Frank Chickens are a Japanese musical group based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, who have performed songs mainly in English since 1982. They were nominated for the 1984 Edinburgh Comedy Award for their performance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In the same year, their single "Blue Canary" was number 42 in BBC DJ John Peel's Festive Fifty, a poll of his listeners' favourite tracks of the year. The band recorded 28 songs over five sessions for Peel between 1983 and 1989. In 1989 they hosted a television chat show on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

entitled Kazuko's Karaoke Klub.Guardian Media Monkey
. Retrieved 23 November 2013 One of the founders of the group, Kazuko Hohki performs as a theatre artist and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ist. She also sang with the group Kahondo Style who released 'My Heart’s In Motion' (1985) and 'Green Tea and Crocodiles' (1987). She is married to record producer Grant Showbiz. In 2010 the group won the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy God Award, after the public responded to an e-mail sent in anger by comedian Stewart Lee to the organisers of the award. The band was named by Kazuko Hohki after a brand of Japanese pencil.

Discography

Singles *"We Are Ninja" / "Fujiyamamama", (Kaz 1984) *"We Are Ninja (Not Geisha)", (Kaz 1984) *"Blue Canary", (Kaz 1984) *"Blue Canary" (12"), (Kaz 1984) *"Yellow Toast", (Kaz 1987) *"Do the Karaoke" / "Jackie Chan", (Kaz 1989) *"Annabella" / "Different", (Eggy Pop 1996) *"We Are Ninja Remix Collection ", (Ninja Tune 2000) Albums *''We Are Frank Chickens'', (Kaz 1984) *'' Get Chickenized'', (Flying Lecords 1987) *'' The Best of Frank Chickens'', (Kaz 1987) (reissue of contains 5 additional tracks, including "Fujiyamamama" and ) *'' Club Monkey'', (Flying Lecords 1988) *'' Pretty Frank Chickens'', (Chico Chica 1992) nly released in Japan*'' Yukasita – Underfloor World'', (/ 1994) Compilations *'' Shellfish Bamboo'' appeared on Mad Mix II, a compilation cassette tape given away with the

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...

in 1983 *'' The 90 Days - The Original Soundtrack'', (1992) Contributed 3 tracks. *'' Xen Cuts'' (Ninja Tune 2000), contained new version of "We Are Ninja (Not Geisha)". *'' What Would This Record Have Sounded Like If John Cale Had Had Some Setback And Cinzia La Fauci And Alberto Scotti Had Taken His Place'' (Snowdonia 2003), "Not Right" (1 track contribution to Stooges cover album) * "Blue Canary" appears on the compilation album ''Kat's Karavan: The History Of John Peel On The Radio''.Kat's Karavan: The History of the John Peel Show - Various Artists
". Allmusic. Retrieved 2 Dec 2016.

References

External links

Frank Chickens on BBC pages"We are Ninja" video on YouTubeThe Guardian - Frank Chickens: Edinburgh gods
* {{Authority control English new wave musical groups Japanese new wave musical groups Japanese all-female bands Musical groups from London Musical groups established in 1982 1982 establishments in England