When ever I experience turbulence on a plane I like to picture myself in my family’s explorer driving out to the point of Plymouth beach. I imagine that the sound of the engines is instead the constant crashing of waves and the throttling side to side and up and down is just the wheels of the SUV trudging over the bumpy gravel. We are currently flying to Los Angles from Tokyo. It is bumpy as all hell. Not to mention, the jet is massive. It has to be the largest one I have ever been on. To accentuate the vigorous jostling of the pacific winds I have a troupe of teenage girls (all members of Tokyo’s Tinkle Squad Dance Team) squealing with fright. There has to be well over 50 of em. My earplugs work well, but not well enough to quell the screeches omitted from Japanese girls.
With the help of Dr. Emmitt Brown, Rufus from Bill and Ted’s or the rotation of the earth in conjunction with modern day time zones we will arrive at our destination earlier than which we left.
Depart Wednesday March 29, 2006 3:00pm
Arrive Wednesday March 29, 2006 8:00am
Technology!
I am looking forward to getting back to the states. It’ll be nice to sleep in a bed that accommodates my height. I am also looking forward to playing the Rumble with Harris and seeing Ben Folds and Regina Spektor in the upcoming weeks. I play a show with Waking Ashland in Cali tomorrow and head back to MA with Ryan on Friday. I don’t know what my plans are in regards to making a living, hopefully it involves something with flexible hours and extended leaves for touring. I am toying with the idea of setting up an LLC for myself so I can have a way to afford medical insurance. As silly as it sounds I may go to school for Japanese. Translators are needed and I enjoy the culture and lifestyle of Japan. The people at Fabtone commented on how my demeanor resembles that of a Japanese person. So maybe I’ll learn Japanese and move to Tokyo to work for Fabtone as a translator for bands! In my down time maybe I’ll be a session drummer or a fill in drummer for bands coming to Japan.
Speaking of bands coming to Japan… While checking in our luggage we bumped into another band from the states. They were backing up a solo artist by the name of Crystal Myers. It turns out I had one of the guys before in Weymouth. He also plays in a band called The Ease that was formally named Jordan’s Wake from Quincy, MA! When I was younger I helped finish up an album of theirs and became friends with the lead singer Luke Sheets. Shortly after finishing the record they moved to Nashville in hopes of growing and doing the band thing full time. Small world. I only think how many missed connections we are faced with every day. I am slowly learning that I should take time to talk to more strangers only to find out that we have more things in common than we know.
I’ll be sure to chronicle most of the trip when I get back. I have put most of the pictures I took up on my site, but will take the time to properly tag them and organize them by city. I’ll make the most of the trip from LAX to TF Green Friday.
Highlights of the past 24 hours that make no sense:
Some dude gave all of the members of Waking Ashland stylish designer underwear (Mine has daisies on it and I must say they are quite comfortable).
We played an in store at Tower Records in Nagoya. Tickets were included in 200 copies of the EP for a chance to shake hands with us and the other bands on the United tour. A couple girls cried they were so happy to meet us. And by girls I mean women… young adults in their 20’s.
I just saw Liv Tyler in a coffee commercial on tv.
I saw a green laser beam shooting out of what the Eiffel tower would look like if it was made 10 years in the future.
I went to the best bar in the world called Heaven’s Door. They serve tacos and nachos while playing albums. And by albums I mean vinyl… Neil Young, Dylan, Grateful Dead, The Band, etc. The music was at just the right volume, a vintage Gibson Melody Maker hung on the wall along with butt loads of Rolling Stone paraphernalia, everything was spotless, the lighting was perfect and the place fit probably 30 people max.
A couple other things that I am too tired to write about.
Tomorrow we go back to Tokyo for an in-store then head north to Hirosaki where we will spend two nights in a Buddhist temple with hot springs. I can not wait.
So yes, I am currently in Japan.
Things I like about Japan:
High speed internet
Beautiful girls everywhere
Heated toilet seats
Best awesome food
Nice people with manners
Clean cities
Appreciative fans
Did I mention beautiful girls?
