What do a theoretical physicist and a Jewish hippie have in common? They make up the rock comedy duo Ninja Sex Party.
I’ve been a devoted fan of these guys since middle school, and on Oct. 13, I was finally lucky enough to see one of my favorite bands live, and they truly did blow the roof off of Cleveland’s Agora Theatre for their first-ever Ohio show.
Ninja Brian (Brian Wecht, theoretical physicist) and Danny Sexbang (Dan Avidan, Jewish hippie) make up Ninja Sex Party, a musical pair that specializes in songs about sex and badassery. They’ve recently enlisted the help of their friends Tupper Ware Remix Party (more commonly abbreviated as TWRP) as their backing band, strengthening their sound in both the studio and live performances.
TWRP, an ’80s inspired electro-funk quartet that performs in full costume and does not reveal their names or faces, consists of Doctor Sung, Commander Meouch, Lord Phobos, and Havve Hogan. TWRP, who remains mysterious in terms of true identity and formation, has a fictional backstory of Doctor Sung traveling through space and time to recruit band members.
Ninja Sex Party has grown tremendously in the seven years since the release of their first studio album, NSFW. Back then, it was just Ninja Brian and Danny Sexbang, and their sound was undeveloped, yet charming nonetheless. There were no intense instrumentals or high-end production, but it was still some of the weirdest and most sincere music that was produced by the passion of two musicians.
And now, in 2018, Ninja Sex Party is bigger than ever: they have four original albums and two cover albums (one of which features what I personally believe is the superior version of “Africa” by Toto, sorry to break it to you), they’re selling out shows across the country, and they’re even part of other creative projects, including the band Starbomb and YouTube channel Game Grumps.
But when I finally got to attend a Ninja Sex Party show, after years of being a fan, it was surreal. These men that I’ve been following for years, throughout such a crazy and significant part of my life, were only a few feet away from my brother and me.
The show itself was unlike any that I’d ever seen before. It was a perfect balance of music and comedic stylings, and everyone on stage was clad in their own performance attire (Sexbang in his iconic blue leotard, Ninja Brian in, well, a ninja outfit, and TWRP in their usual futuristic space spandex).
Planet Booty, a funky band that preaches body positivity, opened up with a sparkling, interactive act (the singer quite literally sung a love song to my brother). The frontman came out holding a jeweled bust of a booty and was clad in a sparkling blazer that all combined to make a one-of-a-kind, uplifting show.
Shortly after Planet Booty, TWRP came on stage and brought forth their electronic party music with a stage presence like none I’ve ever seen before. The masked men were full of energy and filled the spots between songs with plenty of comedic banter, including Commander Meouch devoting every song “to the ladies” and the band continually counting and mentioning numbers that eventually ended with — shocker — 69.
Frontman Doctor Sung occupied the stage with some energetic dance moves (he even pulled out nunchucks for some sick choreography during their song “Atomic Karate”) while Havve Hogan beat on his drums, Commander Meouch plucked his bass and Lord Phobos absolutely shredded the guitar.
Eventually, headliners and stars of the show Ninja Sex Party joined TWRP on stage to play the final set, and it was magical. Sexbang’s voice echoed throughout the old ballroom in a perfectly pitched, melodic sensation that sent chills down my spine.
Some of the most nostalgic and surreal moments of my entire life were when they played songs from older albums, like “Unicorn Wizard” and an intimate, acoustic version of “Dinosaur Laser Fight.” They also played a song off of their newest album Cool Patrol called “Danny Don’t You Know,” a song about Sexbang’s emotional growth from lame kid to successful rockstar, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t cry when I heard it live.
Ninja Sex Party filled some space with comedic banter, including one section where Ninja Brian played “bloopy reggae jams” on his keyboard, an homage to a track called “Shredded Metal” on the band’s second album Strawberries and Cream. In the track, Sexbang narrates that the two of them have been working on an intense metal song, but every time he tries to introduce it, Ninja Brian plays his “bloopy reggae jams.”
The show also presented a cartoon that played during intervals of the show in which the concert was under attack from a dinosaur in space, which was eventually resolved in the end after some on-stage “fighting” from the musicians with a man in a dinosaur costume.
The only downside to these constant humorous intervals was that I didn’t hear as many iconic songs as I wish I could’ve, like “Everybody Shut Up (I Have an Erection),” “Fyi I Wanna F Your A,” and “Attitude City.”
The Ninja Sex Party show was unlike any other in that it was more than just a concert: it was an experience. The men of TWRP slayed the instrumentals and Sexbang’s voice induced waves of intense bliss throughout the crowd of the Agora. It was the show of a lifetime, definitely worth the over two hour drive, and I will never forget it.
