The Last NUPHORIA

NUPHORIA was a word I made up in the late 90's. A combination of NU and EUPHORIA the word means new bliss. The original concept of the event was to bring live music back to the club event. When we started the party it was at the waning peak of the DJ boom. There were parties everywhere but it seemed like none of them where paying homage to musician and, instead, pouring all focus on the guys playing the records. Don't get me wrong. We had an enormous respect for the DJs craft. We just wanted balance to be brought back to the clubbing universe. So we began collaborating with various bands around city to build an event that featured the best of the hard working musicians in the city. We made so many great friends and shared lots of great memories. A few NUPHORIA musicians like SOIL & PIMP SESSIONS went on to gain international recognition.

After 17 years of doing the party off and on it is time to finally lay it to rest. This has been such a gigantic part of our lives we will be sad to see it finish but also happy to have one last magnificent hoorah.

The event will feature resident artists:

Ponzi - painter, guitarist, and vocalist. His passion is rock music. Although NUPHORIA typically focused on groove based tunes we will welcome our brother to play the last gig with his band Tits, Tats, and Whiskers. Ponzi will do a live painting as well.

Marcellus - As the founding father I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't do one last show at NUPHORIA. My baby has grown up and is about to leave the house. I will be there with my, disco funk band, SOLMA, to give him one hell of a send off.

Special Guest - Osaka Monaurail will also be there with us for the last big bash. I saw this band play about 15 years ago or so. They were so funky it made me do a hard double take. The leader, Ryo Nakata, is like some crazed shaman who channels the spirit of James Brown, right down to funkified solos of the Rhodes. This band is the greatest funk band in Japan and they have graciously agreed to share their sounds with us.

Gallery - NUPHORIA has always been about bringing together the arts and music. The event featured guest dancers, painters, and visual artists. The original NUPHORIA crew included the paint Ponzi who painted many amazing works over the years. This time around for the last NUPHORIA we will have a photo exhibit that highlights pictures of photographers who have been working hard in the Tokyo music scene. The gallery will be a beautiful, groovy, erotic, tribute to the great music life we have lived and the memories we have collected over the years.