Japan Tour Blog 2015

Afterlife Japan Tour Day 0

Oh shit! It’s that time again!

Apologies for the long silence from camp Dienamic, we’ve been busy and I have been lazy. So I take the full blame for the lack of updates on our activities, well in the form of this blog atleast. I’m not much of a social media guy..

Anyway! Enough with the shitty excuses and sorrys. We’re back! Well, we never left but we’re about to head back out on the road. This time we’re going to Japan! Second time for the band itself, but the first time for me. So it is going to be one exciting trip for sure! I have always enjoyed the Japanese culture, well the older parts of it. Not that into all the anime and weird stuff going on these days, but I have plenty of friends who are! Which means that everyone wants me to buy them something from Japan.. I am sorry to everyone, I cannot possibly buy something for all of you.. Easier to just write it here, instead of sending 11ty billion texts.

Back to the story at hand! We have been busy working on new things, as well as keeping on top of everything for the upcoming tour. Since the last update we had an awesome release party gig, a great festival gig and another sweet and short festival gig. Other than that we all had some summer vacation and worked on improving ourselves and the band, as well as some new material. We’re also gearing up for the move to Sweden, taking us far away from our place of birth to new adventures! And damn excited about it to boot!

But I get side tracked, this was supposed to be a lead in towards our Japan trip. So much to write about all these other things, need to try to stay on track! This friday the 28th of August we depart on this grand adventure! Next up is some days off before we’re gonna wreck it with 4 amazing shows for the Japanese crowd. It is going to be a blast, from start to finish! So to all fans both new and old, if you’re in the area come check us out!

Will be doing my regular writeup once we actually hit the road, just figured I would get you all started. While in reality I just wanted to get myself started, it’s been a while since I last wrote these. Just need to get myself back in form!

Write you later! -Kenny

PS: Honorable mentions go to Torje, for actually staying awake at a party!

Afterlife Japan Tour

Day 1

Waking up, feeling like..

No wait, I never did wake up.

Usually I have an easy time with sleeping on airplanes, but this time even though I was tired as hell.

There was no sleep to be had.

I spent the entire 19 hours of travelling just playing video games, watching movies and talking bullshit with Torje.

Also a little bit of drinking may have occured..

I will now relate to you what happened on this day.

Got up early to go pick up Killie and Seb, we arrived early at the airport. I was really tired from only sleeping 3-4 hours during the night, so I figured I would have an easy time with sleeping.

The plan was to stay awake for the frist two flights so that I could sleep on the long flight over to Tokyo.

At the airport we got all our stuff checked in and made our way to the bar at the airport.

Because the best thing to start your day with is a beer..

Welcome to the touring life!

First flight went by quick, just played a bit on my Nintendo DS.

Nothing eventful, just people sitting around on an airplane.

Arrive at Gardermoen and buy some small items we were lacking, getting a bite to eat and filling over some whisky on a juice bottle.

Just to make the flight to Japan a little more fun..

What a long flight that turned out to be.

I had a slight buzz going during the flight, but I could not sleep at all.

Even though I was tired, sleep just did not want to find me.

But while I was watching movies, listening to music and playing Pokemon, the guys were having a nice little time behind me.

They had lots of beer and some whisky to aid them in their quest for a nice flight.

Atleast their plan worked, since they all fell asleep eventually.

Watched a nice documentary about light though, that was enjoyable.

Odin and Seb woke up holding hands on the plane, unfortunately no pics were taken of this event.

Most of the guys got some rest, just not me and Torje.

I guess it was just the excitement of going to Japan that kept me awake during the flight.

Arriving at the airport our biggest concern was getting through customs.

Of course some of us got stopped even before customs, due to some miscommunication on our part.

It was a matter of the place we were staying in, it being an apartment and not a hotel.

We said it was a Hotel and they needed to know the name of the hotel..

The language barrier is so fun sometimes.

Next up was customs, we got some information on how to make it easier for us to pass through from the promoter.

So we just split up and went through customs at random intervals, which worked out well.

Obviously, since I am sitting in the apartment in Japan writing this.

Killie was stopped and asked if it was a guitar he had with him, to which he just replied that he ordered on AirBnB.com in bad english.

The customs guy did not want to deal with that today so he just waived him on through.

We were now in Japan!

Jump on the fast train into the city!

So many people, but oddly enough not that much noise.

We go walking around the Shinjuku station area to try and find some food.

We locate a nice little spot where we get to put down our gear and eat.

Of course we’re the loud Scandinavian tourists in this room and we sit there for a very long time eating and drinking.

When it comes time to pay, they of course do not accept credit cards.

Which we of course do not have.

