Rabbits, "Strippers" and Poisonings
Despite my best intentions when I returned from Bali to make a little more time for doing nothing, which means actually relaxing at home with a good book, I have had remarkably little time to do so this month. The weeks have flown by once again, and there seems very little to show for, although a far deal of stuff was done.
Back at the end of December I shot a goth fashion show in Harajuku, which featured X-Japan's guitarist Sugizo giving a live performance on both guitar and electric violin. The shoot was for an online magazine, for whom I have written some album and single reviews. The magazine isn't live yet. It was meant to come out last week, but it's now looking like sometime this week instead. How I ended up writing for a Visual-kei magazine, whilst knowing almost nothing about the genre, is still to be discovered, but booze cruises in Tokyo have quite a lot to do with it. I'm thinking of trying to research Visual-kei a bit more, as it's a genre of Japanese music which drives me slightly potty. Potty, because they bands almost never look like they sound...or how I think they should sound, at least.
Let's use Daizystripper as an example.
Observe these lovely lovely young men to the right. Rei (the bassist on the left) is rocking the cut-off t-shirt with his teeny-tiny waist, and the other all look thoroughly cute. My problem was what they sounded like. Looking at them, I was thinking something along the lines of the early grunge scene - you know, when Alice in Chains were more glam. And then of course, I listened to a song. Whatever song it was I cannot remember, but it didn't impress me much. The music was fine, I just felt that the whole thing was overproduced and far too clean sounding. And then I saw them in concert, which made my jaw drop. Yu-giri getting on stage and growling and screaming earned huge amounts of rock points in my little world.The energy of the band was excellent, and I found myself bopping along in the photographers' pit.
You can watch a video here.
In other news, I am looking after a rabbit for 6 weeks. He's super cute, but doesn't like to be handled too much yet. He runs in circles around my feet while I'm cooking, which is pretty hilarious to watch. He also has an unhealthy relationship with an orange ball. I had to take it out of his cage as the raping of said orange ball was freaking me out. His name is Cecil.
Apart from that I've done some photography at a couple of shows -art shows and rock gigs, but haven't yet put the photos up anywhere to see.
Next week I'm being interviewed by an eco-lifestyle magazine about being a vegetarian in Japan. I get a free meal in one of the best vegan cafes I've been to in Tokyo (I was there last night, actually) and can wax lyrical about being poisoned all the freaking time. I actually ate a piece of meat by accident on Saturday night, which pissed me off a bit. I'm getting really fed up of telling the restaurant staff I'm vegetarian, only for them to forget about it as soon I've ordered one dish. Being vegetarian applies to everything I order.Rabbits
Back at the end of December I shot a goth fashion show in Harajuku, which featured X-Japan's guitarist Sugizo giving a live performance on both guitar and electric violin. The shoot was for an online magazine, for whom I have written some album and single reviews. The magazine isn't live yet. It was meant to come out last week, but it's now looking like sometime this week instead. How I ended up writing for a Visual-kei magazine, whilst knowing almost nothing about the genre, is still to be discovered, but booze cruises in Tokyo have quite a lot to do with it. I'm thinking of trying to research Visual-kei a bit more, as it's a genre of Japanese music which drives me slightly potty. Potty, because they bands almost never look like they sound...or how I think they should sound, at least.
Let's use Daizystripper as an example.
Observe these lovely lovely young men to the right. Rei (the bassist on the left) is rocking the cut-off t-shirt with his teeny-tiny waist, and the other all look thoroughly cute. My problem was what they sounded like. Looking at them, I was thinking something along the lines of the early grunge scene - you know, when Alice in Chains were more glam. And then of course, I listened to a song. Whatever song it was I cannot remember, but it didn't impress me much. The music was fine, I just felt that the whole thing was overproduced and far too clean sounding. And then I saw them in concert, which made my jaw drop. Yu-giri getting on stage and growling and screaming earned huge amounts of rock points in my little world.The energy of the band was excellent, and I found myself bopping along in the photographers' pit.
You can watch a video here.
In other news, I am looking after a rabbit for 6 weeks. He's super cute, but doesn't like to be handled too much yet. He runs in circles around my feet while I'm cooking, which is pretty hilarious to watch. He also has an unhealthy relationship with an orange ball. I had to take it out of his cage as the raping of said orange ball was freaking me out. His name is Cecil.
Apart from that I've done some photography at a couple of shows -art shows and rock gigs, but haven't yet put the photos up anywhere to see.
Next week I'm being interviewed by an eco-lifestyle magazine about being a vegetarian in Japan. I get a free meal in one of the best vegan cafes I've been to in Tokyo (I was there last night, actually) and can wax lyrical about being poisoned all the freaking time. I actually ate a piece of meat by accident on Saturday night, which pissed me off a bit. I'm getting really fed up of telling the restaurant staff I'm vegetarian, only for them to forget about it as soon I've ordered one dish. Being vegetarian applies to everything I order.Rabbits