BACCHUS in English

Before I knew it the year was coming to an end. A lot of terrible things have been happening in this world, but if our songs and live shows can make people forget about all those things even for just a moment, nothing would make me happier. So, everyone have a good Christmas.

In our last live show we brought in a guest dancer as an experiment, and personally I think she sparked something and it turned into an even better performance than usual. Since I became a musician I've always thought there must be more we can do during live shows, and it feels like I've finally seen the direction to take. If we get the chance, I really hope we'll have her join us again as a guest.

I was extremely impressed by a band I performed a session with a few days ago, called -mutyumu-. There are six members including a keyboardist and violinist, and with melodies as beautiful as a movie soundtrack plus the intensity of black metal, I thought they truly had an original sound. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that there was a band like this in Japan, let alone in Osaka.

Recently I've been reading about bushido. Maybe it's a little late, but it makes me think about a lot of things.

Our short tour in December has been confirmed. We'll be going to three different places, but the one I'm looking forward to most is the event in Osaka. Not only is it my hometown, but we're usually more involved in the sponsoring end of really interesting sponsored events, so I'm really happy that we'll be performing normally in this one. All the bands performing there are really great, so I hope anyone who's interested will come to watch.

The Mexico tour has ended successfully. Thank you to everyone who came to see us. We had some equipment problems again, but somehow or other we pulled it off. And even as I say that, the next sponsor live is just around the corner. Now it's Japan's turn. Look forward to it.

I went to see HEAVEN AND HELL. This was the Ronnie James Dio vocalist era of Black Sabbath, which I actually wanted to see more than the Ozzy era. I never thought I would get the chance to see them. Of course my impression could be expressed in one word: excellent. It was too bad they didn't play many songs, maybe due to some condition set by the Osaka hall. Anyway, I felt as though I had witnessed a legend that night.

I'm going there next week. I can't wait. These are the three artists I'm going to see.

HEAVEN AND HELL
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KJgRDKxV5pw

MARILYN MANSON
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NX1fqMGQWtI

NILE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=U4k2kFQn5WA

Lately it's been cooler and much easier to get through the day. When I'm within the atmosphere of this season, for some reason it always makes me feel nostalgic. It's like it makes me remember fun memories from the past. Not that I'm not having as much fun now as I did then, but I wonder why that is? I guess good memories are always happy things.

Before I realized it, only 3 months remain in this year. Our first Mexico tour in over a year is only a month away now. Since we're playing in the same place over several days in Mexico, we're thinking about setlists that encompass all of BLOOD's history. It looks like we'll be doing a lot of songs that we haven't played much recently. Including the new songs, there's going to be a huge number of songs between all 4 days of performances.