Halloween

Ah, the day of the year when people dress up and go trick or treating. It brings me back to all the Halloweens of my youth. I haven't had any extraordinary experiences personally. I remember one year I went as Darth Vader. Although I only used part of the costume and used the other Darth Vader stuff I had laying around. Like his helmet, which actually looks like his helmet and not that flat mask shit. That year was pretty nice, memorable. I once went as Jason Vorhees, I had to paint the hockey mask to dark grey and red. It wasn't perfect but it worked. I had no wardrobe so I used an old hoodie. My favorite Halloween was when I was about 4, probably because it was the first time I remembered. I had a skeleton mask with these eye holograms, very unique. It reminded me of Skeletor from He-Man, which I was into at the time. My love for the movie Halloweentown will never end. That was the true spirit of Halloween and I wish it was more like it here. Well, have a good end of the month and Halloween everyone!

Future In The Army

O.M.G. Today has been stressful. I decided to humor my dad and we went to a recruiter today. He's in the military and says he's the last in line for it. So like any logical person he chooses his first-born son to try to get into the military, even though he has two other sons which one is more likely to want to join anyway. So the recruiter had me take a test. My luck, I did extremely well. I caught the attention of another recruiter who had me fill out forms... Now, I'm stuck at a crossroads. I have no choice but to take the ASVAB and a physical test, which are no problem. The problem is that I'm not sure I even want to join the reserves. It sounds great, probably my best option at this stage in life. I even thought of myself as doing the military for a couple years. I just wasn't expecting all this to happen so quickly. Not to mention I have to go bald again for the time I'm serving. Holy hot damn I just grew my hair back out! I can't even get it close to what I want. Well, here's to life. Fuck me sideways.

Also, I ruined my blog-a-day streak by forgetting to post yesterday. Sorry. It's hard to come up with new topics.

Easiest Kagrra, Songs To Play

I've come across a few easy Kagrra, songs worth mentioning. I'd have to say the very easiest is Shizuku. Although the solo can seem a bit intimidating, it's really not that bad. Most of the song is doing the same notes over and over and over. Another one I'd say is Kaze No Kioku. Given, I haven't learned every part but I've had no trouble with it so far. The solo is straightforward, simple, but great. Utakata is another easy one, although it needs to be played with a capo. I didn't have one back then so I was able to play part of it without a capo, but it will help you out definitely. The solo in that song is a bit hard for me, I don't do well in the upper frets, honestly. Kotodama isn't too bad and so isn't Amafurase Tanmaina. Amafurase gives a break from the electric guitar with an acoustic solo. This one I find very fun to play, and it's not particularly hard but not as easy as others. Lastly, Sakebi and Boukyaku are other easy songs I've learned. Between you and me, I don't like playing Sakebi as much as the other songs. I probably play Boukyaku more than any other song. Haha.

Hardest Kagrra, Songs To Play

If there are any hard songs I've learned from Kagrra,, it's Yuki Koi Uta and Ano Saka Wo Noboreba. For Yuki, the real pain is Akiya's part. Once you figure out the finger positions for his parts then all you really need is practice to figure it out. Oh yeah, the beginning of his guitar solo is insane (Hakai ending solo speed)! Not one for beginners. I'm sure with more practice I can do it, but for now I'm just glad I can play the entire song! Ano Saka Wo Noboreba... It's been a rather long time since I've looked at the tab, but I do remember never being able to figure out the finger positions for the very beginning!  The solo is really easy though, not as fast as most of their other songs. That one I would recommend for beginners. I'll give it another go one day, but my computer is away right now and I have no room for it here. By the way, I kept all my tabs on that computer. I'll also upload the rest of the tabs on Songsterr once I set the PC up. For now I'll just be uploading the guitar parts and then adding in the rest of the instruments as I find the time to. Anyways, have a good day!

How Kagrra, Came To Be (SHOXX Aug. 2002)

IZUMI: Our story begins with chewing gum.

NAO: Hmm, that was in Secondary 2 (age 13-14, '92-'93 school year) wasn't it? In the beginning I never knew anything about Izumi. I had this friend, with whom I was good friends with at that time. One thing I could never forget about him was the fact that he would bring different kinds of candies and gum to school every morning without fail. I probably wanted to taste some. *laugh*

NAO: I would ask him to let me try some but he would always reply  "Sorry, but these are not mine," Then I would ask him whose are they and he would simply say  "Izumi's".

