I really suck at updating blogs. XD But not that anyone checks here so... >_> Anyway, I just did one of these for a forum I frequent so might as well post it here. :)
online aliases: jellsio, j3llo, melonpan, crackerjack - er I like food names I guess o_O
INTERESTS
music evolution:
0-10: Vietnamese music
10-12: Once I understood English a little, it was country music (I loved Reba, Garth Brooks and Shania lol)
13-17: Lots and lots of pop, boy bands, girl bands, you name it.
18-20: leaned more towards rock/punk. Green Day, Our Lady Peace, Radiohead, Blink-182, No Doubt
21-current: Japanese music (explained later), a little bit Korean.
instruments played: A little bit of piano. Trying to teach myself but that takes a lot of motivation.
instruments you want to learn: Piano, guitar.
favorite music: pop, rock, electronic, mellow/ambient/experimental, indie-rock. My last.fm pretty much depicts my music tastes. Though I tend to go through phases for music style.
hated music: Vietnamese music...a bit weird since I'm Viet, but I just can't stand it anymore, too much lip-sync shit. I don't listen to country as much, but I wouldn't say I hate it. I don't hate VK either, but it's just not my style nor will I go out of my way to listen to it.
favorite movies: I love anything Pixar-related, my favorites of that are Monster Inc., The Incredibles and Toy Story 3. Lord of the Rings movies, The Proposal, Yes Man, Harry Potter movies, The Mummy (this movie isn't the greatest movie ever made by any means, but it's one of those where EVERY TIME it's on TV, I watch it, without fail).
hated movies: Sequels to franchises such as Scream, Final Destination, Saw, Twilight.
favorite television: GLEE!!!! Yes I'm a Gleek and proud of it. Haters gonna hate. =) It's really the only show I watch religiously. I used to watch other shows like Heroes, Grey's Anatomy but they got all too soap opera on me.
hated television: TLC network shows. For a company calling themselves The Learning Channel, you don't learn a whole lot except for family stupidity.
favorite books: hm... might be easier to say my favorite authors which are Dean Koontz, JD Robb (I love her In Death series, 40 books and counting and I do own every one of them xD), James Patterson.
hated books: There was one I read a loooong time ago but I can't remember the name of it. Might as well since I didn't like or finish it.
favorite games: Pangya. It's the only game I play really aside from occasional console (wii) games. xD
hated games: Don't have one...
places you've been: Canada, US, Australia, Ireland, Vietnam
places you want to go: Japan, Vietnam (haven't been back in 13 years), Europe (Spain, Italy, France, Germany), South America, New Zealand.
languages spoken: English, Vietnamese
languages you want to learn: Japanese, Spanish
other interests/activities: I like to draw in my spare time, mostly just pencil sketches. I want to get into digital art, but I need to learn the best program for it. I do have a tablet so it's just a matter of understanding what works best and how they work.
MUSIC
what are some of your favorite albums?
Adele - 21
Foster The People - Torches
Monogrenade - Tantale
Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
smarttail - green note
clammbon - 2010
MOTFD - World Is Yours
SCLL - PURPLE & ISOLATION
グーミ - めが3っつ
what were some of your most memorable live show experiences? Hanging out with bands from NMFT 1&2. =) I haven't been to a lot of live shows. I'm deprived T_T
who do you want to see live? mothercoat (again), clammbon, SCLL, SuiseiNoboAz, Foster The People, Phantogram, Adele, Deadmau5
who have you seen live? NMFT tours 1&2 bands, Iron and Wine, Kathleen Edwards, Neko Case, Regina Spektor, No Doubt, Blink-182, Kelly Clarkson. LOL the last 3 were from road trips just out of high school. Dang that's a long time ago.
who is your favorite (vocalist/guitarist/bassist/drummer/songwriter/pianist/etc.)?
