Tour report by Marc, Marko and (through the eyes of) Alex
In november of 2005 Vitamin X went on a 4 week tour of SE Asia which included Japan, Australia, Singapore, The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. So this is the story of what happened on that tour, of course we´ve left out irrelevant, uninteresting stuff like trashing hotel rooms, wild orgies, drunken madness, etc...
Having toured everywhere in Europe, the US, Japan and Brazil we started asking ourselves where else in the world havent we played yet? where do we go from here? ´. We decided it was time to paraphrase a classic and to turn things up to 11. For fun we´d tell people we wanted to tour Micronesia but not long after we actually started getting emails from people offering us contacts in Micronesia, again proving that hardcore punk is all around. We ended up doing a tour of Japan, Australia, Singapore, The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia (Micronesia didn´t fit in our schedule so that´ll have to happen next time). This tour had to be done in a period of around 4 weeks, because after having already played around 50 shows that year, it was absolutely unthinkable for our quantum-physics-scientist aka unibrow bassplayer Alex to get any more free days. Not to mention the problems we faced with our drummer (but more about this later).
Our friends in Japan, Bosu (boss), Yoshida-San and Naoki were happy to organize another tour for us. They warned us that the Japanese scene was in a decline since our last visit (no causal effect here I hope), but still thought we´d do ok considering our 1st tour was such a success. Organizing a Japanese tour takes a much longer period of preparation then anywhere else in the world. In Japan everything works much stricter, or should I say more professional; venues have to be booked and paid months in advance, famous Japcore bands need to be added to the line-up, the whole shabang needs to be very well promoted. These things are extremely important otherwise you´ll be playing in front of 6 people (happened before to some foreign bands) and your Japan tour will miserably fail.
We heard some good stories about Australia (Rambo MRR tour report), but almost no foreign bands tour this country so we didnt really know what to expect. Emily, who organized the Rambo tour, was not in the country. Some guys from the Sydney band Anarchoi mailed us that they would be stoked to help us out. We didnt want to play only weekends like Rambo did. Because of the time limit We needed to squeeze in as much shows in our stay as possible, so we could cover our costs and visit many places.
For years we have had a lot of contacts in SE Asia and several of our recordings were released on local labels (mainly on cassettes) in Indonesia and Malaysia. When we informed everybody about this tour total madness broke out; zillions of people started writing us, and everybody had some proposal or wanted us to play in their own little city, chalet or island. We chose the persons who in our opinion were the most serious and organized, and the lucky winners were: Ari and Ega in Jakarta, Indonesia; Bob and Hisham in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Butch in Manila, Philippines and our all time favorite Shaiful in Singapore. For extra promotion and financial help for the tour we decided to let Malaysian, Philippine and Singapore labels put out some sort of best of VX CD. That felt a little awkward, because you mostly see these CDs for bands that have been dead a while. Maybe we are dead and roam this world as zombies...
Some of the SE Asian organizers thought our schedule was too tight. We had told them that after our Japanese and Australian leg of the tour we wanted to play 4 shows, in 4 countries (3 of them being an island), in 4 days, which also automatically meant 4 flights. This is logistically and realistically impossible, you guys are crazy, you need to change the schedule they replied. But we kindly told our Asian hosts it was our way or the highway...
Mauricio Alves Fernandez aka baterista brasileiro Boka of legendary Brazilian punks Ratos de Porao and I Shot Cyrus, ended up drumming on this tour. Our drummer Wim couldn't come because of commitments and work. Boka had mentioned during our Brazilian 2003 tour (which he organized), that if we ever needed a drummer for a Japanese tour, he´d be into it. So we asked him, and it turned out it that he was already planning to tour Europe with I Shot Cyrus together with Discarga, a tour that would end 1 week before our first Japanese show. We agreed to combine those two tours with some free days in between to practice the songs with him. In the end he was on the road for ten weeks straight, cause he is one hardcore motherfucker. We also managed to play one show in Germany with Boka, avoiding having to play our first show with him in front of a savage Japanese audience.
