March 22, 2013

CMW Review: Japan Nite Jake Stone Garage


"SXSW was such an awesome event. We had a day off during the festival and walked around the city to see various bands performing on the street. No matter where we went to, we were able to listen to music. It was as if we were living in music. I was so glad that we could be the part of the festival this year." 

Acclaimed by the lead singer/guitarist, Satoshi Watanabe of Japanese rock trio from Hokkaido, Japan, Jake Stone Garage. He was impressed with the impact of  SXSW and Japan Nite despite the fact that there was some delay of their flight due to the bad weather in Japan, which caused them to cancel one of the showcases at SXSW. Yet, they were still able to enjoy the festival and the Japan Nite tour in U.S and join the rest of the crew that arrived in Toronto for Canadian Music Week. 

"Toronto audience reminded me of Sapporo crowd."(Sapporo is their home town. It is the capital city of Hokkaido Prefecture, located the northern island of Japan. I know you recognized the name of the city by the famous Japanese beer.) "Not only the climate, but also the reaction of the audience was similar. They were very cool. When we performed in Columbus, U.S, the audience reacted to the music directly and expressed the excitement through their body, however, New York was very cool and Toronto was somewhat like that. But they were very attentive and eagerly pay an attention to every detail. I thought I was playing in Sapporo." 

Jake Stone Garage piercingly kicked off their set with thunderous guitar riffs and heart throbbing bass and drum beats. The Toronto audience didn't jump right into the overdrive immediately, however, their eyes were nailed on the stage for the entire set, trying to study their performance thoroughly. Their raw and vigorous performance even made the attentive Toronto crowd start to head bang a little. (It started off very settled like a baby headbang, but expended gradually.) The show heated up with Nirvena's cover song, Smells Like Teen Spirit. When I heard the intro of the song, I literally screamed and jumped around. "I thought it would be a great idea to bring a song that everyone knows as they probably haven't seen us live before. " Said Watanabe. Yes it was a brilliant idea! 

Jake Stone Garage consists of a great balance of the melodic sensation and boisterous rock n' roll tunes and it was so hard to stay still while taking pictures. (Not only they were moving like there is no tomorrow but I couldn't resist bouncing with the music!)

I really really hope that Jake Stone Garage will be back for NXNE as they can showcase to the Canadian audience what Japanese Rock N' Roll is.

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