Living Water (new song) movie

Hi this is Tak from IMARi ToNES.

Have you already checked our new album "Victory In Christ"?

It was a album recorded in early this year, but we don't stop.
Actually we are already working on some new songs.


So here is the song titled "Living Water".
We are going to record this song in this coming winter.
(I know it's a very common naming for a Christian song. But I'm sure our Living Water sounds special!)




This is a live performance at Ohkubo Suizokukan, Tokyo, last Wednesday.

Ohkubo Suizokukan is a small venue but it was a special night.

We call ourselves "the first Christian heavy metal from Japan", but do you know who is the first Christian rock from Japan?

It is called "Eikogo", who has been playing Christian rock since 1980's.
http://www.electric-angel.net/

And last Wednesday, we finally shared the stage with them.
It was a fun night, and it was a definitely a special night.
We feel like we are finally recognized in Japanese Christian music community, which is, at this point, not so big community.

So we want to share with you some more of that fun night.
We love small venues, because in small clubs we can rock more intensely and purely.










Thank you and God bless you all!!

Tak
IMARi ToNES

"Victory In Christ" now available!!!

Hi, this is Tak "Tone" Nakamine from Imari Tones, the first Christian heavy metal band from Japan.

Today I'm glad to annouce to you that our new record "Victory In Christ" is now available on iTunes (and other digital retailers).






http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/victory-in-christ/id399151638



Let me tell you a little bit about this album "Victory In Christ".

"Victory In Christ" is, our first 100% Christian rock record.

We became Christians, about 3 years ago.
Before that, we were a normal Japanese hard rock band who is just seeking for the truth of rockn'roll.

After that, we made an album titled "Welcome To The School".
We tried to make it a Christian album.
But we could not do it perfectly.
Because, we thought, in order to really believe God, first we must overcome all the misconceptions and illusions in secular world.
That's why we devided the album in 2 parts, Our Side & His Side.
Our Side was focused on spiritual battle between faith and doubts. And His Side was focused more on Praising God.
"Welcome To The School" was a good rock album, we still believe. And it was a music about spiritual learning. But it was not 100% Christian Praise&Worship album, we admit.


But after that, in this couple of years, we gained more experience.
We toured in USA twice and we played in many churches.
And we learned more about what we are, and what we really should do.
We could express our faith in more straightforward way.

So here is the result.
"Victory In Christ" is definetely the best we can offer.
This is "The first Christian heavy metal from Japan", all songs based on our faith for Jesus Christ. And we rock for Jesus with joy and happiness.


Some of you may know that our strongest song up to this point was the song called "Karma Flower". It was partly because that song was produced & recorded by famous German producer Sascha Paeth. Because of the production quality. (In other words, because of the money.)

But in this album "Victory In Christ", we have even stronger songs like "Faith Rider" and "Love Is To Do Something No One Dares To Do". (We did some research on Jango internet radio and these songs had better reaction than "Karma Flower".)

So we are very excited to release this album and to share this music with you.


Currently "Victory In Christ" is available on iTunes and you can also download it via BandBox and BandCamp on our website and MySpace.

Hope you will check it out and hope you will like it.

(And those who prefer physical CD to digital download, we will try and setup Amazon.com. It will take some more time. Thank you for your patiance.)



We are planning some more things under the table.
We are planning some advertise campaigne,
we are planning a tour next year,
and we are planning recording at least 2 songs in this coming winter.

We are not sure if we are going to release it as an EP or free download tracks, but those 2 songs are called "Living Water" and "Jesus Train".
We can't wait to play those songs in your church.


Also we have several shows booked around Tokyo.
And for those who living near Tokyo, don't forget to check our schedule. Because we have a big show coming on December 2nd Thursday, at Shimokitazawa Garden. It is a biggest venue we have played so far.


That's all for today. (It's already too long, I guess.)

Being Christians in Japan is always not easy.
But in our church VIC Yokohama, we worship Jesus with all our hearts and I feel there is a healing happening.

So I really hope we can share that healing power together.

God bless you all,
Tak "Tone" Nakamine / Imari Tones
http://www.imaritones.net/
http://www.myspace.com/imaritones

"Victory In Christ" artwork finished!

It's been a long wait since we finished the recording of "Victory In Christ" (previously called "God Rocks") in February this year.

Now we are ready to release it....almost!

Because now the artwork is done!