One month before the tour we recorded a new EP called ´Rip It Out´ to bring with us on tour. The Japanese tour of 2003 turned out to be amazing, the shows were great and we managed to sell around 300 t-shirts and a shitload of other merch in about 12 shows. So we decided to bring even more merch on this tour. This is where our story starts, ahead of us were 21 shows in 25 days, 11 flights, accompanied by 400 t-shirts, 70 sweaters, 600 buttons, 800 stickers, 300 patches, 150 CD´s, 210 vinyls, and 4 toothbrushes.
Wed November 2, Amsterdam - London - Tokyo
The floor of the check-in hall of Schiphol Amsterdam Airport is covered with T-shirts and other kinds of merch. We´re still busy dividing and hiding t-shirts, everybody´s putting on 2 sweaters, and Marko, being the singer and the only person without an instrument, fills his bomberjacket with CDs, patches and buttons.
Overseas DIY touring means you somehow have to get past customs without problems. Not being Metallica means we don´t have the time nor money to apply for working permits and all other kinds of official forms/papers. But this does mean that if they find out youre a touring band, playing shows and selling merch, youll be sent straight back, which actually happened to a lot of bands in the past. So in theory we should only bring as little as possible: 1 guitar, 1 bass, 1 snare and almost no personal stuff and almost no merch. Felix Havoc had already sent our new EP, and most of our other releases, for us to pick up in Tokyo. But sending 400 t-shirts and the other merch to Japan would cost us too much so we decided to bring them ourselves.
The days before the tour were stressful, and consisted of practising with our fill-in drummer Boka, finishing ironing on patches, preparing buttons, and dividing merch. Marko told me to turn my share of VX-shirts inside out, so the customs wont notice if they look inside my bag. Later I turned out to be the only moron to turn all my shirts inside-out, while the rest of the band laughs at my expense. Each person is allowed to check-in 25 kilos but my share of VX merch is already 27 kilos and I havent even put in any socks or undies, let alone my bass. We end up having around 50 kilos each so we put as much heavy stuff into our handluggage, which they do not always check for weight. Marko even has 32 kilos in his handluggage. Then smoothtalker aka guitarist Marc, infamous for his charm, deals with the luggage girls and somehow we get through the check-in without paying any extra.
Day 1, Tokyo, Japan @ Wall: Bow and bang your head
After a 16 hour flight we pass Japanese customs easily but a Japanese official starts bowing and tells honorable visitor Marc that his bag is still in London, and will be delivered in 2 days. This is an ´intolerable´ situation and they give him 80 $. Marko also wants to make some easy money so he tells the poor guy his bag is damaged (which is actually true, one of the wheels broke because of the insane amount of merch he was carrying) and they immediately hand him 50 bucks. We just entered the country and already weve started making money! Way to go!
We are picked up by the tour organiser Yoshida and our host David, at whose house we will stay most of our time in Japan. Davids a French-Canadian and unlike most foreign people in Japan hes not an English teacher. He also sings in Japcore band Everybodys Enemy. People like David who know Japanese culture and language are a necessity for stupid bums like us; without him wed probably still be wandering around somewhere in Japan trying to find our way back home (streets have no names in Japan, and we still don´t understand how people find their way). Or even worse, we´d be in jail for having unintentionally offended or insulted somebody.
It is barely noon but we drive straight to club Wall, situated in the Hatsudai part of Tokyo, where they are waiting for us to soundcheck. In Japan everybody expects the bands to show up around 2 pm for soundcheck. Being used to either not soundchecking, or soundchecking in the evening just before the show, this is pretty weird for us. But this is how things are done in Japan, and you do what youre told because you really dont want to offend anybody, especially not in Japan, right? To show respect you bow. So for fun we bow on the street to the people passing by, and guess what...everybody bows back. That must be the reason why the Japanese are such good headbangers, I mean they practice those muscles from birth! After the soundcheck we go to Davids place, spend another 2-3 hours reorganising merchandise and seeing our new RIP IT OUT 7s for the first time because Felix Havoc sent them straight to Japan after pressing them.
