🟥 This article is translated from Japanese.

Summary file for the first half of 2002

Pop life in 2002 is fascinating!! Let's assert that now. The main reason is the emergence of new artists one after another, starting with The Strokes in 2001. It's quite overwhelming to think about this situation that was unimaginable just 2-3 years ago, isn't it?

Therefore, I have created a comprehensive file covering the most important newcomers of 2002. Starting with The Vines' Craig by my side, we have gathered a diverse range of artists, from real newcomers to those who have persevered for years in their careers, and even including some unexpected ones.

In 2002, the watchword for cool rock kids is The Vines! Their debut album, "Highly Evolved," debuted at No. 11 on Billboard after reaching No. 3 on the U.K. National Charts. That's why we've been on The Vines' trail to Los Angeles. We will report on the U.S. scene that is breaking free from the dominance of bubblegum punk and industrial pop & hip-hop, and the countdown to the birth of the "first rock star of the century" in five consecutive issues!

Perhaps the most successful new band in the world in the first half of 2002 was, without a doubt, The Vines. In the U.K., the band is still receiving rave reviews in the NME, with headlines like "Rock 'n' Roll Gods, the voice of a new generation!" Their first album, "Highly Evolved," was called "the greatest debut album in the history of music," and reached # 3 in the UK National Charts. In addition to touring so much that the band had no time to catch their breath, they performed at two of the biggest festivals, Glastonbury and Reading ("Get Free" was a huge hit with the crowd!).

And the frenzy of excitement spilled over to the United States. After importing the rock and roll revival of The Strokes, The White Stripes, and The Hives from the U.K., the U.S. has responded to The Vines more intensely than any other band. The band's debut single, "Get Free," first entered the modern rock charts in the U.S., and the follow-up album was released in the third week of July and debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard charts. Even with the aforementioned milestones of The Strokes, The White Stripes, and The Hives, The Vines were by far the most successful of the three. Even as an expatriate band, this breakthrough is unparalleled amidst the hype for easy-going bubblegum punk newcomers such as New Found Glory. If that's the case, there's no way you can avoid witnessing them! I mean, I'd like to see The Vines at any rate, even if they didn't show up at the summer festival! I mean, I want to see Craig live!

The hotel I was able to get a reservation at was south of East Hollywood (a tourist area where the Chinese Theater and other places are located). It is a thrilling place, different from West Hollywood (an upscale district, where Beverly Hills and other places are also located). Most of the residents are drug buyers. The dogs around the hotel all smell. If you go to a 7-Eleven, you may be followed all the way to the hotel. Since my life is in danger if I keep enjoying the real Los Angeles atmosphere, I asked Jeremy, the photographer I asked to shoot this time, if he could take me to "interesting and the hottest place" in Los Angeles. First, we drove to a small, ivy-twined, European-style building in a quiet residential area near the entrance to West Hollywood. It's posh! We sipped smoothies made from fresh fruits and vegetables while browsing through Marc Jacobs clothes, Nike dead stocks, boots that cost close to 200,000 yen, beautiful photo books, stationery, accessories, and even furniture...just "expensive, top quality, fashionable stuff. You can browse around in the select store, which is full of "expensive, top-quality, fashionable things" such as boots, photo books, stationery, accessories, and furniture. You can't touch anything. I mean, Marc Jacobs clothes, 50,000 or 70,000? Even though I'm drinking a smoothie.

Next stop was the Virgin Megastore. What? Is that cool? But at least among the major CD stores, it seems to be the most popular in L.A. right now. The reason is the price. "Buy 3 get 1 free" is a given, and every CD, new or old, has a low price or special price sticker on it. The most popular CDs were Moby's "18," which was playing at the huge "AREA2" party the following week featuring David Bowie, the Avalanches, Carl Cox, Busta Rhymes, and Ash, and X-Press 2's single "Lazy," which was playing in every clothing store in the city. The Dirty Vegas album was also getting a big push. When I went to the magazine section, I immediately noticed "NME," which was supposed to be released on the same day in the UK. The issue featured Radiohead's live performance in Spain, which my editor-in-chief had seen about five days earlier. Incidentally, you can read "NME" in Japan about a week after its release date in the U.S. In the U.S., it was almost impossible to get a copy until a few years ago, but now you can get to know the British scene in real time. Other British music magazines such as "Q" and "KERAANG!" And when you flip through the magazines, there are articles on artists from outside of the UK, along with domestic artists, in a way that was unthinkable before. At this time, the magazines were all excited about Hives. Apparently, they had a free show at the Virgin Megastore here in Los Angeles a dozen or so days earlier, and every magazine ran a story about it, treating it as a hot topic. The headlines were usually something like this: "The coolest and hippest band right now is this Scandinavian rock 'n' roll band, The Hives!," "Did you witness⁉︎ the hottest rock'n'roll show in the world right now?"

