Day 10 Friday June 21

Great night’s sleep at last. A few of the guys do a bit of washing. Rod, Chirpy and I have tickets to the Artlab Digital Museum. A feast for the eye as they say. I have the wrong address and at first we end up at Roppongi which is quite a distance away from where we should be. Chirpy is quite sick of underground trains by now. But eventually we get to our destination. Some kind of entertainment complex. The final part of the train ride is pretty cool in a driverless train soaring above the buildings and landing us at Tokyo Bay.

When we get there the queue goes on forever which doesn’t make Rod very happy. Still it moves faster than expected and we’re soon in and it’s pretty amazing. Like walking inside a Pink Floyd light show. I can’t describe it in words but some of the rooms were quite mind blowing. We lose Chirpy straight away and won’t see him until later. Rod and I leave and go back to guitar street.

Rod buys himself a beautiful red Fender Telecaster. A birthday present for himself. I look in vain for a hard case for my Epiphone. Nothing. So we head home.

Tonight we’re playing Heavy Sick which is in walking distance. So we walk the streets of Tokyo once more with all our gear. It's a warm night and feels good walking the narrow streets.

Hiroshi

I have heard so much about Heavy Sick I’m very excited to be playing there. We do our soundcheck and find out we have a band room to stow our guitars. It’s a bit freaky when you realise that the band room is outside the club and the first door on the left. So we put our stuff in there. There’s no lock but no one seems worried so I don’t. Well, a little. But every time I go there someone is doing something. Always a girl getting ready. One thing I loved in Japan is the amount of females in bands. At some of our gigs the female musicians outnumbered the males. Made it a much more diverse and exciting scene. 

with the Mellvins

Heavy Sick as two smallish rooms. One is the band room and the other is a kind of bar. Again we’re playing with great bands. High Marts are on and they sound fabulous. The Mellvins are on next. I’ve been a fan since the Halloween Ball last year and they don’t disappoint. Both bands are all girl bands. That’s A No No open with Pictures of Matchstick Men and play with style. We come on and get another great reaction from the crowd. They singalong to our songs. They punch the air and I join them for Kids are Alright. I know this kind of thing might never happen in Melbourne so I soak it up because it’s going to have to last me for a few years until we can come back. Sam from Young Parisian is there taking great photos of the night. Actually quite a few of the Garage Scenes movers and shakers are there for the gig. We are followed by Gorilla* who play a great set. I come away with their song “Forever” stuck in my head. They move themselves off the stage and into the audience which is a great move.

Frank plays some great discs as does Hariota. Afterwards we hang out in the front bar for ages until everyone makes to leave for the last trains. A brilliant night. We walk home feeling very elated and grab a bottle of red to finish off.