About

Hello.

My name is Kevin, and I love rock and roll.  Especially Japanese rock and roll.  And even more especially, going to dirty, cramped live houses in the Tokyo area and seeing it live.

My love for that, and the desire to spread how awesome Japanese indie bands are drove me to create this site.  Hopefully you’ll be able to find something you enjoy through some of the info I put up here.

About me: I was born in the U.S.A. and grew up in Michigan.  During my late teens, like many others, I discovered anime and manga, and that led me to want to study Japanese and other aspects of Japanese culture.  From there, my widened my interests into Japanese dramas, variety shows, music shows, etc.  As I found myself getting deeper into the culture, I was able to match my American musical interests (namely punk and ska bands) with Japanese counterparts.  The Blue Hearts and Dragon Ash were some of the first non-anime, non-pop artists that I listened to.

Eventually, in July of 2000, I came to Japan to work, living in a small town in the middle of the countryside.  Even then, I still went to as many shows as possible, but things really expanded from the summer of 2003, when I moved down into northern Saitama.  I started talking more with the bands at shows, went to after-parties, enjoyed hanami parties, and realized just how awesome the scene is here in Greater Tokyo.

Rather than changing over the years, my tastes have simply expanded.  I still love punk and ska, but over the past few years have really enjoyed the expanding Irish music scene as well.  And of course, I still have a place in my heart for certain pop bands, who, more often than not, still get brought out at karaoke. ^^

My goal for this site is to help everyone with an interest in Japanese indie music to have a great time.  Whether that means by finding out about a new band and seeing them live, or just watching some new YouTube videos from your parent’s basement, if you’re able to smile, cry, sing-along with, or simply be dumbstruck by the awesominity of something you’ve seen through here, I’ll be happy.

And hopefully you’ll be happy, too.

Rock on.