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0 Japan 2013 Tour Dates Announced!!!!!

  • April 30, 2013
  • by stuartoconnor
  • · News · On The Road
Poster For my Show in Chiba.
Poster For my Show in Chiba.

 

With New Zealand well and truly an honor of an experience I am now back in the far East and embarking on on my 7th tour of Japan.

It will be a hectic Schedule with 26 shows in 5 weeks. But I am settling into this new pace and surroundings as best I can and anticipating the route of the road an following the music to take me where it will.

Stuart O’Connor – 2013 Japan Tour Schedule:
01/05/13 – Warp – Kichijoji – Tokyo

02/05/13 – 20,000v – Higashi-Koenji – Tokyo

03/05/13 – Juke Joint – Roppongi – Tokyo

04/05/13 – CCO Bar – Shimokitazawa – Tokyo

05/05/13 – T’s Lounge – Tsudanuma – Chiba

06/05/13 – Meets – Otsuka, (Near Ikebukuro) – Tokyo

07/05/13 – Club Goodman – Akihabara – Tokyo

08/05/13 – Hokage – Osaka

09/05/13 – Unshudo – Osaka

10/05/13 – Der Kiten – Kobe

12/05/13 – Varit – Kobe

13/5/13 – Mersey Beat – Kobe

14/5/13 – Backbeat – Kobe

16/05/13 – Urbanguild – Kyoto

17/05/13 – Socrates – Kyoto

19/05/13 – Jittoku – Kyoto

22/05/13 – CCO Bar – Shimokitazawa – Tokyo

23/05/13 – Super Deluxe – Roppongi – Tokyo

24/05/13 – High Pitch – Yokohama

25/05/13 – Bar Gari Gari – Ikenoue – Tokyo

27/05/13 – Warp – Kichijoji – Tokyo

28/05/13 – Ringoya – Higashi-Ikebukuro – Tokyo

29/05/13 – Cafe Mignon – Honancho – Tokyo

30/05/13 – Meets – Otsuka, (Near Ikebukuro) – Tokyo

31/05/13 – Music.org – Tokyo

01/06/13 – Toppers – Chiba City – Chiba

 

0 An Important Show for me – 20/11/12, 20,000v, Tokyo, Japan

  • April 25, 2013
  • by stuartoconnor
  • · On The Road

Never in my time touring  have I ever been keen to do a cover version. The main motivation has always been to push my own music and try to get it heard by as many folks as possible. Also there’s the factor to bear in mind that covering somebody else is usually best done if you feel you have something new to offer to the composition. In most cases I’ve never felt my take on a tune to be varied enough from the original to consider recording it. And finally there is the problem of getting copyright clearance to cover the tune in the first place. That again is a no go for me as most songs involve going through red tape so far and wide that it becomes like a second job but with little reward.

However when I last toured through Japan I found myself falling deeply for a melody. The song was written by a musician I had played a couple of shows with called ‘Mogura Ka Maigo’. Translated into English it means ‘The Lost Mole’.

Mogura Ka Maigo

The song is called ‘Tsukinohi’. I still don’t know so much what it is about but when it came to working on my own album back in the UK I just found myself playing my own interpretation of ‘Tsukihohi’. This quickly became a complete re-interpretation with lyrics in English (With an English titele – ‘Your Guitar’) and a theme to the song that is deeply personal.

Go Forth Bright SCENIC - The Final track of Side B is the Cover version of Tsukinohi (retitled 'Your Guitar') And is the first cover version I have ever released.
Go Forth Bright SCENIC - The Final track of Side B is the Cover version of Tsukinohi (retitled 'Your Guitar') And is the first cover version I have ever released.

Truth be told lyrically it was a song I had been wanting to write for years. But I was never sure how to go about doing it and because of the personal nature of the subject matter I was never content that a melody could serve the nature of the song. But suddenly out of nowhere it was written.

20,000v Set List
20,000v Set List

At this show in Tokyo I was able to meet the author of the song for the first time since recording the cover and I was able to hand him a copy of the finished album which has been pressed to Double Gatefold Vinyl.

And what’s best is that we managed to perform the song together live.

Onstage with Mogura Ka Maigo at 20,000v

Playing my version next to his I realised how many times I had changed parts of the melody and structure without awareness. But for me personally it was a huge moment and something I will always be happy to think back on.

At the end of the night he gave me a hug and I felt that the experience had ment alot to him aswell. I’ve never had anyone cover any of my material but I know if would mean alot to me if it happened.

A great connection made with a wonderful artist 🙂

And finally after so much rambling please find the 2 songs linked below.

Click HERE for a live video of Mogura Ka Maigo performing his original composition ‘Tsukihoni’.

And click HERE for my cover version renamed ‘Your Guitar’ (Tsukinohi).

http://stuartoconnor.bandcamp.com/track/your-guitar-tsukinohi

0 New Music Video – Suburban Sway (Feat. Harlequin Knights)

  • April 23, 2013
  • by stuartoconnor
  • · News

The most recent live addition to my set at live shows is a re-working of the song ‘Suburban Sway’. Taken from the GO album. This has spruced up my set list at shows in New Zealand.

However on the flip side of the planet. A new music video has been created to the original recording by students studying at Oaklands College in Welwyn Garden City, England.