Right now, the U.S. is very interested in the British artists and scene that have been the discoverers of the rock and roll revival ever since it was imported. And that its "British/European sound" is beginning to be accepted as hip and cool music in a chart filled with bubblegum punk and industrial pop and hip-hop. Underworld, X-Press 2, Coldplay, and Radiohead are all well displayed on the shelves.

And what about our very own The Vines? In this store, "Highly Evolved" is priced at only $6.99 a piece, which is less than a thousand yen. When I looked at other albums in the store, I couldn't find a single item at such a low price, especially for a new release. I honestly thought to myself, "What, are they selling them at a bargain price?" The "special package" with black vinyl on the outside of the jacket, the logo, and the jacket are completely different from the regular edition based on Craig's design. Hmmm... I wonder why they changed the look and the price so much, even if it was for the sake of charting. The jacket is certainly iffy. The logo is handwritten. However, is it really okay to hide what the artist himself created as another way of expressing his work in a black vinyl bag printed with "Super Cheap!" It may be a business strategy, but it still bothers me. I was outraged, but being a fool who is susceptible to the term "limited edition," I bought two of them. Oh well, it's okay, it's certainly cheap. In the end, I spent tens of thousands of yen on dozens of magazines and records here that day, and ended up not being able to go to any other stores. ...But, how do you bring them back home?

I decided to go to McDonald's for dinner (after all, I had only had two decent meals during my four days in L.A.). Returning to the hotel, I picked up a copy of L.A. Weekly, a free information magazine, at the front desk. It's like a newspaper with everything from politics/economics, easy, movies, bargains, flea market schedules, crossword puzzles, and advertisements for call girls. At any rate, the most popular topic of the week's music information is, of course, Moby's 〈AREA 2〉. I thought to myself, "Oh, if only I could have stayed two days longer, I could have gone," and tried to find out if there was any party that looked interesting somewhere today. Because on the same day, Fumiya Tanaka was having an album release party at Nishiazabu Yellow in Tokyo! So, it would be a shame if I didn't have a night as fun as that...I thought as I turned the pages, I got some idea of the club scene in Los Angeles. After all, trance is very popular here as well. It seems that guest DJs from Europe are invited to play in the big clubs. But I guess it is the same all over the world. The other two most popular music genres were "80s" and "dancehall reggae/salsa. Some of the 80s parties were planned to commemorate Madonna's birthday. Dancehall reggae and salsa music seem to be really popular nowadays, and mix CDs are sold. It is said that nearly 3,000 people come to the party every weekend. And, as is typical of L.A., there are many "goth" parties. The flyers are all women tied up in bondage. Yes, Goth here is different from Japanese Visual-kei. People with white faces and black clothes like in "Scissorhands" or "Crow" gather at night to listen to body beats and industrial noise (according to a local, they don't dance hard. (According to the locals, they don't dance too hard.) What is even more interesting is that the goth party and the trance party are held on the same day in the same venue (for example, trance on the first floor and goth on the second floor). There seems to be no big line between the two. Furthermore, it seems that many of these parties offer male striptease and SM shows in addition to DJs. I thought, "Wow, I want to go to these parties," but decided against it because it was too dangerous to go alone. I didn't have my bondage and black clothes with me.

