Thursday 9th Feb ~ Dom Sound Studio ~ Koenji ~ Tokyo
The band has a practice: Studio A at Dom rehearsals in Koenji (Tokyo), good rates and well maintained equipment, the room is nice but maybe a bit on the small side for six of us. As we are leaving we notice there is some sort of 'show' kicking off in the studio two doors down, 15 bands playing till 5am the next morning, Fran and Shintaro knock then poke their heads in the door and we are invited to join the bill! Very tempting but everyone is pretty exhausted and we figure we've got a lot of late nights ahead so, I'm dissapointed and ashamed to have to admit that we passed up this fine offer.
During our rehearsal I wasn't terribly happy with my amp sound so I booked an hour for the next day to come back by myself and sort it out as I know I will be playing mostly on Roland JC120s. On Friday I get Studio B all to myself (for only 500 Yen!), it is almost identical to Studio A but with a newer model of JC120, an hour is only just enough time but I'm much happier with the sound though still not sure if this is the amp for me though good to know I won't have to lug one around for the next ten days!

TO ADD PIC OF JC120 DRUMS ETC.

Friday 10th Feb ~ Grape Fruit Moon ~ Sangenjaya ~ Tokyo
Venue: Is downstairs in a concrete basement, capacity probably 150ish, pillars and ceiling have been coated with plaster, perhaps to improve the acoustics? Sheets of plywood cover the entire floor, back wall and one side wall. The sound engineer has his own area up the back completely walled off from the audience by a high counter and only accessible through a tiny hatch through to the band dressing room. After soundcheck I am informed the show will stream live to the internet and two songs will be archived, forms need to be signed and I then notice 3 video cameras on the counter next to the mixing desk.
Gear: PA quite large, FOH set a little far back on the stage area for my liking, I do notice a few squeals later in the evening, 2 Foldback wedges + 2 Side Fills on posts (one positioned for use as Drum Fill). JC120, Peavey AC50 and a small but adequate Trace Elliot Bass Amp placed about head high on a box, upright piano + no doubt an electric keyboard hanging around somewhere.
S/Check comments: Not bad, bit live, bass sounds a bit distant on stage but good out front.

THE MUSIC
Andersens: 7 or 8 piece tonight, Drums (Kit) ,Gt/Vx, Bass, Flute, Trombone, Nylon stringed Guiar (played with a pick, bow and slide) + percussionist. Drum kit is set to left of stage and percussionist to right, sounds good particularly when they both play a snare on one song, sounds sort of delayed but solid. Hard to describe the Andersens overall sound and hard to say what their influences might be but they do make a joyous noise, I've seen bands with similar instrumentation, but Andersens are more versitile, adventurous and enjoyable. They move through many moods with what seems like much improvisation, and a lot of humor. Very catchy brass riffs, snappy tunes with clean psychedelic guitars; the last song is a slightly mournful instrumental conducted by the singer/guitarist sitting on the floor with a piece of white rag tied to the end of a drum stick held high, very funny to watch.

Meme: 2 piece consisting of the singer (Sachie) who plays nylon string guitar, metronome, xylaphone and I think some clever vocal loops; and a very accomplished Theremin player (youyou). The sound was quite haunting but not necessarily because of the Theremin which was used with various pedals and sounded more like thick deep synth at times and on occasion used more for ambient noises, the guitar was miced and sounded very warm and natural in this room. There was some very nice looping going on but I couldn't catch if it was the singer (who seemed to have a 2nd vocal mic set up, perhaps for looping) and/or the Theremin player.

Click either picture to watch Meme

Suppamicropamchopp: 5 piece, Drums (Kit), Bass, Vx/Gt (Acoustic Takamini), Guit (elec Fender Jag '69), upright + toy pianos. They also used Ukulele and 6 String Acoustic guitar played with Ebow. Again hard to describe, fragments sounding like Prince / Jazz / Cabaret / Gang of 4 / Deconstructed then rolled into one. The bassist danced wildly the whole set and had an unusual way of banging the strings which kept things lively. The top end and hi mids had a tendency to get away in the mix, couldn't hear the pianist out front when he played the upright piano for some reason, toy was loud and clear though! Overall the band were much louder than the last act had some low end feedback problems which I guess may have been caused by the sound engineer trying to get more piano in the mix. Notice a harsh sound I think caused by the cymbals bounicing off the ceiling or perhaps being picked up by the vocal mics?

Saibo Bungaku: 2 piece, Cello and electric guitar, soft and subtle, sparse, jazzy chords with wandering cello lines and ernestly delivered lyrics, one song I seem to have described in my notes as a male Bessie Smith meets Ron Carter! guitar on edge of controlled feedback, certainly the quieter approach works better in this room, everything nice and clear.

