make my day tour final @ club seata

Today's Music Monday is about Make My Day's tour final at Club Seata in Kichijoji with My First Story and girugamesh.



september 15, 2014 | make my day tour final @ club seata

hahaha, sam

girugamesh

make my day

Somehow, I got really lucky and was able to see almost all of my friends' bands one last time before I left, including Make My Day! I'd met Sam, Nori, and Julian a few years earlier when they were in their previous bands (Remembering Sensation and Ashley Scared the Sky) and on top of having some pretty awesome heavy music, they're all super nice guys, too.

Do I know any mean musicians? I dunno. Everyone was always pretty chill XD

Anyway, Landon was going to help me shoot an interview so we stopped at Saku-Saku Maple Shou for that decadent masterpiece you can see up there, so good, holy mother of pastries.

We shot an interview with the guys, but unfortunately we never finished it. Hopefully we'll get around to it one day though because it's pretty hilarious. The show itself was great, too! I'm always happy to see girugamesh as they used to be my favorite band once upon a time, and MMD never disappoint either. Always heavy, always wild, always great.

I also met Laura for the first time! She's a sweetheart and a half and she has a pretty awesome blog, too so check it out! I'm glad we finally got to meet over music and taco rice :)


Check! | Kichijoji 

▶ Saku-Saku Maple Shou

1-1-6 Kichijoji Honcho
Musashino, Tokyo

▶ Jingle Jangle

1-23-7 B1 Kichijoji Honcho
Musashino, Tokyo

▶ Club Seata

1-20-3 Kichijoji Honcho,
Musashino, Tokyo

I was thinking that putting up the addresses might make my blog a bit more useful? I may not be in Japan anymore, but if people stumble on this blog I'd like to be able to provide some more options for eats and entertainment besides Sukiya and Gusto, haha.  Hopefully it's helpful?


 ♡ jennifer

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4 days, live days

So I should be looking for my air con remote so that when the electrician comes over he's not all, "Are you sure you put in batteries?" But instead I'm gonna make that blog post I started last week. I would blame it on laziness again, but actually:

Our internet has been broken. For like 5 days. Apparently our provider has started this whole 7GB a month limit thing and well, ain't nobody got time fo' dat.

Anyway, for those that follow me on Instagram and Facebook, you'll know that I went to England for almost two weeks last month! Well, this is not that post. I have a ton of photos to edit, but first I wanted to write about what I did when I got back.

2014.05.22 Ruido K2

ASH DA HERO first secret!live

The day after I got back from England my dear friend Ash had his secret!first live at Ruido K2 in Shibuya. He's the former vocalist of the now paused NSDP and is starting solo activities from here on out. It was a really great show but I was waaaaay too jetlagged and started feeling a little ill towards the end of the set.

I also fell down the stairs and got an incredibly attractive blood blister on my hand D:


2014.05.23 Geki Rock

On Thursday, I ran into Lidy and Sohei of FEAR FROM THE HATE who invited me to come out to Geki Rock the next day. I was hoping to do an interview with Danger Kids (Geki Rock's special guest) but didn't have time to cement any plans so I initially just planned on going for fun instead.

However! The day before I got an email from my friend Landon about helping him film FFTH's set.

FEAR FROM THE HATE

Between filming I was able to go down on the floor and hear their cover of Marilyn Manson's "Rock is Dead". SO GOOD. These guys should really cover Manson more often. :D

When we went backstage to put our cameras up, I ended up running into the members of Danger Kids! Super nice group of guys (and one girl!) and they agreed to do an interview with us for trick/rock.

After we interviewed them, they actually asked to interview us! Landon and I were like WHUT but they asked some pretty lulzy questions and it's always so nice to catch up with fellow Americans. :))

Oh, and there was a group shot. My head is so tiny though like wtf DD:

Spent the rest of the show going back and forth between backstage and the floor and managed to see The Twisted Harbor Town, Make My Day, and Danger Kid's sets as well. Make My Day's vocalist Isam came down with the flu so they asked Taama of ROACH to stand in as their support vocalist; in case you were wondering why the guy crowdsurfing with a mic looks nothing like the former, haha.

2014.05.24 Thick Festival

The next day Lisa and I headed to Club Citta in  Kawasaki for Secret 7 Line's big event Thick Fest. I used to live the next station over in Tsurumi, so Kawaski is a pretty nostalgic area for me. Plus it was my first time at Club Citta!

Obligatory pass shot.