For vocals: Adele, Shiina Ringo
don't really have favorite for other ones.
what artists do you still regularly listen to after X years? Snow Patrol, capsule
how did you first get into Japanese music? Anime. Never watched Inuyasha, but I remember hearing Namie Amuro's "Come" on the TV, caught my attention, and checked out more of her stuff. It was mostly anime themes for a while before I discovered other bands. My main exposure was through Jpopsuki on the old site. Then it was slsk and forums KMC, JMR. My tastes have evolved for the better to say the least.
what was your first album purchase? Probably some country album (tape) when I was young. Japanese album, I think it was Starboard's Everywhere You go.
what are some of your musical guilty pleasures? I guess the occasional catchy songs on the radio. One that comes to mind is Selena Gomez's Who Says. XD
How often do you download music? Used to be daily, but I've cut down considerably, probably about 2-3 times a week now.
How big is your digital music collection? Between 400-600GB.
How many physical CDs do you own? Counting non-Japanese and Japanese, over 200. I have about 75 Japanese albums last counted.
Do you buy music digitally? Depends on how badly I want it and if I can't get it any other way. Have I bought any digital music this year? No.
Are there any specific bitrates that you prefer? V0. I can't tell the difference between V0 and 320kbps anyways, but if I can save space, I will.
Do you prefer listening to music on speakers or with headphones? Depends on my surroundings, at home, it's usually with speakers. When I'm out, I use headphones.
Do you follow the music charts, like the top 40? Nope.
Do you listen to the radio? When forced to at work.
What do your parents listen to? Whatever is on the radio.
Favorite music video? I don't keep or watch a lot of PVs but one of my favorite is SOUR - 日々の音色
Favorite movie/anime/video game sound track? My favorite composers for anime are Yuki Kajiura, Susumu Hirasawa, Yoko Kanno and Joe Hisaishi. For video game soundtracks it's Katamari Damacy, Chrono Trigger. Don't listen to a lot of movie soundtracks.
Does Engrrrrrish bother you? I'm indifferent to it.
What language do you listen to the most in music? Japanese and English.
If you could bring back any disbanded band, which one would it be? Don't know actually o_o
What musician(s) are you most physically attracted to? For Japanese artists... none considering I'm not attracted to asian men, period. I do have a girl crush on Mikiko from sgt. however. >_> Western artists, none that comes to mind. It's the music that catches my attention before looks.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
MIA and Return of NMFT Tour.
So since I've made this blog, I managed to forget which Google account I had it linked with. It kept giving my super old blog from back in 2007.... I have way too many emails so I didn't bother with checking which account was linked with what. Hence, the deadness and lack of updates lol. Anyhow, I got it back now, hopefully I can post more. :)
NMFT news!
Steve is returning this October for the tour #3 with NATSUMEN, hyacca, Merpeoples, and チーナ(chiina). The schedules are as followed:
Oct 13 Montreal @ TBA
Oct 14 Montreal @ Club Lambi
Oct 15 Toronto @ the Rivoli
Oct 16 Toronto @ TBA (all ages)
Oct 18 Vancouver @ the Biltmore Cabaret
Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it this time around, so no pictures and no live experience. T_T For one thing, I've decided to go back to school after 5 years of graduating from my BSc. degree. EEP! Another thing is the lack of funds. I need to save money in order to go back to school. October 18th is a Tuesday, which will definitely not work with a school schedule. If it was near the weekend, then I might have considered booking a 2-3days flight to see the show. It's sad I can't go, but hopefully, the tour will get a better turn out than the last one (mainly in Vancouver). I highly recommend anyone with Japanese music interests who live near these cities to go and check out the bands. It'll be a guaranteed music experience you won't forget.
For more information, check out the site: http://www.nextmusicfromtokyo.com/
NMFT news!
