tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56819930595308475932024-03-21T16:38:36.717-07:00Bassta! PexBassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-24692559447222727542009-05-31T00:16:00.000-07:002009-05-31T03:54:01.981-07:00Abe Sada tour diarywell, this will most likely be digested version, as Im typing this just before dinner and am hungry again...<br /><br />MONDAY 25 May<br />Left in-laws place, bound for Koenji to join the rest of the band in the hotel. Checked in, had a welcoming drink of Nihon Shu, went downstairs to the coffee shop and waited for Cat, Karlos and Mal. When they arrived I took them for good old Freshness Burger. I had a fish one, plus beer. The one thing we will all do next few days is start drinking around lunch time. The weather was super nice and we just couldnt resist.<br /><br />WE checked a couple of record shops and slowly got ready to go to first gig. Arrived at Em Seven in Koiwa in time for sound check. The amps we hired were waiting for us. WE did the check super fast and went for some okonomiyaki at the same place I went last year with other guys. Was pleasantly surprised to see both cool looking waitresses there. I oredered drinks and meals for us, it was absolutely awesome. All 3 of us got a bit tipsy and went back to the venue for more drinks.<br /><br />First band Earthbound has Minoru from Tiala on drums, plus 2 other drummers, bassist and didgeridoo player. It was a mix of free jazz, noise and tribal music. Good stuff. Then there was a guy on some weird beat machine, he was hilarious in a good way. He managed to hold it even when the equipment failed.<br /><br />Abe Sada was next, we set on the floor in 4 corners. It went pretty good, with people going around and checking what each member does. Some guys was sleeping next to my amp, the noise didnt bother him at all.<br /><br />In the meantime some Iron Chef was preparing fresh sushi, so it was ready by the time we finished and it was superb. The last band was a guy and a girl on electronics and another girl on drums, which she couldnt play well, but when she started screaming...oh, boy! It pierced right through my earplugs.<br /><br />After we got paid we left quickly and went back to the hotel, dropped our stuff and went out for midnight snack. I took the band to the small place where we ate jumbo gyoza and we had 6 serves for 4 of us! Thats the sipirt Abe Sada! After that we went to local venue Penguin HOuse where we all played before. The owner and staff recognized us, we had some very strong shochu, times 2 and left. Fell asleep as soon as I got to the hotel...<br /><br /><br />TUESDAY 26 May<br /><br />Woke up, the band was asleep, I went to Shinjuku for record shopping. Found million things, but just didnt want to buy too much and take it all with me to Osaka and back later.<br /><br />Had a nap in the arvo, met the band in the hotel and we took a cab to UFO Club, which is 20 minutes on foot from the hotel. Had a soundcheck and went to awesome local izakaya where I eat every time I go to UFO CLub, which is 4 times in last 2 years. Bumped into our friend Harada, then another friend Sawada came and the feast began.<br /><br />Back in the venue, first band Homm3 were 3 chicks doing indie rock thing, but real cool. At moments it reminded me on Gang of 4/Joy Division. Fuck, I honestly cant remember if there was another band or if Abe Sada played next, but when we did it sounded superb - I love this venue and the soundguy never fails! The band after us was shocking RHCP clones. And then they had the last band playing. When I saw them at soundcheck it sounded pretty cool punkish stuff, just drums and guitar/vocal, who looked like Hawaiian rockabilly. WEll, when he took the stage he looked totally different - the guy was stark naked!<br /><br />After we finished we said our goodbyes and went some manga shopping, then for midnight snack/more drinks. Then to bed to get ready for Osaka trip tomorrow.<br /><br /><br />WEDNESDAY 27 May<br /><br />WE left Tokyo at 12noon on bullet train and fuck thats fast! Started drinking on the train, but moderately. Arrived 3 pm, Go-san, our promoter, was waiting. He took us to the venue, we bought some beers on the way. The club called Elevate is tiny, but so are pretty much all other venues in Japan, unless your name is U2 or Mr Children.<br /><br />So, the usual, soundcheck, drink, eat food, drink, talk to people, drink, play, drink... Tonites gig was pretty cool, although I only like one band on the bill.<br /><br />We left for Go-san house, and after we walked for what seems like 3 hours we finally found a place where we can eat some ramen, and we were all starving! So ramen and sake that was and it saved my life. I fell asleep as soon as we got to Gos place, the rest of the party joined later. It was 4 of us sleeping on futtons in tiny room and, call me a fucken conformist but I just couldnt relax in such situation.<br /><br /><br />THURSDAY 28 May<br /><br />I woke up at 6am (not that Ive been sleeping a lot when we stayed in the hotel), couldnt go back to sleep, was dying of thirst (and didnt feel like tap water)... so I decided to pack my bags and find a hotel.<br /><br />I took the train to Shin-Osaka station, which is where I had to catch the shinkansen back to my in-laws, so I thought it would be good idea to find a place there. It was pouring with rain, I was tired, starving and upset at myself that I left a secure place, roaming around for a hotel without being familiar with the place at all. But, he who dares, Rodney, he who dares... I found a convenient store, bought an umbrella, crossed the road and BANG there was a hotel. WEnt in, the price was right and I booked myself for 2 nights. Couldnt check in for a couple of hours, but I left my stuff in there and went exploring Osaka.<br /><br />After check in I had a cat nap and went to the venue. It was in "American Village", which is an area full of cool shops and people trying to look cool. The venue was small, 2nd floor underground, pretty claustrophobic, so I had to get some courage from alcohol. And again it failed to dissapoint!<br /><br />Bands were cool, Go-sans Psychedelic Desert were different than Ive seen them in Perth, but second band Sari, consisting on woman on vocals and man on bass and zillion pedals blew me away. Unreal! I nearly cried, it was deeply touching stuff.<br /><br />Then I bought myself a potent cocktail consisting of vodka, gin, rum, tequila, contreau and coke, and I asked the barman to make it double. It was a fuel for Abe Sada engine and we took off! Around 10 minutes before we were due to finsih I was dying to go to the toilet, so I spotted Go-san in the audience, gave him my bass to play and left to pee. When I got back I realised Cat gave her bass to Gos friend Cuckoo, it was so funny.<br /><br />Anyway, another two cocktails later I was fucked and it was time to go back to the Hotel by myself. How did I find the tran station? How did I know which train to catcth and which stop to get off? How did I find a way to the hotel? My friends, I dont know... But when I got there I managed to ask receptionist where to get ramen near by, I talked to Mrs on the phone, I went for ramen, I could order it in Japanese, as well as side dishes and drinks, I ate it and it was superb!<br /><br /><br />FRIDAY 29 May<br /><br />I woke up at 6am, not hungover, but so thirsty. I went to the vending machine on my floor and bought 3 POcari Sweat drinks, drank it and fell asleep.<br /><br />Todays gig was in Kyoto, I left there around 1pm, roamed the streets, had lunch, found venue. I even had a nap in the venue before the rest of the band came. NOw, this venue was tiny. But I loved it. To cut the usual crap short, yes we had a soundcheck, yes we had drinks, yes we ate, we even went to Imperial Palace. <br /><br />Back at the venue we drank more, met cool people, the barmaid was running some chicken bbq, which was delicious. MY internet friend Hitomi Shimuz came. You may know her as one half of Syzygys - seminal Japanese quirky pop band that has 2 albums out on Tzadik. She also does music for PS2 games and has written soundtrack for Waterboys. I was so happy to finally meet her after being in touch with her for 3 years and she is the nicest person in the world!<br /><br />The other people at the gig were great too, the bands were OK. WE played second last. I should tell this would be a different gig when after 5 minutes people started cheering and screaming. As the gig progressed so didi the positive tension and last 10 minutes it was bass swap time. I gave it to this stoned tiny little woman standing next to me, Karlos gave his to a guy who was following around at last 3 gigs, Cat gave it to Cuckoo and Mal gave it to the woman who played in one of the bands on the night. One guys got up on stage and started dancing manically and the venue manager started lighting up firecrackers, so it was a huge fuckin party and a great way to wrap up the tour.<br /><br />Sadly, we had to leavy, went for another bowl of ramen near hotel, checked out the next day, went back to my in-laws, slept for long time, went to Yokohama city and bought heaps of jazz records, packed my bags and ready to go back to Perth...Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-23055152511494612962009-05-23T18:28:00.000-07:002009-05-23T18:37:09.716-07:00Abe Sada, Japan Tour 2009<strong>22, 23, 24 May 2009</strong><br /><br />so, here we go with another tour of Japan to promote 2 CDs released here late last year...<br /><br />we took off from Perth airport 1am on Friday morning, flew to Singapore, then to Tokyo, all the way with Singapore airlines, which is heaps better than Qantas, as we all should know. great food, awesome service, excellent choice of entertainment - I saw "Gran Torino", which was great, and Japanese Oscar-winning "Departures", which was fuckin' awesome!!! Found the DVD in Yokohama yesterday, but, alas, no English subtitles.<br /><br />First gig is on Monday 25 May, so I'm staying at in-laws and sampling lots of local food/drinks. Last night went out with a bunch of Japanese friends. Man, can they drink! I was drinking heaps, but behaving myself, as I needed to be sober enough to catch the last train.<br /><br />The place we partied was a tiny Japanese style restaurant/bar, with great food and even better background music. I gave my latest CD to a couple of friends and sure enough, a couple of hours and 10 drinks later I though I could hear something familiar - the bar staff played it through PA! To say it was surreal to hear my own music played at some bar far away fromhome to a bunch of total strangers would be an understatement. But it felt damn good!<br /><br />Today is a chill out day, it rains outside and I prefer to stay at home and get ready for next 5 days of hard touring schedule, hard eating and even harder drinking routine...Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-36210596705123114152008-10-21T17:00:00.000-07:002008-10-21T17:01:48.012-07:00Birthday Party/Gig<span style="font-weight:bold;">8 OCTOBER, BELGRADE, SERBIA</span><br /><br />A special gig, as it was my birthday party as well. My family and me started celebrating at around 4pm, with lots of fine food and drinks. At 8pm we went to Club Zica (Wire), had a quick soundcheck and continued drinking. I invited some 20 family members and friends. Some of them I haven't seen for years. There were another 5-10 people there as well. I was talking to guests, my brother was playing some CDs in the background (lots of Bamodi, Tiala and Bariken).<br /><br />I started playing at around 10.30pm. Did a couple of tracks, was happy with it. Wanted to finish it, but they wanted more, so I gave them more. Then had another couple of drinks and took the cab home...Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-39549275391779512302008-10-20T02:25:00.001-07:002008-10-21T17:00:07.884-07:00The last Belgrade gig (for now)<span style="font-weight:bold;">17 OCTOBER, BELGRADE, SERBIA</span><br /><br />It was time for last show in Belgrade and I was glad I booked it at Akademija club – a venue I spent half of my youth watching some cool bands. The venue is situated in the basement of the Academy of Fine Arts in the heart of Belgrade. Nowadays they split it in two venues and I got to play the smaller one. It looks really cool, with it's walls and floors built centuries ago, giving it a bit of a spooky feel – the right mood for Gutter Guitar.