Japan Tour!

Alrighty! Here’s the super quick reader’s digest version of the trip. It was pretty much jam packed and putting things into a chronological order has been a challenge, but I’ll do it for you because I care. We pretty much eased into a schedule of sleeping every other day. At first we thought this was some form of lesson, like when a kid gets caught smoking cigarettes and they are forced to smoke the whole pack till they get sick. “So, you think you can party, huh? Well you will party like never before, that’ll show ya!” However, we came to find out that the level of activity and pace we were maintaining was merely being Japanese. Aaron, Heidi and I consider ourselves to be pretty hard core professional drinkers, and we have friends, who are probably reading this blog right now, who have legendary livers that would make most people in other circles call for an intervention. But, let me tell you, nobody parties like the Japanese. Nobody.

Here we go:

Plane ride was long. The first 8 hours on a flight are almost tolerable, but there’s something about those last 2 hours that drive you a little stir crazy. Fortunately we arrived and had no real problems with customs. At the airport we had our first vending machine purchase, something that looked weird and ended up being hot barley tea. We would start every morning thereafter with strange vending machine experiments. This morning I had to make clicking vending machine sounds while I made my coffee in order to feel at home.

Anyway, caught a train into Tokyo station and finally met, in person, our new hero Mr. Yano Tadashi. Can't say enough good things about this man, so I will sprinkle his awesomeness throughout. Let's just say as far as human beings go there is no other like Yano.

He led us through 3 train transfers to the Shimokitazawa neighborhood where we dropped our gear at the Piece of 8 pirate bar. Yarrr!! It’s kind of funny that we can fly 6000 miles with an art band and still end up playing a song set in front of a Jolly Roger. Some things never change. While there we hoisted some Kirin cans and said the first of many Kompais! Then we set up, had a sound check (they take their sound checks seriously in Japan) then walked our excess bags over to Yano's apartment ,which was a Japanese apt, more like a like a walk in closet, but it was cozy and we came to love it. No shower there sadly, (space being an issue, not everyone in Japan can afford a place with bathing room) so we each slathered on an even coat of deodorant, (that’s right I wore deodorant, Aaron and Heidi threatened to break up the band if I didn’t) changed into our show gear and headed on back to Piece of 8.

At this point I should address the atmosphere in the standard underground Americana Japanese bar. In Japan smoking is prohibited on the street and in public parks, however it is not only allowed, but encouraged in small, windowless, unventilated bars. At first this was a bit of a drag, but we shrugged off our Bay Area smoke free pretension, went in balls deep and soon adapted nicely. The only side affect is that our skin has turned into smoked beef jerky, but hey who doesn’t like jerky?

Moving on. The opening bands were hot! In fact as we were to find out, every band we saw in Japan was the best band we’ve ever heard. It got a little silly after a while. We just wanted to see one slightly less than awesome band play with us, but no. They just kept getting better. I have a stack of impossible to find CDs and took video of most of the groups we played with, so I’ll spread the love.

We went on about 11pm and played a 45 min set. We were tired having been up for about 26 hours, but we mustered up enough energy to rock the joint. Then we proceeded to slam several dozen beers before slinking back to the casa de Yano and crashing out sometime in the wee hours.

We slept 5-6 hours then got up and explored the neighborhood of Shimokitazawa. We ended up having what turned out to be Aaron’s favorite breakfast, Loco Moco (egg, hamburger and rice). Then we regrouped at the pad, met up with Yano again and he helped us navigate our gear to the outlying town of Tskuba. At the Tskuba station we got picked up by Okami, the Banjo player from Akage No Muddys and ferried over to the East of Eden Bar. This was a James Dean themed joint with a big statue of him outside and ice cold Asahi on tap inside. We would proceed to run up our biggest bar tab of the trip that night. Gooob!

Yano (on resonator Guitar) and his girlfriend Yuko (on Sax) opened up the night. They were great, he’s a virtuoso, and we came to find out that he can play every instrument you put in front of him. Yuko rocks the Sax like nobody’s business; she blows with the soul of an old man from New Orleans. In fact that’s another point about the musicians we saw and hung out with, they all played with so much soul and conviction. There was great musicality, but no one was just showing off or going through the motions. It was deep shit.