Steve is returning this October for the tour #3 with NATSUMEN, hyacca, Merpeoples, and チーナ(chiina). The schedules are as followed:
Oct 13 Montreal @ TBA
Oct 14 Montreal @ Club Lambi
Oct 15 Toronto @ the Rivoli
Oct 16 Toronto @ TBA (all ages)
Oct 18 Vancouver @ the Biltmore Cabaret
Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it this time around, so no pictures and no live experience. T_T For one thing, I've decided to go back to school after 5 years of graduating from my BSc. degree. EEP! Another thing is the lack of funds. I need to save money in order to go back to school. October 18th is a Tuesday, which will definitely not work with a school schedule. If it was near the weekend, then I might have considered booking a 2-3days flight to see the show. It's sad I can't go, but hopefully, the tour will get a better turn out than the last one (mainly in Vancouver). I highly recommend anyone with Japanese music interests who live near these cities to go and check out the bands. It'll be a guaranteed music experience you won't forget.
For more information, check out the site: http://www.nextmusicfromtokyo.com/
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Next Music From Tokyo Tour vol.2
The next installment! The tour got off to a rocky start with lack of promotion and Steve ending up doing everything himself again. But I'm glad he did went ahead with it and not have it canceled or we wouldn't have these amazing experiences with these bands and their music.
Date: October 2010
Location: Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC
Highlights/recap of the show.
The day I arrived in Van (Oct 13) I met up with some of the bands (mainly sgt. members + manager and Yusuke + Maki from susquatch). There wasn't much to do considering it was getting dark fast. We were going to explore Stanley Park but I think they were getting bored just from walking. The day of the concert, we were pretty much like roadies, carting the bands instruments to and from the hotel/the Biltmore venue. Of course they were all grateful, and the rest of the time was everyone saying "thank you, thank you" and we were "you're welcome, no problem" .... repeatedly. xD Anyhow, a few other volunteers showed up to help Steve, and we offered to get the bands pizza before the show. Kenta of susquatch works at a Pizza Hut in Japan, so we decided to go with Pizza Hut to see how different they are from one country to another. Kenta said that our pizza sauce is sweeter than what they use in Japan. I also checked out the merchandise earlier to see what I wanted, and it's mostly T-shirts that intrigued me more than the CDs. The only CD I bought was MassDre's World Is Yours EP which I asked them to sign. We sat through MassDre and susquatch's soundcheck and part of uhnellys, though we missed sgt. since we had to get pizza. Mind you, it was a good thing I did miss their soundcheck because their live is <3.
susquatch opened the show first, don't recall the exact song, but it got things moving along. The set actually started a little bit later since Steve wanted to see if more people showed up to give susquatch a chance to showcase their music. They were pretty well received, Kenta tried to engage with the crowd a bit by talking. He introduced the band as susquatch from Japan, and they were a "kinky kinky band". At first, I'm like, does he know what he's saying? Then he started saying how Vancouver has lots of "crazy pretty girls" since the bands and Steve went to eat at Banana Leaf earlier in the day and there were pretty girls there. XD He then asked any pretty girls to come give him a kiss and take him home, even though his girlfriend would be super mad if she found out. haha. Kenta introduced the song "Ghost" which was written for his great-grandmother who passed away a few years ago. The rest of the songs they played were loved by the people whom I talked to after their set. I think they played a good 5-6 songs.
^During their soundcheck.
^Kenta makes the awesomest faces.
^Me with Yusuke, love how cheery he seems to be, on stage and off.
sgt. were scheduled to play second. The whole vibe of their set was incredible, I think everybody was pretty much enthralled in their music. Hitoshi (sgt. drummer) tried to speak to the crowd, but his english wasn't so good. The people were still encouraging though, cheering him on, then all of a sudden he yells "We're from Japan and we want to be famous all over the world!" That got a few loud cheers. :D I'm a sucker for string instruments so seeing Mikiko play her violin was fricking awesome. I now have a girl crush on her XD super super pretty in person.
uhnellys played third. Now, Steve got some questions why he brought a hip-hop band to a rock indie tour when he was planning it, but he made a pretty good choice. It was a nice break from the whole rock-theme we had going on. uhnellys only have 2 members but the way they perform live is pretty incredible. Kim (lyricist, guitar, trumpet) had some pedals that made his lyrics loop, I have no clue how it all works but it was cool hearing/seeing it. He kind of had mic trouble since the mic stand keep falling off. He handled it like a pro though as the show must go on! I wasn't familiar with uhnellys music before coming to the show, but seeing them live is quite something else.
