きゃしの日記

It was a beautiful Tuesday after the storm.
(Thank God our gig wasn't the day before! Just thinking of having to drag myself out in that weather...)

It was 2:30pm when I got to the venue.
After parking my bicycle around the corner chaining it to a road sign pole, I rushed down the stairs into the hall. Seeing the place packed with the other bands, mostly girls, waiting for their soundcheck, I hid myself in the restroom for a breather. OK, the night was supposed to be a female vocalist band night so go figure, Cathy. The trauma of having gone to an all-girls Catholic school still haunts me, I guess. You can't imagine the relief I felt when, after building up the courage to get out of the smelly haven, I spotted Midori and Numa in the hall. Then came in Yusun and it was our turn for soundcheck, but, ah, where's Sak? While setting up our equipment on the stage, Sak came in with a half-sleepy smile. No, he wasn't late. In fact, Sak arrived earlier than the scheduled (soundcheck) time, but things were moving ahead of schedule that day. Anyway, being used to the venue, soundcheck went by smoothly and quickly, ahead of schedule.

We strolled by to a nearby Denny's for lunch? dinner? Well, breakfast for Sak. Unlike the previous gig at CYCLONE, we all felt up to eating a hearty meal. With the dishes that we ordered, you could call it a dinner, I suppose. Chowing down on chunks of meat, pasta, sandwiches, fries, some greens, and caramel french toast, we spent the next few hours talking of what to do next year with the band and so on so forth. Something serious for a change, eh? Well, of course, there were tons of "kudaranai" jokes as well.

The night started at 6:30pm with six bands, aozoa performing fourth.
Our set list :
1. a little too late
2. a quiet morning
3. 10Q2U
4. sunscar
5. fragile
6. the fall
I gotta admit, the lyrics for 'sunscar' was a mess (sang the first verse twice) and my focus was more on not ripping the clothes Midori, my stylist, lent me that night (it's amazing how I can actually fit into her clothes!), but, overall, I guess it was a good show. According to one of the CHOP staff, we were more relaxed than the last time we played at the venue. Personally, though, I think I could've done better so definitely will do so when we play again at CHOP on December 20th.

After another civil after-party with just the band and some friends, we all went quietly home a little after midnight. It was a weekday afterall and we all had work the next morning. The morning after? Always the same after a gig--painful.

おぉぉ、こういうすばらしい日・天気のことを『台風一過』と言うのね。
昨日を思えばちょっと心配だったけど、晴れてよかった。

そんなこんなで、今夜池袋CHOPでライブです。
当日告知ですみません。
平日だけど、是非。

なんてたってチャリで行けるのが嬉しい。

Gotta apologize for (always) taking a week to write a gig report, sorry.
But I'm not the only one to take a week to recover from the headbanging and guitar-swinging etc. Trust me, all five aozoans are still moaning from what we did last Sunday. ;-P

It was a hot day for the first Sunday of October.
Spending the previous two days "talking", "hugging", and making friends with my home toilet, I had to literally drag myself out of the house. By the time I reached CYCLONE, I looked like (pardon my English, kids, but) shit and was already done for the day. It was past 3pm and people started gathering into the venue dragging their equipment down the stairs, tuning their guitars, getting ready for the evening. We were the second band to do the soundchecking and when that was over I wasn't the only one holding my head and stomach. midori joined in, apparently feeling nauseous from the funky smell that hung in the venue air. What can I say? We rushed out of the deep smelly underground into a nearby cozy cafe. And to think that the air in Shibuya could be much more healthier!

The five of us spent the next few hours sipping on our mega drinks. (There's a pic of yusun's and my drink on numa's blog.) Too bad we were all not in the mood to eat the food there 'cos it looked good. Maybe another time. After a few huge laughs, yusun left...no, not to get a haircut this time, but...to go shopping for a 'stage shirt'. The rest of us went back to the (smelly) venue in time for the first band.