Saturday 11th Feb ~ Penguin House ~ Koenji ~ Tokyo
Venue: Downstairs, very small capacity perhaps 100; wood veneer walls, concrete ceiling, with no damping.
Gear: Good FOH, FB consisted of a wedge + 1 small instrument amp on a stand which is set up as part of the foldback, there may have been more but I can't recall, + a huge desk, Drums (Kit), 2 Bass amps, upright piano, guitar amps and a couple of Penguin shaped tambourines conveniently hung on the wall and available for our use.
S/Check comments: Certain frequencies a bit out of control but on the whole pretty good (see rather blury photo to left of bartender and sound engineer working the huge mixing desk in this tiny venue).

THE MUSIC:
My Pal Foot Foot: Drums (Kit), Djembe, Guit (Elec), Bass, Banjo, An Indian reed instrument I don't know the name of, Recorder, Sax, Percussion. A very fun and enjoyable band to watch, very inventive and spontaneous, during one song most of the band were doing percussive things and as a visual stunt the singer started drumming on the drummers back. Sound sometimes like a cross between the Shaggs and early The Laughing Clowns. Nice sax sound, sometimes overall sound a bit loud, thinking about this during the other bands I figure it was possibly the cymbals again!

sekifu: Similar instrumentation to My Pal Foot Foot, the music perhaps slightly more pop, unfortunately I missed some of their set as I had to go out and find a new notebook!

film on the way

Saboten: A tight 3 piece Guit/Vx, Bass, Drums ~ who have apparently been playing for 20 years or so, Very precise players, the drummer has a jazzy style, overall an enjoyable fushion of pop and prog rock, towards the end of their set they did a bunch of short songs which I gather were part of a theme album they had recently released. The singer is also an artist and gave us a beautiful set of postcards she had designed.

film on it's way

BRIDGE ~ NB. 2 Grand Pianos!!

Tuesday 14th Feb ~ Shinsekai Bridge ~ Osaka
Venue: Big room about 50' x 200' x 20'high, upstairs and is actually a bridge between two buildings; hard to describe but the building is surrounded by a roller coaster which would have been pretty wild had it been running. The ceiling has some sort of insulation sprayed on it and the floor is thick boards, Venue is one of the two we play that has wheelchair access.
Gear: Very large PA + effects racks etc. 2 x JC120s and TWO Grand Pianos! many other amps and a stack of a hundred or so television sets piled up in a storage area, seems it's more of an art/performance space than a venue.
S/Check comments: For us very live, no doubt due to all the concrete and glass, the louder songs sound particularly bad, we try and keep it down a bit and hope the crowd soaks up some of the unwanted noise though the stage area is so large there is little chance of this, the snare cracks realy loud and sharp towards the back of the stage maybe as it's about the same distance from the ceiling and the side and back walls? The guitar is loud enough but indistinct I take most of the reverb off my amp which seems to help. Speaking to Shintaro after sound check I find the room is known as good for acoustic acts. Think it must be hard to keep their Pianos in tune as it's 4 degrees when we arrive but 13 degrees by show time. Myself and the Bon our drummer discuss it being strange that the drum fill is placed directly behind him and a pair of AKG mics as overheads, it transpires later in the evening that the show is being recorded, multitrack direct to computer so the mystery was solved.

THE MUSIC:
Tenniscoats: Tonight a 4 piece Voc/Keyboard (Synth, Casio, Grand), Sax/Guit (elec), Drummer and 2nd Guit/Keyboard/Voc. I saw this band play in Melbourne recently with a slightly different lineup, in Melbourne they were very atmospheric and experimental, occasionally bordering on pop, tonight they are a tight rock band vaguely in The Bad Seeds mould, over the next two shows they change lineup and sound quite different but always good. Talking to Takashi (Guit/Sax) after I find he and Saya (Voc/Keys) are professional musicians which is impressive considering the genres they work in.

BMX Bandits: I gather started out as witty good time pop/punk band 20 years ago in Glasgow and now are a very polished 4 piece who seem to draw on The Beach Boys, Burt Bacharach and The Carpenters for inspiration. Tonight their Piano, Acoustic guitar and tight vocal harmonies (with a bit of kazoo) suit the venue well.
During one song the pianist switches to acoustic guitar, and the two six strings playing together sound amazingly like a 12 string.

