Hi this is Tone from IMARi ToNES.
We uploaded some movies of our new songs.
We played at Club Wild Side Tokyo, on Oct 3rd and we played 2 of our new songs which we are now practicing hard.
They are called "Testimony" and "Precious".
Here are the movies.
Testimony
Precious
Since I'm a Japanese, I still sing wrong lyrics when playing live and singing in English.
But I hope you enjoy these movies.
At this point we have learned 9 out of 13 songs we are planning to record.
We are gonna start recording as soon as we are ready.
One more thing is,
Our latest effort, called "Welcome To The School" is now available on CDBaby.
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/ImariTones
This record is a fairytale in which we tried to depict a relationship between human and God, and we tried to depict the importance of Faith and Spiritual Growth.
Including those songs we often play live, like "Only One Wish", "First Pop" and "i love you, now ur on your own".
Also available on iTunes Store and other digital retailers.
Please check it out.
Thank you and God bless,
Tak "Tone" Nakamine / IMARi ToNES
Friday, October 9, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Street Team Recruiting
Hi this is Tak from IMARI TONES.
ハイ、伊万里音色のTakです。
We are now preparing for new recording.
(See this blog I just posted.)
http://imaritones.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-recording-blueprint.html
今僕達は新しいレコーディングの準備をしています。
（さきほどアップしたブログを見てください）
This email is for those who registered as "Street Team" at our Reverbnation mailing list.
このメールは、Reverbnationで、ストリートチーム登録をしてくれた人に向けて書いています。
Though Reverbnation has "Street Team" system, we have not been using it so much until now.
Reverbnationは、ストリートチームのシステムがありますが、今まで僕達はあまりそれを使ってきませんでした。
But now we think it's time to start something.
Because in this situation of today's music business, putting effort in internet marketing is very important.
As you see we are just a small band from Japan. So self advertising effort is inevitable at this phase of career and we know it works. I myself have put a lot of time to do this "Internet Advertising" like MySpace, Purevolume and imeem. So we want you to help us with some of these.
しかし今、何かを始めようと思います。
なぜなら、今の音楽ビジネスの世界では、インターネットマーケティングはとても重要だからです。
見てのとおり僕らは日本の小さなバンドです。なので、自主的な宣伝の努力というものが必要です。僕自身、多くの時間をMySpaceやPurevolumeやimeemなどのインターネット宣伝に使ってきました。そこで、あなたたちの助けが欲しいのです。
We want to make this street team mission more like a personal relationship between you and us. It's not like the band and its street team, but we ARE a team working together.
So we want you to work with us together on the internet and real world.
僕らは、このストリートチームを、あなたたちと私達の、より個人的な関係にしたいと思っています。バンドとストリートチームではなく、僕達がひとつのチームとして動くのです。
For those who help us, as a compensation, we want to share our music together, for totally free.
When we make music, when some songs are done, sometimes we share the song files just mixed with our close friends. And say "Hey, we just mixed these songs. What do you think?"
While we want some opinion and feedback from them, it's also our joy to share those music with our friends.
手伝ってくれた方には、報酬として、まったく無料で、僕たちの音楽をシェアしたいと思っています。
僕らが音楽を作っているとき、たとえば曲が出来上がると、ミックスしたばかりの曲のファイルを親しい友人とシェアするときがあります。そして「ヘイ、たった今この曲をミックスし終えたよ、どうだい？」と聞いてみるのです。
それは、彼らの意見やフィードバックが欲しいこともありますが、同時に、友人たちと僕らの音楽を共有することは、私達にとっても喜びなのです。
So, we want you guys to be our friends.
ですから、あなたにもその友達になってほしいと思っています。
The tasks we are thinking are;
*Creating IMARi ToNES street team MySpace and imeem
*Recruiting new fans on Facebook
*Recruiting new fans on Purevolume
and so on.
考えている仕事は、
*伊万里音色のストリートチームのページをMySpaceとimeemで作る
*Facebookで新しいファンを獲得する
*Purevolumeで新しいファンを獲得する
などです。
Please reply this email or send email to mail@imaritones.net if you are willing to work with us. And let's talk about what we can do.
It's not a hard job. Just give us a little bit of your time. And if each of you help us a little bit, it will be a big power just like "Genki Dama" (Do you like Dragon Ball?).
