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Just some random shots taken as we stumbled around the Festival. As Canadian icon Art Bergmann once rasped, “I love the people I eat and the food I meet…”
Author Archive
Jul
0
FRF Staff Picks: Jeff (Part 2): Wellie wanging
It’s an eternal debate: Boxers or briefs? Ginger or Mary Anne? Whisky or whiskey? And for Fuji Rock Festival goers it seems to come down to Wellingtons or sandals. I, for one, am a Wellie man and wholeheartedly endorse the low-tech rubber boot. Here’s why… Continue Reading…
Jul
1
Billy Boy On Poison: White Stage…yeah I never heard of ‘em either
They don’t have an album out yet and they aren’t legal to drink, but L.A. rock band Billy Boy On Poison do have a “charismatic lead singer” and “principle troublemaker” (and other cliches, according to the bio on their Facebook site penned by Lonn Friend), and a slot on this year’s White Stage on Saturday. This one’s a head scratcher… Continue Reading…
Jul
Jun
0
Rookie Info
Sounds, profiles, web sites and MySpace info for all 15 acts for the this year’s Rookie A Go-Go stage have been uploaded here.
In other news, there are apparently more than 24 hours in a Japanese day…
Jun
0
The Japanese Popstars
Jun
0
Dregs Preview
As part of their “World Is Yours” tour, Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs will be playing at Shimokitazawa Shelter this Thursday night…
Jun
2
Sunny Day Service
There should be lots of twenty and thirty something girls hanging around Field of Heaven on Sunday afternoon to see the reformed Sunny Day Service play it’s trademark unpretentious, lost-in-the-70s guitar pop. It’s funny: I have met so many Japanese girls who happen to be into bands like Mogwai and My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth that just can’t get enough of Sunny Day Service. Maybe this is what you need to listen to after a few hours of being morose, like coming up music, instead of coming down.
Jun
0
Hey Ho, Let’s Go
One day left to reserve your pre-booked tickets for Fuji Rock Festival 2009. Regular ticket sales start tomorrow, 6 June 2009.
Details…
Jun
0
Cage The Elephant
A couple of small town brothers from the American south get rebellious, form a rock band, escape their Pentecostal upbringing, go to England, booze and carouse, go to model swapping parties, and screw and snort their way around the London music scene–-and no, it’s not Kings Of Leon. Plus I made that last bit up (about the models and the screwing and the snorting) but the first part is true.
May
1
Rookie A Go-Go: The Envelope Please…
Every year the Fuji Rock Festival features some great young bands from across Japan on the Rookie A Go-Go stage. It’s your first chance to get a glimpse of the next big thing. Don’t pass it up. This year’s list after the proverbial jump.
May
0
Steve Nieve: Hall of Famer
Steve Nieve is an attraction and an impostor; one of two members of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that are on this year’s bill; and he is likely the only foreigner double-dipping in the chip dip that is Japan’s two major summer festivals: Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic.
May
0
HiGE = BeARD?
For a band with a name that means “beard” in English, you would think all the members of HiGE (pronounced hee- gay, it only looks funny spelled out) might be sporting chin hair of some type, but only one member of this Tokyo quintet actually seems to have a beard. They do have two drummers, though.
May
2
Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs: World Is Theirs
Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs. My vision of a rock band with that moniker and the reality are two completely different things. On Planet Japan, though, it’s a typically everyday and strange band name that doesn’t seem to raise any eyebrows.
What they are not: A bunch of mid-20s males, struggling to learn their instruments, trashed on stage and off, burning through bass/guitar/drum players in some sort of alcoholic narcoleptic haze.
What they are: A melodic-sounding indie J-Rock trio fronted by two intelligent and entertaining young women from Kobe.
May
0
Smashing Magazine: The Smashingest
Fuji Rock Festival is about more than just the headliners. Sure, the big name acts on the Green and White stages probably don’t need much in the way of introductions, but with over 200 artists performing over the course of the weekend there are bound to be a few you’ve never seen or heard. And of course, many of these acts are Japanese and relatively unknown outside of here.
So let me introduce you to one of the biggest and best online resources about popular music in Japan: Smashing Magazine.
May
0
Ben Harper & Relentless 7
Ben Harper will be playing Fuji Rock on the Saturday night, but don’t expect the folk/soul/jam sets he is famous for playing with his longtime band The Innocent Criminals.
May
1
9mm Parabellum Bullet
Si vis pacem, para bellum (”If you seek peace, prepare for war”)
Anyone who chooses a name like 9mm Parabellum Bullet must have a point to make. I think the point this band is trying to make is that they go off. No wait–they blow up. No wait–they erupt. No…wait–they explode. No, no…wait, wait–they detonate!
May
0
Weezer: どいたしまして。(Don’t Touch My Mustache!)
Rivers Cuomo brings his love affair with things Japan (or, at least, things Japanese girls) back for (yet) another appearance at a summer festival here. You’d think with the number of times Weezer has played here (and the fact Rivers’ wife is Japanese) that he/they/their webmaster would know Naeba Ski resort is nowhere near Mt. Fuji, Japan – but I guess that’s what a Harvard degree’ll learn ya’ these days.
May
0
The Melvins
To celebrate their 25th anniversary this year, The Melvins are performing their 1993 seminal sludge metal album Houdini in its entirety at a few select gigs in the U.S. of A. We don’t know if this will be the case for their appearance at this year’s Fuji Rock Festival, but for those who like it on the dark and heavy side, Buzz Osborne and company’s set should be a top priority.
May
0
The Gaslight Anthem
The Gaslight Anthem will probably be new to many in the Fuji Rock audience, but expect the band to leave a big, heartland rock impression.
Apr
1
More artists announced for FRF 2009
Another round of artists appearing at this year’s Fuji Rock Festival released.
THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT
BOOKER T.
BURAKA SOM SISTEMA
COOL WISE MEN
EBONY BONES!
髭（HiGE）
IDA MARIA
MAXIMO PARK
Rafven
THE SHOES
Steve Nieve Band featuring Joe Sumner
UA
Jeff
Apr
0
Second wave of acts announced for FRF 2009
The Killers, Oasis, Public Enemy, and Peaches are among the lineup announced in the second wave of artists added to Fuji Rock Festival 2009.
THE KILLERS
9mm Parabellum Bullet
OASIS
PEACHES
PRISCILLA AHN
PUBLIC ENEMY
TORTOISE
SAKEROCK
Full list after jump…
