collisions

Peep this new band called Hep C:

2008-11-13T12:22:00.000-08:00

These dudes know how to rock.

Driving to high school reunion

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Americans successfully abroad

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Hells bells we're back

15/7/2008 11:32 so close...

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Airport MCD coke

2008-07-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

...when I say large coke, I mean a carton of coke son!

Tour beard in full effect here. Off to the US!

Saying goodbye 2/2

2008-07-14T23:38:00.000-07:00

Daiki is a solid bro and amazing tour manager, this guy is almost
solely responsible for getting US bands over to Japan and the first
person who has ever had Killing The Dream early to a show. Dude is so
pimp, for reals.

Daihei sings in Cleave and even though his ear injury caused them to
have to drop from the tour, he was still down to chill and let us use
his van, even taking us to the airport.

Konichiwa!

Saying bye to our hosts

2008-07-14T23:33:00.000-07:00

Shuhei! King of botched stage-dives

15/7/2008 14:00 - at the airport

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Unloading gear at the airport. We are all amped to get through
security, customs, and chillify til the flight.

15/7/2008 11:38 mobbin to the airport

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15/7/2008 waiting to head to airport

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We stayed at Daiki's last night, look at how may shoes this dude has.
This is why he gets all the ladies.

We're waiting for Diehe (singer of Cleave) to come pick us up and drop
us off at the airport. Tour was awesome, but I think we're all stoked
to be getting back to the states today.

Audi Forum Tokyo 2/2

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Audi Forum Tokyo 1/2

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This is for Josh and dad.

Dog boutique 2/2

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..you can't make this stuff up.

Hirajuku dog boutique 1/2

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14/7/2008 18:00 - Hirajuku, Tokyo

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We have today off and came to Hirajuku to check it out, it's a very
trendy hip area and I found some truly excellent clothes. However, in
a truly bittersweet fashion, no Japanese clothes are available in
Zachary sizes. The shops I went to I would ask for larger sizes, they
wouldn't really understand so I would pat my belly and say "large?"
and they would politely laugh and say "oh no, velly solly!" haha sorry
Nelson! I wanted to get you some rad gear but they don't have big boy
sizes here.

KTD <3 penguins

2008-07-14T01:10:00.000-07:00

iPhone needs a zoom function..

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...that's Tokyo Disneyland in the background. Tried to get a better
pic for Nelson, but alas the iPhone has no zoom :(

Huge lobster

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Penguins!!!!

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Seaweed seahorse

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Rolling into Sea World

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14/7/2008 15:00 - visiting Tokyo Sea World

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Ruiner goes shirtless for last night's show

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"last show on tour! We're here to have a good time!" featuring shirtless mosh by patches and young HA. Japan seriously had no idea what was going on.

It's 2:35 on the streets of Shinjuku...

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... and Wyman has passed on the afro torch to this dude passed out in
front of a club.

It's 2:30am on the streets of Shinjuku...

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...and DJ is looking for a party. I have zero idea where this afro
came from, and DJ's not saying.

It's 2am on the streets of Shinjuku..

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...and Joey justs wants to dance. Shirtless dance parties are no fun when no one wants to dance with you.

Eli and Shinjuku Little Bo Peep

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Bandanna bros

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13/7/2008 18:00 Shinkuku girls

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As the sun started to go down, more and more colorful people started
coming out. These girls were getting ready to go out while we were
eating.

13/7/2008 17:00 - Shinjuku, Tokyo

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The show tonight is in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, this street
runs right down the center of the district.

13/7/2008 10:42 - driving to Tokyo

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Well we're on our was to Tokyo now and this rest stop has free wifi so
I was finally able to upload the past couple days worth of stuff.
Fukui was a great experience, the show was excellent and we had a
great time hanging with the locals.

Off to Tokyo!

Tryin to fit in with xglassesx crew

2008-07-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

rockin steve's glasses here, and discovered he's as blind as he is edge.

This is what happens when you party with Ruiner

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More illin in Fukui

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Seriously bro...

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I love you dog

Illin with Ruiner

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Ruiner in Fukui

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KTD in Fukui

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that's Danny rockin the mic folks!

Wyman at show tonight

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Partyin with Obosama

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12/7/2008 16:43 - backstage in Fukui

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Good times!!!!!

Magazine article featuring tonight's show

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12/7/2008 15:00 - group pic with Obo-sama

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Before we left to head to the venue we took a group pic with Shuhei's
grandma just outside the main entrance. That's her in the front next
to Shuhei.

Danny, Hemingway, and the foyer

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This is right inside the entrance. Danny is reading some Hemingway but
I can't remember the title.

This is the chandalier I slept under.

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Maybe the only time I've slept under a chandalier

Water and frog

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There was a little waterfall behind this bush that didn't really come
out.

Another garden shot

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Shots of the garden

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The building you see is the 2nd hallway I posted already. The rest of
the house is on the left. More garden shots coming up.

Some antiques

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This was behind me when I was taking a pic into the other room

One of the rooms we slept in

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This is actually two rooms, I'm standing in one with the doors slid
open to take a pic of the second. All these rooms are filled with
antiques.

