Newsletter - Tour Plan and Fundraising Project

Hi this is Tak from Imari Tones, Japanese Christian rock band.

How are you doing?

We are very busy working on our recording and touring plan.
Today, I will tell you about our current plan and also, our Fundraising project on Kickstarter.com.


Believe it or not, we have come to a very important point in our music endeavour.

Now we are planning our 3rd USA visit / touring.
We have to make it successful and we have to get some chance to open the next door in our music career. And it looks like we will have some opportunities there.
Those are very rare opportunities for Japanese bands like us.
So I guess we are lucky. We thank God for that:)


Here are things we are planning.


1:Recording
Recording plan is under way between us and our friends in Dallas TX and we are going to record some songs there when we visit Dallas in April. We are going to do it with a notable Christian music producer, which will be a great opportunity for us. Fingers crossed!


2:Presentation/Showcase
We are planning to attend some Christian music seminar/conference in Nashville. An independent Christian tour organizer gave us that opportunity. It will be great if we can get together and connect with some music industry people and fellow Christian musicians there. At this point not sure yet but we may also have a opportunity to play a showcase there. It will also be a great opportunity, if it happens.
It reminds me of the last scene of the movie called Wayne's World, back in early 90s, in which Chinese girl sings at an audition that her boyfriend has set up. Something like that, yeh? (Mmm...maybe I'm wrong.)


3:Fundraising at Kickstarter.com
Actually this is the thing we want to tell you most in this newsletter.
We started a "Crowdfunding" project on website called Kickstarter.com, to raise money for this upcoming tour.

Yes, we need your help, honestly.

Kicsktarter.com is a very interesting, new way to connect musicians and fans through fundraising project. If we reach the goal we recieve the money but if we don't reach the goal then no money transaction happens.
We can give you free downloads, CDs, T-shirts, and we will even write a song for you if the fundraising is successful.

So please check it out here on Kickstarter.com!!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/imaritones/japanese-christian-rock-to-tour-usa

Watch the video and "make a pledge"!!



Honestry, it's a kind of hard decision for us to give a try to this kind of fundraising project. However, whether this fundraising itself would be successful or not is not so important for us. Most important thing for us is to connect with you and reach as many people so that more people will get to know about us and Japanese Christian situation.

So please help us and SPREAD THE WORD, even if you will donate or not.

And if you pledge as little as $1, we really appreciate it. It's a big help for us!

For the detail of Kickstarter and Crowdfunding, please see this page.
http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq



4:Tour schedule

Okay, so here is our exciting tour schedule!
(Though some things need to be confirmed yet.)

(And booking process still under way. If you know some good place for us to play, pleaes let us know!)

April 22 Friday, Headhunters, Austin TX
April 23 Saturday, The Moon, Fort Worth TX
April 26 Tuesday, Super Happy Fun Land, Houston TX
April 29 Friday, Music City Bar, Nashville TN
May 1 Sunday, Hamilton Pointe Church, Hixson TN
May 8 Sunday, Crossroads Church and Ministries, New Castle DE
May 13 Friday, Clash Bar, Clifton NJ
May 14 Saturday, GoodByeBlueMonday, Brooklyn NY
May 15 Sunday, Church concert in Long Island area NY (TBA)


Well, that's all so far.
We are still talking with some other venues.
We have to book some more shows here and there....
(Mmm...I have to work on it next week.)


Life is tough for everybody.
It's even tougher if you are an independent musician by any chance.
Recently I talked with our friends and fellow Japanese Christian musicians about Japanese Christian situation.
Hope we have a chance to share it with you.
Well, if only we can translate it into English....


Thank you very much, keep in touch, and God bless!

Tak "Tone" Nakamine
Imari Tones
"The First Christian Heavy Metal from Japan"
http://www.imaritones.net/

"Only One Wish" music video

Hi everybody!
Hope you all are doing fine.
This is Tak "Tone" Nakamine from Imari Tones, Japanese Christian rock band.

Happy new year and hope you have blessed 2011!

For us, 2010 was a good year.
We had a great experience in USA East Coast Tour in February and we grew up as a band, musically and spiritually,
we recorded a album called "Victory In Christ" and released it on iTunes and other outlets,
in the latter half of 2011, we connected to Christian communities around Tokyo and played with several gigs with Eikogo (the very first Christian rock band in Japan).

On Dec 31, new years eve, we had a concert at Misono Baptist Church, Kanagawa, Japan, together with several other Christian acts.

Here is the movie from that concert.



