Hey everyone,
Brendan here. Just wanted to fill you all in on what all happened in Japan. If you’ve been reading our twitters, you know that we had the time of our lives and a lot of us are claiming that it was the ‘best tour ever’. It’s probably hard for you imagine through 140 characters which it was so much fun… but I’m going to go through a just tell you a bit more about what went on!
6月4日（木）- Flew out of Newark, NJ. A 14 hour flight of delicious airline food, tons of in-flight movies and sleep suppositories (for the other bands, not us (-; ) We waited at the airport and hotel for all of the bands to arrive slowly, but surely. Once everyone got there, we discovered our Kimonos and began to run around the hotel with Kimonos and being as loud as us stupid American’s could possibly be. To get us to calm down they thought it would be a good idea to bring us out to an Americanized bar, so we could get acclimated to the culture at a slower rate. This was the beginning of everyone realizing that everyone was just gonna do what they wanted to do and not follow orders. Some of us went to sushi, some went out and walked around, some went to the American bar, but they were rowdy and disorderly. The first night already started off with a bang, Omar killing cockroaches with screw drivers in the hotel room, breaking onto the roof of the hotel in Narita to hang out. We already knew it was going to be an incredible trip.
Waiting for the bus with There For Tomorrow on the first day.
6月5日（金） - After an insane night, we had to wake up at 7:30 to be in the lobby at 8:00 to drive 9 hours to Osaka. We stopped literally every 30 minutes so that the drives could change and we could be loud and laugh at and try the strange foods that we found at each rest stop. I specifically remember getting the seaweed wrap and being blown away. It was so delicious, but apparently it’s weird to pour shoyu (or soy sauce) on everything as much as we do here in America, so it was a difficult task every time. For half the ride, Nick HTL, Jay TFT and I sat up front taking pictures and videos of everything and getting very excited every time we saw a motorcyclist with a flu mask on.
When we finally arrived in Osaka, there wasn’t a minute spared, we went straight to press for everyone to do interviews and sign hundreds of posters. The interview was with GAZZER magazine and they were very nice, the girl who interviewed us spoke the best English of anyone I met in Japan so that made it easy.
Next on the agenda was our first of many bowling tournaments with fans! It was so much fun. We divided the teams up into what you did in each band… a singer team, a guitar player 1 and 2 team, bass player team, drummer team, you get the idea. The guitar player team that I was on consisted of me, Kevin HTL, Jimmie EA, Andy TFT (not a guitar player, but still a heck of a bowler) Kayo and Kaoru. We came in second place to the cheating drummers, but that’s ok because we knew we’d get them next time, cheaters never win and everyone knows drummers never win too.
My bowling team was the best… we even used basketballs instead of bowling balls. We’re THAT good.
Immediately after bowling, we walked to the Rock Rock bar. More insanity went on there… people yelling out for Pantera and Minor Threat requests, Japanese people giving money to George for no apparent reason, our pictures being taken and put on the wall next to Metallica and Pantera. I guess we just looked that metal. In any event, things progressively got more insane including, Matt, Josh and Omar getting their pictures taken in coffins at a Japanese goth bar and people wrestling in the hotel lobby.
Random Japanese dudes with George.
I was pissed that they weren’t playing Pantera yet, that was the face that got the DJ to finally do it.
Proof, our picture and Hit The Lights picture up next to Pantera and Metallica!
6月6日（土）- First show in Osaka. We walked to the venue and began our soundcheck. The venue was really cool, crazy checkered floors, great sound and in a pretty cool area. The kids were incredible, so nice and giving us presents and everything. We had some crazy Japanese delicacy of rice goo balls and soy sauce powder and paste, it was pretty delicious and sweet once you got over the fact that it was soy sauce. George, Jd and I had our first taste of Udon and Soba noodles, they were delicious. The best part (and the thing I miss most about Japan) was the Matcha, or powdered green tea. Afterwards, we went to the Grocery store and sampled the exotic fruits of the land. George and I ate these weird fruits that I’ve never seen and may never see again, but it was incredible. We also discovered and were baffled by the fact that cantaloupe cost like 6,000 yen, or 60 dollars (we even saw some later in the trip that were over 300 dollars, should have snagged the 60 dollar bargain cantaloupe while we could). It was so expensive, Grapes were about 20 dollars a bunch or more, it was a mind-boggling experience.
