Over the hills and far away…

Long drive 2 of this year. It was mind-blowingly good. Intense and Hectic, But good. We started up Mt.Haruna and were greeted by the perfect driving weather, clear blue skies and warm sun (while the windows were closed anyway) and perfect visibility. We stopped off at the primary lookout point on the main touge and were stupefied at Just how far we could see. I have never been up there during the day when it was that clear… And I have been up there many many times.

LOUD PARK 2010 ~ Part 3

2010-10-17

3 Inches of Blood

“WAIT!!!!

CANADA MAKES

GOOD METAL!!??!!”

I actually made it to the arena on time despite having had almost no sleep and being terribly tired from the previous day’s shenanigans. I kinda went all out the day before without realising it. I had not regretted it…YET.

3 Inches of Blood was always going to be an epic kickoff I had heard their stuff before and was suitably impressed. The kicker was when they announced themselves and said that they were from Canada… WAIT!!!! CANADA MAKES GOOD METAL!!??!! And then I realised that just because every Canadian (well save a certain badass bar owner) I have met is a pussy in the music department (sorry Li, I love you but its true) it doesn’t mean that all of Canada is comprised of musical pussies. 
Clearly out there, somewhere brothers of steel reside in the soft cushy Canadian snows.
The band was epic. they got the circles teeming within 2 songs and they were big circles. so big that at the small choke point between the two sections in front of the stage was separated by only a small group of people. I saw opportunity for a smashing time. I linked up with another massive foreign guy and we double teamed the gap creating a small breach. we then funnelled the one half’s circle into the other and vive versa.
Moshpit engineering

WE MADE A FIGURE 8 PIT!

No joke. Thanks to the bizarre setup of barriers in front of the stage that prevented HUGE circles like last year, we managed to create a new form of pit.
You all missed it.
Yes.
It WAS EPIC!
but it took its toll…

Trash Talk

I messed up my already messed up elbow up.
It was not in good shape the day before but I actually pushed it to a point where the original injury couldn’t compare pain wise. It was dizzying. I could not move it. I thought I may have properly torn the ligaments this time. A sprain of note.
I couldn’t take it. I went to look for the medics to give me something to ease the hellfire. All I can say is that its was good thing that nothing serious happened in the way of injuries at Loud Park. They were WOEFULLY UNDERPREPARED for a medical emergency. It would be illegal in most other places to have something that big without proper paramedics on call. Usually there would be quite a few and an ambulance on call.

“the staff didn’t even know where the medical facilities were”

F@CKALL!!! NOT A SINGLE PARAMEDIC IN SIGHT! I was horrified. If someone had say, had an allergic reaction, Asthma attack, or something along those lines, they would have died. most of the staff didn’t even know where the medical facilities were let alone whether there were any. In the end they had to run to the bloody entrance to ask someone then get them on a radio then they took me there (getting lost 2 times). don 2 flights of stairs around countless corners in the bowels of the stadium before they took me to a tiny room with 1 doctor to average looking assistants and a dodgy bed. Admittedly all I wanted was a medical grade painkiller, and the magic patches that make muscle pain go away but what a mission.
I missed Trash Talk.
I didn’t care though, because they were rather too monotonous for my liking.

Halestorm

Lzzy Hale is HOT!!!!
now that I got that out of the way, on with the write up.
Think Jo Day. That's Halestorm. there was nothing really separating them and Jo Day musically, I prefer Halestorm just because Lzzy is my age and is hot (i may have mentioned that before)
Interesting fact, The drummer is her brother (hence the band name) they make good music to sit down and ease away the pain in my arm. Assisted by painkillers, magic patches and strawberry tapioca milkshake. In the end though the one thing that really stood out about them was the fact that Lzzy Hale is HOT! I will listen to them ,but they are nowhere on my lets buy their music list. Take a listen. Many of you will like them I’m sure.

Reckless Love

Hair metal from the 80s is awesome Hair metal from now is not so much. especially when the band in question hasn’t actually done anything new. Sure they play their own songs and have many a fan in Japan, but really. Hair metal is dead. It had its heyday, and we all love it, we just don’t need and don’t want any more.
I must say though they did have the VK boygirl thing down pat and as a result the front of their stage was teeming with hyena but honestly musically, VK has waaaay more to offer.
I was still in pain though so I fired up the electronic copy of The latest Honorverse novel and got me some real entertainment… and another Strawberry Tapioca milkshake (It was good milkshake, They used real full cream cow juice.)
Yeah
I was not particularly phased by them.

