Day 24

Tuesday Feb 3

We’ve been given a quite wonderful Ruby Room slot of 10:15. But we still arrive quite a bit earlier than that to be a bit sociable and to support a good few of the acts. And while we were warmly welcomed last week, that increases even more this week and we now feel almost like real regulars. As for the night itself, it just runs smoothly with no-one seeming to run it. Everyone has their time to go on and everyone just does it. The soundman is of great assistance in all this, but he’s certainly not chasing anyone or making any kind of announcement. Everyone’s just respecting the time they’re on, and the two songs they have. And when they’ve done their two songs, rather than just cram the next act straight on, the next act is just able to casually get ready, soundcheck, and then begin their performance at their allotted time.

Our two songs tonight – Talk About The Weather and Where Do We Go. 

Day 25

Wednesday February 4

We’re back in Harajiki today because the park was closed by the time we got there on Saturday and we weren’t able to get in and see the temple. Mission accomplished today. Then Maja just has to get back in for another session with the cutest pigs she’s ever encountered. This time there’s just us in there so we get double covered in tiny pigs. And of course we also have to do the longest potatoes ever again. After this, we’re kinda in the vicinity of What The Dickens so we decide to go there for an early evening visit when we think the place will be calmer and we’ll be able to introduce ourselves a bit more. This all turns out to be the case and we have a lovely little chat with both Hiromi, the music booker, and John, the Scottish owner who’s had this place for around a couple of decades. A great addition to all this is that John has remembered both our names from that chaotic Friday night we were in here.

We tell Hiromi we would like to talk about playing here sometime and she says, ‘Yes, but you’re tourists and we only book two months in advance.’ We then assure her that’s no problem as we intend to be back here again and again and again. Well that changes things for her and she says they would love to have us if we give them enough notice for when we know we’ll be around next. With that it’s job done. So, pint in here and then we’re off to find another local onsen place and then it’s dinner in the restaurant there.

Day 26

Thursday February 5


A quiet enough day today. As I said at the beginning, Maja is still continuing to work through all this so quiet days are going to happen at times. 

But there is one little cool thing to say that I see for the first time today when out at a local store, the 7/11 and yes, they do have stores here called seven elevens. At the counter is a total nod to the reality that few Japanese people speak another language and few non-Japanese people speak Japanese. This comes in the form of pictures for common things that might be asked for. They do lots of food at these places, so there are pictures of all cutlery including chopsticks. Oh, the pictures come with English captions too. And there’s a picture of a bag in case you want to ask for one of those. Then there’s something to point at if you want your food microwaved, or if you want to ask for a coffee. Then on the side, if necessary, you can point to yes or no. All quite brilliant.

Day 27

Friday February 6

Gig day again today. Not only that but it’s in Shimokitazawa which, according to Maja, is the Camden Town of Tokyo. On the way there we have to change at Shibuya Station which means having the chance to look down on the whole iconic Shibuya crossroads. What a wonderful vantage point from which to see the whole organised chaos thing unfold.

Then, when we get to Shimokitazawa, very quickly we’re like, oh yes. This is a twin for Camden Town alright. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many music venues in one place ever ever. If anything, it’s just possible that it’s the other way round and Camden Town is some kind of small version of this place. It’s time to say it. The size and scope of Tokyo is just totally bending my mind. And now here’s this incredible city. By the time we’re done today we’ve come to the thought that we should probably stay in or near this place next time we’re here. Online we’ve been looking all round Tokyo for venues, but seriously, with an environment as concentrated as this, this could really be all you need. And it clearly is the musical epicentre of Tokyo, and quite possibly therefore of Japan. It really does have the feel of get yourself known here and that could be enough to have got yourself known in Tokyo.

Every street we look down seems more spectacular than the last, and that’s before you factor in the vertical high street concept. What that means is that some buildings contain multiple music venues just on their own. By the time we get to the place we’re playing, we see that this building has two other live venues in it apart from the one we’re to be playing in. Oh, and this venue is the one that’s been getting people saying, oh wow, whenever we’ve mentioned that we’re playing here. So in a city of possibly thousands of venues, to be one of the ones that’s universally known without being physically enormous really is quite significant.

It’s called Rokudemonai Yoru. Rokudemonai basically translates as ‘Nothing but rock.’ And we’re here today as special guests. On essentially a punk bill.

Yep. We’re managing to get the kinds of shows in Japan and Mexico we haven’t yet been able to break through to getting on in London. That is that we see ourselves as an act that should be on the heavier bills, or bills of bands. We really think that in London we have something of an identity issue. We’re far too heavy for singer/songwriter or acoustic only bills. But yet when it comes to looking at playing with bands, we think that people look at us and think, but they’re a one guitar acoustic act. They don’t belong with us. In Mexico and now Japan, there’s no messing. The Diaries. Yep. Get them in with the rock, punk and metal guys.