IZUMI: It just so happens that on my way to school everyday I would pass by a really grand looking candy store. I would buy about YEN200 to YEN300 ($2-3) worth of candy before school every day.

So, what was it that "sparked" up your friendship?

NAO: I would say I was the one who was the persistent one in the start of our friendship. *laugh*

IZUMI: Seriously though, I've never heard of Nao's name before and when I actually realized of his existence it was also the time when he would constantly come to me asking for sweets. *laugh*

So your relationship back then was merely on a "candy-giver" "candy-snatcher" level...when did this change?

IZUMI: At that time we didn't have anything in common so we were never really friends. Anyway, I started to develop an interest in drumming but I never thought of forming a band. I was just starting to learn how to play the drums when I heard from some boys in school that there was a band that was short of a drummer. Somebody approached me about the matter and asked if I'd be interested in drumming for them. And guess who was there when I went to check them out...Nao.

So you were like "Hey, isn't that the guy who always comes to me for sweets!!?"

IZUMI: Exactly and I was shocked. I mean, he didn't look like he was a bandman and a bassist at that. I always thought he was more of an athlete than a musician.

NAO: Hey, I am a gifted guy you know *laugh* Before I started playing for the band I was actually active in soccer.

But isn't your school in Hokkaido (which is the coldest perfecture in northern Japan)? How do you play soccer in winter?

NAO: That wouldn't be an obstacle for us. Soccer practice will still go on as usual, even if it means that we would have to play in the snow. Plus for a Hokkaido boy like me I always thought that playing soccer in Tokyo during summer with the temperature at a high of 35 degrees celcius (95 degrees fahrenheit) would be far more unendurable than playing in the snow. That would just be too hot for me.


What about you Izumi? Did you do sports?

IZUMI: I played a bit of ping pong (table tennis). At one point I even had a dream of becoming Japan's best ping pong player but that all went down the drain after losing in my first game. I straight away gave up on that and concentrated on making music. *laugh*

Why did you chose to play the drums?

IZUMI: Actually I am the eighth drummer in my family. My uncles, cousins and even my father were drummers. I guess it was sort of unavoidable in my case. There had always been a drum set in my home so when I thought of starting up a band I just thought to myself that the drums won't be so bad...

What about you Nao?

NAO: Well, my older brother was a bassist and just out of the blue one day he come up to me and say "Hurry, play the bass". In the beginning I have to admit that I was actually forced into playing it. He drilled me like crazy until I would sometimes cry because I didn't want to play anymore. Then one day I realized that I had become better than my brother. *laugh*

Can you tell me more about your band back in high school?

IZUMI: At that time we had a copy band and we only played Yellow Monkey's songs. I personally felt like I was restricted in that band and I realized that I would go no where as a drummer. I started to think that I should enroll into a Technical College and study the basics of music and drums to grasp a good foundation. After I graduated high school I went to Tokyo and got into a college and that was the end of our copy band.

Then, what about Nao?

NAO: After I graduated high school I led a nomad life for a while *laugh* One day, while I was wandering about I received a phone call. It was from Izumi. Just thinking back about that phone call makes me want to laugh. He started off the conversation with "Hey, long time no see" and without any exchange of 'How are you?' he asked, "Naoran, what are you doing now?". Instead of replying him I actually choked on my own words *laugh* Then Izumi told me that he was in a band in Tokyo which happened to have just lost their bassist and was wondering if I would be interested. He said, "Of course I'll let you hear our demo tape first,". I was seriously baffled and asked him how. He replied," Well, over the phone of course..." and proceeded to let me listen to their songs via the phone *laugh*

IZUMI: Ah, that happened alright. No matter what, I had wanted to make him listen to the songs. Plus, I was in desperation at that time.

NAO: Although it was over the phone the reception was exceptionally good and I was able to hear the songs clearly. I thought the tape was really cool and told Izumi what I felt.

You're saying that you made your decision to travel to Tokyo on the spot after hearing the demo tape?

