No Routine

It’s quite hard when you have no routine to find time to do things like update your blog. I apologise. It really has been a huge upheaval. We both have had our moments where we have struggled with our Return to Oz. Much like the “Journey of the Magi” - everything was as we remembered it, but somehow ineffably not. Part of going overseas and living abroad is that you end up with a set of experiences. These experiences are valuable, but cannot have a dollar value assigned to them. The more that you see, the less content one feels at home. Tom said to me once, “I wish I’d never gone away at all sometimes.” As we watch people in their twenties locked into permanent jobs paying off mortgages, whilst we are admin temping and living in the houses of our relatives and friends, I have questioned why we have ended up here. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I was never going to be one of those people who comfortably slips into a public service job straight after uni. I chose my destiny because that destiny was not mine. When life serves you lemons, export them to Japan for a handsome profit.

So, since arriving back in Australia in late April, we visited Jonathan and Denise in Sydney. Sydney is an amazing city. I love the surf beaches. The actual city itself has lovely historic quarters, and a recently rejuvenated rail network. So my overall affection for the place has increased in recent visits. I also had the pleasure of spending a night with my Aunt Mary and Uncle Rodney, both of whom are always fun to hang out with. Like most cities, money is required if one expects to enjoy one’s self, and being newly broke after living it up in our last three weeks in Japan, it felt a little like standing on the outside looking in.



From Sydney we flew to Hobart, into the waiting arms of our families. My mother put us up for the first couple of weeks. My brother put us in his shed for a couple. Then we came into this housesit at Pete and Shirley’s house in Kaoota. Two springy spaniels and wide-open spaces. Staying here really made us question whether we would like to stay in Tasmania. In Tasmania, we could have a bush house. We could make a racket and be outside of earshot of the nearest neighbours. But as always, in Tasmania, we could be stuck in temporary and contract jobs forever, and be paid half as much for the same work in Melbourne. In the end, the employment situation forced our hand. We have to leave again.

When I said I have had no routine, it’s not entirely true. I have had a routine that doesn’t involve being on the computer quite so much. Monday to Friday I’ve been working at the Public Trustee as an admin/shit-kicker. It’s a fine job, not challenging, but I do feel like I’m making a difference. It does require early starts and commuting. But I’m home by 6pm most nights, and still able to assemble dinner. On Saturdays I take the dogs for a big run down the hill. Then we water the plants. I do the shopping for the week. I take Tom for a drive. Do the washing. Play some drums. I like this life. I could definitely handle it being mine…

On the musical side of things, slowly but surely, a little bit of buzz is starting to pick up around the Away from the Haunts of Men release. I don’t expect that it will be an overnight success, but I do think it will sell out its run of 500. We had our first interview the other day in a blog called “Lurker.” The questions were mostly of a philosophical bent, which was an interesting challenge. I don’t really have a philosophical outlook that is set in stone, and it definitely doesn’t come from my university studies or sit neatly in some kind of “ism”. It sits somewhere between “try your best” and “don’t be an arsehole.” On a personal level, I am totally into the idea of progress, and bettering yourself, but on a political angle, I think the modernist project was an abject failure, and we are stranded here in a world governed in the “least worst” way possible. As a species, on our current trajectory, I don’t see any possible future beyond total annihilation on a planetary level at some point in the future. I despise the “green gestures of a dying planet – an endless debate only to be too late!” (Jaz Coleman) We talk the talk, but to actually curb our population and find some kind of balance to allow us to live in harmony with nature is beyond our ability. I find it deeply ironic that the first world might wipe itself out with its gluttony and over-abundance before the third world is wiped out by disease and famine. With medical science we cling to our lives for longer and longer. Be at one with nature! Surrender your resources! Compost! Go laughing into the abyss… don’t be an arsehole.

Easy to say. Harder to live.

We’ve played a couple of shows. First show home was really good. Tom and I were focused and fierce. The second show we recruited our old and good friend Leigh Ritson to play bass. The show was with KKNull, which is the name that Kazuyuki Kishino from Zeni Geva uses for his solo work. We picked Kazuyuki up from the airport, took him for a sandwich at Pete and Shirl’s house (I thought he’d like the opportunity to play with the dogs – turned out he’d been staying with a Jack Russell terrier in Melbourne!) and then got told off by the venue for picking him up. Apparently it is in a written contract that the venue owner picks up the talent from the airport. The venue-owner went to the airport (late, mind you) and of course, couldn’t find Kazuyuki. He knew that we were friends/fans of Kazuyuki’s, and could have let us know, but the same could be said that we could have let him know that we were going to get him from the airport too. I don’t expect Kazuyuki to pour though an English language contract and understand it all. Either way, we played the show on Friday, were asleep by 5am Saturday, we dropped Kazuyuki back to the airport at 9am and loaded out at 4pm. Bloody knackered, I was. And I wasn’t quite so convinced of our performance. Kazuyuki’s set was really interesting. He’s moved beyond solo guitar improvisation (which is what he was doing the last couple of times he came to Hobart) and has now moved into a sample based exploration of found organic sounds and inorganic post-production. The result is extremely cerebral, a rush of rhythm and squalls of insect calls, bird sounds, water sounds. Perhaps it was a bit too cerebral for the punters at the Brisbane. Most of them didn’t seem to get it. Off the back of this experience though, Zeni Geva have been booked to play at the Brisbane on the 30th of September, and we’re currently pestering everyone to make sure we get the support.



The tracking for the second album Vermin to the Earth has now been finished. The raw tracks just sound massive. The arrangements and instrumentation sit somewhere between ABBA and Avsky. Words that spring to my mind are “virulent,” “misanthropic,” “catchy,” “hypnotic,” “abrasive,” and “listenable.” It’s a very strange combination of adjectives, but that’s where we’ve ended up. Like fish-hooks in the mind, riffs get stuck in your head like a Lady Gaga song, but with a much darker, scarier aesthetic. I think Vermin to the Earth will be an awesome album. But for now, it will have to wait to be mixed and mastered, and after the almost three fucking years of waiting for Away from the Haunts of Men to be finished, I know that for now, some patience is going to be required.

1. Vermin to the Earth
2. Plague of Man
3. Oblivion
4. Disease’s Maiming Caress
5. Mass Extinction
6. Ecstacy not of the Flesh
7. Vita Vacuous Voluntas
8. Meius Quietus Nex

It will probably take us another couple of years to write the next album. We’ve got a couple of very rough ideas for the Aokigahara Jukai EP that we’ve been planning. I’ve written some lyrics, started playing with some artwork ideas. We’re thinking that EP would be a nice piece to record ourselves, using our own equipment, and release on one of the smaller labels that showed interest in Away From the Haunts of Men but missed out.

Killmister’s getting those final vocals that it needed from Rachel, and so we should have the album finished before the end of August, when the recording deadline will suddenly be upon us. Arrgh! Am I about to embark on another journey into oblivion? Seems I am.

Funnily enough, I have amassed about 2/3rds of the Fryktelig Støy album about 8 years before I said I’d be finished. I think I will self-press a limited run at some point. Listening to it, it really has those feelings of desolation/oblivion that I’ve been wanting to capture. It’s a very personal project, that’s constantly been relegated to my second, third, forth priority, and so to have the end in sight is quite exciting.

1. Black Mass
2. Sutra
3. Horsemen
4. I’m Happy in this Cave, Thanks
5. Somnambulist
6. Awaiting a Public Hanging

Well, at least I’ve not been idle. Ha ha, like that’s ever going to happen. It’s funny. The busier I get, the more I manage to cram in, the more I’ve got going on, the more I get going on. I used to think I was busy when I was at Uni. Now I know I wasn’t even 2% busy!

That’s my Sunday lie in accounted for. Can’t even relax in bed without being a busy bee! I’d best put on the onions for the French onion soup I had planned for lunch with Sam and Jess, wash the car, that kind of malarkey. We’ve made some plans for moving in with Kerry and Dave in Melbourne. If that works out, it will be awesome sauce for all involved. Dave’s need for a house where we can make noise is as pressing as ours, and that should ensure that we all get a house that doesn’t suck. The future is always popping up in these blog posts, because we’re such compulsive planners. I’m always happiest when I’m booking in the next bunch of plans, making things happen.

Hitting the ground... running

Well, here we are. Back where we started.

And yet, so far from there.

And now it is time to understand what it is that we have lost in all of the moving.

I have my allergies back. I am allergic to everything in Australia. Miserable, puffy-eyed, runny-nosed allergic. I can barely visit anyone without being allergic to their house.

The pertinence of these allergic reactions is that due to my allergies, the house-sit that we had been given through our friend Jeremy was impossible for me to stay in. It had a straw lined ceiling. No good for Little Miss Allergy me. No sir.

We stayed on the floor at my Ma's, and we stayed in the shed at my bro's, but after all that, we scored a house sit for June-August in Kaoota with two springy spanials on Umfreyvilles road.

Busy, busy, busy... started work a week after getting back to Hobart. Receptionist/Admin/Shitkicker at the Public Trustee. Work is workish, and I sway between finding it easy to deal with and maddening. Like any job, really.

It's good to stem the outward tide of money, as we've been struggling a bit since finishing up at ECC. Couldn't stand that job, but loved the holidays and the pay.

Played two shows so far. The albums didn't turn up in time for the album launch. Nothing seems to be selling. It's making me a little nervous, because I so dearly want Thrall to become something that can sustain itself - the money from selling the albums paying to make the next recording, the money from the merch going back into making the next batch of merch, that pays for the tours that sell the albums... but so far it continues to drain money from our jobs and our savings. It's hard. Anyone who hears Thrall or sees us play can understand that this is our passion, and that we make something amazing, but it's hard to get people to invest that first try, or pay money for music.

I'm at work, so I'll have to go now, but yes, I exist. We exist. We haven't stopped existing. I'll write more later. But yeah, Em and Tom are in the world. And we're making the next bunch of plans that will hopefully result in us being a little bit more in the world than we have been of late... if you get what I mean.

Arrived

Touchdown! Sydney. Now for the "reverse culture shock." Denise and Jonathan have been kind enough to let us ease into the day through their house.

I cried on the plane as we took off from Osaka. It has been such an eventful, hectic two years, I would never take it back. Osaka has been so good to us, and if we were in slightly different circumstances, I would never want to leave. But as it stands, I can never have the job I would want to have in Japan without being a totally different person. So back to Australia, hopefully to find a better balance.

5 days in Sydney, then off we go to Hobart to try and amass the collection of crap that we own, then head on to Melbourne. Will it be one month or six, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's definite.

More news soon...

Simulacra

Since ancient times philosophy has been preoccupied with the nature of, and the interpretation of, the "real." No where does this seem more pertinent than a place like Japan. The Japanese have a wonderful way of mythologising their nation, the characters of their cities, and their sense of insider and outsider.

Always an outsider... it's not such a bad thing, you know.

Travelling through Japan for the last two years, I have sometimes felt the experience of "Japanese-ness" must be quite restrictive. Many of the people I have met do not seem to feel or react to the societal expectations I have observed here. However, others seem hyper-aware of the imposition of being Japanese. Strict roles produce excellent rebels. As rare as they are, the Japanese misfit is one of my favourite beings to encounter. That said, many traditionalist elements sometimes surface in those who would seem to be out-and-out rebels, and even in those who appear to conform to their basic societal roles often have the misfit lurking just below the surface.



Part of the mythological "Japan" lies in the dichotomy of the traditional and the hyper-modern. These images are seductive and delicious. Camera lenses are always hungry for the sea of neon, or the gentle tilt of a temple roofline. For an outsider it is easy to enjoy this veneer, gliding over and past "Japan-land" in a glazed, sight-hungry tourist manner (see Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation). The closer you come, the more you hear the din: the pachinko parlours, the racket of competing stereos, the footfall of the march of the corporate commuter, the shrieks of children - the human experiences within the aesthetic exterior.

Is this the "real" Japan?



We finished recording the drums for Thrall 2 on the 7th of April, and went for a day trip to Yoshino on the 9th. Yoshino-yama is namesake of the Japanese floral emblem, the Yoshino cherry blossom, and has over 30,000 cherry trees in and around the village. The effect of the the masses of pink blossoms in different stages of opening, from the bottom of the mountain to the top was a lovely sight to behold. The sleepy little mountainside village was bustling with tourists, and is famously busy at this time of year, but for the rest of the year, Yoshino remains a quiet, authentic feeling town. The feeling of unity with the seasons, deep appreciation for nature... it is a truly beautiful country.

Japan's nature seems bounteous, inexhaustible and vigorous. Rainfall is high and one of the predicted effects of global warming is that Japan will receive a higher rainfall than it currently does. When I have explained the idea of Australia being a barren place that can barely sustain human life, timing showers, and water management, I have been met with vacant stares. The whole concept that something might be finite seems incomprehensible. Particularly something like water. People use strings of unfilled vegetable plastic bags to cushion their shopping over here, and "eco" bags are often only used as covers for plastic bags. The wastefulness of many people I've observed over here is quite boggling.

