I thought the concept for this comp was cool and very unique! They sent us a copy, which was nice of them to do. I really have no idea what goes on in Japan, metal-wise. I don't know what bands they listen to, what metal mags/press they read etc... We very rarely ever hear from anyone who lives there...
What's the deal, Ash?
I'm still trying to figure out the deal myself!
Melodic metal is huge in Japan, no doubt about that. I'm sure bands playing that Euro power metal style pull heaps of people to shows, along with other melodic bands like Arch Enemy. However, the only "big" show I went to there was Napalm Death and
Suffocation, even that had a few hundred people.
The local scenes really are underground though. In both the small city I was living in, and large cities like Osaka, I would've never,
ever, found any venues or CD shops unless I ran into people wearing black/death metal t-shirts and had a conversation. Depending on what bands you like you can also check out their sites for info, but that's not always helpful cause, a) they might play rarely, or only in one area; b) they don't update their website, or; c) the website is totally in Japanese. Heh, I went about it in a strange way... one of my English students, this damn cute highschool girl (aren't they all?
), told me she liked hardcore punk, and gave me a flyer for an upcoming show. Went along to check it out, and the guy at the mixing desk was wearing a Marduk t-shirt. Turned out he played for a local death/black band called Crack Addict
hypno
and asked me to come along to his next gig. Kinda went from there. Previously I had no clue that metal bands even existed in that town, turned out there were heaps.
Having said that, despite being underground the extreme scene is really quite strong across the board from what I can tell. I never saw a band there that didn't give 110% onstage, even the ones I didn't like much. We tend to not hear about all these great bands over there, not because the scene is so elitist or insular, it's just that a lot of them don't know how to go about promoting themselves outside of Japan. On the flipside, bands from other countries find it difficult to promote themselves in Japan unless they're on a good label or have contacts. Even having lived there I wouldn't have a clue where to start if I wanted to promote a band.
Nor am I at a level where I can read the Japanese metal mags, unfortunately.
Shit, this turned into a huge spiel, sorry, heheh. I've been back in Australia for about 5 months now, but it's likely I'll end up back over in Japan within 2 or 3 years for study purposes.
