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After spending the last week or so kicking jet lag and reacquainting ourselves with North American food, schedules, and toilets, it's now time for a quick run down of The Real Deal’s first Asia tour!
Let’s begin with Japan…sweet, clean, drink-anywhere-you-want-anytime-you-want Japan.
We spent our time touring the small club circuit – much different than playing festivals or bigger indoor shows as most bands do when they travel to Japan. It’s really interesting to note the differences between North America and Japan on this front. For one, the local bands pay to play, always! Yes, that does sound like it's full of shit and no band in their right mind would put up with that crap in North America, but let’s go over the pros and cons. Cons, you have to pay to play. Pros, this money goes towards pimping out the venues with the best sound systems and lighting. Which in turn, makes the bands sound and look better. Which consequently, has more people come out to the shows. Different way of doing things for sure...but it works for them so power to it! Another interesting difference, tickets for our shows were going for anywhere between the equivalent of $15-$30…I know right?
The after parties are something to write home about too! They are a must after every show, which is just fine with The Real Deal! All the bands, promoters, venue staff and any show goer who wants to stick around, usually pile in to an Isakaya (Japanese style bar/restaurant) for drinks and tons of food. What usually happens here is you’ll pay a flat fee, usually around $20, and that will grant you with all-you-can-drink for a predetermined amount of time (usually 90-120 mins). Needless to say, as Canadians, we came well in to our money every night, often out drinking everyone combined! It didn’t seem customary to drink your face off, but hey, try and take the canuck out of the Canadian;)
The Shows:
We were stunned when we realized people were actually coming to the shows to see us. A lot of them even knowing the words (despite not being able to speak any English in conversation…go figure!). This was a first for our band - going somewhere for the first time, and having this overwhelming response to our music . We were head-over-heels impressed.
So much respect goes out to the venues for their professionalism, the bands for their dedication, and the show goers for their unbelievable support and admiration. Last but not least, we’d like to extend all our thanks to Noji @ Fast Circle Records and Misled Balds (best technical Japanese punk band out there!) without whom this tour would have never happened.
To all our new extended family and friends, we can’t wait for our next Japanese tour!!
Then it was off to China. The Japanese said we would die in China. The Japanese were wrong! …although it was a close call a couple times…
On our first night in Beijing, we met German (not to be confused with Nazi, ha!) punk band No Opinion -great dudes and awesome band! They had just finished their tour on the same circuit we were about to travel and had some interesting stories about the country that had us shaking in our skate shoes.
We kicked off the tour the next night at Mao live house in Beijing and then started our travels south. There’s a lot to say about the Chinese punk scene, which is definitely developing. The culture behind club shows hasn’t exactly transcended to all promoters yet. Often times, we were the only band on the bill, playing one 45 minute set to people who paid the equivalent of $5 a ticket. That may not seem so expensive, BUT let me point out that the average wage in China is $150 a month. If I was spending 1/30 of my monthly income, I’d like to see more than 45 minutes of The Real Deal!
People don’t stick around either after the shows which takes some getting used to. Our last show in Chengdu was amazing. The place was small and packed, everyone was rocking and dancing and having tons of fun. If I was a passerby walking outside the venue during our last song, I would think to myself “wow this place is the most rocking bar in all of China”. That same passerby would come by 10 minutes later, and would walk pass the twilight zone. The venues clear quicker than anything I’ve ever seen. And no, not just because they want to get away from The Real Deal as quickly as possible(…har’dy har’ har’ asshole!) There’s just no after show drinking/party culture to speak of. China is to-the-point it seems. “Why stick around after the show? I’m here to see a show, and the show is done. So im out of here”.
I guess that kind of makes sense!
No matter, with $0.30 beers, we made our own after-show fun!
Despite excruciating long trips between shows, a ridiculous amount of life threatening cab drives and unbearable public washrooms, we wouldn’t change a thing about this tour! The Real Deal did China! And that’s all there is to it! Oh also, interesting note here...apparently we are the first Canadian punk band to tour (i.e. play more than 1 show) in China!
Huge thanks to everyone who rocked at our shows and to our tour manager Paul Wuang @ Hot Pot Music for having us in his country and for making us feel as much at home as possible in a land where it’s virtually impossible to feel such feelings (unless of course, you’re from China!). Paul if you read this, YOU’RE STUPID!
Well that pretty much wraps it up for us in 2009. We put out our 3rd LP “FUN” (if you don’t have a copy yet, what the hell are you waiting for?) we had some amazing tours, we hit our 300th show... just a great year all around! We’re taking some time off now until the New Year to hang out in Montreal and enjoy the Holiday season! We have some U.S. tour plans in the making for early 2010 so look out for that!
To everyone who made this year special, we thank you so much!! Let the FUN continue!!
-The Real Deal