it has been a while since the last update here, during which we have played a handful of gigs around tokyo, one of which coincided with me being out of japan at the time. not wanting to cancel the gig, shinnosuke picked up the bass and learned how to be a bass/vocalist in time for the show. ive seen him do it a couple of times in practice and actually he is pretty good - from what i hear the gig was a success too. still, it stings to have missed my first icon girl pistols gig in 4 years. almost 100 gigs in a row and finally ive had to miss one (im sure ken felt the same way when we played a show without him in taiwan in 2010, accompanied by a drum machine).
of course im pleased the show went well, but also it is a concern that things went so well without me! and i started thinking about other bands where the guitar player takes up the bass and uh-oh could i be stuart sutcliffe all over again...
thankfully we have a lot of gigs coming up in the next month or so which i will definitely be a part of!
Saturday November 3rd @ OTO, Shinjuku
FROM ENGLAND TO ME!
a club event with DJs all night, and icon playing a set at about 1am.
more details: http://blog.fetm.jp/?eid=996154
open/start: 10pm until morning
\2000 in advance, \2500 on the door
Saturday November 10th @ CRAWFISH, Akasaka
BLACK LIGHT PARTY 2
w/Bitter Haze, Jimmy Binks & the Shakehorns, David Whittaker
open 18:00
\2000 on the door http://www.facebook.com/events/355270527888444
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:
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)
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 29th 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......
yeeeeeeaahh gamusofest. what a crazy day, what a fantastic event. it was our pleasure to play amongst such fantastic artists, and to such an electric crowd. we put in a mix of new and old songs in the set:
"スカイブルーのペンキ" [unreleased]
違法なチケット An Illegal Ticket
首輪 Collar
"正義の少年" [unreleased]
ママ、僕の服はもう買わないで Mama, Don't Buy My Clothes Anymore
グッバイドーナツ自由の女神 Goodbye Donuts (Hey, Statue of Liberty)
車輪の下敷き Crushed Beneath the Wheels
i think that was the first time 首輪 has been in our set this year, so the first time we have played it as a five-piece. that song has been with us since our first demo over four years ago, and it feels good to play it again and for it to feel brand new with kanemitsu's vocals and stu's guitar. also we have been getting good feedback on the new songs that have been in our sets the past few weeks - cannot wait to get these recorded and make them available to everyone. aiming to get something recorded and released within this year....
so, the olympics start in 9 (?) days, and the london transportation system is still completely unprepared and the security arrangements are a shambles. i must say i am quite glad not to be in britain this summer. i would be one of those people who rented out their house to tourists and got outta the country for a month. Tokyo has been trying to get them for a while, with a failed olympic bid for 2016 and now they are trying again for 2020. i have still yet to meet a single person who is enthusiastic about getting the olympics here, but would be interested to hear the opinion of anyone who is. it just seems like a great way to put the country in a lot of debt.
speaking of "failed olympic bid"s, the greatest band out of my hometown, Future of the Left, have just put out another great record containing a song with that title. lyrics go:
"I got a home for the millennium dome
a heart disease ward underwritten by mcdonalds
you got funding while i got fat
on a training programme for type 2 diabetes
but a failed olympic bid gets some kids so upset, they cant forget
a failed olympic bid gets some kids so upset, they cant forget"
i definitely recommend their new record, but if you're new to FotL, it might be better to start with some earlier stuff. Here is a great one from their first record. "MANCHASM":
we are playing on Friday night July 20th at Ruby Room. The event page is herrrree, i think we will be on from 10ish (but i forgot to bring my racket!):
