In between sets, more of the Planet Gold guy, so I flee to the lobby
and grab a drink, a screwdriver, because they've got Vitamin C, don't
they!
Syndrome,
Aioria, and Phobia have tables set up outside as well, so I amble
over and check them out, but the Syndrome table is just plain confusing:
there's so many CDs, mostly samplers that they appear on, that choosing
just one is impossible. And there's bags too, with posters sticking
out of them. Maybe later.
I
head back in and Aioria's drummer and Bo-Peepy guitarist (as opposed
to the other, "furry" guitarist) are on stage, with Planet
Gold-boy, auctioning off a crappy flying V guitar. Which belongs to
the furry guitarist! Who is actually play basslines, I think, but
he uses a guitar for extra versatility. (He also operates the computer
that does all the synth parts, which may also have some of the bass
parts mixed in... it's completely confusing.)
Anyway,
so this guitar goes for only Y3000... i assumed they were saying san-man
(Y30,000) and not san-sen (Y3,000), so I didn't bid, then after
it was over I turn to MoSo and go, "Oh, fuck, sen is thousand!"
Which is like, duh!
I
just assumed: guitars sell for hundreds of dollars, not $30! So I
missed out on bidding on a guitar that probably was in very shitty
shape. Plus the hassle of lugging it home... bah, damn it!
So
after that, MoSo mention that tey might have session players coming
on in between sets, because it's only three bands tonight, which is
a few less than normal. Plus, doing the math, three bands playing
for 50 minutes each will only be three hours of music, and then whole
place will let out at 9pm, rather than at 10pm (ALL shows let out
at 10pm. Bon Jovi plays the Tokyo Dome, the gig ends at 10pm. Queensryche
plays On Air East, it ends at 10pm. Pierrot plays the Budokan, it
ends at 10pm. Due le' Quartz plays AREA, it lets out at 10pm. Eyes=Mirrorge
plays Live Station... it... lets... out... at... <breaks down crying>
So
when these, like, maybe 18 year-olds come out on stage, dressed in
army jackets, with pretty lame/easy hair and make-up, I assume, ah,
yes, here's a session band (or rather, a very-indie kind of band).
But they kick into their first song, and it's awfully good -- a real
solid, fast, heavy groove, and drumming like you wouldn't believe,
and jeez, there's almost as many people dancing to them as there was
to Syndrome 15 minutes ago... hey, these aren't some loser fill in
act, this is Phobia!
And
when the singer says somethnig about, "Bah, we're Phobia,"
it's confirmed. They are really quite good: the drummer is double
bass all over the place, in the same style as In Flames or Arch Enemy.
He looks like a twelve year old, but damn, he can really drum. And
he acts like he belongs on stage -- whereas a lot of drummers kind
of just hide behind their kits and don't interact with the audience,
KeiT is off his seat between songs, standing up, goading the fans
on, and then back down for the next cruncher.
The
songs are similar to that whole new Euro-metal style (In Flames, etc.);
the guitarist gets occaisionaly visual kei-ish (throwing in the occaissional
weird time signature or fucked-up progression of notes) but mostly
he's just heavy metally all the way. Only the vocals - -which are
75% screechy Kyo-style and 25% "normal" singing -- ruin
the illusion that you're NOT listening to a bunch of Germans/Swedes/Finns.
And the singer, Kisui, really really RIPS his voice on stage; by the
end of the show he was losing his voice. He was jsut givingnit his
all, but he's gonna DIE soon if he continues to do that. Control,
control, he must learn control! Plus, as I was telling MoSo after,
too much screechy yelly is no good -- it loses its effect/impact after
a while.
Kisei
did have a good stage presence -- lots of audience encouragement and
weird faces and eye contact and all that. The bass and vocals more
concentrated on playing, with a little audience interaction but not
much -- until the end, when the guitarist shot his full water bottle
into the crowd at 100mph and nailed some poor girl halfway back right
in the head. He didn't notice, though, I don't think. Because he (followed
in short order by the singer) stagedived and floated on top of the
fangirls for five seconds before being pulled back in by stagehands.
Time
for another drink, before whats-his-face comes out on stage again!
MoSo gives me her drink ticket, 'cos she ain't drinking (huh?!), and
we check out the Phobia stuff. They have four maxi-singles! And two
six-song EPs. And a Best Of album, which i consider getting but decide
to wait -- maybe they'll come out later, and I can complement them
on their show and buy one from them personally and get it signed.
(Honestly, if you're in an indies band, you GOTTA come out and sell
your stuff personally -- people wanna buy from the band, yanno?) But
they never do come out. Too bad.
<<<prev
/ Aioria>>>
