The Novembers, 八十八ヶ所巡礼

July 24th, Shimokitazawa Club Que (old post, sorry!)

Club Que were absolutely ridiculous when it came to letting people into the venue. Everyone had to line up in a queue exactly according to ticket numbers, and they made lots of fuzz about it. My number was 159. Fairly late, I thought, but when I was finally allowed to enter the venue there were only two rows of people there AND an available spot at the first row. So much for nothing.

Similar to Basement Bar the vacant spot was at the far right side. Guitarist Kengo is apparently not too popular. It looked like most people were there to see the Novembers and not the other band. This time it was Quip Magazine’s anniversary event. They have an artist column were different people from bands write whatever they like, and Yusuke Kobayashi from the Novembers has this cartoon going on featuring among others an ugly dog and guitarist Kengo. Is it any good? Well there’s a reason why he’s a musician and not a manga artist..

For this show there were only two bands on the bill and even better, both bands got to play for an extra long time i.e. an hour as opposed to the regular 30 minutes bands get at regular events. Unfortunately that meant that I also had to endure an entire hour of the first band…

八十八ヶ所巡礼 (hachijuhakkasho junrei)’s vocalist/bassist is officially the skinniest Japanese guy I have ever seen. The Novembers are fairly skinny guys too, but they looked perfectly normal compared to this guy. Seriously, he looked like a stick man that could break any second. In contrast the other guys were a dude in black who looked like he enjoyed 80’s metal (he had his own fan on stage blowing at his hair maiking him look like he was in the cheezy video) and a buff drummer who played without a shirt. An interesting group of people. Ahem, now that I’ve got that out of the way, I was not too impressed by their music (which could explain why I spent most of the time staring at their looks). After a while the vocalist said: "we're not quite done yet. In fact we're only halfway". Oh no...

http://www.myspace.com/katsuyashimizu

The Novembers, again! Let's keep it short. The very end of “mer” moved me to bits. There are always a couple of girls crying under a Novembers concert, but I have never been moved in that way. Not to the point were I'm shedding tears. In Japan I get the impression that everyone cries though, and apparently it doesn’t take more than the Doraemon-movie. Anyways, tonight was special. “philia”, “mer”, and different from the other recent shows, “picnic” were beyond amazing. Also, the fact that this was my last time seeing the Novembers before I left Japan made feel sad, but at the same time incredibly happy that was able to see them so many times, because they are truly a wonderful live band.[/sentimental rant]

The Novembers, おとぎ話, Qomolangma Tomato

July 12th, Saitama Heaven’s Rock

I always thought that Saitama was far, far away from Tokyo, but turns out it’s pretty close, and that Heaven’s Rock is a really good live venue. Heaven’s Rock lies a couple of minutes away from Saitama Super Arena which is as the name implies a huge arena. Today’s concert was a part of Qomolangma Tomato’s “Camouflage” album release tour, and on the bill they had Otogi Banashi and The Novembers. Otogi Banashi with their charming, sweet songs didn’t fit in anywhere musically, and the band themselves were really surprised to be invited to this event, but apparently Qomolangma were big fans.


I was a bit surprised to see that The Novembers were first up. Compared to Basement Bar with it’s cramped space and awful sound Heaven’s Rock was great. Spacious, no problem seeing the stage from far behind and an excellent sound. Crisp and clear sound quality from beginning to end. We were also able to stand further behind and see almost the entire stage without any problems. It could be because Novembers fans are surprisingly short. I'm so not kidding. There's something off when I feel tall.

I like Kengo’s guitar parts in “dnim”. Like calm waves in the background of an otherwise pretty violent song. They actually played all songs off Paraphilia. Another thing I noticed was that they didn’t play anything from their first self-titled EP at all.

www.myspace.com/thenovembers11

Otogi Banashi were super charming as always. I don’t think that many people had showed up to see them there, like I mentioned earlier they didn’t quite fit in. The crazy moshing from their oneman was nowhere to be seen except for a gang of guys during “Parade”. Regardless, Otogi were smiling as always and as always introduced “Neon Boys” as “a theme song we have made especially for YOU!” They played their cover of “hoshi ni negau wo” (the Japanese version of “When You Wish Upon A Star”. Can be found on the compilation album ”Disney Rocks!”), and afterwards they took two requests from the audience. One was the aforementioned “Parade”, the other “Classic” if I remember correctly. I guess I should mention that at concerts in Norway there’s always someone yelling requests during the show, but in Japan no one ever does that. It’s nice to not have to listen to some idiot who won’t take a hint who yell’s between every single song. And it’s even nicer when the bands ask the audience what they want to hear. Before one of the last songs vocalist Arima started playing a bit from the Pixies – “Where Is My Mind?”! Full cover next time, please!

www.myspace.com/otgbanashi



I listened to Qomolangma Tomato on Myspace some time ago, but I didn’t like them very much. Live however they pretty cool. I realize that this happens to me way too often… What I discovered live that I hadn’t realised before was that they have a killer drummer, a fairly cool guitarist and interesting vocals. I’m not sure I’d go as far as to call it rap, more like talking-ish? Not spoken word though (lord no). Let's just call it rap. Their sound is raw and energetic, and they have some good tunes.

