Japan Wrap-Up!

Well, as we've now been home for awhile, Ben and I have had time to decompress and reflect on such a wonderful journey. Our highlights in Tokyo were the radio, TV and CD release party performances. We made many friends along the way that were very gracious, like the two Brothers (Ryuta & Nobuyoshi) who own the Gravity Bar. I wish them the best of success! If you ever find yourself in Shinjuku, look up the Gravity Bar and rock out with these guys. The younger of the two brothers, Nobuyoshi is a great guitarist and guitar collector, and has some great stuff on display.
Gravity Bar Site | Ryuta's Myspace | Nobuyoshi's Myspace

Our trip ended in Osaka where our performances at the Hard Rock Cafe and Disk Pier (in-store event) were both great successes! Lots of autograph signing and photo op's made us and our music feel welcome here. I thank all the Whitesnake fans that came out to support a new act like Flametal.

Like I said, we made a lot of friends on this trip and without them and their interest in this new project, none of this would have been possible. Those of you know who you are! DOMO ARIGATO!!!

There are so many great photos. I will post a few more pics here, but the rest will be on a thumbnails page, complete with descriptions. A 'photo blog', if you will!

We ended the trip in Osaka. There are now detailed captions for all pics!


>>> Go to the Tokyo AND Osaka Pictures! <<<

Sayonara!
-UD

Hittin' home runs in Tokyo!

Here's our new video for "ANDA JALEO", which MTV Japan WILL BE AIRING!!!! F'n Cool!

Hittin' home runs in Tokyo!

There are too many pics
to post here! you'll soon find a few below, but click HERE
for a thumbnail page of Tokyo Pics.

Radio:
We met with INTER-FM in Tokyo, and 2 other radio stations in Sendai. The various
program directors and DJ's and managers liked us right away and started playing
Flametal in rotation after meeting with them. Most of our performances were
taped to be played later, but FM3 in Sendai- a traditionally more conservative
radio station had us Live on the air! This is something I've never seen before,
probably because I'm from America where the Radio waves (and everything else)
are controlled by the man. Radio DJ's in Japan can actually play the music they
want to! One interesting fact is that there are only THREE FM radio stations
that cover all of Tokyo. 2 of them play Japanese Pop; the other (Inter Fm) plays
everything else. Flametal is now on air in Japan!

Housing:
We stayed in a little apartment in Shinjuku. This area absolutly ROCKS! A 5
min walk from the train station, our lil area had everything we needed- Tully's
coffee, excellent Japanese food, and american burger joint/cafe, McDonalds (I
admit to having a breakfast sandwich there), Shinjuku Records (where we scored
some wicked DVD Bootlegs), and our new favorite place to drink: The Gravity
Bar.

Cd Release Party:

Ok- taking a blog break!
Can't type. I killed too many brain cells last night (St. Patties Day). Peep
the Tokyo Pics in the meantime, or check the more updated blog at flametaljp.com Some of the pics are blurry- sorry!

Sapporo - Day 3

So we stayed at the host house for an extra day for rest and acclimation. Upstairs in my room I felt like back in my childhood, with parents and activity going on downstairs. It was very homey and comfortable. With no gigs that day, the whole family and friends crew hung out at the house and drank Asahi and jammed into the night. I was sad saying goodbye to our host family. Here's some pics.

PS. I should have a FOOD section of the blog EVERY DAY! I LOVE Japanese food! Once I figure how to organise my thoughts I'll post the goods.
This day alone:
Nato- fermented Soybeans. Most Japanese folks don't even touch this. I ate 2 servings. No one else had any.
Ramen and Gyoza. I love ramen, and had perhaps the best Gyoza (japanese Potstickers) EVER.
Shabu Shabu. Swish the raw meat in the vegetable water until cooked much like meat fondue. 3 dipping sauces!

Day 4... 4 trains to Tokyo! 12 Hours of travel. Weekly apartment in the Shinjuku-ko area of Tokyo. Gonna go find coffee and explore until todays obligations

Sapporo - Day 2

Pics below! Long Post!
We're still tired from the flight. Ben's trying to kick this flu but the travel and TIGHT schedule hasn't made it easy. We are staying in a suburb of Sapporo, with a fellow named Yoshi, who volunteered his home (complete with mom and dad) as a host family for us to stay with. His lovely mom prepeared us a fresh american breakfast before our long day.

