Primo's Requiem at Acid Tokyo

As I've mentioned several times by now in my previous posts, "my band" had a gig in Shinjuku Friday evening. This was not incredibly well-planned out. Tuesday in class Chris got a message that we could do it, and we had to be there by 4 on Friday. I found this rather inconvenient and inconsiderate of Chris, as he hadn't really consulted any of us before trying to arrange the gig, especially since he knew my sister was in town. And on top of that, we don't really have enough music for a proper set or rather, two of the songs he and Stu put in the set were not "ready" (not that I really consider any of our songs "ready," but I don't really share this opinion with the rest of the band) - one had no lyrics and one I can't sing because the lyrics are written in such a way that makes it boring/annoying for me to sing and I haven't yet figured out how to "fix" it.
But anyway.

So Wednesday night after Ba and I returned from Kamakura, Hideto brought the MD we'd recorded of ourselves over. Thursday night while falling asleep I tried to listen to it. Friday morning before taking my sister out to Chofu Eki to catch a bus to the airport, I wrote lyrics. (Actually, considering this band's "style" of music and the fact that I write lyrics for them in about 20 minutes and only when under pressure, I didn't think they were half-bad.) So, after dropping my sister off, I took the bus straight up to campus, where I met the others for rehearsal. They seemed happy with the lyrics I'd written that morning, or at least said they liked the rhythm I used for the chorus. I headed home to change and grab my bike, and we all met at the train station. At Shinjuku we met Issei, the guy with whom Chris had arranged for us to get this gig. Issei's band was also performing that night. Issei was a show himself that night, in varying degrees of drunken, drugged-up nakedness. Issei had some critical comments to make about our band. Issei is now no longer on Stu's good side.

The club (Acid Tokyo, or something like that) was a small kind of cool place in 2-chome (apparently the gay area of Shinjuku, which amused Chris and Stu to no end) with black-and-white checkered walls and unfortunate light fixtures that reminded me too much of female genitalia. Everyone was older than us; the other bands were more blues-ey; the sound system made Stu's cheap guitar sound twangy and my voice "too clear." I wasn't really into it, what with the unenthusiastic crowd and my frustration and dissatisfaction with the situation in general, except during certain parts of certain songs, and I think Issei could tell. The whole thing just seemed ridiculous to me... but only to me. Afterward Chris, Stu, and Hideto were all thrilled and thought we were awesome. *shrugs*

We stood outside for a while passing around a bottle of wine, the three of them dreaming their big rock star dreams, and Stu's girlfriend took pictures of us. Chris thought the mirrored walls would make great publicity shots. (Are you laughing too?) In NONE of the pictures she took is Hideto at all serious. In fact, the person who *really* tries to be serious and cool is Chris. Poor Chris. Anyway, of our "group shots" the following is my favourite because it really captures Hideto and Stu's relationship (and I love the face Hideto is making).


We stayed the whole night to see not only Issei's band but also specifically the last band (because their guitarist liked us, and Stu and Chris thought it would be good for our band to rub elbows with him). And then Stu, Chris, Phil, and Nic/Nik (Stu's girlfriend) headed home. Though Hideto and I were tired, we stayed for the uchiage - largely I think because it was the polite (i.e. proper Japanese) thing to do (funny how such etiquette still applies in the anti-establishment world of Japanese rock and roll). Of course, staying for that meant we had to stay out all night, as the trains stop running about midnight and don't start again 'til 5. So Hideto and I tagged along with Issei all night. In a way it was good. I tried to discuss with Hideto certain things I felt needed to be discussed (like how Chris and Stu don't understand or even seem to try to understand his Japanese way of communication, and so he needs to try to be more direct). And Issei of course had a lot of things to say (apparently, just before Stu left, he'd pulled Stu aside and told him that he hadn't been playing in time with the rest of us... or something to that effect, which is why Stu doesn't like Issei anymore and has apparently been mentioning this exchange to everyone repeatedly since it happened. And yes, it may have been a stupid/mean thing for Issei to say right at that time but 1) Stu needs to learn to grow up and take criticism especially 2) if he claims to be serious about his music, and 3) since Issei was so absolutely wasted, there's really no point in getting riled about it).

I finally got home about 6:30/7am Saturday morning and proceeded to rant and whine to Brett on Skype for another hour or two. Went to bed at 9am and haven't really left since. Stu stopped by to use my computer yesterday (and while he was here he *surprise surprise* mentioned the exchange with Issei). Phil stopped by in the evening and invited me to his apartment today for a Christmas party with his friends Charlie and Arron from Leeds. It's very sweet of him, and I hope he's not offended if I don't go, but I'm just socially exhausted. Sad thing is it has nothing to do with him. Yeah, another bad thing about the band is that I spend even less time with Phil now than I did before. Also, I think he probably invited me because I get the impression this holiday is important to him and he wouldn't like to spend it alone so doesn't want to see me spend it alone either. It's not that it isn't important to me, but... I just feel so removed from the Christmas atmosphere I'm used to (Seeb and Jonathan, lots of Assamese food, assorted familial silliness) that I don't particularly miss it. And on top of that, if holidays are for family and loved ones, I would rather spend it alone thinking about and loving my friends and family than with people to whom I am not particularly close. And so I'm spending my Christmas day updating my blog and completing New Year's cards, and will Skype with my family while they open presents Christmas morning (which should be about midnight my time), which ought to be cute and amusing. (And my parents very sweetly sent me a big package, which has been sitting here taunting me for the past few days, so I am quite curious to open it.)

Happy Christmas.