At the end of August this year, the band undertook our first ever live dates outside of Japan, with a mini UK tour. We played
The Prince Albert in Brighton and
The Good Ship in Kilburn, London.
Above is a short film made by
members of the
Peace Not War collective, featuring interviews with the band plus footage from the London show. The film is in Japanese and English, and appears without subtitles.
Cheryo, Chisato and Jun arrived from Tokyo on the Monday and played impromptu shows in Hyde Park and on the banks of the Thames while they were there. On the Thursday morning, the band all met up at Brighton station, for the first time since January.
They had been practising hard back in Tokyo and the set had evolved a little to include more of a Japanese twist on some of the material, with a little taiko drumming here and elements of traditional Okinawan folk there, all mixed in with our rock 'n' roll.
The Prince Albert's live space is a cosy, sweaty room above the main pub and right near the station.
Viper Suzas hit the stage first, a loose, hard rocking two-piece used to turning up the noise and bantering with their home crowd.
Shelf Life followed. Brighton audiences, overfed on a dearth of live music in the city, can be notoriously tough to please at the best of times, meaning we had to work extra hard. We threw all we could at Brighton and won the crowd over pretty swiftly.
As usual, the crowd and members of the other acts were invited to join us on the stage for the chorus of 'Endgame'. This proved to be quite a hit and we filled the stage (The Albert having a fairly small one).
The Hornblower Brothers went on next and topped the bill. A lighter, almost whimsical, folky sound, with a rich sense of humour running through their songs, they were a big hit with the crowd - many of whom had come to see them anyway.
Inspired by 'Endgame', at the end of their set they also invited the audience to join them. Brighton ended up as a very successful start to the tour.
The next day (the second and final date) was London. Before we could make it up to Kilburn, there was only one place a band forged in a bar called
Rubber Soul could go to grab that obligatory souvenir photo. Meeting up at a Kensington tube station, we all trooped off to St. John's Wood.
Abbey Road being Abbey Road, the place was absolutely packed with people from all over the world trying to do the same thing as us. A simple photo of four guys walking across a road in North London should be pretty straightforward. In the end, it must have taken us an hour and a half to finally capture the shot we wanted!
At The Good Ship,
Kyoko Rathmell opened the night with a solo acoustic set of Smiths-inspired numbers. Our inclusion on the bill seemed to have triggered off a Japanese flavour for much of the bill, she having Japanese roots.
With two of the original acts having pulled out, I chipped in with some help on filling the bill back up again.
Vinyl Gypsy is an artist from New York that I'd gotten to know pretty well through the internet, from the work done with Peace Not War Japan.
With a live drummer and herself on laptop and vocals, the set kicked off with ambient atmospherics and some rich, promising lines through the mic. Unfortunately, some inexplicable bug in the system caused her loops to cut out and Mac to die. I look forward to another chance to hear her sounds at some point in the future.
I'd not had as much chance to get my chops in shape in time for the shows. The day before in Brighton, we'd rehearsed for four hours and then played live (followed up just a little partying afterwards). I woke up the day of the London gig and had almost no voice to speak with, let alone sing with.
With little choice, I took to the stage barely able to make a sound - something I'd never had to do before. We kicked off with the first song, a lively rocker at the best of times, and I struggled. On top of that, the space was bigger and audience more spread out than the previous night, so the whole thing could have died quite easily.
We threw as much energy into the performance as we could, no matter whether I could be heard or not. Despite the circumstances, we just about managed to pull it off and even got some people dancing down the front.
When it came to 'Endgame' however, it was much harder than in Brighton to get people on the stage with us. A few people did venture on though and it seemed like we managed to get away with it.
On next,
The Electric Red Drive were a Japanese three-piece based in London and with a good rock sound.
Joan & The Shindig Addicts topped the bill. They sounded great and seemed to bring the house to its feet.
Although we don't know where or when Shelf Life are likely to play live again next, it'll undoubtedly be a special event.
There'll be a video report of the UK tour to follow along with plenty of other live material going online throughout next year.
Dom
Brighton 8/10
London 6/10