JAPAN SEPTEMBER 2003 ~ TROUBLE
SEEMED SO FAR EAST TOUR
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In September of 2003 we embarked on our
most extensive Japanese tour to date. The tour was arranged
by our good friend Shintaro Kiyonari of Smiley and Momorien
fame who we sincerely thank for what at least two of the band
have described as "the best 10 days
of my life"
~ We were driven most places by Keiho Hattori (which as anyone
who has driven in Tokyo or thereabouts would know is an excruciating
and sometimes dangerous task which should only be approached
with much planning and a cool attitude). We hope to thank Keiho
properly one of these days.
The band consisted of Bon, Fran, Jim, Penny & Stephen +
Shintaro and Guy who joined us each night on guitars, keyboard
and vocals. Herewith the collected tour diary ~ most entries
were made by Bon, Fran,
Jim, Penny
& Shintaro (+ some from Guy
and one from Kenji who organized
our 1st tour to Japan). The whole thing was strung together
later by everyone. Much video + many photographs were taken
as well as recordings of shows etc... over coming months we
hope to tweak this so it makes a bit more sense + add more video
+ sound + get a few more photos up here ~ in the meantime read
on .... [but don't forget to come back later] |
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DAY 1 ~ WEDNESDAY 17TH ~ GETTING THERE [Fran]
too much work... too much rushing around and last minute organizing
but finally we are at the airport buying numerous packets of
caramello koalas + Tim Tams + beers. Phil and Wardy escort us
to the point of no return.......... We sail through to the Departure
Lounge where I buy overpriced bottles of water and Penny makes
friends with Yoshi from Yokohama who is studying engineering
and has spent 2 weeks in Newcastle (which must have been rather
odd)...then onto the plane - I sit in the middle row + pretend
I am not on a plane _ we get vegetarian snacks and bloody Marys
and wine and proceed to watch Finding Nemo (OK) and I watch
a series of bits of rock videos - the Doors -v. annoying and
then Hairy tells me I should learn from Jim Morrison's microphone
technique... Considering the racket the band is making I find
it hard to concentrate on microphone technique and have to switch
channels to Rod Stewart singing Sailing which is satisfactory
in a ridiculous sort of way,..Roger Waters doing Money which
has the most absurd guitar solo at the end. This is all from
Glastonbury 2002. Watching it I am very glad I was not there.
I am also extremely fascinated by a "documentary" about Mariah
Carey travelling the world. She comes across as extremely self
satisfied - and pretends that she gets on extremely well with
her travelling companions ie cook, stylist etc who really obviously
are simply slaves and her fans who seem rather inane
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DAY 2 ~ THURSDAY 18TH 6:05am we
get to Narita (Tokyo airport) - it is hot.., we are tired but
excited - get through customs etc. no problems. This is a relief
and then onto the JR train to Shinjuku - meet Shintaro Kiyonari
then set off for a day of sight seeing where we manage 3 shrines,
1 lunch of tempura / udon noodles/great 1 sushi dinner (SUPERB)
green tea icecream (yummo!- Penny)
We look at some shops near the venue where we are playing tomorrow
night. Bon has bought a hat and is beginning to look like Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle or something - he is threatening to grow
a goatee. |
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[Penny] the grooviest bar ever, sitting
listening to Junior Kimbra + RL
Burnside with drowsy eyes watching the hairdresser opposite,
listening to school girl/boy stories..... |
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Shintaro at
the Shrine ~
Click picture to play accidental mpg
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DAY 2 (from Japanese point of view
- [Shintaro]) Around 8 o'clock,
there was a call on the phone from Stephen, saying cannanes
arrived Narita airport safely. Yar! I could meet with all of
them at Shinjuku platform. They looked quite funky, for example
Fran was wearing blue Satin shirt with black skirt. It was quite
like rock'n'roll band just arrived at messy Tokyo. After putting
their baggage at my place, we ate udon, then walk, temple, walk
and walk, cafe, then walk, Shibuya walked more
[Fran] Kenji and Chisa have made
us so welcome and we had a very comfy stay in their flat ..considering
they were about to get married it was extremely good of them
to put us up.................at the show there is a lot of dithering
around about Scout Niblett's { Scout is playing with us on
4 shows of the tour. She is from Nottingham and plays solo either
drums or guitar. Unexpectedly we all grow rather fond of Scout
in the short time we have together } arrival - someone claimed
to have seen her - someone said she's still on the Narita Express
- will she arrive on time? Apparently someone got the flight
date wrong... She was meant to arrive the day before ......Scout
arrives - and strangely enough looks fine- she says...'the worst
thing is I couldn't have a fag for 20 hours' I am impressed.
