PIERRE TAKI - ピエール瀧の体操36歳 (36 Year Old Gymnastics)

Welcome to part 3 of the Denki Groove Mega-party! Growing up, Pierre Taki had a mother who was a professor of nursing and was too busy to spend a lot of time with him. His father spent much of his time away from the family trekking in the mountains of Tibet. Without regular parental contact Taki was largely brought up by his older sister. He grew up learning about what young girls do and how to be feminine, a subject he uses in many of his works today. Later in life, Pierre Taki felt pressure to pursue a career in the medical field like his mother had but suddenly dropped out of university mid course in order to queue up for the debut release of Nintendo's RPG game, 'Dragon Quest II'. Today he is married, has one child and is still a game lover.

These days, performing often dressed in drag, Pierre Taki is the front man of Denki Groove. Taki is known for writing lyrics for many popular Japanese bands particularly for the pop band 'Puffy', now known as Puffy AmiYumi (thanks Diddy... lame asshole). He is a television presenter and is sometimes the goal keeper for FC Kaos. Now nearing the age of 40, Taki needs to be in good shape to block all those goals. Today's video will show just how he stays in such good shape in the form of '36 Year Old Gymnastics'.

Taki is as famous for his video work as he is being Denki Groove's primary vocalist. He has dedicated many years to producing video works in combination with live performance for himself and many other groups. In late 2004, he released 'Pierre Taki Presents COMIC Kiba Deluxe / Pierre Taki to Beethoven LIVE at LIQUID ROOM Vol.2', a DVD featuring some of his recent pieces.

While a talented lyricist, in today's video Taki opts for the minimal refrain, 'Pierre Ohayo!' which simply means 'Morning Pierre' over and over again. The video uses popular Japanese cultural references such as Totoro, juxtaposed by scenes of control and humiliation. As out there as the video may seem I can't help but relate to it on many levels. Maybe it's my comparative age. It also seems to mirror yesterday's Ishino entry nicely. Taki and Ishino obviously share a similar head space. If you liked Taki's 36 Year Old Gymnastics please check out the one he made six year earlier to celebrate his 30th!