JaME interview with members of the coordinating and promotion team for the JRock Revolution.
JaME recently had the opportunity to speak with Ai Aota and Jonathan Soh, part of the coordinating and promotion team for the Japanese music festival JRock Revolution.
Thank you for setting aside some time for us. Let's start with the basics, when did you first begin planning for JRR?
Ai: Not long ago, October of 2006.
Jonathan: The actual festival production planning didn’t happen until mid-March 2007 when a lot of the festival details was finally confirmed. Essentially this event was produced within a two and a half month timeframe. So during that time, the Japanese & U.S. production teams had to coordinate all the efforts for producing the festival. Given the time difference between Los Angeles and Tokyo, many people had to work late nights to get the planning done. But without the efforts put in from both teams, this festival would’ve needed much more time to produce.
Who was the mastermind behind the JRR concept?
Ai: Yoshiki.
Jonathan: Ultimately this event was his idea.
How did you choose the bands that were invited?
Ai: First we did some surveys on the JRock Revolution MySpace page, and also some street marketing. We asked fans which bands were their favorites, and which ones they wanted to see perform live the most. Of course it was all dependent upon availability of the bands as well.
Jonathan: Next, we wanted to have a good cross section of musical style each of the artists brought to the table. That is why there was such a contrast in musical style if you compared the artists from Night 1 and Night 2. We didn’t want fans that are new to Jrock to get the wrong impression of the genre. We wanted people to understand that Jrock is a broad term and it encompasses many musical styles ranging from the Fusion style of miyavi to the Hardcore Metal style of girugamesh. We wanted as many representations of Jrock as possible at the festival.
We also wanted to show the history and progression of Jrock for the past 20 years or so. That is why we had footage of X-Japan playing on the big screen to show where some of the roots of modern Jrock came from. Then there were veteran artists such as MUCC, D'espairsRay, & Kagrra, and then came the relatively newer artists such as alice nine. & girugamesh.
In the end the fans, both old & new, are the ones that decided which artists would come and we tried to give them what they wanted most. And thanks to all the artists, their management, and their record labels for accepting the invitations to come and perform at this festival.
Were there some bands that you wanted to invite that weren’t able to make it?
Ai: Yes, of course, there were about 30 bands that we had to choose from, and there was initially a lot of back and forth as to whether some of them could make it or not, because of the scheduling. It took about three months to get the final list of who would be able to make it and who would not.
What were some of the difficulties involved in coordinating all these
bands?
Ai: I actually took care of promotions, ads, posters, selling tickets, etc. It was Jonathan who did the coordination, so I'll leave this one to him.
Jonathan: Much of the coordination such as the travel arrangements was done by the Japan production team and I’d have to say they did a phenomenal job at that. It wasn’t easy trying to find a hotel that had space for 70+ people in Los Angeles DURING the Memorial Day weekend. As I stated earlier, this festival had a very short production period and to pull something like this off took a great deal of effort. Kudos to the Japan team!
Of course the biggest difficulty the U.S. team had to face was getting everyone through U.S. security. Given the situation with U.S. Homeland Security and such, we had worries that some problems may arise at the last minute. Luckily everything went smoothly.
Ai, what were some of the difficulties for you, as far as promoting the event?
Ai: Because everything was done rather last minute, it was difficult to promote. I didn't have final artist confirmation until just a few weeks back. I had less than a month to come up with a promotion plan and make sure that tickets sold. Then there was only one month from the time promotion began to the time tickets went on sale. It was difficult to try and confer with so many different people in so little time.
What are some of the rewards when working on a project like this?
Ai: For me, personally, I love making people happy. It was really rewarding to see the gratitude of the fans. I might get more of that reaction, because I am working more closely with the fans than some of the other people on the team. I answer the messages on the MySpace page, and I was in touch with fans who helped us out with posting flyers. Hearing their reaction, some of them saying things like "Seeing this band has changed my life", that really gives me motivation and pushes me to work even harder.
Jonathan: I agree, the most obvious reward of working on a project such as this one has got to be the fan reaction. We always knew that Jrock fans are very dedicated and true to this genre but we didn’t expect them to be as enthusiastic as they were during the shows. It was AMAZING when the first band of night 1, Kagrra, first got on the stage and then the whole venue just exploded into cheers and applause. That in itself was reward enough. Six months of planning and dedication all culminated into one single moment. It felt fantastic.
Did you expect the massive fan reaction?
Ai: Yes, I did, because it was my job to be in close contact with the fans. Many people were skeptical initially, and surprised, even though I tried to convince them over and over (laughing).
Jonathan: To be honest, yes I did. We always knew that there is a JRock fan base hidden away in the underground outside of Japan. It’s not just in the US, it’s worldwide! We had people flying into Los Angeles from all over the world: Canada, Europe, & South America. That just goes to show how dedicated some of these fans are. All these fans needed was a single push to bring them all out and that was the whole goal of this festival. That and to break the musical language barrier here in the US.
The only thing I didn’t expect was the news that fans had started camping out in front of the Wiltern the Monday before the first show. I had expected the fans to start camping out the Thursday before the show.
Are you hoping to have future events?
Ai: Yes, I think we can do it. I hope so. We'd love to do the East Coast, or maybe even Europe. Of course we're not sure at this point what will happen, but we'd love to have many more events.
Jonathan: Some fans, mainly in the mid-west and east coast, have been emailing us begging to have another show in those areas. First I’d like to apologize that we were not able to respond to all of the emails. There just wasn’t enough time and manpower to answer them all but be assured that they have been noted.
At this moment we have not confirmed anything yet. We’re taking it one step at a time first, but based off of the huge success of this show there is a good possibility of other events.
Fans have to understand how much coordination and planning goes into producing an event such as this JRock Festival. To confirm anything now would not be prudent on our end.
What would you like the public to know about this event?
Ai: Anything is possible. I started working with promoting Japanese artists in 2003, at Otakon. I've been working with anime conventions for 10 years, working to spread Japanese Pop Culture to the United States. At first, I never thought an anime like Akira could do well in the United States, but American fans are SO strong, and SO organized, and SO vocal. They're willing to do anything to help. They're willing to put all their effort in to spreading Japanese Pop Culture to the US because it's their passion. I love that. If you want to see many bands in 2 days, maybe we can do it. If you wish for it, it can happen, there's always someone who will listen. Use your passion and anything is possible.
Jonathan: Also, we would like the public, not just the JRock fans, to understand that it doesn’t matter that JRock is not performed in English. Music is music whether it is performed in English, Japanese, Spanish, etc. What matters most about music is how it makes you feel about it. If you enjoy the feeling and the show then that is all that matters.
We also would like the public to know that each of the artists are very grateful that they were able to perform for them. I think that many of the artists didn’t expect the kind of reaction they received from the fans here in the U.S. A lot of them would like another opportunity to perform in the U.S. again, maybe even tour it. So we’ll try our best to facilitate it for them and hopefully the fans will be as supportive as they were for this show. Spread the music, spread the word.
Lastly, we would like the public to know that all of this would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of the many teams involved. There are so many people we need to thank and I hope that they all know who they are. They all deserve the recognitions that are due to them. Thank you!
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JaME would like to thank Ai Aota and Jonathan Soh for taking time out of their busy schedules for this interview, and for their hard work in producing JRock Revolution.
