Metal by Uniqlo

Uniqlo is a Japanese clothing chain store that has expanded overseas.
I have some clothes from their stores. But I’m not sure how I feel about the T-shirts they’ve sold with heavy metal band logos such as AC/DC, Metallica and Aerosmith!

I have T-shirts from all of those bands from concerts I’ve attended. That’s where heavy metal T-shirts are supposed to be from: heavy metal concerts.

And that’s who are supposed to wear them: heavy metal fans.

Heavy metal is not a fad like pop music!

Metal Festivals in Tokyo

Every October for the past ten years, there is a two-day heavy metal music festival in the Tokyo area called “Loudpark“.

This year it is scheduled for 2015 October 10th (Sat) and October 11th (Sun).

Loudpark heavy metal festival; 2015 Oct 10-11.

Some of the major bands that are billed to play are: Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. Three of the “Big Four“!

And then the following month, there will be another big heavy metal festival in the Tokyo area!
OzzFest Japan is scheduled for 2015 November 21st (Sat) and November 22nd!

OzzFest Japan 2015 will be held on 2015 Nov 21st – 22nd.

Unlike Loudpark, OzzFest doesn’t have a long history in Japan. This will only be the second OzzFest in this country so far.

The first OzzFest Japan ever was held in May of 2013. I went to it with a friend of mine.
(Click here to read my post about it.)

I saw Black Sabbath, among other bands, at OzzFest Japan 2013…and they were initially billed to headline OzzFest Japan 2015, but it’s been changed for whatever reason…Ozzy will still be playing with his solo band instead.

The main acts of OzzFest Japan 2015 will be: Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society, KoRn Bullet For My Valentine, and Evanscence.

Six Totally Insane Japanese Metal Bands

The heavy-metal magazine “Revolver” has an article titled: “Six Totally Insane Japanese Metal Bands.

Man With A Mission

I have already written a blog post last year about one of the bands they mention: BabyMetal. (Click here to read my post about them.)

Interview with Rachel Bolan

Do you know who Rachel Bolan is?

He is the bass player of the excellent heavy-metal band Skid Row.

Skid Row. Rachel Bolan is on far-right.

Skid Row are scheduled to play a show in Tokyo on 2014 April 14th to promote their latest album “United World Rebellion: Chapter One“!
This will be Skid Row‘s first visit to Japan since 1995. Nineteen years ago!

Today, Rachel Bolan was kind enough to answer some questions from me for an interview!

My questions are in red.   Rachel Bolan‘s answers are in black.

1. Could you give us a self-introduction, please?

Rachel Bolan, co-founder, bass player and song writer for Skid Row.

2.  The new Skid Row release “United World Rebellion: Chapter One” is quite good.  Will there be a “Chapter Two” ?

Thank you. There will be 3 chapters in all. As a matter of fact, we just finished up recording  “United World Rebellion – Chapter Two”. We are very excited about it!

3.  What music / albums do you listen to most often these days?

Lately I have been listening to an artist named Gin Wigmore. She’s great!
I also listen to the music that I grew up with. KISS, The Ramones, Aerosmith, Queen, etc.

4.  Do you like Japanese food?  Have you ever tried Tokyo’s original dish “Monja-yaki“?

I love food in general, but Japanese is one of my favorites. Japanese meals always seem so well balanced.
I haven’t had Monja-yaki, but would like to try it. I think every culture has a dish similar to it. My Uncle used to make something like it. It didn’t have dough in it however. Just egg as a binder.
I’m getting hungry. Haha.

5.  Skid Row is scheduled to play a show at the O-East club in the Shibuya area of Tokyo, Japan.  Could you give us a preview of what fans can expect at that show, set-list-wise and otherwise?

We usually try to play something from every album. That gets more difficult as time goes on because our catalog keeps growing and I can’t see us playing a 4 hour show. Haha.
We will play all the songs that you would expect us to play. Some new songs as well as some deep tracks. Lots of energy on stage because we love what we do! We may be getting older, but we haven’t slowed down a bit.

チラシ (Flyer) for Skid Row’s upcoming show in Tokyo.

6.  The last time Skid Row toured Japan was in 1995, wasn’t it?  Why did it take so long for you to finally return?

That’s right. Almost 20 years since our last visit. I have no idea why it’s taken so long. We’ve always had such an amazing time.
I wish we were playing more than one show on this trip. We’ll make sure it doesn’t take another 20 years until we play there again.

7.   How many times have you been to Tokyo?  Are there any sites that you’re particularly looking forward to revisiting?  Or some places in Tokyo that you haven’t seen yet that you would like to visit?

I believe I’ve been to Tokyo 6 times.
I hope to get back to Kiddieland if its still there!! (It is. It’s actually not too far of a walk from the venue you’ll be playing at!)
Also, Akihabara. I like to check out all the gadgets.
I have never been to Tsukiji fish market.  I’d really like to see it.

8.  How do the fans in Japan compare to those in other countries?

It’s funny. I’ve been asked that question by many journalists from many different countries.  The answer is always the same. Skid Row fans are awesome in every country we go and very similar except for the language they speak. We have the most dedicated fans in the world.  That’s why we called the trilogy ” United World Rebellion “.

9.  Do you receive a lot of fan-mail from Japan?

We do get quite a bit of email from Japan via Facebook and such.

10.  Do you have a message for the fans in Japan?

I just want everyone to know how excited we are to return to your incredible country. And how  much we appreciate your unconditional support over the past 25 years.
There’s not a night I step on stage that I don’t think how great a life that has been afforded to me because of fans like you. I mean that from the bottom of my heart!