And so, the second day. Today is the Vines' show. In the afternoon, I worked quite hard to prepare for tomorrow's interview, and arrived at the venue, "Roxy," a little after 7:00 pm, just as the sun was setting. Next to the venue, located on Sunset Street, is another long-established live house, Rainbow, and next to it is a slightly snobbish-looking venue, Key (I was here once when Fred Durst held a party to celebrate the launch of the label, and there was a show to unveil Staind). There was a long line of about 300 people in front of Key. The line of big-boned men and women who seemed to like Nu-metal were waiting for a show by the American junkies, Cottonmouth Kings. Naturally, the boys were dressed in T-shirts and shorts. The girls have big breasts. On the other hand, lined up in front of "Roxy" were pale indie kids who were obviously far from macho. Many of the kids are wearing Strokes logo T-shirts. The white, skinny kids reminded me of the alternative music fans of the early 90s, but they were different. They are a bit more intellectual and affluent. There is no white trash feeling at all.

Tickets for the show were completely sold out. The venue itself, Roxy, is not a very large venue, and the floor space is about the size of Shibuya Quattro. 600 people would probably have been crammed in there. When the opening act OK GO started, the number of people started to increase. Nancy, who is in charge of international relations at Capitol, said in surprise, "It's rare to see so many people in the audience at a show!" Indeed, there was enough space for 200 people, reserved just for the guests. It was only natural that many people would gather to find out what this Australian band, which has unexpectedly made a big breakthrough, is all about. Well, I am one of them.

The OK GO show started at almost 8:00 and was just great! I didn't know there was such a large gap band! Funny and happy. But they also played well! For more information about the band, please refer to the article starting from p.112...but this is definitely a band you should check out, folks. Personally, this is my most anticipated band for the second half of 2002!

After OK GO's happy performance, we waited for more than 30 minutes for The Vines to come on stage (The shows over here tend to be pretty laid-back, with two bands playing at 8:00 p.m. and sometimes ending at almost 1:00 a.m.). The Hives and the Strokes were playing a lot, probably due to the fact that KROQ was the sponsor of today's show, and the floor cheered every time they played them. A boy next to me asked, "Hey, did you see the last Hives show?" I replied, "No, I didn't. Did you see it?" He said, "Yeah, it was pretty good. But I think Mooney Suzuki, the supporting act, will be more popular in the future." I see. It won't be long before the wave of East Coast indie acts like them, the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, and the Liars will reach the West Coast.

Now, the SE that was playing in the hall was getting louder and louder as MC5's "Ramblin' Rose" ~ "Kick Out the Jams" flowed through the room. "The music will make you strong...and there is no way it can be stopped now..." It would have been too cool if The Vines' show started at this moment! (The other guitarist, Ryan, is basically an acoustic guitarist, so he only appears on stage when necessary.) Without a word, the first song, they start playing "Outtathaway!" The show starts with a gruff guitar and Craig's voice, which is a bit more rough and ready than on the album. Although the performance is a few steps rougher than on the album, the simplicity and catchiness of the melody are more than enough to get the point across.

The next song, "Autumn Shade," was joined by Ryan on guitar, giving the song a more expressive sound. The title song, "Highly Evolved," got the crowd going again, but the performance itself was the same as "Autumn Shade," an acoustic number, "Ms. Jackson" (a cover of Outkast's No. 1 song in the U.S. and a B-side candidate for the next single) was great. Craig's clear, high-tone voice, which is so powerful and elongated, suddenly comes into its own on a mellow song like this. The chorus of "Mary Jane" and the sudden modulation in the chorus of "Ain't No Room" give me goosebumps! On the album, I was rather impressed by the Kurt Cobain-like crushed screams of "Get Free" and "In the Jungle," but if you listen to them live, the high tones are definitely the best! I am not exaggerating, but I can confirm that he has a voice on the level of Kazuyoshi Nakamura, Marc Bolan, or Craig Nicholls. Yeah, it's really amazing. It even has a strange psychedelic feel, as if he were performing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" all by himself (yes, that means it's addictive). The voices in every expression are high, low, aggressive, and mellow. It's amazing.

However, the vocals and the performance itself are so rough that you can't immediately tell which song it is unless you've listened to the album. Or rather, it's all loose. It is difficult to say whether this is what Craig calls "the best part of a live show," but to be honest, there are still too many things to work on as a band in terms of performance.

