A
couple weeks ago, Cameron emailed me and suggested reserving tickets
for the Mad Family Tour show in Roppongi, which was 8 visual bands,
all on Anarchist Records. That show was today.
I
was gonna meet him there, but got there late, but as it turned out
we bumped into each other just as he was coming out of the station.
On the way to Y2K (the club hosting the event) we both shared our
mutual distaste for Roppongi, which has a large concentration of foreigners,
and a Las Vegasy sleaziness in the air. There's
a thousand dance clubs in the area, and half the populous is in 24-hour-rave
mode, looking only to get drunk or laid, wearing club gear and acting
snobby. The
station attendant I asked directions wasn't especially helpful (most
are, but you could tell this guy spends a lot of time fielding stupid
questions from drunk foreigners). Even the convenience store people
were stand-offish; no smiles or sing-songy voices or anything. The
invisible layer of sleaze-grime covered everything.
So
we get to the club, pick up and pay for the tickets we reserved ahead
of time (there was a good chance the place could've sold out). Then
we hung out outside for an hour, because we had gotten there early,
and the stupid club called people in in groups of ten. ("Numbers
One through Ten... Numbers Eleven through Twenty... Numbers Twenty-One
through Thirty..." etc. I was number 224, Cam was 221. After
the guy hit 100, we went in (and got away with it because we're foreigners).
Cameron
and 500 Lucky ladies
Actually, in this shot, Cam is glaring at this
pervert dude (just off-camera) who was blatantly videotaping the jrock-ily
dressed crowd of girls -- and the girls seemed aware of it but either
enjoyed it or were too scared to do anything. So that's when I brought
out MY camera!
Armed
with our Y500 drink tickets (the show was Y2500 + Y500 for the drink
ticket) we went to the bar. Cam orders his typical whisky... and he
ends up owing another Y200 on top of the Y500 drink ticket! And the
drink was tiny as hell! I get y beer, and it turns out I still owe
another Y100 on top of the drink ticket... nothing on the menu was
Y500... so why Y500 drink tickets? Just to make more work and confusion
for everyone I guess.
Fortunately,
a few of the acts were good; Werkmare was heavy, and so was The Piass...
though I was surprised to see, after all the photos I've seen of them
in magazines, that they band was kinda ugly! But they played a really
cool show. A third band called Velvet Eden was very Malice-Mizery
and kinda cool except for the Mana-esque singer who came out wearing
a shirt and jacket on top and only leather panties and a garter belt
below... I later saw him on the street, talking to some fans, dressed
the same way, which didn't seem legal. They also wore big bat wings
on stage, which, after the initial "ooh, bat wings!" goofiness,
was kinda cool. The singer also talked a lot, and had the audience
either mesmerized or laughing hysterically at his jokes.
Another
band, only 4 months old or so, was called... well, I can't remember
now but they were all 16 or 17, and apparently the guitarist was regarded
as being exceptionally cute. The songs had no riffs, and the beats
were and vocals weren't quite spot-on. So the songs weren't so good,
but I don't think it mattered to the girls in the audience that surged
forward. Apparently being the same age as your fans is a great way
to start out, the lucky bastards.
Another
band, whose name I didn't catch, did a very tight and catchy Limp
Biskity set of hip-hoppy/funk metal. They were really good, but I
just hate that style of metal! But they did it really well -- the
guitarist was especially bouncy on stage -- and if they get signed
and become famous the pessimist in me wouldn't be surprised. They
were a little visual, but closer to some sort of sci-fi thing going
(silver suits instead of black and purple!)
Each
band did three or four songs, and the last song was always a 15-min
sing-along type of deal... "1... 2... 1, 2, 3, Yeah!" The
Piass made it slightly different by having each member of the band
shout the "1... 2... 1, 2, 3, Yeah!", but having every band
go on for at least five minutes with whatever repetitive riff they
had was just a bit overkily. The crowd (300 20-year-old girls, 2 Japanese
guys, and me and Cameron) seemed to enjoy though. Some intense headbanging
going on for sure, I'll give those girls that much.
After
the last band finished (the drummer ended the set by diving into the
crowd, then diving into his drumset, and he must've hurt himself,
because my god, he juts belly-flopped right onto the toms and went
head-first into the snare, it was really funny), all the bands that
had played came out on stage -- a few still in makeup, but some without.
They then all sang and danced (Macarena-esquely) to some punk-sounding
song called "Anarchy" -- that seemed to be the title anyway.
It was cool in a look-how-much-fun-all-the-bands-are-having-together
kind of way, although only the popular bands' members looked like
they were having a good time.
All
the Bands On the Stage
"Hangar 18... go!"
After
that, the bands all sold their merchandise; photo sets (which are
apparently just 4x6 photographs -- nothing special like a postcard
or nuthin') went for Y500 - Y1000, demo tapes for Y1000, and actual
albums sold for Y3000. I passed on the Piass stuff, but picked up
a couple of Werkmare demo tapes, mostly because the guitarist and
drummer were hanging out behind the merch table and I wanted to say
I enjoyed the show. Got one of the tapes autographed, too.
The
whole shebang went from 6 to 11, and I took the Oedo line (which is
new) home; the train cars, coolly enough were plastered with Extasy
Records advertising -- a fact not missed by some of the girls from
the concert.
And
back home in Noborito, I hit the Yoshinoya-ish ("fast-food noodles
and donburi") place (the only open past 11pm) and grabbed some
gyudon, but only after breaking the ticket-machine into which customers
are supposed to place orders. (You insert money, hit the item of your
choice, a ticket and your change comes out, you hand the ticket to
the guy behind the counter, and get your grub 60 seconds later. It's
a lot like buying a train ticket.)
The
Werkforce that I listened too was cool, but the Y1000 tape only had
2 songs, like the Y500 demo tape. Whadda whadda fucka?! Boo! Also,
I hate using Kayo's tape machine, so from now on it's CDs or nuthin'!
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