Second hallway

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The floors in this hallway start off as stone then transition to
hardwood. The rest of the house has very soft carpet that feels great
on your feet. :)

Hallway from entrance

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After entering the house, if you make a right this is the hallway you
see. Rooms line either side the whole way down, and at the end there
is another hallway to the right with more rooms. That pic next.

Wooden carving

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Oops, not so much a dragon. Lion and tortoise :)

Entrance

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Right inside the entrance here is a largle marble-floored area for
taking off shoes. There is a large wooden carving of a dragon you can
see in the background. I'll upload a pic of that next.

Garden outside our room

2008-07-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

12/7/2008 12:45 - Fukui

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Last night after the show in Osaka we drove straight to Fukui, which
is where the show tonight is. Shuhei's grandmother lives here, and we
are staying at her place. When we arrived we were shocked to discover
that her place is not the apartment I had assumed it was, and was
actually more if a very traditional style compound with at least 8
rooms in the first floor alone. Everything is almost museum quality,
decorated with amazing sculptures and paintings. It honestly feels
like this is where a royal family would come to spend the summer in
the country. At one point, 15 people lived here, but now it's just
Shuhei's grandma and two helpers in the entire place. This morning
they made us an outstanding multi-course breakfast, and given how
priceless much of the stuff here looks, their hospitality is truly
incredible and we all feel extremely honored to be here. She is an
extremely kind woman and it has been an amazing experience. We get to
stay here again tonight. I will be taking more photos, but I fear no
pictures taken with a phone will be able to convey the beauty of this
place.

Maybe no wifi for a bit

2008-07-11T03:16:00.001-07:00

Posted up outside a store with wifi right now, after the show tonight
when we head to Fukui I'm not sure I'll have any wifi until the next
time I find a spot I can hop on tomorrow. Just an FYI.

11/7/2008 16:31 - Osaka

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Osaka is big and crowded, crazy!

11/7/2008 13:35 - on the way to Osaka, in Satan's Chariot.

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Today we have a bit of a drive to Osaka, not too bad but this van is
freakin impossible to sleep in. It's simply not made for Americans and
it's super uncomfortable. There are handles jutting out in the most
useless of places, making it impossible to even sit facing forward in
some seats. There are no arm rests, so when we make a turn you almost
slide out if your seat. The seats themselves seemed designed to not
accomodate any kind of traditional seating position, and it's as if
the engineers assumed no one with actual legs would be sitting in this
van as there is no room for said appendages.

Most drives have been short, but these last few days will be all
longish drives. It's about 3 hours to Osaka from Nagoya, and after the
show tonight we're leaving right after to head to Fukui, which is
another 2 hours. We're staying there with Shuhei's family. After
Fukui, we drive back to Tokyo for the last show, and that's about a 9
hour drive.

I haven't been able to sleep past 8, regardless of what time we go to
bed. This morning I woke up at 6, and I've only been able to sleep in
til 8 once so far. Basically im averaging around 5-6 hours of sleep
every night, which really isn't so bad, but it would be nice to be
able to catch up some in the van, if only it were designed for people
instead of oompa loompas.

--- end of whining session ---

More Nagoya castle

2008-07-10T19:34:00.000-07:00

The whole compound is built on top of these huge stone walls, here you
can see some caribou(?) down in the grass below, these kind of provide
a point of reference for how large this was, because caribou are not
small.

More Engrish

2008-07-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

Nagoya venue

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This is the outside of the venue in Nagoya last night.

More pics of Nagoya castle

2008-07-10T19:14:00.001-07:00

10/7/2008 Danny psyched on records

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Danny discovered that the record store above the venue gave band
members a discount. He also picked up a copy of his favorite punk
record of all time, this Dwarves record on their original label.
Everything's coming up Danny today!

10/7/2008 - outside club in Nagoya

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This kid played in the band that played before KTD tonight, and was
rockin so hard he snapped his guitar in half. So, he had Ruiner and
KTD sign it, turning his broken guitar into radness :)

10/7/2008 11:00 - our hosts in Nagoya

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This is Kate and Gaito, they're the amazing folks who are letting 12
stinky Americans stay at their place, and thus deserve massive kudos.
Gaito has been involved in hardcore for years, and I'm told he has
over 5000 HC shirts, as well as 4 original X swatches. Kate moved here
from the States a couple years go and is a teacher here. Arigato!

Golden dolphin

2008-07-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

One of the most famous part of Nagoya castle were these giant golden dolphins which were mounted on the corners of the roof. These were also destroyed and rebuilt.

Posing with golden dolphin 4/4

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Me and Danny went shirtless. Some girls were into it. Everyone else
was bummed.

Posing with golden dolphin 3/4

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Joey catching a sick wave

Posing with golden dolphin 2/4

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Dustin takes his turn riding the golden dolphin

Posing with the golden dolphin 1/4

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So in this castle there is this golden dolphin that everyone sits on
to pose for pictures. This is Steve.

View of Nagoya

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Taken from the top floor of the castle

This is a photo of the castle burning.