私達を手伝ってくれるという方は、このメールに返信するか、mail@imaritones.netまでメールをください。そして何をするか話しましょう。
ハードな仕事ではありません。ただ、少しだけの時間をください。そして、みんなが少しずつ手伝ってくれたら、それは「元気玉」みたいに大きなパワーになるでしょう。（ドラゴンボールは好きですか？）
Hope we will hear from you and we are looking forward to working with you.
お返事を期待しています、そして一緒に作業するのを楽しみにしています。
Tak "Tone" Nakamine / IMARi ToNES (Japan)
http://www.imaritones.net/
http://www.myspace.com/imaritones
ハイ、伊万里音色のTakです。
We are now preparing for new recording.
(See this blog I just posted.)
http://imaritones.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-recording-blueprint.html
今僕達は新しいレコーディングの準備をしています。
（さきほどアップしたブログを見てください）
This email is for those who registered as "Street Team" at our Reverbnation mailing list.
このメールは、Reverbnationで、ストリートチーム登録をしてくれた人に向けて書いています。
Though Reverbnation has "Street Team" system, we have not been using it so much until now.
Reverbnationは、ストリートチームのシステムがありますが、今まで僕達はあまりそれを使ってきませんでした。
But now we think it's time to start something.
Because in this situation of today's music business, putting effort in internet marketing is very important.
As you see we are just a small band from Japan. So self advertising effort is inevitable at this phase of career and we know it works. I myself have put a lot of time to do this "Internet Advertising" like MySpace, Purevolume and imeem. So we want you to help us with some of these.
しかし今、何かを始めようと思います。
なぜなら、今の音楽ビジネスの世界では、インターネットマーケティングはとても重要だからです。
見てのとおり僕らは日本の小さなバンドです。なので、自主的な宣伝の努力というものが必要です。僕自身、多くの時間をMySpaceやPurevolumeやimeemなどのインターネット宣伝に使ってきました。そこで、あなたたちの助けが欲しいのです。
We want to make this street team mission more like a personal relationship between you and us. It's not like the band and its street team, but we ARE a team working together.
So we want you to work with us together on the internet and real world.
僕らは、このストリートチームを、あなたたちと私達の、より個人的な関係にしたいと思っています。バンドとストリートチームではなく、僕達がひとつのチームとして動くのです。
For those who help us, as a compensation, we want to share our music together, for totally free.
When we make music, when some songs are done, sometimes we share the song files just mixed with our close friends. And say "Hey, we just mixed these songs. What do you think?"
While we want some opinion and feedback from them, it's also our joy to share those music with our friends.
手伝ってくれた方には、報酬として、まったく無料で、僕たちの音楽をシェアしたいと思っています。
僕らが音楽を作っているとき、たとえば曲が出来上がると、ミックスしたばかりの曲のファイルを親しい友人とシェアするときがあります。そして「ヘイ、たった今この曲をミックスし終えたよ、どうだい？」と聞いてみるのです。
それは、彼らの意見やフィードバックが欲しいこともありますが、同時に、友人たちと僕らの音楽を共有することは、私達にとっても喜びなのです。
So, we want you guys to be our friends.
ですから、あなたにもその友達になってほしいと思っています。
The tasks we are thinking are;
*Creating IMARi ToNES street team MySpace and imeem
*Recruiting new fans on Facebook
*Recruiting new fans on Purevolume
and so on.
考えている仕事は、
*伊万里音色のストリートチームのページをMySpaceとimeemで作る
*Facebookで新しいファンを獲得する
*Purevolumeで新しいファンを獲得する
などです。
Please reply this email or send email to mail@imaritones.net if you are willing to work with us. And let's talk about what we can do.
It's not a hard job. Just give us a little bit of your time. And if each of you help us a little bit, it will be a big power just like "Genki Dama" (Do you like Dragon Ball?).
私達を手伝ってくれるという方は、このメールに返信するか、mail@imaritones.netまでメールをください。そして何をするか話しましょう。
ハードな仕事ではありません。ただ、少しだけの時間をください。そして、みんなが少しずつ手伝ってくれたら、それは「元気玉」みたいに大きなパワーになるでしょう。（ドラゴンボールは好きですか？）
Hope we will hear from you and we are looking forward to working with you.
お返事を期待しています、そして一緒に作業するのを楽しみにしています。
Tak "Tone" Nakamine / IMARi ToNES (Japan)
http://www.imaritones.net/
http://www.myspace.com/imaritones
New Recording Blueprint
Hi, this is Tak from IMARI TONES.