Once we got to the show and it was packed we were stoked. The opening band was ‘Good 4 Nothing’, our good friends and label mates. We played with them last time were in Japan and they were just as good as we remembered! You need to check them out!
After TFT and EA, we went on… I was so nervous that they wouldn’t know who we were and it was be awkward but kids went insane! I couldn’t believe how much fun it was. They knew every word to every song and were singing louder than I could have imagined. It was such a fun night. Afterwards, we hung out with kids and took pictures and just had an all around good time. Also, our good friends in Oreska band even came out and hung out. It was great to see them. It had been so long! Thanks to Osaka for showing us such a good time.
6月7日（日）- Another early day. We had to wake up at 6 am after the show in order to be up for our drive to Kyoto. It was an interesting day. Kick Rock Invasion set up a day of hanging out and sight seeing with kids. We picked them up and each one of us sat with a fan and got to hang out and learn some Japanese and we taught them a little bit of English while on our way to the Kiyomizu Temple. We got to the temple and it was really cool. Some really cool old Buddhist structures with some very spiritual areas. There were different stations along our walk where you could drink for a fountain to enjoy a long and healthy life, pour smoke over your head to make you smarter, or even just look out at the beautiful view of Kyoto city from the temple. It was a very cool experience. We also tried hundreds of samples of different green teas and rice pastries. They were all really delicious! We also sampled some oshinko and pickled radishes… pretty much everything we could. Little did we know, we were headed for some boxed lunch at the Heian Shrine. We had a good time and Josh learned phrases like ‘kekkon shite’ (that’s probably not how you spell it) but apparently it means ‘please marry me’, and later was married to our tour guide.
On the bus ride, Dave taught us how to play Cee-lo. This is a gambling game and I am not into gambling, but for 10 yen I think it was ok. We played for hours and eventually got some of the fans involved. One guy was a soldier for Japan in Iraqi Freedom and George, Dave and I all won some Iraqi money, that was pretty insane.
The tour guide that Josh ended up marrying.
After the Sightseeing, we headed to the venue. It was another really cool venue, TINY backstage but a really fun place. Before the show, A bunch of the bands went to eat some dinner and just generally hang out. We had such a good time, making the most of the little down time we had. We saw some babies that were getting whiplash by their mothers, ate more weird snacks, discovered that taxi doors don’t have to be closed, they close automatically, goooood times. The 2 opening Japanese bands were so good, New Strike Zipper and Secret Seven Line. Make sure to check them out! The girls taught us a good phrase that we used quite frequently which was ‘DANDA KAY’ that’s probably not how you spell it at all, but it mean’s ‘too much’ and you wag your finger and say it to people. Apparently some comedian said it and it’s a weird thing to say but it was hilarious to people whenever we did.
This show was even more fun than the last. We headlined this show and we weren’t sure what to expect, but it was even better than the night before. We played a few extra songs and really just had fun with it. My favorite part was probably when Kevin from HTL slipped and attempted to stage dive, but really it looked like he was just laying down and taking a nap on the crowd while Shane went up and sang during ‘Drop The Girl’.
After the show we headed back to our hotel. This was no ordinary hotel. We stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel. Take your shoes off at the front door and replace them with slippers, wearing kimonos, sweet gardens, group showers with hot tubs, paper and wood windows and bowing until your head falls off.