We played with a guest singer Kurojun.
Some of you may know we played with him in 2009, this is the 2nd time we play with him.
He is a great heavy metal singer. Much better than me (I admit).
When we play as a 3-piece band, we are somwhere between heavy metal and garage/indie rock. But when we play with Kurojun, we can play more like real 80s heavy metal band style. So it's fun to play with him in concert.



Today we have a video we want to share with you.


"Only One Wish" Music Video



This is a home-made music video for the song "Only One Wish", which is on the album called "Welcome To The School".

This song "Only One Wish" is one of the 1st worship type song we wrote and we often play it at church concert opportunities.

We made it with our church friends and some fellow Christian musicians and we are all praying for our contry Japan.

It's been a while since we made this kind of "home made" music video.
We did several songs when we were playing at Doctor Manzo's studio (our ex-drummer). Some of them are still on our MySpace, but this time we wanted to do it more Christian way...

Hope you will enjoy it and spread the word.



We are planning USA tour in April-May this year.
Some shows are already booked in several cities and churches, but please allow us some more time to annouce officially.

Hope this year will be a great blessing for everybody and we really thank you for supporting us, an independent band from Japan.


Also don't forget to add us on facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/imaritones


Thank you very much and God bless you mightly this year!

Tak "Tone" Nakamine
Imari Tones
http://www.imaritones.net/

Living Water (new song) movie

Hi this is Tak from IMARi ToNES.

Have you already checked our new album "Victory In Christ"?

It was a album recorded in early this year, but we don't stop.
Actually we are already working on some new songs.


So here is the song titled "Living Water".
We are going to record this song in this coming winter.
(I know it's a very common naming for a Christian song. But I'm sure our Living Water sounds special!)




This is a live performance at Ohkubo Suizokukan, Tokyo, last Wednesday.

Ohkubo Suizokukan is a small venue but it was a special night.

We call ourselves "the first Christian heavy metal from Japan", but do you know who is the first Christian rock from Japan?

It is called "Eikogo", who has been playing Christian rock since 1980's.
http://www.electric-angel.net/

And last Wednesday, we finally shared the stage with them.
It was a fun night, and it was a definitely a special night.
We feel like we are finally recognized in Japanese Christian music community, which is, at this point, not so big community.

So we want to share with you some more of that fun night.
We love small venues, because in small clubs we can rock more intensely and purely.










Thank you and God bless you all!!

Tak
IMARi ToNES

"Victory In Christ" now available!!!

Hi, this is Tak "Tone" Nakamine from Imari Tones, the first Christian heavy metal band from Japan.

Today I'm glad to annouce to you that our new record "Victory In Christ" is now available on iTunes (and other digital retailers).






http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/victory-in-christ/id399151638



Let me tell you a little bit about this album "Victory In Christ".

"Victory In Christ" is, our first 100% Christian rock record.

We became Christians, about 3 years ago.
Before that, we were a normal Japanese hard rock band who is just seeking for the truth of rockn'roll.

After that, we made an album titled "Welcome To The School".
We tried to make it a Christian album.
But we could not do it perfectly.
Because, we thought, in order to really believe God, first we must overcome all the misconceptions and illusions in secular world.
That's why we devided the album in 2 parts, Our Side & His Side.
Our Side was focused on spiritual battle between faith and doubts. And His Side was focused more on Praising God.
"Welcome To The School" was a good rock album, we still believe. And it was a music about spiritual learning. But it was not 100% Christian Praise&Worship album, we admit.


But after that, in this couple of years, we gained more experience.
We toured in USA twice and we played in many churches.
And we learned more about what we are, and what we really should do.
We could express our faith in more straightforward way.

So here is the result.
"Victory In Christ" is definetely the best we can offer.
This is "The first Christian heavy metal from Japan", all songs based on our faith for Jesus Christ. And we rock for Jesus with joy and happiness.


Some of you may know that our strongest song up to this point was the song called "Karma Flower". It was partly because that song was produced & recorded by famous German producer Sascha Paeth. Because of the production quality. (In other words, because of the money.)

But in this album "Victory In Christ", we have even stronger songs like "Faith Rider" and "Love Is To Do Something No One Dares To Do". (We did some research on Jango internet radio and these songs had better reaction than "Karma Flower".)

So we are very excited to release this album and to share this music with you.


Currently "Victory In Christ" is available on iTunes and you can also download it via BandBox and BandCamp on our website and MySpace.

Hope you will check it out and hope you will like it.

(And those who prefer physical CD to digital download, we will try and setup Amazon.com. It will take some more time. Thank you for your patiance.)



