Video interview with Back-on by MTV Taiwan, now subtitled!

This news comes a little late (almost a year!) after Back-on’s visit to Taiwan for their international debut in Asia for Formoz Festival 2007. The original video was uploaded by gangangan03, and as it was in mandarin (and Japanese!) it was only accessible to those familiar with the language.

With thanks to gangangan03 for his kind permission, we have now translated the interview clip and added subtitles to the original, which is now available on Youtube as a video response!

This is our first attempt at translating an interview clip, so if you do spot any errors or anything else that we can change or improve, please let us know! :) You can watch the subtitled version by clicking here or after the cut.

Interview questions included:

What were your thoughts about the whole event (Formoz Festival)?
Was there anything that stood out in particular?
Have you done anything interesting whilst you’ve been in Taiwan?
Do you have any weird habits?

Apparently icchan eats a lot (especially whilst on the phone) and Kenji03 likes sticking out his tongue!

Hope you enjoy watching the interview, and please do let us know what you think! :)

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

“Sands of time” out today!

After the unbearably long wait (their last single release was in September 2007!) Back-on’s brand new single Sands of time is finally out today! :)

Alas I haven’t yet heard any of the new songs on the tracklisting (apart from the title track Sands of time) but according to the initial feedback by Meji (who received her CD the day before the release date!) Back-on have apparently out-done themselves with the new songs!

Meji mentions in one of her posts that the songs were:

“Not really more focused on the rock side. message for kidz is very catchy, and the fifty/50 one, I would say that song would be their best one, b/c on the lyrics and listening to the song itself the same time; it comes out like a story, I’m guessing it would be life in the Adachi District where they grew up.“

And in fact, Icchan wrote a little bit more about message for kidz and fifty/50 in his latest blog entry (they’re really looking forward to feedback by the way!) where he says that:

“fifty/50 will be a nice surprise to those who listen to Back-on’s songs, as it is very different and will be the first time the band have experimented with this style. Teeda sings solo (I think he might be might even be the only singer?) for this quite ‘hip-hop’ song, and the lyrics really demonstrate the conflict that Teeda feels within his heart.”

Icchan also elaborates on message for kidz (parts of which I didn’t understand very well either) where he seems to say:

“The song isn’t just for the stereotypical children or ‘kids’, as everyone is or has been a kid at one point. message for kidz is dedicated to cheering-on anyone who has worked hard to overcome their hurdles and move forward, step-by-step, towards the future. Hopefully, kids who are kids, or people who were kids will listen to this song and feel energised!”

I’m very much hoping I haven’t misinterpreted Icchan’s words (any corrections, please please do let me know!) too much, but hopefully it will give everyone a rough idea of the background of these two new songs. ^^

And before I forget: a big thanks to Meji for the first review of the single! :) I can’t wait to get my hands on my copy, but in the meantime, I will keep scouring the internet for any previews!

Share This

Watch the ‘Sands of Time’ PV in full on Youtube!

If you’ve been camping out on the BOO Forums for the past few days, you’ll definitely have heard of the breaking news (from Sesshy as well :D) of the release of a clip of the Sands of Time pv on Back-on’s Myspace!

It featured 0:58 minutes of Back-on goodness (splashing water, an hour-glass and slow-motion have never seemed so magical!) but ended so abruptly that the rabid dedicated fans were left wanting more. Our prayers were clearly heard by someone, and who else but the one-and-only gangangan03!

He has uploaded the full Sands of Time PV on to Youtube (thank you!!) and you can watch all 3:13 minutes of it at the link below! (or below the ‘cut’)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZEk3B-SF5c

If you fancy just looking at the screenshots instead, we’ve taken just over 100 stills from the mp4 version of the file. They are now all hosted on our brand new Flickr account! We’ve included some of the pictures below for your convenience, but it’s best to experience the entire ‘PV’ by viewing them all in one go (at the size ’small’ for optimal quality)

What do you think of the PV? I personally think it’s one of the best the band have done so far, and it’s very arty in some parts! :) I do love everyone’s outfits (although I wish Icchan had a more ‘complete’ look!) and can’t wait to see some official photos!

UPDATE: With thanks to gangangan03, it turns out that the director of this spectacular PV is none other than Hideaki Sunaga, who also directed the PV for Chain, and has worked with artists such as Dragon Ash, Ayumi Hamasaki and Koda Kumi!

Only 10 more days until the big day of the single release! ^^

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

New single “Sands of Time” cover design released!

The news was first announced a few days ago on Back-on’s official blog as part of a blog entry by the band’s drummer, Icchan, and you can see it for yourself below!

The design was actually quite different to what we had expected on the discussion thread on the forums, where members kindly (and enthusiastically) threw in their suggestions :) What do you think of it? The general consensus so far that people really like it!

Back-on then followed up this ’sneak-peak’ by officially announcing the release of their new single on their official website, where they confirmed the May 21st 2008 release date. They also posted that the single (in line with their other single releases to date) will have 3 tracks, but so far, the only known title is the title track Sands of Time.

