(Indonesian language version coming soon!)
(WARNING VERY LONG POST!)
In 2011, I helped Common People organizing Texas Pandaa's gig in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Apparently, Texas Pandaa would like to know more about Indonesian indie scene after my previous interview with them which soon led to media exposures via fanzine and local radio programme such as Outerbeat. Then they contacted Common People to help them arranging gigs in Indonesia. There are two gigs, in Bandung and Yogyakarta. They play with great local shoegaze(y) / ambient bands such as the Milo, Jellybelly, L'Alphalpha, and Ansaphone in Bandung. The gig in Yogyakarta was held in Lembaga Indonesia-Prancis auditorium at September 19. Mellon Yellow and paraparanoid was also performing as opening act. I also got the opportunity to host Texas Pandaa to stay in my place. It was a blast and real fun moments.
Several months after the show, there's a little rumour about inviting another Japanese band to play in Yogyakarta. Though it didn't actually happened, another significant thing happened. Brilliant at Breakfast, a fine indie-pop band from Yogyakarta, was invited to play in Koenji HIGH, Tokyo along with 4 Bounjour's Parties, Bertoia, Honeydew, and of course Texas Pandaa as an (kind of) exchange for previous Texas Pandaa's gig here. Well, those are seriously great Japanese bands and I'm sure it's a huge milestone to the Brilliants :)) . Moreover, not only a gig in Koenji, but they will also play in Shibuya at Thee Boot Party together with Mitsume, It Happened, and DJ Sumire Twee.
Around June 2012, I was contacted by Arkham Kurniadi, Brilliants manager and Paperplane Records owner, to support their Japan tour as a (shitty) Japanese language interpreter and "mutual friends" for 3 days. Oh, well, why not? I'm sure it will be fun (and will be an interesting story to write). Although it's uh, not so fun financially because apparently we (or I?) have to pay most of the expenses by ourself. But that's what being indie, eh? :)) . "But, what the hell, the Brilliants needs me. I must go!" (although later they didn't seems to need my help that much). Also, the experience will surely help me for further research about Japanese indie music scene. Fortunately, I saved some money from work so here we go Japan!
I contacted Sarah, glockenspiel player and singer from paraparanoid, and also my college classmate, to help me being a (shitty) interpreter--together. She agreed to come along. Also, around August, Nadehiko from Texas Pandaa asked me to make a poster for the Koenji show. Here's the poster of the show. It was fun to paint this picture.
So back to the tour. We departed from Jakarta on October 17th morning. We flew to Malaysia first then headed to Haneda Airport in the afternoon. Waiting for 7 boring hours in Malaysia's airport departure room.
The flight was delayed for one hour late and we arrived two hours late. We arrived in Haneda at midnight past 1.30 AM so we couldn't catch the last train. BUT FORTUNATELY, Mikiko and Kazu (Texas Pandaa) were so kind to pick and stay with us the airport! Thank you Mikity and Kaz!
We were also introduced to our very first kombini (convenient store) food in Japan, onigiri, which is one of the cheapest (and tasty) food in Japan.
The first train was around 5.30 AM. We went to our hotel in Okubo, Shinjuku.
The funny thing is somehow I'm so familiar with Tokyo's athmosphere even though this is my first time visiting Japan. I was also not surprised with automated transportation systems, Tokyo's bustling, crowded, busy streets, seeing various Japanese foods (tasting them however is quite an experience), and interacting with Japanese people. Maybe because the recent 5 years in my college life were mostly about Japanese studies, music, TV dramas, food, and culture.
Here's a little stroll around Okubo, near our hotel.
In the afternoon, Nadehiko came to our hotel to pick us to the venue. It's been awhile since I met him and he's the same-old-straight-faced cool person like before (That doesn't mean he's not funny. He is actually a funny person).
The venue is small but warm and intimate. This is my first time visiting a japanese live house after seeing it lots of time in live videos and mangas. In real life, the place is really awesome. I can feel the musical energy and spirit in this place.
Before the show, there are rehearsals and sound checks. Although it is a small gig, I think the staffs and audio engineers of the live house worked professionally to help the bands achieving the sound they aimed for. Very impressive. Sound checks were done very thoroughly. I wish I had a sound check like that when playing in local small gig.
