Hello you lot!
So, first off, the Punk Polls
have at last been updated with the final results, check out how our favourite
trio have done here.
Cheers to all of ya who have voted for the lads, its greatly appreciated...
Ta, Danke, Arigato, Grasias, Tack, Obrigado, Merci
etc etc!
So the years gigs have started
to happen. After a few months rest, the lads ventured off to Bulgaria
and Macedonia, for the first time ever! I can tell you, Olga, Tommy, and
Duncan were dying to get goin’ again, and were really anxious as
to how these two shows would go! Well, you lot, THANK YOU from the band,
two sold out nights in Sofia and Skopje, instantly put the lads back in
tour mode!
Heres a few pics from Sofia:
10 years had past since the lads had visited the land of the Rising Sun, was it too long a gap!? Would anyone still remember our little tiny trio!?
A huge crowd of around 7000, greeted the lads back in Osaka! Though jet lagged, weary and hung over from the previous nights record company welcome party, the lads stormed through an ultra short, 30 minute, set. Unfortunately this was the time limit for all the bands! A great night, well, afternoon (4pm!) was had by all.
Straight off stage and straight to the airport, for a flight with the Dropkick Murphys, up to Tokyo.
On arrival in Tokyo, the lads visited the local supermarket, grabbed some noodles, then hit the sack! The jet lag had kicked in good n’ proper!
So, the next day, the guys were driven to Chiba, near Tokyo Disneyland, a quaint little club called The MAKUHARI MESSE! When I say quaint, I mean 20.000+ plus crazy wild punks, rockers, and ready to rock kids! After various Japanese bands, Dead to Me, and one or 2 more, the lights went down for the lads return to Tokyo. Thousands of old faces were there, and tens of thousands of new ones too!
Though a great night was had in Osaka, the lads weren’t proud of their jet lagged performance, and gave 110% to the Tokyo crowd.
Maybe one of the best gigs the lads have done in a while, and to a fantastic crowd:
Heres a few pics, and a video for ya!
What a wicked night. A night to celebrate for sure!
Though Olga had to leave early to get up for a 6am live acoustic radio show, Tommy and Duncan stayed on to watch NOFX, Duncan even got up to do one of his masterpieces, Arsehole, with Fat Mike and the boys!!
Thank you to Japan! Great to be back!
It wasn't over yet, the following
night was Duncan and Olga’s acoustic show in Nakano!
Both Duncan & Olga nervously entered the stage to a sold out (200
capacity) sweat box! What an ultra special night this was, again with
such a wicked atmosphere! Ken Yokoyama (ex-Hi Standard) even got up to
play 4 songs with our star duo! They played over 20 songs, including 2
Japanese cover versions, Snuff songs, Billy No Mates songs, and The Toy
Dolls songs!
I only wish I coulda been there!
Heres an after show pic in the dressing room with Ken..
Yeah, we know, bragging about
the Japan visit, we know its almost impossible for loads of you lot to
ever get to Japan, so, heres a little competition:
2 questions:
In which year did the Toy Dolls first visit Japan?
Which Japanese band did Olga produce 2 albums for?
The winner will win a copy of THE TOY DOLLS IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, this
album is released only in Japan, it has the tracks from Treasured Toy
Dolls Tracks, but also has 5 acoustic bonus tracks by Olga, a Japanese
message, and 2 songs sung completely in Japanese, a collectors dream!
Send your answers
, and good luck. The winner will be announced shortly.
So, now its all festivals to take us up the the long awaited UK tour, there's rehearsals to do too, so the the lads ain't sittin around, and yes, writing is also underway for another album!
TTFN
CIARON