So off Odin and Torje go on an adventure to find some money!

And we’re left behind getting more and more nervous because this is taking alot of time.

We’re now some smelly band sitting around in an area that could seat 16 people, but we’re only a stinky 6..

When they finally come back they had been walking around searching and searching, only to return back to where they started and find an atm 200m away from the restaurant.

Such is life in a new city where almost nobody speaks English.

We pay up and head on out to the apartment.

Alot of walking and thinking, looking at maps, thinking some more, looking at more maps and finally finding the apartment.

Quite a nice little cozy place, everything looks so nice and comfortable.

I think we’ll have a good old time here.

Pack out our stuff and choose beds, check out the facilities.

Of course we have the toilet with the ass washer, nice!

(I have tried it, it is actually quite comfortable..)

Head out to the Shinjuku area to find a place to drink!

We go back to a place where the guys were last time touring Japan, the place was called Pronto.

It even seemed to be the same guy behind the bar, nice place with nice beer and some amazing whisky.

We tasted a 21 year old and an 18 year old whisky, the 21 year old was an explotion of taste in my mouth.

Kept on drinking and being loud Scandinavians, even though we tried to limit the noise we made several times.

But to no avail, it only lasted like 3 seconds before we kept on as before.

They did not seem to mind it so much though, the only thing they did was talk a bit about us with the other guests. Me and Gustav headed off to a nearby arcade for some games and fun, the other guys joined us after a while.

Earlier today Seb made a challenge to everyone in Japan about beating him in Street Fighter or Tekken, that he would lick their shoe if he lost..

Me and Torje beat him when we were doing a double team, me on the joystick and him on the buttons.

So Seb had to lick my shoe, which was quite fun.

Everybody had a great time playing games throughout the night, and we had some great challenges back and forth.

Seb enjoyed it alot more though, since he really does love his fighting games.

Me, Killie and Odin left the arcade early to go get us some beers at 7-11.

When Seb and Torje arrived, well.. Seb had lost his voice due to screaming out when he was playing the games.

That just tells you alot about his intensity when he is gaming.

Grab 7-11 beers and head back to try to find our apartment.

We start walking and drinking, so when we get off the train Odin heads off to try and get some more beers for us.

While walking around and not finding the apartment, I realize that I am really exhausted right now.

Been up for almost 36 hours and also drinking, my brain is just about ready to shut off.

Then my stomach jumps up and lets me know that it has some work to do, there is something that needs to leave my body with the quickness.

I realize this quite panicky and start walking faster, it’s just me, Seb and Torje.

We do not know where we are, but I know there is an explosion about to arrive in my bowels.

Gustav, Killie and Odin arrive after a time of us walking around looking lost, and Gustav is put in charge of getting us home.

He’s quite good at navigating cities that we dont know anything about.

So hopefully he can get us home and me to a bathroom as soon as possible!

Before we actually find our way, I realize it is time for that explosion I mentioned earlier.

I already notified the guys about my current condition, and Killie acts quickly and empties a plastic bag.

I grab the bag and try to find a quiet place!

So there I was, in an alley in Tokyo..

Right behind a motorcycle, having an explosion exit my bowels.

I am sitting in Tokyo shitting into a plastic bag..

People actually walk by while I am squatting behind this motorcycle in a small little area, right next to somebodies home.

Kenny, forever unclean!

What a great first day in Japan, how could this get any better?

Back to the apartment, go to the bathroom and use the amazing spray shitter.

Get my ass properly cleaned out, just wiping it off with my boxer did not get it that clean.

Thank the lords for these amazing toilets!

We drink some more back home at the apartment, and I just feel more and more tired.

So many hours being awake is finally taking it’s toll..

Fuck.. I’m becoming Torje..

Gustav looks at me sitting there and gestures for me to go to sleep, I actually agree with this.

Time for sleep.

Hello darkness my old friend!

Goodnight sweet prince..

PS: Fuck you Torje, you have a bad influence on me! Falling asleep when the party is still going strong..

Afterlife Japan Tour Day 1

Waking up, feeling like.. No wait, I never did wake up. Usually I have an easy time with sleeping on airplanes, but this time even though I was tired as hell. There was no sleep to be had. I spent the entire 19 hours of travelling just playing video games, watching movies and talking bullshit with Torje. Also a little bit of drinking may have occured.. I will now relate to you what happened on this day.

Got up early to go pick up Killie and Seb, we arrived early at the airport. I was really tired from only sleeping 3-4 hours during the night, so I figured I would have an easy time with sleeping. The plan was to stay awake for the first two flights so that I could sleep on the long flight over to Tokyo.

