news & gossips (english) - Acid Mothers Temple soul collective

[new] Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno featuring Pikachu played their first gig at Bears in Osaka since the end of their West Japan tour in the summer of 2007. Less riff-centred than of old, the show's trajectory went from fuzz and echo-less West Coast-style psych to spacey moves to crushing noise explosion. Plans are afoot to get this line-up into the studio for some recording.

[new] On September 21, 2008 at Tokuzo, Nagoya Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. will play together with kings of noise, Hijokaidan, under the name Acid Mothers Kaidan. More information here.

"www.kuma.cc (proudly) presents....FINAL!!!! (vol.8[])" :

[new] The 6th Acid Mothers Temple Festival also ended up a great success, with guest appearances from Yamamoto Seiichi (Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba, Rovo, etc) and Kuriyama Jun (ex Ox), and a psychedelic lightshow courtesy of OHPIA. The two AMT sets were virtually all improvised, though they included bits of "Dark stars in the dazzling sky" and "Pink Lady Lemonade". Events ended with the usual auction by Tsuyama, the proceeds of which paid for some drinks at the after-party.

[new] Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. successfully completed their month-long "Acid Motherly Love Tour 2007" tour of Europe. Damo Suzuki (ex Can) joined us on stage on the first day in London as guest vocalist. At the Pauze Festival in Ghent, Belgium, Kawabata's guitar somehow got smashed into tiny pieces. A hastily put together live CDr entitled "Acid Mothership" was sold on the final dates of the tour.

[new] Pikachu (Afrirampo) and Kawabata Makoto have settled upon the name Pikachu?Makoto for their duo unit. The characters used to write the group’s name conceals two meanings Glittering Cosmic Shrine Maiden and Demon-Summoning Warrior. The group’s second gig took place recently at Socio in Osaka. To the strains of Kawabata’s hurdy-gurdy Pikachu took to the stage in the guise of the little psych girl before the duo threw down a barrage of guitar-drum based heavy improvised psychedelia.

[new] Tsurubami played a gig in Tokyo to celebrate the release of their new album "Tenrin". The group displayed an abrupt about turn from their noise-dronescapes of old, concentrating instead on a more jazz-inspired approach.

[new] A trio consisting of Kawabata, Pikachu (Afrirampo) and Tsuyama played at the Piccadillyammo Night allnight event in Kyoto. A surging and virtually meaningless performance resulted.

[new] Kawabata played a trio gig at the UFO Club in Tokyo with Haino Keiji and Yoshida Tatsuya. Haino limited himself to guitar and vocals which meant that this was a hardcore two guitar, vocals and drum performance. This was the first time that Haino and Kawabata had played together live.

[new] Kawabata toured Hokkaido with Michishita Shinsuke from LSD March. Recordings were also made.

[new] Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. headlined the third day of the outdoor Mangetsu Festival at Irihama, Miyajima, near Hiroshima. Delays had built up throughout the day, and by the time we took to the stage it was already 2AM. They played for the next two hours.

[new] Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. played at another outdoor festival, the New Picnic at Taiyo Park in Himeji. Pouring rains forced us to change location on the day, but they took to the stage with Pikachu (Afrirampo) as guest drummer, and kicked out an ultra-concentrated and powerful thirty minute set. At the Arc de Triomphe substage, both Kawabata and Tsuyama played duo sets with Michishita Shinsuke from LSD March.

"New Picnic in Taiyo Koen" :

[new] Acid Mothers Guru Guru completed their US tour to much fanfare. The sets were improv-based, though Guru Guru's "Bo Biddley" and AMT's "Pink Lady Lemonade" slipping into the mix. Tsuyama smashed his bass to smithereens at the Minneapolis gig.

""Cosmic Navigator US Tour 2007" :

digest of past news & gossips

Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno's (with guest drummer Pikachu from Afrirampo) first ever "Hotter Than Inferno Western Japan Tour 2007" was a raging success. They played eleven dates across Shikoku, Kyushu and west Japan. The sets were at least two hours long every night and heavily improv-based. Kawabata smashed his guitar to smithereens on the very first night in Kochi, while Pikachu went absolutely nuts. In Takamatsu Kawabata put a choke hold on his guitar while Pika beat it with a stick, and the set ended up with Pika on guitar and Kawabata behind the drums. A highlight of every date was Pika's Kanpai Riutal. The last date was in Osaka where they headlined "Heavy Space Psychedelic Rock Carnival" event with guest Yamazaki Mazo (Masonna) and put in the absolute mother of all crazed performances. By the end of the night there was so little oxygen left in the venue that no one's lighter would work. They're planning to release the highlights of this tour as a double DVD at some point.

