wasshoi

only awesome bands do trad. jpnese stuff together

toshikoshi

Gotta eatcher end-of-the-year soba!

C ar P enter S

We are listening to old music and singin' real loud

treasure!

Look what I found!

(Buggles' Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes joined Yes for 1980's 'Drama', which was awesome and had Machine Messiah and Tempus Fugit and a song making fun of Gary Numan.)

(Also Elvis Costello and Dead Kennedys and Clash and Sting and Tears for Fears records in our office for some reason)

towel

cps towels!

undercode event

Today's the Undercode event. We go on at 3 in the morning.

Support guitar today is Yukimura/Jun from Karakuri/Hibari.

No sound check today, so just finished last check in the studio.

We play in 12 HOURS ugh

i am the bassist

Here are some clips of Steve 'n' me at Liquid Room.

First we played "Rule the World" ...



"Seeing Stars" was somewhere in there...



Also a Michael Jackson cover...



And then a blues jam that turned into an Elvis cover.



That was a fun tour, with good memories and good new friends. :)

New pics so far

How was Christmas for everybody? Thanks so much for your comments over the last few days as I'm getting over whatever bug I had and getting the urge to write again, FINALLY.

I go pick out the rest of them tonight.

Oh I got a new bass and a new wireless so I'll have to show you that soon. :)

a short run

Almost Christmas!

If you've emailed me and I haven't responded, I've been busy but mostly deathly ill so I'll respond soon. Real sorry.

The real pics go up on Saturday. :)

sweets

Saw Up yesterday; very sweet and funny.

Also, yesterday Joe, Dancho and Shinno played an acoustic version of Nogod's 道 at a friend's wedding and that was also very sweet.

Colds are not sweet.

I AM

SANTA KURO-ZU

digest

hm what is this thing i put here i dont even



Lineup was me, Tenten, Joe, Schwarz, Masami.
0:31~2:05 = Reincarnation; you know this one
2:05~3:25 = Yamusora; an older version of this was floating around on youtube but I can't find it anymore
3:25~5:00　= Subarashiki Imaimashisa
5:00~6:58 = I wanna get away

drum

I guess I can say exactly who the drummer is.

CPS/Chemical Pictures' new drummer is Shiun, formerly of Scissor and MiU.

Whee〜

Some news

-From January 1st until March 13th, Trick Master, Strange Guitarist, Cosmic Boy (me) and Rhythm Geek will be performing under the name CPS. This is ostensibly a temporary measure as we're have activities and everything planned but we're not quite ready to be like BAM hey sup chem-pi is back

Check out the pop-up on the homepage to see the new doodles; pictures will be up at a later date.

-We're changing the venue of our 2nd one-man on 3/14, "Science", from Shimokitazawa Mosaic to Ikebukuro BlackHole.

-Tenten has a pendant and ring for sale on the fujipro website that he helped design.
 

That's all for now!

Recent images

Official pics from the BtSSB/AatP event

Rehearsal yesterday. Please note that Joe is standing right in front of our drummer, obscuring him from your view. You'll find out in 3 days.

swoonin' hard guys

You guys REALLY need to see the pictures of Meekster in next month's Cure. I cannot emphasize enough how much of your observance these images require. If scans one day showed up in my email randomly I would most likely not be displeased.

That's all.

Oh, the event went well; lots of people crammed into a tiny room, lots of Polaroids taken with lots of nervous girls. It was fun to dress up all gawfic, like the first batch of VK I ever heard way back, for one day (and doubly fun if you're sponsored!), but I'm pretty thankful that I'm not in a band that does that sort of thing.

I do have to say that Baby/Alice employees are some of the coolest gals I've worked with. Helpful, friendly, and magnetic.

So yeah. January Cure. O_O

uh what

hahaha oh geez

TV

-The Office remains awesome, shut up

-The kid that plays Kurt on Glee is from my hometown, and I like the show enough but you know what, I don't know that it deserves to be a whole hour long.

-30 Rock is spectacular. I really do think everyone is amazingly strong.

-On a whim, checked out some Community; haven't heard much about it but I'm enjoying that too.

-Daily Show and Colbert Report I have my minor complaints about, but sometimes they still manage to hit it out of the park.


-Tomorrow is our big Baby the Stars Shine Bright/Alice & The Pirates event, hahaha i will post a picture tomorrow

hahaha

Coupla new things

1. Chemical Pictures short message on J-Rock TV

2. Steve 'n' me (and Toma and JJ) in this month's INROCK Magazine.

ちっす♪

Re: ha

Me and Tenny in the studio.

We're writing a lot; at least six or so songs since last month, and lots of flotsam melodies and jetsam riffs.

There's really not much to report these days, so I'm sorry I've been so quiet. Iwill say that we've auditioned 5 or so guitarists recently, each worse than the last. It's really surprising and frustrating. I could do better. Heck, Tenten could do better. YOU could do better.

Can't wait to show you how I look on the 22nd. It is so un-cps, haha.