Friday 17th Feb ~ KD Japon ~ Nagoya
Venue: Is under a train line, the smallest yet in terms of floor space but it has a high ceiling with balconies built on three sides and a very small tight spiral staircase to get up there. I estimate the whole thing to be built inside a roughly cube shaped space maybe only 35' x 35' x 30' but probably a bit larger in retrospect. Later in the evening there are about 150 people squashed in here, 3 bar staff behind the tiny bar area who also (as with most venues) cook up meals under the counter if you are hungry! It's typical of many small venues in Japan a bit of an OH&S nightmare but what atmosphere!
Gear: The stage is tiny and I don't notice it for a while but the PA is hanging from the roof a bit like they do in discotheques but off to the right of stage, seems a bit odd but makes sense when I see that the mixing desk is on a little balcony built up to the left of stage and accessible only via a steep wooden ladder! At the back of the stage are windows that open onto the street, once our gear is in the curtains are drawn. The floor and walls are clad with plywood and drapes hang across the back of the venue, it's all quite cosy and the sound is quite good even before people arrive. Stage is only a few inches high but later on the sight lines are surprisingly good for most. As usual Drum (Kit), JC120 + choice of Bass and several guitar amps + despite the lack of space an upright piano and electric keyboard.
S/Check comments: Have to lean my guitar amp back and keep the volume down, due to the small stage the cymbals on the drums are a bit in your ear but don't seem so bad later on. One half of the foldback is in a little nook behind the guitar amp and the other half placed as side fill at the side of stage, we get a fair bit of the FOH so vocals and trumpet end up with quite a good balance.
THE MUSIC:
Tenniscoats: Are joined by a flautist tonight and play a more intimate set again which suits the venue well. Penny and James surprise us by guesting on one song.

BMX Bandits: The piano is out in the audience tonight so Dave is more or less surrounded by the crowd and finds a dead key on his piano, as always they turn in another polished performance.

Saturday 18th Feb ~ Shelter ~ Shimokitazawa ~ Tokyo
Venue: One of the larger venues we've played in Tokyo, underground with a large stage and a thumping big PA
Gear: see link for gear list + crowd control barrier!
S/Check comments: watching the Moools sound check from the front of stage was like being at a really big show where the air moves with every pluck of the bass and kick of the drums. At every show we've played in Japan no matter how small the venue there always seems to be a very professional house engineer who makes sure all bands get a soundcheck and recalls settings for each band swiftly and accurately at show time. This tour Shelter takes the cake in terms of organized, before soundcheck we were given 5 pieces of paper, I tried to get hold of copies later but only managed three, I think the full set consisted of ~ 1/ a map of where the venue is and it's surrounds in case you went out and got lost (very easy to do in this part of Tokyo) 2/ another sheet with I think columns for band members and what they do? 3/ staff/guest/band member list 4/ a list with columns for titles of songs, description of song eg. loud/medium/soft and special instructions to mixer eg. reverb + chorus on trumpet on first song, vocal mic on drums in 6th song etc. 5/ I think this list was for the lighting tech. (apparently each band could choose whatever gels, strobe settings etc. they wanted and it would happen!).

THE MUSIC:
Elekibass: These guys dress a bit like Slade but love the Kinks and don't mind letting it show, the music is incredibly tight rock with heaps of vaudeville style humor, one of their lovely old guitars breaks during the set, not smashed just old age perhaps.

FILM ON IT'S WAY

Moools: The 3 piece Moools are probably the heaviest Rock band we've played with this tour (Elekibass were a bit more on the Glam side), they waver between sparse ambient controlled discordant moments to full pumping rock with the occasional hint of funk and know how to keep the audience hanging on every note. I haven't seen them live for a while but tonight they are really cooking! Yas the singer tells lengthy and I gather humerous stories between some songs (unfortunately I can't understand a word), this seems a not uncommon thing for bands to do in Japan, the stories must be good as the audience is in stitches.

FILM ON WAY

POST TOUR RESEARCH

After our tour finished Stephen and Fran were able to stay on in Tokyo for a bit to catch up with old mates and do a couple of tourist things, we were also invited to three quite different shows which was a nice way to relax before heading home.

Sunday 19th Feb ~ Nest ~ Shibuya Tokyo
Venue: Big rectangular room with a very low ceiling, very hot and very crowded, band room capacity around 300 completely full.
Gear: No doubt the usual

THE MUSIC:
Miniskirt: Very boppy poppy Japanese band with a German singer, strange back projection with the words 'Miniskirt are the Woody Allen of guitar rock' and dancing animations. I think the guitarist had a problem with his lead or amp but the singer used it as an oportunity to crack some jokes till it was fixed, no one left for the bar!
Plectrum: These guys were a bit loud and we wanted to talk to friends for a while so we headed upstairs to the bar.
BMX Bandits: I tried to get back in the band room when the Bandits started but on opening the door at the back of the venue a wall of people packed like sardines almost fell out, they beckoned me in but I wasn't really up to the crush and the heat. Upstairs I watched the show on a video projection the venue provides when the show is sold out. Another hi tech thing I noticed at this show were individual listening stations where you could check out CDs by each band before going to the merchandise desk to purchase, I've seen similar in record shops but never in a venue.

