IMARi ToNES -The First Christian Heavy Metal from Japan-: March 2012

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Jesus Train video, current status, and 1 year since then.

Hi, this is Tak from Imari Tones, Japanese Christian rock band.

Long time no update, but we've been working hard.
We have 2 topics here today.

1. Jesus Train music video

It's already a few month since we finished recording our new album called "Japan Metal Jesus".
We are trying to figure out what is the best way to release it.
We are still looking for a decent record label but on the other hand we are preparing for an independent release by our own small label.
It will take some more time while we are making artwork and finding a distribution but we are sure you will like the album when it is released.

At the same time, we are already releasing/uploading some songs from the new record on internet.

We told you about the music video of "The Concept" and "You Key" before (Check them out on our YouTube if you haven't yet!).

And now we uploaded another music video on YouTube.
It's a song called "Jesus Train".
We have been playing that song in our live shows for a while now and it's one of our live favorites. So some of you may be already familiar with the song.

We made the video using footage from our local gig in Yokohama, Japan.
It's a simple video but it has got a live show feeling and we love it!

So please check it out!

It's already 3rd song uploaded on YouTube from the album and we feel as if we were going to upload all the song even before the album is released!
(Actually some other songs are on our Soundcloud, too.)

2. Our current status and touring plan this year

While we are excited and can't wait to release the album and share the music with you, we are making plans how to spend this year 2012.

We are trying to "go local" this year and we are going to play small local gigs in Yokohama Japan.
We already booked several gigs in Yokohama/Tokyo area. So check our schedule on our website, if you happened to be in that area. (Though I know our internet activity is mostly for people outside Japan.)

Life in an independent rock band is tough and our life is hard, too.
But we are a band destined to reach for the international market.
So we are trying to do a tour again this year.

We are talking with people from "The Extreme Tour".
We friended with them last year when we visited USA.
They are a Christian music tour and they are great ministries.
We are trying to join their tour in USA/Canada region.

Though the detail is not confirmed yet, but we will let you know when it happens.
We are praying so that the plan will work. Because we are dying to play live in front of you. Because we are so much in love with ROCK music and Jesus is the ROCK.

Well, I guess it's time.
It's Sunday I'm writing this and I'm in charge of worship in our church today.
(I got to go now.)

Hope you are doing great and hope we can keep in touch.
We are rocking alive here in Yokohama.
So you keep on rocking too!
God is at work in Japan as much as in the rest of the world!

It's one year since March 11th 2011, when the earthquake and the tsunami disaster happened in Japan.
Our life in Japan, it has changed forever since then.

But we believe God will make everything good. Even bad things and sad things.
Today we are all praying for our home country.

Thank you very much and may God bless you richly.

In Jesus name,
Tak / Imari Tones (Japan)

Bio, Bio, Bio...

IMARITONES BIO

Written by Phil Putnam

Of the long list of factors that make ImariTones stand out from the world around them, it is their drive, their reach that tops it all. An unapologetically Christian heavy metal band out of Japan, Tak, Hassy, and Jake have a passion to reach beyond their culture to make the music they love, and to reach beyond their music to bring Jesus into their culture. While drawing comparisons to legends like Van Halen, Rush, and Stryper with their hybrid of old school metal/glam/Brit/70's prog rock, they are one of very few bands in the world that can claim true originality. How so? They are the first Christian heavy metal band ever to come out of Japan.

"There are very few Japanese bands who say 'Hey, we're a Christian band.' A Christian band from Japan almost sounds like a joke, since most people in Japan are Buddhists, or Atheists," says Tak, founder, guitar/vocalist, and frontman of ImariTones. Things didn't start out Christian for Tak, though. Having started playing electric guitar at age 14 and joining his first band at 15, Tak gained local teen success in his hometown of Toyohashi and won awards for his songwriting. However, he quit the band at 17 to pursue a career as a lawyer. Music stayed with him, though, and while playing an acoustic show in Harajuku Tokyo in December of 2007, Tak was impressed by several Christian performers who were playing as well. Feeling that Jesus may be the larger meaning behind music that he always felt was there, his mind and heart opened to Christianity.

Breaking many written and unwritten rules of Japanese culture, Tak, Hassy on bass/background vocals, and Jake on drums/background vocals, are reaching upward and forward to see changes happen in the world. Currently based in Yokohama, their astonishing 15-album discography includes Hero of the Lights, Color of Hers, fireworks, Japanese Pop produced by metal legend Sascha Paeth (Angra, Edguy, Rhapsody of Fire, Avantasia, Kamelot), Welcome to the School, and their most recent release Victory in Christ. Not content to play the standard soft pop/rock of the major label Christian industry, their music is 100% heavy metal and 100% independently recorded and produced. Victory in Christ hit the street in October 2010 with the single "Faith Rider" leading the charge. Originally written as a parody of the big 80's metal of Judas Priest and Stryper, it quickly became a fan favorite and was put on Victory in Christ.

With both their commitment to making stellar heavy metal music and their driving passion to share Jesus with their native Japan and the rest of the world, ImariTones is always reaching to join these two primary goals together. "Since we are a Christian band, our goal is not business success," says Tak. "We are not chasing glory in this world. We are chasing the glory of God." Staying independent and record label-free is an important part of the process for them. "We don't believe in 'music business', especially in Japan, and have chosen to go independent, looking for our own way. We really want to change something about society and about what people think and believe. That's our ultimate goal."

That ultimate goal, to see their native Japan embrace Christianity, is what they reach for most of all, even while their sights are set on the USA and the rest of the world. Some think they're a joke, or a contradiction, that Christianity, Japan, and heavy metal just don't belong together. Some think they're ahead of their time. But if you ask Tak, Hassy, and Jake, they'll say they're doing exactly what they love at exactly the right time, and they're never going to stop reaching for more.