NAO: No, I thought about it overnight. I also discussed it with my family and friends but what made me make up my mind was what my elder brother said to me. He said "If it's you, you surely can succeed" and that was enough to make me go. I headed off for Tokyo two days after Izumi's phone call.

Wow, that was fast. I mean you must have had to prepare some things for the trip.

NAO: I wouldn't say that...I just pack up one bag and left. And my bass... ...eh? Did I already have a bass back then?

IZUMI: Yeah you had one but it was dismantled into pieces. It wasn't a through neck...it had lots of bolts on it I remembered. You took the bass apart and stuffed it into your bag but the head was sticking out.

NAO: I remembered that my family was pestering me to buy a casing for it *laugh* But I hated to have to carry bulky luggage. So I told them that Izumi's in Tokyo and he'll surely help me get something for the bass later on.

So you relied on Izumi a lot?

NAO: Yup. Even when I was thinking about a place to stay in Tokyo I assured myself by telling myself that I could always stay over at Izumi's *laugh*

IZUMI: I was lucky because I had an uncle in Tokyo who owned a ramen store and he told me that I could stay in the room on the second floor of his shop. No need for monthly rental fees. It was about 12 tatami (213.5 sq ft) wide so the two of us had a lot of space.

NAO: Plus I didn't even bring a lot of things over to Tokyo *laugh*

Anything interesting to tell about your life as roommates?

NAO: Both of us weren't very good at managing our lives, no future planning, nothing. So every time we receive our allowance from our families we'd be so excited and everything is forgotten. Without even thinking of things that we might need we would straight away go out for some yakiniku (roasted meat) *laugh*

IZUMI: Times would come when we would run out of cash totally and have nothing to eat. *laugh* We had on and off part time jobs but it was hard to juggle that with time for band practice.

NAO: Yup, we had our hard times.

IZUMI: We would go through our life one day at a time, thinking of what we need only one day before it *laugh*

I guess I can imagine how hard it must have been for the two of you.

NAO: This is a bit off topic but Izumi was really mean last time. He knows that I get scared easily so often at night after saying Good Night to me he would turn off the light and say "Naoran, do you hear that...it sounds like footsteps..." We split the room into half, six tatami each, but at night I would slither my way over to Izumi's half and sleep next to him *laugh*

How long before Kagrra was all of this?

NAO: About two years I think. (Around '98)

IZUMI: It all started out with me and Isshi. I actually met him in the college I went to in Tokyo. After Nao joined us we had some performances. After a while we disbanded and went our separate ways. Nao returned to Hokkaido. He was feeling rather homesick and decided to go back and he worked for a while to collect some money.

So you guys had to start all over from a blank piece of paper.

NAO: Well, first off I had worked in Hokkaido for half a year and managed to collect about 140,000 YEN ($1,400) but after buying my flight ticket to Tokyo I was left with 120,000 YEN ($1,200). I still had some extra cash so I decided to buy some clothes until, without realizing I had used up all of my savings. This time I thought I'd bunk in with Isshi instead *laugh*

Wasn't that a luxurious life! *laugh* Staying together with Isshi would mean that you were definitely going to continue with the band wouldn't it?

NAO: Of course.

IZUMI: Things weren't going very good for us since we were short of guitarists. So we had to start searching for prospective new members but unexpectedly our guitarists came almost instantly.

You are speaking of Akiya and Shin aren't you?

IZUMI: We made some flyers to be put up in some music stores in town saying that we were seeking for guitarists and the phone call we got was from Akiya and Shin. They told us that they were from the same band.

Wow...it seems to me like you guys were fated to be together.

IZUMI: Yeah...a lot of things happened but in the end we ended up together.

Now can you tell me what are the good points of each other.

IZUMI: Of course from my view I think Nao's a very excellent bassist. And then, although I am Kagrra's leader I feel that every member of Kagrra has the qualities that would make them fit to become band leaders and that includes Nao.

NAO: Izumi has matured a lot spiritually compared to before and I admire that as it is something I don't have. As a drummer he has improved a lot and has developed many new techniques, he is a very good friend of mine but in a positive way I see him as a rival.

Lastly, what is the one thing you want the other to change about himself.