We are planning some more things under the table.
We are planning some advertise campaigne,
we are planning a tour next year,
and we are planning recording at least 2 songs in this coming winter.

We are not sure if we are going to release it as an EP or free download tracks, but those 2 songs are called "Living Water" and "Jesus Train".
We can't wait to play those songs in your church.


Also we have several shows booked around Tokyo.
And for those who living near Tokyo, don't forget to check our schedule. Because we have a big show coming on December 2nd Thursday, at Shimokitazawa Garden. It is a biggest venue we have played so far.


That's all for today. (It's already too long, I guess.)

Being Christians in Japan is always not easy.
But in our church VIC Yokohama, we worship Jesus with all our hearts and I feel there is a healing happening.

So I really hope we can share that healing power together.

God bless you all,
Tak "Tone" Nakamine / Imari Tones
http://www.imaritones.net/
http://www.myspace.com/imaritones

"Victory In Christ" artwork finished!

It's been a long wait since we finished the recording of "Victory In Christ" (previously called "God Rocks") in February this year.

Now we are ready to release it....almost!

Because now the artwork is done!

Our friend manga artist gave us the completed album cover last night.

Here it is.

Anime, or Manga picture, as always....because we are Japanese band, and we like kids stuff.

It has Japanese Kanji character "勝利" on it, which means Victory.


Our new album "Victory In Christ" is soon to be released, first in digital format (at iTunes, AmazonMP3, Bandcamp and else), and after that, possibly physical format at Amazon.com. (We know we are the greatest rock band ever in Japan which is almost too good to be true, but at the same time we are VERY INDEPENDENT and still an unknown band, hidden treasure of the world. So please understand about the distribution. We are in Indies era.)

We will give you the detail of digital format distribution, as soon as they are ready.


Just for your information, we are planning a recording of 2 or 3 songs during this year winter. Songs called "Living Water" and "Jesus Train". We're sure it's going to be a blessing for us all.
And next year early spring, another, hopefully bigger tour in USA. At this point, we are planning south and east part.

And after that, we are planning some big things, one of them is a concept album about Japanese Christian history.

Well, hope it's gonna work. Fingers crossed!


We love you and God bless you all!


Tak "Tone" Nakamine / IMARi ToNES

"Faith Rider" YouTube movie

Originally I wrote this song "Faith Rider" as a joke.

I was having a conversation on mixi(Japanese facebook) with one of my friends who likes heavy metal and motor bike and he came up with a word "Gay Rider", which meaning I didn't exactly know, and he said maybe I should write a song by that name, it was a joke.

But I thought it would be interesting and I was already hearing the melody in my head. And 15 minutes later, I got the song.

I made up a simple demo and my friend liked it. And we decided to play that song with our "just for fun" tribute band. We played it in some party and it was good. And I decided to play that song in my own band IMARi ToNES, and I changed the title to "Faith Rider", and came up with the lyrics. And after several times of rehearsals, it turned out to be a very powerful song, expressing both faith for God and hard core spirit.


It is a simple song. Simple and typical heavy metal song. Because this song is originally a joke song, it was a kind of parody of Judas Priest. It's somewhere between "Painkiller" and "Hell Rider", I tried to write some heavy metal parody. And I'm using many simple power chords. Usually I don't write songs this way, I prefer using more complex chords and riffs. But in this song I used many simple power chords. But just to make thing a bit more interesting, I wrote the main riff using 7/4 times. And just as an homage to Stryper, I added the words "we are soldiers under God's command" in the lyrics.

This song is different from other IMARi ToNES songs. It's exceptional. It's more simple and easy to understand, and it's more powerful.

In the beginning it was a joke song, but it turned out to be one of band's most powerful songs. This often happens in the history of Rockn'roll. Black Sabath "Paranoid", Led Zeppelin "Whole a lot of love", Deep Purple "Smoke On The Water", I heard they were just a additional song written in the last minute.


So now I made a cheap movie of this song, using photos from our latest photo session. These photos represent the character of our band very well. We are always somewhere between heavy metal and pop/punk. Too heavy for pop listers, too pop for headbangers.

I wish we could come up with more professional movie, but it's okay we are just an unknown band from Japan. Possibly the only metal band in Japan carrying a sign cleary saying "Christian Rock".