At the airport we got all our stuff checked in and made our way to the bar at the airport. Because the best thing to start your day with is a beer.. Welcome to the touring life!

First flight went by quick, just played a bit on my Nintendo DS. Nothing eventful, just people sitting around on an airplane. Arrive at Gardermoen and buy some small items we were lacking, getting a bite to eat and filling over some whisky on a juice bottle. Just to make the flight to Japan a little more fun..

What a long flight that turned out to be. I had a slight buzz going during the flight, but I could not sleep at all. Even though I was tired, sleep just did not want to find me. But while I was watching movies, listening to music and playing Pokemon, the guys were having a nice little time behind me. They had lots of beer and some whisky to aid them in their quest for a nice flight. Atleast their plan worked, since they all fell asleep eventually. Watched a nice documentary about light though, that was enjoyable. Odin and Seb woke up holding hands on the plane, unfortunately no pics were taken of this event. Most of the guys got some rest, just not me and Torje. I guess it was just the excitement of going to Japan that kept me awake during the flight.

Arriving at the airport our biggest concern was getting through customs. Of course some of us got stopped even before customs, due to some miscommunication on our part. It was a matter of the place we were staying in, it being an apartment and not a hotel. We said it was a Hotel and they needed to know the name of the hotel.. The language barrier is so fun sometimes.

Next up was customs, we got some information on how to make it easier for us to pass through from the promoter. So we just split up and went through customs at random intervals, which worked out well. Obviously, since I am sitting in the apartment in Japan writing this. Killie was stopped and asked if it was a guitar he had with him, to which he just replied that he ordered on AirBnB.com in bad english. The customs guy did not want to deal with that today so he just waived him on through. We were now in Japan!

Jump on the fast train into the city! So many people, but oddly enough not that much noise. We go walking around the Shinjuku station area to try and find some food. We locate a nice little spot where we get to put down our gear and eat. Of course we’re the loud Scandinavian tourists in this room and we sit there for a very long time eating and drinking. When it comes time to pay, they do not accept credit cards. Which we of course do not have. So off Odin and Torje go on an adventure to find some money! And we’re left behind getting more and more nervous because this is taking alot of time. We’re now some smelly band sitting around in an area that could seat 16 people, but we’re only a stinky 6.. When they finally come back they had been walking around searching and searching, only to return back to where they started and find an atm 200m away from the restaurant. Such is life in a new city where almost nobody speaks English. We pay up and head on out to the apartment.

Alot of walking and thinking, looking at maps, thinking some more, looking at more maps and finally finding the apartment. Quite a nice little cozy place, everything looks so nice and comfortable. I think we’ll have a good old time here. Pack out our stuff and choose beds, check out the facilities. Of course we have the toilet with the ass washer, nice! (I have tried it, it is actually quite comfortable..)

Head out to the Shinjuku area to find a place to drink! We go back to a place where the guys were last time touring Japan, the place was called Pronto. It even seemed to be the same guy behind the bar, nice place with nice beer and some amazing whisky. We tasted a 21 year old and an 18 year old whisky, the 21 year old was an explosion of taste in my mouth. Kept on drinking and being loud Scandinavians, even though we tried to limit the noise we made several times. But to no avail, it only lasted like 3 seconds before we kept on as before. They did not seem to mind it so much though, the only thing they did was talk a bit about us with the other guests.

Me and Gustav headed off to a nearby arcade for some games and fun, the other guys joined us after a while. Earlier today Seb made a challenge to everyone in Japan about beating him in Street Fighter or Tekken, that he would lick their shoe if he lost.. Me and Torje beat him when we were doing a double team, me on the joystick and him on the buttons. So Seb had to lick my shoe, which was quite fun. Everybody had a great time playing games throughout the night, and we had some great challenges back and forth. Seb enjoyed it alot more though, since he really does love his fighting games. Me, Killie and Odin left the arcade early to go get us some beers at 7-11. When Seb and Torje arrived, well.. Seb had lost his voice due to screaming out when he was playing the games. That just tells you alot about his intensity when he is gaming.

Grab 7-11 beers and head back to try to find our apartment. We start walking and drinking, so when we get off the train Odin heads off to try and get some more beers for us. While walking around and not finding the apartment, I realize that I am really exhausted right now. Been up for almost 36 hours and also drinking, my brain is just about ready to shut off. Then my stomach jumps up and lets me know that it has some work to do, there is something that needs to leave my body with the quickness. I realize this quite panicky and start walking faster, it’s just me, Seb and Torje. We do not know where we are, but I know there is an explosion about to arrive in my bowels. Gustav, Killie and Odin arrive after a time of us walking around looking lost, and Gustav is put in charge of getting us home. He’s quite good at navigating cities that we dont know anything about. So hopefully he can get us home and me to a bathroom as soon as possible!