6月8日（月）- The next morning we had a photoshoot lined up in the hotel. Each band could choose where they wanted to do it and what to wear. Of course, we decided to do it in Kimonos and in the Japanese garden. It was one of the funniest/funnest/most comfortable photo shoots we ever did.
We also had a delicious Japanese lunch at the hotel. There were so many strange foods that us vegan and vegetarians couldn’t eat, but some of it that we could was very delicious: Some strange vegetables, and weird tofu balls and of course rice. The lady who served us was very funny, we hung out with her a bit and she told us that she played saxophone and I told her to join a ska band… and of course she did.
Next thing was an in-store for Tower Records in Nagoya. We pulled up and it turned out to be an out-store. We played on the street in a busy intersection of Nagoya. It was pretty cool to have so many people just walking up to check out what was going on and listen to us play.
After the show we went to our second bowling tournament. We bowled very strangely this time, we had to do one frame each. My team consisted of Nick HTL, Dennis EA, and JD. It was some weird wild stuff , we didn’t win. Oh yeah we came in second to last place. This one frame thing was not working in our favor, so we all left and let one of the other teams win… because we knew that it didn’t matter. We headed over to a sweet restaurant that had everything American in it. Things got crazy, Tigger’s got broken and things got stolen, but it was a really fun time. I ate tons of French fries and pasta and people ate lots of pizza. It was a nutty time. Another nutty thing about it was the 5 dollars for every drink menu. So any alcoholic beverage was 5 dollars, but also for me, water was 5 dollars… what a bummer, but it didn’t matter, we had a really great time. The cab ride home was one of the funniest cab rides of my life. Jay and George didn’t realize that the original swastika was an eastern symbol and that on the GPS it was indicating temples. They couldn’t stop laughing and trying to ask the cab driver what it meant. George also kept asking him about these Toyotas and telling him that he was in the market for one and asking for advice. I guess you would have had to be there.. but it was a great time.
That night was our last night in the traditional Japanese hotel. Of course everyone had to get crazy for the last night. People were diving into the hot tub and running around the hotel naked with just kimonos on. It was something I never wished to see, but it happens and that’s all that you have to know. It was one of the weirdest/funniest nights I’ve experienced in my life. Onnnnllly in Japan.
6月9日（火）- This was our drive day to Tokyo. We were all insanely tired and pulled the shade’s down so we could sleep. Apparently it was a bad idea because we missed out on seeing Mt. Fuji at a rare time when the clouds weren’t blocking it! Damn you shades and sleep!
We arrived in Tokyo at a Music School in Shibuya to play for them. It was a very strange experience. Asian Ryan Seacrest was our host and he was very animated and crazy. So we played the show and he introduced us and it was very awkward because these kids had no idea who we were. Afterwards we had a question and answer section. Each band had to go up and get asked questions. We got such weird questions. None were as weird as the question they asked Omar: ‘are you pregnant?’ or the question they asked HTL ‘what’s your favorite Japanese food?’ Kevin said ‘Pocky’. Everyone was mystified, they had NO idea what it was…. Until the translator when up and said ‘Pockey’… just changed the pronunciation by a little bit and they all knew who it was. It was pretty hilarious.
Seacrest, out!
After the music school we found out that Max had to be quarantined for Swine Flu. The embassy called and said that because he decided to pick his own seat on the flight and not sit with us, he had chosen to sit near a guy with Swine Flu. Since it had been 5 days and he needed to be quarantined for 7, he had to sit in the hotel for the next 2 days. ONLY MAX.
So after the show we were to go to sleep, but none of us were tired so we walked around Shinjuku and tried to find places to eat like Denny’s and wherever else. Eventually we ended up in the lobby having deep conversations about life and the existence of higher beings, it was one of my least expected things, but it was a very interesting conversation to have.
