Thursday 24 April 2014

Day 3, Tuesday – ZZ Bar, Shinbashi 2/7/13


7:42am – I feel that I conquered at least 3/8ths of the hotel lobby’s toilet today. There are 8 buttons on the shitter and I worked out what 3 of them do. Great success.

9:35am – This is certainly a first for me. Waking up early to rehearse for a musician is almost an unspoken taboo. You just don’t do it. On a positive note the rehearsal studio was absolutely amazing. The rigs were new & clean, the lights were mesmerizing and even the microphones smelt minty fresh.

3:58pm – On the train to Shinbashi. Watched an advert for vacuum cleaners with driving lights. Fair enough I thought. Nighttime hygiene must be a thing over here.

4:23pm – Sound check at ZZ Bar. Just heard the best cover of a Led Zeppelin song over the PA by a band called ‘Chor’

6:14pm – Dinner & Beer on the street outside ‘Family Mart’ (as there seems to be no benches or places to sit and eat in Tokyo). The beer that I bought said ‘Style Free’ displayed on the can. I thought to myself, ‘as a man with little style and or dignity, this could very well be the beer for me’. It turned out to be ‘Alcohol Free’. I shan’t be fooled again by that cheap trick, thank you.

8:30pm – The band before us was really cool, a little cold and clinical, but still very cool. The male guitarist and singer from this 3 piece wore more make up than most of the ladies I have seen so far in Tokyo. After a beer (or 7…plus half a bottle of whisky that the others didn’t know I was packing) he seemed to look more and more like a women and less like a man. He was starting to look attractive. Hopefully this is just the beer talking and his androgynous ways and that I wouldn’t have to look at myself in the mirror the next day and seriously rethink some things regarding my own sexuality. Wait and see I suppose.

9:09pm – Our set was OK, not great but not terrible (probably could have been better with some sobriety on my behalf, but who’s pointing the finger here?). During our set we had some guests join us on stage. It was a little chaotic, but fun nonetheless. It was awesome to meet Kevin’s Japanese friends that either had come out to support us or play on stage with us. They were all a top bunch of blokes. Mr Ohto sang a Beatles song with us and Mr Kazo & Mr Makoto played bass & double bass on yet another cover (yep…you guessed it) Smoke on the Water. It seems to be a cult classic over here. Maybe they just haven’t heard it enough like we have in Australia. I shall have to introduce this riff to as many music stores whilst I’m over here and gauge the response from the apathetic cashiers. Hey, it’s all in the name of cultural diversity.

9:50pm – We all enjoyed a few ales and tried this thing called ‘Hoppy’. We thought it was just a different type of beer, but it also was mixed with sake and caught up with us pretty quickly.

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