Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Peelander-Z documentary Mad Tiger at Hollywood Theater, from May 6.



A 2015 documentary about Japanese punk group Peelander-Z will play at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont from May 6.
The official website summarizes Mad Tiger:
[A] feature length documentary that follows the relationship of two Japanese men, Yellow and Red, who have been best friends, band mates, and business partners touring the United States in a performance-art punk band called Peelander-Z for the last fifteen years. When Red decides to quit, their relationship is tested by life beyond the band.
A November 2015 Village Voice review clarifies a bit:
Peelander-Z just wants to chow down on your smiles. It’s what invigorates the self-described “Japanese Action Comic Punk” band and fuels their erratic shows, which play out as gatherings of grins structured around animated rock ‘n’ roll, frequent moments of audience participation, and the bowling of a half-cephalopod/half-guitar creature called the Red Squid into pins onstage. Some say Peelander-Z hail from Planet Peelander in some far away galaxy — others say Japan — but since their formation in 1998, Long Island City has remained their domain.
. . .
Yellow and Red performed together up through 2012, when Red announced he would depart Peelander-Z by the end of the year. The slight turmoil that followed their separation was captured in the upcoming documentary Mad Tiger, named after one of the band’s more ferocious cuts, and debuts on November 13 during the 2016 DOC NYC festival. Co-directed by Jonathan Yi and Michael Haertlein, Mad Tiger follows Peelander-Z as the tour behind their album Space Vacation takes them across the country, over to Japan, and home to New York. For close to two decades fans have known the band with their personas held firmly in place, their colorful costumes seldom removed, but the opportunity to meet Peelander-Z has finally arrived, and the line between artist and person is blurring.
Mad Tiger will play at the Hollywood Theater on May 6, 7, 8, 10, and 13, and tickets are currently available online. The theater is located at 1449 Potomac Ave. in Dormont (map), and is accessible by Pittsburgh's subway/LRT at a block south of Potomac Station.

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