Before we actually find our way, I realize it is time for that explosion I mentioned earlier. I already notified the guys about my current condition, and Killie acts quickly and empties a plastic bag. I grab the bag and try to find a quiet place! So there I was, in an alley in Tokyo.. Right behind a motorcycle, having this explosion exit my bowels. I am sitting in Tokyo shitting into a plastic bag.. People actually walk by while I am squatting behind this motorcycle in a small little area, right next to someones home. Kenny, forever unclean! What a great first day in Japan, how could this get any better?

Back to the apartment, go to the bathroom and use the amazing spray shitter. Get my ass properly cleaned out, just wiping it off with my boxer did not get it that clean. Thank the lords for these amazing toilets!

We drink some more back home at the apartment, and I just feel more and more tired. So many hours being awake is finally taking it’s toll.. Fuck.. I’m becoming Torje.. Gustav looks at me sitting there and gestures for me to go to sleep, I actually agree with this. Time for sleep. Hello darkness my old friend! Goodnight sweet prince..

PS: Fuck you Torje, you have a bad influence on me! Falling asleep when the party is still going strong..

Afterlife Japan Tour Day 2?

Holy fuck.. Unholy fuck as well. Have any of you ever watched Lamb of Gods Killadelphia DVD? Well, if a camera crew followed us the past 24 hours it would be the Dienamic version of that. It was just complete chaos, utterly hilarious stupidity. Way too much alcohol inside this small apartment.. If we do not get kicked out of the apartment after this day, we never will. The people we rented from specified «no partying». Yeah… Like a metal band from Northern Norway is going to follow that.. Well today most of us wish we did follow that rule though.

Calling this update day 2 is not really correct, since it is probably more day 3 or 4? So much alcohol and sleep depravation makes it all pretty blurry. I’ll just call it update number 2 and calculate the correct day on the next update.

Now on to some details, since that’s what this is mostly about right? We woke up late since we had some beers the day before, so we go to check out guitar street. Well, Odin and Killie checked it out while Gus and Torje went looking for in ear monitors. Me and Seb just tried to find him a new cymbal, but true to the name there was only one drum store on guitar street. Who would have figured that out right? After guitar street I think we went back to the apartment, only stopping at 7-11 to stock up on supplies. We bought egg, bacon, vegetables, snacks and unfortunately more alcohol. Because vacation right? We have these 5 days of vacation time before the actual tour starts so we’re apparently just wasting it all away on partying.

Back at the apartment and the adventure begins slowly. I sit down to write yesterdays update while most of the guys sit down for a game of poker, Killie grabs his guitar and shoots some footage for a playthrough. The game goes alright, Torje «WSOP» Willassen is the winner of the game. He narrowly beats out Odin while going all in on shit cards.. Winning with having Queen high card over Odins Jack high card. Then the real drinking begins. Thisis when the night starts going blurry and again I will try to recollect some of what occured on this day of binge drinking.

..Another poker game starts, with the stakes being raised to a higher monetary level.. ..this poker game breaks into a loud alcohol fueled discussion, in which nobody is really in the right.. ..i leave and head outdoors because the discussion was just getting too alcohol silly.. ..A nearby park has some rock formations which are walled in more tightly then North Korea, I have no idea what these rocks are from..

Now the night turns over to page stupid in the book of band party, so I will just put some words down to describe it without heading into too much detail: Wrestling, shoving, ruined shirt, alcohol, laughing, provocation, tears, walking, talking, hugging, laughing again, more drinking, more drinking…

I go to bed around 6 in the morning, because I feel I had enough at that point. Wake up with Killie saying we have to go now to meet up with Ryu who is helping us fix some amplifiers we can rent for our shows. The clock is now 10 in the morning and I hear a female voice coming from downstairs. Walk down to find a Japanese woman sitting in our living room. Because at some point after I went to bed the guys decided they had to go shoot some more footage for a playthrough.. Around the streets near where we live, at 7-11, some other places.. While barefoot of course, drunk out of their minds at 8 in the morning. Great idea I must say! They met this woman outside 7-11, she was on her lunch break and followed them home for some reason. Solid decision making on her part! Meet guys at local store, at 8 in the morning on a Monday, carrying around a guitar, barefoot, drunk off their asses, with a camera filming stuff.. I am really confused as to why she figured that would be cool, then again I can not claim to understand alot about the culture in this country.

Odin, Gustav and Killie leave to go meet up with Ryu, I just go back to bed and sleep some more. I slept for 12 hours, 12 fucking hours! Lost an entire day. After that we just went out and had a little bit of food, bought more foodstuffs and watched movies at the apartment. So apart from the partying, we really did not do much on this weekend. Except consume stupid amounts of alcohol. Tomorrow will probably be a better day!

