Middle-aged rockers rule Tokyo's live music scene
Don't call 'em a cover band: in addition to hits by Chicago and Tower of Power, BLUFF rocks the crowd with their own original licks.The venue in the Tokyo suburb of Hachioji looks like any other "live house," with one big exception: the demographic. The audience is packed with people old enough to be the parents of normal clubbers, and in fact, so are the people on the stage.
The musicians share a common bond from their youth, when they played live at Budokan, or sang in the famed Kohaku Uta Gassen competition as members of then-popular idol bands.
For years they were forgotten -- but now they're back with a vengeance, filling clubs throughout Tokyo. So how are they doing it?
The vanishing line between pro and amateur
"All the young musicians out there suck!" declares Funky Sueyoshi, ex-drummer of the band Bakufu Slump.
According to him, advances in music technology and the byzantine systems that many venues use to book acts are to blame for the current uninspirational Japanese rock music scene.
And if anyone would know, it's a man named Funky.
Minoru Niihara, who as the former vocalist of the hard-rock band LOUDNESS made it on to the Billboard Top 100 in the 1980s, weighs in with his own analysis of the situation.
"When we debuted in 1981, everything was still analog. Just building an adequate studio cost an enormous amount of money back then. Each piece of recording gear cost tens of millions of yen, and the studio itself cost hundreds of millions of yen," says Niihara.
"So just to rent the studio and record, you'd have to budget at least five million yen those days. Basically, that meant if you couldn't sing, you couldn't debut. There was was a clear line between professionals and amateurs.
"It's been 30 years since, and digital has all but totally replaced analog recording. The price of digital recording gear is more accessible than ever, and the editing process is so easy that virtually anyone can come close to achieving that 'pro' sound.
"Even if you can't play a single lick on an instrument or sing in tune. The line between pro and amateur no longer exists," says Niihara.
Funky Sueyoshi also points out a transition in the audience.
Two years ago he opened his own live music club X.Y.Z→A in Hachioji, where he grew up.
Located on the sixth floor of a multi-tenant building is a modestly sized room just large enough to pack approximately 50 people.
Funky has been raising eyebrows by attracting some surprisingly big names -- chief among them, of course, none other than Funky Sueyoshi himself.
Conformity is key today
"Musicians back then had to be different, they had to have originality to appeal to a large audience. Now it's quite the opposite. Artists are required to conform to whatever or whoever is selling.
"To be honest, I think there are too many live music venues and too many bands out there. In Hachioji alone, there's twenty venues and more than a thousand just within the twenty-three wards in Tokyo," says Funky.
"If every venue in Tokyo were to hold a live performance it would add up to at least a thousand performances per day. That's 30,000 live performances in one month! Just within Tokyo!
"With those kind of numbers, who can figure out what band to go see? I just wanted to make a place for people who want to step out and see some live music," says Funky.
Funky believes that kids nowadays are so used to programmed music that they don't have a clue how powerful live music can be.
"They'll just jump from one sound to another, whatever's trendy, without ever developing their own sound. But the middle-aged audience has a different attitude. They've experienced the power, the 'groove' of live music from when they were young. They just can't be satisfied with the artificiality of programmed music. Those kind of people come to my place."
Funky Sueyoshi and Minorou Niihara teamed up to form their own hard rock group, also named “Asian Typhoon.” The year 2009 marked their 10th anniversary.
That brings us to the second issue: booking. Most of the live venues in Tokyo have adopted a particular booking system. A system Funky believes is the root cause of the Japanese music industry spinning its wheels.
"Venues showcasing amateurs institute a ticket-sales quota for each band. So let's say there are five bands a day, with each band having a quota of 20 tickets. One ticket going for ¥2,000 would mean each band owes the venue ¥40,000, right off the bat.
"That also means the venue, in one evening, secures a minimum of at least ¥200,000 from the five bands -- regardless of whether they can bring that many people in or not. The role of a live venue shouldn't just be to rent out their stage to anyone.
"That kind of thinking doesn't foster good musicians. That's why I've opened my own venue, to make some changes," says Funky.
The Internet moves people but live sound moves souls
Hideyuki Yonekawa (vocals/guitar) is a former member of the idol band C-C-B, who were renowned for their elaborate costumes and performances in Japan's most popularly televised music event, "Kohaku Uta Gassen."
He still makes the rounds of about 100 live shows every year. He makes a point of analyzing the audiences he greets at his concerts.
"Of course, I remember most of the faces that come to my shows on a regular basis. Once in a while, I'd spot new faces. They usually turn out to be former C-C-B fans," says Yonekawa.
Many of them are middle-aged mothers who don't need to keep as close an eye on the house as before.
"A lot of them stumble across me on the Internet and come to a show out of nostalgia. For me, continuing to perform in front of an audience is the most important thing. I also love playing various genres of music.
"Ten years ago when I started doing sessions, some of the musicians would ask 'can an ex-idol really play the guitar?' So I'd do my best to blow 'em out of the water. Afterwards they'd tell me how shocked they were, which always me feel good," he laughs.
Changing genres from pop to rock and then to progressive rock ... what is Yonekawa's musical identity?
"Whether I'm creating an original song or doing a solo performance, I always focus on creating a totally original sound. That defining sound is my statement to the suits in the music industry these days," he says.