Our friend manga artist gave us the completed album cover last night.

Here it is.

Anime, or Manga picture, as always....because we are Japanese band, and we like kids stuff.

It has Japanese Kanji character "勝利" on it, which means Victory.


Our new album "Victory In Christ" is soon to be released, first in digital format (at iTunes, AmazonMP3, Bandcamp and else), and after that, possibly physical format at Amazon.com. (We know we are the greatest rock band ever in Japan which is almost too good to be true, but at the same time we are VERY INDEPENDENT and still an unknown band, hidden treasure of the world. So please understand about the distribution. We are in Indies era.)

We will give you the detail of digital format distribution, as soon as they are ready.


Just for your information, we are planning a recording of 2 or 3 songs during this year winter. Songs called "Living Water" and "Jesus Train". We're sure it's going to be a blessing for us all.
And next year early spring, another, hopefully bigger tour in USA. At this point, we are planning south and east part.

And after that, we are planning some big things, one of them is a concept album about Japanese Christian history.

Well, hope it's gonna work. Fingers crossed!


We love you and God bless you all!


Tak "Tone" Nakamine / IMARi ToNES

"Faith Rider" YouTube movie

Originally I wrote this song "Faith Rider" as a joke.

I was having a conversation on mixi(Japanese facebook) with one of my friends who likes heavy metal and motor bike and he came up with a word "Gay Rider", which meaning I didn't exactly know, and he said maybe I should write a song by that name, it was a joke.

But I thought it would be interesting and I was already hearing the melody in my head. And 15 minutes later, I got the song.

I made up a simple demo and my friend liked it. And we decided to play that song with our "just for fun" tribute band. We played it in some party and it was good. And I decided to play that song in my own band IMARi ToNES, and I changed the title to "Faith Rider", and came up with the lyrics. And after several times of rehearsals, it turned out to be a very powerful song, expressing both faith for God and hard core spirit.


It is a simple song. Simple and typical heavy metal song. Because this song is originally a joke song, it was a kind of parody of Judas Priest. It's somewhere between "Painkiller" and "Hell Rider", I tried to write some heavy metal parody. And I'm using many simple power chords. Usually I don't write songs this way, I prefer using more complex chords and riffs. But in this song I used many simple power chords. But just to make thing a bit more interesting, I wrote the main riff using 7/4 times. And just as an homage to Stryper, I added the words "we are soldiers under God's command" in the lyrics.

This song is different from other IMARi ToNES songs. It's exceptional. It's more simple and easy to understand, and it's more powerful.

In the beginning it was a joke song, but it turned out to be one of band's most powerful songs. This often happens in the history of Rockn'roll. Black Sabath "Paranoid", Led Zeppelin "Whole a lot of love", Deep Purple "Smoke On The Water", I heard they were just a additional song written in the last minute.


So now I made a cheap movie of this song, using photos from our latest photo session. These photos represent the character of our band very well. We are always somewhere between heavy metal and pop/punk. Too heavy for pop listers, too pop for headbangers.

I wish we could come up with more professional movie, but it's okay we are just an unknown band from Japan. Possibly the only metal band in Japan carrying a sign cleary saying "Christian Rock".

If any of you like this song, we are glad.


p.s.
Just as mentioned above, we had a photo session and now all our websites are updated with those new photos.
You can check the photos here.
http://www.myspace.com/imaritones/photos/albums/photosession-august-2010/969458
http://www.reverbnation.com/imaritones#/page_object/page_object_photos/artist_243863


Tak / IMARi ToNES

伊万里音色 IMARi ToNES "That's why i love you"

ひさしぶりのラヴレターです。
またも、「光のヒーロー」からになります。
あのときは、それまでやりたかった曲を、たくさんやったからね。

It's been a while since my last "love letter".
Again it's a song from "Hero Of The Lights", recorded in 2004-2005.



このThat's why i love youは、バックグラウンドストーリーというか、いわくつきの曲で、
この曲を書いたのは、もう今からするとはるか昔だけれど、1998年。

そのとき、かのVan Halenが、Extremeのゲイリー・シェローンをヴォーカリストに迎えて、問題作「Van Halen 3」をリリースしようとしていた。


This song "That's why i love you" has some funny background story.
It was written back in 1998, which was a long ago.
Back then, Mighty Van Halen was about to release that controversial "Van Halen 3" with Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone.