After we came back from the USA tour in April 2009, next thing we did is to plan a new recording.
We could plan another tour, we could plan joining some festival, we could plan a new marketing scheme, but we thought we have to create another record first.
Why? Because the Lord gave us some new ideas!
We know we should create More Christian, More Beautiful, More Rockn'Roll album.
So we want you to know what we are working on now.
Here is the blueprint.
"God Rocks" (Temporary Title)
1. Testimony
2. Precious
3. A Girl in the Mirror
4. Oriental Worship
5. One on One
6. I Want a Revival
7. God Kids
8. The Wandering Savior
9. Simple
10. A Bow and an Arrow
11. Love is to do something no one dares to do
12. Forget
13. Faith Rider
It looks good, doesn't it?
We are now doing reharsals hard.
We are going to start recording as soon as we're ready and we expect the completion early next year (2010), before Spring.
That's when we are going to start our full-scale attack!
We can't wait to share these songs with you all!!
After we came back from the USA tour in April 2009, next thing we did is to plan a new recording.
We could plan another tour, we could plan joining some festival, we could plan a new marketing scheme, but we thought we have to create another record first.
Why? Because the Lord gave us some new ideas!
We know we should create More Christian, More Beautiful, More Rockn'Roll album.
So we want you to know what we are working on now.
Here is the blueprint.
"God Rocks" (Temporary Title)
1. Testimony
2. Precious
3. A Girl in the Mirror
4. Oriental Worship
5. One on One
6. I Want a Revival
7. God Kids
8. The Wandering Savior
9. Simple
10. A Bow and an Arrow
11. Love is to do something no one dares to do
12. Forget
13. Faith Rider
It looks good, doesn't it?
We are now doing reharsals hard.
We are going to start recording as soon as we're ready and we expect the completion early next year (2010), before Spring.
That's when we are going to start our full-scale attack!
We can't wait to share these songs with you all!!
Friday, July 10, 2009
"Welcome To The School" and Free download
Hi this is Tak "Tone" from IMARI TONES.
Today we have some updates.
1."Welcome To The School", now available on iTunes store.
Yeah, that's it.
"Only One Wish", "He's Still With Us", "i love you, now ur on your own", those songs now you can download to your audio player.
And here is the link.
http://www.songcastmusic.com/redirect2?id=319921119
Also available on amazonmp3, emusic, and other.
Please wait a little bit more for physical CDs.
2."First Pop" free download available
Actually you don't even have to pay.
"Fist Pop", this is one of our favorite song.
I don't know why but people from Microsoft Windows are doing some music distributing program and because of that, you can download this song for free.
I don't know how long they're gonna run this program, so download it while you can!!
http://www.myspace.com/windows?homepage=imaritones
3.We are writing new songs
We are already taking a next step ahead.
Many songs and lyrics already written.
And our next work will be MUCH MORE Christian.
We hope we can record those songs somewhere in the rest of this year.
4.Internet Radio
Yes, after we came back from our tour in USA, our days here in Japan are full of fun.
because now we are making friends with many Christian Musicians here in Tokyo.
Actually this year it's been 150 years since Protestant Christianity arrived in Japan.
Yeah it's time to change. We are ready.
And in this internet radio program, I'm having fun with some of those gospel musicians.
"Tone's Shall We Talk About Love"
May Guest: Saluki (Christian Rockn'Roll)
June Guest: Kaori Yamamoto (Gospel Singer)
July Guest: ISA (Bossa nova gospel singer) (Will be uploaded on July 23rd)
Check it out here, only if you understand Japanese....
http://www.tokyonetradio.com/ch/tone.html
5.Shows
We are gigging around Tokyo this summer.
So check us out!
July 18th
Shibuya Club Asia P
July 20th
Yokohama, Sakuragicho Station
Scheduled around 2PM
July 25th
Chiba, Motoyawata Route Fourteen
August 13th
Sangenjaya Heavens Door
August 28th
Chiba, Motoyawata Third Stage
September 23th
Shin Okubo Suizokukan
That's all for today!
Thank you and God bless you all!!
IMARi ToNES (Japan)
http://www.imaritones.net/
http://www.myspace.com/imaritones
Today we have some updates.
1."Welcome To The School", now available on iTunes store.
Yeah, that's it.
