whitegrey 115 Posted February 2, 2011 he there… I'm just a new user - new since I never been here or on the TW forums before. CAT5 told me about it on last.fm and since I'm a visitor of some blogs/sites of users that are registered here I thought it would be a good thing to join. And at first sight there seem to be lots of european members here which is good for me to promote some concerts in future maybe (more about that below)… Now for some info about me; I'm a guy, 26 years old, located in Austria / Europe… I work at a small film & video production company, doing pretty much everything from camera assistance to cutting, color grading, graphics, print… So - what about j-music? I listen to japanese music since 8 or 9 years now, and since a few years almost exclusively to japanese music. It began with major pop artists like Ayu and Utada back then but I soon moved on to more rock influenced artists like Aya, Youjeen, early OLIVIA and more. As you can see I really like female vocals - not exclusively but most of the time. Soon after that I started going to concerts - at a time when concerts of japanese artists were pretty rare over here. And that really helped to broaden my horizon for many genres - even for underground stuff like noise or avant-garde. Never stopped going to concerts after that and my taste shifted more and more towards Indies where I found much more versatility and depth compared to the majority of majors (of course not all). Visited Japan 2 times now - about 5 weeks in total, went to concerts there every single day (except arrival/departure days) which is absolutely no problem in Tokyo, also been to Rising Sun Rock Festival in 2008 which was a nice experience - but I must admit I like the livehouse-scene much more than big festivals, and even here the smaller venues and clubs (esp. Shimokita). In total I've seen about 200 different japanese bands/artists live (I don't count anymore). Since I think more people in my country should know about japanese artists I'm slowly starting to promote and organize concerts for myself here - only one or two a year since it is always a risk and expensive (done 3 concerts so far - more planned or upcoming). So far for the "little" history of mine… My favorite artists are; fra-foa, texas pandaa, redrum… ...and many many more - you can visit me at last.fm if you want to know it in detail; http://www.lastfm.de/user/whitegrey Just to make sure; I'm not a fan of VK -> but don't worry, I'm old enough to respect the taste of other people greetings from Austria! And feel free to ask any questions if you want... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Champ213 1858 Posted February 2, 2011 Welcome to MH! Mmm, I almost wrote "Welcome to TW", I need to get my initials straight XD Hope you enjoy your stay. Just to make sure; I'm not a fan of VK -> but don't worry, I'm old enough to respect the taste of other people . Don't worry. While the userbase is somewhat lopsided in favor of vk, you'll find that many people here enjoy other sorts of music, japanese and non-japanese, as well. We actually pride ourselves with being one of the few places were both fandoms can co-exist relatively peaceful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Number Girl 48 Posted February 2, 2011 Yep, Champ's right! It's very "non-VK friendly" around here. Our Last.FM music tastes are "VERY HIGH" cool. ^^ I like a bit of indie and underground music too, though probably not as much as other people here. Welcome to Monochrome Heaven! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ronluna 17 Posted February 2, 2011 interesting. you like some metal too. even if we have only 5 similar artists in common, i will invite you in last.fm btw. im also a member of jpopsuki forum.eu just like you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CAT5 9075 Posted February 3, 2011 Hey there! Glad to see you signed up! ^_________________________^ As you can probably tell, I've got quite a predilection for female vocals too, though of course I listen to anything my ears agree with - be it male/female vocals, instrumental, whatever... That's awesome that you're trying to promote artists in your country...Steve Tanaka has been doing the same thing in Canada and it's been costing him a small fortune. I think the first tour he organized was around $30,000! Hope you enjoy it here and possibly discover some new stuff! btw, who is that in your avatar? ;] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fitear1590 2414 Posted February 3, 2011 Visited Japan 2 times now - about 5 weeks in total, went to concerts there every single day (except arrival/departure days) which is absolutely no problem in Tokyo That sounds insane! In a good way! That's so cool that you were able to see sooooo many bands. Anyway, welcome! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Neon 6 Posted February 3, 2011 Welcome to Monochrome Heaven mate ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whitegrey 115 Posted February 3, 2011 Steve Tanaka has been doing the same thing in Canada and it's been costing him a small fortune. I think the first tour he organized was around $30,000! Actually I've met Steve about a year ago at a concert in Tokyo (Shimokita, basement bar) - totally accidentally. He came up to me and we talked a few words (there are not too many foreigners at these concerts, so I was easy to spot apparently - mow mow lulu gyaban and others were playing that evening). It was nice - Steve is a great guy and a wonderful person, hope I'll meet him again at some point (…I still owe him a beer). And yeah - it's pretty incredible what he does. He talks to the bands himself (I don't even speak japanese), organizes everything, pays for everything… And most of the artists are indies, for that fact alone he has all my respect - because it is really difficult to promote something literally nobody knows about. You can't compare that to anything else I think - and it's a whole tour with different artists, different locations and so on. I go a different and much easier route - I only do single gigs with one artist at a time, and I'm not a tour manager and promoter in one person like he did it. I just get in contact with the original promoter and do the work on site (taking care of the hotel, backline, promotion, band…). Money-wise I also put in some money (about 2500-3000 Euro easily), but that was the total in 3 years (I did Trill-Dan, Doping Panda, Kokia) so I can live with it - and I think it was totally worth it. Next up for me will be Loveless (Nana Kitade) in two months and hopefully detroit7 in summer. btw, who is that in your avatar? ;] Her name is Kana and she is the singer of an indie-band called "She"… I really really like her But I don't think anybody would know them - they are currently on hiatus and were only active from early 2009 to early 2010 in Tokyo. I was lucky enough to catch their last concert (they announced it there, so I really had luck!) - unfortunately they had no CD with them so I don't have any music to share (a 3-track demo does exist). I really hope they come back and release more stuff. You can watch 2 Live-Videos at their homepage (on Youtube even in HD); http://sheside.com/gallery.html hope you like it - but I'm pretty sure you will... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aion 184 Posted February 7, 2011 Oh yeah, came across them about a year ago while searching for Struggle-Head,Emergence, that also uses the abbreviation SHE some times Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
