IMARi ToNES is so pleased to annouce the release of 2 live recordings.
"IMARi ToNES in Glory Zone" and "Dosamawari Live 2010", which were recorded during our East Coast Tour USA February 2010.
You can download the albums from Bandbox for FREE.
The reason we made these 2 live disks free was, because it was simply a blessing we want to share.
And naturally, we want to fill the gap while we look for a proper way to release our new recording called "God Rocks". Yes we are now a Christian Rock band. And with "God Rocks", we really became a Christian rock band. So we want to offer these live recordings to introduce what we are....the first Christian heavy metal from Japan.
"IMARi ToNES in Glory Zone" was a live recording at Gloryzone Ministries, long island New York. It was one of the best concerts we had so far. And the real miracle was when Tak said "No, you don't have to pray for us. But please pray for our nation Japan." Yes, that is our goal and our promise. We have to change our nation. We are soldiers. We are sacrifices.
"Dosamawari Live 2010" shows IMARi ToNES more as a rockn'roll band. "Dosamawari" means, in Japanese, unkown musicians doing a club circuit (usually very small and dirty clubs and venues) looking for a chance. So this is our "Dosamawari" all the way from Japan. But we all know that's the most important thing for Rockn'Roll.
"IMARi ToNES in Glory Zone" Free download available at Bandbox and Monstar.fm
1:Opening 2:Testimony 3:Precious 4:Love Is To Do Something No One Dares To Do 5: i love you, now ur on your own 6:Only One Wish 7:Iron Hammer 8:Winning Song 9:Faith Rider 10:Pray For Japan
"Dosamawari Live 2010" Free download available at Bandbox and Monstar.fm
1:Testimony 2:Big World 3:Precious 4:Winning Song 5:Love Is To Do Something No One Dares To Do 6: Only One Wish 7:God Kids 8:Iron Hammer 9:i love you, now ur on your own 10:A Girl In The Mirror 11:Illusions
Our ultimate goas is to spread the gospel in Japan and change our home country. (In Japan, many people don't believe in God. Currently only 1% of the population is Christians.) Please help us create a "buzz" with this free release and change the situation a bit.
Thank you for our friends in Japan, especially our church friends at Victory International Church Yokohama. Pastor Yaw and everyone. Thank you for praying for us.
Thank you for Jun-san and Merry-san.
And Ryo-kun, thank you for sending the email to cheer me up. It gave me so much energy to overcome my weakness.
And most of all, our Lord, Jesus Christ, thank you for every blessing you gave to us, and giving us a mission to spread Gospel in our home country, Japan.
As you see, our new songs are very Christian. You can feel the power of Holy Spirit. I guess probably you will like the song called "Love Is To Do Something No One Dares To Do", which is about sacrifice and devotion.
With this new recording, 2010 it's gonna be a very important year for us. And we are gonna make it a big year.
Please support and spread the word, thanks.
And we are just about to leave for our USA East Coast Tour soon.
This time we are going to attend Millennium Music Conference in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. And we will have several other gigs in the cities around East Coast.
If you are near, please come by and see us and we will be very glad.
Here is the schedule. For more detail, check our website or MySpace blog.
Please note that most of the bars are +21.
February 20th (Saturday) Capital Area Christian Church, Harrisburg PA (Millennium Music Conference show case) We play 8:20PM slot All ages show
February 21th (Sunday) Gloryzone church, Bohemia NY (11AM church service worship music, and 6PM concert. For details please check with the church) All ages show
February 23th (Tuesday) Otto's Shrunken Head, NYC We play 9PM slot
February 24th (Wednesday) The Wonderland Ballroom, Washington DC We play 9PM slot
February 25th (Thursday) MOJO 13, Wilmington DE We play 10:30 slot
Febryary 26th (Friday) Clash Bar, Clifton NJ We play 9:45 or 10:30 slot
That's all for now. Thank you very much and God bless you all!
We are now midst of the recording session of new songs. If everything goes well, we can upload some of them soon.
And today we will annouce our short trip to USA in coming February.
We will attend Millennium Music Conference, which takes place in Feburary 18-21 in Harrisburg PA. We will play a showcase gig there. http://www.musicconference.net/
It's not huge SXSW nor CMJ Marathon, it's a mid-sized local conference. But we are very excited to see other musicians and industry people there.
And we will play several more gigs in some cities on East Coast.
