0 17/11/12 – Bar Gari Gari, Ikenoue, Tokyo

Photo Taken by Kyoko Obayashi

I have been playing shows at Gari Gari now for a couple of years. Run by Sorcha and her husband it’s a pleasure to be asked back to perform each time I return to Japan.

Sorcha Chisholm

Sorcha was first to play on this evening and she displayed her normal sense of relaxed brilliance as her strong voice and easy going stage presence got us all into the feel of the occasion.

The Watanabes - L to R - Andrew Tyrone Rodgers, Ayumi Sato, Duncan Walsh

Next up were the Watanabes. I had already mentioned them from a previous blog as this was my 2nd of 3 shows with them. Down to a 3 piece due to a member off sick they still sounded tight and with impressive harmonies for the show.

Photo Taken by Kyoko Obayashi

My show started with 2 tunes from the ‘Forth’ Album. ‘Default: Escape‘ and ‘Resonate‘.

Photo Taken by Kyoko Obayashi

There was also some chime looping for ‘Map of Shibuya‘

Photo Taken by Kyoko Obayashi

The show was immense fun…

Photo Taken by Kyoko Obayashi

…And I felt really relaxed telling stories and rambling between songs.

Photo Taken by Kyoko Obayashi

Guitar percussion was looped…..

Photo Taken by Kyoko Obayashi

…Effect pedals were tweeked.

Onstage with Dom Graham - Photo Taken by Kyoko Obayashi

And I was joined by a very special guest. 🙂

Dom Graham is a versatile and very respected guitarist who I have crossed paths with many times whilst playing shows in and around the London area.

He is also one of those great hard working musicians who is happy to tour far and wide to push his music out there and to keep busy with his missions.

He came to Japan to check it out for the first time and it was a pleasure to have him involved in the performance of 2 songs – ‘Time and Places’ & ‘You Know The Score‘

Thanking Dom Graham with an English handshake and a Japanese Bow - Photo Taken by Kyoko Obayashi

All in all another great night on the road. Awesome to see Dom again and to hear Sorcha and the Watanabe’s doing their thing also.

It’s not the life of a rock star but a modest existence of variety and adventure.

And of course another show documented in the diary 🙂

Bar Gari Gari Set List

0 16/11/12 – Cafe Mignon, Honancho, Tokyo

It’s important to keep a positive mindset!  It’s important to keep a positive mindset!  It’s important to keep a positive mindset!  It’s important to keep a positive mindset!  It’s important to keep a positive mindset!  It’s important to keep a positive mindset!  It’s important to keep a positive mindset!  It’s important to keep a positive mindset!………Even if there are only 6 people in your audience.

This is often the challenge with touring. Sometimes you get a big crowd and sometimes it’s tough to be able to justify calling it a crowd at all.

But here’s the positive bit. 1. The place was a small/pokey Tokyo Cafe and so 6 people made it look kinda half full. 2. I sold 6 CD’s. Not bad!! CD per person on average. That’s enough to cover my sleep for the night travel to the show and food for the day. Plus (And this is the main thing), I REALLY ENJOYED PLAYING!!

Cafe Mignon Set List

I was super relaxed and played a bunch of songs at this show that were only this once on the whole Japan tour.

‘Designed To Stop’, ‘Streetlight Song’, ‘When You Go Home’ & ‘Cage is Rattling’ made their single live appearance this night in the tour.

0 15/11/12 – What the Dickens, Ebisu, Tokyo

Chaos! This place is always chaos. Drunken Gaijin stumbling around the dimly lit bar bumping into folks and eye balling the beautiful Japanese girls who are (to be fair) often there looking to meet Western guys. But none the less the atmosphere can at times feel like you’re blending with the low brow side of human kind. This was emphasised by the arrival of a good friend from the UK who had yet to witness this enviroment as it was only his 3rd day in Nippon. Dom Graham (an experienced and accomplished guitarist in his own right) looked on in partial shock at the debauchery that lay in front of him as he entered the venue. “There are too many dickheads in this place for comfort” he uttered to me.

None the less this was a gig and I am here to play it. The night was organised for charity to help feeding starving homeless kids from Indonesia I believe. But apart from that it was tough to find the good a performer could be doing as playing to the chaos was always gonna be a challenge.

A highlight to the evening was meeting up with Duncan and Andrew of the Watanabes who are both great guys. I also owe Duncan a big thanks for the help and support he has shown me over this tour. This night was the first of 3 shows with them 🙂

The venue also has a good PA system but no-one is manning it so I’m left to work the desk which is unfamiliar. It does my head in when a venue has events with heaps of bands but not a single soul is there to help the musicians with sound of logistics. I was lucky to have some of the other performers come to my aid when trying to work the rig out and also I once again had help from good friends Sou and Jerry (Jerry has been mentioned I a previous blog recently).

