Called
and met Jun, who likes Jeff Beck and Yngwie and
goes to Waseda University Law School, which is pretty damn cool. He's
26 and plays guitar. The singer in his band has Lead Singer Disease
but also has a great voice -- "like a Gibson or Fender"
(which I didn't totally understand until I realized he liked Gibson
and Fender guitars!). The bassist is apparently on-again/off-again.
I'd be the drummer.
The
two songs I heard were very L'Arc-ish, not heavy at all (ballads,
mainly with lightly-distorted flicka-flicka type guitar playing) but
I checked and they also wanna do some heavier stuff -- the lighter
stuff is to attract the girls. We'll get together at Takadonobaba
for a quick jam on Sunday to see how it goes. They've all got live
experience, but with no reliable bassist and only three songs, and
lighter ones at that, I'm a little concerned that we might not hit
a stage for a month or two more.
On
Thursday I'm meeting up with that guy I accosted in Disk Union last
week -- he actually emailed me back! We're just gonna talk, I guess...
all these bands always wanna talk instead of getting into the studio
to play for a bit, jeez! But it's all good. This is the guy with the
heavier Dream Theatery rock band, with whom I'd be playing guitar.
Could be cool, though I predict a little language difficulty, though
we'll see. I must admit, I hadn't thought my lack of Japanese would
be such a hindrance -- since everyone speaks the language of music!
But it does slow the process down at times. However, after a few weeks
of playing musicians usually get to know each other a lot better,
and can communicate a lot easier. So it might not be so bad.
After
that, I'm jumping into the studio with Pork Beans. That's one thing
I like about them, no talk, just getting down to business! I better
listen to their songs one more time, I haven't practiced at all yet!
Eep! Fortunately, the arrangements and drum patterns are pretty straightforward.
Then
on Friday I'm meeting up with a dude who speaks really good English
and is starting a death metal band; he went to my site and saw L'Arc
and Pierrot and X Japan and was like, DUDE! If that's what you wanna
do, you've got the wrong guy!
I
can dig the shock he felt with Pierrot and L'Arc, but I was a little
surprised at his distaste for X. But it's all good. I'd be guitaring
with his band as well. Punching out some heavy rhythms to a furiously
headbanging crowd will be fucking awesome, if i get the gig!
Also
today I found a small CD store and bought a brand new DVD -- L'Arc's
Grand Cross Conclusion -- but it only cost Y4200. Normally
it's Y6000. The bummer was that it's Region 2 encoded -- unlike the
Pierrot and Hide DVDs i bought over the last few weeks. -- so I had
to change my DVD region settings on my PC. Hassle!
I
was unprepared for how much better the DVD would look, compared to
my VideoCD bootleg I got in Chinatown (NYC). Obviously I knew DVD
was far superior, but I always considered VCDs to be a respectable
$20 alternative if you didn't wanna blow $60 on the actual video.
Now, ugh! I can't ever go back.
The
store also had Luna Sea's Final Act double DVD selling for
Y6000 (normally Y8000) but I -know- I'll see that for less somewhere,
if I wait a year or so! (there's so much used Luna Sea stuff available
that if you just became a fan yesterday, you could go out and buy
ALL their albums and singles and not spend more than $50. Literally.
Fifty bucks for everything.)
So,
after meeting Jun in Shinjuku I popped over to Kabuki-cho, just to
absorb the atmosphere (of wanton sex!). Found a cool bar called Mother
that holds 5 people and is about the size of a 1960s space capsule
and blasts loud rock, picked by the patrons from a "band menu"
that you get upon ordering your first drink. Authorized Personnel
Only: refer to email CES 7-5-01 for further Kabuki-cho details. ;)
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