After them it was Akage No Muddys. They blew doors, Okami was so enthusiastic and he got the crowd fired up. He ended up being one our best new friends out there and even made the drive from Tsukba on a work night to see our last gig in Tokyo. Plus he’s a dead head. Good people.

We played another good set and called up all of the musicians on stage for St. James Infirmary at the end. This became the way we ended every show and it was always stellar and huge. Funny thing is we tried to get it on video a couple times and it never happened. It was destined to be that the most magical musical moments were offered to the universe and will live as memories not You Tube videos. Kind of beautiful that way really.

We drank there till about 4am and then piled into Okami’s car and headed to the local Onsen (public bath house). There we split up, Heidi and Yuko went to the girl side and Yano, Okami, Aaron and I went to the boy side. Due to Yakuza trouble (Japanese Mafia) there was a big sign outside that said “No drunks! No men with tattoos!” It may as well have said “No 5 CENT COFFEE”. I had to wear a towel draped over my arm the whole time but it was pretty great to finally have a shower and sit in a hot tub for a while. Then we lumbered up stairs to the “relaxation room” where there were reclining chairs and a den of snoring Japanese men. We all laid down for about an hour and got a wink of sleep, then it was up again, pile into the car and drive to Yokohama for the Jug Band Festival! (see above note about nobody partying like the Japanese)

On our way we stopped at a convenience store to grab some coffee and a snack. We got some weird sandwiches (which became Heidi’s obsession throughout the trip) and after eating one I had to make everyone wait while I ran screaming to the bathroom. As I emerged, they applauded me and I had been officially dubbed “King of Poo” by Yano Tadashi. Through out the trip Yano told the story and it spread throughout the group. Now I am known in Japan as the King of Poo, and I’m pretty fucking proud of that.

Anyway, we got to ride through Tokyo on the freeway to get to Yokohama and even caught a glimpse of Mt. Fuji through the smog. We dropped our stuff, met a ton of nice folks and then went with an entourage to have the best sushi we have ever had in our lives. I cannot begin to describe how good it was. Poetry needs to be written about this sushi. Angels were singing, tears of joy…god damn it was good. Here we also had real wasabi which is mind blowing. Whew.

After that we went back to the Jug band fest building for the pre-festival meeting. The organizers named each band playing that day and they rose for applause. When our turn came around we got possibly the largest reaction from this room packed full of world class musicians. Geez, no pressure or anything.

We grabbed our gear and headed across the street to the first of our two slots at the outdoor rooftop stage. There we played a 20 min set and the crowd was maybe not as enthusiastic as we would have hoped. We played well, but realized that nervousness had gotten the best of us and we could do better. We regrouped and wrote the perfect set list for our main event slot on the big stage inside club Thumbs Up. We opened with Came Down from the Mountain and when Heidi threw that chain down the first time, we knew it was all gonna be ok. The crowd lost their minds! I started at the back of the house and snaked my way through the crowd with the Megaphone. Boy howdy it was sweet. We played pretty much flawlessly for 30 mins and left them howling for more. This would set the bar for our performances for the rest of the tour. We were officially warmed up, Look out Japan!

It was a great, long day and with 37 bands playing on 4 stages we had the opportunity to see some ridiculously awesome music. I spent most of my souvenir budget for the trip on CDs that day. Man it was good.

We made the last train back to Shimokitazawa and after a couple shots of Japanese whiskey, we finally went to sleep on the morning of April 6th.

A few hours later we were up again, Aaron had his Loco Moco and we set off for what would become my favorite neighborhood ever, Koenji. There we dropped our gear and sound checked for the first of a three night residency at the Tokyo Moonstomp. The Moonstomp is a cool little Irish themed basement bar maybe the size of our living room, bar included. We packed at least 60 people in there that first night and they were literally hanging off of the walls. We played with some hot bands as usual including an explosive swing outfit called Mo’ Lets and a great blues band called the Lightning Stacks who’s front man/harp player Ryoma sat in with us for a few songs on the rest of our Moonstomp nights and our last gig at the Son House. Super hot shit, I tell you what. At this stage we were still a little intimidated headlining nights with these great bands, but we jumped right in and blew doors off the joint.

