These photos are from the official live report and I really wish there were more! Loved TEEDA‘s hoodie top by the way:

And this is a map of the entire venue – BACK-ON was right in the heart of everything!

Icchan and Kenji03 certainly look as though they were enjoying themselves (see Icchan‘s full blog post):

Finally, to give you an idea of what the atmosphere is like at this massive music festival, take a look at the official Attractions & Audience photos and videos from Osaka – we’ve included a few below:

The festival is a celebration of the Tales of series, as well as an event for announcing forthcoming new games. This year’s festival was held on 14th June 2009 and BACK-ON were invited to perform flyaway and Re:Start, songs that most fans will know as the OP and ED (respectively) theme songs from Tales of the World : Radiant Mythology 2.

According to various reports, they wow’d the audience with their thrilling renditions of both songs:  Gpara said that ‘they single handedly roused the crowd’ during their performance.

BACK-ON later invited Ito Kanae (伊藤かな恵) – Kanonno Earhart‘s seiyuu – who featured in the flyaway [Tales of] remix – to join them onstage; she was too nervous to actually sing in front of the crowd.

BACK-ON with Ito Kanae courtesy of Gpara

The photos are courtesy of Gpara.com,  Dengeki.com and Famitsu.com, and you can view them in full by visiting the Tales of Festival 2009 section of the Gallery.

p/s: Although BACK-ON have posted a photo of the event,  Icchan and Kenji03 also talked briefly about the event in their official blog, they did manage to get hold of some nice programmes!

photo by ooishi nami

p/s2: For fans wanting to know more about the new Tales of games that were announced at the Festival, please visit the dedicated Tales of fansite Abyssal Chronicles for detailed information.

Click on the screenshot of the player below to visit their official Myspace and listen to the songs yourself! If you don’t have access to Myspace, keep on reading for a special treat that we have for you :)

The chorus of the new song 果てなき道へ [LA mix] (Hatenaki Michi E) feels a little more pop than rock, but as the clip tails off, there seems to be a promise of some heavy rock coming up… and possibly Teeda‘s signature rapping? Definitely an upbeat song and I have to say I really do like it! I can’t wait to hear the full song at least :)

As for the other songs, it will certainly be interesting to hear what everyone thinks; I heard from the grapevine that apparently the [LA mix] versions should be a little heavier and emphasise the ‘rock’ aspect of each song. Unfortunately Myspace are not doing BACK-ON any favours as they convert the original songs to very low bit/sample rates (96kbps and 22kHz apparently) so the songs sound rather unclear and somewhat hollow to me, but I think the bass and guitars are definitely a lot more pronounced! What are your thoughts?

To add icing to the cake, BACK-ON have also updated their profile photos on their website, and you can see thumbnails of their brand new look below, but I would highly recommend clicking on the thumbnails to visit our fan photo gallery for the full size photos! I actually want to do a bit of a fangirl scream here for ALL of the band members (Kya!?) but just to pick out one band member, doesn’t Icchan look so much more mature?

And last but not least, for people who can’t access BACK-ON’s Myspace, fear not, because we have recorded all the 4 [LA mix] song clips into one long mp3 (3:15) that you can download or listen to online below!

p/s: Good news for fans of gangangan03‘s videos! :) He now has a brand new account which you can visit here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MONSTERSNITE

Then came September, and the revelation that the other half of the mysterious new group BAReeeeeeeeeeN were in fact BACK-ON, and since then, the band has experienced a huge surge of popularity. So much so, that at their first public performance after the release of 足跡 (Ashiato) at Shibuya Boxx on October 9th, the venue was packed out! We found out about this from the official ‘report’ on Back-on.com, which was accompanied by the launch of their official photo gallery, featuring more than a dozen photos from the gig!

There are more photos available at the link above, but perhaps more importantly… we had the very first hint in the last line of the report that the full album really is forthcoming, this time on the new rumoured date of November 12th 2008!

So what do we know about this potential new album? If the Japan-base online CD retail companies like Amazon.jp, CDJapan and HMV.jp are anything to go by, this is the jacket cover of the brand new album:

We also find out that the new album will probably be called Yes!!!, and that it should be priced at ¥ 2,600, which is around $27 USD or £17 GBP. Apparently there will be a total of 10 tracks, including 足跡 (Ashiato) aka. Footprints and color from the BAReeeeeeeeeeN debut single, which really shouldn’t be a surprise, given that the cover design really does scream (to me) GReeeeN!!! What do you think? Let us know on the Forums, if not in the comments below!

The supposed 8 other tracks on the album are currently unknown, but it seems BACK-ON will definitely be including all the title tracks from their singles so far, which presumably means songs such as (in reverse chronological order) -

• Sands of time
• flower
• Butterfly
• BLAZE LINE
• NEW WORLD
• Chain

and many more of their crowd favourites. One site even mentioned ヒカリサスホウ (Hikari Sasuhou), which was a huge hit with the fans at their October 9th Sonic Concorde gig, enough to make BACK-ON perform it twice!

