Japan Trip November 2003 My trip to Japan was for fun, though one specific purpose was trying to get to know the club scene and to see if it would be possible to set up a tour for Pollo Del Mar. I went with Mach 4 drummer Shig and Aqua Velvets bassist Michael. Without Shig, and my friends in Japan, it would be impossible to have the access that I had as as far as getting around, finding small clubs, eating in local restaurants, using the trains and doing anything outside of the "Tour Group" type vacation, which I wanted to avoid at all costs. And  yes, the costs are great, but it wasn't always as bad as I thought i would be. We found a good hotel for $100 (each) a night, CDs cost $25, a huge lunch at an out of the way place might be $7, and $23 to get into a rock club. There are nearly as many Starbucks in Tokyo as Seattle. Though we were interested in all aspects of Japanese culture, what follows are my notes about Japan as limited to the music scene. One of my goals was to go to the temple where The Ventures shot the cover for Live in Japan '65. It is located in the Akasaka district of Tokyo!

Playing at One's Diner Michael, Shig and I had the opportunity to play live twice, the first show set up by my friend Yuzo Sasaki, who is a music editor for a Japanese magazine. This show was more or less pretty straight, we had rehearsed a 7 song set, and were joined by a Japanese rhythm guitarist named Joon. (His girlfriend, Etsuko, was in a band called The Pebbles which I saw at the Purple Onion in '95). Though he spoke only a little English, he perfectly understood musical lingo and the songs fell together very quickly. One's Diner is decorated in like an American Diner from the 50s, lots of chrome and the other band playing that night was a young rockabilly trio- two guitars, no bass. They had learned the lyrics to the songs phonetically.

The Surf Coasters - Club 251, Nov. 7, 2003, Tokyo Just finding Club 251 is an experience... actually moving around at all in Tokyo (for us gaijin) is next to impossible, in fact, it is like being completely illiterate. But I will skip the sundry travelogue...      Club 251 reminds me a lot of the Purple Onion in SF as we descend the narrow staircase to the basement of an old building. At the small landing before entering the club we are introduced to Surf coasters guitarist Shigeo Naka and the band's manager Masa. Shigeo speaks no english, but has a wide grin and is very friendly. We exchange biz cards (you do that a lot), CDs and T-shirts.     Inside of Club 251 is dark, smokey and has an uneven, beer soaked floor. The stage has a full PA. Japanese clubs have a backline ready- drums and amps, in this case there are Marshall, Fender, and Vox amps at the ready. The musicians usually just bring their guitars and effects. This is because everybody uses the subways to get around, so it would be a huge pain to haul amps. For this reason, shows also start around 8:30 and finish by 11, as the trains stop running at midnight and everybody needs to get home.     The Surf Coasters take the stage and immediately start a sledgehammer set of instrumentals. I only recognize two songs- Miserlu and Jack the Ripper. Their set had about 15 songs, but was missing my favorite, "Dreams". The Surf Coasters are a power trio, with a great rhythm section, the bass player's style reminded me of  Sam Bolle's. He was also responsible for getting the crowd going and yelling "Hup Hup Hoooo" in Miserlu". Naka is an incredible player, if I had to compare him to somebody in the surf world, it would be to Bernard Yin. Fluid single note runs, with staggering technique that reminded me of Joe Satriani (er, in the good way). He is an extremely competent and versatile player. For his guitar he played a Yamaha Blue Jean, he was usuing a Fender reissue reverb tank and had a custom built fuzz box. The amp was the club's Fender Twin.     Shigeo Naka was born to be a rock star. His theatrics were meant for a big stage, although the crowd at 251 followed his every move, as they had memorized the dance moves and knew all of the call and response shout outs. During Jack the Ripper Naka leaned his guitar against the amp let it moan furiously as he ripped of his shirt, went to the front of the stage and bent over backwards and blew a mouthful of water into the crowd-- they loved it. I just kept thinking about the laid back audiences in the US, and the laid back bands for that matter-- would this action go over here? Naka spent the last song standing on the monitor at the front of the stage, facing the crowd in the pose of a conquering General, a natural guitar hero.

The 5678s debacle One of the bands I wanted to see was the 5678s. I saw them a few years ago in S.F., but Shig found that they were playing in Osaka which is about an hour away from Kyoto. The 5678s were recently featured in "Kill Bill", and I am wondering if their career arc will take off like Dick Dale's did after "Pulp Fiction." So we take the train to Osaka, with some extremely sketchy directions to the club- "Take this train, switch to that train, go out the North entrance walk three blocks 'til you get to the big building, walk through the American Zone, at the second traffic light turn left and the club is across from the hotel." Actually, these directions weren't far off, though there were a lot of distractions and some guessing involved. One problem is that buildings and houses don't have any numbers on them. Very often you get a map on the back of a flyer or business card to help you find an address, but if you don't have a map, you will have to ask for directions. We found the club on the third floor of a building, but it says the 5678s don't go on until 11PM. This is also the time of the last train back to Kyoto. So we missed the 5678s, but we got a glimpse of Osaka, and largely due to being in the "American sector"- which means it was uncharacteristically filthy for Japan - seemed to be the most westernized city we visited. Bummed about missing the 5678s, we limped back to Kyoto. We should have planned better- like planning to spend the night in Osaka, but as I said in the Surf Coasters report, most shows start at 8PM, so, who knew.

