First Japanese pics

Hmm, these are the first pics from my Japanese trip. It is some pics from two shows in Tokyo with local Japanese noise / post-rock / punk / hardcore bands. It was great !!

First look at some pics of Oh my God You've Gone:

or this one:


I bet you wish you were there too...

Japan noise

OK, I've not uploaded my Japanese pictures yet (hmm, maybe you don't care..).

Look at this gig video of the Japanese noise band Oh My God You've Gone:

I saw them at Tokyo Antiknock August 9. They're weird (but that's great).

The bassist really looks like a little girl. Her bass is almost bigger than herself, but don't dare to laugh, you should see her using it !! Dressed in white, her hair mostly covering her face, don't you think she looks a bit like Sadako ? Sorry no offense meant.

Like it ? OK, this one is even better:

Some news

Hmm, I haven't uploaded my pics from Japan yet, hope I will be able to do that before end of Week-end (this is the wedding of one of my best friends today...).

However, nice prospects for the upcoming months:

• Vorkreist + Blacklodge + Horna at Paris Le Nouveau Casino on September 8.


• Gallhammer in London on September 23.


• Gorgoroth with Akrhon Infaustus in Paris Locomotive on November 20.


• Unleashed in Paris Elysée Montmartre on December 2.

By the way, I was at the Rock en Seine Saint Cloud festival yesterday, and it was cool (and no rain, even if there was some mud). Best bands were (for me): Dinosaur Jr., Mogwai, The Hives, Emilie Simon, and UNKLE. Sorry, Arcade Fire was crap for me. As you can see I'm not only listening to metal and hardcore ;-)

Back from Japan

Well I'm just back from Japan. It has been one of the most extraordinary travel I ever did !! Visited Tokyo - and I attended to 2 underground gigs there, too ;-), Nikko, Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka (a bit).
I'm going to take the train to visit my family for a few days today, so expect more about that (and LOT of pictures about my travel) end of next week.

He he !!

First day in Tokyo

Well it has no been dificult. Took the plane at 11:45 on Friday, and arrived in Tokyo at 6:50 next day (direct flight).
Finding the hotel in Shinjuku has been less difficult than expected, even zith the fact than some directions are only in Japanese kanji.
Some first impressions:

• people here really wear Japanese traditional clothes (sometimes)


• there are not waste bins anywhere, but the streets are always pristinely clean


• there are very few tourists here


• a lot of homeless people in the streets (well no more than in Paris), but never begging for anything...


• hot and damp here


• energizing drinks in vending machines anyzhere, cheap


• people are very friendly

Some Japanese metal bands

Here is a list of Japanese Black / Death metal bands I will (sadly) not see in Japan in a few days. August has never been the best time for gigs (except for festivals, of course):

• Gallhammer, a all-female black metal band, formed in 2003. Judging by the samples on their myspace page, they seem to be great. Hmm, they will your in Europe beginning on September, may be I will go to see them in London on Sept. 23 with Unearthly Trance and Ramesses...

• Vomit Remnants, a black metal band, formed in 1997.

• Church of Misery, another metal band from Tokyo.


• Sigh, said as one of the first Japanese Black Metal bands

• Sabbat, another black metal band.

Appart from the fact that I will be there in August, the difficulty in Japan seems to find the venues. It seems to be difficult even for Japanese, as the Japanese addressing system is not based on streets, but rather on city districts and blocks. Hence venues put little maps to make it easier to find them. The only problem is that they are almost always written in Kanji...

And now folks, off for Japan !! I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Tokyo, returning to French August showers in approx. 2 weeks.

Mata ato de

Harry Potter will not make it

No, this has nothing to do with the ending of the book. I have just finished the Deathly Hallows yesterday evening, so I will not have to bring it with me in Japan (600 pages heavy hard cover). The book is good, but very, very, ... very dark (don't take this as a hint about the ending).



Instead, I might be able to take Battle Royale with me on the plane Friday. hmmm, hearing Polysics, or even maybe some Black or Death Metal (at moderate volume, OK, I care for my ears, and for those of the people around me) in the plane while reading about teenagers planning traps to kill each other in a remote island... That's grand !!!


And now, something completely different: the One Note Show of the White Stripes during their U.S. and Canada Tour (no, no, they did not ask for money for that, they just did that for fun) .

Just after the (shortest ever) show, people yell: One more Note !!!
They're Mental (he would have said).
A pity I could not see them in Paris in June. That would have been the second time (first was brilliant), but this was colliding with the last rehearsal for a play I was in.