I kind of neglected uhnellys in terms of pictures but hey I was enjoying their set so much I ignored my camera. :P
Lastly, MOTFD came on stage, they opened with "ゼロコンマ、色とりどりの世界" Natsuko and Chiemi fricking rock!!!!!!!!! Their entire live was very energetic, Natsuko attempted to speak a little bit of english but she pretty much just ended up saying thank you in Japanese haha. Their second song was "かくいうもの" each of the song had awesome intros where Natsuko just rocks out, hair flying, arms waving, just pure awesomeness. Other songs that they played if I remember correctly were "ひきずるビート" "ハイライト" "このスピードの先へ" and some other. During "ハイライト" mosh pit got going, which I think was started by Steve. Midway through the song, some dude was crowd surfing, and mind you, this is a small crowd we had, so everybody was trying to keep him up and not let him fall lol. Natsuko then decided to jump into the fray, the woman plays barefoot, keep that in mind, and she jumps off the stage, onto the crowd floor and just played and played. Thank goodness there wasn't any broken glass on the floor or that would have been disastrous. xD After their set was over, we called for an encore, they came back and played "She is inside,He is outside" and that ended an epic night where everyone had a blast.
Same deal with MassDre, awesome music = camera forgotten.
After that, the bands started packing away their equipment and we helped them get the instruments and the members themselves back to their hotel. They wanted food and nothing was opened at 2AM, so we went to this 24hours Vietnamese restaurant and had pho. I don't think the lady working there was impressed, but come on that's like $200+ of business right there! We attempted to have a conversation with Kim, Mikiko, and Natsuko during our food, so that was fun. Apparently Kim is part of the Blue Man group Tokyo? Interesting trivia I guess, unless he was just pulling our legs. XD Anyway, by this time, my friend Katt and I were exhausted and considering we had an hour drive back to her place, we pretty much dine and dash. XD We got home at 4AM LOL. Needless to say, the next day was a sleep and take it easy day.
Overall, the CDs do not do these bands any justice. Their live performances exceeded my expectations beyond any measure. I came to the show mainly for MassDre, but I think sgt. won me over with their live. ALL the bands were excellent mind you, but after seeing sgt., and then hearing their music again on CDs/ipod, it's taking on a whole other impression on me. Just oh. so. good. I also love the fact that there were 2 female drummers at the show (Midi from uhnellys and Maki from susquatch) they kicked ass! You can't really compare the first tour to the second tour because each and every one of the bands that participated brought so much to their performance and considering they played their hearts out, that's all that can be asked for. I would love to see all of these bands again, perhaps in future Japan visit. =) Definitely experiences I will not forget!
HUGE HUGE thanks to Steve for organizing these tours. The numbers were lower this time around, but I hope that doesn't deter him from arranging future tours. So I guess we'll just wait and see now. Would love to see toe, Midori, and clammbon. :S
If you live in/near these cities (Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto), are a fan of Japanese music or just music in general, and wants to experience something new, you could be part of the NMFT street team. Please contact Steve here for information. He needs all the help he can get if tour #3 is going to happen!
Date: October 2010
Location: Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC
Highlights/recap of the show.
