Lyrics: RAIN

It might seem a surprise to everyone for us to release the lyrics for RAIN out of the blue, but with thanks to nosoul4u and ookami (Forum Moderator!), who have both said on the Forums how much they would like to have the lyrics, I finally got round to sitting still for 2 hours to type them up. ;)

RAIN is from the New World mini-album, which Back-on released at the end of 2006, and is quite a feel good song. Surprisingly (for me anyway) it was actually the longest song on the CD (4:03) probably because of the long musical interlude in the third half of the song. It’s definitely a grower, although I have to admit I like Teeda’s rap part the best, even though he’s uber fast, particularly in the second verse, I had to slow down the tempo by almost 40%.

Interestingly though, Kenji03 sings a word in the first line of the chorus slightly differently to the usual pronunciation:

あの時僕らは何かに怯えて
where 時 is usually pronounced as “toki” (or “doki” if time of ’something’ but this is not used in this song) but “toku” is sung instead.

You can find the original kanji below, romaji on page 2 and the romanised version on page 3, with page 4 featuring the hybrid/karaoke mix of kanji and romanji.

As always, if you spot any mistakes, please let me know either by commenting below or via the contact form. If you would like to post these lyrics elsewhere, please link back to this page. :)

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Lyrics: message for kidz (Romaji only)

message for kidz is probably the happiest song written by Back-on for the new single Sands of time, and according to Icchan, is a song dedicated to cheering on anyone who has worked hard to overcome their hurdles and energising listeners.

The song definitely has a very cheerful and summery feel, and I really love it when it comes on on my playlist, but message for kidz does feature a strange if funny ‘chicken’ rap (as coined by Sesshy) in the middle, which adds that extra bit of playfulness. I’m still in two minds about it though!

We have to thank Sowon for kindly providing the romanised lyrics on the BOO forums, and allowing us to post it on the site! The lyrics for the bridge part of message for kidz, like fifty/50, was not available with the single, and was completely transcribed by Sowon!

As always, if you spot any mistakes, please let me know either by commenting below or via the contact form. If you would like to post these lyrics elsewhere, please link back to this page. :)

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Lyrics: fifty/50

fifty/50 is arguably the most experimental song that features in Back-on’s latest single Sands of time, and in addition to the song being of a more electronic-rap genre where Teeda seems to be the only singer, the lyrics are actually surprisingly dark for the band.

Nevertheless, it’s still a great song, and if you haven’t heard it yet, please refer to this page to find out how to listen to the entire single online. The lyrics are, of course, provided below.

Unfortunately, as with message for kidz, Back-on didn’t actually include the lyrics for the ‘bridge’ of the song (where Teeda’s voice goes all electronic) so this is a transcribe of what I could hear from the song. I haven’t yet been able to figure out what the missing ‘—-’ is, so if you do know, please let us know!

You can find the original kanji below, romaji on page 2 and the romanised version on page 3, with page 4 featuring the hybrid/karaoke mix of kanji and romanji.

As always, if you spot any mistakes, please let me know either by commenting below or via the contact form. If you would like to post these lyrics elsewhere, please link back to this page. :)

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“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!

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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! ^^

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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!

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Watch the full ending sequence of Keitai Sousakan 7!

Hot on the heels of our last news post about the preview clip of the jdrama ケータイ捜査官7 (Keitai Sousakan 7), we’re happy to announce that not only has the series made its debut today (April 2nd 2008) gangangan03 has again kindly uploaded a video clip of the entire ending sequence of the drama, which of course features Sands of Time!

Unfortunately the previous video has been removed, but we get to hear the TV size version of the song in full with this new video! Apart from the ‘rock’-sounding ‘chorus’ featuring Kenji03 that we heard before, which runs from the start with a brief instrumental intro, the song seems to end halfway through the video, before (suddenly) starting again with Teeda singing the verse/interlude in harmony (with Kenji03?) which reminds me a little of the interlude of flower. This bit is very chilled out imho! Then the chorus starts again before fading away at the end.

And oh yes, the video itself. I’m not sure if the ending sequence will change for each episode, because the initial footage looked as though it could be part of the episode (1 in this case) and the last 15 seconds were labelled with ‘Next episode Preview” in the corner, which features some kung-fu fighting Phone Bravers! Wow, they’re cooler than I thought :) Anyway, this video is definitely worth watching; not just for the song, but also for the brief comedic, sad and exhilarating moments, not to mention the impressive list of sponsors running across the screen!

Feel free to watch it after the cut (below) or click here to view the video directly on Youtube! And before we forget to mention it, Back-on’s Official Website now also has Sands of Time playing in the background as well!

p/s: If you can’t access either site, feel free to meander over to our dedicated Keitai Sousakan 7 discussion thread and download a zip file containing the mp3 rip (technology by Vixy.net) of the above video and the Flash swf file from the official website.

p/s2: Alternatively, you can now download a good quality mp3 rip of a raw file version from this page.