Scouts boyfriend Dave has a Tshirt that says COCKS- He says
he wants some pot. Jim's ears prick up and he says if you get
some...! Jim is hangin' out! |
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DAY 3 ~ FRIDAY19TH ~ SHOWBOAT {you can VIEW
VIDEO of this show}
[Kenji] Shintaro translated lyrics of
"Anthem" to Japanese and read it backed by Stephen + his rhythm
section for closing the first gig of whole tour. It amazed me
and all the crowd even some were shouting like a mass hysterics,
- not too bad. On my opinion ' Hopeless' w/ horn was highlight.
I met Tim Headbone, the organizer of the
last Cannanes tour, for the first time since 4-5 years. Him,
Shintaro, Guy, Koichro (from the band called "Apartment Star")
also 15 years old Masako jumped in the band and share a happy
hour on stage w/ the band. Stephan seems to enjoy a glass of
"Kabos liquer" made of Japanese fruit kabos - Taste like young
lemon 5 minutes before go to bed. Me + Chisa felt lucky for
not much crows broke their sleep.
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[Fran] The show goes incredibly well..
Masako ( our 15 year old penpal ) comes up on stage to play
the egg. We sign lots of autographs-lots of friends turn up.
A dream evening. The Games were rockin.. and the Andersens were
perfection - reminded me of Motown and Smokey and there can
be no higher praise - spookily similar instrumentation to us...
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Thank you card from Masako
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[Bon] SCOUT NIBLETT; Penny remarks that
the wig makes her look like Kylie Mole. She's wearing a school
dress too. Must take a compare/contrast photo for the internet.
POST SHOW - Lots of fanatics, photonatics. How to sign CDS?
Why doesn't this happen at the Warren View? {A Pub in Sydney
we have been playing at a lot lately - quite good cause it's
free to get in and they pay us well (not to mention the rider!)}
And then the trip
home to Guys place. 4 trains and one hour to cover a 15minute
bus ride. Last train on a friday was packed to the gills. Very
civilized pushing and shoving. And at the station, lots of drunk
Japanese quietly vomiting up their excess and stumbling to a
vending machine for some ion replacement. * note - stations
are 5 degrees hotter than outside. |
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[Guy] I studied very hard to learn five
Cannanes classics on guitar only to realize on the day of the
first Tokyo show that I'd be playing Keyboards instead! Of course
this didn't pose any problem for me in terms of technical ability
but it was a little irritating. Nevertheless I soldiered on
and I think my performance speaks for itself. The Cannanes have
become an amazing, turn on a 10 cent piece style tight-as live
band, and they put on a wonderful show. It was a great night
and a very cute boy with an afro asked me to sign his CD, which
I didn't. After the show we split up to our respective places
of residence. Jim and Penny are staying with Shintaro near the
venue so go out on the town..... |
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| [Penny] Then to the Okinawa bar! waiters
dressed in traditional (gorgeous) costumes & having bowing thanks
to the trumpet!. Talking drinking eating Japanese style, & so
more talking drinking eating - 30 grams of ETOh , the best sake
in the bar. More drinking more talking more eating till the
final stagger home round the beautiful quiet streets to see
Shintaro playing banjo in a punk band on video - very cool! |
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| [Jim] After the show, Shintaro takes
Penny and I to a restaurant / bar where we drink strong saki
(30% alcohol). We get the giggles about how great Tokyo is. |
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*DAY 4 ~ SATURDAY 20TH ~ OFF
TO THE ONSEN
[Fran] a small feast prepared for breakfast by Chisa and then
Shintaro picks us up in the tour mobile - a large van - The
car has GPS which tells you where you are and the best route
to get to your destination, very impressive . Shintaro has picked
up the box sent from Sydney which has been missing with fridge
magnets + CD's - Now we can stop worrying about anything...
Usually on tour it is non stop worry and organization so this
is an unusual and pleasant feeling. Chisa is looking at her
mobile phone - there is a typhoon coming she says calmly. She
and Kenji have a short debate about the word storm vs typhoon.
She shows us a picture of the typhoon on the weather map on
her phone. We are driving to pick up Penny & Jim. Penny and
Jim have apparently just been in an earthquake [
Jim: The earthquake was exciting, it was my first time. We are
now driving to the mountains for a hot spa; Ain't life grand
sometimes.] - it is a very minor
one and we did not feel it as we have been in the car- Kenji
tells us these happen every month. He says we are well overdue
for a big one !
