320. the nites of avantgarde, lynch.

I have been dreading to write this post because so much has happened since this show. lynch. is on a hiatus now because something happened to one of the members and it makes me sad to think that this might be the last time I got to see them as a five member band. But let's save the sad stuff for later.

November 15th, 2016.

This was lynch.'s semi-final for THE NITES OF AVANTGARDE tour to promote their latest release. Like I already mentioned, I am not a big fan of this album but I won't miss their shows for no good reason. Their setlist today was pretty good, especially the encore. The encore was perfect actually, it was all my favorite headbanging songs.

They looked so happy on stage that day too. As usual, their MC went on forever because Hazuki is just too talkative. I like how he talked about the stupid pillar at Club Quattro. It really blocks the view of the stage. I could hardly see Yusuke throughout the show, I don't really care for Yusuke but it's nice to see the whole band right?

Today's setlist :

I was really happy they played INVINCIBLE. I thought they stopped playing it judging from the setlists from this tour. It's my absolute favorite song to see them play live because of how different it sounds from the record. Also, AK and Hazuki always look so happy playing this song since it's their favorite to play live. I always, always enjoy this song. 

I still remember how happy I was after this show because everyone's always so nice. I'll post videos from this show (stolen from Hazuki's instagram) because I forgot to save the live photos...

11.15 渋谷 CLUB QUATTRO BEAST

A video posted by lynch. 葉月 (@lynch_hazuki) on Nov 15, 2016 at 5:45am PST

11.15 渋谷 CLUB QUATTRO VANISH

A video posted by lynch. 葉月 (@lynch_hazuki) on Nov 15, 2016 at 5:47am PST

So, onto the sad stuff. It's been hard for me to accept that lynch. might not be a 5 member band anymore. Their future is pretty uncertain but I'm sure they will get through this. lynch. has been a big part of my life for the last couple of years, they are one of the reasons why I keep returning to Japan (because fuckers don't travel out). Going to their shows has always made me happy, even though I am always alone. They're the only band that can make me completely lose myself in their music . You will never see me singing or headbanging or dancing or swaying to any other band.

Their Fukuoka show I went to earlier this year is still my favorite memory. I still remember H holding my hand as I watched my favorite band kill it on stage. Also, I remember H being so shocked when I started headbanging to INVINCIBLE, but he headbanged along with me, haha. ( H is not a fan of lynch. by the way, he just knows I love them so fucking much.)

It's just too difficult to explain how something is so important to you. Music has always been a huge part of my life. So naturally, my favorite band will be too. lynch.'s music has just been by my side all this time, when I "broke up" with someone, when my mom was in the hospital, when I was feeling empty and also when I'm happy.

I have repeated countless of times but no matter what, I will always love this band. I hope that they will return as a 5 member band but even if they don't, I will still continue to support them.

I still remember seeing them for the first time 3 years ago. How happy I was, how complete I felt, how I lost myself in their music.

I hope to see them again, soon.

somewhere, someday,
I want for us to happen again...

319. two weeks

So much has happened in the last couple of weeks, my mind is in a mess right now. I have so many things I want to write about. Last week was crazy busy because I went to Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya and met friends almost every day. It was also Yuri's birthday on Sunday, so she came over for the weekend.

I was really glad she decided to stay another night because we had so much to talk about. I'm going to visit her again this week, we already planned it some time ago that we'll go to a festival in Chichibu.

Also - I'm pretty sure all my friends know that my favourite band is lynch. Last week, they decided to go on a hiatus because something happened to one of the members. I'm still confused on what to feel about this because lynch. has been such a big part of my life for the last couple of years, it feels a little strange that I'm not going to see them or hear anything from them for a while. I'll write about their show at Shibuya Quattro on the next post and I really hope that that is not their last live with AK.

I've been lazy to blog honestly but there're so many things going on that I have to write it down.

318. double bass

On Monday, I met up with Laura and Mako in the evening for a photoshoot in Shimokitazawa. Shimokita is one of the many interesting neighborhoods in Tokyo, sometimes I get so sick of going to Shibuya and Harajuku because of all the tourists.

I thought Mako suit my label really well, so I asked Laura to contact her. I've met Mako a couple of times at Cyclamen's shows since she's their merch girl, I've always liked her chill vibe and style. Picking out girls who I want to represent my clothing line has been more difficult than choosing guys. It's very important to me that the people I choose are not pretentious and fake.

So, I'm not much of a photographer, it was a little nerve wrecking taking photos of the both of them. I'm really thankful to the both of them for being so patient and even helped me out with some of the settings on my camera. I'm still learning and I'm trying my best to not let anyone who has been supportive of me down.