Tuesday 21st Feb ~ enban ~ Koenji ~ Tokyo
Venue: Shintaro tells me this the only truly independent record shop in Japan, don't get a chance to look at everything on sale (and due to my ignorance can't read the sleeve notes of most of the stock), I noticed quite a few CDRs + DVDRs. Very small room could probably hold about 50-60 people standing. I'm surprised to hear that they have bands here every night of the week!
Gear: PA seems to consist of two small speakers bolted to the wall behind the band and a little mixing desk sitting on top of the Upright piano, plenty for the room though. There are some smallish amps and drum kit which I think live at the shop/venue.

THE MUSIC:
Inquiet: Surprised to see a solo act from Melbourne (Australia) up first, he sings while playing one of those really tiny casios and has some percussive and ambient sounds on a minidisc player, very intimate and atmospheric.
Andersens: Tonight in 8 piece mode and obviously enjoying themselves, drummer is playing more stripped back sound tonight not using his sticks so much and with a large number of percussive devices. Shintaro is on guitar and getting some impressive sounds out of his nylon string, occasionally bowing and sometimes delta blues sounding slide, he is using an amp with an inbuilt limiter which makes it sound heavily compressed and seems to suit what he is doing well. It's a treat to hear the trombone and flute in such an intimate space and the sound is very smooth. Tonight the singer seems to have left his guitar at home and conducts the bands set with a sort of short fat rain stick type instrument.

film on way

film on way

Friday 23rd Feb ~ NHK Studios ~ Shibuya ~ Tokyo
Venue: A huge recording studio in a massive complex of TV and Radio studios, the only studio I could compare it with was the old JJJ studio in William St Sydney. The NHK room was double story with an upstairs control room (which didn't seem to be being used) and a very large control room at the 'back' of the room. Dimensions of the main room approx. 80' x 120' and i'd say at least 40' to the ceiling.
Gear: As well as what seemed like recording going on in the control room there was a large desk positioned in the band room with not a lot of faders up, I'm guessing the mixer in the live room was taking some sort of sub-mix from the control room and balancing it up for the live audience.

THE MUSIC:
This show was being recorded for broadcast in May 2006 on NHK national radio station Radio Japan, I think it is something like triple J combined with Radio National (for you Australian readers).
idea of a joke: very tight and enjoyable punk act who manage to exude a lot of energy and excitement but at the same time to not be too loud! I hadn't heard of them before but would like to hear more.
Moools: Excellent again perhaps playing a slightly less rock set, I think I heard Yas joking about it being a MOR set a couple of times. Again Yas the singer connects well with the audience. The bass amp dies half way through their set, being a pre tape it's no big deal and of course their is another rigg on hand on hand which is prompty wheeled out!

Moools

Deerhoof: This band from the US + I think one Japanese member seem to be getting a lot attention in the 'indie' rock world of late, they do a sort of loud soft thing in the Pavement, Modest Mouse vein, some very nice moments but the overall sound is too loud tonight, I'm guessing one of the guitarists is a bit on the loud side and perhaps the engineer is pulling everything up to that level though it may have just been too loud overall?

The Cannanes "This Is What It Sounds Like" Tour :  Co-organized by
*Office-Glasgow *Sunday Tuning *Moools *Imperial Sugar Daddy

Feb 10 Friday - 18:30 open / 19:00 start
 Tokyo, Sangenjaya Grapefruit Moon
 2,000 yen + 1 drink order
w/ Andersens & Suppamicropamchopp & Meme
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Feb 11 Saturday - 18:30 open / 19:00 start
 Tokyo, Koenji Penguin House
 2,000 yen + 1 drink order
w/ Saboten & Sekifu &  My Pal Foot Foot
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Feb 14 Tuesday - 19:00 open / 19:30 start
 Osaka, Shinsekai Bridge
 adv 3,500 yen / door 3,800 both + 1 drink order
w/ BMX Bandits & Tenniscoats
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Feb 16 Thursday - 19:00 open / 19:30 start
 Kyoto, Cafe Independants
 adv 3,500 yen / door 3,800 both + 1 drink order
 Sunday Tuning presents "SUNDAY FUN"
w/ BMX Bandits & Tenniscoats & Kazumi Nikaidoh
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Feb 17 Friday - 19:00 open / 19:30 start
 Nagoya, KD Japon
 adv 3,500 yen / door 3,800 both + 1 drink order
w/ BMX Bandits & Tenniscoats
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Feb 18 Saturaday - 18?30open / 19?00start
 Tokyo, Shimokitazawa Shelter
 adv 2,500 yen / door 2,800 : Ticket PIA & Lawson (L Code : 37109)
 Moools Presents "The 11th Moools Festival"
w/ Moools & Elekibass