Thanks again to Rachel Bolan for taking time to answer my questions.  These are great answers!  Very interesting interview!  I look forward to your show next month!
Thanks also to Skid Row‘s webmaster, Noel Saabye to getting me in contact with Mr. Bolan.

Here are some relevant Skid Row links that everyone should check out:
SkidRow.com
SkidRow’s Official Facebook Page
Hayashi Promotions Skid Row Japan Tour Info

Playlist

Here’s what is on my most recent random playlist.

What’s on yours?

Baby Metal

Do you know the Japanese band Baby Metal ?

They are a unique “heavy metal” meets J-pop band that consists of three junior high school girls!
The girls are ages 13, 14, and 15…and they’re not even actually heavy-metal fans. They prefer pop music (as most girls their age do).

Not your typical metal band. And, to be honest, I’m not really a big fan.
But, it is an interesting concept for a band, I have to admit.

If these girls aren’t really “metal heads”, then why are they in a band called “Baby Metal”?

They were in a pop band together but their producer, who is a metal-head had an idea to fuse their music with thrashing guitars and metal growls!

Unsurprisingly, the girls weren’t keen to becoming a heavy-metal band at first. In fact, the youngest member asked “What’s ‘heavy metal’?“. But they say that they’ve warmed up to it and enjoy being a totally unique act…and also being able to act “wild” on stage.

The even do a unique spin on the “metal horns” hand gesture that they call “kitsune” (which means “fox” in Japanese).
The reason, actually, is because on their debut photo-shoot, their producer told them to do the “metal horns” (which they had never seen before)…and they mistook the hand gesture for the one that became their signature hand gesture.

They have songs with titles such as 「イジメ・ダメ・ゼッタイ！」, which means “Absolutely no bullying!” (which, although has a good message, I don’t enjoy much), and 「ヘドバンギャー!!」 (“Headbanger!!”) which is a lot better.

Their newest song, titled 「メギツネ」 (“Female Fox”), is their best so far.

Here is the video for Baby Metal 「メギツネ」 (“Female Fox”):

We Are Stars!

I’m sure you’ve heard the USA For Africa charity song from the ’80s that raised money for starving children in Africa called “We Are The Children”.

I know that song was popular but, honestly, I never liked it.

You may not be aware of a much better charity song for African children that was recorded 28 years ago today by some of the biggest names in 80s heavy metal.

On 1985 May 20th, members of Dio, Judas Priest, W.A.S.P., Twisted Sister, Dokken, Queensryche, Quiet Riot, Rough Cutt, Motley Crue, and more got together and called themselves Hear ‘N Aid to record the song “(We Are) Stars “!

“(We Are) Stars“, twenty-eight years old today, is the heavy metal answer to We Are The World.
And it’s much better!

Check it out:

OzzFest Japan

Yesterday (2013 May 12), my friend and I went to OzzFest Japan.

It was great!

We went the second day of the two-day heavy metal festival. There were bands on the first day that I would’ve like to see…namely Slipknot, but I mostly wanted to see Black Sabbath.

Here’s the line-up of bands that I saw:

Black Sabbath played:
“War Pigs“, “Into the Void“, “Under the Sun“, “Snowblind“, “Black Sabbath“, “Behind the Wall of Sleep“, “N.I.B.“, “Fairies Wear Boots“, “Symptom of the Universe“, “Iron Man“, “God Is Dead“, “Children of the Grave”
and the encore was “Paranoid“.

Here’s a photo that I took of Ozzy Osbourne:

(A bit blurry…)

 

OzzFest!

First of all, today is November 3rd…the Japanese holiday 「文化の日」(“Culture Day”).
If you went to the 浅草 (Asakusa) area of Tokyo today, you would have seen the interesting 「東京時代祭り」(“Tokyo-Era Festival”).

I’ve been to that festival a couple of times before. Click here to see the photos and videos I took of it in 2008.

Anyways, I found out yesterday that the godfathers of heavy metal, Black Sabbath will come to Japan in May 2013!

Ozzy Osbourne will bring his metal festival “OzzFest” to Japan for the first time!

Click here to visit the official OzzFest Japan website.

On Saturday, May 11th 2013, Slipknot will headline.
On Sunday, May 12th 2013, Black Sabbath will headline.

The venue will be the Makuhari Messe not far from Tokyo.

Back to the ’80s

I grew up in the 1980s. By “grew up”, I mean from 1980 until 1989, I was between the ages of ten to 19.

Do you remember the ’80s? What do you remember that decade for the most?

Ronald Reagan was the U.S. President for just about the entire decade, it was also the decade of Pac-Man, the Rubik’s Cube, and the (cassette) Walk-man.
The microwave, VHS VCRs, and CD players were invented in the ’80s.
Movies such as E.T., Indiana Jones, Die Hard, Crocodile Dundee, and Back To The Future were released.

And, regarding popular music of the ’80s, there was pop music that I personally never liked…such as Duran Duran, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Wham! and Michael Jackson.
And then there was the type of music which I’ve always liked—heavy metal. In the ’80s, some popular metal bands were Whitesnake, Ratt, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, The Scorpions, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot and Def Leppard.

Well, there’s a new, young rock band from Australia called “De La Cruz“. They are too young to remember the heyday of these bands…but De La Cruz are obviously fans of ’80s heavy metal.

They sound just like the ’80s bands that inspired them.

I have their self-titled debut EP…and I like their music a lot!

De La Cruz has a video for their song “Back To The ’80s“. In the video, the band members are wearing black concert shirts from the bands RATT, Bon Jovi and Judas Priest. That’s how I used to dress in the ’80s!

Here’s their video for “Back To The ’80s“: