2009/01/25＊Takuro
『Mooo…motarou』
1/25 (Sun) Okayama PEPPER LAND
I think this was the smallest venue on the tour. It was funny how everything was so cramped. Right when I’d started thinking I’d finally grown accustomed of playing live, you can already count the remaining shows with the fingers of one hand. It’s been a year and some since our last visit to Kobe. I wonder what kind of a show it’ll be. I haven’t strolled about in Okayama at all yet, so I’ll do that tomorrow. Where shall we go: 9mm edition. See you tomorrow.
2009/01/24＊Takuro
1/24 (Sat) Hiroshima NAMIKI JUNCTION
I’m writing today before our turn on stage. Masudore’s playing right now and it’s shaking all the way back here in the dressing room. 9mm might really be snow men as it’s again snowing just like it did last year. NAMIKI however is a venue that gets really hot, so we’re gonna kick some ass. With that, here we go.
※ The staff pass that comes with the limited edition first pressing of the DVD. Don’t get me wrong, this is the one I’m currently using — the version actually included will be different.
2009/01/23＊Takuro
1/23 (Fri) Fukuoka → Hiroshima
Last night we kept on eating motsunabe with SPECIAL OTHERS, promising to play together again. Listening to a recording of our final jam at the hotel, it sounded pretty good. I was listening to it half-asleep yesterday after writing the blog, but it still sounds good after waking up today. I’ve no idea when, but I’d like to make it an actual band some time. Kyushu really became a great experience. We were all unanimously saying at the wrap-up how we’d all learned a lot. Once again, SPECIAL OTHERS and everyone who came to see us in Kyushu, thank you.
Starting tomorrow we’re playing with Masudore! To think that a day when we can tour together like this would come… it’s deeply moving. I look forward to it! See you tomorrow.
2009/01/22＊Takuro
「Last day of Kyushu」
1/22 (Thu) Fukuoka DRUM Be-1
Our wrap-up party with SPECIAL OTHERS got so festive, I’m unable to write anything.
Good night.
2009/01/21＊Takuro
「It’s not because I’m tall either」
1/21 (Wed) Nagasaki→ Fukuoka
It was already looking suspicious as we left Nagasaki, and in Fukuoka it’s unfortunately raining. After arriving at our hotel, I borrowed an umbrella and headed to shop by myself. Walking the streets of Hakata is fun. It feels like it’s one of a kind. I bought John Frusciante’s new album today. He’s my favorite artist. I’m listening to it as I write this and I’d already call it the best release of the year. I’ll probably just listen to this exclusively for a while (a year or so). After leaving the CD shop, I went to Mister Donut and set out while munching when a man with a familiar face appeared in front of me. It was DJ Kurizen (Zentarou Kurita). We parted after exchanging quick greetings of “see you at the show tomorrow“. I continued strolling about for a while more. Dropping by all the stores lined up, doing window shopping, leaving stores getting satisfied. Then as I thought I’d get back, I met Serizawa from SPECIAL OTHERS. I often run into people after coming out of buildings. I get told it’s because of my hair, but I don’t think it’s that. Serizawa had took a wrong turn on his way back to the hotel it seemed. So, we decided to walk back together, but we ended up making another wrong turn. After getting back to my room, there were about five little bags dangling from my hand when I realized there was not one souvenir in them. I think I’ll look for a set meal shop in the neighborhood tomorrow and eat some proper food. While I’m at it, I’ll get some souvenirs. With that, see you at the show tomorrow.
2009/01/20＊Takuro
「Bring iiit」
1/20 (Tue) Nagasaki DRUM BE-7
With the chanpon shop behind BE-7 having their regular holiday and the HARD OFF in the neighborhood having closed shop (they’re moving?), today’s was a show of trying to overcome these two regrettable coincidences. There were some troubles as well but overall it was good, and playing “Sundome” after a while was nice. The post-soundcheck jam continues to get better as well. Today’s version was considerably nice so I wish we’d recorded it. I think I’ll look for a simple recorder in Fukuoka. Not that there are any plans whatsoever to release it or anything, don’t get me wrong.
In the end, we got our revenge by going to eat chanpon at Ringer Hut, so we can head on over to Fukuoka without any regrets. Once returning to my hotel room, Obama’s presidential inaugural speech was airing. The audience was really fired up. Just goes to show that a live is a live. I don’t know the man at all, but I was thinking he sure has great fans. With that, thank you Nagasaki. See you tomorrow.
2009/01/19＊Takuro
1/19 (Mon) Kagoshima → Nagasaki
The streets of Nagasaki are busy with the preparations for a matsuri, so there’s lots of paper lanterns dangling about. It’s like a Chinese or Korean matsuri — someone told me a little about it but I forgot. There are lanterns (is that what you call them?) of giraffes, ostriches, pandas, the whole assortment regardless of nationality, lined up at the park. The streets don’t really feel Japanese-y, so it feels like we’re in a foreign country.