"Hotter Than Inferno Western Japan Tour 2007" :

Kawabata's three solo dates then. The first night was a guitar and vocal session centring around "Pink Lady Lemonade" and an old Erochika favourite "Imijiki kokoro ni hana sakishiya to". The second night was a drone-based noise guitar set ending up with a smashed guitar. And the third night was jet-engine noise drone segueing into the Erochika song again.

A tour by Acid Mothers Temple SWR to celebrate the release of their second album "Stones, Women & Records" was a raging success. They were joined by special guests Nasuno Mitsuru (bass, Tokyo show only) and Ishibashi Eiko (keyboards), and recreated several tracks from the album - to the disbelief of some members of the audience. At the Tokyo shopzone, the model from the cover served customers wearing the same bikini! For the Nagoya and Osaka shows, they put on a Japanese New Music Festival petit, which featured a support band that mutated between Ruins Alone, Zoffy, Akaten, and Zubi Zuva X in a medley style.

Yamazaki Maso (Masonna, Acid Eater) and Kawabata debuted a new unit at Socio in Osaka. The lineup was the quartet of Yamazaki Mazo (vocals, synth), Kawabata (guitar), Suhara Keizo (bass), and Aiko (drums - from Noizuwarcame). Yamazaki exploded into a performance of rare insanity which then mutated into spacey hardcore psych. The group plans to continue performing on an irregular basis.

Kawabata Makoto and Pikachu (Afrirampo) played a duo gig at Bears in Osaka. Pikachu came up with the concept of "sumo is psych!" around which we structured an acoustic set and ritual performance. For some reason we encored with hoary old classic "Akashia no ame ga yamu toki". We plan further outings for this duo.

Miminokoto, whom Shimura played drums with, have decided to resume operations with a new member Suzuki Junzo (vo, g: ex.Overhang Party) and a guest bassist Nishimura Takuya (Che-Shizu, ex.Miminokoto).

Tabata Mitsuru has formed a new duo unit with a psychedelic bluse singer Suzuki Junzo (ex. Overhang Party). They've called themselves 20 guilders.

Tabata Mitsuru has formed another new unit, called Kuro Daiya. The members are Tabata (guitar, vocal), Okaden (guitar, vocal - from Doubleswitch), Tamago (bass, vocal - ex King & Country), and Takabei (drums, ex Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss her).

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.'s four week Crystal Rainbow Pyramid tour of the US and Canada has just come to its exhausting and successful end. We played two hour sets every night and all kinds of wild stuff happened, including Kawabata's guitar falling apart on him in Ottawa and Higashi's explosive Zen-dance at the New York show. During the first half of the tour we covered the Plastic Ono Band's "Scumbag". The encore at the final date in Santa Cruz saw their support act The Mammatus joining them on stage for a huge finale.
After the tour Kitagawa Hao has left the group, making this the first and last overseas tour with her as a member. Once again they start our search for a female vocalist, but for the time being the group will be reduced to a quartet.

Acid Mothers Gong played at the Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville 2007 festival in Victoriaville, Canada. This was the first appearance by Acid Mothers Gong on mainland North America.

Tsurubami drummer Emi Nobuko has formed an improv duo called Ome Zombie with the saxophonist Ando Akihiko.

Higashi Hiroshi has formed a cosmic sound synth quintet called Cosmic Dew. The line-up is Hasegawa Hiroshi (Astro, ex CCCC), Tabata Mitsuru (Zeni Geva, Leningrad Blues Machine, AMT &am; TCI), Yamato (Astral Traveling Unity, OHPIA), and Murakami Gonzo (Labcry, Maruoto).

Ichiraku Yoshimitsu, who drummed with Acid Mothers Temple in 2002, is to play this June at the largest contemporary art fair in the world, the Venice Biennale, with his solo unit Doravideo. Doravideo uses a computer control system to convert the drumkit into a huge video player.