What the Dickens Set List

The set was short at only 4 songs and generally it was synth laden psychedelic prog folk until final tune ‘Make a Little Silence’, which sent in a bit more of a Bossa Nova route.

I did also have a wonderful moment when member of the audience joined in with ‘Map of Shibuya’. Even if they are folks I consider to be friends it’s important to remember these folks only know me from touring and so it’s fair to say they could be fans also.

Tough one :I

But none the less another night survived in this big eastern smoke.

0 13/11/12 – Club Goodman, Tokyo, Japan

A second show at the same venue a week later and this time the atmosphere is totally different.

The audience seem more lively instead of the subdued feeling the previous week and there is a far larger crowd.

Club Goodman Set List

I decided to do a kinda sandwich set of Quiet, Medium, Loud, Medium, Quiet.

This kicked off with the tune ‘Natural Disasters’. An old tune not dusted down for many years until it was requested at one of my final UK shows in Watford. I was a little rusty but muddled through and felt to open with it would be a bit of a personal curve ball. Added to which with newest number to the set ‘Alaskan Sky’ linked after.

This show was also the only time I played on this tour with the wonderful Goga.

Gogatech

A true looping genius and a good friend who has toured Japan and the UK with me in the past 🙂

I also got to catch one of his many other projects in a band called Owllights.

A sonically ridiculous band with triple electric guitar goodness!!!!!(five)

Also great to catch up with ‘Atelieddy’. A great Japanese duo of female fronted rock. (this now makes me beg the question of whether or not there is a front person in a band with only 2 members – but anyway)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Atelieddy/108834509205978

http://gogatech.owllights.com/

The rest of the gig was fine – Shifted some vinyl and had one of those meals where various forms of snacks were being brought on little plates to your table. There were heaps of plates but also heaps of people. Then the race was to politely shuffle your chopsticks in the direction of your chosen dish whilst keeping a bowing ratio of every 2.6 seconds. That  seemed to work anyway.

0 The Show with Guests – 8/11/12 – Anga, Chiba, Japan

Returning to Anga was a true joy. Chisuzu and Naoshi always put on a great night and this was no different.

A part of what is always so special about the events they put on is the sense of community they have amongst the musicians on the scene. This has resulted in me sharing a stage with many awesome musicians and this evening was no different.

First to join me was Shinya Asakura on the Sitar. I have known Shinya since touring in New Zealand back in 2007 when we met at a show in Auckland. Then I bumped into him randomly in Chiba in 2010.

We played 3 tunes together one of which was an improvisation along with ‘A Watchful Eye’ and ‘Modern Life’. He tuned his Sitar to D so we were a little restricted on key in theory.

Shinya Asakura

Shinya finding some time out of his crazy schedule was an honor for me and to have him along.

I then played a single song solo called ‘Alaskan Sky’ which made it’s live Debut only a couple of nights before.

And next up was my second guest Steve Marcotte. Steve had joined me once before onstage in Toppers back in 2011. This time we played a new selection of songs and I had a alot of fun looping and connecting Varit / Map of Shibuya / Time & Places together to fuse out 20 odd mins of music.

Steve Marcotte

Steve worked in some of his own vibe wonderfully and didn’t stick strictly to what was on the record. I was a joy to hear his take on things.

Anga Set List

Following this night I had 4 days with which to be a tourist before things got mega crazy.

0 Live Audience Recording From Japan with Reina Kitada

Onstage with Reina Kitada - Photo Taken by Naomi Hirata

Whilst on tour in Japan I played a nice show in CCO bar in Tokyo.

Reina Kitada

I had the fortune of sharing the bill with Reina Kitada and her playing was so infectious and free that it encouraged me in invite her to join me for a song called Reality and Pretence.

This moment was captured by a member of the audience and surfaced recently on You Tube.

Click here to see it:

0 The Weird Set Gig – Club Goodman, Akihabara, Tokyo 7/11/12

The Awesome Live Space that is Club Goodman

Sometimes you just know a show is going to be less normal. And for whatever reason you go with it with no sense of disappointment or dissuasion. On this particular night I arrived at the venue to find myself sandwiched onto a billing with generally Avant Guarde and experimental musicians as well as a DJ.

So what with priding myself for a readyness to adapt to suit a vibe of an evening I looked into how and what to play songwise. Last time I was confronted with this situation in Kyoto a year prior; I decided to play a 30 min version of just one song called ‘Note That Says’. Loops twists and turns including guest musicians ensued.

