Nickey & The Warriors - Wild Cherry EP

Label: S.E.X Records; Year: 1986; Format: 12" EP

When I visited Tokyo in 1997 a Japanese friend of mine made me a tape with bands such as Sheena & The Rokkets, Nukey Pikes, Cobra or the herein reviewed Nickey & The Warriors. He obviously preferred the more melodic side of Punk Rock from Nippon and I loved that cassette. I instantly fell in love with the sound of Nickey & The Warriors and one day back in '97 above mentioned friend took me on a wild motorcycle ride with his Yokohama through Tokyo with me on the backseat fearing for my fuckin' life. When I listened to this 4-song EP today for some reason I was instantly taken back to that memory. Nickey & The Warriors started out in 1983 as the Road Warriors originally without Nickey on the mic but with Keigo of Stalin, G-Zet, Cobra fame on vocals. It was a little later that the teenage singer Nickey, who was a friend of then wife of Michiro Endo (The Stalin) joined the band. This EP and the "Born To Ride" 7" from the same year have some of the best material ever recorded by them in my honest opinion. All four songs here are well produced upbeat Bubble Punk smashers with lots of hooks and ooh ooh's and aaah aah's in the background, obviously heavily influenced by the Ramones but by no means were they ever a copycat band. Nickey's vocals could be described as cute, and they definitely have a lot of charm. As a matter of fact "I wanna be yourself" is one of my favorite songs by them, just a fantastic mid-tempo pop punk song from the '80s. At some point I will review the "Born To Ride" 7" as it's equally good. 

Label: S.E.X Records; Year: 1986; Format: Flexi One Sided 7"

This one-sided Flexi 7" was inside my copy of above reviewed 12" so when I pulled it off of the shelve today I was wondering whether it was originally included with the EP but from what I read on Discogs this Flexi was a promo from the short-lived Nickey & The Warriors official Fan Club and was sent out with the "Warriors Times" zine. The previous owner was nice enough to slip it into the 12" hence I consider myself a lucky bastard owning this one as well. Feel Good is yet another upbeat bubble punk smasher in the vein of the other songs on the 12". Definitely made my day today.