IZUMI: Hmmm... Well, he likes to meddle in other people's affairs and sometimes he goes over the line. I guess that's the only thing that you know...he should...hmm *laugh*

NAO: Nah, Izumi doesn't have any bad points.

Ah, that's so sad for Nao. Just like a primary school boy tries to gain the attention of the girl he likes and then when she falls for for him he ignores her and starts to pick on Izumi instead...

NAO: Aa, yes yes. But then that would be so tiring to the heart... *laugh*




note : take a good look at what is on the blackboard behind the duo   ALL CREDIT TO KAGRRA, FANSITE. IT HASN'T BEEN UPDATED SINCE 2004!

My Future Tattoos

It may come as no surprise that I would want tattoos. Maybe just a couple. The design is going to be Kagrra's San.

The symbols will be on each side of my arm.
I expect a lot of backlash from people in my personal life. They judge me by my long hair for Christ's sake.

Oh let's not forget my "Devil" necklace and girly earrings. Ignorance at its finest.
To get away from that story, I'm looking for a new job and I found a pizza place next door. It's not a bad place to earn some extra cash. Given that I need to save up for a car, about $2,000, I can't buy my guitar equipment and tattoos just yet. Also, my friend says she'll try to get Naoki to notice my tats once I get them. That's pretty awesome! I can't imagine it'd be hard for him to notice a picture that's been tweeted to him. I have a feeling that he reads all his tweets but doesn't have time to reply to them all. It's understandable.

My Day Fishing

Today was the first time in over a year I went fishing. Now, I like fishing and all, but come on. Something is up. I must be cursed or something. For one thing, I only caught a couple fish within seven hours, and my fishing line was screwed up. By that, I mean I couldn't cast far or not at all. The fish I caught were six inches and ten inches. Oh, and let's not forget how cold it was. My hands and feet were freezing! I was hoping they wouldn't need to be amputated. <:O My dad told me he'd pick me up in 30 minutes. That turned into an hour and a half. Thanks, you never fail to disappoint me. Haha! To explain more about the curse, it's because something bad happens about every time we go fishing. I remember one year I got a hook stuck in my leg. It hurt. A lot.

Who let's a three year old handle those contraptions in the first place?
A lot of times we'd sit there and nothing happens. It's mainly because we go to the wrong spots. The scariest thing that ever happened was two years ago when my grandfather hooked my brother. I heard a scream and I looked straight at my brother. It looked like there was a hook in his eyeball! NO! I ran like Forrest Gump away from the area. Well I hoped to God Almighty my grandfather wouldn't yank it out. Thanks goodness he didn't cast but instead looked at my brother. They pulled the hook out but it actually wasn't in his eye, just near it. Oh by the way, that spot was perfect for fishing. As soon as you put the pole in, you'd get a fish. Makes me wonder if it was legal to fish there. My dad is known for little stunts like that. All those incident's don't mean I won't ever go fishing again. In fact, I love it because it brings me away from the outside world. If it were up to me, I would throw the fish back after taking pictures, but my dad likes to cook them. It kills me to see them die because of a hobby of mine. Sorry fishies, if my dad wants you, he's getting you

P.S. Don't forget to feed my fishies!

I know Oni-Isshi listened. It went from rainy to a clear sky!

Gurrako Friend

Throughout my time uploading Kagrra, videos on YouTube I've come across many Gurakko who leave comments and enjoy the content I upload. One of which I talk to all the time. She seems to be the only person I really talk to nowadays, but that's fine. Yesterday morning we must've sent hundreds of tweets to each other.

This is the kind of random stuff we talk about... lol!
It's been about 2 year's that we've known each other, and nothings really changed honestly. For my last birthday she gave me the best gift I've ever received from someone, a lyric! She was inspired by Shi Mi Me Yu Ki Sa A, which the special version is one of my favorites to listen to. The lyric she wrote is called Fleeting Illusion in English.

I even named a custom sword after it in a video game!
It makes sense to name it that because I'm also known as Phantom, which I've used for 11 years now.

I'm so gonna beat you at that competition! Hehe, I am a bit too confident in my cooking, aren't I?
Speaking of birthdays, it's my sister's birthday today!

