IMARi ToNES -The First Christian Heavy Metal from Japan-: Skies of Tokyo video and other songs we recorded in Germany

Monday, June 1, 2015

Skies of Tokyo video and other songs we recorded in Germany

Hello this is Tak (aka Tone) from Imari Tones, Japanese Christian heavy metal band.

Earlier last month, I took this old hard disk drive and checked what was in there, just because I wanted to archive our past works including audio and video.
What I found among many things was a funny set of movies; Movies of the sky.

Those movies were dated in 2006-2007.
All of them, just movies of skies. Sunny skies, cloudy, some raining, looking up from the ground.
Then I remembered what they were for: I wanted to make a video for "Skies of Tokyo". A song we recorded in Germany.

If you don't know (well, this band has a long history), we have an experience of recording songs with a renowned producer from Germany.
In September-October 2006, we Imari Tones flew to Germany and recorded 3 songs with Sascha Paeth, a famous producer who worked with Angra, Rhapsody of Fire, Kamelot, Edguy, and Avantasia (Wow).

The songs we recorded there (at the Gate Studio, Wolfsburg, Germany) were Karma Flower, Iron Hammer, and Skies of Tokyo.

Although we didn't get a major release in Japanese music industry, those 3 songs were included in our independent release "Japanese Pop", the first album we have sung in English, also the last album before we became a "Christian Band".

Now these 2 songs out of 3, Karma Flower and Iron Hammer, they have been a staple of our live show set list for a long time now.
However, this song "Skies of Tokyo", we haven't played live for a very long time. Actually, if my memory is correct, we have played it just once.

So I thought it was good time to put some spotlight on this song again.
Now I made this music video, using those movies of skies and live show footage.

This lineup that flew to Germany and recorded "Japanese Pop" album (Tone -Guitars&Vocals, Baba - Bass, Haratti - Drums) only lasted for a couple of years, 2006-2007. After that, I went on and started the band all over again, to become a Christian Heavy Metal band soon later.

Surprisingly, this lineup (Tone - Baba - Haratti) played only 3 live shows in public.
(Probably because we focused more on recording work with our producers.)
This "Skies of Tokyo" video features the footage from 2 shows out of those 3. (For the other 1 show, unfortunately video doesn't exist.)

This song "Skies of Tokyo" is a heavy metal ballad type song, with some melodic&soulful guitar playing. The song is basically about the environmental issue, about how we human beings are destroying mother nature without knowing it. I think it sounds more realistic and impending after the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster happened in 2011.

Maybe it's good time for us to play this song live again.

So just for your listening enjoyment, these are the other 2 songs we recorded with Sascha Paeth in Germany.
Those songs are on the album "Japanese Pop", still one of our most popular albums.
It's available on iTunes, BandCamp and other places.

"Karma Flower"

This was actually the first song I sang the word "Jesus Christ" in the lyrics.

"Iron Hammer"

We are going to post more stuff on YouTube this year.
Both old and new stuff.
So stay tuned!

Thanks and God bless!
Tak / Imari Tones (Japan)

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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.