Goodbye weekend and hello Tuesday.

-Kenny

PS: I fell asleep first once more, fucking Torje being a bad influence on me again.

Afterlife Japan Tour Day 5

Supposed to be up at 8, did not get a move on until 10:30. Talked back and forth about how to solve the amplifier situation for our away gigs. Decided on going to Shinjuku station to abuse the free wi-fi there, because that’s what bands do you know?

Upon arrival the first thing we decide upon doing is to get some food inside our bellies, since they have mostly been filled with alcohol since we arrived in this great country. Me, Killie and Torje decide that it is finally time for us to taste sushi over here, the other guys head out to Burger King for their meal. We ate, we drank and became happy!

After that we just sat down on the floor inside the station and used the wi-fi. So basically there was just us 6 sitting around on the floor on our phones.. With alot of people walking by wondering what the hell we were just doing there. Just like everywhere else we look quite out of place, the Scandinavians that are loud and obnoxious. Except this time we’re just oddly quiet and completely absorbed with our phones, only looking up occasionally to show each other the funny pictures we find or share. Back to the apartment we go, to let Sayaki know where we live. He is picking us up on Thursday when we go to Sendai for our first gig here in Japan.

Relax for a bit back at the apartment before we head out to the observation tower in the Metropolitan Government building. The weather is not that nice too us since it is cloudy out, so we dont get the majestic view of Mt. Fuji in the background. But they have pictures of it, so we know what the view looks like atleast. After that it’s back to the Shinjuku station to meet up with Ryo and her mother Tomoyo, we’re having dinner with them later tonight. We have some beers at a bar before while we wait for the father Hideyuki to get off work. They had some draft beers that looked to be some special and thus tasty drafts, but they were pretty much tasteless.

The place the family chose for us to eat is a traditional Japanese seafood restaurant, where they serve us deep fried prawn, fish, eel, lotus root and some other things. Was a really enjoyable experience both by taste and company, we get a little outlook into how such a meal is usually eaten. During the meal Odin is seated at their table having a nice conversation with the family. While me, Killie and Torje are wolfing down the food like someone was trying to take it all away from us. It was really delicious food though, I just absolutely love seafood! Since I had sushi earlier today, this day has been the most foodgasmic day for me thus far.

After the meal Odin needs to find himself some ointment for his insect bites, his legs look like somebody had a party on them. The family fixes that for us, which we are quite grateful for. Since we would have a hard time trying to explain to them what it was we actually wanted to buy. Ointment in hand we head out to From Dusk Till Dawn for some beers and drinks, it is a small pub that looks metal enough. We get some song requests in as we sit there talking to Ryo, Tomoyo and Hideyuki. What an awesome family, going out to concerts together and enjoying metal. Me and the father also have Machine Head in common, and the mother plays bass! All in all it’s a nice and quiet night out. Thank you to the family for taking us out for dinner!

Now we’re just finishing out the day with some relaxation back at home base here in Japan. Seb and Torje are playing a round of poker with no money in the pot, so basically just drawing cards and looking for some random luck. Odin is putting ointment on his half eaten legs, Killie rinsed up some scratches and put band aids on them. Gustav is sitting on the stairs and munching on some potato chips, while I am just sitting around writing this here blog. This day has been very humid and to quote a friend of mine «I feel oily..». I feel the spirit of Torje is gradually coming over me as my eyelids gain more and more weight. So night beckons me softly into her embrace.. Sleep tight!

-Kenny

Afterlife Japan Tour Day 6

I think it’s day 6, but I’m not sure.. Then again, I am the one naming these so I guess that I can call them whatever I want. Kind of like that old Bam Margera show.. I’m getting off topic again..

Today was just another slow day, most of us slept throughout the day. Myself I was up at around 10am and finished off yesterdays little snippet of random nonsense. Woke up and the guys were playing poker once more, I have no clue who was winning. I only knew they all were losing since they did not have any money in the game..

The weather outside was torture for people like us who grew up above the arctic circle. Think it was around 28C and about 69% humidity outside.. I just remembered going outside and feeling like I got punched in the face, since we have the AC on pretty much all the time inside. Funny how I automatically revert back to talking about the weather when I really have nothing to write about. But that’s what happens when you really do nothing at all during the day.

We left home around 4pm to go to Akibahara for some gaming action. Electric Town as it is called, which is quite understandable.. You arrive on the street and get bombarded by lights and background music. Anything gaming related that you want you can find, the same with electronical gadgets. Atleast that is what Google told me about the place.. But we did go there and Seb got his ass handed to him by the local gamers. In his defence the skill level they had was a few levels above what he is normally used to amongst our group of miscreants.