Zatsudan: taikutsu

This picture is a few weeks old but I like it:



I had an unexpected mandatory day off today thanks to lots of people catching flus and other horrible plagues. Me, just some minor cold symptoms and a cough. There's an apothecary (I just wanted to say apothecary) a block away but the old guy running it keeps wanting to sell me, um, love potions, so I just decline politely and ask for the Stona.

Mostly I wrote stuff, but also I got distracted watched a lot of fora.tv, ted.com, and 'How It's Made', and it just made me realize that even though I think we have this pop culture image of our nation and youth as unintelligent and fame-chasing for fame's sake, I think it's so amazing that in this day and age we have so many avenues, so many interesting avenues, to discover a lot of really interesting things, to engage our minds, and to have a community of others similarly committed to the tried-and-true pastime of just plain learning.

And then, because we all need to cool down with a bit of the mindless, I found out that the one season of Stella is available for free.


And I like that idea of the pleasant paradox; the chameleonic modern Renaissance Joe, who can, at various, temporally close moments, occupy both the high- and low- end of the brow, so to speak. And I think that more and more people are embracing this dichotomy wholeheartedly.


This has nothing to do with anything.


Yesterday, me, Joe, Tenten, and our drummer _ _ _ _ _ went to Liquid Room (again) to see Dolly's last show with Yuina. All of Hi:BRiD was there, as was Yura, formerly of Ghost and Gakido, Haru from Dog in the Parallel World Orchestra, who is a nice guy but it's a band whose name makes me kinda wanna scoff and smack someone on the arm, and the awesomely and proudly bald Misa, as well as others.

We're under the same management as Dolly and Hi:BRiD but we don't really see much of them, so going in to say hello to Dolly was more a formal matter than anything, and in fact the first time I'd even met Yuina. And last, probably.

Anyway, it was neat and all. Their MCs are quite long, but funny enough for me to let it slide a bit especially if I don't have to wake up particularly early the next morning. It's sort of like if a Japanese Mitch Hedberg and Stephen Wright picked up some guitars and just shot the breeze.

Still looking for a 2nd guitarist, but I'm enjoying the new dynamic of our current setup and the creative blitz we seem to be experiencing. I would like to talk about songwriting processes more in another post, actually.


Also I got this fanart, which is so, so cool:
Man I love you guys.

Ooh

Yesterday I was in the Yoyogi area, and I came across a totally non-descript black building. There was not even a knob on the door that I could see. On the outside wall was a black picture frame.


Written on it:

If I could bartend I'd be all over this.

Melmaga

Man, I just have nothing interesting to say lately! :-/

Drummer has been decided, and not just support. :)
Guitar auditions have been... going. '_'

To those of you who read Japanese, go to theChemical Pictures homepage and scroll down to the very bottom to sign up for the Official Chemical Pictures Mail Magazine!

Chuss~

Instore report

We weren't as nervous as we were for the Shinjuku event, so the talk went a lot smoother than last time. I still hate going first in a round of questions; I like time to think. Maybe it's just because the Shinjuku Zeal Link is in Marui One, but it's so much nicer than the one in Shibuya, which is in an older building. The white background just seemed a bit lonely, and it was dark and I couldn't see the back of the room, where my manager was standing, as well as the dude reading the questions! I have a hard time following along if I can't see the speaker's face. :(

That said, it went well, I think. Lots of new faces, lots of regulars we recognized... wanna give a shout-out to my California girls, who have already commented on the older entry, and the seriously cool-looking, really nice French dude who was the lone male in the crowd. There was one Japanese guy in the audience at the Shinjuku event, too, so that's neat.

The picture part of the event took a long time, and quite a few of the girls bought another ticket so they could go through two or three times, so it was quite tiring, but it was neat to be able to do that, and to see just how devoted these wonderful people are to these three silly guys. O_o

Looking forward to the 1-Day Alice and the Pirates Employee day!

st

off to the studio!

instore in da booya

Haven't had much to say lately.

I met Mr. Nishikawa and saw an ABS show. I can't express just how amazing they are. He really has the best voice. Fantastic sound all around. Haven't enjoyed a show like that in a long time. Bassist was terrific! Ikuo?

Go see 'em if you can, no matter what you think of their records.

On 11/22, Chemical Pictures will be working at the Alice and the Pirates boutique in Harajuku Laforet! We'll be manning the registers, helping shoppers, taking pictures with customers... awesome. Haha.

Whee〜ちっす♪

Rittai

On 9/23 at Rokumeikan, we actually shot a video.

In 3-D.

Some sort of newfangled Blu-Ray thing, with sturdy plastic glasses. Still, I've had a thing for 3-D movies since Captain Eo as a kid. Kitschy novelty, but still neat, right?

This hasn't been used by a lot of musicians. In the entire world, at this point in time, the only artists who have done this kind of 3D concert filming are Michael Jackson, U2, Yumi Matsutoya aka Yuming, and Chemical Pictures.

At this point the company is using it sort of as a tech demo...the technology has practical uses but they wanted to show us off too to give an idea of entertainment options that aren't movies.

...and such and so forth

neat :D

TOE-MAY-HAN

1/16＠Nagoya HeartLandStudio
open16:30/start17:00
adv 3200/door 3700
with/SEX-ANDROID、Hana Shounen Baddies、NoGoD、Sandwich de 120ppun?、Tokyo Heroes

1/24＠ESAKA MUSE
open16:30/start17:00
adv 3200/door 3700
with/SEX-ANDROID、Hana Shounen Baddies、NoGoD、Guruguru Eigakan、Jully

1/31＠Omotesando FAB
open16:30/start17:00
adv 3200/door 3700
with/SEX-ANDROID、Hana Shounen Baddies、NoGoD、Tokyo Heroes、Jully

tourin' with mah dawgs nogod again awwright

What I Am Listening To Way Too Much These Days and it's All Joe's Fault

Perfume. Tons of Perfume. Shh, I will not be embarrassed by this! It's my commuter music. It has the ability to genuinely brighten my day without being cloyingly sweet and annoying, despite the fact that it makes no attempt to claim that it is anything more than it is. Members, songs, lyrics, and choreography alike are planted firmly in the 'refreshingly sweet' category without being that special brand of sickeningly Japanese "cute" nor erotic sexiness without a purpose.

Love The World, One Room Disco, of course Polyrhythm make the journey with me along with Twinkle Twinkle Powder Snow, Chocolate Disco, Secret Secret, and it makes me feel like things are going to be okay. No need for angry music as a cathartic tool, as even thinking anger out is enough to turn it into a habit; no need to force myself into a smile with comedy albums I've heard dozens of times by now; just some plain, fun electro dance music does the trick.
The ladies themselves are sort of known over here as being not exactly the prettiest of pop acts, and while Joe bucks that trend and adores them all, I fell instantly for the short-haired one after I saw the Nocchi-only version of Macaroni. Very, very much in love with the old home movie vibe of that one. (Hey, now that Kaela's dating Eita, I've gotta find some other celebrity crush now don't I?)



The other is The Reign of Kindo, a jazz-indie-rock band from New York. Some niggling element of their sound almost reminds me of The Pax Cecilia, that NY band that would send their album to you for free via post anywhere in the world (I got one :3), though not nearly as stark, dense, or despairing. It also reminds me a bit of The Deer Hunter in its lushness and the earnestness of the singer, but the crispness of the production and the musicianship on display here is amazing. It occupies a comfortable seat at the edge of accessible, as the loose, flowing jazz brush paints with strokes of pop and rock. I also do not hear individuals on the songs; I hear an ensemble, even with the singer involved. Emo-jazz? I dunno, it's just what I need right now.

I don't typically like linking to myspace, but all the songs I would have recommended are on that playlist. Leave it on in the background or be absorbed into the mix, whatever you like. Call me a blasphemer but I find that their cover of "Do You Realize" is far, far preferable to the original Flaming Lips'.


More examples of my questionable taste in music at a later date.

Already comin' back

Chemical Pictures is playing the Undercode New Year's countdown event at Shinjuku no not there why would i say that dont ever listen to me Kinema Club.
And then the Osaka-Nagoya-Tokyo tour in January.

p. much awesome

Shinjuku in-store

My first one, but fun and interesting.

Oh, we're going on tour in January. ;)

goooo

ready for instore〜

1st present

Madness.

A koala eating money.

Madness!

From Joe♪

brief bday report

I couldn't have asked for a better, more unorthodox birthday.

Steve announced it was my birthday before the 1st encore, which was neat. At the uchiage afterward, they had a cake ready for me, and I was really moved. And there were two hardcore CP fans at the Steve show with presents for me! That really got me.

Joe and Tenten came to the show as well and really enjoyed themselves immensely; they and the Steve band got along great, and Steve was so kind to them.

And then, all the amazing messages from you and from Japanese fans... I really am stunned into silence even now. I have nothing to say but thank you, thank you, thank you.

Images, then Words

It's difficult to express just how amazing this whole tour experience was. I am completely exhausted right now, but at no point was it ever difficult. It was pure fun the whole time.

And a lot of that had to do with how well the management and tour staff worked with us, how easy it is to work with Steve, and how JJ brought the band together.

I'm sure there are dozens of other way more amazing bassists to be had, so I feel so blessed to have been given this opportunity.

oh

There's a gear feature interview with yours truly in the new issue of Askew Magazine, which can be downloaded for free, so go check that out!

i talk a lot

HB

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEEEEE

BIRTHDAAAAAAAY

uh-oh someone found out about an event we are supposedly going to be at before the time we said we'd come back as cp, oops （●ω●）

Picture Spam 2

Lots of travelling and lots of sammiches, none of which have been as good as the one I made in Osaka.

They say Nagoya girls aren't known for their beauty, but I still managed to fall in love every few minutes. And I am a needlessly and undeservedly picky boy.

Typhoon's comin' in.

Also coming in tomorrow is MY BIRTHDAY I will be 2X years old (・ω・)