IMARi ToNES -The First Christian Heavy Metal from Japan-: Video Uploading Week 4

Friday, June 21, 2013

Video Uploading Week 4

We've kept uploading our movie materials again this week.

It's kind of funny because our friends from The Extreme Tour already started this year's tour in USA/Canada, while we are still uploading movie from last year.

We feel kind of being left behind but we know we are not.

Because we are busy preparing to bring this "The Extreme Tour" to Japan in October. We are the only ones who can do this in Japan. So far several gigs are booked in Yokohama for them. We need some more help from local churches. Please pray so that we can connect with local churches in Japan.

This week we made this music video for our favorite song "Truth".

It's still "home made" style music video, but we think it turned out very good.

So check it out and enjoy!

Next video is our performance at Nuart Block Party, which we did in Moscow ID, September 2012.

That was a very nice street festival and nice stage.

Musically speaking it was definitely one of our best performance during the tour, or during the whole year.

My personal favorite moment was when we changed the setlist on the spot by the request from our friend, and played this song "Testimony".

and this is the whole show:)

(If you have some 30 minutes to watch it, as always...)

We really want to visit and play this festival again. But not this year.

We have some homework to do here in Japan.

And we are working on it very hard.

We are making whole new sound in a rehearsal room to totally revamp our music. (Well, not really, because we still sound like us after all.)

And we can't wait to play it to the world.

Maybe when we are ready. In 2014, I guess.

So, even though we don't tour overseas this year, we are not wasting our time.

We are preparing for a huge blessing.

Meanwhile, our local gig schedule in Yokohama is:

July 13th Saturday: El Puente, Nishi-Yokohama

August 21st Wednesday: Necoya, Kotobukicho

So check it out, Yokohama/Tokyo locals!

(Check it out later for YouTube movies, non-local people!)

Okay, now I'm heading for a Van Halen concert at Tokyo Dome.

We have waited for it for a long time.

(Last time they came to Japan, it was 15 years ago.)

It's great to be a rock fan!

Life is always tough.

I've been recieving messages from our friends in the world, they've been having hard time and going through tough things in life.

Please remember I'm praying for you always.

You are in my mind always.

And your suffering here on earth is not in vain.

It will turn into a blessing when Jesus comes.

(That's our Faith, right?)

"Even God's own son, suffered well well on earth..."

(from my pastor's reggae song called "Optimistic")

(This is his website by the way)

http://www.yaoyokohama.com/

God bless you all and May God be with you always!

Thank you very much!

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.