Nokie Edwards at El Camino, Nov. 10, 2003 - Tokyo I was thrilled to find that Nokie Edwards would be appearing in Tokyo while I was visiting Japan. The Ventures "Live in Japan '65" is one of the most important instrumental releases of that decade, and the Ventures have maintained their premier status in Japan by playing at least 30 shows there every year for the past 39 years. First, a little about the El Camino club. The El Camino is very small with no real stage. No seats, just couches like a comfortable living room for about 35 people. In fact, it is a shrine to the Ventures. Though not a private club, it is frequented only by patrons who are Ventures fans. The patrons are also musicians of varying degree, from novice on up. They leave their guitars hanging on the walls (all signed by Nokie and other members of the Ventures) so that they will always be there when they need them. No one worries about their guitar being stolen, and they don't mind if other people use them. The El Camino provides a backline- two Twin Reverbs, a bass amp and drums. The owner of the club is an excellent player (he backed up Nokie this night) who just leaves his '64 Jazzmaster on stage. Tickets for the show cost $100, but that also included dinner and top shelf booze and beer which was placed on the tables in front of the couches. Yes, an open bar only an arms length away. The price also includes a chance to chat with Nokie, as he just hung around the stage before and after his performance. Nokie was traveling with a second guitarist, Kerry Marx who plays with the Grand Ole Opry House house band in Nashville, which should tell you quite a bit about his ability on guitar. As there were three guitar players, Kerry mostly filled out the sound with fat tones from his PRS, although he and Nokie had worked out a few intricate two guitar arrangements for some of the songs. Kerry has great respect for Nokie and is on call for him whenever needed.  The rest of the band was rounded out by Mr. Toda, the club's owner on Don Wilson style rhythm guitar and veterans of Japanese Ventures cover bands on Bass and Drums. This was a Nokie show, not The Ventures so there was a lot more focus on his solo stuff and the Nashville chicken-pickin' style he is so good at. Each song was greeted with a huge response from the crowd, though the Ventures tunes were the most appreciated (fans did the rhythmic clap all the way through "Let's Go".) Though Nokie walks slowly with a pronounced limp and sits on a stool for the show, his fingers fly as fast as ever, the speed of his right hand finger picking matched by the chordal comping, double stops and single note lines of his left. There were several jaw dropping displays of technique, like in his versions of "Classical Gas" and "Orange Blossom Special". I got a chance to ask Nokie a few question: How did he fell about the longtime adoration of the Japanese audiences? He was on a first name basis with many of the patrons at the club, who had been fans of his since 1964... Nokie said that "the Ventures fans had grown up to run the country- Doctors, businessmen, politicians" who still came to his shows. I asked about how his approach to a song like "Caravan" had changed since playing it in '64 compared to  the greatly expanded version that closed the second set tonight. "Well" he replied in a low key manner, "I still just try to get some of the notes right." I have to say that he got more than a few right. Nokie was very eager to talk about his new guitar, the "Hitchhiker" which is a custom design of his. The most noticeable features are the thumbs-up headstock, neck through body design with laminated layers of wood looking something like an old Alembic, though the body shape is more of a Mosrite style. Two Seymour Duncan humbuckers with coil taps and passive electronics that give you 21 different tone settings. The body has a clear laqueur but the neck backside has no finish, just bare wood. Nokie has the bodies manufactured in the old Charvel factory and they are sent to him in Portland and he has a local luthier finish and install the electronics. Set 1- Walk Don't Run, Driving Guitars, Manchurian Beat, Keep Searchin, El Cumbanchero, Tequila Sunrise, Orange Blossom Special, Runaway, Sentimental Guitars, House of the Rising Sun, Secret Agent Man, Diamondhead, Wipe Out, Tears In Heaven Set 2- Let's Go, Ten Seconds to Heaven, Mr. Moto, I've Got a Woman, Sleep walk, Alabama Jubilee, Aquarius, Classical Gas, Steel Guitar Rag, Slaughter on 10th Ave., Yellow Jacket, Hawaii 5-0, Surf Rider, Pipeline, Caravan