Wall is packed with people this evening and its great meeting a lot of our friends from 2 years ago. In Japan you always play with great, mindblowing bands, known or unknown, new or old, it doesnt matter: they all kick ass, know how to play their instruments and have a stage presence to bow to. Japanese bands are hard acts to follow; you have to be even better, meaner, faster and funnier.
Todays line up features Yakara, the new band from Yoshida. Great, fast Jap-core with some US 80s hardcore influences and amazing solos from Yoshida himself. Next two bands are No All and Assfort, both bands with a long history in the scene. Halfway through Assforts set me and Boka go backstage to run through the setlist one more time, while watching Assfort over a TV connected to a camera. When we get on stage Im afraid we are going to suck because of the jetlag, but when we see the crowd the adrenalin starts pumping and all hell breaks lose! Everybody´s singing along, stage diving, circle pitting! A great way to start this tour!
Day 2, Sendai @ Birdland: Chopstick drumming
After those damn busy pre-tour sleepless days of stress and jetlag, David has a hard time waking us. We drive to Sendai, a few hours from Tokyo, where we arrive late in the afternoon. Boka tries to eat with chopsticks for the first time, his drumming will never be the same again. This is also probably why Japanese bands have such good drummers, these kids work the sticks since the age of 3! During the drive we learn some essential Japanese words; the most important ones being sumimasen (sorry/excuse me), ogenki desu ka (how are you), konnichiwa (hello), arigatoo (thank you), damare chibi (shut your mouth little one), and baka! (dick).
Sendai is the home of Total Fury and what a great show these cats play. Not only Total Fury is amazing, but all 5 bands this evening are total blasts of great and tight hardcore; Back Stab with the ex-guitarist of Total Fury who fucking rocks, Attempt from Osaka, The Stride from Morioka, locals Make Mention Of Sign Im really starting to worry that the people are going to be to tired for our setbut I am so fucking wrong...this show is wild as fuck with kids doing back flips, pile-ons, etc. Its a miracle no necks were broken.
Selling your merch in Japan is an experience in itself. There are certain rules which you have to follow. For example, you can´t price your t-shirts too cheap because if you do, you won´t sell any (as opposed to selling merch in Holland, the cheaper it is, the more you sell). Also important is that you invite people to buy your stuff. Tonight were sleeping at the place of another American english teacher.
Day 3, Yokosuka @ Pumpkin: Fried grasshoppers, pickled horseradish roots and drunk sailors
Our usual plan of waking up early, so we can go see some big Buddha statue doesnt work out. We wake up too late, argue for another hour whether or not we have time to see this big Buddha, David who is in charge finally says NO and we get into the van to drive to Yokosuka.
Normally you don´t see so many Western people on the streets of Japan but Yokosuka is a different story. There is a big US marine base and US cops in US army trucks are slowly driving through the streets searching for drunk sailors. All the clubs have US bouncers and there is US food everywhere. Now we are totally culture-shocked.
You can buy anything you want in Japan except for one thing; its easier to find an original Gauze LP than vegetarian food. Probably mainly because we dont understand the language and are not able to read the symbols on the food, which are all in Japanese. But also, they seem to put fish ingredients in almost everything, sometimes even in plain rice. So as a vegetarian you basically survive with raw tofu, plain rice and soy sauce and if youre lucky youll find an Indian restaurant. There are also many types of food which I have never seen anywhere else. Like fried grasshoppers, pickled horseradish roots and even flowers. Seeing all this western US food around, Marko and me decide to get some burritos. Im not sure what kind of fish they put in the beans for us, but it sure as hell is swimming really fast through my bowels, and comes out just before we hit the stage. The show is lots of fun with once again some amazing bands like Scum Banditz.
Day 4, Kumagaya @ Budoukan2: Live at Budokan!