This was our first encounter with driving and Tokyo traffic!
Ridiculous-took about 2 hours to get equivalent of Erskineville
to Glebe (about 4K ed.) to pick up Bon. Still I was as happy
as Larry and had an interesting trip up to hot mineral baths
in the mountains. We entertained ourselves with the GPS system
in the car which works by putting in the phone number and then
it just produces maps which tell you where to go. Excellent
except as is usual with all new products it comes with an instruction
manual the size of the Encyclopedia Brittanica. As it was all
in Japanese I felt powerless to assist and anyway Keiho and
Shintaro had everything well under control so was able just
to enjoy the delightful company of my band mates and the scenery.
View from Bongo FRIENDEE ~ rainy mountain road
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Had a few being
scared of driving panic attacks on rainy mountain roads but
Keiho is an excellent driver and politely put up with my demands
that he go slower without telling me to fuck off which considering
the traffic he had had to deal with would have been quite reasonable
under the circumstances.
The baths were perfection and Penny and I had the womens one
to ourselves so we undressed and floated around and talked about
everything and eventually got out only to find the lads all
upstairs politely waiting. I think they had been there for some
time. The baths were glorious and I can't wait to go back there
again.
[Penny] And still driving through rain, being guided by a GPS
satellite thingy - I'm unsure if this is reassuring or not.
The rain is progressively getting heavier. We've had the earthquake,
I confess to only feeling excitement, like the ultimate rollercoaster
ride, these two days have been like the joys of reaching the
top of the big dipper - bring on the typhoon I say ! onto the
onsen (hot spring baths) more rollercoastering through mountainous
corners, Fran & I alternately freaking out and shutting eyes
and pretending to deep breath and relax with the odd car/bus/dream/horror/crash
story throughout. The Japanese bath house with the setting sun,
will rise in gloom through the relentless rain to strip with
Fran and shower squatting, then bath in a very hot water with
rain pouring down, relaxing and floating - pure heaven. |
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| [Bon] Mountain drive was amazing - very
steep and curly but trees very tall and straight. Missed the
smell of Australian forests but wild mountain streams looked
drinkable. Super secret Hitou? Beer tasted drinkable. Onsen
was great. Relaxing, cleansing and would have liked to eat +
stay o/night but we drove back to Tokyo and ate Southern porky
food at the Ringer Hut. |
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| [Jim] The steam bath was lovely, relaxing.
Back to Shintaro's where he shows us five songs from the Showboat
show on the Clover records website, Penny looks sexy and the
15 year old fan is having a ball on stage during " This is what
it sounds like". Sight and sound quality are good and these
computers are a new-fangled thingy, aren't they. |
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[Bon] The name of our car is Bongo FRIENDEE
- It's good, and piloted well by Kool Kalm Keiho but it's no
CUBE. [a very square Japanese Toyota car. ed.] Fran we should
pool our resources and export one to Australia. I am looking
for a model version. We're driving through the typhoon right
now. Rain is very heavy and we just passed a crushed, crashed
Porsche Boxster. Fran's fear of speed is seeming very rational
right now. |
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| [Jim] Talk of typhoons seem exaggerated,
just a bit of rain, is all. |
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Fran backstage ~ Club Daughter
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DAY 5 ~ SUNDAY 21ST ~ THE ROAD TO NAGOYA
[Fran] - woken up early by Kenji and Chisa who [again] made
us a delicious breakfast of corn on the cob + jaffles! - then
Kenji took us to Namira station where he waited till the bus
left... waving goodbye. We are driving through rain/ typhoon
Stopped at a highway stop which had fresh fruit/vegetables brought
in by local farmers + taoro chips with cinnamon sugar on them
- Hairy got an implement for massaging your back shaped like
a tomato. Bon has written the set list for tonight and put no
songs he sings on it. There are 6 bands - could all be a bit
overwhelming - there has been a lot a talk of earthquakes, typhoons
+ volcanos but we remain optimistic. Kenji's house is 5 floors
up and he kept saying if there is an earthquake we have no hope
of survival ! When we came back yesterday a number of his CD's
were sticking out of the shelf + on the floor because of the
quake. He says he is getting obsessed about it and wants to
move to the country. This seems sensible to me. There is talk
of eel hamburgers for lunch but I don't know about that. |
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| [Penny] 12.00pm - the typhoon definitely
pours down - relentless & encompassing ...Go the earthquakes
& typhoons! |
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[Fran] 2.15pm 21.9.03 There was an eel
hamburger. Bon had eel on spaghetti for lunch. The standard
of highway food is considerably better than in Australia. It
is raining harder. We just spent 20,000 Yen on a card for tolls
($262) Those whingers about Harbour Bridge toll should come
here. 3.07pm We have arrived in Nagoya so far it looks like
Brisbane. Guy tells us he has been compared to a young Austin
Powers, Col Sanders, Harry Potter and Bill Gates since he has
been in Japan We have a good time at the show-don't play as
well as we did first show mainly due to sound issues which is
a bit depressing but other bands are good, venue is fun and
after the show!!! We all go with other bands to a restaurant
karaoke which is crazy and we all go a bit crazy and it is very
very funny Scout and I sing Hotel California-we sing Angie and
God knows what else - Keiho does a great song and the japanese
songs are the best. Penny + I do a rather Good version of Get
This party started but then of course we are specialists at
this one - Ms Niblett + Cocksy eat nothing as she is allergic
to nuts + he to fish. They do not drink alcohol.
