Getting started
The infamous BCD Days (2003-2006)
Hitting the ground running
I met Cardz and Yui at the first party I Vjed at and it was literally A life changing moment. I had been In Japan for 3 weeks and was getting anxious that I hadn’t really started doing anything creative yet so my wife was nice enough to cold call promoters with the goal of getting me a gig.
I was obsessed with Drum and bass at the time, and so I was trying to play at a drum and bass party or at least a party with someone who played a set of drum and bass. I found a party called Saple ( I still don’t know whether it was a misspelled ‘sample’ or ‘staple) which was a hip hop party with some break beats and at least one D&B combination. The promoter had already booked a VJ but after seeing my demo DVD (this was pre youtube days) liked what they saw and agreed to give me a go on rotation with the other guy. I didn’t care as long as I got to VJ for the drum and bass guys.
It was on a Tuesday night and I finished my teaching job at 9 which gave me enough time to get to the club and set up before things started.
It was at a little place 10 minutes from Shibuya station called Simoon which got busted for drugs or something many years later but was re-opened with a different name.
I set up and met the 2 drum and bass guys, Cardz who was warm and friendly from the get go, Yui on the other hand cold and distant but yet had a magnetic personality, something I found out later that wasn’t limited to me.
We did the show and it went well, Yui and Cardz agreed that we should all catch up at another date and My wife and I ended up walking an hour or so home to the morning’s light.
We all ended meeting at another date and many after that, those two guys were my inner circle for the best part of 4 years or so. It ended up that Cardz was pretty connected in the drum and bass scene and had already made a pretty big name for himself despite only being 19 at the time. Because we were always together we started getting booked together quite alot.
BA – RI – KAY – DO
We started our own party called Barricade which ran for about 3 years under that name. At its peak it was amazing. Yui was turning into a superstar and oozed charisma by this stage. Classic case of Guys wanted to be him and girls wanted to be with him. He was probably getting a bit big for his boots and sometimes I kind of missed that daggy quiet guy I met at Simoon that Tuesday night.
One big party we did before New Years during Yui’s set the floor of Milk was shaking and I remember looking at the other VJ and saying, this isn’t normal right?
The air was hot and thick and it was like electricity was running through the crowd
and I would be pressed to say that I felt that much energy at many events in Japan in my 8 years. It wasn’t just that people were going crazy but it was just, ‘exciting’.
Too many crazy times
- Too many drunk experiences at the now defunct Meguro Milk.
- Playing at The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift opening party in summer at the (then) biggest club in Asia, complete with pool.
- Playing at a Rave in the Niigata mountains where it torrentially rained and the International DJ’s cancelled. The plastic sheet acting as a roof above the VJ area caught a massive amount of water which was teetering over all of our gear, to this day i don’t know why we weren’t all electricuted. I was lucky enough to blag a plush, dry bunk bed with Cardz when all the other artists where in waterlogged tents.
- Coming to Australia together and Yui and Cardz played in Melbourne. Yui’s goal for the five days was to smoke local weed and buy shoes, still makes me smile thinking of that.
Cardz and Yui in front of thier Australian tour poster- Cardz and Yui in front of thier Australian tour poster
VJ Cha2 and myself in the VJ booth
Cardz and the Milk dance floor
Carz, Yui and my visuals in the background
Cardz, Yui and myself at the washed out Nigata rave
Deep in concentration
Barricade (bcd)
Yui, myself and Cardz- Cardz and Yui in front of thier Australian tour poster
- VJ Cha2 and myself in the VJ booth
- VJ Cha2 and myself in the VJ booth
It was all quite sad how it all ended so quickly, Barricade finished, Yui burnt out, quit DJing and the whole scene and coincidentally at the same time I fell quickly out of love with Drum and Bass. Cardz was still the same nice guy from the start and kept on making his best of the drum and bass world.
They opened up a lot of doors for me I don’t know if I would have stayed in Japan for as long without knowing them as they introduced me and my work to so many people so quickly, and the success that I had later on wouldn’t have been possible without that.