"Only One Wish", "He's Still With Us", "i love you, now ur on your own", those songs now you can download to your audio player.
And here is the link.
http://www.songcastmusic.com/redirect2?id=319921119
Also available on amazonmp3, emusic, and other.
Please wait a little bit more for physical CDs.
2."First Pop" free download available
Actually you don't even have to pay.
"Fist Pop", this is one of our favorite song.
I don't know why but people from Microsoft Windows are doing some music distributing program and because of that, you can download this song for free.
I don't know how long they're gonna run this program, so download it while you can!!
http://www.myspace.com/windows?homepage=imaritones
3.We are writing new songs
We are already taking a next step ahead.
Many songs and lyrics already written.
And our next work will be MUCH MORE Christian.
We hope we can record those songs somewhere in the rest of this year.
4.Internet Radio
Yes, after we came back from our tour in USA, our days here in Japan are full of fun.
because now we are making friends with many Christian Musicians here in Tokyo.
Actually this year it's been 150 years since Protestant Christianity arrived in Japan.
Yeah it's time to change. We are ready.
And in this internet radio program, I'm having fun with some of those gospel musicians.
"Tone's Shall We Talk About Love"
May Guest: Saluki (Christian Rockn'Roll)
June Guest: Kaori Yamamoto (Gospel Singer)
July Guest: ISA (Bossa nova gospel singer) (Will be uploaded on July 23rd)
Check it out here, only if you understand Japanese....
http://www.tokyonetradio.com/ch/tone.html
5.Shows
We are gigging around Tokyo this summer.
So check us out!
July 18th
Shibuya Club Asia P
July 20th
Yokohama, Sakuragicho Station
Scheduled around 2PM
July 25th
Chiba, Motoyawata Route Fourteen
August 13th
Sangenjaya Heavens Door
August 28th
Chiba, Motoyawata Third Stage
September 23th
Shin Okubo Suizokukan
That's all for today!
Thank you and God bless you all!!
IMARi ToNES (Japan)
http://www.imaritones.net/
http://www.myspace.com/imaritones
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Internet Radio
Actually Tak "Tone" has internet radio program at Tokyo Net Radio (from Kichijoji, Tokyo).
New episode is just uploaded.
http://www.tokyonetradio.com/ch/tone.html
Program is called "Tone's Shall we talk about love?",
and guest we had this time was "Saluki".
They are a rock band, and they are Christians.
Unfortunately, it's a Japanese program and we all talked in Japanese.
By the way,
On June 27th (Sat),
We will be doing a free show at Sakuragicho Station, Yokohama Japan.
Some church bands will also play.
Maybe we will play 2 or 3 sets during daytime.
Please check it out.
Thanks,
God bless,
Tak "Tone"
New episode is just uploaded.
http://www.tokyonetradio.com/ch/tone.html
Program is called "Tone's Shall we talk about love?",
and guest we had this time was "Saluki".
They are a rock band, and they are Christians.
Unfortunately, it's a Japanese program and we all talked in Japanese.
By the way,
On June 27th (Sat),
We will be doing a free show at Sakuragicho Station, Yokohama Japan.
Some church bands will also play.
Maybe we will play 2 or 3 sets during daytime.
Please check it out.
Thanks,
God bless,
Tak "Tone"
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Nashville show, audio download
Okay, so this is the recording of our Nashville show, April 10th.
It was one of the best show in this tour.
(Little Rock and Seattle was also good. But Little Rock we had no recording and Seattle we didn't use our own equipments.)
http://kitchenknife.music.coocan.jp/Its_live_090411_Nashville_mgttd128.mp3
It's around 48MB. 128Kbps mp3 file.
Feel free to download if you have a fast internet connection.
But anyway we will upload videos of the shows to MySpace and YouTube sometime soon.
Thank you,
God bless,
-Tak
It was one of the best show in this tour.
(Little Rock and Seattle was also good. But Little Rock we had no recording and Seattle we didn't use our own equipments.)
http://kitchenknife.music.coocan.jp/Its_live_090411_Nashville_mgttd128.mp3
It's around 48MB. 128Kbps mp3 file.
Feel free to download if you have a fast internet connection.
But anyway we will upload videos of the shows to MySpace and YouTube sometime soon.
Thank you,
God bless,
-Tak
USA Tour Finished!
Hi this is Tak (Tone).
Our first time in USA tour is now finished!
We are back in Japan!
Sorry it took us so long to upload blog and photos.
(See some photos here http://imaritones.slide.com/ )
It was our first time playing shows in USA.
And the tour was very successful.
We want to say thank you to everybody.
And hope we can see you again soon!
Here is short summary of what we did in USA.
Dallas TX (April 3-5)
We played 1 song at ICC Dallas (Japanese church)
And finally, Tak got baptized.
(yeah it's been a year and 3 months Tak accepted Jesus and became christian, it was a good timing and opportunity.)
It was such a blessing and we all had a good time.
We stayed at our friend Ken's house.
They had a party for us and we could talk with many friends and pastors.
It was wonderful time and Jake made a big cake for that party.
It tasted so good now he is called "Cake"!
We met some Japanese christian musicians there at ICC.
Hope we can do something together in Japan!
Thank you, Ken-san, Oscar-san, and everybody at ICC!!
Austin TX (April 6)
Actually it was 2nd time for Tak to visit Austin.
He was there in 2007 SXSW.
He didn't play in official slot. He just visited there but he played outside on the 6th street, with his guitar alone and made 30 bucks.
And finally we got official gig in Austin.
We played at club called Headhunters. It was nice place.
We had some trouble. Jake didn't understand how to construct his drumset. Just 1 hour before the show, he noticed he needs to drill drums to attach the hardware. (In Japan we don't have to. Because in Japan usually everything is already attached and ready.)
But soundguy/booking manager (he was a bassist of a well known hardcore band, by the way) was so kind and he did all the drilling work and we managed to assemble the drumkit just before the showtime.
Because there was no time for soundcheck, it was not a best condition and Tak's voice was not good, but his guitar shredding was as good as usual.
In the end we got very good responce from the people!
Next morning we took some photos on 6th Street.
Hope we can come back there in some festival!
Houston TX
On April 7th, we visitted Fukuko-san's house.
There was a bible study meeting of ICC Houston there.
We joined them and Tak played 2 worship songs with an acoustic guitar.
We stayed at Fukuko-san's house. It was very nice, thank you Fukuko&Brian-san.
Tak jammed with Brian-san a bit, it was fun.
On April 8th, we played at Super Happy Fun Land, downtown Houston.
It was a very cool venue.
We played with Bows & Arrows, 10th Grade Cutie. They were all good.
10th Grade Cutie was a real punk rock. We digged it so much.
I heard many people were supposed to come that night because they put the show on some newspaper. Actually crowd was not that big but none the less it was a fun and happy night!
Yes, Super Happy Fun Land rocks!
Little Rock AR, April 9th
We drived for 8 hours and we came to Little Rock AR.
What a pretty town!
Downtown was not so big but everything was so art&pretty!
We all liked the town.
Weather was not good.
During our show, outside was a thunderstorm.
But the show itself was a thunderstorm, too!
We did a very hot show that night.
Cool part of the show was when one guy came to the stage and offered me(Tak) a shot of whisky.
I tried to avoid drinkin the whole shot but people all shoutted like "go ahead and drink the whole shot!", so that's what I did! And people went crazy.
When I played last song of the set I was feeling a little drunk but it was a hot night!!
We love Little Rock!
I think we played Big Rock there!
Nashville TN, April 10.
Again weather was not good.
The guy from the venue told us it's lucky we were alive because we had come through tornado.
But the Nashville show was one of the best.
Mr.Wakaisenshi gave us his original T-shirts specially made for us!!
It was a big pleasure and it gave us a lot of power.
We did a very good show and recieved very good response. Sold many CDs.
We also met Whisper Of The Garden, who is a great singer and plays christian music.
Next morning, we and Whisper and her manager CC had a breakfast together, talking about christianity in Japan and lots of things.
It was a good time.
Around Nashville, there were some mountains and forrests. It looked somehow like Japan. Yes, Nashville, we felt something special. We will come back diffenetely.
Atlanta GA, April 11&12
After having a breakfast with Whisper Of The Garden, we went to Chattanooga.
And there we met Pastor Butch Varner.
He was in Japan before for a long time and he is eager to spread gospel in Japan.
We talked about lots of things and also about his plan of coming to Japan this year. Yes, we are willing to help him in Japan!
By the way there we ate some humbergers at Red Robin. Wow it was very good, possibly the best humberger we ever had. (Because in Japan we have only McDonald's.)