Click the red box for rock'n'roll
tragics mpg
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This is unusual for a Nottingham lass.
Jim strokes her hair. Poor Scout; At Club Daughter: Nagoya -
we meet a person called Daniel from Perth when he was last seen
he was sprawling on the pavement outside the club rather inebriated
- those Australians!, met a Radio Birdman fan who was talking
about The Last Words - I think we were going to send this but
something has obscured my memory at this point Dave tells me
how he heard Scouts music and was electrified then 2 years later
met her on a tour - by the end of the first week they were holding
hands - the rest is history now they have packed up their belongings
+ are of no fixed address they spend their life touring in various
bands. He comes from Dayton Ohio. I say isn't Suzi Quatro from
there? He says no you are thinking of the Deal sisters |
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| [Bon] Shithouse show - great time at
Karaoke. The wit hits Japan. The finger hits the G-spot. Guy
is the social lube? Fran gets the nibbler to sing hotel California
Jim took Scouts wig off, Keiho sang. Guy dipped his hair in
the soysauce. Funky Monkey, Baby. Penny gives great Pink Lemon
Tea |
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| [Fran] After Nagoya we stay in the super
hotel - Stephen and I get a room to ourselves somehow even (nobly)
after offering to take Jim in upstairs bunk. He refuses as it
turns out as he wants to drink more with Penny and Bon. |
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| [Bon] Not much sleep after much alcohol.
It frustrated Jim immensely who spent the night lashing out
to grab my ass and muttering saucy profanities with a spasmodic
regularity resembling tourettes syndrome. Jim is now compiling
a list of people to apologize to. |
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| [Jim] I'm terribly sorry. Really. Well...
maybe not really. Scout should loosen up and Bon has a nice
ass so what the fuck. Fran is probably contemplating giving
up drinking for the 800th time, but the urge to vomit and punch
Daddy Hairs is only natural. G-Spot hunter were tremendous and
didn't seem to mind me flirting with them. Understandable since
I was the funniest sexiest, best singer in the world last night! |
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| [Penny] Hmmm Nagoya was yea all right...
Bons lost his voice from singing too much Led Zeppelin - coool
baby coool |
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G-Spothunter @ Club Daughter
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[Shintaro] Nagoya I think finally I could
experienced the groovy side of this city. Club Daughter was
pretty neat'n'funny place, and G-Spots people! unbelievably
cool band. Then. very very nagoya-like pub with karaoke machine.
I'm sure there'll be no chance to see Fran & Scout duet "Hotel
California" again! Then, slept with Guy in a bed, then headache
but, now I'm feelin' Ok. |
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| [Guy] Shinataro is a very aggressive
sleeper, I think he normally sleeps on the left side of the
bed at home, and last night I went to sleep on the left side
while he was having a shower. So I spent the night trying to
stop him from pushing me out of the bed. The double bed only
had one pillow, but it was as wide as two pillows. I loved the
G-Spot Hunters, they were amazing, and cool people too. I wonder
what they thought of us? Maybe it's best that we don't know.