Jr. Monster

HEY-SMITH

ROACH

Secret 7 Line

Even though we were sitting upstairs, it was still hot as Hades in there. However, it was an epic show and it's always a pleasure to see Secret 7 Line. I'm normally not a punk person but I quite enjoy their style!

2014.05.25 Shores & Autumn Creatures

On Sunday, I headed over to Shinjuku to see Shores play with Colorado based band, Autumn Creatures. Lisa and I saw Shores for the first time in Okinawa with Her Name in Blood but didn't get to properly meet the guys until we saw them in Tokyo a couple months later. We became fast friends with them and they've got some great music so we try to see them whenever they're in Tokyo.

Autumn Creatures were really good too! Instrumental music has never really been my thing but I was super impressed with how professional and polished they sounded. Mature even? Really enjoyed their set, actually!



Anyway, I was supposed to do an interview with them on Monday but woke up with a death-migraine, no appetite, and nearly hilarious exhaustion. I would say that should teach me that getting back from a trip and then hitting the ground running probably isn't a good idea, but I never really learn from my mistakes anyway, haha. 

Now the question is, just how long will it take me to edit those England photos? :D

♡ miss wave

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triplevision x redbull presents kickoff party!!

Listening to old Rihanna songs while I write this post. OH SO METAL. Anyway, I had mentioned in a previous post that I'd wanted to do an interview with the "newly reborn" Make My Day: this is that!

2014.02.07 "Kick off Party!!"
So Triple Vision and Redbull hosted Kickoff Party!! as a pre-show to their annual heavy-rock event, Scream Out Fest. I was honestly too exhausted to go to SoF but I'm glad I got to go to this!

I'm sad we had to give these passes back!

I've been to a show at Tower Records only once before, I think for a show ages ago? I'm pretty sure it looked different then, but now it's known as CUTUP STUDIO. They even have a private smoking room if you're so inclined :D

The pass was pretty cool! I collect the passes I get so I was pretty bummed you couldn't keep it. This one you literally had to sign in and then out again when you left!

Back: Nori, Moo | Front: Sam, Julian

Anyway first up was our interview with MAKE MY DAY! I was a little too ambitious with interviews this past month and I have two others to post before I can put this one up, but it was still fun to shoot :)

Here's a preview of their new sound if you're curious! Though their live performance is quite impressive so I highly recommend checking out one of their shows if you're in the area ♪

I have also recently begun to realize that for all the videos that Lisa and I have shot for trick/rock., we've taken very little if any commemoration photos. So I thought I'd start a new trend for myself.

Unfortunately...

NOPE.

I am literally the most un-photogenic person in the entire world. Seriously, what kind of tiny baby alien head do I have? I loled though. As did they. "Jenni's head is about half the size of everyone else's." Bahahaha.

When we came back in The Twisted Harbor Town were just finishing up their rehearsal! Super excited to see them since I had their new song ↓↓ on heavy rotation he whole time I was home for Christmas :3

So good though, OMG.

After that we met The Word Alive, who were announced as the secret guest band the night before. Or maybe, day of? Can't remember now. The guys were super nice and agreed to do a mini-interview after the show but we ended up running out of time with CUTUP STUDIO's strict closing schedule. Cool guys, though!

This has almost become my standard uniform for shows. I feel if I give myself some epic sidebang and a few lip piercings I'll really start to fit in :B

The Twisted Harbor Town

They've improved so much over the past 2 and half years, or well, at least since the first time I saw them. Always considerably impressed every time I see them again!

Make My Day

Everything on the instrument side has a lower tone and the vocals are a lot rougher. They're considerably heavier than the ASTS-incarnation but I think it really works for them.

Kiba of Akiba

I particularly enjoyed their lulzy cover of "A Whole New World". Yes from Aladdain. And yes, it was fabulous.

New Breed

Like TTHT, NB are another one of those really great bands I don't manage to see nearly enough! Their sound has also gotten a great deal heavier which is nice but I definitely still love some of their old slightly pop-tinged stuff as well.

The Word Alive

Honestly, metalcore around the world is pretty similar but these guys just had so much power. Shame there wasn't a bit more room for mosh pit to expand, though!

I was introduced to Red Bull staff as well! They were both super nice and spoke flawless English. The guy even used to live in New Jersey, my actual hometown. Anyway, I told them about trick/rock. and they seemed really impressed and expressed interest in working together in the future!

I truly hope so! :)

So thank you to Triple Vision, RedBull and Tower Records for hosting such an awesome event! ♪

♡ miss wave

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monster box vol. 00

I can finally blog about Monster Box! I've spent the last few days training for my new job but apparently, the Polar Vortex from the East Coast decided to pay us a visit so I'm spending the day inside which means...yay! Writing time.