で、発売前に、雑誌でインタビューとか見て、待ちきれなかった僕は、雑誌に載っていたトラックリスト、曲名をもとに、自分で勝手に曲を書いて、「仮想Van Halen 3」を自分の頭の中で作っちゃったのね。

で、この曲は、その中のひとつなんだけれど、
おかしなことに、雑誌に載っていたそのVan Halenの曲のうち、
"That's Why I Love You"と名付けられた曲は、アルバムの発売直前に、諸事情によりボツになってしまい、実際にはアルバムには収録されなかった。

でも、僕は自分で作った「仮想Van Halen 3」のうち、この曲はすごく気に入っていたので、自分のバンドで演奏することにした。



Before the release of "Van Halen 3", I was reading music magazines and there was a track list. I could not hardly wait until the release, so I wrote songs myself by the titles on the magazine. Before its release, I had my own version of "Van Halen 3" in my head.

This song "That's why i love you" was one of those songs I wrote then. But funny thing was, Van Halen's "That's Why I Love You" was not on actual album, since it was replaced by another song at the last moment.

So I decided to play this song with my own band.



この曲は、すごくくさいラヴソングです。
歌詞もすごくダイレクトで、自分の中にある孤独がよく現れてる。


ギターソロは感情がこもっていてとても気に入っています。

この曲は、米持プロデューサーによって、"Japanese Pop"にも英語バージョンが収録されているけれど、いろんな理由で、このオリジナルの日本語バージョンの方が気に入っています。



This song is very serious love song.
Lyrics is so direct, which expresses the loneliness and solitude inside me.
And the guitar solo is very emotional, which was my favorite part.

This song was re-recorded by Mr.Yonemochi, the producer of "Japanese Pop" in 2006.
But personally I prefer this original Japanese version for several reasons.




歌詞
Lyrics

***

いつからか僕のこの目には 透き通る幻が見えていた
人には決して見えないもの 胸の中の真実
いつだって孤独だったんだよ どこにいても同じことさ
僕は運命を背負い 自分の道を作らなきゃいけない

Since one day my eyes was seeing transparent illusions
Something nobody else can see, the truth in my heart
I was alone at any time, no matter where I may have been
I have to take on my destiny and create my way



すがりつけるものは何も無いんだよ
この広い世界のどこを探したとしても

There is nothing which can help me
Nothing in this world

That's why i love you
That's why i love you
だから君を失うことなど無いんだよ
生きてるたった一つのＲｅａｓｏｎ知るよ

That's why i love you
That's why i love you
So there is no way I can lose you
And I learn the only reason to live


胸の中に隠してる事実 まるで無視するように
考えすぎだと言い聞かせ 街のビートに沈み込む

You indulge yourself to the beat of the city
as if you ignore the fact inside you

たどりつく場所はいつも同じなんだよ
この広い世界のどこをさまようとしても
You only reach the same place
Wherever you may wander in this world


That's why i love you
That's why i love you
自分の命を譲ることはできないよ
生きてるそれがすべてのＲｅａｓｏｎだから
わかってほしいだなんて言わないけれど
生きてるたったひとつの真実失いたくない
ウソはないんだよ
この事実に 告げた言葉に 触れた指先に


That's why i love you
That's why i love you
I can't lie my own life
Because that's the only reason to live
I'm not gonna say please understand me
but I don't wanna lose the only truth in my life

Yes it is all truth
The fact between us, the words I told you, the touch I touched you


***




Hope you enjoy the song.
God bless,
Tak "Tone" Nakamine

Free live tracks release

IMARi ToNES is so pleased to annouce the release of 2 live recordings.

"IMARi ToNES in Glory Zone" and "Dosamawari Live 2010", which were recorded during our East Coast Tour USA February 2010.

You can download the albums from Bandbox for FREE.


The reason we made these 2 live disks free was, because it was simply a blessing we want to share.

And naturally, we want to fill the gap while we look for a proper way to release our new recording called "God Rocks". Yes we are now a Christian Rock band. And with "God Rocks", we really became a Christian rock band. So we want to offer these live recordings to introduce what we are....the first Christian heavy metal from Japan.


"IMARi ToNES in Glory Zone" was a live recording at Gloryzone Ministries, long island New York. It was one of the best concerts we had so far. And the real miracle was when Tak said "No, you don't have to pray for us. But please pray for our nation Japan." Yes, that is our goal and our promise. We have to change our nation. We are soldiers. We are sacrifices.

