Hi Sliders. Its The Whizz here, in J-Land checking out a potential Stormcellar tour, so here's my adventures so far.
This is the little street I staying in. area is Shimokitazawa. its a cool where lots gigs music people hang and live. not tourist spot.heaps of tiny little shops but some open into bigger areas with lots of different stall holders. Found some good rock n roll t-shirt in there of bands that play in the night clubs like Club Cue. Club Cue runs 7 nights a week and you can see bands there that play at much larger venues in a smaller setting, 150-200 max people. Tues night saw 3 bandsand was going off big time, packed to the rafters sold out. All 3 band were RnB old style , like Yardbirds on nitro fuel. crowd went crazy, then bought t-shirts and cds like pirahnas....lining up politely of course...
Downtown Shibuya (Shibs) , shopping for clothes good here but not of- beat stuff. not too busy cos only 11am.
Had a Maccas Beef Teryaki Burger. Yum
This a Promo Truck-u. new girl singer Becky. Saw about six different band promo truck-u driving around constantly with the music going for latest release.
I am gonna be talking to our golden roadie Carl about this when i get back. Blues Brothers anyone?
Harajuki main street or Omote Sando. Nightmare for parking tickets as meter flashes with red light when expired so parking officers zoom in.
Takeshita Street in Harujuku , my fave shopping street, lots of shops with strange names, mixture of hip hop , rock and cute dressup girl clothes (Cos Play) and even a Vampire clothes shop.Lots of African guys spruiking their shops in the street, all hip clothes. Store My Duck??? , What the ? At the end of this street is a an area near the station where all the up and coming young busk on the weekend, and their fans dress up like them, or Cos Play style.
This ominous looking building is the famous AVEX talent school where lots of singers and vocal groups are formed that dominate the mainstream.
You can buy a fire suit to keep cool in summer , its 30C plus over here , so great to be inside shops, and even the subway is cool with aircon blowing like a hurricane down the stairs. I was gonna by these shoes for Rosie but they didnt have his size.
My fave Nepalese curry shop in Shimo . They serve them gianto Naan bread. Nan Station is run by two nice Nepalese boys and so economical , 6-8 $AUD for dinner.Faces on the dish are a bonus : ) The Spinach Chicken was awesome.
Hey Sliders, I'm in Japan visiting the local Roots and Blues scene. So far no earthquakes but I am just waiting for one.
Went out to a Bar called Club Cue tonight, 200 people packed into a tiny place for three hours worth of music - best part is - no one is allowed to leave! No smoko breaks, no going outside for a phone call, you come in, listen to the music and that's it.
I took some mobile phone video but I dont know how to work the youtube thing so I will have to leave it to my pet IT slave (MJEB) to do it when I get back. Meanwhile, I'll post some more pics and such as I go visit some more rock-out places.
Howdy Folks. The next newsletter is just about to go out, in the next day or so, and having discovered the super secret nifty features of unlisted Youtube vids, I am going to post a bunch of stuff from the Stormcellar & The Southern Fried BigBand night in the newsletter.
So if ya wanna see it, you're gonna have to sign up...or possibly just visit this site as I'll probably relent and post them here too.
And so it begins.... the best recording times we've had have been playing live on location. The Mangrove Mountain sessions for Spacejunk and the entire Carl's Chair experience were the most fun and best vibe recordings we've had.
Thus, with a new album in the works, once again I have turned to Google, Facebook and all resources digital in order to find a quiet, rural spot for us to spend a week recording.
GC, our illustrious engineer on Carl's Chair says we were just 'bloody lucky' on the last recording. Luck? Ha! (he's right but reality bothers me so I prefer to ignore it). Besides which, we press our luck all the time. Why stop now?
Yep, somewhere in rural New South Wales lurks the right place for us to soak up the vibe and record another album. All we have to do is find it...The Search Commenceth-eth! Be warned...we might wind up near you!
Sometimes the patrons have a good boogie and then...well...here's Freddy after spending the first two sets getting down, opting for a nap!
Howdy folks. We did our first gig at the Riverside Inn last night, in Airds. Cheers to Mona, Judy (Happy Birthday), Chris, Scotty and a special, very quiet whiper-out to Freddy (sshhh! He's sleeping!).
Last night we were joined by Mick Mallouf on bass, who, despite a case of the flu, managed to soldier on and accounted for himself very well. We had a very receptive crowd last night and look forward to being back there again soon.
For all the locals, the Riverside Inn has had a few changes over the last six months to make it more...friendly, as we are given to understand it previously had quite a raucous reputation. Chris looked after us particularly well, with pizza and drinks for the boys, which means we're keen to make a return visit :-)
Mr Wizard is on his way to Japan tomorrow, and given some of the J-players he's found on youtube, is reluctant to take his guitar with him. We're hoping to see some pics and vids from him on the blog during his visit to Osaka and Tokyo, where he will be perusing some of the Roots scene in J-Land.
As a result, we get next weekend off! (YAY!) which means Theo gets a well deserved break, Rosie gets a well deserved break and I get to do some additional household chores! Never fear, we're back on deck by the 3rd of September in Tamworth at the Albert Hotel and then onto the Wickham Park in newcastle, which is always a top night. With a little extra time on my hands this week, I may even get to put some of the additional vids from our recent gigs up on line! Stay tooned!
Yikes it seems to be the ghost of charts past, as Nuevo Retrom having spent a year (more or less) on the Australian Blues/Roots Charts resurfaced again last month at #20, with Carl's Chair finally dropping out after a good 5 month run.