Seeing as it’s one of my most favourite songs, I think I can understand why ;) And as if the photo extravaganza above wasn’t enough, look at the promotional photo we found on Amazon.jp!

Kenji03 is wearing glasses!!! That’s enough to make any fan-girl go KYAAAAAA! (I’ve borrowed this from someone, sorry!) It’s a pity the photo isn’t larger, but if you do want a good close up, I can certainly recommend watching a new video uploaded by gangangan03, where BACK-ON (in their new outfits!) introduce 足跡 (Ashiato), but unfortunately the broadcasting giants appear to have waved their copyright flag, and not only have they removed the video, but gangangan03‘s Youtube account has mysteriously been suspended! It’s a HUGE HUGE blow for BACK-ON fans imho, and I really hope the account will be re-instated soon as it is a gold mine of media of the band. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

I would like to drop in a tantalizing hint “タネウマ★DJ ICHIKAWA from Volta Master remix” at this point, but let’s leave it for the next post and move back to the main topic:

Will BACK-ON‘s first full album be called Yes!!!

Will it really be released on November 12th 2008?

That really remains to be seen, but please keep checking back here for more news!

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! :)

BACK-ON on MTV Taiwan (subtitled)

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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!

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 3:21 minutes of it at the link below! (or below the ‘cut’)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYhkmXIRx7o

UPDATE 05/01/09 – We have just updated the link to the fansubbed HQ version of the PV as sadly gangangan03‘s video is no longer available. The new video is courtesy of Vanalovas and is subbed by Order of Zeronos.

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! ^^

BACK-ON – Sands of Time PV (uploaded by gangangan03 & Vanalovas)

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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!

Behold! The brand new Myspace profile picture!

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!

Without further ado, I’d first like to introduce the 2-part video uploaded by acq128, of Back-on performing Chain at clubAsia in Shibuya on February 3rd 2008, as a special guest of the headline band ROOKiEZ at 『 ROOKiEZ presents BUMP ON da STYLE vol.07 1st ANNIVERSARY BASH』, which celebrated ROOKiEZ‘s first year together. Other bands that also performed at the event included P.T.P (Pay money To my Pain), SOLZER, Dogma, and Magenta Beach. The American rap artist Matthew ‘Masaru’ Barron (who featured in GFS’ Taneuma) was also present as a DJ.

Unfortunately the video isn’t complete (the notes for the second video mentions something about running out of memory) so it’s only the start and end of Chain. But interestingly enough, acq128 did mention that Back-on were being very considerate and didn’t go all out for this performance, as they didn’t want to steal the limelight from ROOKiEZ. More love for Back-on? I think so!

Part 1

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Part 2

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You can definitely feel the amazing energy from the band *and* the audience when you watch the videos (it helps that the video was shot from the audience!) and we even get closeups of Teeda and Shu (in the second video)!  A huge bonus is that the (second) video actually captures the end of Kenji03‘s crowd-surfing!

The audio quality is also pretty good, enough so that when Kenij03 launches into the first ‘high’ point of Chain‘s chorus, I felt an extra sense of excitement! Cheesy, I know, to put it like that, but I really don’t know how else to say this!

So moving swiftly on; the second set of videos comes courtesy of mau37, who uploaded videos of Back-on performing flower and Chain live at Shibuya GAME for 『LionFESTA vol.16』 on February 10th 2008, with bands such as エイジアエンジニア (Asia Engineer) . If one thinks of acq128‘s videos as the ‘preview’ or ‘appetiser’, then these videos are, without doubt, the main course, as they are both full length recordings of each song!

Chain

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flower

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This particular set of videos have been filmed from slightly further back (away from the pumped-up audience) than the previous set, but is also of equally great visual and (more importantly) audio quality! Although both videos are a little dark at first, once the lighting brightens up, we get some fantastically detailed views of Kenji03, Teeda (especially in the second video) and occasionally Icchan and Shu! (Alas no Gori?)

This really helps brings the videos ‘to life’ (for me at least) and makes Teeda so particularly charismatic! (Small wonder that ookami et. co are all such fans! Of course we have much love for Kenji03 and the others as well!) However, there may well be an extra small Easter egg for some Kenji03 fans: he seems to be wearing a smart suit-jacket and shirt! If you add in a tie, won’t it will be a small step in the right direction towards a tuxedo? I do like the look at any rate!

‘Teeda and Kenji03 demonstrate how to stop traffic…’

And before I degrade into more fangirly inappropriate comments , as a quick conclusion, what I really really love about all these videos is that they have all been filmed so very up close to the band! I guess this is a taste of what it is like to be ‘live and intimate’ and certainly makes me want to hop on a plane to Japan to see Back-on perform live! I really hope you enjoy watching the videos too, as they are (imho) particularly exciting and special for fans who have not yet had the opportunity of seeing the band performing live.

So, a big thank you again to mau37 and acq128! And, as always, please let us know what you think of the videos! :)

p/s: If you are interested in Back-on‘s gig schedule, you can always visit the Schedule page on BOO. As part our new year’s resolution, we are working on keeping this as up-to-date as possible.

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!

And one more – focusing on the t-shirt: