Friday 22 September 2006

Fiel Garvie in Japan - July 2006

The Japanese adventure was a lot of fun. We played three gigs in five days - Kobe (Helluvalounge) and two in Tokyo (Rockers and O-Nest).

(L) Greg (R) Anne & Jude at O-Nest, Tokyo

None of us had been to Japan before so the whole affair was a bit of an
eye-opener. From a band perspective, we were amazed at how attentive Japanese audiences are. It's great playing gigs to people who listen to the music rather than talk really loudly to each other. It's novel (and refreshing)
for us but, oddly, the people from the other Japanese bands we played with aren't keen on Japanese audiences because they feel that they're too cool. Adam's attempts at a Japanese introduction to the gig were greeted with some amusement - not because he was saying anything particularly funny but rather because his pronounciation was so bad!

(L) Emma (R) Emma, Anne & Jude at O-Nest, Tokyo

We played with some really great bands. Special mention must go to Primrose in Tokyo (moody, Sigur Ros-esque, orchestral beauty) and two bands that we played with in Kobe - Figs (Stooges meet Galaxie 500) - and Hyakkei who sounded like a more Japanese Mogwai/Godspeed. We also played with some terrible bands but it'd be a bit cruel to name them here. The Garv advice to these bands? Less technique and expensive equipment and more soul and invention, please.

(L) Amy & Vernon (R) Emma, Jude, Greg & people at O-Nest, Tokyo

The O-Nest gig was also a big social occasion for us. We met Singapore's greatest no 1 Fiel Garvie fan, Amy - and that is a Field Mice t-shirt that husband Vernon is wearing. We signed all manner of Fiel Garvie albums, magazine interviews and t-shirts, drank Japanese beer to excess, and had a good time.

(L) Tokyo Alice, Primrose's KG & Adam (R) Anne, Akiko in a Fiel Garvie t-shirt & Emma at O-Nest, Tokyo

We were also delighted to meet up with a bona fide international art superstar in the form of Tokyo Alice. By the way, The Fiel Garvie t-shirt is ethically traded - which means that the people who grew the cotton and the people who sewed it together get a decent wage. You can buy one in our Garv Boutique of Delights.

A few random highlights from the rest of our stay in Japan. Tokyo is as crazily busy as people say it is. Japanese breakfasts are a bit of a challenge for most English people - raw fish and tofu v toast and muesli? But Japanese food generally is fantastic and looks even better than it tastes. The trains are really efficient - but we somehow found ourselves on the only Shinkansen to have ever arrived late. It is rainy and hot in July - but it's nice warm rain. There are vending machines everywhere. And absolutely everyone we met was unfailingly kind to us but turns into some kind of crazed, hustling, shoving machine on the subway in rush hour.

(L) Greg Lighyear (R) Adam is amazed by Tokyo

Sadly, we never encountered the special groping carriages on the subway that we'd been told about - or the vending machines that sell used knickers. But, never mind, we'd still like to go back one day...