Until this time it turned out that our show in Atlanta was cancelled because of the venue was closing down. Well, hard luck, but this kind of things sometime happens.
So we went directly to Naoko's house. Naoko-san was a friend of Jake's.
She and Jake had met here in Yokohama, Japan.
And she was a christian too.
We were kind of dissapointed because of the cancellation of the show.
But Naoko-san called the pastor of Japanese church in Atlanta and now they would let us play some music in their church!
Yeah, we were very excited! Thanks, Naoko-san!
April 12th, it was Easter Sunday.
We joined Easter Worship at Westminster Japanese Church in Atlanta and played 2 worship songs.
It was such a pleasure to play in a church on Easter Sunday.
Thank you everybody there!
After that, we went to the Stone Mountain and did some sightseeing.
New York City, April 13-15
On April 13th, in the morning we sent our amplifers and equipments to Ken-san.
Because in New York City and Seattle, we don't have to bring our amplifers.
That means when we do our next tour, we start from Dallas TX again.
Anyway, we flew to NYC.
We stayed at some hostel owned by Japanese. There were only Japanese people stayed there, so it's kind of funny.
On April 14th we played at Otto's Shrunken Head in East Village.
We met a Japanese drummer, he played in other band that night.
And our show, it took a while to get everything right on stage, but after all everything was great! We had a good responce and had a good time.
We met Pastor Richy there.
He was a music industry person. Working with many big musicians.
So it's great thing he liked us and offered us a help.
Maybe he can help us when we visit NYC next time.
We wish we could stay longer, so that we can play Pastor Richy's church on Sunday.
Thank you very much, pastor Richy!
On April 15th, we did all the sightseeing. Because it was 1st time visitting NYC for us. We went to Times Square, Broadway, Central Park, East Village, Battery Park and Statue Of Liberty, and we walked and crossed the Brooklyn Bridge.
After all those sightseeing we were all tired but we again met Pastor Richy and did some business talk. Great, hope it works!
On April 16th, I got a phonecall from Mr.Locke from OURS (the band based in NYC), because last year I met him in Utah in a film festival. He was very nice person. But unfortunately this was a day we had to leave NYC. But thanks Mr.Locke!
Seattle WA, April 16-19.
So Seattle, personally for me(Tak) it's 2nd time visitting this city.
This city is beautiful and pretty. We all love Seattle.
On the first day we stayed at cheap hostel near the Pike Place.
We had sent our posters there beforehand, and when we arrived, lo and behold they put our posters all over the place. We were very glad!
We stayed in Seattle for 3 days and it was very lucky we didn't see any rain during our stay. We saw only blue sky. It's very lucky in Seattle isn't it?
April 17th, after we did some sightseeing, including Pike Place Market, 1st Starbucks, Space Needle, we went to the venue.
Again it was very cool venue, it was located in Georgetown and there were lots of crazy people around there partying on the street. Very artistic vibe.
Luckily we had some Japanese audience there. And it was one of the best show, too. Seattle rocks!!
We met Leiko-san and Rae-san. They were very cool people.
On April 18th, Leiko&Rae-san picked us up early morning and we went to Japanese Church in Tacoma.
There we joined worship and Tak plaed 1 worship song with an accoustic guitar.
After that Leiko&Rae-san we drove back to Seattle and did all the sightseeing.
Shawn (Hardison) gave us a Live Recording CD-R from the previous night show. Thanks Shawn!
We went to Washinton University district and Fremont and Capitol Hill. It was fun!
And we had tea at the restaurant by the river near the university bridge with Leiko&Rae-san and their friends. Thanks!
We stayed at Leiko&Rae-san's house, we jammed together with Rae-san in his garage. It was fun! And we had wine and sake and we had fun all night!
And after that, we flew back to Japan!!
All throught the tour, we had great help from Japanese churches and Japanese Christian people. We are very thankful and grateful for that. Thank you for all the people.
And we personally want to say big thanks to Ken-san.
Without her help, this tour was not possible.
We have made friends with some Japanese Christian artists and American pastors willing to come to Japan.
So our next step is to team up with those people and make a big movement in Japan. Yes that's what we will do.
And since this tour was succesful, we want to make it bigger and happier next time.
Things are just starting to move ahead. And we are going to keep them moving.
So guys, see you again soon!!
Tak (Tone) / IMARi ToNES
Our first time in USA tour is now finished!