Ironically, although this was the “Camouflage” tour their 3rd album, I’ve come to like the first album 「チョモと僕は柵の中」("chomo to boku ha shigarami no naka") a lot more. Especially the two tracks below are cool. On "Camouflage" the songs are more down-tempo and there's more singing. Quite frankly this guy isn't a great singer at all, and his way more awesome when he's energetic and screaming rather than sensible and dull. Obviously.

Towards the end the drummer says "You know, by coming here tonight you've missed out on Gackt who played at Saitama Super Arena tonight." Oh the loss.

Qomolangma Tomato - Through Your Reality
Qomolangma Tomato - Shoutengai

www.myspace.com/qomolangmatomato
http://www.qomolangmatomato.com/

Thai Kick Murph - telekinesis

I've been listening a lot to this song lately.

Thai Kick Murph - telekinesis

Simple and catchy indie pop. I like the vocalists voice a lot, and the chorus gets stuck in my head all the time. They have released an album called "Olympia" and you can hear a digest on their myspace. I saw Thai Kick Murph when they played together with Video among others some time ago. They were so charming and sweet when they were playing, and afterwards during the other bands they were standing at the very front dancing and cheering. They seem like nice people.

www.myspace.com/thaikickmurph

The Novembers, Sister Jet

I decided that I wanted to see The Novembers a couple of extra times before I left Japan which resulted in seeing them four times in a month. If you ask me it was totally worth it.

part 1.

June 30th, Shimokitazawa Basement Bar
Andymori's event. I found it odd that the Novembers had been invited to play at this event as the other band's playing this show were musically completely different. First up was actually a DJ from the club event Getting Better that played mostly brit-rock. That was unusual too as I believe a lot of people who listen to Japanese music don't listen that much to foreign music and vice versa. It was even stranger because the audience were standing completely still, waiting in front of the stage as they usually do before a concert, while loud club music was blasted out of the speakers. The DJ must have noticed, and towards the end of his set he apologized(!) for keeping people waiting: "The concert will start soon. It's not my fault." Poor guy.

First band Sister Jet looked like your average amateur high school band or something. I got the impression that they were inspired by music from the 60's, but they had problems recreating the good, old magic in their own music. In fact they didn't appeal to me whatsoever. Their songs were just ridiculously one-sided, taking the easy way out musically, "dance dance dance baby"-choruses and overall equally stupid lyrics. The funny thing though, they did some sort of cover of The Monkees - "Daydream Believer". I can't say that it was a great cover.

www.myspace.com/sisterjet

Apparently a lot of people had reserved tickets through the bands, but as I knew from previous experiences Basement Bar let reservations in last and tickets in first. I bought my tickets beforehand and got nr 8 and 9 which resulted in a front row spot. Sweet. I can't press enough how much getting a good view during a concert affects my impression of it. Good sound is of course important, but the combination of sound and visual is what keeps me going to gigs. The sound was in fact quite bad this time during The Novembers. We were almost unable to hear the vocals most of the time, although it became a little bit better towards the end. The guitar noise was perfect though. The sound tends to get noisy and grainy in small venues, but it fits the Novembers’ sound.

To me, the Novembers are a perfect live band. I know I’ll most likely sound like an infatuated fangirl, but their appearance on stage is so different from other bands. The atmosphere and the tension when they deliver those songs on stage is incredible. They say very little and although they come off as introverted there's something compelling about that. This is the first time I've been that close to the stage and I was amazed.

Lately the setlist has opened with “para” and ended with “hakuchi”. They also always include “dnim” and “philia”, so there are a lot of tracks from the latest mini album. I don’t mind considering it’s probably my favourite record of theirs. Whenever I hear the intro to “philia” my body starts tingling with excitement. I LOVE that song.

THE NOVEMBERS - philia

The Novembers - she lab luck

www.myspace.com/thenovembers11

After the Novembers we went outside for a while, and only saw about ten minutes of Andymori afterwards. The venue was packed and it was impossible to see anything from behind. Similar to the first time I saw them I wasn't too impressed with their live performance contrary to their CD which isn't half bad at all (I will write a review later on). We heard them play their 大-hit "Everything Is My Guitar", and then we left.