It was fun singing karaoke. I think I turned into a bit of a
mic hog. And I danced on a table. |
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| [Penny] Karaoke: Guy dancing, Bon grabbing
the mike, Jim careering into the entrance and G-spotters, Shintaro
being inscrutable & the G Spot guitarist kindly lending me her
slippers for me to save face - but I do love Hotel California
!! Fran wins my singer of the evening award! |
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| [Bon] Driving through the ancient capital
of Japan where there are 1500 y.o. burial mounds. A beautiful
place surrounded by green, grey and blue mountains. I went for
a walk in Nagoya and saw a band playing in a plaza to an apathetic
public. Also saw 2 Japanese cowboys walkin' tall. Walked through
the ritzy area then took a turn and there were dodgy people
sitting on street corners. Two guys followed me for blocks and
i thought maybe they wanted to sell me drugs. Unfortunately
they didn't. |
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| DAY 6 ~ MONDAY 22ND ~ ON TO OSAKA [Fran]
On Monday Stephen and I visited the Osaka Aquarium which is
possibly (probably) the best in the world - It was extraordinary
- weird and wonderful fish, jelly fish, mammals - I will go
back there again. Keiho came with us and seemed to like it -
He said he could watch the sea otters all day. They were pretty
cute even I must admit - The ocean sun fish was huge and spooky
and sad and I could not take my eyes off it. We then played
at Namba Bears which was very very quiet - Other bands Momorien
and She Brings the Rainbow were impressive. Why do Japanese
bands seem more interesting than Sydney ones????- Perhaps they
are not so influenced by fashion as just about every Sydney
band is copying some trend from overseas and when you travel
a lot as we have in recent years you do feel like you've seen
or heard it all before somewhere and usually a few years before...
As usual had lovely food for dinner |
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Penny near Osaka aquarium
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[Penny] OSAKA - the venue where the band
room was larger than the room to play in, & the bar lights were
down - quite a mystery to find a beer (let alone saki...poor
Jim!) The audience quietly sitting on the grungy floor listening
to every note. Even during Scout Niblett's show the sounds of
Guy's wee could be heard from the one toilet |
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| [Jim] Everywhere in Osaka is Tigers
crazy due to the big baseball win. Momentos at every shop near
the aquarium. keyrings, shirts, everything! |
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DAY 7 ~ TUESDAY 23RD ~ ON TO KYOTO
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"There is a lot to learn and
we are failing dismally"
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[Fran] Woke up in a large room with the tatami mats - 5 of us
in a room. John Coltrane LP Blue Train up on a shelf. The cover
looks like night vision through the video camera. We get up
- and Momoko arrives with delicious pastries + drinks. Then
we head up for what we think is a quick look at the shrine Momokos
husband Hiro Yuki? is a priest (?) at the Shinto shrine. We
take a look around and suddenly we are ushered to sit down in
the shrine Hiro Yuki appears dressed in robes - green with a
black sort of nut shaped helmet and conducts a ceremony to ensure
that we travel safely. Stephen and I are asked to sit in the
front as we are leaders. We are given branches to place on a
table. It is all overwhelming and I am scared we will do something
wrong. After the ceremony we line up to be given small bowls
of sacred sake and then make our way outside. When we get back
in the car Penny Hairy + I are crying a bit. It is all sort
of spooky and everyone is so generous. We are very lucky. We
drive to Kyoto stopping at the temple. Temples - Buddhism /Shrines
Shinto. There is a lot to learn and we are failing dismally.
There is a Local god and a National god who is is the sun, There
is a god of study who keeps a cow |
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| [Guy] It was a cool show. Momorien were
great. We stayed at Momoko & Hiroynkis' beautiful house, where
they had set up futons, blankets, snacks & drinks for all of
us. Momoko's husband the Shinto priest was very handsome.
Hiro performed a special ceremony at the temple to bless our
journey, but Stephen was worried we had secretly arranged to
have Hiro marry him and Fran. It was great to see my friend
Nathalie for the first time in years, and meet her cool Harley
riding boyfriend. Unfortunately we couldn't go and drink at
the bar of a big Cannanes fan, called Ganja. It was a good day
in all in all |
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[Fran] Kyoto is all mysterious lanes
and restaurants that back onto the river - saw a geisha girl
all painted up scurrying into a building on shoes that looked
very had to walk in - soundcheck a bit stressful - crankiness
setting in. It never takes long- I thought with a short tour
we might be safe but no luck - everyone always wants to do their
own thing RIGHT NOW! without considering the difficulty of being
in a group-... anyway at least we are used to it!... We had
noodles with Shintaro and Keiho and then Hairy and I went to
Gozo guesthouse which was great and very well priced - run by
people who had been to Australia & lived there. Fabulous N16,
spooky Night Teller and Hairy gets an Unknown CD. OK
show for us - gave out Caramello Koalas and CD's... we all sounded
a bit lifeless but some good moments - playing Get this Party
started - the long suffering Scout gets up again. As usual all
is filmed and will no doubt come back to haunt us at a later
date.????????