The day I arrived in Van (Oct 13) I met up with some of the bands (mainly sgt. members + manager and Yusuke + Maki from susquatch). There wasn't much to do considering it was getting dark fast. We were going to explore Stanley Park but I think they were getting bored just from walking. The day of the concert, we were pretty much like roadies, carting the bands instruments to and from the hotel/the Biltmore venue. Of course they were all grateful, and the rest of the time was everyone saying "thank you, thank you" and we were "you're welcome, no problem" .... repeatedly. xD Anyhow, a few other volunteers showed up to help Steve, and we offered to get the bands pizza before the show. Kenta of susquatch works at a Pizza Hut in Japan, so we decided to go with Pizza Hut to see how different they are from one country to another. Kenta said that our pizza sauce is sweeter than what they use in Japan. I also checked out the merchandise earlier to see what I wanted, and it's mostly T-shirts that intrigued me more than the CDs. The only CD I bought was MassDre's World Is Yours EP which I asked them to sign. We sat through MassDre and susquatch's soundcheck and part of uhnellys, though we missed sgt. since we had to get pizza. Mind you, it was a good thing I did miss their soundcheck because their live is <3.
susquatch opened the show first, don't recall the exact song, but it got things moving along. The set actually started a little bit later since Steve wanted to see if more people showed up to give susquatch a chance to showcase their music. They were pretty well received, Kenta tried to engage with the crowd a bit by talking. He introduced the band as susquatch from Japan, and they were a "kinky kinky band". At first, I'm like, does he know what he's saying? Then he started saying how Vancouver has lots of "crazy pretty girls" since the bands and Steve went to eat at Banana Leaf earlier in the day and there were pretty girls there. XD He then asked any pretty girls to come give him a kiss and take him home, even though his girlfriend would be super mad if she found out. haha. Kenta introduced the song "Ghost" which was written for his great-grandmother who passed away a few years ago. The rest of the songs they played were loved by the people whom I talked to after their set. I think they played a good 5-6 songs.
^During their soundcheck.
^Kenta makes the awesomest faces.
^Me with Yusuke, love how cheery he seems to be, on stage and off.
sgt. were scheduled to play second. The whole vibe of their set was incredible, I think everybody was pretty much enthralled in their music. Hitoshi (sgt. drummer) tried to speak to the crowd, but his english wasn't so good. The people were still encouraging though, cheering him on, then all of a sudden he yells "We're from Japan and we want to be famous all over the world!" That got a few loud cheers. :D I'm a sucker for string instruments so seeing Mikiko play her violin was fricking awesome. I now have a girl crush on her XD super super pretty in person.
uhnellys played third. Now, Steve got some questions why he brought a hip-hop band to a rock indie tour when he was planning it, but he made a pretty good choice. It was a nice break from the whole rock-theme we had going on. uhnellys only have 2 members but the way they perform live is pretty incredible. Kim (lyricist, guitar, trumpet) had some pedals that made his lyrics loop, I have no clue how it all works but it was cool hearing/seeing it. He kind of had mic trouble since the mic stand keep falling off. He handled it like a pro though as the show must go on! I wasn't familiar with uhnellys music before coming to the show, but seeing them live is quite something else.
I kind of neglected uhnellys in terms of pictures but hey I was enjoying their set so much I ignored my camera. :P
Lastly, MOTFD came on stage, they opened with "ゼロコンマ、色とりどりの世界" Natsuko and Chiemi fricking rock!!!!!!!!! Their entire live was very energetic, Natsuko attempted to speak a little bit of english but she pretty much just ended up saying thank you in Japanese haha. Their second song was "かくいうもの" each of the song had awesome intros where Natsuko just rocks out, hair flying, arms waving, just pure awesomeness. Other songs that they played if I remember correctly were "ひきずるビート" "ハイライト" "このスピードの先へ" and some other. During "ハイライト" mosh pit got going, which I think was started by Steve. Midway through the song, some dude was crowd surfing, and mind you, this is a small crowd we had, so everybody was trying to keep him up and not let him fall lol. Natsuko then decided to jump into the fray, the woman plays barefoot, keep that in mind, and she jumps off the stage, onto the crowd floor and just played and played. Thank goodness there wasn't any broken glass on the floor or that would have been disastrous. xD After their set was over, we called for an encore, they came back and played "She is inside,He is outside" and that ended an epic night where everyone had a blast.
Same deal with MassDre, awesome music = camera forgotten.
