Fujirockers: The official Fuji Rock Festival blog

The multi-culti, musical hybrid L.A. collective Ozomatli gets lots of props in this blog and from FRF in general. This was their fourth time at the festival, and the feeling is mutual.

“Top festivals in the world?” pondered percussionist Jiro Yamaguchi. “Fuji Rock, Glastonbury–Glastonbury because it’s an actual city.”

“This is better, though,” said bassist Wil-Dog Abers from behind a pair of enormous shades and underneath a white ball cap.

“Yeah, it’s cleaner,” said Jiro. “But it’s the people, too.”

Yamaguchi, Abers were sitting in the back of the Prince Hotel with sax player Ulises Bella and guitarist Raul Pacheco, talking about the band’s new album, Fire Away, which is the first they’ve released since becoming ambassadors for a cultural outreach program sponsored by the U.S. State Dept., and the experience of playing to people in far-flung areas of the world had a profound effect on it. Continue Reading…

It was a wet evening when I slipped underneath an awning to share a conversation with Rory Mcleod, an Orkney Island musician who has traveled the world with a bag of instruments ranging from trombone to harmonica, and acoustic guitar.

McLeod’s history with Fuji Rock goes back many years as he opened the festival in its currently location some 11 years ago in 1999. He stood on stage with a Tibetan flutist and though he cant remembers what he was performing, he said the crowd responded warmly and it was the first of many performances he joined that weekend (Field of Heaven, and a private party for festival staff.)

While its been a long time to bring him back, he said simply traveling from the Orkney Islands to England requires quite a bit of diesel fuel, he is very glad to be back at Fuji Rock, a festival that he describes as being held in the beautiful outdoors

Rory’s glad to be back at the festival this year and will perform twice tomorrow, at the newly opened Pyramid Stage in the campground and on the Naeba Shokudu just across from the World Court. It’s a great opportunity to see this man in action.  On Sunday Rory will play on the boardwalk at 3PM.

Broken Social Scene was in Taipei last night, and I caught up with them at my fave pizza place about an hour before their show.

Both Drew and Canning are quite affable  and it was sorta strange that no seemed to notice them at this restaurant even though there were about  300 kids lining up across the street to get into the show.

I sat with them at their outdoor table and brought up Fuji Rock and their infamous set at the White Stage in 2006 (read a recap here)  where they did an unexpected encore that sent the sound crew scurrying and setting back the stage’s schedule by like 20 minutes for the entire day.  This performance has gone down in Fuji lore as being the only real “encore” ever performed and according to Drew and Canning, was the “5th best Broken Social Scene set of all time.”

Yup, it didn’t take more than a few seconds for them to blurt this out. And they did it in unison, giving me the impression that they had talked about it previously. The curious thing about this set, and the now famous “encore” is that it wasn’t even their idea at all.

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“Fuji Rock won’t really be like Glastonbury until the Emperor shows up in a pink wig.” – Jon Helmer, Fuji Rock documentarian

In case you’re looking for the perfect Christmas present for a fellow Fuji Rocker, the chance comes early this year. Jon Helmer is bringing his double-DVD documentary on ten years of the festival to Naeba. It’s called Tents & Bugs & Rock N Roll, and he’ll be screening the four-hour video at a mobile cinema that will move around the festival grounds. He’s also selling copies for ¥2,000. Instead of a history of rock stars, legendary performances and big name acts, Heller has turned his camera on the fans, the staff and occasionally the artists back stage. This is a people’s history of Fuji Rock, with no narration, no titles, and a roughly chronological structure that covers the years 1999 (Fuji Rock’s first year in Naeba) to 2008. The video was produced in 2009, and now it’s ready for it’s grand debut. A few of the gems you’ll witness amidst the sprawling 245 minutes of the DVD’s length include Joe Strummer planning out the lot that went on to become the Palace of Wonder, Henry Rollins getting psyched up to hit the Green Stage, Jam Master Jay backstage at the Red Marquee…. Continue Reading…

We’ve  heard a lot about the artists  and now it’s time to hear from some of the fans!

Yesterday, the Taiwan Fuji Rock Facebook group help a meeting a the Le Beau Lieu, a trendy, French-themed coffee shop which offers little aside from US$5  lattes  and tiny platters of ginger snaps.

A dozen people were seated at tables that had been pulled together in one long line. Some clutched swatches of weather-resistant material (silver on one side, black on the other) which one member bought in bulk and was freely sharing with others.

While similar in age, the group was divergent in terms of profession and work experience. There was the owner of a popular downtown music store that specialized in Korean pop, a Warner Music executive, a bank employee, and a pony-tailed dude whose previous festival experience included going to  Japan’s Loud Park on two occasions.

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Go Chic, a band of three Taipei girls and one guy in their early 20s, this year becomes the first ever non-Japanese band to compete successfully against 1,500+ applicants and make the FRF Rookie a-Go-Go stage. Mostly former high school classmates, they blast out electro dance songs with riot grrrl energy, and the stage shows kick into full on party mode. It’s no wonder that at this moment, they can boast one of the biggest followings in Taiwan’s indie scene, but lately they’ve been pushing that envelop as well, earlier this year playing SXSW, getting ready for gigs in China, and now they are also no doubt busy shopping for neon rubber boots for FRF 2010. This all comes with the released of Go Chic’s debut album this spring, I Am Confused! (2010), which got a thumbs up from the Taipei Times for its “catchy beats, punk verve and a sassy, irreverent wit.” The members are Sonia Lai (Guitar/Synth), Sarah Wen (Bass), Winston Li (Drums) and Ariel Zheng (Vocals). Ariel recently answered some of our questions by email. Continue Reading…

Dangermouse and James Mercer from Broken Bells gave this interview to Los Angeles radio station KCRW just last Friday. Aside from about 30-minutes of live studio recordings, they talk about doing cover songs, what The Shins are up to, learning to play instruments, and a documentary soundtrack project. Here are a few highlights: Continue Reading…

AN INTERVIEW WITH BRYAN BURTON-LEWIS, WHO STILL WON’T ANSWER WHAT WE’RE SUPPOSED TO DO BETWEEN 5 AND 10AM

Who dreamed up with the idea that we needed an All-Night Fuji? And who envisioned that the dance party might possibly carry on past 5am – albeit after an inexplicable 5-hour break – in a distant, mountaintop field at an FRF extension known as Daydreaming? What originally put me on the track of Bryan Burton-Lewis was Tokyo’s red hot electro duo Dexpistols, the team of DJs Daruma and Maar, who, having blown up over the last few years in the Tokyo scene and on Fujirock stages are now getting major international props, the latest of which is headlining The Fader’s “Asia” mixtape (download it free!!!), just released last week. Within the last year, Burton-Lewis convinced Dex to go indie and help him found the Roc Trax Crew, which meant luring them away from major label BMG. But that’s just a little bit of what he’s been up to. Get the rest, including the inside story on Fujirock’s all-night party scene, in our following chat via that network of electronic chips, resistors and cables better known as the Internet: Continue Reading…