Cloudy Skies on the Sound Festival

[PV] DOES - Donten (+ Shura + Subterranean Baby Blues)

The three-piece hard-rock/blues-rock band DOES is featured in this PV/live compilation that was put together on YouTube. The first song, "Donten" (which can be translated to "Cloudy Skies"), serves as a pretty good example of the type of music they generally put out. Almost minimalist in nature, the band serves up ridiculously simple yet catchy rock ballads, depending largely on the vocal stylings of vocalist/guitarist Ujihara Wataru to pull listeners in. I almost want to make comparisons to Nirvana in that regard. So depending on your opinion of the vocals, it will probably be very hit or miss. Also, before anybody bothers to point it out, yes, DOES has become pretty famous for their contributions to the hit anime Gintama.

Okay, time to go into my experience with the highly-anticipated Hibiki Rock Festival 2009 last Wednesday. I have to say for my first actual rock festival, it went pretty well. I also have to say that it went pretty differently than the other shows I've been to so far. The first difference, obviously, was the fact that it rained most of the day, which kinda sucked. It was also packed as the concert sold out (which prevented one of my friends from coming along unfortunately). It was weird seeing STUDIO COAST set up the way it was with food stands, a make-shift second stage outside, and all the people milling about. But, overall, it was definitely a blast.

I got to watch the entire set of te', THE BACK HORN, SPARTA LOCALS, and POLYSICS. Also caught a bit of sleepy.ab on the second stage. POLYSICS was definitely the highlight of the night, as the band always manages to bring out the energy in the crowd. They also manage to always bring out hardcore POLYSICS fans who cosplay in homemade POLYSICS outfits and start mini-mosh pits through a ring-around-the-rosey type move. Needless to say, it was really fun to take part in that. My only complaint was that the bands had way too short sets (~45mins or anywhere from 5-6 songs). I know this is probably because the event was only 6 hours long for 12 bands. But, it still left me wanting more by the end of it, even though I was exhausted.

Also, ended up spending tons of money. A warning for people going to lives in Japan, band t-shirts/merch are usually really expensive. I bought a POLYSICS tee, a SPARTA LOCALS tee, and a 9mm Parabellum Bullet baseball tee, which led to me spending around $70. I know I can justify it in my head, by saying I wouldn't have any other chance of getting those shirts without spending even more on shipping and what not. Either way, not spending that much on band merch again anytime soon...I hope.

-REG