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New Back-on song ‘Sands of Time’ is the ending theme for new J-drama series ‘Keitai Sousakan 7′!

This is probably one of the most exciting posts we’ve made in a long long time! Back-on have finally announced the title of their new song ‘Sands of Time‘, and as if that wasn’t enough for us fans, they’ve also said that it will be the ending theme for the upcoming 51-episode Jdrama ケータイ捜査官7 (Keitai Sousakan 7, Cellphone Investigation 7, Mobile Investigator 7)!

This breaking news was first spotted by Sesshy on Back-on’s official blog, and it was subsequently posted onto their official Myspace in English. They were both accompanied by a picture of the band with the cast and Hitomi Shimatani at the press conference that was held by the production team of Keitai Sousakan 7 to launch the show.

We will be covering the drama in more depth in another post. For a quick low-down of the facts (info courtesy of August Ragone, The Good, The Bad, and Godzilla 続・夕陽の呉爾羅):

The 51-episode series revolves around Kieta, a high school freshman who joins “Anchor” (the digital-crime-fighting organisation) and is given the transformer-phone, Phonebraver 7, to help thwart the plans of an internet-based crime organisation.

The main role is played by 19 year-old Masataka Kubota, and is supported by actors Mickey Curtis (Agitator), Yuko Ito (Bubble Fiction), Kanji Tsuda (Japan Sink), Natsuki Okamoto (Arch Angels), Satoshi Matsuda (Kamen Rider Ryuki), and Nao Nagasawa (Hurricanger).

From left: Takashi Miike, Nao Nagasawa, Yuko Ito, Masataka Kubota,
Kanji Tsuda, Satoshi Matsuda, Natsuki Okamoto (Source: Nippon Cinema)

Some big names are involved with the project, including:

• Takashi Miike (三池崇史), the supervising director for KS7 who is famous for directing Great Yokai War and the Alive or Dead series.
• Mamoru Oshii (押井守), the director behind Ghost in the Shell.
• Shusuke Kaneko (金子修介), a well known director who most recently worked on the live movie version of Death Note.

In addition to the ‘all-star’ director group, TV Tokyo also recruited Hitomi Shimatani to sing the opening theme song. Apparently the new song is called WAKE YOU UP. There are reports that the singer may even guest-star in the series as well. (Author’s note: Will Back-on guest-star too?)

Alas we can’t see very much of the band from the photo posted on their blogs, but with a big thanks to bebekjelek, we can share some really good closeups of the band from the press conference that you can see below:

As a super-special bonus, we’ve kindly been given permission to post even more photos from the event that were taken by David Michaud of LeJapon.fr, a freelance photographer who hails from France and is based in Japan. The full-sized versions of the thumbnails (and more photos) can all been seen in the BOO Gallery - KS7 Press Conference, and aside from the excellent group photos, there are also individual pictures (closeups!) of Kenji03 and Teeda! I would really encourage everyone to view the photos in full, since thumbnails really don’t do them enough justice!

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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!

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flower and Butterfly singles released (samples available)!

Back-on’s brand new singles flower and Butterfly were both released to much fanfare yesterday! :D There has been a flurry of activity at Back-on’s Official Blog (which has a new layout) with plenty of photos and comments!

This is particularly in response to the original blog post by Back-on’s staff asking for feedback and comments, where I believe Back-on staff promised that comments would receive replies if they posted within a certain timeframe, and Teeda for instance, has made an amazing effort to say hi to everyone!

You might be interested in knowing that both Teeda and Kenji03 have stopped writing in their own blogs, and that Back-on’s Official Blog is now their main blogging platform, so it’s a fantastic resource for interesting pictures and videos from the band!

We’ll try and give you more information about these posts in the future, but Back-on did include some photos of the singles in the shops (HMV for instance) that you can see below:

They also took pictures with some lucky CD staff member(s)!

Last but not least, if you’re wondering what the songs sound like, we’ve been able to listen to samples of each track on both CDs (courtesy of Hmv.co.jp) which we are now making available below as a mix-zip file below! So included 45 second samples are:

• flower (Myspace preview) - as it’s better quality
• ZERO
• Colors
• Butterfly (Myspace preview)
• Spark
• DRIVE (Shutokou Remix)

Please bear in mind that these are song samples so the quality is unfortunately not very good (aside from flower and Butterfly previews from Back-on’s Myspace, which were both made available in a previous post) but hopefully it is enough to give everyone a quick preview! Personally, aside from the title tracks, I’m loving the sample of ZERO and Colors! Which songs do you like?

Mixed Samples
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