After that, the bands started packing away their equipment and we helped them get the instruments and the members themselves back to their hotel. They wanted food and nothing was opened at 2AM, so we went to this 24hours Vietnamese restaurant and had pho. I don't think the lady working there was impressed, but come on that's like $200+ of business right there! We attempted to have a conversation with Kim, Mikiko, and Natsuko during our food, so that was fun. Apparently Kim is part of the Blue Man group Tokyo? Interesting trivia I guess, unless he was just pulling our legs. XD Anyway, by this time, my friend Katt and I were exhausted and considering we had an hour drive back to her place, we pretty much dine and dash. XD We got home at 4AM LOL. Needless to say, the next day was a sleep and take it easy day.
Overall, the CDs do not do these bands any justice. Their live performances exceeded my expectations beyond any measure. I came to the show mainly for MassDre, but I think sgt. won me over with their live. ALL the bands were excellent mind you, but after seeing sgt., and then hearing their music again on CDs/ipod, it's taking on a whole other impression on me. Just oh. so. good. I also love the fact that there were 2 female drummers at the show (Midi from uhnellys and Maki from susquatch) they kicked ass! You can't really compare the first tour to the second tour because each and every one of the bands that participated brought so much to their performance and considering they played their hearts out, that's all that can be asked for. I would love to see all of these bands again, perhaps in future Japan visit. =) Definitely experiences I will not forget!
HUGE HUGE thanks to Steve for organizing these tours. The numbers were lower this time around, but I hope that doesn't deter him from arranging future tours. So I guess we'll just wait and see now. Would love to see toe, Midori, and clammbon. :S
If you live in/near these cities (Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto), are a fan of Japanese music or just music in general, and wants to experience something new, you could be part of the NMFT street team. Please contact Steve here for information. He needs all the help he can get if tour #3 is going to happen!
Next Music From Tokyo Tour vol.1
Yes this is a little late but for the sake of spreading the word for Steve (tour organizer), it's going to be posted. =)
Date: May 2010
Location: Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC
"Next Music from Tokyo" tour is probably the BEST live show I've been to. I haven't been to many, but this one takes the cake. My friend Katt and I, went to find the venue early since we didn't want to get lost or not have parking. We got there about an hour early, heard the bands rehearsing and went for a sneak peek during goomi and Kulu Kulu Garden's soundcheck.
Kotone and Ryotaro of KKG.
Doors opened at 6:30pm and show started at 7:00pm. The show kick started right away with Kulu Kulu Garden. Kotone might look sweet but she knows how to rock out and screams her head off during the songs. The crowds took a little while to warm up to the bands and the music since the first part set from KKG only brought half of the people to their feet and on the floor. Plus there were people continually trickling in after 7pm. They performed songs from their first EP "Detorake Yuuenchi" so they played about 4 songs. They also had a CD-R that came with a CD purchase which features 3 new demo songs. Far France drummer, Kyohei Takahashi, was also there playing as support member for the show.
The hat is actually Tobita from グーミ standing right in front of me.
Next up was グーミ, who won the crowd over with their melodic pop/alt-rock style, along with Kobata's amazing violin playing!! I don't think some people were expecting him to pull that one out. Tobita is the drummer for the band, and she's like this cute, tiny little girl. I wanted to put her in my pocket and take her home. XD They played songs from their third album, "めが3っつ" which included 静寂の家, 誘惑気配, 50年, サテライト. There might have been another song that I could have forgotten. They were super nice and really down to earth. At one point during the next day where I bumped into Steve and goomi and andymori in Metrotown, we were exchanging band/artist suggestions. Mostly from Steve anyways. I bought The xx's album for Kobata @ Red Cat Records. I also got my friend Katt a copy too earlier in the day while shopping in Metrotown. If you're curious as to who some of Kobata's favorite artists are: Miyauchi Yuri, Qurage, circe, and NACANO. I've only heard of 2 of them. Kobata had a circe shirt on too during the band's set. And the only reason we bumped into them was because グーミ had a craving for Dairy Queen ice cream and because my friend and I had to turn back to get to another store, which now that I remember, we never made it to lol. They used to frequent a DQ store in Japan but since it closed down, they couldn't get their fix. So they travelled all the way to Canada to have some!
