Dachambo..

Their myspace intro comment says "Don't think it, feel it", and that pretty much sums them up..

Dachambo had a whole herd of people dancing and blissing away on the edge of the park post-hanami last Sunday night, and were completely blowing everyone away. Their amazingly super tight twin drummer set up, combined with a pulsating bass and swirling psychedelic tinged guitar lines, somewhat reminicent of Phish, or maybe even a dancey version of the Grateful Dead, provided the perfect soundtrack to the end of what was easily the best hanami weekend I've had the pleasure of enjoying in a long time. These guys are touring about quite a bit in the coming months and would definitely be worth catching if you have the chance..

Park life: Art and music..

More randomness from Yoyogi park. As the sun begins to shine more brightly, the sights and sounds of creative spirits become more numerous. From catch bloke to horns in the and brass in the darkest corners, these are the days of your park! Thinking about it though, where was the piper? Maybe he was down....

The Shirts get a drummer!

After 18 months of playing as a three piece, using sequenced tracks and/or "borrowing" drummers for live shows, The Shirts are stoked about the new guy: Rob. Rob and I played way back before squadcar in a band called Bender, had quite a large repertoire of original rock and cover songs, and did regular shows at live houses around the place. We even did a demo at M7 in Koiwa which I finally heard last week after around 6 or 7 years. Saturday saw us rehearse for the third time with Rob at Ongakukan-bis in Shibuya, and as we quietly drained the Chivas bottle supplied by the fifth shirt Andy, Kazue was kind enough to take a few pictures, of the rock!

When the music's over..

I always thought that the best thing about Yoyogi park was the bands, dancers, artists and comedians that would line Koen Dori and the footpaths of Inokashira Dori on any given weekend, providing a plethora of free and interesting entertainment, but not any more.. Towards the end of last summer there were murmurings around the park scene of the police clamping down on street lives and raves, then we saw a couple of parties shut down by police, and then by about mid-November the signs went up. Basically the signs say "On the street, the playing of instruments, and the selling of goods or food is prohibited". The result has been the effective elimination of one of the most enjoyable aspects of hitting the park on the weekend, as well as taken away a fantastic place for young artists to develop their craft.







.. and the park scene in better days..

Open mic at the Ruby..

Every Tuesday night for as long as I can remember, the Ruby Room in Shibuya has held Tokyo's premier Open Mic night. When I started going it was still around the corner, at the old Sugar High building, and while it has gone through various mutations throughout the years, essentially it's still basically the same: a great place for both wanna-be and established artists to go and develop their craft in a smoke filled room full of drinking music lovers.

I don't hit it so much these days, but whenever I do I find it difficult to leave. Here's a selection of what was going on Tuesday night..

A cool little Quartet (that didn't play any WSQ):



Dan sitting in with some of the guys from Sunset Drive:





Pat, who had more pedals than I've seen anyone slinging since Magic Dirt at Meredith in '96:



And finally, Dan and me doing some songs, both of the old and new variety, just for the hell of it:









Thanks to Tosh from Sunset Drive for taking this last set of pics..

The Bangladesh Festival 2008

Lots of life in the park this weekend for the Bangladesh festival. Not so much in the way of numbers of people, but the energy, the sun, and the beer all made notworthy appearances. As far as the entertainment went, a couple of the comedians were funny enough, but the highlight for me was the Taro Taiko group, which shook the park in righteous fashion mid-Sunday afternoon.

Qualia

Qualia rocked Electro Lust last week at The Baron in Nishi-Azabu. A calculated blend of electronica and rock, not unlike the early stylings of New Order, with the amazing rhythm section of Issei Kobayashi and Zak Bond holding together Scott Mintz's plethora of squelches and bleeps with the utmost of precision and groove. Qualia have only played a couple of shows so far and have a lot to look forward to, especially when the clock starts sending properly.

Band photos by Basak Ulukose..





Short mini-movie from Qalia's debut live at the Garage, October '07:

One Love: Party guy

I have no idea who this guy was, but totally encapsulated the energy of the festival, and even managed to get up on stage with the Panorama Steel Orchestra, until the friendliest security guy in the world smilingly asked him to rejoin his dancing compadres in the audience..

The Jamaica Festival: Panorama Steel Orchestra

I think I have a new favorite festival.. The One Love Jamaica Festival rocked yesterday, the highlight for me most certainly being the Panorama Steel Orchestra, a 30 strong steel drum ensemble that had everyone inescapably dancing along to a fine blend of up-tempo beats and luscious melodies. The red stripes were appropriately chilled and as the sun made a somewhat rare appearance all were seemingly transported to that place where movement and smiles become the order of the day..

In the immortal words of Bob, "let's get together and feel alright.."

Squadcar: これから live

Squadcar played a lot of shows in their day. The video below was taken in December 2005 at Shibuya Nest, well the main part of it was anyway.. Dan got creative and put it together with some footage of us goofing off backstage at a Shinjuku Marz show as well. It was a very memorable show, partly because we played with the awesome Mothercoat, and also because the amazingly enjoyable and impromptu backstage rehearsal party (that starts the video) was probably better than the set we played when we hit the stage.. >_<

Photo by Andrew McGovern