365 Days, 365 Files: Bonkin’ Clapper – Warp!!

I knew when I bought Bonkin’ Clapper’s Bonkanesia from the Japan Nite merchandise table it would be a future cutout.

Not that Bonkin’ Clapper didn’t put on a good showcase. Nor was Bonkanesia a bad mini album.

But for the kind of rap-rock the group performed, it was going to be a hard sell in a world where Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit were showing their age. Besides, what could Bonkin’ Clapper provide that wasn’t already supplied by RIZE and Missile Girl Scoot?

Bonkin’ Clapper called in quits in July 2006. The band recorded four mini-albums independently. They performed at SXSW in 2002, but they never came back.

The demise of the band pretty much means the demise of their catalog. I doubt my copy of Bonkanesia will be come a hot collector’s item. I can’t gauge how devoted the band’s fans were on its home turf, but in the small circle of Japanese indie rock fans Stateside, Bonkin’ Clapper doesn’t garner the same name recognition as ZAZEN BOYS, downy or Tsubakiya Shijusoo.

Bonkin’ Clapper was good for the moment — a moment long passed.

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