We are back in Japan!
Sorry it took us so long to upload blog and photos.
(See some photos here http://imaritones.slide.com/ )
It was our first time playing shows in USA.
And the tour was very successful.
We want to say thank you to everybody.
And hope we can see you again soon!
Here is short summary of what we did in USA.
Dallas TX (April 3-5)
We played 1 song at ICC Dallas (Japanese church)
And finally, Tak got baptized.
(yeah it's been a year and 3 months Tak accepted Jesus and became christian, it was a good timing and opportunity.)
It was such a blessing and we all had a good time.
We stayed at our friend Ken's house.
They had a party for us and we could talk with many friends and pastors.
It was wonderful time and Jake made a big cake for that party.
It tasted so good now he is called "Cake"!
We met some Japanese christian musicians there at ICC.
Hope we can do something together in Japan!
Thank you, Ken-san, Oscar-san, and everybody at ICC!!
Austin TX (April 6)
Actually it was 2nd time for Tak to visit Austin.
He was there in 2007 SXSW.
He didn't play in official slot. He just visited there but he played outside on the 6th street, with his guitar alone and made 30 bucks.
And finally we got official gig in Austin.
We played at club called Headhunters. It was nice place.
We had some trouble. Jake didn't understand how to construct his drumset. Just 1 hour before the show, he noticed he needs to drill drums to attach the hardware. (In Japan we don't have to. Because in Japan usually everything is already attached and ready.)
But soundguy/booking manager (he was a bassist of a well known hardcore band, by the way) was so kind and he did all the drilling work and we managed to assemble the drumkit just before the showtime.
Because there was no time for soundcheck, it was not a best condition and Tak's voice was not good, but his guitar shredding was as good as usual.
In the end we got very good responce from the people!
Next morning we took some photos on 6th Street.
Hope we can come back there in some festival!
Houston TX
On April 7th, we visitted Fukuko-san's house.
There was a bible study meeting of ICC Houston there.
We joined them and Tak played 2 worship songs with an acoustic guitar.
We stayed at Fukuko-san's house. It was very nice, thank you Fukuko&Brian-san.
Tak jammed with Brian-san a bit, it was fun.
On April 8th, we played at Super Happy Fun Land, downtown Houston.
It was a very cool venue.
We played with Bows & Arrows, 10th Grade Cutie. They were all good.
10th Grade Cutie was a real punk rock. We digged it so much.
I heard many people were supposed to come that night because they put the show on some newspaper. Actually crowd was not that big but none the less it was a fun and happy night!
Yes, Super Happy Fun Land rocks!
Little Rock AR, April 9th
We drived for 8 hours and we came to Little Rock AR.
What a pretty town!
Downtown was not so big but everything was so art&pretty!
We all liked the town.
Weather was not good.
During our show, outside was a thunderstorm.
But the show itself was a thunderstorm, too!
We did a very hot show that night.
Cool part of the show was when one guy came to the stage and offered me(Tak) a shot of whisky.
I tried to avoid drinkin the whole shot but people all shoutted like "go ahead and drink the whole shot!", so that's what I did! And people went crazy.
When I played last song of the set I was feeling a little drunk but it was a hot night!!
We love Little Rock!
I think we played Big Rock there!
Nashville TN, April 10.
Again weather was not good.
The guy from the venue told us it's lucky we were alive because we had come through tornado.
But the Nashville show was one of the best.
Mr.Wakaisenshi gave us his original T-shirts specially made for us!!
It was a big pleasure and it gave us a lot of power.
We did a very good show and recieved very good response. Sold many CDs.
We also met Whisper Of The Garden, who is a great singer and plays christian music.
Next morning, we and Whisper and her manager CC had a breakfast together, talking about christianity in Japan and lots of things.
It was a good time.
Around Nashville, there were some mountains and forrests. It looked somehow like Japan. Yes, Nashville, we felt something special. We will come back diffenetely.
Atlanta GA, April 11&12
After having a breakfast with Whisper Of The Garden, we went to Chattanooga.
And there we met Pastor Butch Varner.
He was in Japan before for a long time and he is eager to spread gospel in Japan.
We talked about lots of things and also about his plan of coming to Japan this year. Yes, we are willing to help him in Japan!
By the way there we ate some humbergers at Red Robin. Wow it was very good, possibly the best humberger we ever had. (Because in Japan we have only McDonald's.)