Members of グーミ and andymori.
Got my picture taken with the band after their soundcheck. =)
Following グーミ was the crazy band Owarikara (オワリカラ), whose live performance was insane. I haven't seen a live clip of them before the tour so didn't know what to expect, but man, if you were still bored by the last set, you were widely awake after watching them. The keyboardist, Taku, plays with crazy fast fingers, and also uses his feet to play! Him and Hyouri were pretty wild, jumping on and over each other, then falling over and toppling a chair. At one point, Hyouri jumped off the stage, took off his guitar and put it over the head of the girl behind me. We stood right in front of the speakers, and I think my hearing kind of went after that set.
Then the mother of all best live experience I ever had performed! mothercoat was FRICKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just awesome awesome awesome. I didn't want their set to end, they played about 4 songs since their songs was a bit longer compared to the other bands. The crowds went nuts over these guys, my friend Katt became a new fan, even though she has never heard Japanese music until I came to see her in Vancouver. I don't remember all the names of the songs they played but they were ワルツハイマー and カーリーマッシュ. They had an experimental style that appealed to the majority of the crowds. By this time, the whole floor in front of the stage was packed. People were jumping up and down, yelling, clapping, starting our own mosh pit. By the last song though, I had to back off from the pit since it was getting just a little rough for me. Fumihiko of Owarikara crowd surfed during mothercoat's last song also.
Last but not least, andymori took the stage with a cover of Stand By Me. Then followed up with songs from both their albums including ベンガルトラとウィスキー, everything is my guitar, life is party, 1984, FOLLOW ME, CITY LIGHTS, ずっとグルーピー, and SAWASDEECLAP YOUR HANDS. Those weren't the exact order they played in, I just tried to remember what songs as best I could. Hiroki disappeared after their set, so I only got autographs from Souhei and Hiroshi. Overall, the whole experience was great. I would love to see the next tour happen, especially if we can get MassDre and Midori. >_<
There were food and treats served in between each band sets to give the next band time to set up their equipment. The members of the bands I got to meet were incredibly nice and really down to earth people. They seem to be pretty easy going also. My friend Katt and I took members of andymori and their friend Nicola, in the car to Stanley Park, while Steve had members from グーミ. They were really intrigued by the squirrels, raccoons, ducks and swans so it was cool to see their reactions.
lol, bubble tea, this was our 3rd time going to Dragon Ball that weekend. So of course, we had to take the bands there too. :P
Souhei of andymori going through my super old/clunky ipod (which is now dead, RIP wee one). He said I was a heavy Japanese music listener. XD
Stanley Park pics
Finally, the merchandise!!!!!!!
The Suisei shirt was actually a gift from Steve. =)
Date: May 2010
Location: Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC
"Next Music from Tokyo" tour is probably the BEST live show I've been to. I haven't been to many, but this one takes the cake. My friend Katt and I, went to find the venue early since we didn't want to get lost or not have parking. We got there about an hour early, heard the bands rehearsing and went for a sneak peek during goomi and Kulu Kulu Garden's soundcheck.
Kotone and Ryotaro of KKG.
Doors opened at 6:30pm and show started at 7:00pm. The show kick started right away with Kulu Kulu Garden. Kotone might look sweet but she knows how to rock out and screams her head off during the songs. The crowds took a little while to warm up to the bands and the music since the first part set from KKG only brought half of the people to their feet and on the floor. Plus there were people continually trickling in after 7pm. They performed songs from their first EP "Detorake Yuuenchi" so they played about 4 songs. They also had a CD-R that came with a CD purchase which features 3 new demo songs. Far France drummer, Kyohei Takahashi, was also there playing as support member for the show.