Polaroids are always fun, I actually enjoy them more than using an actual professional camera. We went to get dinner at a soup curry restaurant after taking some polaroids. It was my first time ever having soup curry. It really made me change my mind about curry once again, curry in Japan at least.

On the way there, we passed by an interesting bar and Mako said it was more Avantgarde, which I actually want to try next time.

I didn't take photos of my food as usual, haha. We spent some time at the restaurant just talking before doing the second photoshoot on my dslr. I'm not going to post any photos from the shoot here, so if you like, please check out my clothing line @sanatoriium on Instagram.

I've always loved the murals on the shutters in Shimokita, but the guys holding fishes has definitely got to be my favorite one. I had lots of fun hanging out with Laura and Mako. Mako actually lives just a few train stops away from me, so I was talking to her on our way home. I finally got to practice my Japanese again after almost 4 months of not using it. I'm happy to know that it hasn't completely gone out the window, haha. Also, very happy to know that she loves Marceline The Vampire Queen (Adventure Time) as much as I do.

Even though it was a fun night, I somehow dropped my keys somewhere in Shimokita and got locked out of my house until the next day. It was really painful waiting for my housing agent to arrive. I finally got home at 2pm the next day and crashed not long after changing out. The last time I got locked out of my house was last Halloween. 

On a side note, since I just bought a new camera and am using it for work, I also hope to take more photos of my life here in Japan. Since I came back, some of my friends have complained that I don't take enough photos - with them or my life here. They even forced me to take photos with them because really, I'm not the type of person to take out my phone and go "let's take a selfie!!!11!!" I swear I am the last person on earth who will say something like that. So I plan to take lots of photos from now on because I feel very lucky to have a chance to live here and have met so many amazing people who I now call my friends.

I'll continue to work hard to achieve my goals and dreams. Thanks to everyone who have been so supportive since day 1. Sometimes, it makes me feel like all the shit I have dealt with in the past was worth it because I wouldn't be as happy as I am now.

317. killing cult, lynch.

Last Friday I made my way down to Yokohama Bay Hall for lynch. I haven't seen them in half a year but I wasn't too excited for the show since I'm not totally in love with their new album. Also, the fact that Bay Hall is in an inconvenient location didn't really help either.

They started exactly at 7pm and I was right about AVANT GARDE making me feel excited. Their setlist wasn't that impressive since they can't play a lot of old songs now but I'm so happy they played EXODUS and AMBIVALENT IDEAL. I was most excited to see EVIDENCE and PRAYER live, both songs didn't disappoint. EVIDENCE is yet another fun song I would definitely look forward to at all their shows from now on.

I'm not a big fan of their new slow songs, PHANTOM and FAREWELL. I didn't feel anything when they played them. I was secretly hoping they play an illusion, which I know is impossible, haha. For me, going to lynch. shows now have gotten a little mundane, I look forward to the after show more which I don't know if it's a good thing.

SETLIST : Yokohama Bay Hall, 4th November 2016

SE. AVANT GARDE
1. THE OUTRAGE SEXUALITY
2. DAMNED
3. GREED (yay!)
4. F.A.K.E.
5. EXODUS (yayyyy!!!)
6. ASHES
7. PRAYER
8. KILLING CULT
9. UNELMA
10. PHANTOM
11. FAREWELL
12. Ambivalent Ideal (yay!)
13. ALL THIS I'LL GIVE YOU (clap clap clap)
14. VANISH
15. NEEDLEZ
16. EVIDENCE
17. LIGHTNING (argh I really hate this song)
18. pulse_
19. PLEDGE

-encore 1-
20. MOON
21. MAD
22. INVADER (yayy!)
23. GALLOWS ( happy headbanging!)

-encore 2-
24. EVOKE

Photos are not mine, I received them in my email. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed myself. There are still so many reasons why lynch. is still my favorite band after all these years. I'm just really happy I'm their fan and not any other visual bands'. I'm still not a fan of visual music,  I have repeated over and over again, only lynch.

I'm going to see them next Tuesday again and this time in a much more convenient location, Shibuya. Can't wait!

11.04 横浜Bay Hall EVIDENCE

A video posted by lynch. 葉月 (@lynch_hazuki) on Nov 4, 2016 at 6:06am PDT

316. beetlejuice beetlejuice beetlejuice

Yuri and I decided to dress up for Halloween back when I was still in Singapore, she saw my tweet about wanting to be Lydia Deetz so she decided to be my Beetlejuice! We both bought our costumes before I got back to Japan.

