[Life stories of an indie band]
Let me tell you about the goals of our band.
We are an indie band from Japan, and sometimes people ask us why we are doing this.
We are not doing this for money and fame.
That was very clear from the beginning.
We didn’t start making music to be famous or successful.
And probably that is why we became a Christian band.
We became “The first Christian Heavy Metal band from Japan” because we were seeking something more than success.
We are people from the “indie rock”, “alternative rock”, “garage rock” generation. (Note: We are probably older than you think)
Mainstream success was “not cool” for us.
(“Fame and success” has been more or less a deal with the devil in the secular world, we think.)
At the same time, we don’t believe in instant fame on social media of current age.
Because those numbers on social media platforms are just AI algorithms.
We don’t make music for social media platforms and their algorithms. We make music for real people with real life.
So what is our success?
As an indie rock guy (and Christian artist), I always felt like the success I wanted didn’t exist in this world.
So we had to invent our own definition of success.
Probably our success belongs to Heaven?
I don’t know. Maybe.
But what does it look like?
It’s hard to tell what “Success in Heaven” looks like for mere human beings like us.
How can an artist really show the Glory of God to the world using his/her art?
This is a very difficult question.
Our answer was:
To write a life story through music.
A life story with faith.
We believe in Rock’n’roll music.
We still do.
Probably “Rock is dead” and has been dead for a long time in mainstream culture.
But that has nothing to do with us.
Because in Japan, we have a lot of traditional arts with a long history.
We are trying to play the oldest traditional rock music with the latest indie attitude.
We truly believe that Rock’n’roll music is a gift from God.
And we still believe that Rock has a mission.
I want to show you what rock music can really do.
I want to show you what art can do to your life.
We don’t need fame to do it.
We don’t need big money to do it.
All we need is love and passion.
Rock’n’roll is a way of life.
It’s about how you find your freedom.
And I want to show you hope.
I don’t want freedom only rich people can afford.
I’m not interested in hope which only selected people have access to.
I don’t need freedom nor hope if they are only available to successful people.
We want to give you hope, that is available to anyone, if you just believe in it.
That is freedom to live your true life.
That has nothing to do with fame nor success.
We want to give you the key to it.
(And most likely, the key is in Christ.)
We are just an indie band from Japan.
And yet there is something only we can show you.
We believe that we can do it.
It’s a big dream.
A very big dream.
Probably a bigger dream than “being successful and play the biggest arenas in the world” kind of ones.
It takes time. It takes patience.
But we believe we can do it.
It’s still a long way ahead…
But our goal is,
to run this race until the end.
To write this story until its conclusion.
And the story is called life.
No matter if we will be successful or not.
If we can finish this story, that is our victory.
Rock’n’roll life full of blessing, love, and hope.
And God is always there.
I think that’s the kind of show we want to give you.
(Honestly we pretty much consider it a success so far. Because we have you! Your love and support!)
The story goes on.
And the story is about life.
Your life and our life.
We hope you will stick around.
Tak / Imari Tones
14.Jan.2023.