Our commute from Kagoshima today took us about 5 hours. Once you step out of the car after being inside one for that long, this light sort of car sickness and listless feeling lingers on. I wonder what it is… maybe the vibrations from being in the car still keep continuing. It’s the same even if you sleep. Tomorrow we won’t have to travel by car as much, so don’t worry about me. It’s been a while since we were last in Nagasaki. Let’s do this.
2009/01/18＊Takuro
「Jam session number 2」
1/18 (Sun) Kagoshima CAPARVO HALL
It seems all the shows for our ’09 tour are sold out. Thank you. The Kagoshima crowd was fired up as well! And there being a 9mm phrase during the jam section… great. Made me laugh. Also, excluding the Zepp venues, CAPARVO HALL was probably the biggest venue we’re playing on this tour. The dressing room was amusing as there was this hole in the ceiling as if it was a prefabricated house. If it was sunny, it would’ve looked really nice but it was unfortunately raining. We’ll have to visit Sakurajima the next time we’re here. Also, as for our post-soundcheck jam, it’s gradually getting better. Today it was Ryota on drums, Serizawa on keyboards, Taki on guitar and me on bass. There was also Yagi on pianica(?) today. Even though more than half of the members are from SPECIAL OTHERS, right now the band’s called 4.5mm Parabellum Bullet. I hope we’ll come up with a better name before we part ways. We’re commuting to Nagasaki tomorrow and in the evening we’ll be doing a radio appearance I think, so check that out! I’m tired so that’s all for now, see you tomorrow～.
2009/01/17＊Takuro
「If you’re exhausted even during the MC’s」
1/17 (Sat) Kumamoto DRUM BE-9
Since I don’t like it when my paragraphs end at weird places I tried writing one long paragraph yesterday, but looking at the post after uploading it, it still ends at a weird place. I wonder why. But writing long-windedly is fun so I’ll keep going like this for a while more.
I ended up sleeping until noon so I didn’t get to see Kumamoto Castle… The hotel we were staying in was smack center in the city so I thought I’d at least do some shopping, but I didn’t get around to doing that either. Nmumumu. So to pull myself together, I headed for the venue. They have gradual flooring at BE-9 (like at Shibuya Yaneura) for people in the back, too, to be able to see the band easily. That also works the other way around as we were able to see the faces of everyone all the way back.
After the soundcheck, we jammed with SPECIAL OTHERS’ equipment. This is something we’re always doing with the bands we’re playing with. It’s really fun～. Although it’s true that we basically just love all instruments, these guys especially have a lot of vintage equipment. An authentic Fender Rhodes (a keyboard that pretty much looks like a desk), Leslie speakers (equipment that swells the sound of the instruments. Serizawa’s is transparent so it’s super cool.) and their guitars are all born in the 50’s (ours are all newborns from ’08). It’s like paradise to us. It feels like we don’t deserve to play with them but since it’s that fun, I guess I won’t object. Well, I won’t show this post to them though.
Though it was our first show in Kumamoto, everyone in the audience was really fired up. I heard everyone singing. I’m glad I decided to use different sneakers than usual for this show. “Does that really make a difference?” is what some of you might be thinking though. Nhaha. We’ll definitely come again, so we’ll see you again then.
We’re already in Kagoshima.
With that, see you tomorrow.
2009/01/16＊Takuro
「Blogging about food all the time makes it look like we’re just traveling」
1/16 (Fri) Oita → Kumamoto
We did a live radio broadcast where we received shochu during the broadcast and after it was over, we immediately took it to with us to a bar. I’m abstaining from drinking on this tour so I didn’t have any, but the rest of the 9mm team took turns in turning their glasses bottoms up and the shochu was gone in no time. The food we had there was also all astonishingly delicious. There was of course the local specialty of horse-meat sashimi, tara sprout tenpura, goosefish karaage, mustard lotus root, etc., all of them aimed at keeping the drinks flowing I’m sure. Thank you to all the staff from the program. With this, we should be perfectly prepared for tomorrow’s show. After leaving the bar, we split into two groups with me in the group heading for a Kumamoto ramen shop. The delicious tonkotsu with the flavor of charred garlic, although a taste that really packs a punch, was really easy to eat. It was our first time trying something with such a strong impression of Kyushu ramen, or rather, Hakata ramen. I was already full by the time we left the first place, but I just kept on eating. Tomorrow I’ll wake up early and if I can, I’ll go and see Kumamoto Castle. Seeing it all lit-up after the sun had gone down, Kumamoto Castle so incredibly cool, I can’t put it into words. If I got to see it up close, I think it’d even affect how well I play at the show. I’ll try my best to go.
I wonder if it’s because it’s Friday that the people walking on the streets, be it youngsters or the elderly, they all look so lively, whereas me, I’ve been feeling (something that feels like) car sickness ever since our commute this morning. But, passing by all the lively people, it rubbed off on me as well. I’ll play at tomorrow’s show with this same feeling intact. Oh, and my literary style for this post was an experiment. See you tomorrow. Good night.