When Marc hears were playing at a place called Budokan he goes bananas. According to him there are a shitload of 70´s bands (Cheap Trick, Ozzy, etc) that have live albums called ´Live at Budokan´. Probably that´s some other Budokan but still we ask the soundman (who turns out to be the guitarist of GISM) to record the show. Most venues in Japan have recording equipment installed and often bands get an audio recording, and sometimes even a video recording.
Before the show we spend at least an hour walking around trying to find a place to eat. But we are in Twilight Zone and there are only massage parlors around. Although my neck is giving me trouble after the last shows, I chicken out on the massage parlor which has a waitress theme.
The line up this time is grind band Little Bastards, local youth crew heroes Count Of Strength, and melodic punks Sobut. Despite some technical problems, the show tonight is pretty good. After the show we sign some autographs and Marc even has to sign a guitar of one of the opening bands.
This show has an unpleasant surprise for us. Just as we are about to leave we walk over to the organizer to get the money. However there is no money. It turns out that after having to switch this show with the Sendai show, the organizer had to pay rent for 2 clubs. So all the money from the door went to paying two clubs and we couldnt do much about it. This spoils our state of mind for a couple of days, as we go through all the doom scenarios for the rest of the tour. Fortunately things even out.
Day 5, Koiwa @ eM Seven: Businessmen going crazy
Audiences in Japan can be very funny. The everyday life of the Japanese seems to be very controlled, self disciplined, calm and sober. But during a hardcore show they burst out of their cocoon and go totally berserk. It seems as if all the rage and anger comes out. Some kids come to the shows straight from work. Even businessmen who by day rule their companies attend shows. So today we get 2 guys looking like businessmen fully dressed in suits and carrying fancy suitcases. 2 years ago one of these businessmen even totally undressed himself and jumped naked from the stage.
Em Seven, situated in the eastern part of Tokyo called Koiwa, is totally packed. There is no place to move at all, and dealing with merch is very difficult. People are constantly pushing from all sides, things are falling from the table, and for David and Marko (who are taking care of merch that night) it feels like being on a battlefield with the enemy striking all the time. They manage to sell an incredible amount of t-shirts and our spirits are lifted after the no-payment fiasco.
The line up is great, containing some really cool local bands like Deep Slauter, Chakkamen, Spy Master (sounding like Bostons Jerrys Kids), Make No Sense and This Age. Every band is really tight and energetic and the crowd eats it up. Before its our turn, David comes in backstage to tell us that the Glen E. Friedman of Japan has just come in and told David he has the assignment to shoot us for some big magazine. Being a big fan of Glens photography, the mention of his name makes me nervous. When we hit the stage its total madness, stage diving all over the place, singalongs, circle pits and we even manage to make a ´wall of death´ at one song.
Day 6, Day off: Consume or be consumed!
What do you do on a free day (or should I say, every free moment?) in Japan? Consume! Japan turns everybody into a consumption monster. You can buy anything you want, anything you need and everything you dont need. Everywhere you look there´s shops full of electronics, old vinyl records, clothes, toys and what not. And to make things worse, the custom is that on the streets, and in all the stores the staff are asking you to buy stuff (well, actually it´s a cross between ordering you and begging). In high-pitched voices, you get the irashaima se, irashaima se, won´t you please buy something in Japanese every five seconds in your ear. In all stores they bow and run to get you your product. To Boka this all seems pretty weird, in Brasil nobody runs nor bows he says. Besides being able to reproduce irashaima se for the rest of our life, we do purchase a lot today. Marc buys a shitload of obscure 70´s rock records (too many to carry so he has to ship them back to Amsterdam), I go out and find original vintage 80´s shoes and 2nd secondhand clothes, Marko looks and finds Gauze and Lip Cream for reasonable prices and Boka buys records and a kimono for his wife. We also visit the tallest building of Tokyo, Goverment building No.1 where we can even spot Mt. Fuji.