Since we’re in Japan land of much amazing foodstuffs, we of course went to an American Diner for our food.. We had a burger and fries. It did taste good though, so I can’t hate on it!

After eating we headed out to get that arcade action going! Off to they Hey! Taito arcade thing building, something something. The place where they had the most actual gaming stations and not much other gambling stuff. Or so Google told me.. I guess it was true, Seb sat down for the games that would sink his gaming spirits a good bit. Street Fighter IV Ultra was the game, and three different dudes handed him his ass. He did not win a single round.. I have to mention that he did come close on atleast two occasions that I witnessed, so hats off to him for that atleast.

I played a mech game, that shit was confusing as fuck. It was a pod you entered and had controls for your mech, but it was just super confusing. Also the damn game made me dizzy, jumping and spinning around in the air. I only played it once and never again! Unless we group up like five people and go crazy with the shit, since they had several pods that I think you could link up for group play. Gustav, Odin and Killie went somewhere else and punched a dinosaur. On an arcade game that is, not a real actual dinosaur. Those things are extinct you know..

After the gaming and purchasing required things we took the train on back to Hatsudai and our beloved fighting pit. Sometimes we also refer to it as the apartment though.. Now it’s just a little bit of eating, practicing before we head on off to the land of sleep. Early start tomorrow as we head out for the first gig of the tour! So good fucking night, goodbye Tokyo and hello Sendai!

-Kenny PS: Torje, you did nothing bad today. <3

Afterlife Japan Tour Day 7

Up early in the morning, did not sleep much last night. Have this pain below my left shoulder that kicks harder than I feel it should. So whenever I roll over I get this intense pain just pounding through my shoulder. Fun times on tour!

Back to the same old routine.. Shit, shower & shave. Feeling relaxed but very tired, so pretty much just zombified at this point. Carry the gear over to the car, waiting for Sayaki to take us away to Sendai! Time to start the real part of the tour and not all this vacation stuff. All play and no work make Dienamic a dull band. Or a fighting band, not sure which one is more accurate. I guess it is a good mix of both.

Zoom away, a 4 hour drive to Sendai is what’s up. We stop at some local food store thing. Not sure what it really is, but they have one section for groceries, one for baked goods, one for warm food, one for coffee and I am slightly confused. I did buy a new pair of sunglasses though, since I broke the last touring pair when we played Bukta Open Air. The food I chose to consume was some curry and chicken type thing with rice. Sayaki laughed at us because we’re all about the chopsticks, but apparently you don’t eat curry with chopsticks. Unless you’re a Norwegian metal band it seems.. I wish someone could give me a list of what you eat and what you don’t eat with chopsticks. Not that it matters much, we look like ignorant smelly foreigners wherever we go in this country. Which is very apparent when we walk around in shorts and band t-shirts, we do kind of stick out compared to the local population. But everyone is still very polite and nice when we try to stumble our way through their way of doing things.

But again, I get sidetracked. We were driving to Sendai. I am becoming a decent mix of Torje and Seb from our European leg. I slept the entire ride over to Sendai, well most of it anyway. At one point Seb woke me up to tell me it was warm as hell in the car, which is a nice thing to do when you see a sleeping band mate.. He was right, it was hot as hell. Fortunately I was able to fall asleep again and Killie snapped a cute picture of me and Seb sleeping right next to each other. We arrived at Flying Son a bit before our check in, whch allowed us to go out and get some small items we needed to pick up at a music store. Me and Killie headed out to get the most important stuff, a round of beers for all of us.. Torje, Odin and Seb set out for the music store while Gustav just sat back and relaxed outside the club.

Soundcheck goes by quickly and we finish up before our given time, nice and efficient round for us. We get the levels straight off the bat, only need to fine tune a bit on the low end of our spectrum and we’re all set. Now it’s straight out for some local food! It’s some type of beef and rice with a lamb and spring onion soup on the side? Not sure if I got the ingredients of the food right, but it was atleast very good! A perfect meal to consume before a show. After eating we just head to the backstage area to sit down and relax, Gus and Seb lay down for a bit of sleep while we wait. We do the warm up and change up, do the normal ritual of getting ready to rock out. Also do a bit of wi-fi usage, since this place has got free wi-fi for us. I love places with free wi-fi, it helps elevate my procrastination to new heights!