The night, which was a release party for the compilation CD, started at 7pm.
aozoa was the fourth band to perform. Our set list was as follows:
1. a little too late
2. a quiet morning
3. 10Q2U
4. cosmos (the cover of a 70's Japanese tune recorded on the compilation CD)
5. fragile
6. the fall
Man, it was tough and horrific! The stage lights were so damn hot! I seriously thought my brain was going to boil out of my ears. From the second song on, my head was pounding and I was on the verge of breaking down, throwing my microphone, and leaving the stage to go home. But, being a big girl now, I concentrated on my singing instead. The lights definitely sizzled midori's skinhead as well. Numa was gagging next to me while playing his guitar and yusun, in his newly bought black beaded shirt, was drowning in sweat. After the stage, sak's hand was oozing in blood from a broken drumstick. Can't get any better than this, eh? Despite our own individual melodramas, we got off the stage alive and, according to our friends that came to watch, our performance was better than the last gig. Thank you very much, it was worth shoving yusun out of the backstage restroom to puke my heart out after the show, ha!

We actually had an after-party at the venue with the other bands that performed that night. As always, it was very civil and we all went home on the last train.

aozoa's next gig is on the 27th at CHOP.
Wow, that's two gigs in a month--a hardcore schedule for us. :-)
I guess doing five, six gigs a month and touring has become a fading memory.
Anyway, it's a girls' band night so anyone wanting to choke on some flying female hormones, please come.

oshimai!

A tune convered by aozoa will be out in a compilation cd on September 16th.

"Neo Standard Collection vol. 00 2009" is a collection of twelve Japanese songs convered by bands from diverse genres--shoegazer, alternative, emo, melodic hardcore, rock and metal. The songs each represent a season--spring, summer, autumn, winter--and are familiar tunes which strike the hearts of all generations.

You can get it at your nearest Tower Records or HMV shops as well as through the RIP Label and Amazon net shopping websites.


There will be a promo event for the compilation cd at Shibuya CYCLONE on October 4th.
Bands that are playing that night are aozoa, UMBERBROWN, MIRANOSAND, CROMAGARAGE and PINK TURBO.

For more info. please visit the RIP LABEL website http://www.zsinc.net/riplabel
or http://myspace.com/riplabel

Ah...it's been two weeks and a half since our gig at CHOP...yikes, sorry.
It's sorta obvious that I'm just gonna wrap it up simply here since my memory's pretty wasted.

But I do remember it was the day before the historical Lower House elections. The big streets in front of Ikebukuro station as well as the smaller ones near the venue was packed with people handing out pamphletes of their policy platforms (the Communist Party of Japan) and candidates waving and screaming from their vans (both the LDP and DPJ parties). Yeah, the place had this craziness which made me push my bicycle even harder through the crowd to seek peace in the underground.

I was the first one to get to CHOP. While munching on my fries, I watched (and, of course, helped a bit) each one of the aozoans drag their heavy equipment down the stairs. Soundcheck was simple since we were used to the place by now (athough, I have to admit, the sound always shakes my brain and kills my ears with the volume).

There were only three bands performing that night and since aozoa was the first to start the show, we stayed in and yapped backstage with Hizumi-san from JURASSIC JADE. She started with, "Now, let's talk about showbiz. Ask me anything, I know it all!" and, obviously, we joked about the notorious actress-turned-junkie along with other gossips till we had to get our asses on stage at a little past seven.

Our set list was as follows:
1. a little too late
2. a quiet morning
3. 10Q2U (new song with a rip-off title like that of H. Murakami)
4. cosmos (the Japanese 70's song cover included in a compilation out on Sep.16)
5. sunscar
6. fragile
7. the fall
8. overcoming

We played a bit longer than usual, but, personally, it went by quickly. We each had our own little problems during our stage, but just how Yusun put it, it was tanoshikatta! Hope everyone felt the same, too.

I have a feeling I burned off more calories watching JURASSIC JADE, who played after us, than singing my own tunes, though. What can I say, it's been a while since I saw their show and, hell, they were great! MOSQUITO SPIRAL ended the night just the way a heavyweight should.

Afterwards, a guy passed out and someone called the ambulance making the atmosphere turn tense for a while, but it wasn't too serious so, yes, you can say the night was a blast for everyone. The after-party at the venue was very adult-like and civilized and we all went home on the last train. As for myself, without having to huff and puff up the hill, I was home on my bicycle by 1am. A miracle maybe?

The next morning, I actually went to the elections, but unfortunately(?), didn't pitch into the DPJ's landslide victory. Such a twisted me.

Well, that's it, folks!