So MONSTER BOX is a big ol' event at Studio Coast with not only bands that I work with now, but also bands that I've really liked in the past.

lineup ↓↓

ESKIMO CALLBOY
girugamesh
ARTEMA
NoGod
ROACH
lynch
MAKE MY DAY
Kiba of Akiba

I honestly don't think I've properly written about an event since my days on eljay, but this was a really, really awesome experience for me so I want to remember it as best as I can.

love, love, love my vans!

I had originally wanted to do a video comment for trick/rock. with MAKE MY DAY (ex. Ashley Scared the Sky) but being that it was a such a big event, we opted to move that interview to the 7th - which I'll write about later :))

Ever since I saw the lineup, I was planning on going anyway for fun buuuut after finding out that we, in fact, could do a video comment with all the non-visual bands at the event, strapped on my oh-so-metal floral shoes and headed to Shinkiba :D

I can't even remember the last time I was here!

The first thing I noticed was how much smaller Studio Coast seemed! I guess when I first got here it seemed HUGE but now compared to venues like AX it actually didn't seem nearly as intimidating. Far venue is far, though. Not gonna lie.

I came in at the end of Kiba of Akiba's set but thankfully got to see all of MAKE MY DAY! It was my first time seeing them since they ended their activities as Ashley Scared the Sky and reformed as MMD. Really impressed! They've gotten a lot heavier and a lot of the visual-kei fans kept murmuring how awesome they were after their set.

Next up was ARTEMA and my first time seeing them since last November. They just released a new album...oh! and a new PV so check them out if you have time :) I always love seeing ARTEMA and I think they were probably one of the easier bands for visual-kei fans at the event to transition with. In my opinion, their set was over way too fast XD

I took a break during NoGod but headed back inside with Inger and Kat for ROACH. Their sets always, always feel too short for me and despite how much I regret the mosh pit pain the day after, it's always a great stress reliever. Though to be honest, constantly having to pull up my "skinny jeans" during HIGH FIVE! was kind of a pain in the ass. Goddam you, American Eagle.

Headed outside for some socialization after that. But mostly for locomoco because I was hungry and you know, food is important.

Ran into Taama and Sam (of ROACH and MAKE MY DAY respectively) then it was interview time! After that we grabbed Meg and Ko-hey of ARTEMA before the five of us headed around the back corner of COAST.

Meg x Sam x taama x ko-hey

The lulz here, though really. This comment was absolutely perfect and exactly the kind of video I want to keep shooting for our webzine. I don't know if it's because they're all vocalists (mostly, haha) or because they're all really good friends, but the chemistry and everything worked out so well.

After that we walked back to COAST to catch the rest of girugamesh's set.

accidental shot but I kinda like it

girugamesh!

Watching them from backstage was hands down one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. Some of you may know already know, but I used to really love them. I don't go to their shows anymore and my tastes have changed and all, but that doesn't change the fact that at one point, they had a pretty big impact on my life. Being able to watch them with the friends that I've met over the past 3 years working and being in this scene was really amazing.

Anyway. Mush aside.

When I was walking backstage the first time, we ran into one of the guys from Eskimo Callboy and just as we were walking away he was like, "Wait, who are you? You don't look Asian!" I laughed and told him that no, I was American and worked for a web magazine promoting Japanese bands to foreign audiences. I asked him if it would be possible to get a short comment from them later and he happily agreed. Yay!

Quite clean considering how many people were in and out of here.

After they came in, I met vocalists Kevin and Sushi and we got to talking about the States and Germany. Turns out not only did they play in Atlanta but at the Masquerade, no less! After that Ko-hey and Meg popped in again and joined Eskimo Callboy for another hilarious video.

I'm pretty sure I'll be editing videos until April XDD

They really love each other.

ARTEMA and ESKIMO CALLBOY. Proving that boys are almost exactly the same all over the world. And here's that epic photo, in case you were wondering. Not mine by the way! Borrowed it from here :)

I feel like this sums up a lot.

To be honest, I tend to not end up writing about this kind of thing because I run out of time or I don't know how to write it up but...this was such an amazing experience for me. Truly.

Seeing old visual bands like girugamesh and lynch. that I admired so much in the past along with the bands that I not only enjoy promoting, but also really love seeing live, was kind of amazing. It was also really cool to see how much the fans, of either genre, really enjoyed the whole show, regardless of who they came for. If the aim of Monster Box was to destroy that "wall" that's always been up between visual-kei and loud rock, then I think they did an ace job. 

♡ miss wave

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