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikC6-22_juZFsp8Yyte-Jluo8P9oqhsAQgMxN3Bc2oXJEdQRuOYmujSlrAi8mlmTQsHBATkgz7c_6-bkzPIMuo7dI4xKrvLQd3rgEZJbzX7pZu_LUgHiJlCChiO6_HnJ1EV3zvj070Wvrh/s1600-h/pexakademija1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikC6-22_juZFsp8Yyte-Jluo8P9oqhsAQgMxN3Bc2oXJEdQRuOYmujSlrAi8mlmTQsHBATkgz7c_6-bkzPIMuo7dI4xKrvLQd3rgEZJbzX7pZu_LUgHiJlCChiO6_HnJ1EV3zvj070Wvrh/s320/pexakademija1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259760813773619426" /></a> <br /><br />By the time I started the venue was reasonably packed. I played two pieces, some 25 minutes in total. During the second one a guy came up tome from the crowd and asked if I mind him joining on drums. I didn't mind at all, expecting him to jump on a kit and do some crazy fucked up free jazz drumming. Instead he just kicked the beat on a bass drum for a couple of minutes and that was it. Hopefully I'll be back next year for some more shows.Now it's time to go back to Japan, then to Perth...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RWizsg0-l9o_SbsVWebNiipjR6zuedgjZ6447hbmcbmBSTAyKmANcLHi01EUFxbjv9Y5dBPpRcTW5CWBSEiPQjxRwcB1Je48om0fTmAfO8L2w2pb548gnNippL9VqvaCo_XzcFZaXu4V/s1600-h/pexakademija2.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RWizsg0-l9o_SbsVWebNiipjR6zuedgjZ6447hbmcbmBSTAyKmANcLHi01EUFxbjv9Y5dBPpRcTW5CWBSEiPQjxRwcB1Je48om0fTmAfO8L2w2pb548gnNippL9VqvaCo_XzcFZaXu4V/s320/pexakademija2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259760998559630818" /></a><br />Your mission here is finished, turn the amp off and buzz away...Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-48266653859970399722008-10-06T07:24:00.000-07:002008-10-06T07:26:32.820-07:003 OCTOBER, ZAGREB, CROATIAI went to Zagreb with my younger cousin Marko. The last time I was there was some 17 years ago, when I went to see Miracle Workers. WE had great fun, but the war started the very next day (nothing to do with me being there, hehe).<br /><br />My friend Zeljka picked us from the train station, we left our stuff at her place and hit the town. A couple of hours later we met Goran, who was our host for next couple of days. Goran was in seminal Croation punk band Babies (now sadly defunct). They left two great albums behind, the second one was produced nad mixed by Tim Kerr. Goran now plays in equally awesome garage punk trio Wwelcommin' Committee In Flames.<br /><br />First night we checked a coupleof venues in the city and had some drinks. We were exhausted from the trip and had an early night. The next day we did some sightseeings and tried some local food, very nice. At 6pm Zeljka took me to some University Radio Station where they interviewed me and I had a chance to play live on air. No guitar though, so I only used the lead, but it sounded pretty good. To me, at least.<br /><br />Then we went to SPUNK where I had a show booked. That night they had a DJ who played strictly punk rock, so I thought my gig might not go that well. And I was right. I took the stage around 11pm and five minutes into my set I could fel the bad vibes from the crowd (the place was packed). The set was pretty noisy, I must admit, and 15 minutes later I decided to bring it to an end. To my initial surprise there was a very loud applause, but soon I realised the crowd was clapping so loud because they were happy that I have finished!<br /><br />Now, I'm not concerned about the crowd reaction anywhere and I knew they were there to get smashed and listen to some punk rock, but I cannot say I was too excited. Luckily, there were lots of cool people there and with most of them I've been in touch for years, so at least I had a chance to have a drink with my friends and forget about shitty response. Needless to say I didn't sell any CDs.<br /><br />The next day we hang around with Goran for a meal and one more drink and we took the train back. The next show is in Belgrade on my birthday, 8 October. Hope it goes better than Zagreb...Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-51016446181273351612008-09-27T04:04:00.000-07:002008-10-21T17:05:21.860-07:00Serbia Pt. 111 SEPTEMBER<br /><br />The day of my first solo show in Europe has arrived, but before that I went to a couple of radio stations to plug the gig and that went pretty good. Around 1pm my brother arrived with Singing Loins – a damn fine English combo who had 4 shos booked in Serbia. We had lunch together and then went to the city. Singing Loins were scheduled to play in Novi Sad (third biggest city in Serbia, 80ks north of Belgrade) and my brother had to take them over there, while I had to take care of my show in Belgrade.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHliUYKh3QPj3yjpfvf13CMF089pSyDy-Q7nGXaEQ7FamqWn2T_ivjdSRtCJ7LMO-gNLl43pbbNlRHtNDm_aOFXxxTOGox_qbqTV28cuOVGbroBjX9OPtdLWnqi5Jl9ByqUjWjP9MyGfTF/s1600-h/pex+skc.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHliUYKh3QPj3yjpfvf13CMF089pSyDy-Q7nGXaEQ7FamqWn2T_ivjdSRtCJ7LMO-gNLl43pbbNlRHtNDm_aOFXxxTOGox_qbqTV28cuOVGbroBjX9OPtdLWnqi5Jl9ByqUjWjP9MyGfTF/s320/pex+skc.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259762021447714978" /></a><br />Dicking around in front of a huge billboard<br /><br />The headliners for the show were Qui – new band of David Yow (ex-Scratch Acid/Jesus Lizard). Before them we had Gerda Blank – half-New Zealand/half-English band. We caught up with them around 5pm and soon after Qui guys came, so we all had a drink together.<br /><br />The we went for a soundcheck and dinner after that. Qui guys seemed nice and polite. After dinner they went backstage to chill out and I went to set up my gear. The show was suppose to start at 10pm, but one thing I learned here is that everything is running so fucking late. I was ready at 10pm, but there was no one at the venue except for me and two sound guys. I went outside and saw a bunch of people hanging there, drinking cheap from the supermarket. I recognized one guy and asked him to tell people I'm about to start and if they can be bothered to get inside.<br /><br />I went in, plugged in and started making noise. I didn't dare look up for at least 5 minutes and was surprised to see a few punters in the venue already. I played for about 15-20 minutes and finished. People clapped after it. Don't know if they liked it or were just happy for me to finish.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPPX_hfPrcFvx82z1ROZ89cP5pZkD2txl4xKmN80hKMGYXmsszBj0u_OeTg-cy6uV6OPyqHxrYZb6pAaeS08XRZIUJTpc7q0tZg5hg1nZkK0UXnkMF_Rx4WQp6Ta3JN5W3Dm46HbatQ3y9/s1600-h/p2.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPPX_hfPrcFvx82z1ROZ89cP5pZkD2txl4xKmN80hKMGYXmsszBj0u_OeTg-cy6uV6OPyqHxrYZb6pAaeS08XRZIUJTpc7q0tZg5hg1nZkK0UXnkMF_Rx4WQp6Ta3JN5W3Dm46HbatQ3y9/s320/p2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259762528843033618" /></a><br /><br />Gerda Blank were loud and rocked hard. Two piece (guitar + drums), kinda half indie/ half garagey stuff. Spent next 3 days with them, top guys. Qui were good, but I was too busy taking care of business and catching up with people to pay too much attention. Also, there were only 60 or so people there, so the band seemed to be going through motions a bit.<br /><br />After the show I helped them load up and take them to the hostel, then I took cab to my parents' place and went straight to bed.Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-68493647714534699392008-09-09T07:54:00.000-07:002008-10-21T17:34:14.911-07:00Japan Pt.210 AUGUST<br /><br />Today was my last gig in Tokyo and the only one I played without Chris and Stina, and since Kenta and Scott have left already I had to go to the venue all by myself. I stopped at some flea market on the way, but there was nothing there to write home about, so I went straight to the venue. <br /><br />The gig was at Nishi Ogikubo at Rinky Dink Studios – basically a rehearsal space with 4 rooms on three floors. The event lasted for two days and there was 100 bands/acts in total. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh29KGPG551K5f_l9ndSh95rRGgfBxHxaObdiF6JJfOXkARbUjzCopd05FeFQktvTVY0PXefoyEZorFyIbMT1VZXEAN1sCPEXZwzd9e0Dk4HJFHlRjMO16RjPHqhkd_e4rjLvYTiXlvViDq/s1600-h/wasintokyobanner.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh29KGPG551K5f_l9ndSh95rRGgfBxHxaObdiF6JJfOXkARbUjzCopd05FeFQktvTVY0PXefoyEZorFyIbMT1VZXEAN1sCPEXZwzd9e0Dk4HJFHlRjMO16RjPHqhkd_e4rjLvYTiXlvViDq/s320/wasintokyobanner.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259762945707413522" /></a><br /><br />When I arrived I saw bariken guys who organised my pass and introduced me to the organiser and some other cool people who showed me around. The drinks were AUS$2 and bands already started playing, so there was no time to waste. I got onto the booze (sake and grapefruit juice) and checked some acts. The bands were all different styles – from ska-punk to math-rock to hard core to acoustic to noise... and all of them were fucken great! But when you have 50 bands to check and cheap drinks and cool people to hang around with it becomes a bit hard to see every single band. The rooms varied in size – from tiny to slightly bigger rooms.<br /><br />My show was at around 4pm. I did a quick set up, checked everything and all was cool. I started playing and the first track went for about 15 minutes. I had another 10 minutes of my set and decided to get the audience to participate. I put my guitar on the floor and said “Let's make noise together”. The punters took turns on guitar while I was on pedals. Everyone had lots of fun and by that time I was slightly pissed and enjoyed even more. At the end we had a laugh, I got some CDs (including the one from a Tzadik band who I saw in one of the rooms earlier) from the punters, and the it was time to check Tiala.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5UnBb5t8IHw0lpjAIjR6YDG1PZCSh7mpppkDEZT_nLtS-dPLXKqjGDnpOq5LSnCOTfvXJOOKdUKiGJXqz7kSbTdNdqimgPQdowjQkM36kPGqTq_8o7pLS9wR_MU41HVDYWzc408-tpQt/s1600-h/gutternoisetogether.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5UnBb5t8IHw0lpjAIjR6YDG1PZCSh7mpppkDEZT_nLtS-dPLXKqjGDnpOq5LSnCOTfvXJOOKdUKiGJXqz7kSbTdNdqimgPQdowjQkM36kPGqTq_8o7pLS9wR_MU41HVDYWzc408-tpQt/s320/gutternoisetogether.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259763253656386690" /></a><br />Some of Gutter Guitar's special guests.<br /><br />Tiala's singer Minoru is the manager of eM SEVEN, and I was looking forward to see them live, but could not expect them to be so incredibly good! The room was packed and 5 seconds into the first song everyone went berserk. The vocalist was all over the venue, the punters were following him in a manic dance and the band just chucked the song after song... Hopefully we'll see a 3-way split between Bamodi, Bariken and Tiala in next few months.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNB4mm-bzYz2dPbMomzOswC_WryiFDqel7WQ5fqjnXaoz6iB2ag3lc36_3rIj8w7oWh1i-jbuy7u0q0CyduloOfRFLFjnjVbDuNC0rMJugFqBtqP-COW2eqN4qhZl8RYbGt8ONZGdv3yt_/s1600-h/tiala.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNB4mm-bzYz2dPbMomzOswC_WryiFDqel7WQ5fqjnXaoz6iB2ag3lc36_3rIj8w7oWh1i-jbuy7u0q0CyduloOfRFLFjnjVbDuNC0rMJugFqBtqP-COW2eqN4qhZl8RYbGt8ONZGdv3yt_/s320/tiala.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259763438343900242" /></a><br />Tiala's singer Minoru after the gig.<br /><br />And this is what it looked like on video:<br /><object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AReh9xkzdkY"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AReh9xkzdkY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object><br />It was 6pm, I got drunk and after hanging outside with Bariken guys I opted to head home. I said goodbye and they said they'll organise some gigs for me when I return in October. I jumped on train, and after 3 stops the train went in different direction. Suddenly I ended up on a station I never heard of. I asked some guy in my broken Japanese if I could catch a train to Shinjuku and was told that I can catch a train to Seibu Shinjuku, which was good enough for me, even though I didn't know where the fuck that was.<br /><br />Once I got there I came out of the station and I was right in the middle of theTokyo madhouse – neon lights and zillions people everywhere! I didn't have a clue where I was and was too drunk/proud to ask anyone for directions, so I started walking down the street, looking for Shinjuku station, but it was nowhere in sight. I was thinking of catching a cab, but was afraid they would just laugh at me and tell me it's just around the corner. Finally I asked some Combini attendant and he gave me good directions. 10 minutes later I was on a train to Yokohama...Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-74461814308187664962008-08-08T19:47:00.000-07:002008-10-21T17:23:03.853-07:00JAPAN TOUR 2008It's been over a week since I arrived to Japan and this is the first time I found some time to reflect on my experiences so far. It has been overwhelming, to say the least. And this is how it started:<br /><br />Some months ago Scott Bishop – a damn fine young lad – informed me he is starting a record label and he wanted to release my solo stuff. I only started mucking around on solo guitar improv thingy and was hapy that someone actually cared and liked it, so I said “yes” even before he filled me in on details.<br /><br />We went to some Japanese restaurant in Perth, got smashed, got well-fed and drew the plan – Scott will release 100 vinyl LPs on his new record label Heartless Robot, they (him and his best pal Nathan Smith) will also release 200 CD-Rs. I am to submit 3 guitar and 3 bass tracks. No problem!<br /><br />Immediately I started looking into getting gigs in Japan. I came here last year with Abe Sada and I was planning to visit on the way to Serbia anyway. Then one day I had a chat with another damn fine Perth lad – Chris Cobilis. He mentioned he would love to go back to Japan and play some gigs. And he also mentioned that Stina (Stina Thomas, a damn fine lass, if I may say so) would love to come. Fast forward a couple of months: 17 July 2008, Perth, Australia. Stina, Chris and myself are launching our 3-way split CD and I'm launching my vinyl LP/CD, bot on Scott's Heartless Robot Production. Not only that, but we're also leaving for Japan in few days after that.<br /><br />So, on 29 July me, Stina, Chris, Scott, Rachael (she designed our CD) and Kenta (who came to film the whole thing for a possible doco) took off from Perth to Tokyo. The take off was a bit bumpy and I didn't get much sleep. Some 10 hours later we landed on Narita Airport. I took the train to my in laws place, while the other guys went to the places they stayed in Tokyo.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNEUMZq5MwpcqKk7Yn_foevNvJmACdmImjPWaTRy_cx8CXzGUUh8GXr0D7Y7fdnjPXoinZk6vabU6l6Bvt45FZoIbTwvUOgmSfKPSMQY5aEtx1MIYB4S7ib4wKU_Hfoo3_MmIDdexwwnP/s1600-h/rachaelstinaairplane.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNEUMZq5MwpcqKk7Yn_foevNvJmACdmImjPWaTRy_cx8CXzGUUh8GXr0D7Y7fdnjPXoinZk6vabU6l6Bvt45FZoIbTwvUOgmSfKPSMQY5aEtx1MIYB4S7ib4wKU_Hfoo3_MmIDdexwwnP/s320/rachaelstinaairplane.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259765394759590466" /></a><br />Rachael and Stina getting totally blurred on the plane<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">31 JULY</span><br />I caught up with them the next day. Scott, Kenta and me stayed in Koenji – “underground mecca of Tokyo”. I took the train from my in laws place to Koenji and managed to jump on the wrong one, of course. Still, a few minutes later I was united with the boys at Koenji station.<br /><br />We walked to our parlour – a weekly mansion, which is basically a tiny self-contained unit. Still, we pretty much only slept there, so huge comfortable place was not necessary. I dropped my gear and we went to Kichijiyoji to meet with Stina, Rachael and Chris, who all went to Ghibli Studio Museum.We hung around big park over there, drank beer in public (yes, the savages we are), took some photos...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW3O5ldPYs8jImS7ie3Ys7Ef_fpRJUhqFI9YhdEm_sLF71la0bRC6mA7YDqXaSv-4Phlda5hSRqvL1V2aSWiAVVJmjXSQanGohG56oQf-uA7EcBSCOnUcO-JMc8_w3Bs17XW0wUFv7vZ_R/s1600-h/koenji.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW3O5ldPYs8jImS7ie3Ys7Ef_fpRJUhqFI9YhdEm_sLF71la0bRC6mA7YDqXaSv-4Phlda5hSRqvL1V2aSWiAVVJmjXSQanGohG56oQf-uA7EcBSCOnUcO-JMc8_w3Bs17XW0wUFv7vZ_R/s320/koenji.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259765658640371410" /></a><br />Around the corner from where we stayed<br /><br />Scott and me went to UFO Club to catch up with Croatian psych outfit Seven That Spells who I have been in touch with for a while. They were gone to get something to eat, which is what Scott and me decided to do as well. I remembered a nice izakaya nearby where I went for a huge feast with Abe Sada last year. It was still there, but this time we didn't have my wife to order food for us, so we had to use our limited knowledge of Japanese to get some meals. Then my friend Mikiko came and helped us with another coupled of dishes.<br /><br />Around 7pm we were off to UFO Club, which is a real cool venue. There I met with Croatian guys and found out their drummer left Japan after only a couple of days – he had way too much of a r''r lifestyle in two days, if you know what I mean. We started drinking straight away, chew some fat and before you know it was time to see Seven That Spells gig. They used different Japanese drummers on the whole tour and tonite's one was fuckin' amazing! The band was heaps better than on the live DVD I saw earlier (and that one was great!) and had two guests on saxophone and hurdy gurdy.<br /><br />After the show we took a cab home, left the gear at our place and went in search for an after midnight snack. Now, if you live in Perth you would know that only places you can get something to eat after midnight are petrol stations and a couple of cafes that are open overnight. That's in case if you want to risk eating at those places. In Japan it's a whole different story. The streets are buzzing even at 1am on a weekday, there are zillions of places to eat open and they all (at least every single one we checked) have some really tasty food.<br /><br />The place we ended up in was one of the tiniest small eating houses on the side street. If Kenta didn't point to that one we would probably miss it. We bumped in and the master was obviously about to close, but he let us in for a snack. And where there's food there's drinks too! We started eating and drinking some of the delicacies when a couple of extremely drunk blokes came in. One was so smashed, it was beyond belief. He wanted to talk to us, and he did, in a very broken English. I tried to reply in even more broken Japanese. Then these two ladies showed up, obviously they were paid company, and soon after the guy started touching the bum of one of them right in front of us. Oh, the joys of after midnight snack in Japan! The master soon kicked them out, we went home and hit the sack.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">1 AUGUST</span><br />We woke up, had some brekky and went in search of a music shop – I needed to buy a a power adaptor for my pedals. We searched and Searched, and then searched some more. We asked for directions, but no one seemed to know of any music shop around Koenji. While we were roaming the streets we realised we lost our way. Suddenly we ended up in this beautiful park, but with no clue where the home is. We walked some more, took twists and turns and – BANG! - we ended up right on our footsteps. It seems we just went in a huuuuge circle.<br /><br />I had to buy some batteries instead, knowing that I will be able to get the pedal adaptor the next day in Shinjuku. We got our stuff ready and hit the road to Koiwa, where we played our first show at Em-Seven. When we arrived the other three people were there already, we soundchecked and went to find a place to eat. After a while we settled on okonomiyaki restaurant and that was a great choice. We had a three course meal and 2 drinks each for $20 each. The food was awesome, the girl preparing it right in front of us was cute.<br /><br />First band on was GeGeGeGe Quartet, who are actually a three piece. They were OK, but perhaps almost too funky for me. Then it was Chris, Stina then me. All three of us played cool sets. The sound (as in all other venues later) was superb! After me a band called Tokyo Super Stars took the stage. It seemed they were setting up for almost half an hour and the first song really put me off being kinda boring indie rock, so I went out to talk to venue manager Minoru-san (from awesome band called Tiala) and the guys from Seven That Spells who played their last gig on tour that night. When I went back inside the venue my crew told me that Tokyo SS were incredible and that I missed out. Apparently, they totally flipped the coin after the first song and went completely berserk. I watched some footage that kenta took and regretted decision to leave early.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbISCVFNUpv6GQao8wM9Lyispe_VPvbG6OtgTbrsUuOx0WjM_m0a62wtgffCyjcS9_ypCwa_NAstYhr4vMhRqVRASJivT_yIr1mYFQeUBoFJIO8KHJVdKaJ_2OHWKhyyZpKAIQF-oqbLU/s1600-h/gegegege.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbISCVFNUpv6GQao8wM9Lyispe_VPvbG6OtgTbrsUuOx0WjM_m0a62wtgffCyjcS9_ypCwa_NAstYhr4vMhRqVRASJivT_yIr1mYFQeUBoFJIO8KHJVdKaJ_2OHWKhyyZpKAIQF-oqbLU/s320/gegegege.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259766394586934434" /></a><br />GeGeGeGe Quartet. Nothing to do with GeroGegiGeGeGe, unfortunately<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswF31hNWsjATa20XRGpSfQ1smmlUaQodSOQZxY43uhongZkC4VkD2JscMuSpGJZoUq50aoLF0Bobe5sHYhTrJMQE37cX_MvFxC20WWIhf8TF90u8BJVOGsjQ43nnan-8sPa-qrBb_-I_p/s1600-h/stinaemseven.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswF31hNWsjATa20XRGpSfQ1smmlUaQodSOQZxY43uhongZkC4VkD2JscMuSpGJZoUq50aoLF0Bobe5sHYhTrJMQE37cX_MvFxC20WWIhf8TF90u8BJVOGsjQ43nnan-8sPa-qrBb_-I_p/s320/stinaemseven.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259766140314052130" /></a><br />Stina tearing the staga apart in Koiwa<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfBCbmca7eldkMyZWi7GndeyelyDzZjPJTbrEsCvEQ-Qoim5diX1JhhfSR-ap4UZFTaaMJ0SLTZqMmyjjTdgfD79d5PmFn5pJ5Ywc9PjCnDEK4SWDIFUaQbrsfGfAhujwtO_dBpqBm7Sg/s1600-h/chrisemseven.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfBCbmca7eldkMyZWi7GndeyelyDzZjPJTbrEsCvEQ-Qoim5diX1JhhfSR-ap4UZFTaaMJ0SLTZqMmyjjTdgfD79d5PmFn5pJ5Ywc9PjCnDEK4SWDIFUaQbrsfGfAhujwtO_dBpqBm7Sg/s320/chrisemseven.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259766714733859746" /></a><br />Chris doing his usual self-mutilation on stage. The blood flew.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5e1zHdPzfIxqEcl8mHnNo5FlWVoBdMDPPXfRNAAH2vE0vlGggzYc5tS0935Fu_W-pWoOiixtp6FnAc9tpYkfyJChamgV8E5it_9I40_xkG1H6XvGkv7an5wVQFGyQS_e0mDA8AHXWjR76/s1600-h/7thatspells.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5e1zHdPzfIxqEcl8mHnNo5FlWVoBdMDPPXfRNAAH2vE0vlGggzYc5tS0935Fu_W-pWoOiixtp6FnAc9tpYkfyJChamgV8E5it_9I40_xkG1H6XvGkv7an5wVQFGyQS_e0mDA8AHXWjR76/s320/7thatspells.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259767006586065746" /></a><br />Seven That Spells extended version.<br />Conti were next – sitar and drums. Unreal stuff. The Seven That Spells took the stage with two drummers, two saxophone players and bass and guitar. It was great, but perhaps not as great as night before and we had to leave before they finished, so we could catch our last train. In Shinjuku something like 5 million people got on that train and to say it was incredibly packed would be an understatement. I don't know how we got alive out of that...<br /><br />Back in Koenji we went for another after midnight snack and more drinks, which is what will happen every night for next few nights.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">2 AUGUST</span><br />After breakfast me and Scott went to Shinjuku. I went straight into the music shop and bought an adaptor. Then we went to Disk Union shops and spent some money on records and CDs/DVDs. After a quick refreshing ice coffee (did I mention it was bloody hot and humid all the time?), we went to Shibuya for more record shopping and to meet Sora-san from the Gimmies. He took us to some cool izakaya where we ate raw horse. I've done it last year and I love it, but it was first time for Scott. He didn't complain.<br /><br />Sora took us to Shibuya O-Nest to see 5678s. I was excited about it, as I've heard them a long time ago, but never had a chance to see them live. The opening band was a hardcore one and they were cool. It was weird that the band has set up in front of the stage, but I thought that's OK, because they are support and later on 5678s would take the main stage.<br /><br />The next band was Supersnazz, who I thought broke up, as I haven't heard about them for long time. They were great and I hope they can make their way to Australia soon. The next band started setting up in front of the stage. The bass player was these obese Japanese guy in a drag, but I saw 5678sdrummer there too, so I thought maybe that's her side project or something. When I saw guitar player/singer I started thinking that this is actually 5678s. Had to ask Sora-san, and he confirmed. It smelled fishy.