LIKE DAGGERS

The GASMASK TERROR Japan Tour 2011 will start in one month and a half ! I can't believe it, and i can't wait ! Since the last update, not so many things have changed. Most of the bands are decided, but expect maybe few more bands to be added soon. You probably all saw the news those days about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and you can easily understand that everything sucks right now. As far as i am concerned i could get in touch with all my friends and relatives, but it's maybe not the case for everyone. It is possible to see few changes, or maybe few bands who cancel, who knows ? I won't blame anyone for that. For the moment we all have to focus on more important things here.

But let's try to get a little bit positive, even though it's not that simple... Let's talk about this tour ! Seriously the more i think about it, the more i realise that this tour is incredible. There will be amazing bands every nights, and not only the popular bands that everybody is waiting for. Many new bands, young punks will also play and party with us, and i am really excited about that !!

As a reminder, here are the details of the tour ! Thanks again to mathieu for drawing this great tour poster ! And of course, thanks to all the japanese punks who make this tour happens !

04/28 : KOKURA - UN KOKURA

with 惡AI意, MUZINA, END OF POLLUTION, ネメシス (NEMESIS)

04/29 : MATSUYAMA - 星空JETT

with AKKA, AXEWIELD, FORGET ME NOT, and more...

04/30 : OSAKA - KING COBRA

with FRAMTID, LAST SENTENCE, UNARM, ASOCIAL TERROR FABRICATION, FEROCIOUS X + DJ Mike Foster

05/01 : YOKOHAMA - FAD

with SYSTEMATIC DEATH, VIVISICK, ISTERISMO, RUIDOSA INMUNDICIA (AT), ASSHOLE PARADE (USA), RYDEEN, THINK AGAIN, IMPARA, MIND OF ASIAN, ANARCHY CONDOMS, TEMPEST, COMPLETED EXPOSITION, A.O.W.

05/03 : TOKYO - ZONE B

with AVFALL, FOLKEIIS, UNARM, ISTERISMO, ROUGH STUFF, GRIND SHAFT

05/04 : NAGOYA - DAYTRIVE

with AVFALL, D-CLONE, FOLKEIIS, SYSTEM FUCKER, ATTACK SS, ZILEMMA

05/05 : MIE - CLUB CHAOS

with AVFALL, ACROSTIX, CONTRAST ATTITUDE, DISGUST, NAQRO + DJ Vortex

05/06 : TSUYAMA - STUDIO K2

with AVFALL, DESPERDICIO, SKIZOPHRENIA, LAST, MASSGRAVE, DEATH DUST EXTRACTOR, and more...

To celebrate this tour, a news 7" entitled Like Daggers will be released on FLOWER OF CARNAGE and RATBONE RECORDS. I said it before, but i say it again, i am so proud and happy to do this records with this band, but also with Luc's label. This record is a real symbol of friendship. Seriously, those 4 new songs are killers ! Brutal raw d-beat punk hardcore distortion assault with great political lyrics. Imagine Swedish raw d-beat punk (TOTALITAR, MEANWHILE, ANTI CIMEX...) mixed with DISCHARGE, with a nasty/dirty sound and evil vocals on the top of that !! KANGNAVE !!

There will be a limited edition of this 7" for the Japan Tour, consisting of 100 copies on clear vinyl, with a obi and some goodies inside (patches, flyers...).

I would like to thank Dennis, for his huge help regarding this 7". We couldn't have done it without you ! Thank you so much !

A discography CD should also be ready for the tour. It will be released by CACTUS RECORDS in Malaysia. Last time i heard about it, it was ready to be sent at the pressing plant, so it will be ready soon i guess.

Their latest 12", Black sun/Fake gold is sold out from SOLAR FUNERAL. But I FEEL GOOD, in France probably have few copies left ? There is a very limited tape version of this 12", released by SACRED TAPES. The bands will maybe have few copies of this tape on tour. You should check what this guy is doing. His tapes are always amazing !

This tour is going to be awesome !! I can't wait to spend all this time with our french friends, with Dennis, with AVFALL. I can't wait to see our friends, and make new ones too !

See you in the pit ! Or at the merch table...

The photos above have been taken during the Deshibernation Festival in Lyon, 2006, by David P. I don't know him, but i hope he will be ok if i use them here...

RECONQUISTA

Since the mid 00's, the emo/hardcore scene became a real nightmare. In Japan, all the bands want to become like ENVY, that means a huge band selling their music for make up commercials and playing boring post rock. In the US or in Europe, there were this explosion of "screamo" (not even sure what it means), with tons of shitty bands playing crappy out of tune music that goes so well with clap-clap. A real nightmare !

I miss those bands from the late 90's. SHOTMAKER, KURT, NINE DAYS WONDER, 400 YEARS, and all those bands that i call EBULLITION style. Well, call me nostalgic !

I immediatly liked BACHO. Although they don't really sound like all the bands above, they were a very good surprise. They are from a little town near Kobe and it seems they play for few years now. The first thing i thought is that, fuck, they know how to write songs ! They have an extremely good sense of melodies and songwriting ! You can't deny that, even if you don't like that kind of music. There is something pop in their music. Pop, in a good way i mean. The vocals are also an important part of the band. The fact it's half spoken/half screamed (still, in a good way...nothing to do with the screamo-clap-clap shit from Italy or the US) is great. It's done naturally and it flows perfectly ! Maybe the fact they sing in japanese make it easier to listen ?

The lyrics are also good. No bullshit lyrics that doesn't mean anything. Here you found some good emo lyrics, talking about doing something with your life, feeling lost in this society and that kind of stuffs, but written in a very simple and direct manner. Without being a fan, i like this band.

So our friend from INFRO organized a show for them, and we were excited to see them. Well the bands that were playing that night were far from being what i like ! No comment...

INFRO did a good show. Their songs are better and better, it's always a pleasure to see them live. They will have some new releases out soon. A split 7" with a band i don't know. Well i already talk about INFRO a lot, no need to repeat again and again the same things.

I was a little bit scared that BACHO will become the new hype band, and that in 2 years, they will become huge, wanting to be profesionnal, like 99% of the japanese band these days. But when i saw them live, i didn't worry anymore. Well the kids seem to go crazy for this band, but they are so simple, honest, nice. No offense, but they look like a bunch of losers. You know the outcasts at school, who can't be in the handsome category, without any sense to dress up ? That kind of people. Don't get me wrong, it's something good in my opinion. Maybe because i recognize myself in them...

And live it was cool. The bass was too loud though, but that was cool. The sound was not as clean as their album which was good. I liked that it was not perfect, and that they didn't care about that !

BACHO VIDEO

It is probably not the best band in the emo/hardcore scene nowadays, i don't know. Who cares anyway ? But that was cool to see people doing that kind of music, with a real positive attitude, smiling, having fun, enjoying every moments, although there were only 30 people that night. I feel good when i see that kind of band. We are surrounded by wanna-be-rock-star bands so much that i almost forgot simple bands and simple people exist. BACHO was a shot of oxygen, in this polluted air that is unbreathable. Thank you guys !