What we came to realize about these musicians is that although they have studied vigorously and are more accomplished at their instruments than anyone I know here state side, there is none of the same jaded feelings of superiority and ego that one sometimes encounters here. In Japan (Koenji especially) there was more of an honest appreciation for art and original expression than I’ve ever seen. It was inspiring really, and I have made a resolution of sorts to curb my own tendencies towards that sort of negativity.

Yasu, the bar owner gave us a bottle of Jamesons as a gift for our 3 day stint there which we slurped down the first night of course. After the show we had some heat on and stumbled along with Yano, Yasu, the Lighting Stacks and a few other Koenji denizens to a nearby Izikaya. An Izikaya is a place where you take off your shoes sit cross legged on the floor around a low table in a traditional fashion, then guzzle beer and sake all night long. We ordered little dishes of sashimi and fried things and laughed about as hard as we ever have with some great people. Before we knew it the sun was up, people were piling into trains to go to work and we were being poured into a cab back to Shimokitazawa. What a night-- I have some video of it, I’m afraid to watch.

After a handful of hours of sleep we were on the train back over to Koenji to sound check for the show that night. I was carrying with me one of the top ten hangovers of my life. While freshening up at Yuko’s house (near Moonstomp) I puked up some blood and felt much better. That night we got back in the saddle and raged. More great music and we threw down. We made it an early night this time and were in bed by 3:30am.

The next day I twisted my ankle and fell down some stairs and I was pretty sure my stomach lining was deteriorating, also Heidi’s hips began to give out and Aaron developed shin splints. We were convinced that we were not all gonna make it through this thing alive. However, after that we started to fully acclimatize and gain some of that fabled Japanese Jug Band Musician stamina. By the end of the trip we were invincible!

We played that night, drank, jammed, and said our sad farewells to the Moonstomp. It was amazing to settle into a place for three nights and have people come back again and again. We made some great connections with some fantastic people.

The next day we piled on to the Shinkansen bullet train for Osaka which whisked us across the country in 3.5 hours. Plus a little man came by with a cart full of beer and whiskey for sale…I love Japan. We made our way to Taisho station (which Aaron and I kept referring to as Tashi station of Star Wars fame while Heidi pretended that we weren’t there) and loaded into the Bar Pow Wow. This joint was decked out like an Arizona Adobe complete with dream catchers and longhorns on the walls. It was under the train tracks so every couple minutes the whole place would rumble as the train went by. Awesome. The place was owned by a man named Mu-Chan who was such a ray of mirth and joy, it was infectious.

This place was about 1/3 smaller than the Moonstomp and I practically had to crawl under the low ceilings by the bar. We packed 68 people in there that night and it was so packed shoulder to shoulder, we had to watch the opening bands under an umbrella in the rain outside. When it was time to go on, we wiggled though the crowd and shook the walls with possibly the best set we had played thus far. Afterwards Aaron befriended a rockabilly hairdresser named Billy and started trading whiskey shots with him. I got to witness the one that put him over the edge (anyone who’s seen Aaron get the ‘Whiskey Eyes’ knows what I’m talking about). Moments later he was calling for water and after holding up the bar for a few minutes Yano stepped in and shuffled him off to the hotel up the street. Heidi and I held forth and drunkenly jammed all night with the Bigood Band (the Pow Wow house band), Yano, Mu and a handful of other musically inclined drunks. We eventually made our way to have some late night Ramen a few blocks away and then to the hotel, which turned out to be a super cheap “Love Hotel” where you can take a prostitute and rent the rooms by the hour. After 9pm you can rent on all night for $30. Cheaper than a Motel 6 and they supplied a basket of condoms and free pixilated Japanese porn on Channel One! In fact we already started work on a blues song with Yano called the Channel One Blues, two verses written, look for it soon!