In addition, the band have also changed their Myspace profile picture for the occasion, which features Teeda wearing a necktie! :) You can see the image itself after the ‘cut’ (click on Read more…) but it is unfortunately a little small, so we can’t see much detail as yet, which is a pity! Hopefully they’ll release some larger pictures soon!

p/s: The news release regarding the new cover design and Myspace picture (see below the cut) has come courtesy of Sesshy via the Sands of Time + Keitai Sousakan 7 discussion thread! Thank you! :D

p/s2: Don’t forget you can download the TV Size version mp3-rip of Sands of Time from BOO!

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Videos of Back-on performing live at clubasia and GAME in Shibuya, Japan!

Although we haven’t heard much about Back-on’s musical activity until these two days (we’re in the middle of drafting the news post about their new song ‘Sands of Time‘ which features as the ending theme for the upcoming 51-episode Jdrama ケータイ捜査官7 [Keitai Sousakan 7, Cellphone Investigation 7] !) they have been extremely busy (as usual) performing gigs in Japan!

Usually this sort of news would, for obvious reasons, pass right by international fans (like myself) and be filed away as ‘general news’, but with a huge thanks to mau37 and also acq128 (in particular, who has kindly given us permission to post his video and sent us some photos that will be uploaded to the Gallery!) we’ve now been offered a unique audio-visual glimpse into their live Japanese gig performances via Youtube!

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Back-on donates autographed items for Gyao.jp’s charity auction!

This news has come a little late, but I assure you it is very interesting, as a few weeks ago, Back-on donated items towards Gyao.jp’s Charity Auction! It seems Gyao holds these charity auctions once every 2 weeks, and Back-on’s items were (lot) number #44 for Gyao’s 22nd round of auctions!

The auction was held in association with Bidders.jp, which I understand to be a Japanese auction company, and featured one of Back-on’s latest special t-shirts (previously modelled Icchan) autographed by all the band members, in addition to a signed copy of the single BLAZE LINE/a day dreaming… The band also donated issues #1~21 of all(?) the Eyeshield 21 manga, so I’m sure you’d agree that it was definitely a particularly generous donation! (given that some celebrities just donate e.g. lip gloss)

You can visit the (now closed) auction directly by clicking on the picture above, but for those wanting the low down, 33 different price bids were made for the items above, with a mini-bidding war between two users 19920628 and kameya_online towards the end, and the final price was ¥ 8000, which is about $70 USD or GBP £ 35!

So congratulations to 19920628 (I have no idea who this is either) for winning the auction and picking up the prize booty! :D We’ve included some more pictures of the auction items below, so do have a look if you’re free!

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Back-on’s brand new official blog!

It’s not often that I type up news hot-off-the-press, but today is an exception because Back-on have just announced the release of the brand new official blog! The blog is now powered by Ameblo (アメブロ) and is available at the url (NOTE: no preceding www!):

http://ameblo.jp/back-on

I’m sure everyone would agree that this is a far easier link to remember compared to the url of their previous blog: http://back-on.cocolog-nifty.com/stuff/

Anyway, before we get too bogged down in the detail, let me tell you more about the new blog! As a picture is worth a thousand words, a screenshot of the new blog site will come first:

I do love these colours - of course they were designed (or chosen) to fit the new style that Back-on are using for this season, the upcoming release of flower (and maybe Butterfly?) - but it’s very easy on the eye! You’ll see that the top left menu actually has categories for all the band members, Teeda, Kenji03, Shu, Gori, Icchan and Back-on’s Staff, so it is possible that we’ll see entries on the official blog in the future byindividual band members! :)

The first entry has already been bagged by the Staff, who have introduced the new blog powered by Ameblo, and then going on to say that there will be lots more posts (I think) about the live events, recordings, personal thoughts and all sorts of other fun things!

So, to sum up: if you haven’t already bookmarked their new blog site, go for it!

p/s: I think I know what my next badge will be~~ take a look at the header of the new blog!

Share This

Icchan models the new Back-on T-shirts and new live dates announced!

During the past few months, Back-on have tended to update their website once-or-twice a week with news updates, but in this month alone, they’ve made a record 9 news posts in the first two weeks!

Our main focus is on the T-shirts (Merchandise) that were announced at the end of last month, because the latest news post features Icchan and the T-shirts! Yup, he models all 4 colours of the latest design, and looks so sweet when he smiles. :) Take a look below, especially at the pink t-shirt, as the website says it is particularly recommended by Icchan!

If you want to see how the t-shirt fares under colourful spotlights, Back-on.com also provides a photo of Shu with the new-t-shirt as well~

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Brand New Back-on Profile Pictures!

I must have over-looked these new profile pictures for Back-on band members when writing up the previous news post about the new Back-on.com. It’s better late than never, ne? :) There isn’t really too much to say as these photos are part of the range of photos promoting BLAZE LINE/a day dreaming…, so please just enjoy (the eye candy) below!

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Watch the ‘a day dreaming…’ PV online!

With thanks to Sowon, it is possible for you to download the PV and mp3 of a day dreaming…. However, for those who prefer to watch it online, blueblueblue has uploaded the PV on Youtube, which you can find here!

Of course, the video is included in this post as well, and it seems that this is a special version of the PV with extra ending credits! The info comes courtesy of Koutarou, and you can find out a little more below the video.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This