6月10日（水）- This was our first day off of the tour and we were all really stoked for it. George, Jd and I got up early and walked to the Shinjuku station to take the train to Harajuku. It was one of the most confusing things ever. We were told the Green Line… but there was like 4 and they were all different shades of green. Finally we figured it out and made our way to Harajuku to spend all of our Yen. We got obsessed with these sweet vintage shops and wanted to buy so many old Van Halen and Poison shirts. Either way we had a great time and spent lots of time just checking out one of my favorite areas.
Japanese cell phones get the best reception and have the best LOST games. Too bad I can’t read a word of it.
I showed this other people in Japan and they didn’t see anything wrong with it.
After we got back, we headed over to bowling. It seemed like it was the longest walk of our lives, but in reality it was just the slowest walk of our lives. We kept losing people. I’m not sure how, but we lost Josh and Dennis from Every Avenue. Somehow they found their way to the bowling alley from like 3 miles away by walking and just asking for ‘bowling’ in a country they couldn’t speak the language. Insanity. Either way, somehow our bowling team ended up being the same and we lost YET AGAIN. How does that happen? We chose our teams by chance from a hat and it somehow becomes the same exact team. It’s fate. We should have won, but I guess fate doesn’t work the same way in Japan.
After bowling everyone went their separate ways and I lost the rest of the group, but I stayed at the bowling alley to play some ping-pong. I’m not sure how many people know that, but it’s my favorite sport ever. I thought that since they have ping pong in just random bars that people would be good at it… I was wrong! Either way it was still lots of fun. On the way back we saw a LOVE park statue, that they must have stolen from Philadelphia. What a bunch of unoriginal bastards. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel and got more in-depth conversations about life. Our Beyond the Blue Philosophy club meeting #2.
6月11日（木）- This was the second day that we had a bit of time off. It was a great day to get up and head back over to Harajuku. On the way over we decided to stop at Natural Lawson’s for some snacks. Only to find Dave HTL inside and had him join us on our way to Harajuku. We had an awesome day. We got some Mexican food. We picked up some vintage shirts, and tons of strange foods, as usual. The best part of it all was the cee-lo game that we played with a shopkeeper. Dave noticed that she had 3 dice and offered to play. We put in some yen at first and then went on to put in strange things. I put in an American dollar, she put in these 80’s Ozzy Osbourne Cards and I don’t even know what else went in, but Jd ended up winning and getting a discount on his shirt and I ended up with the Ozzy cards some how. It was definitely something we won’t forget, a pretty cool story.
We got back to the hotel just in time to leave for our in-store performance at HMV. This was the coolest HMV ever. We were up on the 12th floor and had a view of the entire city of Tokyo. It was really cool to play in such an awesome spot. This kids were really cool as well and we had an awesome reaction from the crowd. We had a contest to see who could rock out the hardest at an acoustic show. I’m pretty sure Omar won with his growl and head banging… I ALMOST rocked out but my strap fell off and I wasn’t about to rock out with no strap, toooo risky, clearly Omar is way more badass than me.
After the show we went to a sweet English pub and I almost forgot that I was in Japan for a few minutes… But then I came back to my senses. Good times with Andy and Christian TFT and Kevin and Dave HTL.
6月12日（金）- First Tokyo show! At 11:30 we left for Eggman, which is the same venue that we played 3 years ago with Good 4 Nothing when we last came to Japan. It brought back a lot of good memories. We ended up walking around and getting some delicious tofu burgers. Of course we had to head back to Harajuku. I think it’s my favorite place in Japan. Maybe that’s lame but I think it’s pretty sweet. This time we went to Kiddy Land to get some sweet gifts for the folks back home. They always have the weirdest things in there, so that’s what I did! Kevin, Nate, Jd and I got stopped to take some model photos because we’re so darn good looking. Then these other dudes kept asking if we were professional models… clearly they have never seen models before. After spending more money in Harajuku, we headed back to the show. We had a really good time. The show was great and the kids were awesome yet again… they really know how to have fun here in Japan. One of the most fun shows I’ve ever played. After the show we hung out outside and almost got the cops called so we had to leave very quickly.