We can't wait to play our new songs to you. Because with those new songs, we are more powerful, and most importantly, we are more Christian Rock than ever!
First Christian Heavy Metal from Japan. It's not a joke!
Hope to see you soon!
Here is the schedule.
February 20th (Saturday) Capital Area Christian Church, Harrisburg PA http://www.capitalareachurch.com (Millennium Music Conference show case) We play 8:20PM slot
February 21th (Sunday) Gloryzone church, Bohemia NY http://www.gloryzone.org/ (Worship music, need to be confirmed)
IMARi ToNES is currently in recording session for our new record temporary called "God Rocks".
Also planning a short trip to East Coast USA in February, including attending Millennium Music Conference in Harrsburg PA and several other shows. Details to be annouced soon.
And today I also report and say thank you about Sakuragicho Gospel Concert on December 12th. It was hosted by the church we go to, Victory International Church Yokohama, and we played with many other Japanese Gospel musicians. It was a big fun and it was a big blessing.
Thank you for these Christian musicians who joined us on that day.
伊万里音色(Imari Tones)が、バンドとして旬だった時代がありまして、 それは、2004年から2005年にかけての、 Tone、はらっち、みねっちの3人でやっていたときです。 黄金トライアングル時代と勝手に呼んでます。 There was a time when Imari Tones was at its best. That was 2004-2005 era, when Tone, Haratti, and Minetti were together in the band. I call it "The golden triangle era".
もちろん、今、はっしー&ジェイクとともに、このバンドは二度目の旬を迎えつつあるわけですが、 Off course, now Imari Tones is coming to its second golden time with Hassy&Jake.
それまで、このバンドを形にしようと、準備をしてきて、 やっと形になったのが、この時期で、 伊万里音色の、自分たちで歩いてきた歴史の中でも、 このときがいちばん、日本の普通のバンドらしい時期だったんじゃないかと思います。 However, it was the time the band started to take its form, and it was the time when Imari Tones sounded like a Japanese band most.
この時期の代表曲はいろいろあります。 日本のロックらしい情感を伴った「丘上烈風」であるとか、 切れ味のある「虚数少年２」、 今でも演奏している「Winning Song」のオリジナルバージョン（ギターソロがもっと簡単なバージョンだった）が生まれたのもこの時期です。 There are many songs which represent this era. "Kyu-Jo-Reppoo" which has Japanese emotinal melody, "The Imaginary Number Boy 2" which has a sharp edge, and also the original version of "Winning Song" (more simple guitar solo) was born in this era.
ハードロックというよりは、 パンク要素やポップの要素がごたまぜになった、ミクスチャー状態でしたが、 要は王道のポップバンドだったと思います。 It was a kind of mixture state of punk, rock and pop, rather than metal or hardrock. In a simple word, it was a "Japanese Pop Band".
この「Must Be....」という曲は、 作曲自体は、1998年に作られたものです。 バラードではないですが、きれいなメロディのポップソングで、 この曲を書いたとき、ちょっと僕は精神的に辛かったり、先が見えない状態にありました。 This song "Must Be...." was actually written in 1998. It was not a ballad in exact meaning, but it has a beautiful melody. I was having a hard time of my life when I wrote this song. And my mind was in a darkness.
そんな中でも、生きていることに感謝をしよう、という気持ちでつむぎだしたメロディであると思います。 In that dark time, I tried to thank God and be grateful to life. That's what this song is all about.
この曲は、ストリングスというのか、キーボードのアレンジが、ポイントになっています。 One of the key points of this song is a strings sound.
ライヴでも演奏していましたが、その際は、キーボードはなし、あるいは、一度、うちの妹に、キーボードを弾いてもらって演奏したこともありました。 When playing live, we play it without a keyboard, or sometimes my little sister joined as a keyboard player. Or sometimes with a sequencer.
ヴァース部分の、ピチカートの音と一緒に鳴っているストリングスのメロディが、とても気に入っています。 I personally like the melody of the strings in the verse part, with the pizzicato sound.
