old friends bookends

our friends 1976 were over in japan for summersonic festival and played on the island stage on sunday afternoon, but they got some poor luck with their 30 minute set being the only rain all afternoon! but still they sounded fantastic, and we all had a good dance in the rain. we have played with them a couple of times over in taipei, but it was nice to see them play in front of a Japanese crowd (although there seemed to be a lot of Taiwanese there...!)

a few days later we invited them to a gig in our regular home base NOB shibuya, where we had a big ol' reunion party. the evening began with a solo set by takashi hasegawa (yes, that Takashi, who was once a fellow icon girl pistol), which I think was the first time he has played in front of people since he left the band. he was followed by shinnosuke performing a quizmaster set - he opened solo with an unreleased acoustic track and then was joined by myself on bass and yusuke sato on drums for "その男、裏表アリ・That Man of Many Faces" and "祝祭の日・The Day of Festivity". It was my first time playing those songs since quizmaster went on hiatus a couple of years ago, and apparently yusuke hasnt touched the drums since then!
after that shinnosuke did a solo rendition of "和音・Harmony" and then finished by bringing up the "Great Buildings of Quizmaster" era band members - ss, kamikubo, junpei, kohei & daiki, for "地下社会生活者・A Life in Underworld" and "Come Come Together"

i thought it was bloooooody brilliant to see them playing together again.

after that - to everyone's overwhelming surprise - 1976 appeared to play a few songs! their set was great, everyone was jumping and going mad. i hope they enjoyed their first time in the nob; we were certainly delighted to have them there. and so icon girl pistols then closed things off with the following set:

違法なチケット - An Illegal Ticket

"スカイブルーのペンキ"[unreleased]

グッバイドーナツ自由の女神　- Goodbye Donuts (Hey, Statue of Liberty)

"正義の少年" [unreleased]

革命の仕組み - Structure of a Revolution

首輪 - Collar

ママ、僕の服はもう買わないで - Mama, Don't Buy My Clothes Anymore

DIY精神 - DIY Mentality

路上 - On The Road

車輪の下敷き - Crushed Beneath The Wheels

oh but of course it couldnt have all finished there, and so ss, kamikubo, daiki and a special guest on the drums played that old quizmaster favourite 「光の輪」

by that point everyone was partied to the very depths of their souls and even those of us with work in the a.m. found ourselves drinking past the last train. jeeeeezuz. still, made it to the weekend in one piece, and looking forward to 3 more gigs in the near future!

8/31 at ruby room, shibuya - icon on at about 10pm

9/2 at mona records, shimokitazawa

9/5 at yaneura, shibuya

oh! and i found a photo of shinnosuke's creepy radiohead t-shirt at the blacklight party:

 

under the blacklight

last night we had a blast at the crawfish, playing under the blacklights. the audience was fantastic too, everyone was going nice and crazy. and we finally made some little igp stickers that people were sticking on their heads, their arms and their bellys - i think a lot of people will wake up sunday morning, look at their photos and wonder what the fuck they have got stuck on their foreheads. haha, fantastic.
yesterday shinnosuke was wearing his radiohead t-shirt with the creepy baby face on it and jeeezus that looked spooky in the dark! have you seen it? from the cover of anyone can play guitar single:

yikes!

as well as playing a couple of the new songs, we opened with Death of a Paper Mache Policeman, which was the first time we have performed that track since becoming a five piece. both shinnosuke and i (christopher) were wielding our new old guitars last night too - but i dont think anyone could see them!
This photo was taken by our friend and director Marina:

setlist:

張りぼて警察官の死 Death of a Papier Mache Policeman

"正義の少年"　[unreleased]

脱NYC　Escaping NYC

レタス色の傘 Lettuce Coloured Umbrella

"スカイブルーペンキ" [unreleased]

ママ、僕の服はもう買わないで　Mama, Don't Buy My Clothes Anymore

車輪の下敷き　Crushed Beneath the Wheels

グッバイドーナツ自由の女神 Goodbye Donuts (Hey, Statue of Liberty)

upcoming tokyo gigs on 8/21, 8/31, 9/2 and 9/5!!!

Summerholidays vs Punkroutine

I remember when I first heard At The Drive-in, I must have been about 15 because I was living a few miles outside of Baltimore at the time. I was a big fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Placebo back then, and even though they were musically very different, both Flea and Brian Molko listed Relationship of Command as their record of the year in 2000. So I thought there must be something going on there for both of them to recommend it and so I picked up a copy – and to be absolutely honest it took me a little while to get into it. But, as so many great records do it grew and grew on me, and by a couple of months later I had picked up the back catalogue at the local Record and Tape Traders.

anyway, it was a real disappointment when they split up, but I went straight out and got the Tremulant EP by the Mars Volta and Austere EP by Sparta and was pretty impressed with both. I think at first I dug Sparta a little more because it was a closer to the ATDI sound, but by the time the first albums came out I was into the Mars Volta in a big way and managed to catch them at their first UK show in a tiny pub in Bristol in 2003.

Never thought that at the drive-in would get back together, and never thought I would be in Japan to see it.

Refused was a different story…to be honest I actually cannot remember how or where I first heard them, but I am pretty sure this was also when I was in the US. The Shape of Punk to Come was and is a superb record from start to finish, and by the time I was really into the band they must have already broken up because I remember hearing some (International) Noise Conspiracy not long after. I managed to catch the (I)NC at Reading festival in 2004, and then again in the small room at the Leeds Cockpit in about 2005, where Dennis Lyxzen climbed on top of everything and tore the stage up like all hell. And they were great and I enjoyed their records, but somehow it never quite came to reach the genius of The Shape of Punk to Come.

Never thought that Refused would get back together, and never thought I would be in Japan to see it.

And then, on Sunday July 29^th 2012, on the white stage at fuji rock festival, I got to see those two huge bands of my adolescence playing back-to-back.

And here is what I think.

The Refused reunion makes perfect sense. Twelve years ago these guys made a fantastic album, but broke up before they ever got to really play it to the world. They have unfinished business, and it was so clear in their expressions and in the way that they played that they were loving every second of playing these songs together again. There was a real sense of brotherhood on that stage. And Dennis Lyxzen…. Wow. I am certain that he is the greatest frontman I have ever seen live, standing on speakers, swinging the microphone, jumping into the crowd. Pure energy, pure entertainment. I wish there was a good video of them from Fuji - here is their set from late night TV a couple of weeks ago. 

The At The Drive-in reunion…. to be honest I just don’t understand it. Like every other fan I was very surprised that their “indefinite hiatus” came to an end, and like everyone else I was wondering why. Watching them live, it was like watching two bands put together to play a show. Everyone is still amazing at their instruments, and the songs are still fantastic (was especially please to hear Metronome Arthritis), but the energy and the connexion between the members was completely missing. It really saddens me to say. You could draw a line down the middle of the stage with Cedric and Omar one side, Jim, Tony and Paul on the other. Maybe it was just because of the big stage, and perhaps they will be on fire when they play in a club in Brixton later this month (which a couple of lucky friends will be going to see). Of course they are ten years older and a lot of shit has gone on in between, but there just wasnt the fire that I was hoping for. I wish I could have had the chance to see them back in 2000, when their show looked like this: 

Still, the Mars Volta's newest album, Norctourniquet, is bloody fantastic. Definitely among my favourite records this year. Sadly, I cannot help but think I actually might have been more excited to see TMV, rather than ATDI at FRF.... hmmm......


[christopher]