Around midnight we leave for Hiroshima, accompanied by Ichiro (from NK6, and part-time Gauze member) and the Rasta-haired "Noguso-Tarezou" (meaning he shits on streets, we never found out why this is nickname) who´s also the drummer of Endzweck. Both of them don´t speak very good english so this causes some funny situations. We teach them some important Dutch words like neuken (to fuck), which they pronounce as neukineuki, and they teach us even more important Japanese words like ii nioi shimasu (you smell nice). When we drive off, we ask if they have some classic rock to play on the road. After a long discussion they stop and the driver runs off, without saying anything. We ask Ichiro and he explains that we have stopped at the house of our driver. He went off to pick-up/download some rock (ACDC, Sabbath, etc) onto his Ipod to play for us. Sometimes Japanese people are just too nice.
Day 7, Hiroshima @ Neo-Polis Hall: Eat shrimps and drink till you pass out
After a 14 hour night drive with almost no sleep we arrive in Hiroshima. Following the usual early soundcheck we visit the atomic bomb site memorial park which is very impressive. By means of pictures, artefacts and buildings we are reminded of the horror that nuclear weapons are. We sign the book for complete nuclear disarmament and proceed back to the show.
The show itself is at the Neo-Polis Hall, where we also played 2 years ago, and the line up contains a few kick ass local Jap core bands: A Peace Of Shit, Origin Of M, The Abducted and those crazy thrash maniacs Freaks from Tokyo who ripped everything that night. Our show is pretty good, even better than last time we played here.
After the show were dead tired (as we did not sleep for almost 24 hours) but we are invited for a Japanese after party. For people who never heard of this before, this means that you go to a restaurant with the organizers and other bands. Then you eat and drink till you pass out. Even though were not in the mood, its impossible and impolite to refuse this invitation, so the rest of the night we watch our Japanese friends getting drunk and eating shrimps.
Day 8, Kobe @ Blue Port: I Scream Seven Showers
Playing in Japan brings out the rockstar in you. Youre playing on the best, newest equipment, every venue -even the smaller ones- has a sound man, the audiences go berserk, everybody wants your autograph, and your picture taken. This especially counts for our guitarist/70s rock addict Marc who is regularly starting shows by repeatedly asking the audiences if they are ready.
Tonight we play with Razors Edge from Osaka, who are pretty big in the Japanese scene, especially after changing their fast thrashy style towards more rock and melody and signing for big deal record label Pizza Of Death records. Razors Edge´s show is one big blast of energy and fast tight thrash, it´s great! The other bands tonight are great too, especially Milk Coffee and I Scream 7 Showers, a name that starts some discussions among us for the next few weeks. I mean, what the hell does I SCREAM 7 SHOWERS mean? Anyway, Boka comes to the conclusion that it is some kind of Japanese ritual which contains screaming and then taking 7 showers....who knows, maybe this is really true.
During our show which is at times pretty wild, somebody passes out. It looks pretty serious, but everybody´s laughing and the guy gets carried out as if he is a crowdsurfer. Not 2 minutes go by and hes standing there again at the front of the stage. I look around worried, but then a circlepit erupts and the guy gets sucked in and I dont see him again.
After the show Marc has an interesting talk with a girl. They are having a not so special conversation, then in the middle of his sentence she all of a sudden says ´I-am-23´. He says ok, cool and continues talking. And again she says I-AM-23, and again, so he starts wondering what the fuck it means. But still continues on as if nothing happened. Our Japanese drivers later tell us this is a Japanese way of making the conversation more intimate. Marc thus lost todays chance to be a real rockstar...
Day 9, Osaka @ Pipe69: Evil-kungfu-master moustache
Osaka is the second largest city in Japan after Tokyo and not that expensive and yuppie oriented as Tokyo. We visit the old Osaka Castle and take many samurai pictures. We amaze our hosts by attracting tens of Japanese school kids, who ask us for autographs. Unfortunately they only ask us for autographs, because they need them for some school assignment after asking us some questions about Japan.