Turisas

Still not really able to use the arm, moved to the seating area closest to the stage for Turisas. the band I was looking forward to the most. The band who’s shirt I bought and was wearing. The fans were chanting long before the sound checks were over. They walked onto the stage to a thunderous roar that I was surprised to hear. Flaming testicles on a sick!!! they are popular in Japan!!!
They began with ‘To holmgard and beyond’. The circles were up and spinning before the first verse was through. I watched. I craved. I headbanged and by the 2nd chorus I couldn’t take it any more. How the hell could I sit on the side for this? Screw sanity and screw the certain injury I was about to cause… I stormed up the stairs around and back down through the crowd of stragglers at the back forcing my way to the front all before the 3rd verse was done.
HOLMGARD AND BEYOND! I entered the fray in time for the last chorus.
The one handed stance was developed. The festival held promise once more. I was charged up with a fury that Bryan would have been proud of. With one hand I not only enjoyed but also dominated the pit I was in. The inevitable ego boost only made the pit better.
Turisas played brilliant music but they also fed of the massive support they had. They got better and so did the atmosphere. I know I can only say “They were so damn good” so many times but they truly were. They made all of the first day look like a warm-up. Even Dir en grey with their home turf advantage didn’t hit this hard. In addition to the feeding of the crown they actually interacted. they got us participating and more importantly, they explicitly asked for a wall of death… and gave us good time to prepare it.

“I was charged up with a fury that Bryan would have been proud of”

There was this skinny white boy in a slipknot shirt who took it upon himself to tell people what to do. he had the nerve to push me and tell ME to get back like he was the king of the pit. he clearly wasn’t in the preceding circles (or any of the pits the day before) because he should have known better (as a number of moshers there did). On the hallowed grounds of the (Saitama Super) Arena I exemplified his stupidity and showed him why he was 100 years too early to take on seasoned veteran. Sadly however it was not a clean battle. He never openly challenged me nor did he have the balls to come straight at me. in the end the result was the same but I prefer proper charges (like the one that sent me flying onto my arse the day before) He didn’t respect his place in the hallowed arena and I didn’t respect him.
I felt a lot Like Crixus did when Spartacus didn’t know his place. Lets hope that one day he too manages to take on Theocles and slay him (Like Crixus.. I tried the day before and was found wanting)
The skinny boy aside, Turisas fans are a brotherhood (some chicks too but they are honorary brothers) We were all warriors of steel together. Paying tribute to the leaders of our clan. Shouting. Chanting. BATTLE!!!!
We also got one of their new songs. First time it was ever played live. Unfortunately I was enjoying it so much that I forgot what they called it. We will find out soon enough when they release their new album.
It was not all so epic sadly…
The beer song was a bit of a disappointment because we couldn’t take beer to the stage but its ok because I tanked up afterwards to make up for it. Turisas made Japanese beer taste good. Very good.

Possibly the best beer I’ve had here.

All through out the day There were many more legendary bands and amazing acts but none so thoroughly epic as Turisas.

The heart of Turisas was forged by four winds

In a smithy high up in the skies

On an anvil honour, with a hammer of blood

The Four Winds pounded

Battle Metal!

<Part 1>  <Part 2>  <Part 3>  <Part 4>

LOUD PARK 2010 ~ Part 2

continued from here

HELLYEAH!

“Great music to eat a

KFC rounder to.”

Cowboy redneck hillbilly metal supergroup from the arse end of nowhere otherwise known as Texas. Yeah. They were awesome  because they gave me a much needed break after the brutality Dir en grey hit me with before. Great music to eat a KFC rounder to. Ok look… They are pretty good. One does not simply get to an event this big by sucking. but there is metal and then there is METAL and there are times when one has to pass on some things to prepare fro the slaughter to come…Even when your Drummer is Vinnie Paul (ex Pantera) and your Vocalist is Chad Gray (Mudvayne)

 

RATT

Another one of those legendary bands that have been around since the west was won. But not my style. I did meet two members of that university metal club I saw last time… one of them was a massive RATT fan. She was over the moon to see them as were a few thousand others. I watched from the stands digesting and recouping lost strength. It was good to see a band that has been around that long though… and I LOVE the way they spell ‘rat’.