Anyway, the two members of the rhythm section suck at it. The higher the tempo of the songs, the more their poor playing becomes noticeable, as if they were a school festival band. It would be more appropriate to say that they have neither skill nor taste. Well, the reason why the drummer is not good is pretty simple: he doesn't actually play on any of the songs on the album. The band parted ways with the original member during the recording of the album, and Hamish, the current drummer, was not involved in much of the album's production. And on "Highly Evolved," talented artists such as Joey Waronker, best known as support for the Beck Band/R.E.M., and Pete Thomas, former professional drummer for the Attractions, play on nearly half of the songs. So, I think, "It's OK if it's not as good as the album"... Uh, but there are a lot of things they need to work on as the band. Including the bass player Patrick, who is involved in songwriting with the band. If they don't mature a little more as a band, only Craig's eccentric character will run wild on stage. It is fair to say that the band is not yet mature enough to fully utilize Craig's melodies and voice.

Probably the only song on the album that was not performed was "Factory," their most pop tune. The set consisted of alternating performances of two major categories of songs: so-called "hard tunes" and melancholic acoustic tunes. The last of the 12 songs performed on this day was a new song, "Fuck the World. It is hard to imagine what the recorded version will be like from this show, but at any rate, it is a rock tune harder than any of the previous songs. It is different from "Get Free" and "In the Jungle" in that it is aggressive and dazzles the audience with its guttural sound. Craig fell down and screamed a lot on this song, and the show ended with him slamming his guitar on the floor. The show went by in a blink of an eye, in less than an hour. It really felt like I had only heard a few songs. On the way home, I tried many times to decide if it was a good show or a bad show, but in the end I could not make a decision. I just felt like "I want to see them again!"

Day 3, the day of the interview. We were relieved to finish our happy interview with OK GO in the early afternoon, and immediately headed to the interview with The Vines. The interview took place backstage at Roxy. When I arrived, I was told that neither Craig nor his staff had arrived yet due to the traffic jam. While I was waiting in the dressing room, a man who was almost 2 meter tall and wearing a Sonic Youth T-shirt (and a saggy one from a tour about 10 years ago) started sitting in the room without saying hello to me. Who is he? A tour staff member? I was a little suspicious, but when I spoke to him, he told me that he was a reporter for Rolling Stone magazine. He told me that The Vines was going to be the cover story in the September issue, and that he was going to spend a few days with the band on their USA tour to write a documentary about the tour. "He may seem eccentric, but yeah, he is still just a child." he says, "And he's just shy." But it is unusual for a newcomer who just released his debut album a month ago to be on the cover of the venerable Rolling Stone (the issue's headline is "MEET THE VINES, ROCK IS BACK!") But you, get out of here when my interview starts.

Another 30 minutes of waiting. Craig enters the room, accompanied by a few staff members. He is much taller than I had thought he would be when I saw him at the show. He shakes my hand and says, "Sorry, the streets are so crowded." His tone is soft, as if he had just woken up, and his skin is amazingly white, like a teenage girl's. Craig rubs his eyes and says, "I actually fell asleep in the car... I just woke up now. So I might not be thinking straight at first," he says, smiling as he flips through "Snoozer."

"Oh, The Zoobombs are on it."

●Have you ever seen them live?

"Yeah, I have. They are very good. I saw them walking around in Sydney last year. I said to the singer, 'Your band is cool'. ...Yeah, it's a nice magazine. I can't read it (laughs). Oh, here's a picture of me. I didn't see you at this time, did I?"

●Yes, I talked to you on the phone.

"I see. I hope I was speaking well."

●It was fun, and I think it was a good interview.

"I hope it had been (laughs)."

The interview, which began in such a calm mood, went well beyond the scheduled time and focused on Craig's increased passion for music and next vision for his second album, for which he said he already had the music ready. However, the mood began to grow uneasy as several staff members, including the tour manager, entered the room and began talking about getting down to the business of filming. I was then forced to see the reality of the boy who was about to become the "first rock star of the 21st century." It was a very cruel scene, a mixture of anxiety and hope. To be continued in the next issue!