Vinyl junkies Marko and Marc spend another couple of hours sweeping the many record-stores around the venue before the bands start. The Line up this time is Anti Justice (w/ ex-members of The Futures and Jellyroll Rockheads), Rough Rock Possessed (great mix of doom and hardcore), Tone Deaf (melodic early 80s hardcore) and good old Crucial Section from Tokyo. I love this band and their looks. They totally have this Heresy/Ripcord 84 kind of look down with all the flannel shirts, bandanas, tight ripped pants and all stars. And besides that their drummer always looks like he just woke up, and the guitarist has this amazing evil-kungfu-master moustache and beard. This show is definitely cool but Marko has a hard time jumping over the fence in front of the stage, causing some blue balls.
Day 10, Nagoya @ Oys Ohsu: Baterista Boka
It´s a saturday and on the streets of Nagoya baterista Boka meets some Brazilian dudes. Since Boka entered the band, suddenly everywhere we play Portuguese-speaking people show up. We are just walking down the streets of some random Japanese town and Brazilians recognize him. Boka is some kind of celebrity in Brazil, his face is on the cover of magazines and RDP have clips on tv. He told us that he got voted as one of the best drummers in the world, between Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden) and Lars Ulrich (Metallica). Before the show we go to another legendary record shop (or should I say exhibition place). Theyve got every record youve ever wanted, but its so expensive that even Felix Havoc would keep his hands in his pocket (or not?). The presence of at least 4 Brazilian countrymen also causes Boka to play his longest drumsolo of the tour.
Nagoya is a city with a really strong hardcore scene, and just like last time we played here, the place is totally packed, which again causes some awkward merch table moments. Luckily Yoshida-San, who came over from Tokyo, is there to help us out. This show is definitely one of the best shows on this tour, and also one of the strongest line ups, which include Easies, Last One Standing (from Shiga), Courage For League (youth crew), thrashers Freaks, and last but not the least, the amazing Fuck You Heroes, also from Tokyo, which are literally a Japanese reincarnation of DS13.
One thing about the Japanese scene is that if they copy something, they do it absolutely perfect. The singer of Courage For League introduces their songs in English with a perfect American accent, ´C´mon, everybody motherfucking move´ or ´Yo everybody come up front´. I think, that I can finally have a cool conversation about the Japcore scene, but it turns out the guy doesnt speak English at all, not a word...
Day 11, Tokyo @ Wall: Blood, bruises and scars
For the first time we dont do a soundcheck so we have time to do some final gift-shopping. The show is totally sold out and what else do you expect with a line up featuring crust heroes Enslave, fast core Breakfast, jap core Niagara 33 and the fantastic Fuck You Heroes, who totally steal the show. They are a power-trio, mix fast hardcore with rock parts and have an obliterating live show. I dont feel very secure coming out after them. Davids band Everybodys Enemy are local heroes for the night. Their fast and melodic hardcore punk rocks and David is totally losing his mind during the set. They even play RDP cover Crucificados Pelo Sistema featuring Boka on drums!
Finally, we get on stage, this time without any jetlag, fresh and ready to rock! The crowd is fucking wild and explodes when we start to play. During our Discharge cover, the DSB guitarist comes onstage to sing along. After the show I dont have the guts to check my body for all the blood, bruises and scars that I picked up, but actually I dont really care... From the financial point of view, this show is the best paid show of the tour, and on top of that we sell a shitload of merch, especially t-shirts. The whole evening we spend packing our bags, which are still too heavy.
Day 12, Tokyo - Melbourne
In the morning we visit Tokyo´s national garden and feed some of the huge goldfish. The japanese part of our tour has been a big success, and we´re ready to rock on. We say goodbye to Naoki, Ichiro and Yoshida at the airport and immediately let Marc deal with the luggage girls, and I dont know how, if it is his haircut or something else, but again we go through without paying anything extra, even though we have around 60-70 kilos above the limit. The flight to Melbourne is about 10 hours, and despite our plans to get some sleep, most of the time we spend playing some stupid video game.
Part 2; Australia, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, will be published in MRR june 2006, check back later for part 2