At the close of the third edition of WACK in the UK, it was revealed that fans of WACK and alternative pop music could once again look forward to a new edition in London. Set for Wednesday, 27 November at The Underworld, the event will feature a lineup of returning groups, including ASP, who has participated since the first edition, ExWHYZ, making their second appearance after performing at the first edition, and MAMESHiBA NO TAiGUN TONAi BOUSHO a.k.a. MONSTER IDOL, who joined the third edition of WACK in the UK.
In October, the seven-member group ASP will release their first major album, titled Terminal Disease of ASP, followed by a solo show at Nippon Budokan. The four-headed group with the long name MAMESHiBA NO TAiGUN TONAIBOUSHO a.k.a. MONSTER IDOL will also be releasing a new album, set to be released in December. ExWHYZ’s latest release, the EP Sweet & Sour, reached number 5 in the Oricon album chart.
Ticket sales will start today, Friday 4 October, at noon UK time. Apart from general tickets, fans also have the chance to buy a VIP ticket upgrade. It is important to know that you need to purchase a general ticket and then upgrade it. With the VIP upgrade, in addition to your evening, your afternoon is also filled with WACK-related activities. It will start with a light lunch at 12.30 with the members of the groups ASP, ExWHYZ, and MAMESHiBA NO TAiGUN TONAIBOUSHO a.k.a. MONSTER IDOL. In addition, you will be able to make a couple of cheki (polaroid photos), so you have to decide beforehand with which group you want to take the cheki, but also with which member. The latter will include an autograph. This is not all, because you will also receive an exclusive t-shirt and early entry to the show.
The agency WACK, founded by Junnosuke Watanabe in 2014, is known for shaking up the Japanese music industry and rose to notoriety with BiS (also known as Brand-new idol Society), labelled “the most disliked girl group in Japan” by VICE in an article in 2014. They broke up in 2014, after almost four years of activity, ending with a show complete with an unlimited McDonald’s buffet, but they left a lasting impression with their sharp music videos and bold magazine shoots.
But it did not stop there for the ingenious idol group BiS in 2014, as the group returned in 2016, two years after the disbandment of the group, which was the start of the second generation and in 2019, the third generation of BiS was launched but will soon disband, overall producing an extensive discography with dozens of singles, (compilation) albums and EPs and a host of musicians who have moved on to other groups or gone solo.
Over the years, WACK continued fostering unconventional talents that have made waves in pop, rock, and everything in between, often defying genre boundaries. At the moment WACK manages more than 10 artists, groups, and talents and it seems to be an inexhaustible well of innovative acts. In August of this year, founder Junnosuke Watanabe announced his resignation as WACK’s representative, 10 years after establishing the agency, to pursue studies in the United Kingdom. As this marked a new chapter for the agency, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for WACK and its artists.