The next day was our first night off and we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. With no traveling or sound check to run to we wandered around like zombies. We tried to go to the Suntory Museum in Osaka because we thought it would be a Whiskey Museum. We got there and all they had was art, so we left and went to get some beer. Tourism wasn’t in the cards on this trip. That night we ended up back at the Pow Wow and knocked back some booze with the local Osaka bar flies. We exchanged gifts with Mu and it escalated as it always did until we were running out of things to exchange. You see there is this great gift giving tradition in Japan where you give a small gift to people when they host you in someway or you appreciate what they do. The funny thing that happens here is when they give a gift to you and you return the favor with a t-shirt or what not and then they give you something else and so on. It can get pretty crazy, but it’s pretty amazing too. Like Christmas everyday. Mu was a great example of the generosity, happiness and support we felt on every stage of the journey. As weird as it may sound, spending time with the Japanese bohemian community inspired me to try to be a better person. I think if the whole world were a little more Japanese it would be a better place.

Whew. Ok, so the next day we hit the Shinkensen again and rolled down to Okayama home of “Momotaro the peach boy”, another song we are going to write based on the legend of a little boy who comes out of a peach pit and with the help of a dog, peacock and monkey defeats a three eyed demon. It’s gonna be an A major swing thing I think.

In Okayama we met Fats Fujiwara (who is really quite thin) and went to do sound check at the Bar Blue Blues which was huge by Japan standards, had a green room and everything. We played there that night with Fats and Yano/Yuko. After the show, Fats and his girlfriend busted out this huge sushi spread right there in the bar and we all feasted and took breaks to jam on a few songs around the table. Woowee, pretty magical.

We spent that night in a cheap motel which sadly had no free porn, but a super weird Japanese breakfast was included, so that’s something. Then we moseyed back to the train station to roll to Fukuoka and play at Space Terra with the Chorinure boys. It was a cool little jazz venue with a more ‘high end’ clientele then we were used to but they seemed to dig it. There were some hot swing dancers who showed up. It was sweet.

Afterwards we hit the bar Nois Noiz down the street for a few post-show beers before retiring to Mitunori’s house( one of the Choinure Boys) to crash out. Aaron and I ended up staying up with Mitunori and a DJ named “Slap Happy” drinking Glen Morangie till 5am in the living room. Just seemed like the right thing to do.

The next day we spent most of on the train back to Tokyo. Around 8pm we arrived and dropped our stuff at the Son House bar. We hung out for a few beers with Kumai, the owner then rolled back to our old pad at Shimakitazawa to rest up for our final night.

We got up in the mid morning and Aaron had his final Loco Moco before we met up with Yano, who led us to some super cheap shopping in the Koenji area. Heidi got a great second hand Kimono for her and Jessica, Aaron got some new shirts. It was good and efficient, but very thirsty work. We soon found a bar and took care of that.

That night was our last gig in Japan and probably the smallest place we played. All of our friends we had made at the Moonstomp gigs came back to see us, the place was packed and the vibes were sublime. It was like playing in your living room for some of your closest pals. We had Ryoma sit in on harp again and played the best version of Devil Woman we will ever play. Yano sat in on guitar for October which was epic. Then literally the entire bar grabbed an instrument or banged a table or clinked a glass together for a version of St. James Infirmary that would make Cab Callaway take his hat off.

As an encore, Yano lead us all in a chorus of Goodnight Irene that made everyone tear up a little. We finished out the night with a steamy bowl of late night ramen and then crashed out on the floor of the bar. It was the perfect ending to a perfect trip.

We made it onto the train with all of our stuff the next day thanks to Yano and Kumai and barely made it to our flight home due to oversized baggage confusion. Running for the gate etc. Then, 10 hours later we were back on US soil.

None of it could have happened without Yano Tadashi. He is an amazing person, funny as hell, talented and smart. I am working hard to get him to come out in August for the SF Jug Fest. I look forward to all of you meeting him.

It is still a little weird to be back, eat with a fork instead of a chopstick, not speak broken English or pigeon Japanese. I miss it actually. I really love that country, the culture, the music and most of all the people. We were fully immersed in modern Japanese bohemian culture the whole time. (In fact only hung out with a westerner briefly twice.) Other than that it was just us and the people of Japan. I consider us extremely lucky to have had this chance, and to live this experience. Not only did we get to spend time with these people, but we had the opportunity to make music with them, to express our art and have it appreciated and celebrated. Wow, its such a huge feeling, its hard to form into a coherent thought.. I’ve had some great journeys in my life so far, but this just may take the cake as the best thing I have ever done.

…They want us to come back next year. Hmmmm, let me think about that for a second.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!