The hat is actually Tobita from グーミ standing right in front of me.
Next up was グーミ, who won the crowd over with their melodic pop/alt-rock style, along with Kobata's amazing violin playing!! I don't think some people were expecting him to pull that one out. Tobita is the drummer for the band, and she's like this cute, tiny little girl. I wanted to put her in my pocket and take her home. XD They played songs from their third album, "めが3っつ" which included 静寂の家, 誘惑気配, 50年, サテライト. There might have been another song that I could have forgotten. They were super nice and really down to earth. At one point during the next day where I bumped into Steve and goomi and andymori in Metrotown, we were exchanging band/artist suggestions. Mostly from Steve anyways. I bought The xx's album for Kobata @ Red Cat Records. I also got my friend Katt a copy too earlier in the day while shopping in Metrotown. If you're curious as to who some of Kobata's favorite artists are: Miyauchi Yuri, Qurage, circe, and NACANO. I've only heard of 2 of them. Kobata had a circe shirt on too during the band's set. And the only reason we bumped into them was because グーミ had a craving for Dairy Queen ice cream and because my friend and I had to turn back to get to another store, which now that I remember, we never made it to lol. They used to frequent a DQ store in Japan but since it closed down, they couldn't get their fix. So they travelled all the way to Canada to have some!
Members of グーミ and andymori.
Got my picture taken with the band after their soundcheck. =)
Following グーミ was the crazy band Owarikara (オワリカラ), whose live performance was insane. I haven't seen a live clip of them before the tour so didn't know what to expect, but man, if you were still bored by the last set, you were widely awake after watching them. The keyboardist, Taku, plays with crazy fast fingers, and also uses his feet to play! Him and Hyouri were pretty wild, jumping on and over each other, then falling over and toppling a chair. At one point, Hyouri jumped off the stage, took off his guitar and put it over the head of the girl behind me. We stood right in front of the speakers, and I think my hearing kind of went after that set.
Then the mother of all best live experience I ever had performed! mothercoat was FRICKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just awesome awesome awesome. I didn't want their set to end, they played about 4 songs since their songs was a bit longer compared to the other bands. The crowds went nuts over these guys, my friend Katt became a new fan, even though she has never heard Japanese music until I came to see her in Vancouver. I don't remember all the names of the songs they played but they were ワルツハイマー and カーリーマッシュ. They had an experimental style that appealed to the majority of the crowds. By this time, the whole floor in front of the stage was packed. People were jumping up and down, yelling, clapping, starting our own mosh pit. By the last song though, I had to back off from the pit since it was getting just a little rough for me. Fumihiko of Owarikara crowd surfed during mothercoat's last song also.
Last but not least, andymori took the stage with a cover of Stand By Me. Then followed up with songs from both their albums including ベンガルトラとウィスキー, everything is my guitar, life is party, 1984, FOLLOW ME, CITY LIGHTS, ずっとグルーピー, and SAWASDEECLAP YOUR HANDS. Those weren't the exact order they played in, I just tried to remember what songs as best I could. Hiroki disappeared after their set, so I only got autographs from Souhei and Hiroshi. Overall, the whole experience was great. I would love to see the next tour happen, especially if we can get MassDre and Midori. >_<
There were food and treats served in between each band sets to give the next band time to set up their equipment. The members of the bands I got to meet were incredibly nice and really down to earth people. They seem to be pretty easy going also. My friend Katt and I took members of andymori and their friend Nicola, in the car to Stanley Park, while Steve had members from グーミ. They were really intrigued by the squirrels, raccoons, ducks and swans so it was cool to see their reactions.
lol, bubble tea, this was our 3rd time going to Dragon Ball that weekend. So of course, we had to take the bands there too. :P
Souhei of andymori going through my super old/clunky ipod (which is now dead, RIP wee one). He said I was a heavy Japanese music listener. XD
Stanley Park pics
Finally, the merchandise!!!!!!!
The Suisei shirt was actually a gift from Steve. =)
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