XI (earth) Pentacle Page

e.v. 2006.09.17

Club BL, Nagoya

"Speak English Or Die" volume 4 was a huge success, actually managing to draw audience members who can speak English!www

The show opened with 'The Garcia' or rather the leader of 'The Garcia' doing covers of Iron Maiden, Alice In Chains and Creedence Clearwater Revival solo on a steel-string acoustic guitar.

BS Entertainment's 'Blasting Rod' was up next after an interlude of DJ Mr.F's selections. 'Blasting Rod made it's third appearance at Club BL in two months. The performance continues to recieve a warm reception ranging from whistles and wolf calls to laughter to artistic critique on tbe entertainment value. The effect is a one-man garage band. All of the major gear was rescued from the garbage or received as a gift. Amp, karaoke echo, guitar wah pedal. Minor equipment like cables, picks and guitar straps, were purchaced for the purpose of the performance. All of the sound goes through the PA with the guitar being played through a mini amp powered by a 9V battery that uses the amp's headphone jack as a line out. A modern approach with old style and equipment.--> Links to the mp3s of the live recording can be found to the right in the Japanese report..

Next up was 'Butter Game'. This group of young Japanese musicians performed a pleasing set of standard jazz numbers including "Route 66" and "Now's The Time". It's nice to see people in their early 20s taking a serious interest in jazz while adding their own modern flair.

We 'discovered' the group playing on the sidewalk in front of Mitsukoshi department store in Sakae (Nagoya) about a month earlier. I stopped on my way home from work to watch them for a while. Thinking they'd be nice for the next "English" event at BL I headed for the subway when none other than Boneidol Takyua, owner of the BL called me to invite me to perform on the 17th of September. When I heard that he was still short on acts to appear I immediately told him about the band I'd just been watching and offerened to go back to talk to them. After I handed the phone off to the group's lovely singer while the rest of the band were finishing up some bebop changes she, in turn, handed off to the group's bassist, apparently the group leader. As it turned out the bassist and Takuya already knew each other.

It wasn't until sound check, however, that I discovered that the group had agreed to perform. It was a real treat. It seemed like some swank jazz club downtown, rather than the aging BL perched atop an enterainment building in nearly suburban Higashiyama. A welcome change in atmosphere.


Bone Idol is the club owner's band. Since the club's manager abruptly announced his departure in August while leaving a blank booking sheet, Bone Idol has been headlining almost every night at the BL. It gives the place a kind of retro atmosphere, as this was the norm about four years ago before the band really got it togther. Upcoming performances in Taiwan and Korea as well as a busy winter schedule in Japan will force the end of the BL as Takyua has elected to put his energy into the band rather than the club and with no reliable manager The BL stands still when Takuya is on the road. It's a real shame, but all things must pass.

Bone Idol is as tight as any band can be. They know their set inside and out, even with frequent tweaking. From the onset they have been trying to mix the dance party atmosphere of Trance with the edgy cool of punk rock. I wouldn't say there's much 'punk' in the sound, but defintely a rock and roll/pop sensibility mixed with the sampling and drum machine base that the live drummer plays over using a fully electronic drum kit. The front three all use standard guitars, Gibson Les Paul Jr., Les Paul and a Fender Jazz Bass, but have fully loaded effects boxes at their feet. Siderman, the lead guitarist is the true rock'n'roller of the group, breaking out double stop Chuck Berry lines among the thumping trance beats. Takuya has really loosened up of late and seems to be having a genuinely good time on stage which is a welcome change to the rock-star posing that had dominated his stage presence just a year or so ago. This is a band that I can honestly say gets better every time I see them. Though, I have very mixed feelings about their use of the signature drum and bass line from Bob Marley and The Wailers' "Positive Vibration" for their member introductions and as the intro to their ska influenced "Paranoid" song.