Unfortunately, Halloween this year falls on a Monday, so we had to dress up on Saturday night. I met up with her in Tachikawa and we had late lunch. We still went to get some stuff for our costumes before going back to my apartment to dress up. It was so fun dressing up, we were watching The Crow on Netflix, listening to music and drinking bottles of beer.

We took longer than expected to dress up because of Beetlejuice's makeup and Lydia's hair. I suck at doing any "dressing up", so Yuri actually styled my hair. I would have put makeup but I have very sensitive skin, so if I get cheap makeup, I would definitely get an allergy (trust me, I have tried and even with expensive makeup I get rashes). We got to Shibuya pretty late and the first thing we did was take purikura!

After purikura, we went to get supper. It was already midnight when we were eating. There were still a lot of people walking around Shibuya. Honestly, the costumes were not as interesting as last year. Last year's crowd in Shibuya was more fun. I feel like this year I had more fun dressing up with Yuri. We wanted to go to Harajuku to take some photos of our costumes but it started to rain, so we had not choice but to stay indoors. By the time we finished our meal, it was already 1am so we decided to go to the bar for some more drinks.

We stayed up till 5am just talking like we usually do, we figured, even if we were home we wouldn't go to bed till about that time so there was no difference with staying out. We finally got home at 6am. I really enjoy Yuri visiting, it just sucks that she lives so far away from Tokyo. Better than being on the other side of the world, though.

We took this at my place before heading out.

The next time I see her will be for her birthday and I'm excited because we're going to watch Fantastic Beasts together!

My November will be very busy but I'm happy. I have so many things to look forward to.

315. honeymuuuun

It's already my third week back in Tokyo and I still haven't written about so many things. I'm backtracking now.

My first week back in Tokyo was spent mostly with Mad and Din. They spent their honeymoon here and I showed them around Harajuku, Shibuya, and Roppongi. I met up with them literally the second day I was back, I brought them around Harajuku. It's always fun showing my friends from home what I usually do here, where I like to go, where I like to hang out. It kind of make us understand each other more I think.

At least, it won't be so difficult explaining things to Mad now because she has already been to the places I usually spend more time at. Basically, I just brought the newly married couple around Cat Street and one of my favorite buildings, Gyre. We managed to find a Japanese Shabu Shabu restaurant serving Halal food, which was pretty good. I forced them into taking Purikura that same night.

On Friday, I brought them to Roppongi. We went to Salvador Dali's exhibition and then slowly walked to Roppongi Hills for Art Night Out. Salvador Dali's exhibition was massive and was definitely worth our 2500 yen, there were so many rooms for his original work, showing how his style evolved over his lifetime. 

Mad and I studied a lot about him back in college during Art History class, so it was fun to go together because we remember exactly which pieces we did research on. It was pretty crowded for a Friday afternoon and no photos were allowed as usual. I was really happy they were showing some videos at the exhibition as well, one was about eyeball slicing which made Mad and I go "OH MY GOD!!! FOUNDATION YEAR!!" Also, I finally got to watch the collaboration with Walt Disney and Dali, Destino. 

Salvador Dali is one of my favorite artists. I pretty much hated studying about Pablo Picasso in college and still do. My favorite artists from Art History are actually Gustav Klimt, Alphonse Mucha, and Salvador Dali.

All of us had a headache at the souvenir store. We took quite some time choosing wisely. Lastly, there was just a small exhibit that we could take a photo with at the end of the exhibition.

After the exhibition, the three of us slowly made our way to Roppongi Hills for dinner. We walked around and waited for a little bit for Art Night to start. There were several artworks places around Roppongi Hills which was interesting, mostly videos, though. Mad and I liked the horses the most of out everything. They were parading outside Roppongi Hills.

We didn't do much after that but chilled at Starbucks. Sometimes I do miss hanging out with Mad because I spend most of my time in Japan. Ultimately, I am happier in Tokyo so I don't  go back to Singapore that often. Or at least, I try not to spend too much time there. It's nice to have Mad finally understand what I'm talking about after her visit to Tokyo.

I met up with her again just for a little on Saturday to introduce Yuri to her. It was fun seeing two of my closest friends talking to each other because they are so different. I love them both for very different reasons. I gave Mad a big tight hug before leaving to Harajuku with Yuri for our photoshoot (next post).

I hope married life is treating Mad well and can't wait to see her again when I visit Singapore. I know that Din will take good care of her, so I have nothing to worry about. I'm just happy they've found each other.