それから、間奏、ギターソロの部分が、とても美しいサウンドになり、とても気に入っています。その部分も、ストリングスのアレンジがいい感じだと思うのですが、ミックスの関係で細かい部分があまり聞こえません（笑） Strings sound in the interlude is also beautiful. I personally like that part but actually most of them are buried in the mix.(omg)
この時期に書いた曲の中では、これも代表曲のひとつである、"Good Bye, My Sunshine Town"と同じくらい、きれいなギターソロというか間奏部分なんではないかと思います。 ギターソロもごくごくシンプルなものですが、この部分に、僕の命の音がすべて鳴っていると思います。 これが僕の祈りであり、祈るギターソロです。 It is as good as "Good Bye, My Sunshine Town", which was written in the same era and also has a beautiful guitar solo part. Guitar solo itself is very simple, but this is my "sound of life" there.
日本語でこういう歌ものを書くと、歌詞の問題でどうしても尺が長くなってしまい、曲も5分超で、ちょと長いのですが、ぜひ聞いてみて欲しいです。 Bad thing is, when I write pop songs like this in Japanese, due to the language and lyrics, it tends to be lengthy. It's over 5 minutes. But I hope you like it.
歌詞です。 クリスチャンになった今となっては、 よくあるパターンとして、 「君」を、神様、と読み替えることも、できるかもしれません。 And here is the lyrics. Since now I am a Chrisitian, maybe you can think "You" as "God".
僕はクリスチャンになったのはごくごく最近ですが、 ずっと前に書いた、この曲のサウンドは、 クリスチャンになる前からも、神様がずっとそばにいてくれたという、 ひとつの証明の音だよね、と、自負しています。 Though it was just a few years ago I became a Christian, I think the sound of this song proves that God had been always with me even before I became a Christian.
I kept walking in this time and life making mistakes But you have loved me so much I remember all the things I saw when I spent time with you The scent that brings back my memory, and I begin to lose my mind
Must Be All Right 日が沈むよ 回っていくよ この僕の上で 続いていくよ とりとめもない 新しい日々が Must Be All Right
Must be all right The sun goes down, the world goes around upon me The life goes on The new days which are full of joy and sorrow Must be all right
People keep walking with the wounds that don't heal And the blood shed never fade away with our memories People still move on holding Love in their arms Please don't forget there is nothing meaningless
Must Be All Right 問い掛けるよ この胸の奥 愛しい昨日よ 流れる時も すべては一つさ カコもミライも ふりあおぐよ かがやく星を ちっぽけな僕を よかったのだろう すべてこれで 愛しい明日よ Must Be All Right
Must be all right I keep asking in my mind, memories of yesterday Time is passing but everything is one, even future and the past I look up at the stars shining and think of myself so tiny in this world Everything is all right after all, I can embrace tomorrow Must be all right
この曲は、はらっち、みねっち、と共に作った"光のヒーロー"という作品に入っています。 This song is included in the album called "Hero Of The Lights" which was recorded by Tone, Haratti, and Minetti.
ラブレターの最初の曲は、 クリスチャンらしくこの曲にしたいと思います。 I chose this song as the first song of the "Love Letter", trying to act like a Christian.
2005年の秋に、10枚の自主制作の旅路の、最後の1枚として"fireworks"と名付けた作品の中の曲です。 This is a song in the album I named "fireworks", which was recorded in the autumn of 2005 as the last one album of our 10 independent works.
ちなみに、Imari Tonesという名前を、伊万里音色、と漢字で表記するようになったのは、ここ1、2年のことです。 Actually we started spelling our band name in Chinese Character (Kanji) just 1 or 2 years before.
この曲は、作曲は、2003年11月、はらっち、それから、ヒッチー、をいちゃん、と、埼玉某所の一軒家に一緒に住んで、バンド活動を始めようというときに、僕は1ヶ月で55曲、だったかな、くらいを書く作曲セッションをしました。その中の1曲です。 ちなみに、このときは、一月、バイトもしない期間を設けたので、時間もありましたが、今年の6月に曲を書いたときには、普通に働いていて、それでも一月で50曲できたので、むしろ今の方が、創作のスピードは上がっているかもしれません。 When we --Haratti, Hitchie, Woi-chan, and Me-- started living together in Saitama prefecture and trying to start a band in 2003, and it was November 2003, I did some songwriting session myself and wrote 55 songs. This song "Sirase Kitaru" is one of them. During that period, I didn't do any dayjob or partime job. Now this year June, I did my dayjob and wrote 50 songs in a month, so maybe my writing speed became faster, maybe.
詞を作ったのは、記録によれば2004年の1月です。 しかし、2004年の、はらっち、みねっちとの黄金トライアングル時代には、演奏リストには入っておらず、2005年後半の、僕一人による制作です。 According to the memo, the lyric was written in January 2004. However, this song was not included in our setlist during "Golden Triangle Era" with Haratti and Minetti. So this song was recorded almost by myself in late 2005.
