The Tokyo Music Scene

Tokyo's a lot different than what I'm used to when it comes to a music scene. The trains are the main mode of transport here, but they stop at 1 AM. The only option then is to get a cab which are not cheap for any decent distance. The trains start up again at 5 AM, so many youth here apparently go crash with their heads down at McDonalds until dawn. Another option is to get in a Manga (?), which is sort of a cafe where they give you a big comfy chair and let you hang out for awhile for about $25-30.

I looked for some live music somewhat nearby so that if I missed the last train the cab ride wouldn't be killer. The shows here are very expensive. I know nothing about the national music scene, but checking about 6 different clubs the cheapest show I could find was 2000 yen (~$22)... on a weeknight. There were at least three or four shows commanding $40-50. I just paid about that to see the Pixies play a sold out hall in Chicago. I found another upscale Jazz club but the two times I dropped by they were charging ~$46 bucks for a single set from a local jazz musician on weeknights and Sundays. It's a long ways from the Elephant room for sure.

The time didn't turn out to be a problem as everything I found started and ended early. Arriving at 9 PM I got a discount because there was only one more band left. I guess my brain refused to believe they actually ended rock shows at dive clubs by 10:30 PM. Going up 6 floors, through a bar, then back down a winding spiral staircase, I arrived to a room that probably held 200 people max.

I caught the last couple songs of one bands set which was decent punk rock. The last band looked like a bunch of teenagers but turned out to be pretty decent, sorta pop rock but edgy enough it didn't bore me and with some keyboard thrown in to keep it interesting. The band put a lot of emphasis on their rockstar stage presence, unfortunately I couldn't understand a word of their between song banter. However following in the steps of the great cock rockers of the past a bottle of JD was passed around during their set and many rockstar moves were performed. It was packed wall to wall, but I was the only Gaijin!

large and in charge

While at school tonight I discovered a large plotter that I can print from at no charge.

Going global

I post this somewhere over Iowa on my way to Tokyo. I saw Andy and aaryn play to a sold out crowd at the Chicago Vic theatre wiith mistress Stephanie. Then Saturday night I saw the pixies do all of Doolittle and then some. Yesterday was a long day at the shedd aquarium studying deep sea terrors for further zissou material. Fortunately I got my sax into the shop prior to leaving so I'll be set to close out recording when I return. Glad to start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for this cd. I've been in the band for over a year and a half so it'll be nice to finally have a good recording where I'm contributing. I'm also hoping we can knock out a zissou ep fairly soon. That should be easy though as the instrumentation and overall production is a lot less complex than on MD.

Looking forward to the weekend and being crafty

This picture from Devo at SXSW last year is only here because I haven't labeled the photos in my phone, and I guessed wrong with the first photo I uploaded :) But I think it's cool, so I'm leaving it here.



Last weekend I went out and got the goods to start screen printing. This is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time, but was under the impression that it was very hard, so I had never actually gotten around to it. Now, I find out that it really isn't that hard, but can be a bit time consuming.

So, the first thing that I did was a couple of T-shirts with this gear flower on the front (image from our last album cover).


I used a paper stencil for that, and it was really easy and quick to do, but the stencil doesn't last long and is not reusable. So, then we decided to something for the back of the shirt, but wanted to try to do a method where you block out the screen with this masking fluid. Turns out that this way is very tedious, and messy, and I think I might have ruined the screen. But now I have learned the very valuable lesson (that I probably should have known in the first place), which is this: use the supplies that are actually designed for the project at hand.

So, this weekend I am going to use this screen that I made for the back, I'll let you know how that goes.

hey, hey, hey everyone!

well alright, i'm in. i'll have more to say next time....maybe.

Putting the MO in Mostly Dead

This is my first blog.

It will be short.