IMARi ToNES -The First Christian Heavy Metal from Japan-: Video Upload Week 2

Friday, May 17, 2013

Video Upload Week 2

As we are working on plenty of new songs in a rehearsal room and gigging locally in Yokohama, we are uploading those movies from The Extreme Tour last year. (Because, you know, touring in USA is a big thing for a Japanese band. Those movies are important history of us.)

Also we made some song videos for YouTube.

Here is one of them.

What we wanted to do was, to make a video using the photos from the tour.

Because we had so many nice photos taken during the tour.

So we wanted to use those photos in a song video.

So here is a song called "Precious".

I know couple of months ago we uploaded a quite good live version of this song, but here is an "album version".

Interesting thing is, we tried to use the photos from all the cities we visited, but when we actually made the video, those photos from just one city were enough to make a single video.

So those photos used in this video were from Coeur d'Alene ID.

It was a happy gig with awesome people.

I think you can feel the happy vibe of The Extreme Tour.

It's definitely the coolest Christian missionary tour in the world.

Again, thank you for all the people we met during the tour, and all the other bands we toured together.

(The Lacks, DaMac, Colton&Zara, and The Burn-Ins)

Also, we uploaded some movies from X-Fest, Stevenson WA.

X-Fest was awesome Christian music festival with great faith and spirit.

We were super stoked to play there, and it was one of our best performance during the tour.

(And there we finally figured out some sound problems we had had on the tour. So it was really a blessing for us to play that festival.)

Here is a song called "Karma Flower" (still one of our most popular songs, we guess)

and here is the whole show (if you have some 30 minutes to watch the whole show).

We are going to do this "The Extreme Tour" in Japan, in October this year.

3 bands from USA/Canada are coming to play with us in Japan.

If any church, or any of you, are willing to help us make it happen, like lodging, funding, transportation, or booking shows, please let us know.

We need all kinds of help.

We will visit any part of Japan, if those things are provided.

THANKS and GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

In Christ,

Tak / Imari Tones

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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.