The Endless Gig.

FINALLY. SATURDAY'S BLOG. As you were Alex....

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Yesterday our band, Excess Baggage (or on the poster "Excess BUGgage"—maybe they have seen our mosquito bites), rocked a kindergarten!

We built speaker stands with little children's stools. Niall and I had to set up the PA but the Japanese were extremely helpful. In a way the setup was the most carefree setup I have ever done; all the equipment worked (a very rare occurrence in England). The set we played was great with nearly every member playing their own solo material and playing as a big group. The set ended with "Woods" with all the audience clapping with us. Many members of the audience greeted us and said thank you. They were all excited to see us. Our Homestay parents filmed each of our songs and congratulated us afterwards. It feels like we are part of our very own Japanese family now!

Monks make excellent roadies

We were on the bill with 2 Japanese bands, Orange Bank Lead and Blue Bell. Both had impressive showmanship and lots of technical effects pedals. They didn't request a soundcheck, they plugged in and played and looked like they were having a riot. We have connected with them on twitter, a return gig in England maybe? An old man taught us to play the shamisen (a three string fretless guitar). It was difficult but I finally grasped a traditional folk song. They use the Myxolidian Mode a lot (sorry for the technical music reference).

    

The Japanese kept planning more and more acts even when the gig was still going on, everything seemed spontaneous while remaining very ordered with little stress. After the old man played the Shamisen we played happy birthday to Frankie. The buddhists from the temple we visited the previous day bought a birthday cake. When they were bringing the cake into the room the candles blew out but somehow the buddhist relit the birthday cake candles (maybe with the power of his mind!) It was very strange and spiritual. Maybe the good luck we were granted before was coming true. Frankie later remarked that the cake was "the best she had ever tasted". After this we gathered in a circle to play a birthday game with some Japanese teenagers from the North. We sang, danced and went a little crazy. It was a good way to connect with the Japanese of all ages. I boogied with my Homestay mother. This gig never stopped. We were treated to a seemingly eternal guitar solo with a cheesy karaoke-style backing track. Japanese audiences are very respectful and attentive; it's a really beautiful thing. Later the man responsible for supporting international exchanges thanked us for playing and said how impressed he was that we came to Japan with such good intentions. We posed for lots of big photos taken with style by our friend the Buddhist monk/photographer producing hundreds of cameras and phones from pockets, bags and and behind his ears!

But hey, what is a gig without a crazy after-party? We invited all the bands to party at our place so we could drink lukewarm tea into the early evening! We danced to the YMCA (a song they all knew),

Gangnam Style and the Macarena. They don't seem to have parties as we know them in Japan so it was nice to share some of our culture with them. Engel, a student of our guide - Isami, expressed that we were crazy; we took this as a compliment! Our biggest achievement was teaching the Japanese bands Get Lucky by Daft Punk and getting them to do the 'Dragon Ball Z' dance-move we created. Maybe it will catch on and be a Japanese sensation!

(Apologies Alex - we have no photos of this bit - it was good though)

Another brilliant day...

Alex (: