Melodic breakcore
De De Mouse (2008-2011)
VJing becoming a career
I was introduced to De De by my good friend and business collegue Tanikawa san at an Avex party, at first he seemed aloof and Tanikawa’s other friends YMCK seemed much more open and friendly.
Some time later I got a call from Tanikawa to say that De De was releasing an album soon and would I like to discuss the prospect of me VJing for him and also producing a music video. I listened to De De’s compositions and whilst it was a lot more melodic than something I would usually listen to, drew influences from Video Game music and breakcore which I found stimulating and thought it would be viable that I could make visuals that complemented what I was hearing.
I think I had 3 weeks to prepare live visuals for our first gig and whilst the first show was rough and conceptually lacking, the response I got was good enough that I thought there might be potential to keep going.
I worked very closely with De De and we met regularily to discuss themes he wanted to portray in his music,
re occuring themes were space and evening sunsets. Due to the circumstances I was hired under and the fact that the pay was really quite good, I was quite happy to be a contracted worker translating his ideas into motion graphics. Even though there must have been, I never felt like I was putting much of myself into the graphics I made for De De.
De De also had a massive reputation before we met and I knew I was walking into something good when we started working together.
He sold 30,000 copies of his debut album on an indie label with no promotion or advertising and had a healthy base of commited (read: obsessed) fans.
I was entering a good situation but there was also alot of pressure to up my game and improve the quality of what was doing. From the start I always had great responses for my live work with De De.
Asagiri Jam
Asagiri jam near the base of Mt Fuji. Asagiri jam is a yearly festival that is sold out before the lineup is even released. We had no accommodation booked which meant we had to come back that night on the tour bus. We played the second stage before Flying Lotus to several thousand people and it was an amazing show. The bar was immaculately stocked and a free for all. I took a bottle of Vodka for the bus trip home and got halfway through before falling asleep.
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Organised chaos.
I liked De De as a person, conversation was not always easy but I really respected his vision and the fact that his music was if nothing inspired and individual. I think he was suprised that there were parralels in our teenage years ( a love for chaotic music and video games) and he probably thought that while we were completely different, we were somewhat cut from a similar mould.
At the start his live sets were organised but totally chaotic and to me had nothing to do with the mainstream. It was strange that he had such a massive following because his music was so abstract and seemingly unaccessable. It was however drenched in melody which is a big thing in terms of Japanese taste.
The more he progressed with Avex, the more watered down his music became and the more rigid his live sets were. I think he was pressured by the label to focus on melody and remove the chaos and to appeal to a broader audience. This failed, and his major debut sold less than impressively. His live shows on the other hand were going great.
It was becoming easy for him to sell out 800-1000 people shows on his name alone.
It was a great experience to be part of and working with sonpub at the same time, it became very easy for me to be on stage in front of this many people. We rehearsed a lot and everything including the adlibs and between song banter was mapped out before the shows. It became over rehearsed and eventually a process of going through the motions.
Countdown Japan
Playing the Massive Countdown Japan festival in Tokyo and Osaka. We played Tokyo on the 29th and Osaka on the 30th. We played to a couple of thousand people and it was an amazing experience, I drank my weight in Budweiser and then got on the tour bus to go to Osaka. We arrived to Osaka at about 2 in the morning only to have a couple of hours sleep and then drive to the warehouse venue. We were to play in the Dj arena and De De was doing a 30 minute Dj set and then 30 minute live show. I had no plans for the Dj set so I basically played Super Nintendo on the big screen to a couple of thousand people for 30 minutes, then did the live show, drank more Budweiser and then got back in the tour bus to come back to Tokyo.
Time for a break
Somewhere in the beginning months of 2010 I heard that De De was thinking of working with other Vj’s. I was a bit saddened to tell the truth but I could understand that after having used me exclusively for 3 years or so that he wanted to grow and work with a variety of people.I sat down for an official chat with Tanikawa
and we left it that I would work with De De in the future but from now on other people would too. I felt a variety of different things, kind of relieved because it was hard work and creatively things were waning a bit. Grateful that De De had relied and trusted me for so long, but also somewhat sad that i wasn’t to be used exclusively anymore.
A welcome reset
I hadn’t heard from De De’s camp for a while but got a call out of the blue in September to play a design festival with him. he was to play an all new set and it was to be a lot deeper and darker to the shows we were playing before we split. I was told there was no rehearsal and to bring new visuals that I had and we would just jam. That return show was one of the best we did together. The improvised nature of it was exciting and we played in a completely dark soundstage with nothing but the projector for lights.
We blew a fuse twice during the show bringing the venue into complete darkness and silence. The audience went mad and everything just fit.
I played a few more shows with De De that year which were similar to the previous show, improvised in nature with new music and visuals. I had explained to De De around New Year that we would move back to Australia in May and he expressed that he would like to do some shows before I left.
The last booking I had was on the 11th of March 2011, I packed all of my gear and got on the train at about 2:30 to head to the rehearsal/sound check. At Toei Oedo Yoyogi station the train seemed to be waiting for a long time. Then all of a sudden the train started to shake and it was quite a large earthquake, everyone on the train looked at each other as if to say should we get off, the shaking increased and a panic hit everyone, we all got off awaiting instructions from the station master. As we waited on the platform (5 floors underground) 2 or 3 large earthquakes hit and I thought i need to get out of here, I went upstairs and the station master informed me that it would be 5 hours before the trains started again as all the tracks needed to be checked. I was about a 45 minute walk from home so i thought i would just walk home and as I walked the gravity of the situation hit me. there were people everywhere on the street evacuated from buildings and there was an overall sense of confusion. I got home to a trashed apartment and in the next few hours the full extent of the earthquake and resulting tsunami’s destruction up north hit home.The last show I was to play with De De never happened.