<br /><br />They started playing and straight away it was obvious this show will suck. It was sloppy as hell (apart from the drummer) and just very, very disappointing. They play 8 fuckin' songs only! There were 6 bands on the line up for the whole night and I seriously expected 5678s to play last in front of a packed house, but this was anything but. Later on Sora said this was their first gig in two years or something, but that's not an excuse.<br /><br />The band after them was called Punch Your Face. I'm sure you're aware that Japanese bands tend to copy western bands. Some of them become better than original, but some are just plain boring fuckin' copy, like Punch Your Face. They totally ripped Dwarves off, including a bass player in nothing but wrestling mask and jocks. Well, the crowd seemed to love them, don't know why. It was entertaining watching them jumping all over the place. At some point a woman in kimono and wrestling mask appeared, but 30 seconds later all she got left was the mask and knickers. Guitarist and singer took their turns in grabbing her breasts and she didn't seem to mind...<br /><br />We decided to piss of and meet Kenta and his friend Adnrew who was in Tokyo at the same time. They were in karaoke place, already quite drunk. We joined in for more songs and singing. I was total shite. Pex, don't try to sing, please, even drunk. But for about $12 an hour you could drink as much as you can the place, so we certainly took advantage of that. We had to catch the last train home, went for another snack and more drinks. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">3 & 4 AUGUST</span><br />These two days were spent in doing sightseeing, eating, drinking, then eating and drinking some more. We went to Harajuku, visited a temple, visited rockabilly guys in the park, crappy bands playing to a bunch of stupid teenage fans, went to my in laws for a feast (and I mean FEAST!), bought some more records...<br /><br />Kenta, Scott and me really liked Koenji. We met some locals and every night we would buy a few drinks, sit on the street corner and had a chat with local people. I guess we would be arrested in Perth right away for drinking in the street. Here no one seemed to mind.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">5 AUGUST</span><br />Stina, Rachael and Chris came to Koenji, so we checked local shops, ate some nice burgers at Freshness Burger and went to the venue of our second show – Penguin House. I went there first, as I had a soundcheck at 4pm. On the way there it was pouring down with rain and umbrella couldn't help at all. By the time I got there, I was soaked wet. The first thing I've done when I went inside was went to the toilet, took my sneakers off and poured 5 l of rain from it. No Joke. I did a quick soundcheck and went home to change. Of course the rain has stopped by now.<br /><br />During Stina's soundcheck Sawada-san came to the venue. He organised last year's Abe Sada tour and would play with us the next day at UFO Club. We went in search of some nice place to hang around before the show. Unfortunately prog rock cafe was closed, so we had to settle for traditional Japanese restaurant, which had super tasty food.<br /><br />I was on first and it went well. Penguin House is a tiny venue, capacity of 40 and it's ideal venue for my kind of music. I wish we had something like that in Perth. After me there was an improv free jazz act Bon No Kubo, and they were great. Then Stina took the stage and it was my favoruite of her 3shows I saw in japan. She used a piano in the venue too for two songs. Then there was a three piece with a guy on drums, a guy on Irish bouzuki, and a guy who was playing his self-made instruments. They were OK, but kinda lost me after 3 songs. Chris finished the evening.<br /><br />Kenta, Scott and me dropped our stuff home, then went in search for one last after midnight snack together. We settled for jumbo gyoza, which was a good choice. Then we checked some comic store that also sold X-rated DVDs. Then we went for one last drink at some cool cafe and hit the road home.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">6 AUGUST</span><br />Kenta and Scott left today. It was difficult to see them go, as I had some great moment with those two guys and they were certainly upset about leaving. I said goodbye, met with other 3 guys and went to UFO Club for a soundcheck. It was great to be there again, and see some familiar faces. Soundcheck went easy and then we went for dinner. We bumped into guitar player from Tokyo SS on the way, how fuckin' small this world is???<br /><br />At the venue I met my myspace friend and awesome music artist Sachiko and her husband, as well as Matsuoka-san from Geltz. First on were Sawada+Harada, awesome two-piece (drums/vocals and laptop). Sawada is a superb drummer. Then this band came on stage and we were kinda shocked. They sounded like they only got together 5 minutes ago. The bass player were playing repetitive dub lines, drummer couldn't keep his shi together, lead guitarist were plucking his strings out of tune with other and vocalist/guitarist was playing for himself. At best it sounded like dub version of Captain Beefheart, at worst it sounded like total crap. They gave me their CD (original, not CDR) and it shocked me to say it sounds exactly the same as their live show. Was there something I didn't get???<br /><br />Next on was Outsuka-san, one of guitarists from Shibusa Shirazu Orchestra. This time he was doing solo performance, very Jimi Hendrix-like. Not my cup of tea, but he was great for that kind of stuff.<br /><br />Then it was Chris, Stina and I finished the show. I was kind of exhausted, both physicaly and emotionally. I said goodbye to Stina, Rachael and Chris, I said goodbye to everyone else and went home by myself. Felt quite sad...Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-52542621773890409232008-01-08T21:16:00.000-08:002008-01-08T21:35:37.557-08:00Early Yugo punk singlesLong time no see... So to wish you a Happy new Year yours truly has decided to offer you first two punk(ish) Yugoslavian singles from 1978.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Pankrti </span>has been one of the first Yugo (now Slovenian) punk bands and they released their first 7" in 1978 for independent SKUC label (basically, Slovenian students' organisation, not a regular label, although they released few more records in years to come). It was presed in 3000 copies and was gone soon after. Awesome single, enjoy!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPAHOCjDrFhct88rROm9u4toTC_o_cvOuOJcHBLGGPVpn9tCUWqKPxBpFgGHGcJchPmJEVyoDZ1ZIvqy6TdEVXdn0hlf6hKnkHVZU4th9jteaPg8zzR_hcsq1J9mLeTwHaPatSISZwDjQS/s1600-h/cover+B.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPAHOCjDrFhct88rROm9u4toTC_o_cvOuOJcHBLGGPVpn9tCUWqKPxBpFgGHGcJchPmJEVyoDZ1ZIvqy6TdEVXdn0hlf6hKnkHVZU4th9jteaPg8zzR_hcsq1J9mLeTwHaPatSISZwDjQS/s320/cover+B.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5153343121026821730" /></a><br /><br />http://rapidshare.com/files/82380210/Pankrti_-_Lepi_in_prazni_single.rar.html<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Prljavo Kazaliste </span>were not really punk band, but rather sped-up Rolling Stones kinda band. This is their first 7"EP with 3 awesome songs.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOQ92IkXaWt2h3bhvFV6FWKbRabgKuIkIG9wvFqvKewBpZ4c7kEkEua1kME7KhBeuBPZQsKxqM6mOq-PXBTtCn2v_p-icSJKYkO2DDX3jMLHdnkobeyArqwlz5iMfles3Vzs_GzBDRLezx/s1600-h/cover+A.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOQ92IkXaWt2h3bhvFV6FWKbRabgKuIkIG9wvFqvKewBpZ4c7kEkEua1kME7KhBeuBPZQsKxqM6mOq-PXBTtCn2v_p-icSJKYkO2DDX3jMLHdnkobeyArqwlz5iMfles3Vzs_GzBDRLezx/s320/cover+A.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5153344108869299826" /></a><br /><br />http://rapidshare.com/files/82377012/Prljavo_Kazaliste_-_Televizori_singl.rar.htmlBassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-19847515174763283932007-10-30T06:53:00.001-07:002007-10-30T06:55:55.561-07:00Bamodi CD review from the Beat magazineA nice chap named Patrick Emery has again tackled Bassta! Pex's band! After two cool reviews of both Soviet Valves EPs, Patrick has bothered to review Bamodi debut CD for Melbourne's Beat magazine. We think he did a bloody great job!<br /><br />Here it is:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERqcsDH_yd_Vxqkns6QcDAfheiQIx2rxVgaecZPY2ZLCy2EtGsCAHZzXqsGQagwmSVrG56DHceujKw2BDsmgDbcdm7tRLN9tLiDIWkkoRCvxt8O7BxM6RLhxXUtSAskiB11j1-NCBaTN1/s1600-h/Bamodi+Beat+Review+72dpi.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERqcsDH_yd_Vxqkns6QcDAfheiQIx2rxVgaecZPY2ZLCy2EtGsCAHZzXqsGQagwmSVrG56DHceujKw2BDsmgDbcdm7tRLN9tLiDIWkkoRCvxt8O7BxM6RLhxXUtSAskiB11j1-NCBaTN1/s320/Bamodi+Beat+Review+72dpi.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5127127673464652674" /></a>Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-22096872751790116072007-07-28T22:56:00.000-07:002007-07-29T02:42:26.061-07:00Abe Sada tour of Japan June/July 2007Here some more rant about our recent gigs in Japan.<br /><br />Most of the Tokyo shows were organised by Sawada-san. He's a nice bloke who plays drums in a cool Japanese band Marble Sheep. While we were over there Sawada was also running a small club called Penguin House, but I believe he's moved on now. So, quite often he organises gigs for touring bands.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">26 June @ Em Seven, Koiwa</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHJgIB8AejdcPWWRfbSzNJuS_vS92umrpjXZAHWbtPFvaQao96OR6GYTVopBHKe8lXltOAj1_nw8o5suOG4g0DEi2jAhyphenhyphenWMlJ9kUhlELt5_LMdgoM9YMzdMyyxj5a0i1WGfsKqcdJOZq_l/s1600-h/pexkoiwa2+72dpi.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHJgIB8AejdcPWWRfbSzNJuS_vS92umrpjXZAHWbtPFvaQao96OR6GYTVopBHKe8lXltOAj1_nw8o5suOG4g0DEi2jAhyphenhyphenWMlJ9kUhlELt5_LMdgoM9YMzdMyyxj5a0i1WGfsKqcdJOZq_l/s320/pexkoiwa2+72dpi.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092545832928644002" /></a><br /><br />I Believe Koiwa is not even part of Tokyo (it belongs in Chiba prefecture), but here was our first gig and it was a good start of the tour. I must say that the whole thing would be much more difficult for all involved, especially me, if it wasn't for my wife Atsuko, who helped with finding our way around, getting the tickets for train, communicating with the venues' staff and lot more.<br /><br />So, Atsuko and me met Cat Hope and her partner (and fellow Abe Sada member) KFord at Minami Senju station. Then we took a couple of trains and we arrived to Koiwa. We found the venue and met the guy who came to deliver the amps - we had to hire 3 bas amps, as most venues in Japan have only one bas amp for bands to use. He already unloaded all the gear, we paid him and went upstairs.<br /><br />Now, most of the venues we played are in buildings and often on 2nd or 5th floor or something like that. It's rather unusual, at least in Australia, to see venues like that. My first concern was noise restrictions, but that was not a problem at all, as every single venue was sound-proof somehow.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHownQU1tYKiRvRSViHdzmGjlNQb3APw4ehAMwAecy_dWIQggVk4FfDUeeeTymCuhiQDrZbEfbvUy69bHIa_vCSc798DSyX5cEse4loCpd4I6CVrDOKJ4glJIFymezdDee4MUPjSZ3QC0j/s1600-h/DSC00433.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHownQU1tYKiRvRSViHdzmGjlNQb3APw4ehAMwAecy_dWIQggVk4FfDUeeeTymCuhiQDrZbEfbvUy69bHIa_vCSc798DSyX5cEse4loCpd4I6CVrDOKJ4glJIFymezdDee4MUPjSZ3QC0j/s320/DSC00433.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092501663484971906" /></a><br />KFord outside Em Seven<br /><br />We met Dylan - a young Perth guy who joined us for a few gigs in Japan. He came with his friends Janelle and Jesse - all three of them are rather nice folks. We all went to the venue and met the staff. They asked us where we want the amps and we decided to spread them around. Now, that was not hard as the venue was rather small (I'd say 70 people is a maximum capacity). We tried the amps, had a short soundcheck and we were happy with it.<br /><br />As we finished we met Sawada-san and all of us went in search of some food. We found a nice izakaya-style restaurant nearby (izakaya is a really cool style of restaurant where you can order many small dishes to share - it's tasty and bloody cheap). For next hour or so we pigged out and drank a lot of beer. For next few gigs that would be our routine: get to the venue, have a soundcheck, go and eat/drink a lot.<br /><br />After a huge meal we went back to the venue. The shows in Japan start early - around 6.30 - 7pm. It's because people need to have enough time to catch a train home, which is cool. The first band on was Ulysses. It a 2-piece with girl on guitar/vocals and guy on drums. At moments it reminded me of Afrirampo with a bit of shoegaze stuff. Not bad in any case.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOOZjP6KFtw0JfFGbpY-P_zH4PZoFtZBHQ02ec9bkKKCk31vBLrHlf6evDLljMibS4DjI11_lmsWxXF7wsffZKyXiDNecrr6j44GDkie5vtfXf8R40jw5ewoAbxYpg-BIMS43h_Wctyz8l/s1600-h/DSC00434.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOOZjP6KFtw0JfFGbpY-P_zH4PZoFtZBHQ02ec9bkKKCk31vBLrHlf6evDLljMibS4DjI11_lmsWxXF7wsffZKyXiDNecrr6j44GDkie5vtfXf8R40jw5ewoAbxYpg-BIMS43h_Wctyz8l/s320/DSC00434.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092501925477976978" /></a><br />Ulysses<br /><br />Then there was this computer/visuals noise guy, who I had to miss as I was catching up with my friends outside. Apparently it was really good.<br /><br />Next band was Deadstock, really cool 3 piece noise-punk stuff. I talked to them after the gig and we exchanged the CDs.<br /><br />It was Abe Sada's turn now and we took the stage or rather we took a corner each and started making noise. It was very enjoyable, even though I couldn't hear my bass much. People seemed to like it and some punters came to talk to us after the gig.<br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ytXJ-JbDM2w"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ytXJ-JbDM2w" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br />Abe Sada @ Em Seven<br /><br />The last band Kurucrew was the highlight of the night! Awesome, awesome band with drums (and what a drummer he was!), bas, guitar and sax. Very mesmerizing loud stuff. Cat got their CD - I must get her to burn me a copy.<br /><br />After them we hanged around for another beer, took some photos with lots of people and went to catch the train.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">28 June @ Motion, Shinjuku</span><br /><br />Met with Cat and KFord at Shinjuku train station around 3pm and we headed towards the venue. Three of us no-Japanese guys were overwhelmed with the number of people we saw on the streets there - they were everywhere! KFord stopped at some music shop to buy the soft case for his bass and we were off to the Motion.<br /><br />The venue is on the fifth floor of this building. We met some staff at the door, they gave us our passes, Atsuko filled all the required forms and we hopped inside for a soundcheck. But we decided not to have one, as the nature of Abe Sada is to do improv gigs, so it was not necessary. We opted for spreading around the venue again, except for me who got the spot on the stage.<br /><br />After leaving all our gig at the venue we went music shopping. KFord bought Boss Loop Station twin pedal for more than twice cheaper than in Perth. He looked happy for sure. Then it was time for some record shopping. I bought two records by Serbian jazz trumpeter Dusko Gojkovic who was coming to play in Tokyo, so I wanted to get him to sign it for me. Good luck finding his stuff in Australia, but in Japan all you need to do is go to first record/CD shop and ask for it - they have plenty of his stuff.<br /><br />I'm not sure about the names of all bands we played with that night. The first one was kind of indie rock one, not bad, but didn't grab me too much. <br /><br />Clean of Core were next and they were brilliant! Instrumental, almost prog rock, but not cheesy at all. Drums, bass and guitar/keys guy, very intense and almost danceable.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX-aWPPKRyzlMeIl3EYg8bpAjcYgMorY59aMCtZ4j-EY_JU4ofPfn7jvZLJ0LUTSZABh5AAkGAjJNxKNRWS0Yx4Omb7C4E7sRftjNTzg3QraZTSbKwrBlm-m68dmTqNvB9YK1uTxITXvTz/s1600-h/clean+of+core2.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX-aWPPKRyzlMeIl3EYg8bpAjcYgMorY59aMCtZ4j-EY_JU4ofPfn7jvZLJ0LUTSZABh5AAkGAjJNxKNRWS0Yx4Omb7C4E7sRftjNTzg3QraZTSbKwrBlm-m68dmTqNvB9YK1uTxITXvTz/s320/clean+of+core2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092546223770667970" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYs7YNVNCnfXdg6b5Yd-Z0eGRDZY_vJRoETSsYSThRfvL4JVotMruzrKonVlKx9ee5YYLgGwzTmUZgPYJ2i3sb6BOh4bfCfrPUUJYIns2KjH4tFzWKVLQaFHS7UgANUWza-zwzZSj-t2yu/s1600-h/clean+of+core1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYs7YNVNCnfXdg6b5Yd-Z0eGRDZY_vJRoETSsYSThRfvL4JVotMruzrKonVlKx9ee5YYLgGwzTmUZgPYJ2i3sb6BOh4bfCfrPUUJYIns2KjH4tFzWKVLQaFHS7UgANUWza-zwzZSj-t2yu/s320/clean+of+core1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092546142166289330" /></a><br /><br />Tiecup were next, cool dub rock with chick on drums. Great Blue Hearts cover too. Bought two copies of their CD - one for us, one for a friend who would like it.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvH4uXzsKtKsKMt3caQkl277GC4Sch5I3EaAOjYwPAxOzma5nn0wJskaFZi-IzWtVnzVayG-Lt2R_Gt-oUKwnJV7Tk9c9tPsLI0ZvB7SglpcR8Ss7P2VNOV8ZhcXE9wLlpdN5_of3c_UE/s1600-h/tiecup.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvH4uXzsKtKsKMt3caQkl277GC4Sch5I3EaAOjYwPAxOzma5nn0wJskaFZi-IzWtVnzVayG-Lt2R_Gt-oUKwnJV7Tk9c9tPsLI0ZvB7SglpcR8Ss7P2VNOV8ZhcXE9wLlpdN5_of3c_UE/s320/tiecup.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092546438519032786" /></a><br />Tiecup in dub action<br /><br />I introduced Abe Sada to a massive applause from the crowd and we took off. I got to say this was one of those great live Abe Sada shows and I totally enjoyed it. Punters were going from a player to another and checking our stuff, except for me who was isolated on stage, damn! We finished, went backstage and met both venue manager and owner, who were impressed and invited us back for another show - hopefully it will happen next year. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQybW4rlmKbxeVxx5RyfE5dflOXmdEjIGmsMOQYvwHgFyfvQhlghpui_Kvs3S570Yvvk1DuAcnAj9_uwJmqix2VQwcCW1SFfK5j2LGfY66mdfuOvfX9shqOKXVV5IImpIQDJkByhUJI8p2/s1600-h/motion+pex.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQybW4rlmKbxeVxx5RyfE5dflOXmdEjIGmsMOQYvwHgFyfvQhlghpui_Kvs3S570Yvvk1DuAcnAj9_uwJmqix2VQwcCW1SFfK5j2LGfY66mdfuOvfX9shqOKXVV5IImpIQDJkByhUJI8p2/s320/motion+pex.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092546687627135970" /></a><br />Bassta! Pex says this is the best way to play bass!<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CkKiN4zxq5U"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CkKiN4zxq5U" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br />@ Motion<br /><br />Last two bands I can't remember the names of... I was too high on adrenaline after our show to enjoy them anyway.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">29 June @ ERA, Shimokitazawa</span><br /><br />As usual, we met with Cat and KFord at the station and went to the venue. Again, the venue was on 5th floor and I had not so comfortable feeling when we got there. The sound guy assured us the venue will be packed tonight, so we decided to set up on stage for a change. During the soundcheck Atsuko eavesdropped on some guys from other bands who were talking crap about us. Like, "look at these guys who can't even play their basses". Arseholes!<br /><br />After dinner we got back to the venue. This time we were joined on 4th bass by Hatake - a friend of Atsuko and a really cool guy. I had something like million of my friends who came and I had to catch up with them, so didn't bother to check the other bands.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1yWacoMFixDFPTwrjGLEWgTq5fwniUeeEH6YCuXaq4x6tekqFXG2JQDbIn7KwuMTRjmJ4VU-ZDRaLSAT6zhP7MI9ABe6u51wRSKb8QhHZpbFJm-jnWSABdK1hmzw-h-nc0LupRuyvv8_N/s1600-h/era+pex05.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1yWacoMFixDFPTwrjGLEWgTq5fwniUeeEH6YCuXaq4x6tekqFXG2JQDbIn7KwuMTRjmJ4VU-ZDRaLSAT6zhP7MI9ABe6u51wRSKb8QhHZpbFJm-jnWSABdK1hmzw-h-nc0LupRuyvv8_N/s320/era+pex05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092547074174192642" /></a><br />When we took the stage pretty much the only audience were my and Atsuko's friends, as well as couple of Aussie guys, which made total number of punters 15 or so. So much for the "packed venue". Cat introduced the band and dedicated our set to "all the real musicians in the audience". We played well though, but I don't think I'll ever bother to play at that venue.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6BPco0LO79ZixHrJhacKQ9DWosla96SeHJOyqP819g_TIMvk5KSqUZVaQq6torL89PeDiGFELJIDqbpzdLTL1KtQ5_bpPm-e-tBRNP4tGzrRxwbPRbY0KzCz3tOlo8_cLuYD7FW0etRYm/s1600-h/eraftershow.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6BPco0LO79ZixHrJhacKQ9DWosla96SeHJOyqP819g_TIMvk5KSqUZVaQq6torL89PeDiGFELJIDqbpzdLTL1KtQ5_bpPm-e-tBRNP4tGzrRxwbPRbY0KzCz3tOlo8_cLuYD7FW0etRYm/s320/eraftershow.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092547267447720978" /></a><br />After the gig: KFord, Bassta! Pex, Cat, Hatake, Sawada-san hiding in the background<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />2 July @ UFO, Higashi-Koenji</span><br /><br />This was the last and probably best show for me. I've heard of this venue before and liked it from the moment we stepped inside. This time the venue was in the basement of the building.<br /><br />We met Tabata (of Zeni Ggeva) who were our 4th player tonite. Nice guy and a great player. We did a soundcheck, again set up on stage, went for huge dinner and lots of drinking and got back to the venue.<br /><br />First band was Praha Depart - a combination of new wave, kraut and noise with drums, guitar and female vox. Really cool.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcvQkjH0mAcwDbQVB_h6LjR9-5cHd99A_ndmDNAvZLl4KPpPDprvUxkI62hj5tCImq-NlSd6Ml_WplgscTtwcnf9a1pEKNfhflPhhui8AqWMZtoPqAZO3c15Xz7X89tUhd1Q6HpD9UI-jC/s1600-h/praha1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcvQkjH0mAcwDbQVB_h6LjR9-5cHd99A_ndmDNAvZLl4KPpPDprvUxkI62hj5tCImq-NlSd6Ml_WplgscTtwcnf9a1pEKNfhflPhhui8AqWMZtoPqAZO3c15Xz7X89tUhd1Q6HpD9UI-jC/s320/praha1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092547589570268194" /></a><br />Praha Depart<br /><br />Then it was the crazy Bariken guys. Drummer and guitarist/vocalist who play noise punk that reminded me a bit of early Melt Banana. Totally crazy stuff, awesome performance. Both of them would jump in the crowd in the middle of the song, do some weird dance and jump back on stage in time to finish the song. Met them after the gig and got a copy of their demo CD.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYxYMNglz6qMPNT61ompUoeCvBOwPKTOZ2pM7Ut3z0B7Q_2nahP-DZTpxZFeraW3vZ8_IoewPBL2tOANP4BbejmydbZhr9YoQ4A-FAdcgIly8JwHBx0VLZEFiHBaZc3T37oUsV8sm22Et/s1600-h/bariken1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYxYMNglz6qMPNT61ompUoeCvBOwPKTOZ2pM7Ut3z0B7Q_2nahP-DZTpxZFeraW3vZ8_IoewPBL2tOANP4BbejmydbZhr9YoQ4A-FAdcgIly8JwHBx0VLZEFiHBaZc3T37oUsV8sm22Et/s320/bariken1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092547731304188978" /></a><br />Bariken rule!<br />Alan Smithee something-something were next. Two drummers, bass, guitar, a bit of prog, bit of psych and totally cool.<br /><br />I introduced us again and we were off. I don't want to crap so much about how good we were, but we were good. I loved it. The crowd loved it too. <br /><br />At the end we had the best band on the night - Geltz. Drummer and bassist with something like 50 pedals. Awesome, awesome band, but no CD yet...<br /><br />Then we said our goodbyes and pissed off. KFord and Cat continued for a few more shows on Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka...<br /><br />CONCLUSION<br />And just a few things at the end. Japanese bands deserve more fucking respect! Especially in their own country. Being in a couple of bands in Australia I realize how easy it's for us here. We do some practicing, book a show and usually get the money, even if it's just $40 or so. With Bamodi we don't pay for rehearsal room as we practice at our drummer's workplace for free. So the only costs we have are usual ones: guitar strings, equipment, petrol... We play a few gigs and we can save enough money for recording. Fuckin easy, right?<br /><br />In Japan bands pay heaps for rehearsal rooms and then in most cases they have to pay to play. Usually the system is that punters say at the door which band they came to see. So if our band has certain number of people who came to see it you get some money, but not much. The reason for this is that all venues have a lot of staff. So it's good for bands because the venue looks after you - all bands get soundcheck, which means great sound, everything is organised and all you need to do is make sure you're in tune and plug in your guitar and play. Venues supply drumkit, amps and PA. But no money.<br /><br />So, I'm seeing all these Japanese bands and they all rock, they are all super tight and they have to pay to play. Not many people buy CDs over there, same as here, so there's no other income for bands. But they still rock. Good on you guys.Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-21326091622385512542007-06-24T17:30:00.000-07:002007-07-30T14:24:45.124-07:00Bassta! Pex conquers Japan!!!We arrived to Narita airport after almost ten hours long flight from Perth. Recent survey showed that Australians are least satisfied with Qantas of all airlines and I don’t blame them – the food was bloody awful! Didn’t get much sleep at all, but was looking forward to the beginning of my holidays in Japan.<br /><br />We went through the customs smoothly – no dirty “you are a terrorist smuggling eggs, honey and wood to Australia” look I’m used to almost every time I fly in to Perth, hehehe.<br /><br />Atsuko’s family picked us from the airport, we hired the mobile phone, got some money from ATM and took the train to Yokohama. The ride was very comfortable and some hour and half later we arrived to her home.<br /><br />Straight away the in-laws accepted me wholeheartedly and I knew it’ll be nice five weeks spending here at their house. Japanese houses are much smaller than Australian ones, but somehow they don’t lack anything. I surely have to bend my head every time I go from room to another room, which is a lesson I learned the hard way at least couple of times. <br /><br />Atsuko’s father is a great cook and he certainly takes care of our meals while at home. It’s hard to believe, but I put on 3 kilos in just 5 days. Japanese people are food-obsessed in the best possible way. And to me everything tastes fuckin’ awesome, so it’s really difficult to resist all the nice food that’s on offer here, not to mention all the beer and other drinks.<br /><br />All the stories about Japan being expensive are bullshit – so far the only thing more expensive here than in Australia is coffee. Eating and drinking out is cheaper (unless you eat not-Japanese food, which I won’t do here, of course), cigarettes are $3 a pack (although I haven’t been smoking almost at all here), the other stuff I’m spending money on (CDs, records) are also cheaper than in Perth. The other day I went and bought a new Epiphone SG bass, with two leads, a strap, and other accessories for less than $450!!!<br /><br />Apart from meeting my in-laws, the other reason for coming here is a short tour by my bass-noise band Abe Sada – http://www.myspace.com/abesada - I will be playing four gigs with them in Tokyo starting from next week. Can’t wait!!<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ytXJ-JbDM2w"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ytXJ-JbDM2w" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br />Abe Sada @ Em Seven, Koiwa, 26 June 2007<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CkKiN4zxq5U"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CkKiN4zxq5U" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br />Abe Sada @ Motion, Shinjuku, 28 June 2007<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The last gig in Tokyo is on tonight. It’s been hectic few days. I had to catch trains (and mean a few) from where I’m staying in Yokohama to wherever we had to play. The load in is usually around 3pm, followed by a soundcheck. That means I had to leave home around noon to get there in time.<br /><br />All the venues we played were quite smaller than the venues in Perth, which is cool, as I’m much more comfortable with that and, honestly, didn’t think that hundreds of Japanese punters will rush to see some obscure, unknown noise band from Australia.<br /><br />First gig on 26 June was at Em Seven in Koiwa, which is, apparently, suburb of Chiba, not Tokyo. Meaning: it’s fuckin’ far away. We met Cat and Karlos (two quarters of Abe Sada) near their hotel at Minami-Senji station. They both looked tired as they just flew in from Singapore that morning.<br /><br />We went to the venue where we met the guy who delivered amps – we had to hire three bass amps, as the venues here only have one bass amp, which is reasonable, considering that venues in Australia have bugger all! The guy seemed ok, but we think that he ripped us off later, but that’s another story and one of very, very few bad ones, so let’s skip it here.<br /><br />Dylan – the fourth Abe Sada member for most shows here – arrived with his two friends and we went to load stuff in the venue. We decided to spread the amps around the place and had a short soundcheck. No need miking the amps up, as the place was small. Sawada, our booking man, came and after a while we went to look for a place to have dinner. We found an izakaya style restaurant (cheap and fuckin’ tasty Japanese style food) and we ate and drank like kings for about $20 a person!<br /><br />The first band was on at 6.30, so we dragged our arses to the club. The band was called Ulysses and consisted of a chick on guitar and guy on drums. It sounded like a cross between Afrirampo, Boris and maybe Cease, although a lot sloppier. Then it was turn for a solo laptop noise guy. Unfortunately I missed it, as I had to catch up with friends who came to see us. By all reports the guy was awesome. Then there was a three piece called Deadstock and they were pretty good: loud, mostly fast and entertaining.<br /><br />We played a cool set but I was not happy with the venue’s amp I used – just couldn’t make it sound very loud. The last band Kurucrew were mindblowingly cool. Drums, bass, guitar and alto sax, they reminded me of Lightning Bolt at times but heaps tighter and more repetitive. The thing about most of Japanese bands I’ve seen here is that they are super-tight and even the ones I didn’t like sounded great at what they were doing. Caught a train home and was surprised to see it packed at around midnight on Tuesday night.<br /><br />On Thursday we played at Motion in Shinjuku. When we arrived at the station in Shibuya at around 3pm we were surprised how that area of Tokyo looks huge, but it was later that night when I could see it at it’s full flight with millions of people roaming its streets.<br /><br />The venue was on the fifth floor of this building – it amazes me how most venues are in buildings, but obviously they know how to solve a sound issues here. We didn’t have a soundcheck as we decided to have the amps spread again, so instead we went shopping. First stop guitar shop. Karlos bought a Loop Station for three times cheaper than in Perth. Then we went to one of many Disc Union music shops. It was a wet dream for any music consumer. I checked the jazz vinyl shop and found two records by Dusko Gojkovic – Serbian jazz trumpet master who is playing here on 14 July. Then went to soundtrack/DVD shop and nearly wet my pants when I’ve seen what they had for sale. Records and CDS are reasonably priced here – cheaper than in Perth for sure, while the DVDs are bit more expensive. But the choice, man, the choice! <br /><br />After shopping we went for dinner and to the venue to check the bands. The first one was OK indie rock band that reminded me on Pixies. The guitar player wore Neu! t-shirt and we had a chat after the gig. Then Clean of Core took the stage – an awesome three-piece instrumental band that Sawada described as progressive, but I wouldn’t go that far. They are great instrumentalists and they had lots of weird changes in their set. We bought two of their demo CDs, they sound superb! After them Tiecup played – a real cool dub band that even did a Blue Hearts cover! Again bought two of their CDs – when I want to support a band I want to give them a bit of an extra support.<br /><br />I introduced us before we started playing and when the crowd applauded loudly it was a sign that the gig will be great. And it was. I was the only member on stage and couldn’t see much what’s happening in the audience, but every now and then I could see punters moving from player to player and checking them out. We finished to a great response. Went out and met the venue manager and the owner. They were both impressed and wanted us back again in future. I was too high on adrenaline to bother too much about other two bands, but they were both really good, as far as I could hear. <br /><br />Went outside into a hot and humid night. Streets of Shinjuku were packed with people and smelled of rotten cabbage. It amazes me how Tokyo stinks real bad, but I guess most of the huge cities do. We caught the train alright, but again it was chockers. When we arrive to our station in Yokohama it struck me how cooler it was here and quieter for sure. Bought the midnight snack, took a shower, ate and went to bed.<br /><br />The next day it was a turn to play at Era in Shimokitazawa. From when we arrived to the venue I had bit of a bad feeling about it. It was the biggest so far and the sound guy wanted us to play on stage as “the venue will be packed tonite”. We had a short soundcheck during which Atsuko (who helped us heaps as interpreter at every gig) overheard other bands being sarcastic about “musical abilities”. Fuckheads.<br /><br />We went for a walk, ate dinner and went to the venue, but we didn’t want to check other bands. Instead we caught up with some guy from Perth and his wife, as well as with few of our friends who came. Before we started playing Cat introduced us and dedicated the set “to all real musicians in the audience”, hehehe. We played really well, this time joined by young Hatake – a friend of Atsuko – but the turnout was quite poor. If it wasn’t for our friends the place would be empty. So much for the packed venue!<br /><br />The next day the band played at Penguinhouse, but I couldn’t make it, as Atsuko’s friends bought us tickets for Shibusa Shirazu Orchestra – a band that I just couldn’t’ afford to miss, as I love their CDS and the DVDs I’ve seen of them performing live were supercool. We took a train to Shibuya, crossed the famous intersection, and took a long walk to the venue in Aoyama – a posh suburb of Tokyo. <br /><br />The club was not too big, say 250 capacity. It was boiling hot inside, so we went for a beer. The band came out at 7.15pm armed with 6 saxophones, two drumkits, percussions, trombone, trumpet, melodica, flue, bass, two guitars, MC, dancers and conductor and for next two hours produced the most exciting and beautiful music I’ve ever witnessed live!<br /><br />I think they only played five songs, but it was not boring for a second. Their music is a mix of jazz, world music (especially Balkan Gypsy stuff) and even pop, so the song would start with its main melodic theme and then it would go into various solo bits, total free jazz mayhem, back to poppy bit, more solos and finally huge comeback to the main theme, while we all yell and scream in excitement.<br /><br />Their ‘conductor’ Daisuke Fuwa was anything but a classical conductor. He was giving the band signs what to do with his hands and things written on sheets of paper. He smoked at least a pack of smokes and drank 6 cans of some alcoholic beverage, finishing the gig with a bottle of sake, while he gave a bottle of vodka to band members to share.<br /><br />As expected the show finished with “Theme of Honda Kumoten” – their trade mark song. And what a finish it was: the whole place was jumping in a manic dance craze yelling “Na na na, na na na, na na, na na” off the top of their lungs. Me included. Fucken hell, what a show that was!<br /><br />Shibusa have been going for years, have over ten albums, but never became a major band in Japan. Considering that band consists of huge number of people it’s hard to believe they make any money from music. Which is to say they are probably professional musician who make their dough elsewhere and do Shibusa just for pure fun. Perhaps that’s why they are such a great band live. Honestly, after such a gig I don’t think any live music will ever sound so exciting. You can download the whole gig here:<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=R0J7I2T1<br /><br />After the gig we took some pics with the MC and dancers and pissed off home.<br /><br /><br /><br />Played the final Tokyo show last nite… feeling quite empty now. I’m gonna miss it.