Performances Today:

* FM Apple radio show with Yoko
* Soundcheck @ Club Colony
* HMV In-store Appearance
* Headlining Club Gig @ Colony

It's a 1 hour drive into town. It's the only time I have to create our backing disc- editing some drums; mixing levels; balancing tracks. So I awaken my laptop from sleep and try to do as much ProTooling in the car for as long as my battery will allow. I must create a 20min show disk and a 45min disc. We arrive at the Radio Station as the first disc is almost done burning.

The radio show went great. Interviews and performances. The host Yoko is very personable and happy which made it easy for us there. She's a great on-air personality.

Thanks to DJ Yoko and program director Ms. Mori.

Recording at the FM Apple studio.

We've pretty much got it down now- tell the band story and a little personal history relating to music, then set up our gear. We've been doing the radio shows without backing tracks- just a Guitar/Bass duet. Using the little Eden amps as direct boxes makes it quick and easy to get good sound- no fuss. This time we played "The Elder" from our CD, and then "Yamoto", the title track from Starblazers. The Japanese go NUTZ for that tune! Here the version we learned HERE on YouTube™.

Colony.
Off to the venue- a small club inside of an office building. Lots of places seem to be like that here- you can't judge from the outside. Soundcheck was our first time practicing to our backing tracks through a system. So far, so good. Off to HMV, the big music superstore (it's like a Virgin Megastore).

Eden amp in Colony. Small and Powerful. Thanks for making our life easier.

HMV is in a mall. Load in was us and our crew carrying guitars and such past all the stores, up and down escalators. Soundcheck, lunch (Katsu is THE BOMB!), then a 20min in-store appearance with backing tracks, and "Yamoto" as our finalé. Autograph signing and picture op's followed. All good! The store had an excellent selection of music. While performing I was staring at cd's by my bass hero's Jaco Pastorius and Richard Bona for inspiration. While browsing the store I came across CD's I've played on- Whitesnake; Christina A; Flametal. I also came across lots of California Hip-hop love which included my homies Lyrics Born, Crown City Rockers and Pigeon John. I purchased a 15 CD Django Reinhardt collection for about $15! Someone must have had the price wrong!

HMV Store Font

Myself and Ben

The Legions of fans

HOURS to kill before the midnight show at the Colony. We walked around the BIG ASS electronics store before heading to a bar: Jersey Irish Bar. It was a rock bar with an impressive collection of albums lining the walls. The owner had me sign a Whitesnake Album from 1980! I was only 5 then. With time to kill I got a little sauced.

Jersey Bar

We rocked the show. The other bands were all good- energetic and loud, but all sounded the same- Good Charlotte meets Hoobastank. I liked the drummer from Sons of the New School. They all had cool hair, black button down shirts and thin red neckties. They ALL jummped and moved around A LOT!

KEEP IT LOUUUD event @ Colony

From Backstage

Flametal booth with VJ Aki and Yoshi

We experienced our first technical difficulty when it was our turn. The lights on our amps all stayed lit- warning lights and all! Before switching to the Bass amp they had there to use as a backup, I tryed again to get sound anyways and it worked. Ben wasn't so lucky, as his rig had deamons too. The guitar kept shutting off. I made sure it was plugged into the 4ohm (not 16ohm) input on the cab. We'll have to investigate more to isolate the problem. I ended up covering for Ben with a distorted bass solo that blended perfectly into the first song once he was ready.
We gotta pace it though- his voice is getting shot from singing in a metal fashion so soon after being sick.

Well after a long day and even longer night, we finally got back "home" to Yoshi's house. We ended up cancelling the travel and show for tonight in Tokyo so Ben could rest his voice. He was hurtin a little last night, but I'm sure he'll be fine given some much needed rest. Off to Tokyo in the morning- on the Bullet train! Ciao!
-Uriah