On the 11th we went to enjoy dinner with my ex-student, Eishi. He and his lovely wife Hanae put on a delicious spread of "do-it-yourself" maki-zushi. It was a very fun meal, and Eishi, being in one of his cheeky moods, teased Glenn, our friend who was also there for being American and terribly into red meat. It was a very tender moment, and I will miss Eishi. He is a scientist working on the human genome project. His English is pretty hot when he bothers to study, but recently he hasn't been coming to his lessons... naughty Eishi! I've always found Eishi to be self-effacing, intelligent, observant, and engaged with the world. I hope he comes to visit us in Australia.

Prior to dinner we went to Daigo-ji, one of the many UNESCO world treasures throughout Kyoto prefecture. Unfortunately it was too late in the day for us to see the top of the hill. The cherry blossoms were fading, and in comparison to the mountain-top beauty of Yoshino, something desperately inauthentic pangs me about Kyoto whenever I visit. Here, in the heavily touristed swarms of the ancient capital, we are in a carefully mediated experience, much like a theme park, a Disneyland dream-world. In Kyoto, the myth of Japan is presented to us in an imperfect fantasy, drab ugly city fringes blurring into temple grounds. But we are definitely in "Japanland" more-so than we are in Japan.

Is there a "real" Japan?

After a couple more days of sorting out boxes, sending guitars and LPs through the mail, we went for a brief sojourn to Tokyo. We were going to make a pilgrimage to Aokigahara-jukai, but on the day that we were planning to leave for Fuji-go-ko, we got some terrible news. The master CD for our upcoming album, Away from the Haunts of Men, has gone missing somewhere in the Bulgarian postal system. After news of such gravity we were paralysed with shock. We are still waiting for it to turn up. The $1000 master has gone missing... I really hope it turns up. We don't have $1000 to loose!

We arrived in Tokyo on the 15th and went to the Natural History Museum in Ueno. That was quite diverting. Our hotel was in Shiodome, just south of Ginza. It is one of those places in Tokyo that just feels like dust never falls on it. Huge cavernous, modern spaces, gleaming tiled expanses, scurrying salary-men and women, the other glittering fantasy world Japan, the hyper-modern, neon dripping glitz. The next day we ate a 6 course degustation menu at Kaishoku Michiba, rounding out our aim to eat at three Iron Chef restaurants before leaving Japan. It was truly delicious, delicate, and unmistakably Japanese. Wonderful that we chose Michiba's to do last, as it was a lot more affordable than Sakai's, but more satisfying than Chen's. We then missioned to the top of Roppongi Hills once more to take in an exhibition of emerging Japanese artists titled "Can there be art?" There were some ordinary pieces and some extraordinary pieces. My favourite was Aikawa Masaru's work, where he painstakingly creates oil painted replica's of CD covers, and then makes vocal tributes to his favourite music. The view from the Mori is always beautiful, and it gives the feeling of endless city, and endless possibilities that a place like Tokyo presents. Psychologically, it's either crushing or freeing, given one's own state of mind when taking in that view.



The next day we went to Koenji, in search of some record stores and a legendary punk scene. But apparently since the 20000V Club burnt down (four people died) the punk scene has shrivelled. We found a few clothes shops, but no record stores. Very disappointing. But perhaps that's part of the vulnerability of a place like Tokyo. A specialised scene can pop up around one club, but without integration, the scene is susceptible to a calamity like a fire to actually take out the whole scene, not just a venue. In that regard, the Punk/D-Beat scene in Osaka is safer than the Koenji scene was, and now, the Koenji scene will seek a new home. Earthdom is the temporary home, but Earthdom has it's own centre of gravity. We'll see. I hope next time I come to Tokyo, I'll be able to find some of the heart and soul of punk that I can access so easily here in Osaka. We then hooked up in the evening with Luke Ray for our final yearly visit. Luke was in good form, and was very sweet to us. I think maybe he'll miss our yearly visits... we ate out at the fierce, firey Szechuan place in Ikebukuro that he had introduced us to two years ago, and soon after I had to go home with a crook tummy. That said, if I had my time again, I'd do it all the same. That food's worth a crook tummy. It's that good. We went for a stroll around Harajuku/Aoyama before jumping on the train home again. It was Sunday, and I remember 5 years ago coming to Harajuku and seeing the cos-play zoku in all their finery. Now there are more tourists than there are cos-players. Change in Tokyo is so complete, so fast, so uncompromising, every time I come, there is a different city awaiting me...



By the time you understand it, it's already changed.

And so, that brings us up to now. We met up with Andy last night, had a drink or two. We'll miss him. Tonight we're playing our last Japan show in Kyoto. I'm feeling pretty tired but relaxed at the same time. So glad to have made the inroads that we have while we've been over here. It's been hard, bridging the language gap, and trying to make a name for ourselves, but I think we've done pretty well, all in all. We'll be going back to Australia with nothing. No savings. But we got lots of nice things whilst we were over here, so I suppose we'll be able to enjoy them for many years to come. At the end of the day, at the end of one journey, the next journey beacons.