"Positive Vibration" is one of my favorite songs of all time and I'm always glad to hear the legendary Barret brothers groove, but putting this sample on a long loop for the member introductions reveals, to me, at least, the gap between the legends and the upstarts. They'd do themselves a favor by using a more eccentric sample from, say, Lee Perry or Sly and Robbie (though Lee Perry probably used the Barret brothers, only in a lower fidelity recording situation). I was surprised to learn, however, when talking to the group's electronicist, Phy, that I was the first person to have mentioned recognizing the sample. Perhaps surprised doesn't justify my feeling as much as 'shocked'.
http://www.boneidol.tv

DJ Mr. F kept the audience on their toes between acts spinning everything from Motorhead to abstract breakbeats to Frank Zappa, side by side no less! The breadth of his collection and the apparent utter lack of continuity, however, kept everyone happy and really typified the evening. http://busaichedelic.org/F

X Cups (water)

e.v. 2006.08.19

Club BL, Nagoya

What a fun evening! It reminded me of the 'Kizu' events of yore. Drinking too much seemed to put everyone in good spritis for a change.

'Blasting Rod' played really well. A definite improvement over the first show (which wasn't very bad for a first show) The only real mistake is that it wasn't recorded. So, for anyone who thought they could wait for the mp3 you've learned your lesson. You can't depend on Mr.S to record everything! :-) Look forward to the next Blasting Rod show at BL on September 17th.


'Agit II' was amazing. It was like a "Mr Busaichedelid San" show, only with a plan. These guys should have played 'Kizu' for sure. I highly recommend this group.

Agit II has put up some videos of their performance on YouTube.
Check 'em out.

"Rock History A to Z"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtpJ5EpTrM0

"Rock City Ha Nemuranai 2004"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49FhyGTiG-A


'Lotus Eater' was really nice too. I was into each individual member's contributions to this funky pop group. It was funny when the singer asked why everyone was sitting, the guys in the front all stood up right at the front of the stage, which is less than 20cm high. Suddenly Haruta was looking her audience right in the eye. I don't think that was quite what she had in mind. :-)
http://sound.jp/lotus-eater


'party club' also was very poppy and funky, but put their mountains of effects to good use during spacy interludes. The singer seemed to be the leader of the group.


'Gakusei Jikkenshitu' performed with no monitors. 'party club' had seemed to be having trouble with their monitors as well, but by the time GSJ took the stage the floor monitors were little more than modern sculpture. Ryoko Ono had only a quick runthrough during sound check as she'd been in Hokkaido throughout the rehearsals for this show. Nonetheless she stepped up to the mic and blew her alto like her life depended on it, even stopping for a moment during the hard-core-improv-medley to scream louder than any of the instruments on stage. Apparently she and Hiroki alone had conspired to do this. The band leader, Hiroki Ono has put a link to the one track given to him for approval, so we're going to go ahead and put up a link to the whole show, mp3 and flac. It's a lot tighter than I remembered.

http://homepage3.nifty.com/gsj~

Intro (featuring DJ Sayaka) 6096627 bytes
Dada Ongaku 5717263 bytes
Hard Core Medley (incl. 'Kill The Poor', 'R-Plan', 'HAL2000', 'Kosoku Tornado') 3411860 bytes
onosantalk (chatter in Japanese about drinking more beer) 1487920 bytes
Zeffucho /zef-foo-choh/ 6755060 bytes
Yuyake /yoo-yahkay/ 7870585 bytes
Tsuiteki /tsoo-ee-teh-kee/ 4765989 bytes
Flac Archive


As usual, 'Bone Idol' dished out their fare of Trance and Punk mixed together. The band's leader and owner of Club BL, Takuya, seemed to really be enjoying himself on stage. Earlier in the evening he told me that he'd be closing the club sometime in November. Maybe knowing this was the end of the club lightened his spirits.

Though I've seen the group on numerous occasions, it was my first time to see the group from Rouma's side (bassist). He's really good! His right hand technique is really solid and seemingly effortless. I've also come to realize what a 'Rock'n'roller Siderman is. I talked to him for a while after the first Blasting Rod show and for the first time realized that he was well versed in 60's rock and roll.

http://www.boneidol.tv
DJ Sayaka kept the mood light, but cool, always setting the proper tone for the evening.


Someone was taking pictures, if anyone has any photos, I'd like to see them.