that foreign music blog🌎

At last, the band I’ve been dying to see for the past three months: ENTH. I’d bought the tickets so impulsively that I hadn’t anticipated being so exhausted by the time the concert actually came around. Having just gone to Osaka, it was funny to go back the following Monday for a show in the city. I decided to take the Kintetsu, which is about a two hour ride from Nagoya. It’s the cheapest at about twenty-five bucks, but also the longest and most delay-prone method, so if you’re in a hurry, I wouldn’t recommend it. However, having left a bit earlier, I enjoyed the scenic view from the window of a nearly empty train. It was a well-deserved, relaxing trip to the hustle and bustle of Umeda station.

I arrived at around three with two hours to kill. I headed to an internet cafe near the venue and charged my phone while I watched music videos of the artists I’d be seeing. I knew ENTH and SHANK thoroughly, but was only still getting acquainted with the more melodic four-piece group, COUNTRY YARD. They’re comprised of Hayato Mochizuki (Guitar), Keisaku Matsuura (Vox/Bass), Shunichi Asanuma (Drums), and Yuuki Miyamoto (Guitar). Their sound is similar to that of the early two-thousands, with their emotional lyrics and layered vocals and guitar. They describe themselves as mellow-core and indie punk, but I think the American listener would categorize them as closer to emo-rock. They also seem to sing mostly–if not entirely–in English, too, their arrangements also falling closer to American rock than Japanese. While the things they talk about are definitely more sentimental than the other two bands that played that night, it was a good change of pace. One of their most popular songs is “Starry Night“.

When it finally came time to go to the actual show, I found a few people in band tees lingering around the building labeled ‘CLUB QUATTRO’, although the concert hall was actually on the eighth floor. Staff members guided us to the elevator, in which five or six of us huddled inside in anticipation. However, in greeting the front desk, I was suddenly directed towards the queue. We were ordered by number and wove down the stairs of the emergency exit. Luckily—or perhaps UNluckily—my ticket number had been in the five hundreds, which essentially sent me treading back down to the second floor.

I curiously eyed a few of the other concert-goers who were fanning themselves with their tickets or pamphlets, quietly complaining about the lack of ventilation on that particularly hot day. Frankly, with how far down we were, I lost all hope of getting close to the stage, but many people had actually chosen to avoid the floor. And, as I’d discover later that night, for a good reason. It wasn’t like the floor was EMPTY, but there was a considerable amount of space dancing, especially for the lesser known bands like ENTH and COUNTRY YARD.

The main act that night was punk band, SHANK, and I knew how crazy their shows could get. I was prepared to get pummeled from the get-go, and braced myself as bandanna-donning men began to surround me. The moshers. THE REAL PUNK-KIDS. I quietly stood there in my teto shirt, trying to look tougher than I actually was. Everyone was extremely gentle, though, after noticing that a girl was standing next to them. I don’t mind being hit in mosh-pits, but appreciated their consideration. Even still, unable to avoid the crowd-surfers, I ended up getting kicked all over, resulting in some light bruising. I showed those babies like medals, though.

The show opened with three-piece band ENTH. I grinned as the vocalist and bassist, Daipon, began to tune his bass, joined by guitarist, Naoki, and drummer, Takumi. I was amazed by how close I was, too, as I was just two or three rows back from the stage. Knowing that they were promoting their new album ‘はじめて ENTH’ on their SLEEPWALK tour, I anticipated to hear my favorite song: SLEEPWALK, and hummed to myself in preparation.

However, when they came out, they’d used their power ballad ‘Night’ to open! I was still thrilled that I was able to scream out on cue, and cheered as the band members reappeared to start their set. Unfortunately, they didn’t play ‘SLEEPWALK’, but hearing the album on repeat had worked to my advantage. While I can’t name every song they played, I surprised myself in being able to sing along to most of them. In fact, it wasn’t until after the show that I could recall the titles of the songs I recognized, such as ‘Moon Raker‘, ‘Gentleman Kill’, ‘TH’, ‘Get Started Together, and ‘Bong! Cafe au lait! Acoustic Guitar’. Their stage presence was also surprisingly relaxed, Daipon occasionally stopping to raise his fist in a comedic call for fans. I’d been expecting them to start breaking things with how aggressive their sound can get, but the energy they offered that night was warm–not too different from Country Yard. In a way, it made me fall for them even more.

I can’t recommend this band enough, to be honest, especially for those of you who are big fans of melodic punk. The gritty vocals and guitar work make them sound a bit heavier than most bands in that genre, though.

After ENTH was COUNTRY YARD, and they graced us with an emotional set that brought some of the listeners to tears. I can’t remember the songs, but aside from ‘Starry Night’, some other songs worth checking out are ‘Alternative Hearts‘ and ‘I’ll Be With You‘.

The last band was headliner, SHANK. The melodic punk band is made up of Shohei Iohara (Vox and Bass), Hyota Matsuzaki (Guitar), and Yuki Ikemoto (Drums). The event had actually been organized by them, and it’d been their third time doing a ‘Heavy Clash’ tour, hence the name ‘THREE Heavy Clash’. I held my breath as I could feel fans closing in around me. Again, I anticipated for it to get a little wild, but as the entire floor erupted into insanity, I began to regret placing myself so close to the front.

While I know a lot of their songs, old and new, I’d been pushed so much that I struggled to clearly decipher which melody was which. There was part of me that really enjoyed my low-key suffering though, the feeling of going breathless in the midst of the excitement. There was actually a time when I hoped they’d play a ballad, but it never came. I thus endured the forty-ish minute set of being shoved from the front of the floor to the back of the floor; shockingly, the moshing hadn’t been reserved for the first few rows of people. That’d probably been the most impressive thing about the pure energy of their performance.

Most memorable, however, was when they played ‘Set the Fire‘, and the lights illuminated the fans that, one by one, began to mount each other’s shoulders. They moved towards the front in their stacked forms, singing along as if it were a nation-wide anthem. I gaped in awe and terror as I slowly backed away from one of the stacks, knowing well what would happen when ‘the beat dropped’. And right on cue, the bodies that’d been mounted fell into the crowd, sparking a heated mosh pit. All their songs received about the same amount of fear-inducing moshing, but the old songs ESPECIALLY riled everyone into an angry fit. Songs like ‘Good Night Darling‘ and ‘Cigar Store‘ had almost gotten me elbowed in the teeth a few times!

In any case, I was happy to be able to experience such a wild audience, and to brave being in the middle of it. Growing up, although I’d always loved rock music, mosh-pits were always something I was interested in, but too afraid to enter. Compared to the West, Japanese mosh-pits are much much tamer, as most venues don’t even allow them anymore, but I suppose they can toughen you up for the ‘real deal’ so to speak.

When I left the venue that night, I rushed onto the last bullet train to Nagoya, soaked in sweat and in severe pain from the hours of jumping and pushing. The two men sitting front of me sent friendly smiles to my fatigued appearance, but I broke eye contact before they could say anything. I instead tried to focus on eating my convenience-store pasta salad, although I wasn’t hungry in the slightest. It’s rare that I’m tired enough to cry, but that night, I was having a real hard time keeping it together. Let’s just say that work that week was particularly hard.