Honeydew's K-Go looked a lot younger than I thought. Even Sarah thought he looked like a highschool student. He's really cool and skillful! I like his guitar playing even it's only a sound check.
After preparations, we rested for a while. The venue will open at 6 PM and starts from 6.30. We bought onigiri and bentos for food.
4 Bonjour's Parties opened the show. I don't know how to describe this band. It's kind of an artsy musical group with fancy instruments (vibra(xylo?)phone and horns FTW!). I really like this band. They are exceptionally good, and much much much more better in live shows. All the members are all multi-instrumentalist and switches instruments several times during the song. Watching their live really made me happy :)) Their outfit is soo cute! They are really really good and somehow untouchable. lol.
A footage of 4 Bonjour's Parties performance of that live. I forgot the song name.
The next is Bertoia. It's my first time listening to this band. It's a shoegaze/alternative rock band. They have that good-old Japanese shoegaze sounds with that drum patterns, melodies, and guitar strumming which I actually like :) . Bertoia's members are also fun and friendly! The vocalist is so kawaii too!
Underwater is my favourite song!
Bertoia - "Underwater" (I hope I'm not mistaken)
After Bertoia, is Honeydew. Honeydew is an alternative rock and a bit shoegazey band. You can hear many American indie-rock sounds in their music (I will post more about this band as I interviewed them several months ago). K-Go looks even more cool with that T-Shirt and jeans. The drummer (Rico Ambiru I presumed) looks wild. On the other side, Junko is very calm and charming--in a Bilinda Butcher kind of way. Although only 3 members, they REALLY ROCK HARD! Seriously, even when Honeydew enters the stage, I can see more audience gathered and screaming their name. I think they have many fans who came to this gig. I'm so happy I can finally see their live.
Junko's so ethereally charming.
Honeydew - "Little Rusty Lemon"
"Wake Me Up" and "Little Rusty Lemon" is my favourite song!
Then, after Honeydew rocked the stage, it's time for our lovely pop friends, Brilliant at Breakfast! Eka greeted the audience by using few Japanese words she learned today. Then she continues with English. She spoke in between songs. A lot.
Here's a full set video of Brilliant at Breakfast (around 39 minutes) that I uploaded. Sorry for the bad video and audio quality. My internet connection is so slow I had to reduce the filesize. Moreover, I recorded this only by using iPad.
Texas Pandaa performed as closing act. Asako is somehow more beautiful. Is this because of her baby? :)
They performed really good just like last time I saw them. Stunning and mesmerizing :)
Texas Pandaa - "Frogs"
After the show, some people stay for chatting and drinking. Me, Eka, and Arkham stayed for awhile but we must catch up the last train (It was almost 12).
By the way, finally I met Hata Yusuke from Cruyff in the Bedroom, the King of Japanese Shoegazer (they said)! Also with Shigekazu, the guitarist. I love Cruyff. They're awesome! Hata Yusuke even gave me their new CD! Yeah! I will listen to it soon :) (I also interviewed them months ago. Will post it soon here)
The gig was wonderful. It was actually just a simple, small, and plain gig. But until now I can still feel the athmosphere, warmth, and that "livehouse" spirit in my mind. Also, congrats to the Brilliants for the great show!
The next show is in Shibuya.
After some sightseeing in the morning, we went to Shibuya for Thee Boot Party. There was a little bit problem in navigation and communication. We don't have any Japanese phone so we could not contact the organizer. Luckily, the last navigation in my iPad's Maps App was from Shibuya station to Shibuya Echo! Finally we can go there! It's easy to get lost in the crowded Shibuya.
The place is on the upper floor. It is very small and narrow. Though there's an AC running, the place is somehow a little bit hot. Moreover, smoking is allowed. Oh well. Anyway, the gig will start at 11 PM. Brilliants will play at midnight around 2 AM. So basically we must wait until the morning for train. There were DJs playing before and in between bands performing. Oh, also, 'mushroom' hairdo almost everywhere and there are random stuffs everywhere.
The first band, It Happens, are a group of young kids playing classic indie-pop song. They are very, very shy. They talked a bit quitely while gazing down. The vocalist's voice was also very quiet, not sure if it's the mic volume or trying to be a shoegaze band without the wall of sound. Nevertheless, their song was simply good and very enjoyable to me. There was also this man (with mushroom hairdo, of course) headbanging while watching their performance. Not sure if fanboy, excited (like me), or drunk (because he also bring a bottle of beer).