Wild Zero Drinking Game

Wild Zero.

Guitar Wolf.

Bass Wolf.

Drum Wolf.

Zombies.

Ace face.

Aliens.

Transvestites.

Katanaguitar.

What's there not to love?

You must drink when:

- someone on screen drinks.

- someone combs their quiff.

- someone says "ROCK AND ROLL!"

- flames shoot out of something.

- a zombie's head pops.

At least 2L of non-happoshu beer recommended for consumption during game.

Thank you to Helen "Rock'n Reilly" for introducing us to this novel form of inebriation.

Musing on Music

We finished working! The cherry blossom came out to co-incide with our last day, and we've been enjoying a few days of basking in the sun and drinking in the park. Of course, we've been mega busy as well, but it's a really lovely atmosphere in Japan at this time of year. The winter slowly breaks, the spring emerges in a riot of fluffy cloud like cherry blossom, that drifts into the humid muck that is summer.

I love rehearsing in Japan. It's great. For years in Australia we were unable to make a racket without risking pissing off the neighbours, but here, we just roll down the street, there's a drum-kit and guitar amps already set up. It's all just there for you to use. We've been able to take Thrall from a frustrated bedroom black metal project into a full fledged band (admittedly only two piece, but Trent will be joining us on bass if all goes well), and it's largely due to the fact that we moved house to a place where we are 5 minutes bike ride away from a fully equipped rehearsal space. Subrock: thank you.

However, we couldn't record at Subrock because it's under a train line, and I just don't believe that we'd be able to get a recording that isn't riddled with outside noises. So that's why we asked Chew where Corrupted record, and he put us on to LM Studios and more importantly, Ippei Suda.

Suda-san is just one of those people who puts you at ease. He laughs at your jokes, encourages you when you're nervous, and generally just engenders a good atmosphere. And he knows his recording studio inside out. He has some amazing equipment, which I might take a photo or two of, but I'm afraid Suda-san won't be appearing because he's really not into his photo being taken.

So, anyway, today we're starting day two of recording the drums for Thrall II: Vermin to the Earth. The first day was awesome. There are two takes that are just so good, I doubt I could ever top them, and two takes that sound good enough to keep. Now we've just got three songs that need to be sorted. From 1pm today, that's what I'm going to do. Kick some ARSE.

Wish me luck everyone... or to break a leg or whatever you're supposed to do. This is the clincher.

See you all on the other side!

Japanese Music - Part 4

D-Beat

What is d-beat?

According to wikipedia, d-beat is this:

C: | x - - x - x - - x - - x - x - -:| | C= cymbal

S: | - - o - - - o - - - o - - - o- :| | S= snare

K:|o - - o - o - - o - - o - o - -:| | K= kick

There is some debate over the origin of the d-beat, some attributing it to Filthy Animal Taylor, others saying that it was used by heavy psychedelic bands before Motörhead got their hands on it.

Yeah, whatever. BTW, the wikipedia entry on d-beat sucks.

So, we're back where we started. What is d-beat?

Urban dictionary has a good definition: "D-beat is basically crust punk without the hippy part."

D-beat is a style of aggressive, hard-core punk rock, modeled on the concept that Discharge are the best band to have ever existed. This is a good concept, and I subscribe to this theory whole-heartedly. For no adequately explained reason, d-beat appears endemically in Sweden and Japan. Osaka has, as I've previously mentioned, a kick-arse d-beat scene, populated with all manner drunk-punks, operators, thugs and misfits. The music's not as shabby/hippy as crust-core. It's a lot heavier than most hard-core, with bigger, fatter, yokuzuna-sized guitars, wild thrashing vocalists, and drums that sound like a herd of charging rhinoceros. It's really charged, stirring music and I find it extremely listenable. D-beat remains thematically fixated on concepts such as human annihilation (black metal anyone?)... and most importantly... I really like it.

Bands that might be called d-beat include:

Disclose

Framtid

Gloom

D-clone

Disturd

Redrum

Unarm

Reality Crisis

Fortitude

Punk and Destroy Record Store

Look, I don't claim to be an expert on these things. I'm just an enthused antipodean BM drummer, so don't get too upity if I've got d-beat on my crust, or some metal in my punk. But yeah, if you can, listen to all of the above bands. Especially Discharge. They're ace.