Oh Hai Mucc - Japanese Metal Takes Over The Fillmore

Japan is widely regarded as a closed society and is incredibly homogenous – 99% of Japan’s population is 100% Japanese. It is also fiercely protective of its culture, with strict standards for behavior, clothing and appearance. Sort of like that FLDS compound in Texas, but without the polygamy. Or those Little House on the Prairie dresses.

So imagine my surprise, upon walking into the Fillmore on December 7 to see the Japanese metal group Mucc, to find a huge group of Japanese teenagers decked out in their Hot Topic-finest, complete with black latex, red plaid, and fill-in-the-blank wacky hair color. Equally unexpected was the other half of the crowd who appeared to be homegrown, white-bred Americans. That they spoke no Japanese did not stop them from singing along with Mucc’s heavily eye-linered lead singer, Tatsurou.

While the lyrics may not have immediately resonated with the English speaking crowd, the music translates well into American rock. The instrumentals could easily be confused with Korn or Disturbed. Seemingly eager to appeal to his American audience Tatsurou adopted several typical rockstar-isms, repeatedly asking that they “go fucking crazy” or “fuck it.” His limited English kept the between-song banter to a minimum, but the bands' hardcore shell cracked for one adorable moment about halfway through the set: while catching his breath, Tatsurou told the crowd he was “so happy come again.”

Based on this performance, and if more people can get into Japanese lyrics, Mucc stands a good chance of breaking into mainstream American rock. They are great performers who connected to the audience and moved their fans to hit one another in one song and cry in the next (no joke – actual tears were shed). While their decisively untraditional hair and makeup suggest that they are jazzed to shed the conventional Japanese image and jump into American rock, one aspect of Japanese culture snuck in – every band member I could see was barefoot.






**By Jesy B, our newest writer who also happens to work at a Japanese bank...is there a coincidence here?

Best of 2008

I had to do this for work and figured I should post here, too.

Hope I'm not forgetting anything!

* By Joelle, who is drinking Egg Nog coffee. Yum!


The Only 2008 Releases I Bought & Therefore Love (in no order)



*The Kooks, KONK

* Butch Walker, Sycamore Meadows

* Val Emmich, Little Daggers

* The Matches, A Band in Hope

* She & Him (Vol. 1)

* Hanson, The Walk



Shows That Rocked My '08:

The Kooks @ Terminal 5

Sohodolls @ CMJ

Stone Temple Pilots @ PNC

Butch Walker (multiple shows)

Hanson @ The Wellmont

The Matches @ Stone Pony

Val Emmich @ Maxwells

Perfuma @ CMJ

The Gay Blades @ Irving Plaza



Band I Wish Toured in '08: lostprophets

In case you didn't notice before:

*By Jess, who likes Coldplay, but is on Team Satriani.

Dear Katy Perry,

You didn't get shafted, sweetheart. You got lucky.

As a manufactured posterchild for AutoTune, the fact that you even received a Grammy nomination in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category, despite not being able to sing live to save your life, is a pretty big deal. For you to then post a blog entry implying that you got "shafted" when you were "shut out" of the other categories is an insult. It's an insult to my ears and to the industry that morphed you from an attention-starved blonde Christian artist who can't sing to an attention-starved brunette pseudopinup who still can't sing but has good producers.

Any number of artists would kill just to get signed, let alone nominated for a Grammy in any one category, and this is how you thank the Academy?

Katy, you're not Kanye. Establish some credibility as an artist instead of as a puppet. Learn to sing live instead of jumping into cakes. Use your vocal chords to do your job instead of running your over-lipsticked mouth. The right to throw a tantrum is reserved to those with talent. Stop biting the hands that feed you, or you'll soon be starving--and you'll deserve that more than any award I can imagine.

Love,

*Jess, who is transparently biased.

Celebrate Compassion with Farm Sanctuary and On The Verge

If you're in NYC it's not too late to get your ticket to Farm Sanctuary's Winter Wonderland. Join us along with special guests Laurie Anderson, Alison Becker, Jennifer Coolidge, Corey Feldman, Peter Max, Patrick McDonnell, Tatum O'Neal, Maulik Pancholy, Daniela Sea, Ally Sheedy, Princess Superstar, Loretta Swit and Justin Theroux to celebrate compassion for all beings and give farm animals the gift of life.