Until this time it turned out that our show in Atlanta was cancelled because of the venue was closing down. Well, hard luck, but this kind of things sometime happens.
So we went directly to Naoko's house. Naoko-san was a friend of Jake's.
She and Jake had met here in Yokohama, Japan.
And she was a christian too.
We were kind of dissapointed because of the cancellation of the show.
But Naoko-san called the pastor of Japanese church in Atlanta and now they would let us play some music in their church!
Yeah, we were very excited! Thanks, Naoko-san!
April 12th, it was Easter Sunday.
We joined Easter Worship at Westminster Japanese Church in Atlanta and played 2 worship songs.
It was such a pleasure to play in a church on Easter Sunday.
Thank you everybody there!
After that, we went to the Stone Mountain and did some sightseeing.
New York City, April 13-15
On April 13th, in the morning we sent our amplifers and equipments to Ken-san.
Because in New York City and Seattle, we don't have to bring our amplifers.
That means when we do our next tour, we start from Dallas TX again.
Anyway, we flew to NYC.
We stayed at some hostel owned by Japanese. There were only Japanese people stayed there, so it's kind of funny.
On April 14th we played at Otto's Shrunken Head in East Village.
We met a Japanese drummer, he played in other band that night.
And our show, it took a while to get everything right on stage, but after all everything was great! We had a good responce and had a good time.
We met Pastor Richy there.
He was a music industry person. Working with many big musicians.
So it's great thing he liked us and offered us a help.
Maybe he can help us when we visit NYC next time.
We wish we could stay longer, so that we can play Pastor Richy's church on Sunday.
Thank you very much, pastor Richy!
On April 15th, we did all the sightseeing. Because it was 1st time visitting NYC for us. We went to Times Square, Broadway, Central Park, East Village, Battery Park and Statue Of Liberty, and we walked and crossed the Brooklyn Bridge.
After all those sightseeing we were all tired but we again met Pastor Richy and did some business talk. Great, hope it works!
On April 16th, I got a phonecall from Mr.Locke from OURS (the band based in NYC), because last year I met him in Utah in a film festival. He was very nice person. But unfortunately this was a day we had to leave NYC. But thanks Mr.Locke!
Seattle WA, April 16-19.
So Seattle, personally for me(Tak) it's 2nd time visitting this city.
This city is beautiful and pretty. We all love Seattle.
On the first day we stayed at cheap hostel near the Pike Place.
We had sent our posters there beforehand, and when we arrived, lo and behold they put our posters all over the place. We were very glad!
We stayed in Seattle for 3 days and it was very lucky we didn't see any rain during our stay. We saw only blue sky. It's very lucky in Seattle isn't it?
April 17th, after we did some sightseeing, including Pike Place Market, 1st Starbucks, Space Needle, we went to the venue.
Again it was very cool venue, it was located in Georgetown and there were lots of crazy people around there partying on the street. Very artistic vibe.
Luckily we had some Japanese audience there. And it was one of the best show, too. Seattle rocks!!
We met Leiko-san and Rae-san. They were very cool people.
On April 18th, Leiko&Rae-san picked us up early morning and we went to Japanese Church in Tacoma.
There we joined worship and Tak plaed 1 worship song with an accoustic guitar.
After that Leiko&Rae-san we drove back to Seattle and did all the sightseeing.
Shawn (Hardison) gave us a Live Recording CD-R from the previous night show. Thanks Shawn!
We went to Washinton University district and Fremont and Capitol Hill. It was fun!
And we had tea at the restaurant by the river near the university bridge with Leiko&Rae-san and their friends. Thanks!
We stayed at Leiko&Rae-san's house, we jammed together with Rae-san in his garage. It was fun! And we had wine and sake and we had fun all night!
And after that, we flew back to Japan!!
All throught the tour, we had great help from Japanese churches and Japanese Christian people. We are very thankful and grateful for that. Thank you for all the people.
And we personally want to say big thanks to Ken-san.
Without her help, this tour was not possible.
We have made friends with some Japanese Christian artists and American pastors willing to come to Japan.
So our next step is to team up with those people and make a big movement in Japan. Yes that's what we will do.
And since this tour was succesful, we want to make it bigger and happier next time.
Things are just starting to move ahead. And we are going to keep them moving.
So guys, see you again soon!!
Tak (Tone) / IMARi ToNES
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