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.)
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
I have written a number of posts about interesting people. Most of whose stories are related to Japan in some way.
Maybe you haven’t seen many of them…so I decided to put links to all of them on a new page that I titled “Who’s Who?“.
Please check them out and leave comments to let me know what you think.
The new page is here.
Do you know the song “I Love Rock And Roll“? If you do, in fact, love rock and roll then I’m sure you know this song well. “I Love Rock And Roll” has been covered by many artists since it’s original release 36 years ago (I can’t believe it’s already been that many years!)…but do you know who wrote and recorded it originally? It’s quite likely you guessed it was Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.
But, although her version reached the #1 spot on the U.S. music charts, Joan Jett’s version of the song is a remake. She isn’t the original artist. It was Alan Merrill with his band (at the time) The Arrows who wrote and originally recorded the rock masterpiece “I Love Rock And Roll”.
Alan Merrill in 2011.
Alan Merrill is American and currently lives in his home state of New York…but he has lived in both England and Japan for a number of years…and reached celebrity status in both countries. Mr. Merrill was kind enough to do an excellent and interesting interview with me.
Click here to read his interview with me (and then come back and leave a comment on this post with your opinion of the interview).
My favorite country in the world is Japan.
—Alan Merrill
(My interview with Alan Merrill: www3.ocn.ne.jp/~tokyo5/interviews.html#merrill.)
What type of music do you like to listen to? Do you go to concerts often?
As for me, I like heavy metal music. Actually I don’t understand why anyone would listen to anything else. 😉
There are a number of great bands scheduled to play shows in Japan soon.
For example:
● Linkin Park
– 2011 September 10, 11: Chiba, Japan
– 2011 September 13: Yokohama, Japan
– 2011 September 14: Nagoya, Japan
– 2011 September 16: Osaka, Japan
Also, on 2011 August 31, Linkin Park will play a show in Los Angeles, California to help raise money for the victims of the March 11 earthquake in Japan.
The Japanese hard rock band B’z will be the opening act.
● Anthem
The Japanese metal band Anthem are currently on a tour of Japan until the end of July (2011).
● Anthrax
In support of their new album, “Worship Music“, Anthrax will play four dates in Japan this December:
– 2011 December 12: Osaka, Japan
– 2011 December 13, 14: Tokyo, Japan
– 2011 December 16: Nagoya, Japan
The band “Hellyeah” will be the opening act for the Anthrax shows.
● Aerosmith
Hard rock icons Aerosmith will play shows across Japan in (2011) November and December:
– 2011 November 22: Kanazawa, Japan
– 2011 November 25: Hiroshima, Japan
– 2011 November 28, 30: Tokyo, Japan
– 2011 December 2: Fukuoka, Japan
– 2011 December 6: Osaka, Japan
– 2011 December 8: Nagoya, Japan
– 2011 December 10: Sapporo, Japan
● Loudpark Heavy Metal Festival 2011
– 2011 October 15: Saitama, Japan
At this year’s Loudpark, Whitesnake, The Darkness, Stryper and many other acts are scheduled to perform.
● Whitesnake
In addition to headlining this year’s Loudpark festival, Whitesnake will play four additional shows in Japan:
– 2011 October 17: Osaka, Japan
– 2011 October 18: Okayama, Japan
– 2011 October 20: Miyazaki, Japan
– 2011 October 22: Nagoya, Japan
● Mötley Crüe
– 2011 September 28: Nagoya, Japan
– 2011 September 29, 30: Osaka, Japan
– 2011 October 3, 4, 5: Tokyo, Japan
● Def Leppard
– 2011 November 5: Osaka, Japan
– 2011 November 7: Tokyo, Japan
I wrote a post about the Japanese heavy metal band X-Japan (they were simply called “X” when I first came to Japan).
I was surprised by the negative comments that post I wrote received from a number of X-Japan fans overseas! The post is here, by the way.
Well, X-Japan has released a new English-language song via i-tunes.
It’s currently available to for download in America and Europe.
The price is £0.79 (which equals about US$1.27 (or ¥102)).
(Click here if you want to download it from i-tunes.)
It will be available for download in Japan and Asia on 2011 July 13.
The song is titled “Jade“.
Here’s the video for the song:
Also, X-Japan is currently on a short world tour.
They just played a concert in London on Tuesday (July 28) and then they play a few more shows around Europe.
Then on August 13 they’ll be in Osaka, Japan and on August 14th they’ll play in Tokyo.
From there, they’ll play some shows in Central America.
(News and images are from the official X-Japan website).
In 1986, when I was sixteen years old, if you had asked me my opinion of music that was released twenty-five prior to that (in 1961)…music by artists such as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Chuck Berry was popular at that time…I wasn’t interested in that type of music and I probably would of considered it “ancient”.