After the show, Dave, Shane, Kevin and I went back to the HUB. We couldn’t resist it’s English charm. We stayed out way too late and on the way back we met a Lizard. We named the lizard ‘sun-gee’ which apparently means 3-o’clock. I thought this was absolutely hilarious, we had no idea what it meant. Anyway, we stayed up until 6 am, just hanging in front of the hotel and it was a really, really fun night yet again.
6月13日（土）- 2nd Tokyo show! We headed down to ERA to get ready for the show and it ended up being in a very cool area. I walked around a whole bunch, checking things out and buying some souvenirs.
The trip was winding down but the shows were just getting started. This show was probably one of my favorite shows of all time. We seriously couldn’t have sweated more and couldn’t have been more tired afterwards, but it was one of the best shows I’ve ever played in my life. The show was in a tiny packed room, sold out and really fun. I couldn’t have asked for a better night.
The view from the show!
Some of our new friends in New Strike Zipper.
After the show I was more tired than I had ever been and I went straight to sleep.
6月14日（日）- 3rd and final Tokyo show! This show even topped the last show. I couldn’t believe it but it was seriously one of the most fun nights in my musical career. We played and the kids were going insane, we even did a wall of death, I stage dove during Hit The Lights and just all around went crazy. It was definitely a night to remember! Dave HTL wore his dashiki on stage and it just ensued riots. Another insane thing about the night was that the Yakuza headquarters was next door to the venue and they were getting pretty mad about us hanging out outside and playing loud music, so we were pretty scared that dudes with face tattoos were going to kill us.
Before our last song, we brought up the crew from the tour and thanked them for everything. Kayo, Kaoru, Masa and Nobi seriously were the biggest helps in the world. They would move our equipment and get us to the right place at the right time and make sure that we weren’t lost in Japan. We couldn’t have done any of it without them. So here’s the second thank you to the best crew ever!
Setting up for the last show in Tokyo.
She drew all those pictures of us from the future! How did she know what we were going to wear!
After the show we all went out to eat. After the cops came to the hotel and scared everyone we went down and got some edeamame and lots of other crazy Japanese foods that I couldn’t eat and lot’s of beverages that I don’t drink. Everyone had such a good time, singing and chanting Max’s name and Masa’s name, giving speech’s and just getting crazy. It was such a great last night. I can ‘t really go too much more into detail but the video footage will show you how great it really was! We went back to the hotel and hung out even longer. Omar , George, Josh, Dave, Dennis and I all stayed up super late and annoyed the hotel staff to no end. They were getting crazy and moving fire extinguishers and hugging the hotel clerk. Then began the deep conversations about life. That’s when most everyone bailed, but stayed up as long as we could to get the last bit of Japan before we left in the morning. It was definitely one of the best tours of our lives.
6月15日（月）- Woke up early and headed to the airport only to find that a volcano had erupted in Russia. The volcano delayed all of our flights by about 10 hours. We didn’t leave until 10 pm. I thought that staying up the whole time and sleeping the whole flight was the smart way to go, but it wasn’t. I slept the whole ride and then when I got home and slept through my entire birthday. It was all worth it for the best tour of our lives and such a great experience in Japan. I hope we can go back soon. We love Japan so much.
Part of our 10 hour wait at the airport.
Some important notes: Inari is delicious. Subway in japan beats American subway by 1000. Japanese is a hard language to learn, I don’t even know where to begin. Being vegan in japan is nearly impossible. Even if you ask for Shoyu (soy sauce) you probably won’t get it. Saying ‘donda kay’ and and wagging your finger will make any Japanese person under 50 laugh, if you’re a baka (stupid) American. Bidets rule and should make their way to America. Car garages move the car, cars don’t move through the garage…. what a genius idea. So many more important notes, but I can’t think of them right now.
Until next time, We love you Japan. Hope to be back soon!
BEST TOUR EVER.
