ONE OK ROCK to Play London, Paris and Cologne in October 2013

Premier rockers ONE OK ROCK will embark on their long-awaited European tour this October courtesy of Speakeasy and B7klan! Fusing elements of emo, heavy metal and pop-rock, the band have gone on from playing small-time concerts in 2005, to sold out arena shows across Japan.

Their latest album Jinsei × Boku = is out now on iTunes (click here to buy it from the UK store) and contains tracks mixed by John Feldmann (producer/engineer of The Used, Panic! at the Disco), and Danish engineer Tue Madsen (“The Beginning”). Plus, the band also had an opportunity to work with multiple Grammy award-winning engineer Chris Lord-Alge (Green Day, Avril Lavigne, Hoobastank) in the final stage of the album production, securing ONE OK ROCK with the trademarked sound incorporating western rock with the flair of the Japanese.

Anyway, enough about that. You’re here for the tour dates after all. Whack these beauties in your calenders;

Thu 24 October 2013 –  Werkstatt, Cologne, Germany.
Sat 26 October 2013 – The Garage, London, UK.
Sun 27 October 2013 – Bataclan, Paris, France.

Tickets will be available from 1 June on b7klan’s homepage at 10AM: 
http://www.b7klan.com/
 we’re guessing that’s B7klan’s local time, so 9AM for those in the UK!

We’ll leave you with one of our favourite videos from the band:

Further details on [Champagne]‘s UK Live Debut

When: Wednesday 15 May 2013 from 7pm.
Where: The Pipeline (basement), 94 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7DA.
Tickets: £7.50 advance (buy here), £10 on the door.
Support: Area 11 // NO CARS // Ken Kobayashi & The Colors // DJs and special guests
Facebook event page: 
https://www.facebook.com/events/116765661855283/

Here’s some updated information about the special showcase show we have coming up this Wednesday with Japanese indie rockers [Champagne]! Check out all the bands involved, their stage times and don’t forget to share this page with your friends before tickets sell out!

[Champagne]

Stage time 9:30-10:30
Fresh from supporting the likes of Muse and Kasabian in Japan, Tokyo’s hottest new indie band [Champagne] venture to London to pay homage to the country that originally inspired them to create music; the UK. In Japan they’ve topped the indie charts, played major festivals such as Summer Sonic and become one of the most talked about new pop-rock bands of the last few years. You can check out all of their catchy music videos by clicking here and scrolling down. Or click the video below for one of our personal favourites:

Area 11

Stage time 8:40-9:10
Bristol’s finest Minecrafters (see this music video of theirs for reference)  are back! The boys released their debut album All The Lights in the Sky earlier this year, and it went straight to the top of Amazon’s MP3 rock chart, and entered at number 10 on the official UK rock chart. Earlier this month they supported My Vitriol at Koko in Camden, and now they’re here to support [Champagne]. Here’s a video of them tearing up the stage of Japan Underground, supporting FACT earlier this year:

No Cars

Stage time 7:55-8:25
Quirky all Japanese girl band No Cars have built a reputation for their zany live shows. Having supported the likes of Shonen Knife and Adam Ant, the girls, when not singing about tuna and cello-tape, have been known to bully members of the audience, do cartwheels, and generally cause a bit of a ruckus in the cutest way possible.

Ken Kobayashi and Colors

Stage time 7:15-7:40
Ken Kobayashi is a singer, songwriter and a producer based in London. Ken was born in London in 1988 between a German father and a Japanese mother. Spending childhood in Tokyo, Berlin and London, Ken was exposed to a wide range of range of music genres and movements. Ken started writing songs when he learnt to play the guitar at the age of 16. In 2009, He released his debut album My Big Foot Over the Sky.

Tickets are selling out fast – see you there!!

Related Stories:
JAPAN UNDERGROUND presents [Champagne]‘s First UK Live – 15 May

POLYSICS to Release Weeeeeeeeee!!! Across UK and Europe via JPU Records

Japan’s notorious boiler suited techno-new-wave hooligans POLYSICS return with Weeeeeeeeee!!!, their latest high-energy album, scheduled to shatter the eardrums of the UK and Europe from 10 June courtesy of JPU Records.

Following in the footsteps of their 15th anniversary release – which featured collaborations with a number of music legends, including the band’s personal hero, Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO – Weeeeeeeeee!!! sees the acclaimed outfit return with a mighty 17 tracks packed with fractured punk rock, vintage video game sound effects and the refreshing and quirky charm that only POLYSICS can muster.

To celebrate the release of the album, the physical version will come bundled with three exclusive bonus tracks not available digitally or on the original Japanese version. The band has also launched their official overseas Youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/polysicsvevo
ahead of album’s release, which includes the full videos to Weeeeeeeeee!!!’s catchy singles ‘Everybody Say No’ and ‘Lucky Star’, as well as the famous video to classic track ‘I My Me Mine’ – the first time the video has been officially available in this region.