It’s now 2011 and 1986 is now twenty-five years in the past!
My taste in music hasn’t changed at all. I still listen to the same great albums that I bought in the ’80s.
My I-pod has a number of albums from 1986.
Look at this list of albums that are now twenty-five years old (listed here in order of release). You can’t deny that they’re all excellent…much better than most of the forgettable “music” that is released today:
Have you heard any of these albums? What do you think of them?
As for me, even though they’re twenty-five years old now…and nearly every one of these bands have better albums in their catalog (except Metallica—“Master Of Puppets” is legend!…these albums still stand the test of time!
Last June I wrote a post about upcoming heavy metal shows in the Tokyo area.
Some of the concerts I wrote about in that post have already occurred but Metallica will have a concert in Japan later this month and next month will be the annual “Loudpark 2010” heavy metal festival with bands such as Ozzy Osbourne, KoRn, RATT and Motorhead scheduled to perform at this year’s event.
But before either of those concerts, the “Thrash Domination 2010” festival is coming to 川崎 (Kawasaki, Japan).
This is a two-day event with five thrash metal bands scheduled to perform.
Saturday, September 18 is called “Kill Night”…Agent Steel will go on stage first, then Outrage, followed by Nevermore, then Exodus and Overkill will headline.
Then, Sunday, September 19 is called “Brutal Night”…the line-up is nearly identical but rather than Nevermore, Sanctuary will be the third act on the bill and then Overkill will be fourth, with Exodus as the headliners.
Also, on the day before the festival, Overkill will have their own concert in Osaka on September 17th…and Exodus will have their own concert on September 20th (the day after the festival) in Shibuya, Tokyo.
The official "Thrash Domination 2010" T-shirts
Do you like heavy metal? How about “Thrash Metal”? Would you attend this heavy metal music festival?
Are you planning a trip to Tokyo this year (or are you already here?)?
Wanna see a heavy metal concert in this city while you’re here?
There are a number of great bands scheduled to perform on stage in the Tokyo area this summer and autumn.
● First up is Faster Pussycat with special guest Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns.
Faster Pussycat
I saw Faster Pussycat in concert back in 1986 when they opened for David Lee Roth in Florida.
(And I also saw L.A. Guns on their “Hollywood Vampires” tour in 1991 in Yokohama, Japan.)
I can’t believe it’s already been nearly 25 years since that Faster Pussycat concert I saw…but this is their “25th Anniversary Tour“.
They play at 「渋谷サイクロン」 (“Shibuya Cyclone“) club on Friday, June 25th and Saturday, June 26th starting at 7:00PM (doors open at 6:30PM).
Tickets cost ¥5,000 in advance or ¥5,000 plus one drink if you pay at the door.
● Next is Bullet For My Valentine.
Bullet For My Valentine
They’re scheduled to play at the 「新木場 Studio Coast」 (“Shin-Kiba Studio Coast“) club in Tokyo on Wednesday, September 1st (they’re scheduled to play in 大阪 (Osaka) the next day)).
Their show starts at 7:00PM. Doors open at 6:00PM.
● Metallica will bring their “Death Magnetic” tour to the Tokyo area on Saturday, September 25th and Sunday, September 26th.
Metallica's 'Death Magnetic' album cover
Metallica is scheduled to play at the 「埼玉スーパーアリーナ」 (“Saitama Super Arena“).
Doors open at 5:00PM. Their show will start at 8:00PM.
Tickets cost ¥9,000.
● Also, there’s Loudpark coming up.
This is a heavy metal festival every October near Tokyo.
Click here to see my entry about it on my “Festivals in Tokyo” page.
Flyer for 'Loudpark 2010'
This year’s Loudpark festival will be at the 「埼玉スーパーアリーナ」 (“Saitama Super Arena“) on Saturday, October 16th and Sunday, October 17th.
Doors will open at 10:00AM and the first bands will begin playing at 11:00AM.
Tickets cost ¥14,000 for a one-day ticket or ¥25,000 for both days.
For an extra ¥3,000 you can get a Loudpark 2010 T-shirt.
This year’s line-up includes:
Ozzy Osbourne
KoRn
Motorhead
Avenged Sevenfold, the Japanese band Dir En Grey, Stryper, etc.
Peter Criss was the original drummer of the hottest band in the world…KISS.
His ex-wife, Lydia Criss, has written an excellent memoir about life with KISS before and during their heyday in the mid-70s.
Lydia Criss was kind enough to do an interesting interview with me.
Ace talked all of us into going shopping at this store in Tokyo that sold only Nazi regalia…
(–Lydia Criss)
Click here to read Lydia Criss’ interview with me.
Tokyo Five 
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