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Samurai armor

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10/7/2008 13:00 / Nagoya Castle

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This castle in Nagoya was built in 1612. During WW2 air raids in
1945,, almost of the entire compound was burned to the ground. In
1959, the Japanese reconstructed the castle back to original form.
This thing is massive and you really don't get the vastness of these
stone walls in these pics.

10/7/2008 11:27 - Nagoya

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We drove to Nagoya after last night's show, one of Daiki's friends has
an awesome place here and is letting us stay. This morning, Danny and
I walked to a grocery store where I found this chunk of tofu with a
dude's face on it.

This is Pat

2008-07-09T11:23:00.001-07:00

With a lady friend he met that night

Drnky post show hang

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They threw a dance party after show

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Check these ill fools cutting a rug.

More after show hang shots

2008-07-09T11:15:00.001-07:00

After show hang

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Not sure if you can see well, but the dude to my immediate right had a huge Mohawk and sang in the first band. I told him I had liked his band, and he asked if he could take a pic. I told him absolutely I'd be down for a pic. Suddenly, all these kids rush in to get in the photo and it turned into my favorite photo of the night.

Another KTD pic

2008-07-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

KTD, show recap

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So check it. We show up a this venue on the side of a cliff, there are zero people there, and expectations were extremely low. I mean, there were talks of different people singing different songs, band member swapping, what have you, because it seemed like 0-3 people would show up. And at the official start time of the show, we were right. However, at some point it's like a bus full of kids rolled up and by the time the first band played there was already a good crowd.

Just prior to this, we had been chillin at this small hotel attached to the venue. When we first got there it became obvious this was a sex hotel. Nice.

The first band was very good, as was the second band (902). They both played a real familiar bay area style punk we all know and one. And they were awesome people!

By the time Ruiner hit the stage kids were ready to rock and Ruiner didn't disappoint them.. They got a great response andkids loved em. I've been bugging Rob to play a certain song, and tonight I finally got to jamz to it live. Thanks Rob!

KTD had an amazing reaction and their set was really good as well. Eli has picked up so much "one line japanese " that he is able to actually communicate some things, and the crowd seemed to really dig that.

This show was by far the funnest show yet. It was like a party. They gave us free beer, a room in a sex hotel, dudes in other bands were awesome, and the kids there ruled! We hung out afterwards for a while to hang out with our new local friends. People here are awesome, and fun to drink with even though they give you green tea and sake drinks, seriously hard for me knock back.

Funnest show yet! Hangout pics to follow.

(this pic is of KTD during their SECOND encore)

DJDJ silohette

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Very dramatic

Ruiner pic from the show tonight.

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Danny, glorious

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This is Danny when he's not shreddin it up. Ruiner had an awesome set
tonight

Joey Ruiner reppin the US

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Mesh shirt, USA shorts, good times!

KTD + 902 = party

2008-07-09T10:38:00.002-07:00

Wyman, me, and 902 again

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This is Jose and Masa

Me and Wyman with 902

2008-07-09T10:36:00.001-07:00

A band named 902 played tonight, this is me and Wyman chillin with one
of them, those dudes were super punk and rad!

9/7/2008 17:19 - Danny takes on the shrimp mayo stick

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He took it like a champ, and said the rotten bean flavor was much worse.

Shrimp and mayo cheeto

2008-07-09T01:04:00.000-07:00

Eli decided to tackle the shrimp mayo cheeto. Only through sheer
willpower did he not puke, seriously. Haha I think you can tell that
by the look on his face though. He powered through it and got the
whole thing down though!

Oh, and there's Steve again.

Venue-supplied snacks

2008-07-09T00:58:00.000-07:00

These are essentially one large Cheeto per package, except they are
not Cheeto flavored. Flavors include: fish egg, rotten soy bean,
shrimp and mayonaise, spicy pork, squid ball, salad, Korean BBQ, and
mustard and egg. Delicious!

9/7/2008 - at Shizuoka

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This is Wyman and I behind the venue in Shizuoka. It's hard to see,
but there is a massive valley behind us, the venue is nearly on a
cliff. This region is very well known for its green tea, and those
rows of bushes lining the hills behind us are green tea plants. You
can only see one row or so behind us because the hill slopes down so
dramatically, but the hill aides are literally covered with hundreds
of rows of them. This marks is our first venture into rural Japan.

Assorted SARS masks

2008-07-09T00:45:00.000-07:00

...also at the rest stop.

Chris at that same rest stop

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9/7/2008 - rest stop on way to Shizuoka

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9/7/2008 9:53 / we leave the Tokyo region today

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After today we're headed into western japan. I'm not sure where we'll
be staying and what not, so I might not me able to update as
frequently as I have been. I'll still be taking pics and what not. :)

8/7/2008 22:23 - KTD in Kichijoji

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Killing the Dream had a great reaction tonight, the best of the tour
so far. It's hard to get good pics with my phone, but the folks were
freakin out and having a good time I think. They did two encores
tonight haha

8/7/2008 22:21 - my love

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One of our drivers, Tomo, plays in a couple bands here, Cleave and My
Love. My Love opened the show tonight, and they were very good. This
is Tomo bringin the rock.