Wish you all the best, Yuuka.
 "Don't say things like 'I'm alone', believe in yourself. Even if the rain isn't stopping, tomorrow will surely be clear. It will surely be clear." -Oni-Isshi

My Years In Music And How I Discovered Kagrra,

Throughout my entire life, I've been through phases of each genre in music. For example, I was a huge NSYNC fan in 2000. Yes, I admit it. I even tried to dress up like them by wearing a vest without a shirt and my hair spiked. That part of my life lasted a couple of years, though I do enjoy hearing "Bye Bye Bye" every now and then. After Pop, I got into Rap and R&B. The first songs I heard include "Too Close" by Next and "Thong Song" by Sisqo. I didn't understand the lyrics back then but they have a nice beat to it, lol! My favorite artists were T-Pain and Twista during my school years and I also picked up tastes for different genres, but it mostly depended on the songs. One summer night, I was looking up J-Pop music because I liked the slow paced songs I heard in the asian market, O-Mart. That's when I came across a video that compiled a bunch of Japanese music. I basically skimmed through the entire video because I didn't find any Pop songs that caught my attention. After the video, I read the comments (habit) and read stuff about "R.I.P. Isshi" and "I wish Kagrra, were still together! :(" I took a look back at the video to find Kagrra, and watched a video clip of Utakata. I must say that was the hardest thing I ever learned to spell back then. I had absolutely no experience with Japanese. It was that same night that I went on a website and downloaded all the songs I could find. These songs were Uzu, Sai, Kasunda Fuyu No Mukou Ni... (was actually named Sakebi on the site), and Haru Urara. "Sakebi" was my love at first sight in that I had it on repeat all night. It was the perfect song! The next day I went on YouTube to watch a music video for it. I found it! Sakebi! Wait a minute, it sounds like a completely different song! Maybe YouTube is wrong? Well I found out a long time later the real name. I started watching as many PV's as I could and also loved Sakura Zukiyo. Fun Fact: I had a real hard time figuring out the sexes of the other members. That's where my addiction began. About 1 year later is when I would start uploading all their stuff on my Youtube channel, to possibly archive these treasures before they become lost. Ever since then I've stuck with them and only them.

I tried to guess the sexes based on this picture! You can see I had a real troubling time figuring out Akiya and Shin...

Gurakko MIA

I met another fan on Instagram about 2 years ago. What's interesting is she has a son named Hitoshi! It seems she was always depressed and, having known many people who suffer from depression, I worried. Well, one day she stopped coming online.

Her last post was about getting meds from the pharmacy and feeling worse every time. That was 90 weeks ago. I really hope nothing bad happened and she just forgot Instagram. I doubt it.

Akki's Amp Settings

Many days have gone where I would change my amp settings to sound like Akki's. Little did I know they were in the series "Kagrra, no Su" which I uploaded. Then again, I did skim through many episodes...

Ah! Taken at such an angle makes it difficult to see the settings clearly.

 And I never noticed someone I lived with had Akki's distortion pedal!

 This is just the beginning. It doesn't end by me just buying a Hughes and Kettner Triamp and Bogner cabinet. It's a good thing I did research and know all of his other equipment. Hehe, maybe I'm a bit obsessed with having everything like his. <:D Well, here's the settings I came up with after watching the video.

Presence-4
Master-3
FX Mix-0
-----AMP 3-----
CHANNEL B-Distortion
CHANNEL A-Overdrive
Master-4
Treble-1
Mid-1 1/3
Bass-1
Gain B-6
Gain A-1 2/3
-----AMP 2-----
CHANNEL B-Crunch
CHANNEL A-Acoustic
Master-7 2/3
Treble-2
Mid-5
Bass-5
Gain B-1 2/3
Gain A-1 2/3
-----AMP 1-----
CHANNEL B-Clean
CHANNEL A-
Master-6
Treble-6
Mid-6
Bass-6.5
Gain B-2
Gain A-4

Unfortunately I don't have his amp so the list may or may not be 100% accurate. I really have no clue what the AMP 2 and AMP 1 settings are for. I would think they'd be crunch and overdrive but they don't sound like it. Hopefully, it's just my amp that's the error. Although, the Distortion and Clean sound spot-on!