If any of you like this song, we are glad.


p.s.
Just as mentioned above, we had a photo session and now all our websites are updated with those new photos.
You can check the photos here.
http://www.myspace.com/imaritones/photos/albums/photosession-august-2010/969458
http://www.reverbnation.com/imaritones#/page_object/page_object_photos/artist_243863


Tak / IMARi ToNES

伊万里音色 IMARi ToNES "That's why i love you"

ひさしぶりのラヴレターです。
またも、「光のヒーロー」からになります。
あのときは、それまでやりたかった曲を、たくさんやったからね。

It's been a while since my last "love letter".
Again it's a song from "Hero Of The Lights", recorded in 2004-2005.



このThat's why i love youは、バックグラウンドストーリーというか、いわくつきの曲で、
この曲を書いたのは、もう今からするとはるか昔だけれど、1998年。

そのとき、かのVan Halenが、Extremeのゲイリー・シェローンをヴォーカリストに迎えて、問題作「Van Halen 3」をリリースしようとしていた。


This song "That's why i love you" has some funny background story.
It was written back in 1998, which was a long ago.
Back then, Mighty Van Halen was about to release that controversial "Van Halen 3" with Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone.




で、発売前に、雑誌でインタビューとか見て、待ちきれなかった僕は、雑誌に載っていたトラックリスト、曲名をもとに、自分で勝手に曲を書いて、「仮想Van Halen 3」を自分の頭の中で作っちゃったのね。

で、この曲は、その中のひとつなんだけれど、
おかしなことに、雑誌に載っていたそのVan Halenの曲のうち、
"That's Why I Love You"と名付けられた曲は、アルバムの発売直前に、諸事情によりボツになってしまい、実際にはアルバムには収録されなかった。

でも、僕は自分で作った「仮想Van Halen 3」のうち、この曲はすごく気に入っていたので、自分のバンドで演奏することにした。



Before the release of "Van Halen 3", I was reading music magazines and there was a track list. I could not hardly wait until the release, so I wrote songs myself by the titles on the magazine. Before its release, I had my own version of "Van Halen 3" in my head.

This song "That's why i love you" was one of those songs I wrote then. But funny thing was, Van Halen's "That's Why I Love You" was not on actual album, since it was replaced by another song at the last moment.

So I decided to play this song with my own band.



この曲は、すごくくさいラヴソングです。
歌詞もすごくダイレクトで、自分の中にある孤独がよく現れてる。


ギターソロは感情がこもっていてとても気に入っています。

この曲は、米持プロデューサーによって、"Japanese Pop"にも英語バージョンが収録されているけれど、いろんな理由で、このオリジナルの日本語バージョンの方が気に入っています。



This song is very serious love song.
Lyrics is so direct, which expresses the loneliness and solitude inside me.
And the guitar solo is very emotional, which was my favorite part.

This song was re-recorded by Mr.Yonemochi, the producer of "Japanese Pop" in 2006.
But personally I prefer this original Japanese version for several reasons.




歌詞
Lyrics

***

いつからか僕のこの目には 透き通る幻が見えていた
人には決して見えないもの 胸の中の真実
いつだって孤独だったんだよ どこにいても同じことさ
僕は運命を背負い 自分の道を作らなきゃいけない

Since one day my eyes was seeing transparent illusions
Something nobody else can see, the truth in my heart
I was alone at any time, no matter where I may have been
I have to take on my destiny and create my way



すがりつけるものは何も無いんだよ
この広い世界のどこを探したとしても

There is nothing which can help me
Nothing in this world

That's why i love you
That's why i love you
だから君を失うことなど無いんだよ
生きてるたった一つのＲｅａｓｏｎ知るよ

That's why i love you
That's why i love you
So there is no way I can lose you
And I learn the only reason to live


胸の中に隠してる事実 まるで無視するように
考えすぎだと言い聞かせ 街のビートに沈み込む

You indulge yourself to the beat of the city
as if you ignore the fact inside you

たどりつく場所はいつも同じなんだよ
この広い世界のどこをさまようとしても
You only reach the same place
Wherever you may wander in this world


That's why i love you
That's why i love you
自分の命を譲ることはできないよ
生きてるそれがすべてのＲｅａｓｏｎだから
わかってほしいだなんて言わないけれど
生きてるたったひとつの真実失いたくない
ウソはないんだよ
この事実に 告げた言葉に 触れた指先に


That's why i love you
That's why i love you
I can't lie my own life
Because that's the only reason to live
I'm not gonna say please understand me
but I don't wanna lose the only truth in my life

Yes it is all truth
The fact between us, the words I told you, the touch I touched you


***




Hope you enjoy the song.
God bless,
Tak "Tone" Nakamine