I return! Next in our journey was the two man of MUNIMUNI and the god and the death stars.
First off, I have to say, Ikebukuro CHOP was probably the coolest venue I went to on the whole trip. It’s an unassuming hole in the wall between a love hotel and one of my favorite bars.
The venue is completely plastered with posters for bands. Old authentic band flyers and posters (buck-tick lives from the 90’s), reprints or copies of old ones (la: sadie’s print out in the restroom) and flyers for active bands. (Lots of stuff for the bands playing tonight. I could tell Aie loves this place.)
I’ll try to throw together some photos of the venue later.
So the bands. First was MUNIMUNI.
We arrived a minute late, so we missed the first song, but we immediately walked into the room and started vibing.
I have to admit, I hadn’t heard much of this band before I knew I was going to go see them. But I did some pre-show listening to get in the mood.
Munimuni is pretty great. I didn’t realize they had been a thing for 20 years. Their current bassist is Tomo, who used to play in Emmurée, so it was funny seeing him right after seeing his previous band perform.
Matenrou Canou, the vocalist, is pretty unintelligible in recordings, and even more so live. That said, I still loved the show. His singing is more of a vibe than anything, but I like that.
After they played, the vocalist set up a second merch table from the one that was already there? So I went over and shyly talked to him. Their merch was great. You can tell he’s very unserious and a funny dude. One piece of merch was a hand towel with a picture of him taking a shitty bathroom selfie on it. Still mad I didn’t buy that.
My wife said, “I definitely need to add them to my rotation.”
Their setlist was just scrawled out on some old paper and taped to the wall:
Next up was cool hat Aie’s band the god and the death stars. I got really emotional, I won’t lie. I’ve been a fan of Aie’s guitar playing for more than a decade and being 8 feet away from him as he walked out and and stood there. it just really got to me. There was this track that played in English as they walked out. It was a little spoken word song about how people think he’s ill for chasing his dreams and that his condition is making him old. It really spoke to me. I can tell that over the years, he has been chasing this whole rock star thing for a long long time, and it’s to the point where it’s all he knows how to do. I really really hope he gets his place on a big big stage some day. He deserves it.
Sometimes, he goes by the name “Aie the god” and when you see him play guitar, you’ll understand why. I’ve never seen a guitarist that melded with his instrument. Every sound he makes is intentional. The speed and precision at which his hands fly around the frets is something that’s hard to describe.
Maybe it’s just me being a fanboy. I’m sure there are guitarists just as skilled or better, but for my money, it’s always going to be Aie.
His singing is secondary, as you could imagine, but still pretty great. The band, much like munimuni is a good musical vibe first and foremost.
I didn’t want it to end!
Did I mention that Aie is also just a really funny guy. Unserious and playful like munimuni-man (which is what I’m affectionately calling the lead vo from munimuni from now on)
There was a moment between songs where Aie just said “sugi wa…” and then stared off in the distance for 10 seconds trying to remember what the next song was.
His MC was funny too. He primarily joked about being an old man, having an old phone, and needing glasses.
A good and sad reminder that many of the top dogs in my music world are getting old. But its good to see that he’s taking it in stride. In his heart, I still see a 20 year old rocker just having fun and trying to make it.
Definitely one of the most important moments of my trip.
Oh! I almost forgot to mention that the show had a small signing too. If you bought the book, you got to get both leads sign a little interview they did in the book. So I got to get real close and tell them both how grateful we were, and how we came from LA just to see them. Wonderful moment.
This is my favorite cheki I got on the trip too:
Just Aie photobombing munimuni-man and muni-drummer.