Accept

Another legendary band. This time however. I was there like a Bear! Accept is a band that is directly responsible for the modern developments in power metal. Of all the old school sounding bands out there, they sounded the most like the power that I prefer to listen to.

ok.. I think I can pretty much sum up Accept’s set in one line that anyone who knows metal can understand, appreciate and be suitably jealous of:

I SAW “METAL HEART” LIVE!

I can go on about the rest of the show. I must mention that of all the old timers that performed, Accept are the most healthy looking. I do mean healthy. they are ripped and toned and look better than the manservice in Top Gun.

The guitarist was buff. When I am 666 years old I want to look like him. In the end however. Accept came down “Metal Heart” and hearing one of the anthems of metal performed live was better than words could truly explain.

Stone Sour

‘Corey Taylor shaved off his beard!!!!!’ was the first thing I thought when he walked on the stage. He looked like an All American soldier boy. The pretty image died there though the set was good. They are no Slipknot. They are a side project to explore the lighter side of their music and so you can expect that brutality was never going to be the driving force.

That aside however there was no shortage of emotion, passion and sheer skill. They are damn good live! I had only ever heard their first full album back in the Vaal Triangle days and I’ll be the first to admit that I needed to grow up a whole lot before I was able to accept their music.

“there was no shortage of emotion, passion and sheer skill”

I clearly have because I truly do like their new album, Audio Secrecy, and enjoyed their set immensely. Definitely not the band for brutalising people to (even though there were a number of fairly intense pits) but powerful.

Halford

Yes. The front man from Judas Priest. His side project anyway. Not my thing. I was never the hugest fan of the Priest us much as I was a fan of the music that was influenced by them. No doubt, Children of Bodom would not sound as they do if it were not for Halford and the Priest. So yes. He is a metal god. I didn't know if I really like or really hate the fact that he calls himself ‘the metal god’ either way. I got to see him. That counts for something. But I watched from the floor in front of the KoRn stage… 

 KoRn

Saturday night headlining act. I think there was only one KoRN song I truly liked going into this set and to be fair Its still the only one I like now. Though the other tracks did get pits going. which was reason enough for me to be up front.

If you are expecting a passionate last write up for this part of the report like i did in the last one I’m afraid you will need to wait till parts 3 and 4. I loved ripping peeps up to “falling away from me” and I always love hardcore pits. I don’t like KoRn. so I left before their encore ended so I could get my bag and head out before the swarm departed.

After all… there was a whole day to follow.
Continued to be…

<Part 1>  <Part 2>  <Part 3>  <Part 4>

LOUD PARK 2010 ~ Part 1

Metal on a scale South Africans who have never left home can only dream of. For me this was round 2. Having hit LOUD PARK like an asteroid last year I had expectations. I knew there would be no Children of Bodom this time around so it could never have been the best live of my life. Yes. I have bias like that. Regardless it was mind-raping and body breaking. What metal is supposed to be.

This year was a year for legends and side projects. I saw some of the greatest names in the history of the genre. It was as much of an honour as it was a blast.

 

 

2010-10-16:

Upon arriving at the Saitama Super Arena, I bought myself a TURISAS T-shirt and  the queue was a bit of a beast so I skipped out on the first bit of Holy Grail. I heard some of Engel as well but to be honest apart for the appreciation of the amazing sound quality, I decided it was time to put some fuel in the furnace prior to the first act that I wanted to see…

Chthonic

Taiwanese black metal. Dark and powerful. Fusing the brutality of the frozen north with the sounds and spirit of a small island in the far east. I heard them for the first time when checking out the line-up for the festival many months ago and I was hooked. The traditional Taiwanese vibe and the brutality of black metal as well as their very proud Taiwanese spirit was appealing.

“A unique sound that still

got the blood pumping.”

It suited the idea of the genre as it was conceived back in the church burning days and gave it an Asian flavour. A unique sound that still got the blood pumping. Their bassist is also pretty good looking. She is no Angela Gossow but any metal babe is in for the win. The live was the perfect start to my LOUD PARK. It set the tone for my weekend. Moshpit madness and of course my dominance thereof.

