February 21st, Basement Bar shimokitazawa Basement Bar was tiny and crowded, but somehow I managed to get a perfect view from standing at the very back leaned against the wall. A rare moment for someone who's 160cm tall. Tonight was a 2-man (ie only two bands playing, ne). I had no idea which band was going to play first, and I did not want to stand in the front during 6eyes (more about that later). Turned out though, that there was an opening act as well.
Five guys in white shirts entered the stage, and it sure as hell were neither Novembers or 6eyes. At first I was convinced that they said "Christmas" when they introduced themselves (which would have been strange - and off season), but it was CLISMS. I recognized two off the members instantly as they were in fact the drummer and the guitarist from Otogi Banashi! I had no idea they played in a different band as well. They played sort of sixties(?)-inspired rock with simple vocals. Not exactly my cup of tea, but enjoyable. Kenta Ushio (from Otogi) is pretty great on guitar.I was still uncertain about who was up next when the Novembers entered the stage for soundcheck. First thing that caught my attention: Vocalist Yusuke Kobayashi's blonde hair. It's not unusual for people to colour their hair (although now that I think about it I can't come up with a single person in a japanese indierock band who has), but Yusuke certainly does stand out. Before he usually would make his hair huge and fluffy and bird-nesty. I didn't see the link before, but he does love the Cure, so it might be slightly inspired by Robert Smith (minus the make-up). When I saw the Novembers in January it was colored brown, and as my friend predicted now it was blonde. And with the usual do, he looked like some kind of 80's poodle rocker. Lovely.
Anyways, I love watching the Novembers live. Both guitarists and the bassist are rocking out and headbanging like this is the last show they'll ever play, and it's incredible to watch. You can never see their faces, because their hair is always covering it, and frankly I don't think they mind not being able to see the crowd or vice versa. They're certainly introverted, but it suits their music. Shoegaze-inspired rock with emovocals and twisted lyrics. They also have catchy melodies, but live I think it's all about making a lot of noise. Especially the title track off their first album "picnic", last song on the album and last during tonight's set. It starts calm and then builds up towards the amazing final. Love it. Last time I saw them Yusuke hurt his leg and blood started gushing from his hand. This time it ended less dramatic, but the energy level was still pretty high. They played a couple of new tracks as well from their upcoming mini-album "paraphilia" due to be released on March 18th.
I saw 6eyes at a club event before Christmas and quite frankly I thought they were awful. I was going to give them a chance, but when you open with a cover of Michael Jackson's "Thriller".... They play rock/punk your supposed to dance to, but there was little in me that felt like dancing when I heard their dull, dull music.
Ahem, anyways, being the open person that I am I decided to give them another chance. Musically they didn't strike me as interesting this time either, but the vocalist was kind of entertaining. And a bit scary. He jumped into the crowd several times, and started passing the mic around. Thank God I was standing in the back. He also grabbed a water bottle from the stage and said: "I think this originally belonged to the vocalist of the Novembers. I'll take 3000yen for that afterwards". Funny! (the Novembers who said during their set that they loved 6eyes were nowhere to be seen)
They ended the show with their 大hit, which title escapes me, but I actually recognized it.
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