JAPAN TOUR DIARY
I guess that if we’d have really wanted to avoid the subsequent 3 days of crushing jetlag we could have taken the 12 hours flight time to sleep rather than fixating on the complimentary drinks and personal multimedia stations for the entire time. But hey, this is our first time in Japan and it’s compulsory to act like excited children. Arriving in Tokyo is mesmerizing - all lights, bleeps and cartoon voices from every corner with elaborate techno-toilets that require bold cartoon-illustrations of bums to operate - but there is contagious warmth about the place that makes it more welcoming and familiar than impressions from films and TV might suggest. For the four days we visited Japan we found our existence dictated by an impressively tight record-label itinerary which went as far as setting out our waking hours and mealtimes. The first day was no different. After meeting our label reps Satoshi, Koh and Shino at the airport in the morning we took in lunch (where, upon impacting with a low ceiling and cracking his eyebrow open Ben was reminded of the more compact dimensions of Japanese architecture), then there came a visit to Tower records where we posed at our record displays (with slightly bemused staff members), then onto a meeting with Creativeman to go over the following day's gig (not an artistically-inspired superhero but a major Japanese agency), then to an interview with Tokyo FM (where banter about our thoughts on Amy Winehouse and pipe dreams of Laila sporting a red beehive hairdo took refreshing precedent over being asked how we got together) and finally onto a restaurant where we ate traditionally shoeless. The entire staff of our label Pyropit appeared gradually at the restaurant across the evening. In keeping with the intense Japanese work ethic the Pyropit staff work together all day and then go out together at night, sometimes even going back to sleep in the office afterwards. It was here we met Vanilla Sky, the Italian pop-punk band we would be supporting over the next few days and I guess it was here we drunk too much sake and started singing. Things get hazy about this point but I believe we wound up in a rock bar, eventually stepping behind the DJ booth to put on Rage Against the Machine and wave our arms about and rap badly (pretty much an SB6 gig then.) As we staggered through Tokyo back to the hotel (although all logic suggests that it was some kind of sake-induced hallucination) we entered a 24-hour shop where the walls were entirely constructed of small fishtanks with dogs in. I actually have photographic proof of this.
The gigs themselves were part of a showcase where several record labels had co-operated and put on two events with bands from different countries. So, as well as Vanilla Sky, we shared our dates with a pop-punk band from Virginia, US, called the Sidelines and a project from California fronted by an ex-member of Homegrown called Red Panda. The first date (where we arrived after another obligatory visit to a record shop to pose with more confused staff members) was at Shibuya Quattro, a modern venue inside a shopping complex in a trendy shopping part of Tokyo. The whole event was slickly professional, a far cry from the D.I.Y thing. Soundchecks are a prompt affair, the gear is fresh and new, the staff are competent and helpful, the gig had it's own custom t-shirts... much as I love a village hall and a borrowed PA, I'd be lying if I didn't say the it was all very agreeable. Dan from the Suicide Machines appeared backstage - he now works for a label over there involved in the show and - small world indeed - plays in Satoshi's new band. We went on in the late afternoon to a crowd of about 200 or so who whooped and boogied enthusiastically. For all our nerves and my recently flu-ridden condition we had a great performance. In Tokyo the audiences (and indeed people) are certainly more polite but the stories of crowds of teenage kids watching the bands they like in stoney silence punctuated by muted applause is the stuff of Western overstatement (along with a myriad of other apocryphal tales that were debunked such as the stories of schoolgirl’s knickers in vending-machines on city centre street corners). There is a slight difference in the crowds there but it's really barely more perceptible in Tokyo than the difference between a crowd in Germany and a crowd in Spain. After the show, kids excitedly come over and get their pictures taken with us with a very polite Japanese formality that comes across simply as nice rather than peculiar. Incidentally, I can confirm that the stories about vending machines with hot cans of coffee in on every corner are entirely true. But - sorry boys - no knickers as far as we could tell.
The second show was at another popular venue called the Game in Shibuya which presented the same international bands as the Quattro gig. This gig was a more familiar ground for us, a smaller 250 or so capacity venue and a stage time in the evening. From early afternoon, kids were queuing in the snow outside and two girls presented Laila with a snowman (I'm still unsure whether or not it was supposed to be her). We followed lunch with an interview with a late-night Japanese music programme which we conducted in the stairwell of an office block with a visibly irritated cleaning lady making impromptu cameos every few minutes. Tonight's gig was much more familiar ground, close and intimate, and the crowd bobbed about, pumped their fists, skanked about and even shouted along in 'Bigger than Punk Rock' and 'Piggy in the Middle' (there's a video for 'While you were Sleeping' put together largely from this awesome gig on our myspace). To add to the roster of ex ska-punk celebs we mingled with on the tour we realized that (when separated from their fake panda heads) the guitarist and bassist of Red Panda were none other than Brian Mashburn and Bill Uechi of Save Ferris. Brian's current ska band Starpool are well worth checking out and he promised us a gig in Orange County when we're over at the West coast of the US... which was nice.
The final day was a promotion day, which meant visiting the breakfast show on the Inter FM live Talk Show which has upwards of a million listeners. The idea that such a popular show will happily play Operation Ivy's 'Knowledge' next to Christina Aguilera and Manu Chao seems quite strange in comparison to tightly playlisted UK radio but the presenters have made the show's name by embracing chaos. The interview was great, if only commercial radio over here had such faith in creative freedom(!) After a traditional - and delicious - lunch at a local sushi bar (which, along with Mexican food and tapas, you realize is another victim in the UK of taking uncomplicated international food and serving it in a restaurant setting at four times the price) we went for an interview with a podcasted music show called Chyanne. The lady interviewing us took the parts of 'While You Were Sleeping' about turning away from the plight of victims as allegory for remaining silent about school bullying. After initial confusion Laila warmed to the theme and subsequently I found myself offering pious and entirely sincere Blue Peter-style advice to any child out there that finds themselves at the mercy of unfeeling ruffians. The touching sermon can be still be heard over at Chyanne FM.
The rest of the day was ours. We shopped in the achingly-cool Hiyebuko district (where thankfully, there was no sign of Gwen Stefani), had an official visit to the Puma store (where we were inexplicably presented with complimentary unisex body fragrance) and went for another Japanese meal. As far as we can tell, Japanese dining basically consists of sitting round a table and being presented with dish after dish of seafood until the sake or the squid gets the better of you. After resolving to 'get an early one' we were cruelly led into a backstreet bar by Koh and Shino who forced us to drink Red Stripe and play Nintendo till 5 in the morning while Ben DJ'd with the bar's impressive collection of dub 45s. None of us wanted any part in this immoral, debauched hedonism and Sonic Boom Six would hereby like to take this opportunity to express its sincere condemnation of alchohol, late nights and reggae.
