１２/０１/０７ - Stewed, Screwed, And Tattooed @ The Bar, Okinawa City, Okinawa
DEFIANT PERSON
VAIDURYA
MUNCHKINS IN THE CAN
HI-CHEESE
artwork by Rage (copyright 2007 Switchblade Productions)
２００７年１２月１日 - Stewed, Screwed, And Tattooed @ 沖縄県沖縄市 The Bar
posted by Beerbug @ 9:24 PM
3 Comments:
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For some reason everybody that owns some kind of store in Okinawa (especially Okinawa City) seems to think they have the capabilities to host live music. Now there's no problem with that, in fact the more venues that pop up the better chance we have of ridding this island of that fuckin bullshit "noruma" garbage (basically making the bands pay to play - most of the "live houses" do this kind of shit) but you've got to have a working PA system and when I say working I include all the gear - microphones, mic cables, etc. It's very rare that the bands or the record label have that kind of stuff unless they own a rehearsal space or a recording studio. See there's a big difference between owning an independent record label and owning a sound production company. First off the sound production company (think somebody like Sound Package or Ikari) will have all that equipment BUT they're also gonna charge you an arm and leg for use of equipment and for their services. Honestly it seems the owner of The Bar already has (and already had) no intention of dealing with live music, I think he's just fine with letting the gunjins sing karaoke. I kinda wonder if the live music was Rage's (American Graffiti Tattoos) idea, which I do appreciate, I mean most of the gear was his and obviously he's gonna be running sound. Honestly things could've been worse and I hate to admit it but over the years we've had worse experiences, think about some of those nights at Champs, the Terminal Bar... AGGGH! Also it doesn't matter where it is or who it is... technical problems happen... just like airline flights getting delayed, unexpected traffic jams... getting all excited and harassing people doesn't help anything. I also don't know why they went and asked Martin from Paddy Macs what he thought about the bands, of course he's gonna say it's shite, everything is fuckin shite to him. I mean Rage knows more about Chicken Katsu Records and has more experience with some of the related bands than Martin does.
Now on the other hand, I mean if you've got a guitar cable that looks like it just got nuked in the microwave... YOU DON'T PLUG IT IN, borrow a cable from one of the other bands. Fuckin' common sense! I mean you could even start a fire if another cable had a small rip and they touched each other. That sure as hell didn't help boost morale! Anyways DEFIANT PERSON play stuff along the lines of Glay or Luna Sea. They seemed like nice guys but if you don't seem like you enjoy playing your own songs how do you expect the audience to get into it.
VAIDURYA was next and I thought everything was great - the gunjins were getting into it, especially when they did their Nirvana covers and the owners of Fujiyama were saying good things about the band but the owner was having a fit about it being to loud. By the way it was not loud, if I could hear him complaining over the music then it is not loud. Also I've never understood this, telling the guy who owns the record label (and who is over at a booth or table selling records) to go tell the band to turn down. If I get up and tell the band to turn down, they're gonna think "oh he's trying to sell records but our music's too loud so he can't have a conversation, fuck him, can't he wait til we're done, anyways shouldn't he be checking out our live set" so then they might fiddle with some knobs but they're not gonaa turn down, if they do they'll turn it right back up when I walk away. BUT if the owner of the place tells them "Hey I've been getting visits from the cops about noise complaints can you turn it down a bit" 9 times out 10 they'll oblige. You don't even have to speak Japanese to let someone know that you need them to lower the volume, a simple hand gesture works, someone in the band will get what you mean.
MUNCHKINS IN THE CAN started off with "I Wish" a tune that Louie sings that really leans toward former label mates Grickle-grass. They followed it up with the hard driving "Gallivant" but for the upcoming CDEP (it'll be their 2nd) it's actually backwards - "Gallivant" then "I Wish", I wonder what that was all about then again it's the MUNCHKINS so who the fuck knows. They also played a few old oldies like "The Road Less Traveled" (originally by Chordially Yours - Louie & Weldon's former band) and "Panacea" (originally by Blindside - Weldon's old band). It seemed "Panacea" was Tooru's (SELFISH GENE aka Bocky) idea since he took the stage and played drums on it. Shinobu was back in action and in top form, they ended with "17 Years" (another one that Louie sings) which got quite the approval from the HI-CHEESE camp.
HI-CHEESE kicked ass like always! I wish I could describe them better but what always pops up in my head is "good times punk rock-n-roll" and I mean that in a very good way. Their in between song banter is brilliant, they could probably be comedians if they ever get tired of the music. Let's not hope that happens cause they are definitely one of the best bands playing out in Okinawa these days. All hail the great HI-CHEESE!
ハイチーズさんのライブレポート：
http://syasyarakuraku.ti-da.net/e1852208.html
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