So, into this venue, on the third floor of a six storey building, and the first thing you enter is a really cool bar and we immediately meet our contact, Kota, who couldn’t be more welcoming. To the left of the main entrance is another door leaving the bar, and this is to the actual venue. It really isn’t that big, but it is spectacularly appointed. The stage is huge and takes up about half the space in here. Then at the back of the dance floor is the raised sounddesk area overlooking everything. Our soundcheck is in about half an hour so we’re able to get ourselves sorted, which means going to the green room place. Which is outside the bar and up on the sixth floor. There we find one of the other bands chilling, and see that there’s a TV in here which shows what’s going on in the venue. What a great way of monitoring activity to know when you’re needed, or to know that someone is now on that you want to see.

When our time comes to soundcheck, we have a very big, very nasty surprise. Remember that gig we had recorded I wrote about where I said that all that had come across in the recording was the low E string of the guitar? That’s D string for us but you know what I mean. Well, the guitar has developed some kind of fault in the pick-ups meaning that that string rings out far louder than all the others. Oh dear. Moving forwards I will say here that subsequently I check out our earlier videos and see that it has been getting progressively worse but was more or less OK at the beginning, but still there now I know what to listen for. It didn’t show itself in the shop, and may not have even been there then. But it is here loud and clear now and this guitar is absolutely unplayable. We need to do something. Luckily we’re in Japan’s main music district and we’re told there’s a music shop just a few minutes’ walk away. By now our soundcheck has taken a long time because we were trying all kinds of different sounds, assuming it was some soundboard configuration issue and not the guitar itself. But we eventually discover it is actually the guitar itself. Our idea right now is to see if we can find a clip-on pickup for an acoustic guitar. We get to the shop, which really is just a little way down the road, and no, they don’t have one. So what to do now? Unless we accept the problem and somehow just limp through the gig, while knowing that no footage will be usable, the only solution is to buy another guitar here and now. We’re in a large second hand guitar shop, so that is possible, but what about budget? We can’t go crazy here. Well, what happens is crazy. First, we find an electro acoustic guitar for just over £100. In doing this, we’re just looking down the aisles, identifying all the electro acoustics then just looking at the price tags. Only two are below £200 and this is the cheaper of those two. Then we see that it’s actually an Ovation. Oh. Isn’t this kind of a semi expensive brand? Yep.It’s around £140 but comes with a hard case. We’re estimating the hard case as being worth between £20 and £30, so that puts the guitar at a little over £100.  And further research later shows that the guitar we’ve bought often goes for around £600. And that’s the second hand price as this is a discontinued model. 

When we walk back into the venue we’re met with disbelieving yet very respectful all round hilarity that we’ve had guitar soundcheck issues and have just gone out and bought another guitar. And the sound engineer very generously lets us back onto the stage to soundcheck again. Oh wow. I just love this thing. It feels fantastic to play and the sound is just right there. As soon as we begin soundchecking we’re like, yes that’s it. Not just the fact that our chords now sound like chords again, but that the guitar itself really sounds and plays fantastic. We have a new contender in town. This guitar is coming back with us to London and will become our new prime gigging guitar. 

On our way out to the music shop we passed a venue called Music Island O. I know this venue very well from what I was looking at and emailing from London. We just have to go in and say hello. What we find is a really cool, decent sized sophisticated looking blues rock venue. And we’re able to meet the main guy – or at least Maja does as she’s the one who does the Japanese thing. He’s very happy that we’ve dropped by and says he’s very sorry but he just never saw the email. But now he’s met us and seen we’re here and playing on the scene, he would very much welcome us to get in touch when we’re making plans for our next visit. And just like that we have another venue for our next Tokyo hit. You can email, email, email and social media, social media, social media. But there still is no absolute substitute for just being on the ground and getting out and meeting people. I’m convinced and will remain convinced that if we hadn’t come in here today, or at some point in a future visit, nothing would ever have happened for us here. But now it’s totally on our available venues list.

Now we’re back on track, and with a new venue in pocket no less as well. We’re on second to last so we just hang out and enjoy all the other bands before us. Then our turn comes and we’d said we would very much stay on the stage for this one. But when Sand Bang comes out with all its atmospherics, we reach out more and more from the edge of the stage and it just becomes the most natural thing in the world for Maja to slip off the edge and seductively and theatrically prowl the audience. Although well attended, there’s still plenty of room to move around down there and Maja totally makes it her own and, well, I just have to also drop down there and join her. The people are just enthralled and really don’t quite know how to act with us dropping in among them like this. But it’s clear they are very much into it. Yes. If there was one place we really had to hit and make an impression for this trip to Tokyo, this was it. And we really are. So much so that when we get towards the end and see we only have time for two more songs, the owner Kota calls out, ‘No. Play them all.’ And the audience calls out their approval. There you go. Something of a first. A pre-encore. A prencore? That word isn’t going to catch on is it? But we very happily claim our prencore. Come on. It had to be used at least once.