Farewell to Scout (far right) + N-16 and crew ~ Kyoto
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Keiho and Shintaro share a quiet
moment
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[Bon] Kyoto was excellent. Lots of interesting
little lanes like Tokyo but somewhat cleaner, less claustropic.
Went and ate in an Ekanomi Yaki joint which was just amazing.
The heat from the hot plate made the sake go straight to our
heads. Went back to the venue and saw Unknown who were a bit
average in execution but good idea. Saw Night Teller (gut that
organizes 'Sunday Tuning') and he wore a wig - just like Scout
- and played mostly covers ridiculously quietly. Scout played
and we managed to coax another encore out of her. She played
the 'We woke up late and walked into town' song which makes
me want to cry. Tried to buy it but she is yet to record it.
I went for a walk and noticed lots of long-legged prostitutes
and host boys |
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Hugo Weaving grafitto ~ veg cafe Kyoto
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Not to mention piles of vomit and spruikers
which all added up to a Kings X (famous Australian seedy area
ed.) kind of feel - but exotic. We played alright but our sound
on stage wasn't good. Got a free
Scout postcard. We went out to a vegetarian cafe afterwards
and wrote our name on the wall. Food was great and organic.
We get the impression that COCKS and the Nibbler are fighting
and although he was initially the more sociable, our hearts
have warmed to Scout. Stayed in an excellent traditional guest
house. Paper door/walls, bamboo mats, open bathroom. Counted
the rings in the wood on the toilet door - from trees at least
150 y.o. Want to come back and stay a week and see the moss
garden. |
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| [ed.] We play Kyoto on Tuesday and head
back to Tokyo on Wednesday getting there in the evening. The
band is staying at the Prince Hotel in Ikebukuro. Thursday we
potter around on various excursions, Friday do a radio interview
and live to air and play at 2000Volts then go out on the town
and Saturday get ready to go and have lunch with Kenji, Chisa,
Keiho, Shintaro and others. The following disjointed ramblings
are all that we can find in the tour diary. |
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DAY 8 ~ WEDNESDAY 23RD ~ HOMEWARD BOUND [Bon]
After a long day driving on Wednesday, we got into Tokyo reasonably
frazzled and a little behind schedule. Keiho's response? He
wanted to buy us! dinner! We politely declined,
found the hotel on our own and went looking for Japanese food.
Ended up in a Chinese restaurant run by a Korean and a Japanese
person. They were very nice hosts and had their picture taken
with us! After dinner we travelled through a couple of western
themed bars. First one supposedly Jazz/Blues themed but music
was tragic 80's rock and power ballads. We had only one drink
before finding a rockabilly themed bar run by a nice man with
a quiff who explained and served different kinds of Sho-ju-
potato based and malt based. Yum! Yes, drunk once again and
staying up till all hours though not as late as Penny & Jim.
Bon Got up around 12 or 1 on Thurs and headed out to Ueno with
Penny. We were quite proud to have looked after ourselves and
gotten by on 2 words of Japanese. Markets were amazing with
all kinds of live and dead fish on display and all manner of
products. Thought I'd have a non-drinking day but found myself
at an excellent Sushi restaurant with a jug of beer in front
of me. Managed to taste whale meat which offended most and didn't
particularly impress me. Proceeded onto Sake and 12y.o. Suntory
whiskey at a bar with Shintaro, Masuto from Clover records and
Kenji. Keiho was also at the sushi restaurant but went home
early, mortified after spilling a jug of beer on his pants. |
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[Fran] Yeah Keiho spilling the beer
which didn't matter at all but his socks were soaked. I think
there is a lot of detail missing from all this account but
it's hard to go back and retrace our steps now.
At this moment I am sitting on the plane back to Sydney.
The stewards have taken a dislike to Hairy. Our theory is
because he is missing a button on his shirt. By osmosis or
whatever - they aren't too pleased with me. This is odd considering
we have done nothing but sit in our seats and behave totally
normally.
