These are Australian lunatics 12 Foot Ninja.
Musically, they are down under’s answer to Faith No More. That’s a bold statement. I stand behind it.
They apparently set a record for crowd funding by raising over $50,000 to finance their video for, ‘Ain’t That A Bitch’.
With that budget, they thought it should also include a mini-horror epic that should probably require some kind of warning… so after you watch it… let me know what I should have said to have made you not watch it.
But it deals with killing an internet troll and the music is nowhere as heavy as you think it is going to be… disarmingly melodic even…
The band jumps genres like a music director with tourettes. So if you aren’t a big fan of the sounds you are hearing, hang in there for 20 or 30 seconds and it will drastically shift gears.
The band has a good sense of humor and emphasizes their ADD approach to song construction with, ‘Coming For You’. If the metal intro is not your thing, perhaps you’ll groove on the Cuban lounge vibe it kicks into at about the :37 second mark… or maybe the 70’s dance jam that follows that…
This was the second single off of the album, “Silent Machine”. A remarkable album not just for it’s juxtaposed jungle of musical genres, but that it also came with a full comic book for each song on the album. Drawn by Keith Draws, it was inspired by the lyrics and based on the original fable of Twelve Foot Ninja (co-written by Steve “Stevic” Mackay, who is also the bands guitarist), the complete collection has been gathered into a 72 page book.
The first song released was, ‘Mother Sky’. The video has some skull faced hot dancing chicks. And some guns… and humor. It also shines a deserving light on vocalist Kin Etik.
Another great tune off the same album, “Shuriken”. Again… the specialty, tossing unexpected genre shifts into the mix… and being exceptionally good at each one.
The Mr. Bungle influences are easy to spot. But hey, they had Clinton McKinnon, the saxophonist from Mr. Bungle, play on one of their earlier EPs, so they know exactly from which well they drink.
No tour dates on the books as of this post… and they’ve only been out previously on a limited basis. They are either creating demand, or it’s hard to tour from Melbourne.
BONUS:
This band is all I’ve been listening to for the past 24 hours… check this out… your girl will love this… dip her toe into the water…
And here is the original ‘loud’ version…
