Next Music from Tokyo vol 15
Next Music from Tokyo: Vol 15 (Tenth Anniversary!!)
Feat: skillkills / the hatch / SEAPOOL / heliotrope / BATROICA METAL SUMMER JACKET
May 15 Toronto @ The Garrison
May 16 Toronto @ Horseshoe Tavern
May 17 Montreal @ Petit Campus
May 20 Vancouver @ Biltmore Cabaret
Official promo video: https://youtu.be/X0C0qkxJHWg
Next Music from Tokyo (NMFT) is a tour that began in 2010 after a Toronto anesthesiologist named Steven Tanaka discovered that Tokyo secretly harbors the best underground music scene in the world. Without sponsors or government aid, Dr Tanaka donates his own life savings to curate and finance a truly unique tour bringing the most creative and skilled bands from Japan to tour across Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
Over the last decade, Dr Tanaka has donated almost a million dollars to bring more than 50 different Japanese bands to Canada. NMFT has changed the lives of hundreds of Japanese musicians by giving many of them their first opportunity to travel abroad—most don’t even have passports prior to the tour. The bands then gain immeasurable confidence by seeing Canadian audiences cheer wildly for their music and by interacting with hundreds of new fans at each show. The bands fall in love with Canada for its natural beauty and especially its people and have the experience of a lifetime.
Conversely, hundreds of Canadians rave that the NMFT tours are a musical highlight each year and rank among the best concerts they have ever seen. With shows selling out yearly, NMFT is proof that music played with energy and passion transcends language barriers and can be appreciated by audiences anywhere.
NMFT vol 15 celebrates the tenth anniversary of this one-of-a-kind tour. As usual, the bands are unheralded even in their home country but represent some of the best Japanese bands from Tokyo’s indie/underground music scene.
skillkills is a hard-hitting experimental funk band utilizing live drumming and bass guitar over intricate breakbeats. #mathfunk
the hatch is a post-hardcore band from Sapporo that started off playing ultra-fast, mosh pit-inducing punk/HC distinguished by a ‘mean trombone’ but their music has now evolved into something darker, heavier, ‘cooler’ and much more technical.
SEAPOOL is a predominantly female band who are a throwback to 90’s era alternative and punk rock. They sound like Nirvana meets Sonic Youth with some Smashing Pumpkins and Ride mixed in. But despite the derivative aspect the music has a modern, experimental, creative side giving it an unequivocally fresh vibe. One critic described them as a tiny band with a massive sound making some of the coolest music in the world.
heliotrope is a three-piece band playing piano-driven, emotional post-hardcore with female vocals and no guitar. Their music is hauntingly beautiful and powerful. (Heliotrope’s singer Netako is also a member of JYOCHO who participated in NMFT12)
BATROICA METAL SUMMER JACKET is an all-star band formed from the ashes of The Taupe and Gozen Sanji to Taikutsu—two bands that broke up last year and two of the most well received bands from previous NMFT tours.
Next Music from Tokyo prides itself in showcasing a fresh and eclectic line-up of Japanese bands that put on a great show without resorting to gimmicks. Although this year’s line-up is predominantly rock-based, none of the bands sound remotely alike and are bound to fascinate audiences that keep an open mind. NMFT is the only tour in Canada featuring multiple Japanese bands and will continue its tradition of creating one of the most interesting and intense live music experiences of the year.