This time however I decided to step outside my normal selection as my setlist molded into a very different collection of songs.

Club Goodman Setlist

The song Because closes my Debut album from 2006 and had not been played live for over a year yet here it was opening the night. Following that was 5 mins of pure improv looping which segwayed into new tune ‘She Is Your Microscope‘ and this then ended with a series of glich noises which became another improv piece but this time with the spoken word lyrics of ‘Revisited’. Eventually this meandered it’s way into another new tune ‘Alaskan Sky’.

Now I know this may seem like a very boring description of tunes but you must understand that for me to even attempt one of these tunes in a set would be a little bit of a personal revelation given that at this time I was a long way from knowing any of the songs to perform comfortably due to a lack of rehearsal or simply due to not touching upon them for so long. However on this given night I decided to play nothing but these kind of tunes and leave out any comfort numbers.

One tune had not been played for at least a year; another only once or twice before; another was pure improv; another was basically a poem over noise (an English poem to a Japanese audience may I add); and finally a song which had never been performed live.

Crazy for me anyway.

Next stop – Chiba!

0 Japan Tour Cont… CCO Bar, Shimokitazawa, Tokyo 6/11/12

When on the Plane flying between Rome and Tokyo I was fortunate enough to be seated next to another musician. She goes by the name Cecilia Chailly and it a very well known and respected Harpist in Italy. Classically but also for taking the instrument forward into more modern music.

Cecilia Chailly

She was visiting Japan as a part of her touring and was performing in the Saitama Arena (where Radiohead played) as a part of the weekends performance.

Onstage in CCO Bar - Photo taken by Cecilia Chailly

I was lucky enough to get the chance to meet her and for her to make it to my performance was an honour. We swapped CD’s and I get the chance to talk to her about her music and how she is attempting to progress with her approach.

Onstage in CCO Bar - Photo taken by Cecilia Chailly

I also got the chance to hang out and have Sushi with a good friend Greg. We had been for a while but only through a mutual connection. This tour was a real good chance to make a good connection. This night was the first of many times hanging out with him. He has worked as a musician in Japan for many years as a member of the Blue man Group. However he has now returned to Tokyo to learn Japanese and find himself a chance to settle and live in Japan.

Onstage in CCO Bar - Photo taken by Cecilia Chailly

My set list for the show was all new material from the ‘Go Forth Bright Scenic’ Project. With the exception of ‘Watching Paint’ & ‘Headlights‘. Also the song ‘She Is Your Microscope’ made a rare appearance. It’s a a song I’m still nervous about playing live.

CCO Bar Set List

0 4 New Shows Added to New Zealand North Island Tour

Additional shows have been added to an already busy tour schedule.

Extra shows will be played in Auckland, Coromandel, and 2 in Hawkes Bay.

Head over to the shows page now to see the full itinerary.

And incase I don’t blog before hand. Have a great crimbo!!!!!

🙂

0 2nd Japan Show 4/11/12 – Mona Records, Shimokitazawa, Tokyo

Jerry Mera has been a true pillar of support through out my 5 previous tours of Japan. I met him on one crazy night when I became friends with a whole bunch of musicians on only my second night in Tokyo back in 2009. We went to what is now an infamous jam night in Shibuya at a seedy joint called the Ruby Room.

Jerry frequented there weekly and would get up and jam with many of the musicians. I was lucky enough to be one of those and we became friends that night.

Jerry Mera Rock God of Tokyo!

He’s one of those musicians that will stand by and support and help anyone he can who is putting themselves out there in that way. A true gent and a joy to know.

Tonight was a night Jerry had booked for me. Much needed help for a much confusing tour.

Onstage at Mona Records - Photo taken by Hiromi Arayama

The evening was rammed and the audience were a wash of familiar faces and new folks. The stage was set everything was right. Now all I had to do was not play shit.

Mona Records Set List

My set was again mainly new stuff but with a couple of oldies thrown in for good measure. ‘As Stubborn as a Sandfly‘ went down a treat with its beefy synth line looped with chimes. ‘You Know the Score‘ Was basically there for Jerry as I knew it was one of his personal faves.

The show was such a wash of positivity. I came off stage buzzing and had the pleasure of chilling to watch the many other wonderful bands including the Gypsy Singer with her band and Jerry Himself with Guest musicians Chaco and Harou Kubota who is a great Session guitarist who has played with Ryuichi Sakamoto. They put on an incredible show with literally no rehearsal.

Amazing!!!!

From that point o it was a chance to meet the locals and sell some Vinyl 🙂