<br /><br />We went to UFO Club in Koenji (Guitar Wolf and Afrirampo played here before) around 4pm, met Tabata (Zeni Geva member) who was our fourth member for the night. Had a short soundcheck then went to eat. We ate and rank like maniacs again. Fuck, the food would never stop arriving to our table; squid’s liver, flying fish, flying fish cakes, deep fried chicken, cheese spring rolls… all with lots of beer and sochu.<br /><br />All the bands that played at UFO with us were awesome! First there was Praha depart, who are a mix of new wave (Slits in particular), kraut and noise. Then there was this amazing two piece (drums and guitar) noise punk act that was highly amusing. They were followed by a pysch combo with two drummers.<br /><br />Abe Sada played a great set, Tabata was real cool. It was loud as fuck, had to wear earplugs. After us it was a turn for Geltz – another two piece, but this time bass and drums. And what a fuckin’ awesome band they were!<br /><br />We packed, said our goodbyes to all the people, caught a train and went home. Cat and Karlos will continue to Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe and play gigs there. Karlos broke his cheap piece of bass shit, so I had to lend him my baby for the rest of the tour. Hope he takes good care of her, hehehe…Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-71838521132625041922007-06-03T21:00:00.000-07:002007-06-03T21:05:09.458-07:00X Press magazine interview with yours truly, 31 May 2007This int was conducted by Mike Wafer for Perth street rag X Press. The ocassion was Abe Sada's CD launch/fundraising gig for upcoming tour of Japan. Check this space for my adventures from the land of the rising sun!!!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga-dBME5SzS5jvjGuvwrr2offBl6nNm4CgNkmal-ThRThrVmswBTSu6pN5MlJApntijRpzitsVkTe8dVHs15-enMYnrN-mMShn0Co0ez8X24UeWr8_qAtKq720K9s0yv1TLtpD_U3TmYjy/s1600-h/pexinterview72dpi.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga-dBME5SzS5jvjGuvwrr2offBl6nNm4CgNkmal-ThRThrVmswBTSu6pN5MlJApntijRpzitsVkTe8dVHs15-enMYnrN-mMShn0Co0ez8X24UeWr8_qAtKq720K9s0yv1TLtpD_U3TmYjy/s320/pexinterview72dpi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5072055255493961986" border="0" /></a>Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-64277124992046474082007-03-03T17:15:00.000-08:002007-03-03T22:37:50.942-08:00SexA - Croatian post-punk from early 80s<span style="font-weight: bold;">SexA</span> (Sedatives ex Apoteka - which should translate as <span style="font-style: italic;">Sedatives from the Pharmacy</span>) was a seminal Croatian band that played since early 80s until they broke up in the early 90s.<br />The started in 1980/81, which was a really good time for Yugoslavian new wave. But due to the unaccessibilty of their music they haven't released anything until 1986 when a live cassette from their gig in Koper (Slovenia) was released in edition of 200 copies.<br />Soon after that the band went into hiatus. They re-appeared in 1989 with slightly different line up and totally different sound. This time they were quite noisy, not too different from bands like Killdozer, Big Black, Rapemen, although I'd say they were closest to Stretch Heads.<br />During this period they released one LP and a single, as well as some cassettes. When the war in former Yugoslavia started they moved to Amsterdam and soon after broke up, for good it seems... Unfortunatelly, it appears Steve Albini was really interested in working with them, but the band was no more.<br />Here are some of heir post-punk/wave stuff, both studio and live. The quality is not the greatest, but it will give you an idea how good SexA was.<br /><br />http://www.sendspace.com/file/ongywmBassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-24416682229254696352007-02-23T05:45:00.001-08:002007-02-23T05:55:24.552-08:00SARLO AKROBATA<a style="font-weight: bold;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_UMUFwG3avXcisss2gMlSWDvMxQjX_Xcq8SUec36wxSPDj1j_RkjgRAj4J2RVchi4-FuHfufwAS7wdrKdH-gf00WNM_M07w_cn4xYbIaP_xn36bjFprzUYxAln8c6J2R0bvUeSIw6B_R/s1600-h/LP1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 196px; height: 194px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_UMUFwG3avXcisss2gMlSWDvMxQjX_Xcq8SUec36wxSPDj1j_RkjgRAj4J2RVchi4-FuHfufwAS7wdrKdH-gf00WNM_M07w_cn4xYbIaP_xn36bjFprzUYxAln8c6J2R0bvUeSIw6B_R/s320/LP1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034726663296137010" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWdI3erV7mucO9LzjWs96V-gHPrIP_mf5U2B8c8lgzED7vrkE926vU8qXm1_AVVVXBlKAllMM2P42HXuB96MRlAay2cq8RMTKmvAMAUjTvU9OXa0XspLq1ljDiY00A1zh1TH0OYA8ximut/s1600-h/LP2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWdI3erV7mucO9LzjWs96V-gHPrIP_mf5U2B8c8lgzED7vrkE926vU8qXm1_AVVVXBlKAllMM2P42HXuB96MRlAay2cq8RMTKmvAMAUjTvU9OXa0XspLq1ljDiY00A1zh1TH0OYA8ximut/s320/LP2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034726749195482946" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLV1Wd6PGYTiBFzQT7dJTo7RoIQbd9anHJgp7U8G2lFurcs2_UdLA1e8XF2eY76Mhide2rhrI1Rm6qswYXraWxy1ggoLNyiN2aTOvEUjG4btbbZkHNsdgKsRfV9UcApWCD2kVlaOzHHnoG/s1600-h/LP3.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 197px; height: 187px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLV1Wd6PGYTiBFzQT7dJTo7RoIQbd9anHJgp7U8G2lFurcs2_UdLA1e8XF2eY76Mhide2rhrI1Rm6qswYXraWxy1ggoLNyiN2aTOvEUjG4btbbZkHNsdgKsRfV9UcApWCD2kVlaOzHHnoG/s320/LP3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034726916699207506" border="0" /></a><br />New wave/post-punk period (late70s/early 80s) has to be the most creative time in the history of Yugoslavian music - both quality and quantity wise. Of course, quantity means there was a lot (and I mean a lot) of crap that popped up under the new wave banner, but Bassta! Pex won’t get too deeply into that - let’s talk about good things. Like Sarlo Akrobata.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzHzdBFHQrUFqMDuunqjjtfTt7TYgrf_9_vBjK1jGl0jN0YZeyx6P4tGoi0kgihzyg2i9QpopFxSIpx-0bADfRvYYBk_sOfiaUizN3Tk9SUimuB0nH-BCt4M1Nd2f2eskTnZ2A8wC-aLud/s1600-h/sarlo03big.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzHzdBFHQrUFqMDuunqjjtfTt7TYgrf_9_vBjK1jGl0jN0YZeyx6P4tGoi0kgihzyg2i9QpopFxSIpx-0bADfRvYYBk_sOfiaUizN3Tk9SUimuB0nH-BCt4M1Nd2f2eskTnZ2A8wC-aLud/s320/sarlo03big.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034727397735544706" border="0" /></a><br />Sarlo Akrobata (Loosely translates as Charles the Acrobat) started playing under that name in 1980 in their native Belgrade. At the same time two other local bands Idoli and Elektricni Orgazam also started making noise and soon after all three bands ended up on legendary compilation “Paket Aranzman”. It must be said her that all three bands were quite different: Idoli were new wave-ish pop, Elektricni Orgazam punk with synth and Sarlo Akrobata were... um, Sarlo Akrobata!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhISxIoUGevjSoWe_ALQtw_WKNxX7TYeO5Gz3bQJmDi8nv7No7U71P3k4xe_GjPmDKOi_7Ewe33-q8VIewSvycEyLmdd98dgL88LEX6Y4BE27wgFdKsnGy5G-HsUVNtR3Qs1wTV6bCpszGY/s1600-h/sarlo01big.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhISxIoUGevjSoWe_ALQtw_WKNxX7TYeO5Gz3bQJmDi8nv7No7U71P3k4xe_GjPmDKOi_7Ewe33-q8VIewSvycEyLmdd98dgL88LEX6Y4BE27wgFdKsnGy5G-HsUVNtR3Qs1wTV6bCpszGY/s320/sarlo01big.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034727256001623906" border="0" /></a><br />Sarlo Akrobata sounded like bastard sons of Pere Ubu, Pop Group and Gang of Four (whom they supported in 1981), yet, they sounded like nothing else before or after. Loud, wild, not afraid of experimenting (both in studio and live), Sarlo Akrobata created sounds that were never extremely popular, but certainly very influential on the upcoming generations of Yugo bands.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJeUu7UXDk-Nwv3fhSdMhv1BC1iaYIyU2MF3s9APmmNZ09CiEF8AnMjbGXe4xWGjW2rSNk4hWgPbX2uv4BwanLsVYTuLTfeToFqgglDCpLc-1Yuj-3FvMB9tELAj6xv_qN-K92fd-JmthG/s1600-h/sarlo06big.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJeUu7UXDk-Nwv3fhSdMhv1BC1iaYIyU2MF3s9APmmNZ09CiEF8AnMjbGXe4xWGjW2rSNk4hWgPbX2uv4BwanLsVYTuLTfeToFqgglDCpLc-1Yuj-3FvMB9tELAj6xv_qN-K92fd-JmthG/s320/sarlo06big.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034727578124171154" border="0" /></a><br />They recorded their only album in July/August 1981 and pretty much broke up immediately after. Bass player Koja continued to do similar stuff with Disciplina Kicme, while Milan (guitar) formed highly successful Katarina II - later Ekatarina Velika or EKV. Milan passed away in 1994 and Sarlo Akrobata drummer Vd passed away in 1992. Until this day there hasn’t been a legitimate reissue of “Bistriji ili tuplji covek biva kad...” LP. We hope it happens soon.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRUdEXuGUVSX6SaHMb0YSjdihXuk2vMVBWyCZRWy1tKejyr86nNmjgSCrhk7fuFj-cwKyQS3xA4yfRk9b1vj5Jmoxr1U6wQorOm9jwjOoNap-_IquQBWOQ6GzRFvp1p3obH3AwvoMSV74C/s1600-h/sarlo02big.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRUdEXuGUVSX6SaHMb0YSjdihXuk2vMVBWyCZRWy1tKejyr86nNmjgSCrhk7fuFj-cwKyQS3xA4yfRk9b1vj5Jmoxr1U6wQorOm9jwjOoNap-_IquQBWOQ6GzRFvp1p3obH3AwvoMSV74C/s320/sarlo02big.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034727324721100658" border="0" /></a><br />Here's all of their studio recordings, as well as some live stuff (not great quality, though):<br /><a href="http://rapidshare.com/files/17876005/Sarlo_Akrobata.rar.html" target="_blank">http://rapidshare.com/files/17876005/Sarlo_Akrobata.rar.html</a>Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-65545622432540500932007-02-22T06:17:00.000-08:002007-02-22T06:26:07.821-08:00KAZIMIROV KAZNENI KORPUS/PROFILI PROFILI cassOK, time for some obscure Serbian post-punk stuff: split tape of Kazimirov Kazneni Korpus and Profili Profili from 1982.<br /><br />Really don't know much about this, but I think it was the same band under two different names. Both bands do a few versions of the same song each.<br /><br />Profili Profili had two songs on "Artisticka Radna Akcija" compilation LP from 1981.<br /><br />Enjoy!<br /><a href="http://rapidshare.com/files/17719539/Kazimirov_Kazneni_Korpus_i_Profili_Profili_-_Kaseta_Galerija_Srecna_nova_umetnost_SKC__1982_.rar.html" target="_blank">http://rapidshare.com/files/17719539/Kazimirov_Kazneni_Korpus_i_Profili_Profili_-_Kaseta_Galerija_Srecna_nova_umetnost_SKC__1982_.rar.html</a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVOoFRt6AfKYpFNR8qFWJxqmrJLVJixFOgZmPnpwVlKpJ8wAxcy4gJODip7j_tbTaNiAZ2oFpOWl8Rg7S7HthdktJ0Rm6HzBivbE5hLOd5Vw2TteNszvgc9E0VBCL_-c6T3n5ltL0uAgxr/s1600-h/Kazimirov+Kazneni+Korpus.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVOoFRt6AfKYpFNR8qFWJxqmrJLVJixFOgZmPnpwVlKpJ8wAxcy4gJODip7j_tbTaNiAZ2oFpOWl8Rg7S7HthdktJ0Rm6HzBivbE5hLOd5Vw2TteNszvgc9E0VBCL_-c6T3n5ltL0uAgxr/s320/Kazimirov+Kazneni+Korpus.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034363360602502818" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBgHvSdRQYC_4sknT0-UrBtbi4XBMy58JF4awqxSdG6b4Rzyn3Uiqtntv-CC2-JnKs9Iv_dOrCN132-iZAZJ335urAnNcrSyPZ-n1cXChVnMQONIuMJ69V0df7rGHzGFCKihxkXRWuvzbN/s1600-h/Profili+Profili.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBgHvSdRQYC_4sknT0-UrBtbi4XBMy58JF4awqxSdG6b4Rzyn3Uiqtntv-CC2-JnKs9Iv_dOrCN132-iZAZJ335urAnNcrSyPZ-n1cXChVnMQONIuMJ69V0df7rGHzGFCKihxkXRWuvzbN/s320/Profili+Profili.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034363626890475186" border="0" /></a>Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-63524197067682387712007-02-21T22:45:00.000-08:002007-02-21T22:50:17.720-08:00Yui Torigoe - Dualism exhibiton<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LTsxMJIUtsYf95gudzbP7JCPCCUs58zQD0MHaBJfUn7pbvvvoObLaQJ1hJ_5n4C9-yPuHEbwmCBxZD_p28Kplv0FPFao8aX5KBccwnry4OIRrpp8YldP9JllcIyyO9WYFiX8HGv5Xpto/s1600-h/yui+4.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034246829549827538" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" height="145" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LTsxMJIUtsYf95gudzbP7JCPCCUs58zQD0MHaBJfUn7pbvvvoObLaQJ1hJ_5n4C9-yPuHEbwmCBxZD_p28Kplv0FPFao8aX5KBccwnry4OIRrpp8YldP9JllcIyyO9WYFiX8HGv5Xpto/s320/yui+4.jpg" width="225" border="0" /></a> As the newspaper article recently said: discovering new artists is as easy as going to the restaurant! It was in October 2006 when my then girlfriend/now wife and me went for a dinner at the restaurant in East Victoria Park (part of Perth, Western Australia, for you not familiar with Bassta! Pex’s whereabouts).<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguFX45v-f_4MWYsT-b7rxkHpj0MgkEitoHeMU3KxDgVv3WvxGsVhTC93Q5SwEh5cRKtUGJlZYRoFjUMxhP1aCVU0wjeXiN8yAQPbEttMSwU0WUnrEzah0ksvnFrievnXvVoZE-t8RWBT9j/s1600-h/yui+5.