Playing at the El Camino The second time we played was after Nokie had finished at the El Camino club. This was really bizarre. (See my Nokie review above for a description of the nature of the club.) The club patrons knew that we were American musicians and urged us toplay. BUT, since this is a players club, which means that anybody can take the stage, we ended up backing up some of the (novice musician) patrons as they plowed through songs. Sometimes a patron would come up mid-song and rotate in. Very often they would start a song without counting it out or start their phrasing on a 4 count instead of a 1. That's OK, that's how I started, it was just weird, and again, a lot of fun. I think that the fan/musician club is a great idea, it works well in a dense city like Tokyo where on any given night there are enough Venture fans to fill a room, and they play, drink, and learn songs with each other. I am not sure if this kind of club would work in America, probably all the instruments would get stolen.

The ESP Store On our last day in Tokyo, we took another walking tour around the Shibuya district. I picked up 5 Surf Coasters CDs from Tower Records and then we headed to lunch. We passed what looked like a small music store featuring ESP guitars and decided to have a look around. I was expecting mostly heavy metal guitars as that is what ESP is known for in the USA. As we walked aroung the shop, it did indeed feature many Strat style copies, as well as their Japanese cousins, guitars with odd shapes, but clearly designed for rock. In one corner of the store, there was a pile of lumber. I asked about it and was told that there was a luthier upstairs who would build any design you wanted. So we go to the top floor and sure enough there is a complete custom wood working shop, a paint room, several unfinished but freshly laminated guitars laying around as well as several others closer to final finish. Back downstairs we explore the main floor again and notice behind one glass cabinet there are no less than a dozen '58 - '60 Les Paul Standars. Next to them are every manner of collectable Gibson, from Juniors to dot neck ES-335s. In the next cabinet there are a dozen vintage Strats and a dozen Teles and even more Fenders. In yet another cabinet are the tasty secondary brands, all vintage of course, Gretch, Martin, Mosrite, and many more. Again I want to mention that this store was very unassuming from the front, we might have missed it all together. There are probably lots of shops like this all around Tokyo, each with a stock of vintage gold.

The "Japan Tour" Concept I have been consumed with the idea of taking Pollo del Mar to Japan for a tour since we started the band 10 years ago. Two of my most favorite albums are "Cheap Trick Live at Budokan" and "The Ventures Live in Japan '65." Our CD, "Live In Japan Town" was specifically created with the hopes of appealing to a Japanese audience. I am not sure of all my motivations, but I knew that the Japanese fans are very intense, and I had hoped that The Ventures enduring popularity there was a signal that instrumental rock was more accepted than in the USA. Also, I had hoped that it would be possible to set up a tour in advance, but I was told that I must visit first to meet and greet club owners and to set up a tour in person. This proved to be excellent advice and I am really happy that we did this preliminery fact finding excursion. Much of the musical mytholgy of Japan has been exploded and explained, and I am happy to pass on my opinions. First, Japan has a thriving music business which seems to mirror America's. They have their own Britney Spears, Blink 182's, rappers and other popular styles which pervade the major media channels. At the piano bars you have smooth jazz and in the clubs you've got the garage bands, punkers, rockabilly, and yeah, surf instro. Japan doesn't need American music, they are doing quite well for themselves. But wait, I thought that any American band who went there became "Big in Japan!". Shig explained that this was true in the 60s and 70s but the novelty wore off in the 80s as every lousy Heavy Metal hair band toured there and the Japanese fans realized how boring American music could be. Second, it would be incredibly expensive to stage a small clubs tour. Clubs might pay $200 to $500. You would need a full time manager. The language barrier is immense, english is not widely understood, and you can sit there and stare at the subway chart all day, and it still won't make any sense. Third, if you go to Japan you will, of course, want to sight see. this means aranging some kind of daytime tour schedule, and getting all the members of the band to agree on what to do together. Ha ha ha, its hard enough to be with a small group of people for a week without having to spend every second together. I can't imagine being Julie the Love Boat tour director showing people temples and culture by day, then getting them to show up at a club at night. Fourth, figure to spend at least $100 each a night for a hotel. There are cheaper places I'm sure- maybe you could sleep on the floors of another band- although we visited the apartment of some four young musicians who lived in a small 1 room flat, and they had set up ship-like bunk beds in a walk-in closet that also had all their clothes and was their rehearsal space. To set up a successful tour, do this: #1- Make friends with lots of Japanese bands who can help you get gigs. #2- Try to get your band known in their scene. #3- Save up lots of money and be prepared to spend it. #4- Hire a Japanese road manager. So, if you still really want to go, and unless someone is begging to go you will be doing so only to satisfy your own ego, then you can finally say, "I'm big in Japan". As for me, I'm 6'4", and after visiting Tokyo, I know for a fact that I am "Big in Japan!"