Amon Amarth

Warriors of Viking metal. Amon Amarth were the first of the bands I’d known from way back when and probably the first band I could claim any real fan loyalty to. Death metal about warriors and steel.

What more does one need?

Not much to be honest. They opened with “Twilight of the Thunder God” and as is to be expected, kept it up through the entirety of their set.

I moshed like a Viking berserker set free to destroy all in my path. But I met my match.

For the first time since I took on Anton from Architecture of Aggression when I was still a teen. I got taken out properly. I know in pits I go down a lot. Everybody does. You can’t see 360 degrees and when someone blindsides you and there is no body in front of you onto which you can transfer the power to the result is inevitable.

But to go down in a face to face head on wall of death charge was something I honestly didn’t expect would ever happen to me again. His size should have made me more cautious than I was but I honestly expected it to be a little less one sided.  

I flew backward like a ragdoll and landed with such a resounding crash that the entire pit stopped and let out a collective “woooooo”  enough to make it seem like the band even skipped a note.

I got an adrenaline surge so rough that I nearly passed out (it may have been pain/shock induced but I didn’t feel it.)

I was brutalised. I don’t think what I did to James at Motherfudd to …and Chaos all those years ago came close to this impact. Jupiter charged the sun and the result was as one would expect. To Amon Amarth and later Stone Sour, I had to concede that I could only be the 2nd most deadly object in the pit. After I recovered my senses however, We joined forces. and brutalised the locals. When he stood in the centre of the seething circle, it felt like he actually had his own gravity field. But bugger me sideways. what a mosh… And it wasn’t even the best one of the day!

Edguy

Another band that I have been listening to for a few years at least was Edguy. Power Metal from Germany. They fit somewhere in between the classic and modern power sound and as a result they were never at the top of my list in the genre. I do prefer to listen to the newer sounding stuff. Having said that seeing anything live on a stage as big as the two at LOUD PARK with such amazing quality sound changes one’s perspective. Metal is and always will be a live genre and no matter how good a recording is. Nothing (I will touch on this later when I talk about Ozzy Osbourne) can beat it live.

“Metal is and always

will be a live genre”

Edguy made me wish I still had hair. While I have gotten used to the lack of momentum generated when I head bang these days. Power metal needs long flowing hair. The below (my personal) average headbanging coupled with my intense drive to nosh however left Edguy feeling a little too chilled a little too soon. No fault of the band’s I just get so little chance to truly cut loose at lives that I wanted to mosh as much as I possibly could.

Dir en grey

The biggest band for me on the day. A band that I have been listening to since the beginnings of my J-music discovery. I still remember the first time I heard them. I liked Ayumi Hamasaki but I was dying to get hold of some good and proper hard Japanese rock. I can’t remember who it was at Omega, Brett, Karlien or maybe RIaan that found me the first 2 tracks which started a mad fury to dig up more and more of their music which ultimately drove me to discovering Visual Kei and well a lot of the rest of the story is recent enough that many of you know it (and are a part of it).

Needless to say. while I have not been following them of late. These legends of VK will always have a special place in my brain. I called them metal in the past. I have stood by that in many arguments with many who would say otherwise. The band themselves proved me right by playing the mother of all Japanese metal festivals.

Holy science!!!

They blew my skull in!!!

I love Deluhi. I maintain they are on a stratospheric rise to become the best metal band in Japan.. but they are not there yet. Wow.

I felt a bit of trepidation going into their set. I found a spot roughly  1 4th the total distance of the front standing area. that area where moshpits generally develop. my natural habitat, but much to mu dismay there were many skinny’s with poofy hair and of course large pack of the dreaded hyenas. There were no big guys anywhere. In fact there was only one other foreign guy who looked worth the two between his legs.

The band came on.. there was squealing and hand hearts. Kyo came on… in jeans, a T-shirt and a very manly hairdo. I was suitably pleased with his 'f@ck you' to the visual style that got them into the halls of fame in the first place.

They let rip. This army of brutal guys charged out of nowhere and a massive typhoon of a circle scattered the hyenas and their skinny boys off to the side like vermin.

