2011 For Inside Neon

Welcome back to my yearly round-up of all things Inside Neon.

2011 has been an eventful year in many ways but I think it' easy enough to split the year into 4 distinct stages (or people for that matter). So here we have Jeremy, Raphael, Teruhisa and Jakey.

Chapter 1: Jeremy
Towards the tail end of 2010 bass player Nat York left the band (albeit for only about 6 months), but Chris and I decided to continue unabated, and we drafted in Jeremy Eastwood on bass. The result of all this was the recording of the Oceans EP and the release of our first promotional video for the song 'Radical Citizens'.

The songs on the Oceans EP (Radical Citizens, Oceans, A Scream In The Dark and Shiny Black Star) represented a great step forward in our sound as a band. A more sophisticated and mature sound that we will be developing still further during 2012.

Radical Citizens was the big stand-out track for us, so we decided to make a promotional video for it. We shot the video with the help of Director Carl Stella (and his production team). What a wonderful experience that was! That music video has been a great promotional tool and in the 10 months since we've had it up on YouTube it's garnered more than 1000 views. Jeremy left the band in early Spring, and Nat rejoined.

Chapter 2: Raphael
Nat, Chris and myself decided that we needed another guitarist. Our live performances, in my opinion, had never done our recorded songs justice as we were always in need of that elusive second guitar. In Raphael Antoine we found the perfect foil for my guitar work, and the sound of the band expanded.
Ben (DieByForty) commented, after our show at Golden Egg in Shinjuku, that our sound was too big for the room. Thanks for that comment Ben, that's definitely what we were aiming for.

We played 5 shows during the summer with Raph, and had some really great nights.
In particular, we started our 'love affair' with Crawfish in Akasaka. We will have played there 5 times by the end of this year.

We called this mini summer tour the 'Radicals Tour', and we used it as an opportunity to raise money for the Japanese Red Cross, in the wake of the 3/11 Earthquake and Tsunami.

Also, during this tour we played our first unplugged show at The Pink Cow in Shibuya. That was tons of fun.
The highlight of the night being our acoustic version of Radiohead's 'Creep'. (Nat, Teru and myself performed another unplugged acoustic show at my Birthday party in September).

Much respect and thanks to all the great friends and bands that we met during the summer. (Remedy's Library, As Dusk Fades, J.J. Vicars, Sorcha & The Sinners, Melted and The Mootekkis, all get special mention here)

We also got our first Radio play at Head Case Radio (USA) and Rock Around The World (Germany).

Unfortunately, all our plans to record a new record at the end of the summer came crashing down around us when Raph decided it was time for him to leave the band, to be fair he was also leaving Japan. Anyway, many many thanks Raph for rockin' with us throughout the summer.

Chapter 3: Teruhisa
So, with Raph sadly parted, and after much wringing of hands, we asked Teruhisa from Remedy's Library to step in as our second guitarist. Once again, as with Raph, we got lucky and found a wonderfully expressive and talented new member.

Teru's debut came in late October at the Rock'n'Roll Paradise event in Akasaka. I put on an event with 7 bands spread over the best part of 7 hours. It was my most ambitious event to date and I am so pleased that we managed to pull it off. Inside Neon enjoyed rockin' the stage that evening with PlayFight, DieByForty, Sawas Phool, Honeydew, The Mootekkis and J.J. Vicars.

In early November we made our 'professional event' debut by appearing on the outdoor stage at Design Festa at Tokyo Big Sight. What a great day we had. The videos of the event have become some of our favorite's to watch over these last few months. That 'big sound' that Ben had described earlier in the year was finally allowed some space.

We got some more radio play with KMSM FM based in Bute, Montana. And then played another show in Yokohama. Our third time to play in Yokohama and another great night of rock'n'roll was had by all (with a smidgeon of Guiness drinking too).

Chapter 4: Jakey
This is a short but important chapter in our 2011 story. Without this guy we would not have been able to record our EP, and most of gigs would have been the worse for his absence behind the mixing desk. Jakey is our George Martin, the proverbial fifth Neon. Thanks mate.

And Finally...

The year will be rounded off with a big bonenkai at our favorite live bar, Crawfish in Akasaka. Joining us on stage will be Martin Leroux (who also played with us at our unplugged show) Mana Hardcore, Selwyn & Duncan Walsh from The Watanabes and our great friends over these last 2 years, DieByForty (this will be our 6th show together).

Should be a great way to end 2011 and see in 2012.

Thanks for being there!

Lookout for us in 2012, things are about the get VERY different.

Rich.

Inside Neon - Radical Citizens