At the end, Maja tells the audience we will be back in Tokyo and will continue to be so, and this gets a huge cheer. And then she tells them that today happens to be my birthday. Another lovely cheer and then we’re clapped all the way across the dancefloor and out into the bar. It is a very cool hangout bar, and that’s what we do now as we have some time to decompress before the last band takes to the stage. It’s only now that I discover that in this band is our host for the evening, Kota. We’re special guests to the actual band of Rokudemonai. Very cool. 

But now the bar is very much observing my birthday and I’m made something of a guest of honour with an enormous two pint beer served in the famous mug of the classic Anime One Piece. Yeah, it’s around now that we realise that as well as being a place of homage to rock’n’roll and all the greats, this bar gives a very big nod to One Piece, an Anime juggernaut even I’m aware of. So it’s with great honour that I accept this enormous mug which I proudly carry into the live room.

And then on come Toodles. The main band of the evening and what a fantastic band they are. Super tight but super loose at the same time. Just real good time melodic fast hard punk with a female front person and a female drummer, the two of them dressed identically. Then on either flank of the stage, a wonderful pounding walking bassist, and an absolutely electric guitarist who just happens to be Kota, now having hopped off from behind the bar to come here and be total rockstar.

Once they’re done, the mood across the whole place is just jubilant and very much all together as a complete communal vibe takes hold across the whole bar which everyone is now in. Maja gets to know the Toodles girls and we buy T-shirts from them which we then promise to wear all around London and photograph ourselves in front of iconic sites. The Toodles’ very own proxy tour of London. And after tonight we really feel connected to this place and a part of it. And in Toodles, it’s just possible we’ve found something of a kindred Japanese band. We will very much be staying in touch. We stay, mingling all round the place, until we have to leave for the last train. When we do, it’s as if the whole place comes to gather round and say goodbye. As we’d got closer to this gig we’d started to get the idea it was and could be a significant one. We are now feeling every inch of that. And also, just as in Pata Negra in Mexico City – when we had our first baptism of headlining a heavy metal bill – we feel we’ve come right through the other end in triumph. And that send off. Just wow. OK. Let’s get back to our local area and settle in for a quiet evening reflecting ourselves in the glow of all that’s happened today.

Or so we think.

We’re walking through the backstreets of Kamata – now carrying two guitars – when we pass the door of a bar and someone all but springs out of it calling for us to come back. It’s the kind of thing you often ignore. The street hustle. The tourist trap. But this just feels so different, so organic and so honest. And just a little bit more of we really want you guys to be here with us rather than, hey, we really want your money. And yeah, this really isn’t a street hustle. That guy really is just a customer. Me and Maja look at each other and almost without even agreeing, just turn – independently of each other it feels – and walk back to the bar. We are very enthusiastically welcomed and made space for. Very necessary. Because what we find is just absolutely breathtaking. Not only have we just doubled the number of punters in the bar, but we’ve now made the bar just about hit capacity. Yes. It really is that small. One guy in front of the toilet door, then Maja then me. And that takes up the entire space along the main actual bar. There’s then the sharp corner of an ‘L’ into which the fourth person of our number is pretty much crammed. And that’s it.

Have we just stumbled across/been called into the world’s smallest bar? I’ve just got back from an admittedly cursory Google search of world’s smallest bars featuring a few shorts – really not meant as a pun – and this place is smaller than all of them. And I’m not allowing gimmicky one seat bars into this list. It’s my list. But this place. Oh my. I should get on with introducing our new friends, as that is what they very quickly become as we very much settle in here. Carochan – a Japanese American football player whose name I absolutely guarantee you I’ve spelt wrong. Then there’s the bar girl Ashley. And then Koki, the cheeky chappie who exploded out of the bar to get us to come in.

We stay till almost bar closing time and then as things start winding down, say we’re off to a restaurant down the street for post gig dinner. We’ve been settled in the restaurant for about five maybe ten minutes when there’s a bit of a bustle at the door and our three new friends come in to join us at our table. Now we have something of another party. Our third of the day. During this they say that we absolutely have to drop by again the next day and play. Well, yeah. OK. With that we have another gig added to our itinerary, and in the world’s smallest bar. Its name – Mum Stand.

Oh, and this dinner is the very first time Maja has ever gone into a restaurant after midnight.