Amazing monitor mixes on stage
Japanese TV
Misspelled english words everywhere
Karaoke bar food fights
Being able to stand anywhere in a club and have a clear view of the stage
Things I don’t like about Japan:
Having to duck all the time going through doors
Not being able to use urinals cause they are too low
The fact that I am not currently living here
The half day difference between home and Japan
The pros far outweigh the cons. Things have been great. So far we have played the two largest cities (Tokyo and Osaka) Tonight we play the third largest: Nagoya. Everyone at Fabtone Records is super nice and very helpful. The crowds have been huge and very attentive. Last night in Osaka we spent more time signing autographs and taking pictures then we did playing. It’s soooo surreal, yet cute having girls come up to us with their lips and hands shaking asking for our autographs. I’m waiting for someone to pass out with nervousness, but I’ll settle for puking. Even the dudes that come to the show are so appreciative and are honored to talk to us. I am not looking forward to going back to the states and playing shows in front of pretentious pricks and girls who just think I want to have sex with them if I talk to them. People actually enjoy music here! No one is too cool for school. The local bands that we have been playing with have been exceptionally good. They all sound like bands such as Further Seems Forever and Taking Back Sunday, but do a better job performing then their american counterparts/role models.
Things have been super hectic between traveling, playing shows, and doing radio interviews that we have not had much time to sight-see. I am still under the weather and actually pulled a muscle in my chest from coughing so much. Last night in Osaka after the show was our first time to hang out with the other bands (Holiday with Maggie from Sweden, My Awesome Compilation from the UK, and Starboard from Tokyo). We all went to an after party at a Karaoke bar which escalated into a food fight. Humor crossed international boundaries that night. I learned that the Japanese nor the Swedes can handle their liquor, but the Brits are a force to be reckoned with. Tonight we play a sold out show at Nagoya (in a few hours), I am gonna catch some shut eye before we go on stage. I will write more tomorrow, for we only have an instore and we will have some down time.
Ummm… I don’t think I want to go back to the states.
After years of looking at Asia on maps and globes I am finally on my way. We are currently cruising over the Bering Sea and just crossed the international date line. I’m in the future! We flew out of Houston about 8 hours ago and still have a little under 5 hours till we land in Japan. We flew over the Rockies and up the Canadian coast to Alaska. For a while we were flying fairly low and I was able to catch a peak of the mountains and coastline. We’ve hit a substantial amount of turbulence forcing us to go up above the cloud cover for most of the trip. The four of us our spread out over 6 seats (two isle, two window) so we have plenty of room to stretch our legs.
I guess it’s been a while since I’ve been on an airplane. For the first time I am experiencing in-demand tv, radio, and video games all on the back of the chair in front of me. There are also monitors throughout the cabin displaying our position in real time along with speed, elevation, outside temp (-59F!!!) expected arrival, etc… Boy don’t I feel like Mr. Fancy Pants. There still are no improvements in having the sound of the toilet flushing not make me feel like I’m going to get sucked down the drain along with my piss. Health wise I still have a nasty cough along with nastier phlegm, but am feeling much much better. I managed to finish snagging some new tunes from Jose and Jonathan last night. Awesome jams include: Nada Surf, Chicago, Travis, Radish, Semisonic.
By the time we get in it’ll be 3pm Japan time (midnight the day before back at home) I was complaining about Central time zone messing me up, I’m gonna be screwed. I have a feeling I’m going to be very familiar with late night Japanese shows. As soon as we land we’ll be jumping on a bullet train to get to the other side of Tokyo. I can not wait to step foot on this exotic island we call Japan. Hopefully getting into the country will be as easy as it was getting out. The screen process took about one whole minute and I was able to carry on my cymbals without any inspection which was a surprise to everyone. Nate mentioned that when he traveled over to Europe with Kelpie their drummer had a hard time with security inspecting his case.