"Dosamawari Live 2010" shows IMARi ToNES more as a rockn'roll band. "Dosamawari" means, in Japanese, unkown musicians doing a club circuit (usually very small and dirty clubs and venues) looking for a chance. So this is our "Dosamawari" all the way from Japan. But we all know that's the most important thing for Rockn'Roll.





"IMARi ToNES in Glory Zone"
Free download available at Bandbox and Monstar.fm

1:Opening
2:Testimony
3:Precious
4:Love Is To Do Something No One Dares To Do
5: i love you, now ur on your own
6:Only One Wish
7:Iron Hammer
8:Winning Song
9:Faith Rider
10:Pray For Japan





"Dosamawari Live 2010"
Free download available at Bandbox and Monstar.fm

1:Testimony
2:Big World
3:Precious
4:Winning Song
5:Love Is To Do Something No One Dares To Do
6: Only One Wish
7:God Kids
8:Iron Hammer
9:i love you, now ur on your own
10:A Girl In The Mirror
11:Illusions


Our ultimate goas is to spread the gospel in Japan and change our home country.
(In Japan, many people don't believe in God. Currently only 1% of the population is Christians.)
Please help us create a "buzz" with this free release and change the situation a bit.


You can download the albums here.
(MP3 192kbps)

http://www.imaritones.net/

USA East Coast Tour Thank you everyone!

Last month, we attended Millennium Music Conference in Harrisburg PA.

And we played several other gigs, including churches and clubs.

It was just a short tour but it was fun.

And I think we got so many things.

First of all, thank you to Ken-san for our equipments.

And also thank you to Lei-san and Rea-san for Jake's double bass pedals.

And thank you for everyone at MMC14. It was awesome.

Everyone we met at Open Mic night.

Thank you for Groove Session. You guys are awesome and keep in touch. Come to Japan!

http://www.myspace.com/groovesession

Thank you for Brother Anthony.

It was amazing we met when we put one step out of our hotel room.

Such a blessing.

http://www.godchaserz.com/artists/brinson

And Brandon Parsons, Dave Moran, True Witness, and 3Nailz.

It was such a blessing we all Christian bands played together and had fun.

http://www.myspace.com/brandonmusac

http://www.davemoran.net/

http://www.myspace.com/truewitnessband

http://www.myspace.com/3nlz

And also everyone at Capitol Christian Church.

And on Sunday we had a concert at Gloryzone Ministries, long island New York.

And it was difinetely one of the best concert we had.

Such a blessing. Great church.

Thank you to Pastor Richy, and Pastor Cathe, and everyone at Gloryzone Ministries.

And off course, Petrel girls.

http://www.myspace.com/petrelmusic

And thank you for Pastor Nishikori, New Jersey Japanese Christian Church.

And Hamada-san.

It was such a blessing we Japanese Christians meeting in USA.

And Mrs.Nishikori, we will never forget the curry and rice after the show.

Thank you to Otto's Shrunken Head, East Village, NYC.

And thank you to Hardy Street.

http://www.hardystreetmusic.com/

Thank you to The Wonderland Ballroom.

And thank you to Blair Bush for helping us with our drumkit problem.

We will help you when you come to Japan.

http://www.blairbush.net/

Thank you for Mojo13 and thank you to Bleech. Let's keep in touch.

http://www.bleechmusic.com/

And thank you to Atlas. You guys are so cute.

http://www.myspace.com/atlasde

 


 

(Sorry it seems like I said something wrong before the show. We are learning how to speak English little by little. Next time I will know better.)

Thank you for Clash Bar.

And thank you to Devilhaus, Torrential Downpower, Nice Daughter.

You guys are really, really awesome.

http://torrentialdownpour.com/

http://www.myspace.com/devilhausxxx (or was it other band....?)

http://www.myspace.com/nicedaughter

And thank you very much to Rich.

It was a great pleasure seeing you again.

I can't believe it's already 2 years since we met in the movie festival.

(And thank you to this great band....http://www.myspace.com/oursmusic)

 

And secretly I want to say thank you to this great Japanese band.

Because it gives us courage when we play in a foreign country.

http://www.myspace.com/peelanderz

All of the movies you can watch on our YouTube channel.

