Feuerzeig, and T.E.C. Tones also reissued 1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts as a two-CD set. In the meantime, Half Japanese released a new album, Fire in the Sky, on the Safe House label. One of the most straightforward rock records in their catalog, it boasted a guest appearance from one-time Velvet Underground drummer Moe Tucker, who sometimes used Half Japanese as a touring band, and frequently welcomed Jad Fair as a guest on her own records. 1995s Hot continued the rock-oriented approach of its predecessor; the same year, Safe House released a double-disc, career-spanning retrospective, the ironically titled Greatest Hits. The following year, Jad and David reunited under their own names to record the album Best Friends. 1997 brought Heaven Sent, which appeared on drummer Gilles Vincents own Kitty Kitty label; its title track -- the product of a session for Amsterdam radio -- was over an hour long, and was believed to be the longest song ever released. The same year, Half Japanese signed with Alternative Tentacles and issued Bone Head. In the years that followed, Jad Fairs flood of recorded material finally began to slow to a trickle, although he did continue his work in the visual arts (his paintings were exhibited periodically in Europe). After a four-year absence, Half Japanese finally returned in 2001 with their second album for Alternative Tentacles, Hello.
