All Soul'd Out

The past week has been extremely hectic and soul draining but it's also the sort of extreme eustress that makes the tension palpable and the tour so memorable in the end. An awesome fan, Sharon, designed T-shirts for this tour.

They look fantastic but regrettably I don't have time to get the shirts printed out since I leave for Montreal on Wednesday.

I've had 8 interviews in as many days with newspapers/magazines and radio stations. The Japan Times did interviews with myself for one article and another with the NMFT bands:

One of the most interesting interviews I did was with earshot-online.com which is a nationwide university/college campus radio site. It has excellent questions that made me describe the ins and outs of watching shows in Tokyo, Japan.

Here are the TENTATIVE timetables (subjesct to change!!) for each of the shows:

Montreal Oct 13 Divan Orange 2100 – 2130 Devil Eyes 2145 – 2225 Chiina 2240 – 2315 Hyacca 2330 – 2405 Akai Ko-en 2425 – 2510 Natsumen

Montreal Oct 14 Club Lambi 2100 – 2140 Akai Ko-en 2200 – 2240 Hyacca 2255 – 2335 Chiina 2350 – 2430 Natsumen 2445 – 0130 Tonstartssbandht

Toronto Oct 15 The Rivoli Toronto 2000 – 2030 Akai Ko-en 2045 – 2125 Chiina 2140 – 2210 Merpeoples 2225 – 2255 Hyacca 2315 – 2400 Natsumen

Oct 16 Velvet Underground 1900 – 1930 Merpeoples 1945 – 2015 Hyacca 2030 – 2105 Chiina 2125 – 2205 Natsumen 2220 – 2300 Akai Ko-en

Vancouver Oct 18 Biltmore Cabaret 2000 – 2045 Akai Ko-en 2100 – 2145 Hyacca 2200 – 2245 SSRIs 2300 – 2345 Chiina 2400 – 2450 Natsumen

Note: If you show up late and miss Akai Ko-en you will regret it big time. A bunch of musicians and friends in Japan consider them 'the band' to watch on this tour... even over Natsumen. Akai Ko-en are the only band on this that's actually on a major label (though チーナ is signed to Sophori Field which is owned by Victor). All four bands are incredibly awesome in their own way so you'd be smart to watch the shows from the beginning. Also, the bands will do their best to switch up their sets between back to back shows in Montreal and Toronto. Natsumen have a new album and you wouldn't even be able to hear all the new songs... not to mention the classics: "newsummerboy" "natsu no mujina" "one more summer sh*t" and "atami free zone" even if you went to both shows so it's a good idea to go both nights to hear all the great songs you can.