Filmed, Directed and Edited by Daisy Mathews, Zak Jarvis & Tony Mixides this video was created as a part of their Video and Media Coursework.

My thanks go to them for all the hard work and time they put into making this.

You can watch the video on You Tube by clicking HERE:

 

 

0 Return to CCO Bar (Without the Effects) 21/11/12 – Tokyo

  • April 21, 2013
  • by stuartoconnor
  • · On The Road

Every tour I do I try to make at least one show with out using my array of effect pedals. So for this show in Shimokitazawa I chose to use only my Guitar/voice and Harmonica.

However when I arrived I found there was one additional instrument on offer. One of my support acts for the night was Reina Kitada. A French/Japanese violinist and vocalist who was full of character and beauty in both her playing style and her vocals. The french influence clear in both.

Reina Kitada

So anyway I got going with my set by digging out old tune ‘Time & Places‘ before geting a little more modern with the material.

Unplugged CCO Bar Setlist
Unplugged CCO Bar Setlist

For the song Reality & Pretence Reina joined me on the violin. It was a pleasure as always to hear her doing her thing 🙂

You can check out a video of the performance recorded by a member of the audience here:

It was a true joy to discover after the show that member of the audience had seen me a few times before and for them it was truly refreshing and surprising for them to hear me without the effects.

This made the whole process seem far more rewarding.

🙂

0 Hamilton show tonight!!!!!

  • April 19, 2013
  • by stuartoconnor
  • · Uncategorized

Real last min show tonight in Hamilton, One of my final shows of the New Zealand tour playing at Biddy Mulligans.

Free entry. Music from 6pm 🙂

0 Yes Vote in the Scottish Referendum Could Take us a Step Closer to Nuclear Disarmament

  • April 16, 2013
  • by stuartoconnor
  • · News
A Yes Scotland Campaign Poster
A Yes Scotland Campaign Poster

Being an Englishman there’s always an element of feeling in some way hurt by the whispers of a Scottish departure from the UK.

As if I personally am being judged and dismissed by the Scottish people. Of course this is pure idiocy but I can’t deny my gut reaction to it was to feel opposed.

However on my New Zealand (a proud anti-Nuclear weapons country and current British dominion) tour I managed to spend a good while talking to a few different Scottish folks about the impending decision facing the people of Scotland and I found some compelling arguments for the yes vote.

It seems Scotland’s stance on Nuclear weapons falls in favour of disarmament and (inconveniently enough for Westminster) for 44 years, the U.K. has stored its nuclear weapons in western Scotland. It now could be faced with finding the Trident missiles in a foreign country should Scottish nationalists win their bid for independence.

With a vote for full sovereignty in the referendum set for Sept. 18, 2014. This could be a rare if not single opportunity to force the hand of the UK into either:

Removal & Relocation

Leasing the land from Scotland to keep the weaponry in place

Or full or partial disarmament.

There is also the  submarine base at Faslane – Scotland which was picked during the Cold War for its deep water and secure location. This would in theory be much easier to move but still hugely impractical for the UK Government.

In the end the Scottish people will have to decide how important this would be within their decision making process. But from having witnessed first hand the impact of nuclear power gone wrong in Japan with Fukushima during my 2011 tour of the country and having seen the holocaust like shock of Nuclear weaponry in full force when I visited the A-bomb museum in Hiroshima back in 2009 (A catalyst for me penning the following poem).

I can only be hopeful of this potential referendum shifting a repetition of these events on British or foreign soil further away from a reality.

———————————————————

Some links to articles relating:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/letters/yes-vote-in-the-referendum-would-take-us-a-step-closer-to-nuclear-disarmament.20750875

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-03-21/nuclear-weapons-hide-in-pandora-s-box-as-scots-seek-to-quit-u-dot-k-dot

 

0 Back in Rotorua this Weekend

  • April 7, 2013
  • by stuartoconnor
  • · News · On The Road

0 The Show Where I got Lost – 19/11/12 – Meets , Otsuka, Tokyo,

  • April 5, 2013
  • by stuartoconnor
  • · On The Road

So whenever I am headed to a venue I try my best to keep at least semi clued up on exactly where the hell it is I am going. I’m still not very up to date with technology so without a smart phone I tend to look up where a venue is before I set off and then navigate my way to the place from memory.

Fortunately this time around I remembered exactly where I was going from the map. Except I had missed the bit that told me which exit I left from the station.

So heading out from the station I believe I’m on perfect course for the venue only to discover it’s not where I thought it was. And it’s not on a later road either. And so the wandering begins 🙂

Onwards round random streets lugging a guitar and wheeling about a big travel case filled with effects pedals.

Meets Setlist
Meets Setlist

Eventually I stumbled across another live music venue who pointed me in the right direction. Eventually I managed to get a bit of a soundcheck in and play a gig with many other wonderful bands also in attendance on the bill.

My show was a response to the act who played before me. A guy who worked the looping wonderfully and so left me wondering what I could offer in the way of variation. I decided to focus on the folky stuff with harmonica and to only call upon the looping for ‘Alaskan Sky’ and ‘Default Escape’ (2 new tunes).

My thanks to Meets for their patience with me. I’ll try not to get sooooo bloody lost next time. But that’s not a promise.

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