JRock no Tamashii '09

Disclaimer:
I was only there up until Miniature Garden took the stage and I missed Fickle something band. Seriously, that ee-ee-yeh-yeh sound is called singing ah? Doraemon in BM sounds better. Anyway, I had to ciao early. Mom nagging, back aching, and stuff (hungry, butt itchy etc.). I wanted to catch Strawberry Jam in action too, because I’m Jeremy’s super-supporter after the JK4 stunt he pulled, but the spine demands a rest.

[Edit: Should have added this for obvious reasons - inane ramblings only. If want to steal material, steal la. If want to scold, no need. I'm appalled that no one thanks you for the good things you say, but scold you for the bad things you say. Freaking one-sided can. Nobody asked for your genius insights on what I say or what I do NOT say, because it is entirely up to me. Please refer to this post].

Also, pardon the lack of Jap song titles. I recently discovered awesome new age pianists Joe Bongiorno, Brian Crain, Gary Girouard, Brett Juilly, Sean Mahnken, Greg Maroney, Lee Harbaugh, Zola Van, Marc Enfroy, Spencer Brewer, Louis Landon. And the list goes on. Still downloading muahaha.

Kawaii Sakura


Girl with one side of her head shaved.


Vocalist who might as well not have been there.


Banana Guy, when Chu Fan grows up he will be this guy haha!


Eye-candy was pretty (in a girly way - and I lost the ability to tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing)

This was the band with the girl guitarist who had a Star on one shaved side of her head. I have to admit, it’s very rare for a girl (normally vain and unwilling at participating in self-mutilation) to shave the side of her head for performance. And I salute such courage. How long till the hair grows back?

They started out pretty well in the beginning. A song from one of Naruto’s themes, I think. But then, through the following songs, all they played was Naruto songs. They might as well have dressed up as ninjas. It’s almost as if they were too afraid to play songs that they thought the we may not know, and therefore may not participate in (concussion-inducing head-banging), and therefore be perceived as a failure at being the lead-in band. Playing safe never did a band any good, especially not when you have an awesome drummer in the back. I do however like that the members (mainly Banana Guy) were fairly entertaining with a couple of jokes slot in once in a while. The vocalist on the other hand, was merely an extra, who can only occasionally be heard when the instruments are playing slightly softer.

YAY: For a good intro song that people identify with, entertainment in the form of jokes between songs, girl with one side of her head shaven. (And also eye-candy boy in orange for extra brownie points!)

BOO: For picking mostly Naruto songs to play, an average Joe vocalist, keyboarder who does an average of nothing (other than guarding the keyboard with his stone-cold stare and occasionally pitching in as backup vocals).

John’s Mistress


Thank you for the guitar pick muahaha.


Good bassist, but really, I don't get the hair.


Don't get the sunnies either.


Don't get the hat. Turns out there are a lot of things I don't get about this bunch.

Two words. Don't get. Very impressive. Their songs were original and it’s one of those times when you hear something good on the radio and you don’t know who these people are, but you want to know more about the song. It’s that good. Showmanship was good too.

It was quite shocking that when I turned around to see people’s reactions to their songs, and they were... indifferent. I have no idea why. Some people enjoyed it, I think, but overall the people were I don’t know, sleepy? I remember a few songs, Kimi, Heroes, Picking Up Pieces, and Missing, I think. And I liked them all! If I were to grade them, I’d stamp a hugeass High Distinction on their foreheads.

I would have to say out of the few bands I witnessed that night, John’s Mistress was my favourite. (Also because the vocalist was very cheeky and charming on stage. Cheekiness always gets me.)

YAY: Superb band coordination, keyboarder who actually PLAYS the keyboard, awesome bassist, cheeky vocalist. (Spanks for your guitar pick, I was so fated to have it muahaha)

BOO: Sorry, I can’t think of any smartass sarcastic remarks to kutuk them. Really, later they take back my guitar pick : (

Gemini

No photos for you because your mob of hooligans were jumping and pushing people around, stepping on my foot and never bothered to look back, nudged me and expected me to move out of their way.

[Ranting ON]
It’s always a FEW motherfuckers who spoil it for everyone else. Who do these asswipes think they are? Other people also want to enjoy the performance OK? Some people would just start pushing each other around. No doubt in a friendly manner, but these people lack one thing known to civilization as CONSIDERATION. We know you very gan cheong, your sister/girlfriend/brother/whoever the fuck I don’t fucking care is playing up on stage (while you losers watch from ground level), but don’t bounce around stepping on other people’s feet and pushing them around, or expecting them to give you space for your kampung behaviour. Jakun acts are best committed alone, preferably during your own time, in your own space, not under people’s noses.
[Ranting OFF]

I super like the vocalist’s showmanship, perhaps she is a dancer. At first I thought the scarf was annoying. You know you’re bound to sweat under all those lights, why bring a freaking scarf? But she interacted with us very well, she kind of grew on me. I think they played a song from Gazette and sorry to say, she was very, very out of tune. I don’t know if I was imagining it. I can’t have imagined her adjusting her own tone A FEW TIMES lor. The sad part is I cannot even remember the title of the song. Can’t even Youtube the actual song. So if it was meant to be like that, sorry lah. It sounded damn out of tune to me.

YAY: Crowd participation, showmanship, girl growler (Hah! Beat that you male species).

BOO: Motherfuckers who have to spoil it for everyone else. Damn you straight to River Styx. Out of tune.

Endless Eternal


Her name is Haoto. I liked her whole do. Rock-ish but not exaggerated. Oh, and I like her boots too.


Ordinary fellow. Didn't really stand out to me.


This dood on the other hand... *evil grin*

I demand to know how they came up with this band name. It is so wtfish.

Apparently they won Battle of the Bands. I liked this band too. They played their own composition and it was actually good. Good in a sense that, for a local band, they sounded quite Jap. If only they fix their lack of originality because their songs frankly speaking, were quite generic. Can’t exactly pinpoint how, the songs just sounded very ‘lost’, like they don’t belong to anyone, just a random band. I think with some work, they could go far.

YAY: Played own songs, not afraid to advertise themselves (by the way, it’s “triple w dot myspace dot com, not triple w dot com dot myspace dot com – hur hur hur), eye candy guitarist (whose hair keeps making my photos of him unclear wtf)

BOO: Songs too generic, bass a little out of sync.

Mage


Pretty, pretty Moon.


The God of Bass himself has graced us with his presence. *snort*


Not so legendary anymore sexythigh. His muka also damn pei.

Till this day, I still can’t figure out why Moon is so kayu. Today, he was prettier than me. Grr catfight. I think there was apparent improvement in vocals and drums were not bad also. Chit Wei’s bass improved slightly, feels like there’s more energy this time round. (P/S: I pilih kasih because he temaned me and brought me H20 when I was waiting for that Ichiro to show his muka diraja. Haha, no lah, he’s always been the best on string I think – damn power his bass) Ichiro on the other hand, other than missing the ‘Legendary Sexy Thigh’ Shaun is so eager to see, the guitar is just same old same old. Can’t remember which song, but one solo from him was quite good, I shall have to dig through the videos.

YAY: Good drums (although I will always miss the idea of having a girl drummer like Man Leng with her kungfu flying drumsticks), strong bass (Chit Wei! Chit Wei! Chit Wei! Hip hip hooray wtf)

BOO: Ichiro not so legendary sexy thigh, Moon like tak ada semangat want to perform.

I'm quite upset that I didn't manage to get any drummer photos. All those drums blocking and they were all the way back the stage. Too bad.