歌詞を書いたときにも、録音制作をしているときにも、この曲の歌詞が、何について歌っているのか、自分自身、よくわかりませんでした。 Actually I myself had no idea what this song is talking about, even when I was writing the lyric, nor when I was recording the song.
しかし、「報せ来る」、この報せ、というのは、もちろん、良い知らせ、ということで、つまり英語にすると、"Here comes the Good News"となります。 However, the title "Sirase Kitaru", and "Sirase" means a "news", in this case, a good news. So in English, it means like "Here comes the good news".
福音来たる。 つまり、 イエス来たる。 Which means, Here comes the gospel, Here comes Jesus.
ということで、そうか、これは、クリスチャンソングなんだ、と、クリスチャンになった後に、僕はわかったんです。 （いや、勘違いかも、しれませんけど、ひとまず今は、そう解釈しています。） So, now, after I became a Christian, I finally understood that this song is about Jesus. (I may be wrong, but at least that's my understanding.)
歌詞の内容としては、 遠い昔に交わされた約束が、Good Newsとともに実現する、という内容になっています。 イザヤ書の預言みたいだと思います。 The content of the lyric is, mostly about the promise made a long time ago becomes true with the good news. A bit like the prophecy of Izaya.
そして、福音と、救い主、救済に出会うことができた喜びを、曲と歌詞が全身で表現しています。 And the whole song expresses the joy of salvation, the joy of seeing messaiah.
また、歌詞の最後に、ある「あなたが変わる」というフレーズも、 当時は意味不明だったんですが、 クリスチャンにとっての、信仰によって新たに生まれ変わるという意味だと、今では一応解釈しています。 And the last part of the lyric, it says "YOU are going to change" which I did't understand what it means at the time I wrote the song, now I know it's about being born again by faith. At least that's my understanding.
僕の音楽的なバックグラウンドとしては、 アメリカンハードロック、古典的ブリティッシュハードロック、90年代ブリットポップ、90年代オルタナティヴ、日本の古典的なロック、などがありますが、それらがの影響がバランスよく表れているサウンドなんじゃないかと思います。 My musical background / influences are, American Hard Rock, Classic British Rock, 90s Brit Pop, 90s Alternative, Japanese Classic Rock, and so on, but I guess this song is a good mix of them.
えっと、この作品"fireworks"は、現在、CD販売、してないんですが、 デジタル販売であれば、 Well, this album "fireworks", CD disk is not available currently. However, digital download is available on....
一応、ダウンロードできるようになっています。 You can buy/download on those website.
これら自主制作をiTunes Storeにものっけるかどうかは悩み中。 I'm still wondering if I should put this album on iTunes Music Store or not.
歌詞です。 And here is the lyric.
「報せ来る」 "Sirase Kitaru" (Here comes the good news)
待ち焦がれた 報せ来たる 擾乱の狭間から （じょうらん） 遠い昔 固く結ぶ 約束を果たしに A good news comes from the disturbance of the time To realize the promise made a long ago
運命の呼び声を この胸が聞いている この身体 この心 そのために燃やし尽くそう My heart hears the voice of the destiny calling I will burn my body and soul for it
時空超え手繰り寄せたこの今を 決して離さない すべてのものに理由があるように貴方 僕は感じてる Beyond the time I came through and met this moment I will never let it go I'm feeling as though everything has its meaning
待ち焦がれた 報せ来たる 遠い日のあなたから はるか未来 かたく誓った 約束を形に Here comes the good news from YOU who lived a long time ago To realize the promise about the future far away
未来を過去を愛をつなぐこの瞬間を 決して忘れない 世界と私ひとつになるこの奇跡 このためにきっと 時空超え手繰り寄せたこの今を 二度と離さない すべてのものに理由があるように貴方 僕は感じてる This moment unify the future and the past, and the love I will never forget it The miracle I become as one with the world. This is what we've been waiting for Beyond the time I came through and met this moment I will never let it go I'm feeling as though everything has its meaning
「待たせてごめんよ」 Sorry to keep you waiting so long
報せ来たる すべてを変える 報せ来たる あなたが変わる Here comes the good news It changes everything Here comes the good news You are going to change
Hope you enjoy the song. God bless, Tak "Tone" Nakamine