Anyway it is rather annoying to be treated as a drunkard
when I have just come through last night (Friday night where
all band members played and after show went partying on at
various venues) where I was sober as a judge and was responsible
for getting everyone home though (she says sulkily)"I am sure
no one will acknowledge it". Well I am sure no one will acknowledge
it as no one appears to remember anything apart from me. There
must have been something in the sake. Well... I remember everything
- there were some pretty funny bits but a lot was sort of
annoying but no doubt that was just a function of being sober
with a lot of drunken people which is never a good idea.
DAY 9 ~ THURSDAY 25TH
~ LIVE TO AIR
So... what happened was...on Thursday we woke up - went into
Shibuya with Bon and Hairy to meet Shintaro. I really wanted
a coffee but was too pathetic to ask at the shop - this was
hopeless as it turned out as the menu was in English and they
of course spoke English but I was feeling rather weak after
previous nights psychological trauma (see whale incident below
) so couldn't do it. Anyway Hairy got coffees. Shintaro was
late and then we saw him running loaded down by guitars etc.
He said his alarm- (read mobile phone) had gone off but he
had pushed it and gone back to sleep. So we run... walk fast
whatever up and around some sort of shopping centre style
affair into Shibuya FM open the door - walk in and we are
greeted by some (radio station) bloke. Shintaro looks at us
and says " You will play now?" Stephen hasn't even opened
the guitar case to see what type of guitar it is - I don't
know what song we are singing etc. etc. so I say something
along the lines of "No!" - and then everyone is quiet for
a second and he says 'OK in 5 minutes' Blimey I think to myself,
I can see Hairy is panicking but we are ushered into the studio
where Tomoaki and Asako are- a rather interesting and intelligent
interview (I am talking about the questions not the answers)
and we play You Name It - which doesn't sound too bad - maybe
even OK - which is odd as I am singing staring out a huge
plate glass window onto a shopping mall where everyone is
marching past completely oblivious to me and our sad little
song - Tokyo is so jam packed with amazing sights, that I
am sure a silly anglo woman singing into a microphone out
into the street is nothing to write home about but for me
it is quite disconcerting. I can however see it would be a
great place to work!
The radio people are courteous as usual
and are given a pack of Tim Tams for their trouble. They will
think we are nutcases always pulling out a packet of biscuits
at every opportunity and pretending they are gifts. Oh well
we are trying in a hopeless sort of way and it is the guidebooks
fault which suggested chocolates would be acceptable though
of course now we can see there is chocolate everywhere! Including
the glorious FRANS. Everyone must think we are sad characters
for constantly thrusting chocolate biscuits at them. So...
after this Bon pops off for some wandering... and Hairy and
I go and have a Sushi train experience with Shintaro including
sea urchin and then Shintaro escapes (very politely!) and
we go to find the National Museum of Photography. We get a
bit lost at Ebisu Station (so what's new!) but eventually
find it with enough time to spare.
There is a great projection of a photo
of some part of the city when you step on it there was a painting
of how things used to be. Then suddenly there were footprints
of animal and an animal would run across in projection. Anyway
it was all very weird. I get a good present for Michelle Cannane
and vow to come back to this area which has all kind of interesting
looking buildings. (the seatbelt sign in the aircraft
has gone on which means trouble -... well it was trouble and
though no one will agree with me felt like yet another near
death experience - at one point I thought miserably to myself
I shall never be able to go to Japan again as I can't bear
to get on another flight!)
Anyway!.... blah blah .... blah - off to soundcheck
... 20000 Volts quite a punk sort of place and sort of 3 flights
of steps down ([Penny] with a venue
above! YIKES - so fucking scary!) (Hairy is tapping
me on the shoulder and trying to make me accost the flight
attendant to get another drink. May not have such a a biased
view as others in the flight crew)
DAY 10 ~ FRIDAY 26TH ~ 20000 VOLT
{you can also VIEW
VIDEO of this show}
The soundcheck (aka rehearsal as they seem to be called in
Japan and indeed each band seems to just play through 3-4
songs - make no demands and then in a sort of organized fashion
get off) ... the soundcheck is OK - not enough vocals but
better than The Hoey ... then we all mill around as usual
for a while. It is very difficult getting 8 people to be able
to move as one - and eventually Stephen stays in band room
with plans to ring Tim/Ivor/Yasu/etc. etc. while Penny/Jim
/ Bon / Guy go to have noodles. I go with Shintaro to have
coffee and to do interview but this doesn't happen. I think
he must be exhausted and sick to death of the lot of us but
he doesn't show it. I wonder if he would ever tell the truth.