And you can watch the whole show at Gloryzone Ministries on top page of our website.

http://www.youtube.com/imaritones

http://www.imaritones.net/

Thank you for our friends in Japan, especially our church friends at Victory International Church Yokohama. Pastor Yaw and everyone. Thank you for praying for us.

Thank you for Jun-san and Merry-san.

And Ryo-kun, thank you for sending the email to cheer me up. It gave me so much energy to overcome my weakness.

And most of all, our Lord, Jesus Christ, thank you for every blessing you gave to us, and giving us a mission to spread Gospel in our home country, Japan.

Hope we can go on to even greater journey.

See you guys soon!!

Tak "Tone" Nakamine

IMARi ToNES

The First Christian Heavy Metal from Japan

New songs uploaded

Hi this is Tak "Tone" Nakamine from Imari Tones,
the first Japanese Christian heavy metal band from Japan.


Our new recording session, it is called "God Rocks", now finished.
We uploaded several new songs to MySpace and Reverbnation.

http://www.myspace.com/imaritones
http://www.reverbnation.com/imaritones

As you see, our new songs are very Christian.
You can feel the power of Holy Spirit.
I guess probably you will like the song called "Love Is To Do Something
No One Dares To Do", which is about sacrifice and devotion.


With this new recording, 2010 it's gonna be a very important year for us.
And we are gonna make it a big year.

Please support and spread the word, thanks.



And we are just about to leave for our USA East Coast Tour soon.

This time we are going to attend Millennium Music Conference in
Harrisburg Pennsylvania.
And we will have several other gigs in the cities around East Coast.

If you are near, please come by and see us and we will be very glad.


Here is the schedule.
For more detail, check our website or MySpace blog.

Please note that most of the bars are +21.


February 20th (Saturday)
Capital Area Christian Church, Harrisburg PA
(Millennium Music Conference show case)
We play 8:20PM slot
All ages show

February 21th (Sunday)
Gloryzone church, Bohemia NY
(11AM church service worship music, and 6PM concert. For details please
check with the church)
All ages show

February 23th (Tuesday)
Otto's Shrunken Head, NYC
We play 9PM slot

February 24th (Wednesday)
The Wonderland Ballroom, Washington DC
We play 9PM slot

February 25th (Thursday)
MOJO 13, Wilmington DE
We play 10:30 slot

Febryary 26th (Friday)
Clash Bar, Clifton NJ
We play 9:45 or 10:30 slot


That's all for now.
Thank you very much and God bless you all!

Love In Christ,
Tak / IMARi ToNES (Japan)
http://www.imaritones.net/

USA East Coast Tour February 2010

Happy new year from IMARi ToNES, from Japan!

We are now midst of the recording session of new songs.
If everything goes well, we can upload some of them soon.


And today we will annouce our short trip to USA in coming February.

We will attend Millennium Music Conference, which takes place in Feburary 18-21 in Harrisburg PA. We will play a showcase gig there.
http://www.musicconference.net/

It's not huge SXSW nor CMJ Marathon, it's a mid-sized local conference. But we are very excited to see other musicians and industry people there.

And we will play several more gigs in some cities on East Coast.


We can't wait to play our new songs to you.
Because with those new songs, we are more powerful, and most importantly, we are more Christian Rock than ever!


First Christian Heavy Metal from Japan. It's not a joke!

Hope to see you soon!


Here is the schedule.


February 20th (Saturday)
Capital Area Christian Church, Harrisburg PA
http://www.capitalareachurch.com
(Millennium Music Conference show case)
We play 8:20PM slot

February 21th (Sunday)
Gloryzone church, Bohemia NY
http://www.gloryzone.org/
(Worship music, need to be confirmed)

February 23th (Tuesday)
Otto's Shrunken Head, NYC
http://www.ottosshrunkenhead.com/
We play 9PM slot

February 24th (Wednesday)
The Wonderland Ballroom, Washington DC
http://www.thewonderlandballroom.com/
We play 9PM slot

February 25th (Thursday)
MOJO 13, Wilmington DE
http://www.myspace.com/mojothirteen
We play 10:30 slot

Febryary 26th (Friday)
Clash Bar, Clifton NJ
http://www.myspace.com/clashbar
We play 9:45 or 10:30 slot


Hopefully we can do a bigger tour somewhere later in this year and get a major release of our recording work.

Wish you a happy 2010 and God bless!!!!!



Tak "Tone" Nakamine / IMARi ToNES