Farm Sanctuary works to end cruelty to farm animals and promotes compassionate living through rescue, education and advocacy. They envision a world where the violence that animal agriculture inflicts upon people, animals and the environment has ended, and where instead all exercise values of compassion.

On The Verge will be on hand to film at Winter Wonderland with celebrity guests, Farm Sanctuary reps and other awesome vegans as part of our Start Something segment for the upcoming internet TV show. (More on the launch and some video previews soon, sit tight!) I'll also be auctioning off a 90 minute personal yoga session... are you not convinced yet that you should check it out? Head on over to Farm Sanctuary and donate.

The All-American Rejects sleep late.

Planet Verge caught up with close personal friend Nick Wheeler of the All-American Rejects, who discussed their new album, When the World Comes Down, a day in the life, and why he hates new lineups of classic rock bands.

How's New York treating you?
It's awesome! We're taping the Today Show tomorrow. That's gonna be fun, except soundcheck is at 6:15. In the morning. I'm going to bed by like, 5 p.m. tonight.

That's a lot earlier than you're used to.
Yeah, but it's cool 'cause we don't have a show tonight, so I'll be able to rest a little bit.



You guys have been touring for a while. What's a typical day like? Any fun debauchery?
No, no real debauchery... We're actually kind of boring. We'll sleep til around 12... Or 1... Or 2. Then we usually have to soundcheck by around 3. We have meet and greets daily, then it's showtime. But we do enjoy, as the British call them, "pints." We drink pints and watch a lot of movies on the bus.

Nice. What are your most-played DVDs?
We just finished Kickin' It Old School, and then there's the classics--your Big Lebowski, your Walk Hard and as always, your Kung Pow: Enter the Fist.

You were slated to play the Stone Pony. Isn't that small for you guys?
Yeah, we were gonna play there until they decided two days before that they felt like remodeling the roof. We like that we're playing smaller clubs and bars this tour. We haven't done that in a while. It feels good to get back to that.




What's the weirdest experience you've had at a meet and greet?
Some girl brought us Jell-o shots the other day. We didn't drink them, though. We didn't trust them. So we gave them to the opening band.

You gave the Jell-o shots to Jet Lag Gemini?
I'm just jokin'. I actually like those guys. I wouldn't do that to them, they're so nice.

You wrote your album all around the continent. What was your favorite or most inspiring locale?
We had the most fun in this random cabin in the woods in Georgia. We were there for 12 days and it was pretty insane. We'd wake up around 3 p.m. and drink wine til around 5 or 6. Then we'd drink beer til around 11 or 12. Then we'd write until around 4 or 5 a.m... Then do it again the next day.




Do you guys have any political songs on this record? Move Along had "Top of the World," which seemed like a poetic "fuck you" to George Dubya.
We don't have anything too overt. We feel like since we're in a position where a lot of our younger listeners can be influenced by what we say, we want to be careful about it. We don't think it's our place to tell people what or how to think or vote or what to believe. We do, though, have a sort of an apocalyptic love song--"Mona Lisa"--and a song called "Real World" that kind of examines the world a little. One of the lines in "Mona Lisa" is, "You can sit beside me when the world comes down." And "Real World" is like, "This can't be the real world now." As in things can't suck nearly this badly, can they?" Except, you know, not in those words. Tyson's a lot more poetic than I am--there's a big, huge reason why he writes the lyrics and I don't.

What's on your iPod lately?
This is gonna sound bad, but I really hate most new music that's out. I'm just generally unimpressed by almost everything that's being churned out recently.

You know, there's a new Guns n' Roses album out...
I do know, Jessica, and you know what else I know? And I know you know it too: We know it's a piece of shit. I mean, we waited, what? 17 years for that? Really? And you know what else I refuse to listen to? The new Queen. I can understand going on tour with a new singer since your old one is dead, but recording?

It's not Queen without Freddie.
Exactly! This is why we get along.





I'll let you get your rest in just a minute, but first: Butch Walker complained that no one asks questions like "What's your favorite color?" anymore. What's your favorite color?
You know, some other girl in New Jersey actually asked me that yesterday. I told her "11" and she yelled at me because that's a number and not a color. She didn't get it. But when someone asks something that dumb, how can you not give a smartass answer?

That's not a color. That's a number.
I'll tell you what it really is so your answer is different than hers.