I am such a blurter it is hard to envisage being a person
who does not just say everything they think but I am sure
it is a good role model as saying everything you think really
just leads to trouble as in the whale business.
(On Thursday night Fran and Bon have what verges on being
a serious argument about eating whale meat. Frances cries
in a pathetic girly sort of way and wants to go home)
|
|
| [Penny] - oh boy we're going 750kms/hour
and climbing ~ but we've have already been 6000km/hour in the
fastest lift in TOKYO- Ahhh - last night - a rock dungeon -
2 floors under ground in GROOVY Koenji - but rather frightening
having another venue above us! Slept through an earthquake on
the 36th floor of the Prince Hotel - spent much more time worrying
about earthquakes and 36 floors than proved necessary as the
big pole in the middle of the building did it's job remarkably
well ~ ah TOKYO - 18 million people are not wrong! The bands
last night were so loud the bass vibration felt like it was
going to crack my sternum - but a sitar player and drummer were
fairly special. And so onto the predictable Sho-ju and food
festival and another dawn over Tokyo. So 20000 Volts - first
band were cont - quite hypnotic sitar and drums - very impressive
then Space Debris? Kung Fu man - a lot of talking - quite the
jokesters - bit of slapstick but a bit hard to understand if
you don't speak Japanese then us - out of place but OK - got
a few people up + some good dancing then fluid - v. loud |
|
| [Bon] Fluid were very tight rhythmic
patterns with chunka chunka guitars and a sexy girl who accused
me of being drunk. Got a CD. |
|
| [Fran] then Groundcover who I thought
were rather magical - complete noise - excellent bass playing
- I went right to the front - took off my glasses and it was
like a plane taking off with singing in the clouds. I would
really like to sing a song with that band - entrancing and heavenly
and I was completely sober - more to come??? - better turn the
light off as no doubt is annoying |
|
|
|
| DAY 11 ~ SATURDAY 27TH ~ LEAVING TOKYO Cutting it a
bit too fine ! |
|
| DAY 12 ~ SUNDAY 28TH ~ HOME BUT NOT YET HOSED ! We
arrive home Sunday morning to find we are headlining a show
at The Annandale the same evening ! |
|
|
THE VENUES
~ 2003 TROUBLE SEEMED SO FAR AWAY ~ TOUR OF JAPAN !
|
|
Fri 19th
Sept 03
|
SHOWBOAT
~ Tokyo - Koenji / Japan ~
with Scout Niblett + Andersens + The Games + DJ Kenji
Sekioka (Rover Records) [DOORS OPEN 18:30 Start 19:00
adv / 2,500YEN door / 2,800YEN]
tickets available at: Shibuya - some of us, Shinjuku -
VINYL PT.2, Koenji - LINUS RECORDS, SHOWBOAT ] |
|
Sun 21st
Sept 03
|
CLUB
DAUGHTER ~ Nagoya - Sakae / Japan ~
with Scout Niblett, Space Debri, G-Spot Hunter [DOORS OPEN 18:30 Start
19:00 adv / 2,000YEN (with 1 drink) door / 2,000YEN (+
drink order)
tickets available at: Osu-FILE-UNDER, Sakae - CLUB DAUGHTER
|
|
Mon 22nd
Sept 03
|
BEARS
~ Osaka - Namba / Japan ~
with Scout Niblett, She Brings The Rainbow, momorien [DOORS
OPEN 18:30 Start 19:00 adv / 2,000YEN door / 2,500YEN]
tickets available at: Namba - BEARS |
|
Tues 23rd
Sept 03
|
EAST
~ Kyoto -Kiyamachi / Japan ~
<Sunday Tuning presents " SUNDAY FUN">
with Scout Niblett, N-16, Night Teller, UNKNOWN [DOORS
OPEN 18:00 Start 18:30 adv / 2,000YEN door / 2,500YEN]
tickets available at: Kyoto - ART ROCK NO.1, Osaka - SYFT
RECORDS |
|
Thur 25th
Sept 03
|
Shibuya FM / Tokyo ~ live
to air |
|
Fri 26th
Sept 03
|
20000VOLT
~ Tokyo -Koenji / Japan ~
<conti & groundcover presents 20000 light years>
+ groundcover, conti, Fluid, Space Kung Fu Man [DOORS
OPEN 18:00 Start 18:30 adv / 2,000YEN door / 2,200YEN]
tickets available at: Shibuya-some of us, Shinjuku-VINYL
PT.2, Koenji - LINUS RECORDS, 20000VOLT |
|
|