Time for us to go on, so we do.. Rusty start for me, but we kick it nicely into gear and set off on a ride. Show is great, we go around and just enjoy the time on stage. We have a great time and the crowd has a great time. Good first show to start off our Japan tour! After the gig comes the merch part, which we were curious about how it was going to pan out. There was plenty of talking back and forth about how much we should bring with us on the road, wondering how much we were going to sell while here. The sales exceeded our expectations and Torje started sweating for a while there. Which is quite understandable when a long line formed and he suddenly realized that he did not have any change to hand out for the customers.. But we got that covered with the quickness and just set about signing all the stuff that people bought. Everyone was great and it was nice to go around saying hi to the people there, apart from the small difficulty of the language barrier. Hard to have a conversation with someone who does not understand what you are saying..

We pack up our stuff and head on back to the hotel for the after gig beer and talk, a normal ritual we have. Just to go over all the things that happened during the shows and to talk about the people there and stuff. Good times, thank you Sendai! We will definitely come back for another visit.

-Kenny

PS: Torje, you did good work on this day. You may have a cookie when you read this.

Afterlife Japan Tour Day 8

Holy shit. My body is really tired now, was so nice to sleep in a hotel bed. I just did not want to wake up when the alarm went off.. Way to early to start your day when you’ve had a few days of constant sleeping. Same old thing, up, shower, get dressed, lobby, wi-fi, fast breakfast, drive off. You get into a kind of robotic state after doing this for a long time, like we did when we toured in Europe. But now it’s such a short stint of driving that your body just does not get used to it, which makes the trips seem that much longer. We head out from Sendai at 7 am in order to make good time for our get in at Tight Rope in Nagoya. I do a SebTorje and just sleep through most of the drive, since it is supposed to be an 8,5 hour drive. So most of the drive I know nothing about, the only things I do remember is this. Waking up to Killie telling me it’s cops, confused as hell I sit up straight and get ready for the cavity search. After a while my brain starts to function and I get told it’s just us being pulled over for speeding. So poor Sayaki got a ticket for going 20 over the speed limit. Next thing I remember is some stretch of highway being closed so we had to drive around, which lost us about an hour. This of course means we will miss our get in and our soundcheck, we have done line checks before we should be good. Other than that it was just stopping at some food place somewhere, which was filled with alot of people. I mean alot of people and they all seemed to be eyeballing us in there.. Shocking, I know.. Haha. I just like to mention that every time, because you get used to it after a while but it’s still weird to be so out of place.

Arriving in Nagoya we unload and try to find out how the schedule will be. Only to be informed that we do get to have a soundcheck, since we arrived early enough for them not to have opened yet. Great! We rig up and get ready as soon as we can, thinking we have around 5-10 minutes to do soundcheck. Then they tell us we have 30 minutes at our disposal, so we finish up in about 7 minutes. Easy as pie. Speaking of pie, I would like some right now.

Eating is done at some burger place right across the street from the venue, hey have really tasty burgers there and some nice beer. But the best thing was the fries, they were just delicious! Our bellies are a little bit too filled up now, so we just go backstage to rest up a bit. I try to get a little bit of sleep, but chose the wrong place to sit. The entrance to our table section is probably not the best place to lie down with your feet covering everything. But no worries, I slept enough in the car anyway. Just lie around there using wi-fi until time comes for us to do our warm up routine. All warmed up and ready to go, showtime!

The show runs by smoothly, we just own the stage and the crowd from start to finish. Good times and excellent feedback after the show, got to talk to alot of cool people there as well. Great crowd so far in Japan and we get to take lots of cool pictures with the people.

Show done, we pack down and head back to another hotel. Have a beer and talk about the day, go to sleep and work another day! Tomorrow it will be a small trip down memory lane for Gustav and Odin, since we’re going back to Wildside in Tokyo where they have played before. For the rest of us, it’s just going to be our first gig in Tokyo We’re all pretty excited and at the same time we’re half way through the tour so it will be over soon. That always sucks when you’re getting towards the end. It’s the sad happy time. Sad that the tour is over, but still a little happy that you get to go home soon.

-Kenny

Afterlife Japan Tour

Day Home…?

I really should put some regular old deadlines on myself, because this just turned silly

After the last tour I was also slightly behind on the final updates, but this has gone beyond being a little late.

We got home the 7th…

I am sitting here writing this on the 22nd.

Yeah, next time I am going to be working with deadlines.

Enough of this unrelated writing about my own slowness, let’s get back to the action!

Atleast to the parts that my memory still has stored for me..

Waking up this time was nice and easy, no stress just straight up and out the door.

No wait, Seb decided to take a shower last minute so I had to wait for him.

Which meant we missed the boys breakfast run and instead had to spend the minutes using the free wifi in the hotel lobby.

I guess it was not such a huge loss after all, I got to spend the time reading the newspapers back home..

