Frank Chickens are a Japanese musical group based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, who have performed songs mainly in English from 1982. They were nominated for the 1984

Edinburgh Comedy Award The Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. ...

for their performance at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

. In the same year, their single "Blue Canary" was number 42 in BBC DJ

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

Festive Fifty The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's 50 (though the exact figure varied above and below this number) best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. It was usually do ...

, 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 network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

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 Grant Showbiz (real name Grant Cunliffe) is a British record producer principally known for his work with The Fall, The Smiths, and Billy Bragg plus as an artist in his own right with Moodswings. He has worked on more albums by both The Fall (1 ...

. 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 Stewart Graham Lee (born 5 April 1968) is an English comedian, screenwriter, and television director. His stand-up routine is characterised by repetition, internal reference, deadpan delivery, and consistent breaking of the fourth wall. Lee b ...

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 Pretty may refer to: *Beauty, the quality of being pleasing, especially to look at **Physical attractiveness, of a person's physical features Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Pretty'' (advertisement), a 2006 television advertisement for Nike ...

'', (Chico Chica 1992) nly released in Japan*'' Yukasita – Underfloor World'', (/ 1994) Compilations *''

Shellfish Bamboo Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environm ...

'' appeared on

Mad Mix II Mad, mad, or MAD may refer to: Geography * Mad (village), a village in the Dunajská Streda District of Slovakia * Mád, a village in Hungary * Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, by IATA airport code * Mad River (disambiguation), several ri ...

, a compilation cassette tape given away with the

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

in 1983 *''

The 90 Days - The Original Soundtrack ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', (1992) Contributed 3 tracks. *''

Xen Cuts ''Xen Cuts'' is a compilation album released by Ninja Tune independent record label on their tenth anniversary. The album was released in a four-piece vinyl recording (ZEN49), as two-disc CD (ZENCD049) and as a three-disc CD (ZENCD049X) versions, ...

'' (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 What or WHAT may refer to: * What, an interrogative pronoun and adverb * "What?", one of the Five Ws used in journalism Film and television * ''What!'' (film) or ''The Whip and the Body'', a 1963 Italian film directed by Mario Bava * '' What ...

'' (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 All-female bands Musical groups from London Musical groups established in 1982 1982 establishments in England