Fujirockers: The official fansite of the Fuji Rock Festival

Go Chic

And by this, I mean bands, not attendees or virgin Fujirockers like Clay.

One of the things myself and fellow Fujirockers really look forward to each year is getting a chance to see which new (or near new) bands get to give it a shot on the Rookie A Go-Go stage late in the evening at the Palace of Wonder.

We’ve been lucky enough to catch Lite (as Shawn will attest),  A Flood of Circle, two of my favorite Japanese rock acts Mass of the Fermenting Dregs and Bo-peep, the Harp On Mouth Sextet, and many other wild acts in their natural habitat.

This year, the festival received over 1,700 applications from bands all across Japan (and Taiwan) wanting to play the Rookie A Go-Go stage (that’s about 200 more than last year). Only 15 get chosen.

The stage is sponsored by Strummerville, a foundation set up to assist aspiring musicians by the family and friends of Joe Strummer the year after his death.

This year will mark the rookie stage’s 10th anniversary and will feature acts performing rock, hip hop, psychedelic rock, ska, samba, and progressive….umm, stuff.

Here’s the list:

Jooubachi
Hey Smith
Carib Jams
Alt
Aragehonzi
Go Chic (from Taiwan)
The Salovers
Higurashi Records Inc
Uchujin
Kaisokutokyo
The Rich
99RadioService
Core of Bells
Odottebakarinokuni
Kantasumurata and Sanbamachines

Links to their Myspace pages and profiles are on the Fuji Rock Festival lineup page or even better – on the FRF news page (it’s in Japanese, but really…all you need to do is click on the nice pictures).