(Sorry no video. For some unknown reasons, I could not transfer several videos from this show to my computer until now. Also taking pictures was kind of hard because of the crowd, dim lighting, and narrow space)
We met Uci of Sharesprings (and Mellon Yellow?). Apparently she's now an exchange art student in Chiba!
The next band is, behold, the mighty and uber-cool, Mitsume! I never heard of them before this gig. At a first glance they're bunch of cute boys in their mid 20s (by saying 'cute' does not mean I'm sexually atrracted to them. lol). I thought they're going to play another indie-pop songs with extra synths, but I was wrong. Their song was very unpredictable. It's a bit hard to describe. What I can say is they mix pop, rock, funk, progressive, jam, and a little indie-pop too in their music. They were also very skillful in playing their instrument. The vocalist sang shyly and lazily in my opinion. Sarah compared the vocal to Asian Kungfu-Generation, but more gentle. They rock the venue!
Mitsume - "Cider cider" (the only surviving video I could transfer)
Then it's time for Breakfast at 2 AM! There was a little problem before their show. Apparently the gig setting here isn't as professional and shiny as in Koenji HIGH. the Brilliants needs more cable. Also, Tanto's keyboard and Eka's bass sound didn't came out. After some help from Nadehiko, Kaz, and cables from Mitsume members, they're ready to perform.
Anyway, It is very good to know that the audiences liked them in this gig. Although the hype wasn't as big as in Koenji HIGH, it seems people enjoyed the Brilliants :) Congrats! Btw, Eka #2 (melodion player) said that she really enjoyed this gig as it's really "Back to basic" : small venue, cheap gears, and plug-n-play.
We stayed a bit in the venue for drinking and talking. I bought Mitsume's CD and we had a really great talk with Yojiro, the drummer of Mitsume. He's so cool! He also introduced me and Sarah to Mitsume's other member. They're so polite and nice.
After getting bored. We get out from the venue and chat outside. We met some new friends, one of them is the long-lost Japanese brother of Arkham, Mr. DYNAMITE ICHIKAWA. Yes, Dynamite. Yes, he explodes. He's so whacky, crazy, and fun. Not sure if drunk or just being a dynamite. He has a band but I don't know the songs. I'll figure it our later.
 |
| I bet you know which one is Dynamite Ichikawa |
"Now this is Brilliant at Breakfast" he said. Well, although it's actually for my dinner, technically we ate sushi for breakfast as it's 5.30 AM. hahaha
Thanks Yojiro! We had a Brilliant Breakfast.
After resting a bit in Hotel, we visited Tokyo Tower and Asakusa Jinja. Very fun!
Then I prepared my stuffs because I must go to Hiroshima tonight, along with Sarah, to visit my girlfriend there. This is also the Brilliants last day in Japan. They will fly home in the night. I couldn't attend the farewell party with Brilliants and Texas Pandaa member (I wish I could because I wanted to see Asako's baby) because my bus is going to depart soon. Congrats Brilliant at Breakfast for the great gigs! I bet it's a huge achievement for you guys :) I'm glad I could (barely) help as nothing more than a (shitty) interpreter. Well more like a groupee of your band. lol
Several days later after some personal stuffs in Hiroshima and Kyoto, I came back to Tokyo for my flight home.
I met Texas Pandaa members again (though Asako couldn't come). We had a small farewell dinner in the Airport. We ate sukiyaki (wasn't it?) ! Nadehiko said it's his first time eating sukiyaki in his life. He even took pictures of our meal. Hahaha. They said not many common Japanese eat 'special' dinner like this. Thanks very much guys for the very special dinner!
After the dinner. We checked in the flight and flew home.
Thank you so much for the wonderful time in Japan! I had a really great time and many fun. I will miss Japan. Hopefully I can visit there again soon :) more sightseeing and more gigs! See you in the next journal / gig report.
End of Journal.
Photo by Azam, Sutanto Syambas Effendi, and Ridha Indradewa
Video by Azam, Sarah
Special thanks to Yamagishi Hiroaki
To the bands and persons mentioned in this post, feel free to clarify / add corrections if there are wrong name spelling, song / band names, misinformations, etc in the comment section.
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