TRACKLIST
01. Sparkling Water
02. Lucky Star (Music Video)
03. Distortion
04. Steam Pack
05. Ice, Tights, Mike
06. Why
07. Quiet Smith
08. Kitchen Ban Ban
09. Lightning Express
10. Raptus
11. High Kcal
12. Everybody Say No (Music Video)
13. Round The World
14. Weeeeeeeeee!!!
15. No Control (CD bonus track)
16. Watson 2012 (CD bonus track)
17. KI.KA.I.DA! 2012 (CD bonus track)

Pre-order from: Amazon UK (CD) (MP3), Amazon DE (CD) (MP3), Amazon FR (CD) (MP3), Amazon ES (MP3)

ABOUT POLYSICS
POLYSICS burst into the British psyche when cult TV series Adam and Joe Go Tokyo introduced their music ten years ago. From there the group went on to inspire a generation, becoming one of the most established Japanese acts in the UK and even influencing the likes of a young Ricky Wilson, who would later invite POLYSICS to tour with his band, The Kaiser Chiefs.

To date, POLYICS have played a total of 99 shows in the United Kingdom – including main stage at the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park. In their homeland of Japan they’ve played every major rock festival and recently conducted a headline show at the legendary Nippon Budokan (14,000 capacity). The group was also one of the very last bands to record a session for John Peel.

MEMBERS
Hayashi (Hiro) – Guitar, vocals, synthesizer, programmer
Fumi – Bass, synthesizer, vocals
Yano – Drums, vocals

LINKS
Homepage (English):
http://www.polysics.com/en/

Youtube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/polysicsvevo

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/POLYSICS/260419960659129

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/POLYSICS_TOISU

JAPAN UNDERGROUND presents [Champagne]‘s First UK Live – 15 May

When: Wednesday 15 May 2013 from 7pm.
Where: The Pipeline (basement), 94 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7DA.
Tickets: £7.50 advance (buy), £10 on the door.
Support: Area 11 // NO CARS // Ken Kobayashi & The Colors // DJs and special guests
Facebook event page: 
https://www.facebook.com/events/116765661855283/

From performing on the streets of Harajuku, to rocking tens of thousands at SUMMER SONIC and a host of other top Japanese festivals, to selling out every tour they’ve ever done. [Champagne] are living proof that it is possible to go from indie heroes to full-blown rockstars in a matter of years, and now they’re ready to burst out from Japan for the next chapter in their musical conquest by performing in the UK for the first time.

[Champagne] will hold their first overseas headline show at The Pipeline, London on Wednesday 15 May 2013. Tickets for the show in London are on sale now (click here), priced at £7.50. They will also be available on the door whilst stocks last for £10.

The band will be joined with support from Brit internet sensation Area 11 – who recently celebrated chart success with their debut album ‘All the Lights in the Sky’ – and the quirky Japanese all-girl group No Cars, plus DJs and special guests.
Led by Yohei Kawakami (vocals and drums), who grew up in Syria, and Hiroyuki Isobe (bass and chorus) who grew up in America, [Champagne] manage to fuse the best from western and eastern music to create unique and catchy pop-rock songs. Since forming in 2007, they have released three albums; the first entitled ‘Where’s My Potato?’, followed by Oricon Indie Chart topper ‘I want to go to Hawaii’, and then ‘Schwarzenegger’, with a fourth hit album expected to be released soon.

the GazettE Dominate English Media Awards for 2012 by Winning Best Rock Act, Best Album, Best Music Video and More

Japan’s pioneering rock outfit the GazettE have proved to be an unstoppable force since unleashing their ground-breaking album DIVISION. Released from British independent label JPU Records in the UK and Europe, DIVISION and the GazettE have gone on to win a series of awards from English-language media, including best band, album and music video of 2012.

Over one-million votes were cast during Jpopasia.com’s 2012 music awards, asking Japanese music fans from across the world to select their favourite artists over 12 categories. the GazettE dominated the awards by winning six of the categories; ‘Favourite Band’, ‘Best Music Video’ (for album track ‘DERANGEMENT’), ‘Best Album’ (for DIVISION) and ‘Best Rock Act’, while the group’s charismatic guitar-shredder AOI won ‘Best Use of Social Media’, and band leader and drummer KAI was voted sexiest rocker in Japan. Other artists that were nominated included the mighty X Japan, Dir en grey and ONE OK ROCK.

Meanwhile the GazettE also claimed ‘Best Music Act 2012′ by the readers of NEO, the UK’s longest running Asian pop culture magazine, managing to surpass Korean pop-sensations PSY and Wembley Arena fillers BIGBANG, as well as Japanese guitar legend Tomoyasu Hotei (Kill Bill) and Japan’s electro metalcore outfit Crossfaith.

the GazettE’s vocalist RUKI comments;
“Thank you for your support as always. I’m happy that the GazettE won an award, but I’m even more happy to know that so many people are recognising and listening to the GazettE. Next time, let’s enjoy our music at a live show together. Thanks again.”

DIVISION is out now and available to purchase on CD and digitally from the following retailers found here, amongst others.