Back in the car and on the way back to Tokyo!

Time for sleep.

Wake up as we’re getting closer to Tokyo and that was fine I guess, I mean what could I possibly want to see in the Japanese countryside.

Not like we do not have the exact same scenery back home in Norway…

Looking back I probably should have stayed awake more and seen some of the things we drove past, but you snooze you lose!

We get to Wild Side and unload all our stuff, personal and musical.

Carry it on down to the elevator and get it stacked up outside the club, now it’s just the waiting game until the place opens.

We meet one of the guitarists from Ogre, seems like a nice guy that one.

The English was not so strong in him, so we had to make due with the thumbs up and metal horns.

But hey, atleast he seems happy!

Someone arrives, we get our gear inside and sit down for a second.

Other bands arrive, one of them seeming to be an all girl band.

We greet the people we meet and rig up our stuff for sound check.

Get that knocked out of the park as soon as possible and just head out for a quick bite to eat.

I mean, I think that was the sequence of events..

But I am not really sure..

I knew I should have written this the day after and not three weeks later.

Time passes, we watch the other bands on the monitor in the backstage area and do our warm ups.

Hit the stage and blow the place away, we’re feeling on form and have a great time up there on the stage.

The crowd seems to love it and we seem to love them.

After the show we take alot of pictures and sign alot of stuff, everyone seems to have had a great time with us on this saturday.

We also get some gifts given to us, which is still so weird!

After the show we rig down and head out for our unofficial after party!

Joining us there is Ryo, Tomoyo and Hideyuki!

The Ishikawa’s come out and have a beer with us, which we really enjoyed!

Alot of stuff got consumed on that day and I got pretty damn wasted.

Met alot of cool people as well, and walking home we also had a blast.

Someone threw up, because someone could not handle his alcohol!

We do the standard Dienamic thing, being drunk and stupid on the streets and taking random pictures here there and everywhere.

Head back to the apartment and we’re still being stupid, luckily not the fighting kind of stupid.

Just the street fighter kind of stupid.

Good times.

Wake up for the Sunday funday, and it’s pretty much the same as Saturday..

Apart from the fact that we woke up really late and we were really late out the door..

It was the same.

But the show was not..

We did alot of stuff on stage, not all of it good.

But the crowd seemed to love it.

Killie knocked me in the teeth with his guitar, I was lucky to not get a busted lip out of that exchange.

Think Gustav almost fell on stage as well, it was just a good old funtime gone amok up there.

Still had a blast though!

Another difference on that day is we had Takashi fly in from Fukuoka to see us, so we had a meet and greet with him.

After the show we went out for a bite to eat with him, what a great guy!

Finishing up with that it’s back to the apartment to spend the last night sleeping in Japan.

By sleeping I mean stay awake talking about this that and everything with the guys and then nodding off for about 3 hours before the alarm went off.

Now it’s leaving day!

We try to find us a cab, but that seems to be impossible on the street we were living at.

So we go to the nearest hotel and pretend that we are guests of that hotel.

This seemed to work fairly fine and got us over to Shinjuku with all our gear.

From there we sit down on the express train to the airport, so that we can get there early and balance out our luggage so it meets the requirements.

At the airport we quickly get all our stuff done, while we’re checking in our luggage a stressed Tomoyo appears!

She came running up to us thinking we were about to leave, but we’re still 2 hours away from our flight actually leaving.

We get more presents and get to give out some more hugs, we like hugs!

Head over to Subway with her to get us some breakfast and sign some more things.

Suddenly a wild Takashi appears!

He’s also at the airport early and sits down for some breakfast with us, nice to see him again.

After the breakfast we head on over to our flight and they stand there waving goodbye to us.

Japan has been an absolute blast!

This blog is lacking alot of details!

It is all my fault!

I slacked too much after coming home!

I am so sorry!

Will do better next time, I promise.

Deadlines. Deadlines. Deadlines.

The trip home was pretty uneventful, I actually got to sleep on the plane this time.

From we left the apartment in Tokyo until I was at home in my bed 24 hours had passed.

Thankfully I did not have to be at work early in the morning.

Gustav was not that lucky, he had the early shift..

HAHA!

Anyway, this is most of what I remember.

I think that I did not skip out on any of the most juicy details.

But then again, I have no idea if I remembered everything.

Probably will remember more once I read through this in a day or so, or when the guys tell me all the things I forgot.

But hey, atleast this is a realistic interpretation of what I remember from the trip right now.

I’ll catch you all later!

Or rather, you will catch me the next time I sit down and write on of these.

Peace out!

-Kenny

PS: The someone who threw up, yeah.. It was Torje.