“Many couldn’t take it

and got far away from the

seething circle of fury ”

I too made my presence known. We moshed up a storm. I had 2 years of frustration for not being able to truly go wild at VK lives to let out. I was not the only one. It appears all those dark horses, off in the corners of VK lives, in their metal Shirts wanted it just as badly as I did. I put aside some of my mosh manners this one time and dragged as many skinny boys in as I could knowing the fate that awaited them. Whenever the more ambitious hyenas filtered through to the centre of the circle i took great pride in shattering that core with a cannonball.

The tables were turned. They were in MY domain and I had many lessons to teach on how to properly appreciate music of this calibre. Many couldn’t take it and got far away from the seething circle of fury but those that stayed learnt both their place and their true potential. We made moshers out of Hyenas and the ones that could cut it were as much fun and as brutally insane as any Tokyo Hate crew member.

As for the music. Its Dir en grey. for intercourse's sake. It goes without saying that they were perfect and poured their souls into the performance. that alone fuelled the savagery in the pit. Japan was on show with the best in the world. not on a small side stage but in the forefront. It was battle and victory. All who engaged were rewarded with the spoils thereof. One of the best pits of my life and the best pit of the day.

to be continued…

<Part 1>  <Part 2>  <Part 3>  <Part 4>

Of Meat and Men

As those of you who knew me when I left SA two and a tiny bit years ago, I have undergone  drastic body reform. I have lost 30 odd kg and have almost doubled my  physical strength. The Kanashima Training room has been an instrumental part of this transformation.

Last night the men of the gym went out and ate some good meat grilled over coals  together. It was a rather manly night.

 

The gym is one of the best in Gunma. Its only 5000 yen a month and it only has the bare minimum of equipment that is needed to get and stay in shape. There is no bling like the JOYFITs and GOLD’S GYMS and there is no posturing of posers. people who go there train hard and train properly. 

Suzuki Sensei himself is a physiotherapist, ex GSDF (soldier), 3 time Kanto arm wrestling champion and a Kanto power lifting champion. The training credentials of some of the other members is also pretty impressive. Olympic Judo, National karate, Pro baseball, lots of power lifting, and one professional Piano mover… oh and a banker.

We also have a few mechanics, a VERY strong and buff Gyaru-o, Physiotherapy uni students and a number of High school athletes (the ones who are likely to be scouted) In fact one of our High-schoolers lives all the way in Takasaki but comes to our Gym cos the training advice is better than any gym there. You think that’s good, Our National Karate athlete comes in from Saitama, not every day but he gets training advice from Suzuki sensei and applies it where he is.

 

 

And the training advice is unbelievable. Apart from Suzuki sensei himself the simple fact that you are doing squats in the same room as actual athletes means if your feet are off by a cm (and I really do mean a cm) you will be corrected. Which is great. I have learnt an un believable amount about the mechanics of human motion and how to train just about everywhere (and how to recover from it) just by chatting with the guys.

Many of you will be thinking yeah whatever. and I can think of SOME of you who will probably accuse me of just talking out of my arse.

Look at my results. the proof is in my body. Yeah I know I still have a bit of a fat jacket but if you can look at me then and look at me now and still talk shit you are a bitter jealous fool.

The night itself was an unbelievably good time. Manly men eating Meat… I daresay the meat in Japan doesn’t look all that manly, but it was an eat as much as you like affair… and wow did we ever. Most yakiniku nights I have had (even the eat as much as you like ones) are slow. people don’t actually do a lot of consumption, but we were eating through plates of meat faster than Pink Salon workers eat through cock.

It was a never ending stream of sizzling protein and talk about strength and training.

There was a whole bunch of arm wrestling too. It was a very manly night in what as up till today been a very manly weekend.

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Remember My Name, FAME!

Unlike the first article, the Daily Yomiuri had a photo… Yup. Not going home does have it’s (small) benefits :D

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

So my name made it intothe paper. No photo though :p

After the ALT summer conference last Friday, Vinod and I were interviewed by the Daily Yomiuri and The Jomo Shimbun. I don't know anyone with the Yomiuri but school gets the Jomo Shimbun everyday.

Suzuki-sensei very genkily pointed it out.

It's basically got to do with the world cup. Being South African right now is a winner :D





-- Blogged in the field.