Oh yeah?
Yup. My favorite color is... Zebra.

Hey man, at least that's a pattern.
See? I knew I liked you.





*By Jess, who first interviewed this goon back in early 2003, then stood in the cold November rain at 5 a.m. almost six years later to watch his band perform on Today.

Lostprophets Sneak Peak New Album

I am so freakin' excited I had to post this footage for you all below. Can't wait to hear the new lostprophets album! Fingers crossed that they tour America really soon because they are just amazing. And really, America needs to wake up and realize the hit-o-licious tunes this Welsh band creates.

(and now a mild rant....)

It's so sad mainstream rock radio over here is consumed by Avenged Sevenfold (nothing more than guidos with tattoos), Nickelback and I don't even know what else because it's so bad I never turn on the radio. OH-- but have you seen commercials for that totally corny band Thriving Ivory? For real, who in their right mind would sign those guys???? Ick.

(back to our feature presentation...)

Check out this video: LOSTPROPHETS studio blog 1



PS-- lostprophet recruited drummer Ilan was just announced as the new drummer for Nine Inch Nails. Read all about it: www.myspace.com/lostprophets



*By Joelle, who loooooooooooooooves lostprophets and has stolen the name of their second album (Start Something) as a segment name for the upcoming Planet Verge web-TV show, On the Verge. Just you wait and see what it's all about!

This is just the begining...

Get the Facts

Fast Times, Good Times With The Academy Is

Last night I caught The Academy Is show at Roseland for their NYC stop for the Bill & Trav's Bogus Journey Tour. The Academy Is' 80s-themed tour name goes along well with their newest album name, that plays off the 1982 Cameron Crowe film as well, called "Fast Times at Barrington High." Barrington High is where Adam Siska (Bass) and William Beckett (Vocals) went to high school.

Adam and William shared some high school memories with me earlier that day in an exclusive video interview for On The Verge. While they sometimes felt like outsiders in high school, they warmly remember tapping into their love for music and allowing that to help them cruise through their years at Barrington High. Well that, and for Adam, cutting class helped too. I had to agree with him there.

After a long day of interviews with the likes of us, Sirius Radio, MTV and Seventeen, the guys went on to play an adrenaline-rushing hour-plus long set at Roseland. I recalled when I sat with William for On The Verge that day he was collected, insightful and dare I say... sweet. When I finished the interview, my impression of both William and Adam was that they were incredibly down to earth, smart, sweet guys. When I saw them on stage last night, they were rockstars: animated, sexy and fully playing off the crowd. There was but one moment of the show that reminded me of the guys I had met earlier that day: William is gearing up to play Winter Passing on acoustic guitar and gets hit by a full-cup white bra. While a typical rockstar (think 80s metal) might've picked the bra up and checked it out before draping it over his guitar neck, William instead tossed the bra to the back of the stage and said, "What are you gonna do now? You threw your bra on stage..." I laughed.

Back into rockstar-mode, William seemed to have down a perfectly choreographed mic-flipping, swinging and throwing routine that drove the fans crazy. All this while passionately belting out hit after hit - from the new loves like, About A Girl to old favorites (and apparently Butcher's favorite song to play live), Classifieds.

Enjoy the photos below (for you Butch fans, notice his old guitarist Michael sporting one of the new Butch Walker tees from the Sycamore Meadows tour). And of course, get ready, On The Verge is coming soon...

The Matches Make Getting Lost on the Way to a Show Worth It

Dearest readers,

I had the pleasure of interviewing one of the most intriguing, multi-talented and alluring frontmen in music -- Shawn Harris (The Matches)-- for On the Verge this past weekend. I must say, it was one of the most relaxing interviews I've ever conducted. He is so laid back and fun, it's like talking to a friend- A swave friend who efficiently manages to plug all his passions and projects before you even get a chance to ask about them.

There's some inside scoop for you. The rest, you'll have to watch On the Verge to find out.


And if you have yet to.... Read my review of A Band in Hope and more about why we love The Matches: http://planetverge.blogspot.com/search/label/the%20matches


*By Joelle, who is posting these videos for Shawn. You'll know why once you watch On the Verge







ENJOY THESE PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW!






























Dying to know what Joelle talked to Shawn about? Then tune into On The Verge and watch the interview! Details on our debut on the way...