Chiba Yusuke, Asai Kenichi and Life Jackets

Japanese rock group The Birthday had finally found the replacement for their lead guitarist position left by Imai Akinobu last year. Kenji Fujii, ex guitarist of MY LITTLE LOVER(never heard of them, sound a bit too poppy), had previously worked with the bandleader Chiba Yusuke on an album by Q;indivi+. As I expected, Chiba cant handle the big axe, why, I dont know. Maybe he still not quite comfortable singing and playing guitar at the same time..maybe(sound like a pretty fucking lame excuse).  Just hope this new guy can lit back the fire of rock and roll in Chiba's heart cause it seem with every new release, Chiba(and The Birthday) stray even farther from my sonic preference. I mean even Lord Satan weeps at the sight of the man with dragon's voice singing slow indie-pop rock stuff like The Birthday's..

Move on to Chiba's counterpart, the Japan's King of Gretsch, Asai Kenichi. Different from Chiba's dragonlike voice, his natural voice is softer-almost womanly gentle- and in the beginning of his career he even try to force his voice to be more growly(check Ikaten King videos at youtube) it is almost embarassing to hear. Over time he become confident with his voice and emphasis more on his true forte, his genius guitar playing and song composing ability. 

Earlier, I got his 2009 'Sphinx Rose', I know, a bit late but that album is just a glorified collection of his recent singles plus 2 or 3 new songs. And the album was pretty decent- with more mellow songs than rock tunes, I give it a 6 out of 10. Probably the weakest effort of his solo stuff. But there is a little scan of the booklet that bring a big-stupid grin on Your Humble's face..

Its a shot of Asai's cool bike and the surprise: the small stickers on his gas tank, on top and bottom of the fiery 'Salinger'(a title of one of his song, also the name of Catcher in the Rye novelist-J.D Salinger)-the Malay/Indonesian word 'Jeket Keselamatan Didalam'(Life Jackets Inside)...

The musician I respect and champion the most, and a cheap small sticker in my language.

I grinned stupidly-and happily- in front of my laptop for 5 full minutes before the ability to think rationally return to me. No, I dont think he understand my native, insignificant language-even his english lyrics is sort of mumble-jumble. I believe he merely shares my little romanticism in enjoying the charm and curiosity of other unknown  language. 

But why,O my brother, would you put a life jacket in your gas tank ?