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034246202484602290" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" height="164" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguFX45v-f_4MWYsT-b7rxkHpj0MgkEitoHeMU3KxDgVv3WvxGsVhTC93Q5SwEh5cRKtUGJlZYRoFjUMxhP1aCVU0wjeXiN8yAQPbEttMSwU0WUnrEzah0ksvnFrievnXvVoZE-t8RWBT9j/s320/yui+5.jpg" width="238" border="0" /></a><br />Food and service were awesome, but we also realised they had some cool artworks hanged on their walls. Had a chat with the owner while we were paying the bill and she told us the artist is a young Japanese woman who is currently visiting. We passed on our number and asked to get in touch.<br /><br />A couple of weeks later I’ve heard from Yui Torigoe – the artist. Next day we met her and she gave us a CD-R with her artworks. After a few clicks through the thing I wanted to organise an exhibition for Yui straight away!<br /><br />So, about 4 months later the exhibition Dualism is up and running at Central TAFE Artist-in-Residence Studio, at 149 Beaufort Street, Perth. It’s open 12 – 5pm Monday to Saturday, until 10 March 2007. If you’re in Perth come and check it out.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVgRPWvZbaLGM44ntsZfObK0quNpx6m6l4WC0qczEMAkML3DcKJxsSuoCuSfOR9I9tOPevCIeoCDAPTBHvgWHXflHnOXCf8KTthiQzhHtX9X6EPwUEYCRedlw3QGSScdgEaUq3blerU7-Y/s1600-h/yui+3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034247044298192354" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 229px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 144px" height="127" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVgRPWvZbaLGM44ntsZfObK0quNpx6m6l4WC0qczEMAkML3DcKJxsSuoCuSfOR9I9tOPevCIeoCDAPTBHvgWHXflHnOXCf8KTthiQzhHtX9X6EPwUEYCRedlw3QGSScdgEaUq3blerU7-Y/s320/yui+3.jpg" width="203" border="0" /></a><br />Now, I won’t bullshit too much – I don’t know more about the art than anyone else. And to be perfectly honest, there are not many works of art that really impress me. However, every now and again I stumble upon some artworks that impress me and make me go back to it and check it again and again: paintings by Dino Buzzati, works by young Taiwanese female artist I-Ching Hung and now Yui Torigoe.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVPKKol-wpCJ-sJeSCuYk9t1QpL7hA_6LnImcnhm0CjmiiiutDJnn5krwrHe7jOqZnh1e3LSuBm1cfyW5yYvspV52WU_Cl8CIywHjnnJValf3O-quBYwlNz9GMN8qTZVI_a02jGaDFrzgg/s1600-h/yui+4.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVPKKol-wpCJ-sJeSCuYk9t1QpL7hA_6LnImcnhm0CjmiiiutDJnn5krwrHe7jOqZnh1e3LSuBm1cfyW5yYvspV52WU_Cl8CIywHjnnJValf3O-quBYwlNz9GMN8qTZVI_a02jGaDFrzgg/s1600-h/yui+4.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVPKKol-wpCJ-sJeSCuYk9t1QpL7hA_6LnImcnhm0CjmiiiutDJnn5krwrHe7jOqZnh1e3LSuBm1cfyW5yYvspV52WU_Cl8CIywHjnnJValf3O-quBYwlNz9GMN8qTZVI_a02jGaDFrzgg/s1600-h/yui+4.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVPKKol-wpCJ-sJeSCuYk9t1QpL7hA_6LnImcnhm0CjmiiiutDJnn5krwrHe7jOqZnh1e3LSuBm1cfyW5yYvspV52WU_Cl8CIywHjnnJValf3O-quBYwlNz9GMN8qTZVI_a02jGaDFrzgg/s1600-h/yui+4.jpg"></a>Yui does child-like surrealist pieces about places, people and objects that do not exist, except in her mind. Or perhaps that’s how she sees the world around her and it’s up to us to either embrace or reject such world. I embrace it wholeheartedly!</div>Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-4870231804936648472007-02-16T02:21:00.000-08:002007-02-16T06:51:04.373-08:00Soviet ValvesSoviet Valves formed in May 2004, played over 40 shows in their native Perth, released a couple of CDs and 7” singles and broke up in May 2005.<br /><br />Now, I’m aware of the fact that hardly anyone heard of this band, but every now and again I hear from someone who is still after our music or simply inquires about Soviet Valves. So, I felt like giving my perspective of the band and chuck in some of our tunes for anyone who bothers to listen.<br /><br />Roots of SV lay in Sokkol - another anonymous Perth band from the past. Sokkol were around from October 2001 until early 2003. We played some 20 odd shows in Perth (One at the Amplifier, two at Grosvenor Hotel and the rest at Hyde Park Hotel). The music was a bit rough version of (almost) arty punk. Comparisons went from the Humpers to Rocket From the Crypt to Germs to Black Flag. Occasionally we threw in “Ex-Lion Tamer” cover. Never recorded anything in studio, however, almost all songs got recorded on shitty walkmans, Mini Discs and video tapes, and some of it were compiled on “No reason No Hope No Goal” CD-R. Of course, nobody heard it, as we did only 10 copies. Brendan played drums, Mark played bass, Milos sang and yours trully played guitar.<br /><br />Sometimes around the time of last Sokkol gig <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivs_lvu6lEJFB3Z5TYcC_7yjHtmsWtmn8nLCXKvxEMzZpSBCgbJ7ov1Lcw8A9YOUCHBGzi7SQzlITS1uvSIko7JtB35Gz0zAZ4irYwDe-0GOOb3gTERUQB-mer80fbNFP_8X-Na1CU6fod/s1600-h/sv+last+gig.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivs_lvu6lEJFB3Z5TYcC_7yjHtmsWtmn8nLCXKvxEMzZpSBCgbJ7ov1Lcw8A9YOUCHBGzi7SQzlITS1uvSIko7JtB35Gz0zAZ4irYwDe-0GOOb3gTERUQB-mer80fbNFP_8X-Na1CU6fod/s320/sv+last+gig.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5032079037448412706" border="0" /></a><br />I met Clinton, a young fellow who claimed he plays guitar. He was into good music and seemed like an OK person, so I asked him to have a jam on just two guitars. Right after a few seconds I recognised a great player and realised with two of us on guitars we won’t need a bass. In the meantime Milos and me crapped on about starting another band, but we never got off our arses to actually do it.<br /><br />Then I went to Japan for holidays and over there decided to start a band as soon as I get back to Perth. There was no particular reason behind it. So, I rang Milos and Clinton pretty much the day after I landed back here. They were both keen to give it a go. We were thinking about the drummer and the only choice was Brendan, as we didn’t know any other drummer at the time. Luckily he was available.<br /><br />In early May 2005 we went to the rehearsal room and churned out 4 songs: Gift, Zip, Jebediah and Bait. Went in again the next week, but my guitar amp blew up. I went to get it fixed and the repair guy said he needs to replace the valves, but I have to wait for a few days as he just ordered them from the USSR. For a minute I wondered what was he talking about, as I haven’t heard anyone using that term for some 10 plus years. Then I realised he meant Russia. I told that anecdote to Milos that night and he said: “That’s it! That’s the name of the band!!!” Of course we voted on it, but it was just a formality.<br /><br />Next two months we spent rehearsing once a week and writing songs. When we had 8 songs we booked our first gig. It happened on Monday 5 July at this new pub in Joondalup. I know many people reading this are not familiar with Perth, so here’s a short explanation: Joondalup is one of the suburbs furthest from the city, so playing there on Monday night in winter didn’t sound very appealing. But what the heck, it was our first gig, so if we fuck up, it’s better to “fuck up in Joondalup”! Miraculously, at least 50 people turned up, the venue was cool and we played a good set. Nobody heckled us, nobody even threw a bottle.<br /><br />Next couple of gigs we played at the famous Hyde Park Hotel and then we started getting bigger and better gigs. We pretty much never turned a gig down, sometimes even played two gigs on the night. All in order to get more experience, to play to as many people as possible and to get as much money as we can and record something in studio.<br /><br />In September 2004 we went to Bergerk! Studio and recorded our first 6-track EP with Al Smith. We decided to do it there because everyone who recorded there was raving about Al and how nice he is, as well as because he recorded some cool local bands. Very soon I realised hew was not what people led me to believe - he was even better than that! Honestly, the nicest guy in the world, great sound engineer and person that can make recording for the first time ever a very relaxed experience.<br /><br />We recorded Carrion Luggage (which became one of the most popular songs we did by that time), Small Doses, Gift, Throne, Just because and Panic Dance. Some three weeks later we released it and launched it. First pressing was 100 CDs, which took a couple of weeks to get rid of (considering that we sent 40-50 copies to radio stations/labels), so we did another 100 copies soon after.<br /><br />SV kept playing and writing new songs. Feedback from some labels was great, but nothing happened yet... We released a split 7” single with local lads Whitechapel - we put on “Carrion Luggage” on it. Only 50 copies were made on lathe cut vinyl at King Records in New Zealand. After serious consideration we decided to replace Brendan with James, a young kid who already gained some experience with hard core bands A.I.D.S. and Collapse.<br /><br />James got in and one week later (late February) we were back in Bergerk! recording another 6 songs. “Fun, Safe & Anonymous” took 12 hours to record and some 6-7 hours to mix/master. Mostly because we were pretty relaxed and didn’t look at the clock too much.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJsc1wdhbwDovKRugksDOA21tsMnlov1dKD3eIVZhKdDrZMF7xph-orRI-OzDCLM_8rT-CU6vsW3WVYAsqww4d65JAkfOJBg_Idn2wDDA2QxlFHyVZW0ti7TIkiRjEcy7vNsk2nlJfhFBc/s1600-h/sv+inthepines.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJsc1wdhbwDovKRugksDOA21tsMnlov1dKD3eIVZhKdDrZMF7xph-orRI-OzDCLM_8rT-CU6vsW3WVYAsqww4d65JAkfOJBg_Idn2wDDA2QxlFHyVZW0ti7TIkiRjEcy7vNsk2nlJfhFBc/s320/sv+inthepines.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5032077126187965954" border="0" /></a>Again we sent a few copies to the labels and Smart Guy Records from San Francisco said they want to do a 7” EP with four songs straight away! And that was on the day when we played a big fund rising gig for local radio RTR FM. So playing in front of the biggest crowd ever while realising we’ll have a proper vinyl release soon was fuckin’ awesome!<br /><br />Since Smart Guy Records agreed to do the single, we decided just to make 100 copies of our new CDEP for local market. We booked the CD launch for 20 May 2005, knowing that it probably might be the last Soviet Valves gig, as Milos decided to go to London for a long while. Greta Perth bands Sabre Tooth Tigers, Macarburetors and Snowman played and together with 300+ punters made it a memorable night.<br /><br />A week later Milos was gone overseas. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQjGlVFGCAA3nr8bKuqIxgQeeyTtSnUzawd_ZCRQrs-ldXP7xOqGMaWeVAOVM1fctVFVuODnp9W9Ez2nsz23TF0SN4ROQJbGj0n3CUw4MPk6r_CDerPcbEBAnrCL7AkxQOFpaq3jJLnpXV/s1600-h/sv+clint+and+james.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQjGlVFGCAA3nr8bKuqIxgQeeyTtSnUzawd_ZCRQrs-ldXP7xOqGMaWeVAOVM1fctVFVuODnp9W9Ez2nsz23TF0SN4ROQJbGj0n3CUw4MPk6r_CDerPcbEBAnrCL7AkxQOFpaq3jJLnpXV/s320/sv+clint+and+james.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5032078277239201298" border="0" /></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span>A few months later “Sight That Harms/Gaze That Harms” EP was released, 100 copies on transparent green vinyl and 400 copies on black vinyl. It looked fantastic! But the band was no more. Clinton, James and me went our own ways. Soviet Valves did, however, one more gig in April 2006 when Milos visited from England. It was very low-key at a house party, but it brought back lots of good memories...<br /><br /><br />Here you can download a few extremelly rare SV tracks recorded live at rehearsals and gigs:<br /><a href="http://rapidshare.com/files/16740660/Soviet_Valves.rar.html" target="_blank">http://rapidshare.com/files/16740660/Soviet_Valves.rar.html</a><br /><br />You might check http://www.myspace.com/sovietvalves<br /><br />And if you soulseek look for basstapex and feel free to download pretty much all of our audio recordings and some cool picsBassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681993059530847593.post-34048842447518407792007-02-15T13:42:00.000-08:002007-02-15T13:49:21.091-08:00Bassta! Pex is in da hausIt's another morning I couldn't sleep - someone rang me at 4am and there was nothing on the other end of line except for some loud chatter in the background... thanx for that fucker!<br /><br />So what's a man deprived of sleep to do? Start a blog, of course.<br /><br />Expect rants, music posts and similar stuff here...Bassta! Pex, a.k.a. Gramofonije Plocanovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301422981134934348noreply@blogger.com1