On January 13, 2007 Cotton Casino gave birth to her second child, a daughter called Sara. Our warmest congratulations.

Legendary Swedish psychedelic group Trad Gras och Stenar have just completed a very successful tour of Japan, at the invitation of Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. Trad Gras och Stenar played for around an hour each day, with Kawabata appearing with him at all dates as a special guest. The Tokyo show also saw a guest appearance by Jim O'Rourke. Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. also played hour-long sets on the tour - their first shows with the new quintet line-up featuring Hao Kitagawa on vocals and theremin.

Makoto Kawabata and cellist Sakamoto Hiromichi played as a duo at Musica Japonica in Osaka. For the sake of the performance, Sakamoto relinquished his usual showstopper grinder performance, while Kawabata debuted his new Singing Bowl technique. During the final set, Tsuyama Atsushi sat in on acoustic guitar, with the trio finally building up to a climax of bowing and close harmony throat-singing.

Kawabata Makoto and Higashi Hiroshi played as a duo under the Acid Mothers Temple at a solo show at the Swiss Institute in New York by Swiss female artist Vidya Gastaldon. With Kawabata on guitar and vocals and Higashi on synthesizer, their improvised performance included "Pink Lady Lemonade".

Okano Futoshi has left Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno for personal reasons.

Tabata Mitsuru was due to tour Europe as guitarist with Zeni Geva, but for various reasons the tour has had to be cancelled.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno played at the "Macaronizm Night ver. Are" event in Yamaguchi Hofu, organized by Macaroni Records. They were plagued by equipment troubles, but Tabata saved the day by breaking into a meaningless dance and they finally played for three hours, starting at midnight.

Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru), Tsuyama Atsushi and Kawabata Makoto toured Japan under the moniker Acid Guru's Temple. At the Osaka show Tsuyama managed to accidentally smash up the grand piano, but quickly pulled a performance for piano lid out of the bag. This unit plans to continue its activities, but at Mani's suggestion we will henceforth be known as Guru Guru.

Tsuyama Atsushi, Higashi Hiroshi and Kawabata participated in the Plunk's Plan event in Tokyo. Higashi played some spacey cosmic sounds as Galax (with Astro and Miyashita Keiichi), while Tsuyama showcased a solo set of progressive blues - prog classics reinterpreted in the blues idiom. Kawabata played for the first time in a duo with Suzuki Junzo, pure weeping guitar.

At the 5th Acid Mothers Temple Festival (subtitled "Let's turn Tokuzo into the 1967 Filmore!") Yamamoto Seiichi was forced to pull out due to illness. But other special guests Mani Neumeier (dr, from Guru Guru), Kuriyama Jun (vo, ex Ox) and our new vocalist Kitagawa Hao were present, as were the OHPIA psychedelic lighting team, and the show went off with a bang. Our two sets were mostly improvised, though we did drop in favourites like "Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky", "Pink Lady Lemonade" and "La Novia". Tsuyama's annual auction raised enough money to cover the celebratory drinks afterwards at the AMT year-end party. This year's festival, the sixth, will take place at Tokuzo on December 8th, 2007. To make up for missing last year's festival, Yamamoto Seiichi is already pencilled in as a special guest.

To celebrate the release of their third album, Kawabata toured in Europe with J.F. Pauvros. You can see a video interview with them on the OC-TV site
in Toulouse: http://www.oc-tv.net/makoto--kawabata----jf-pauvros.htm

Tsuyama Atsushi played a duo gig, titled "Omiai", with Oni from Afrirampo. Tsuyama's masterly playing on guitar and piano led to a mind-blowing battle with Oni. The two of them also showcased a karaoke version of "Django".

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. successfully completed their Other Side Of The Sky 2006 tour of the UK and Ireland. The sets were largely improvised around "Dark Stars In The Dazzling Sky", "La Novia" and "Pink Lady Lemonade", with each night seeing radically different versions. The highlight of the Liverpool show was Tsuyama kicking a stage invader back into the crowd. In Manchester, another stage invader tried to smash up Kawabata's guitar, only for Kawabata to seize it back from him and smack him around with it. Kawabata himself smashed up the guitar at the end of the London show. Since the departure of Cotton, Tsuyama has taken lead vocals in the quartet version of the group, but now with the arrival of our new female vocalist, this will be the last tour for this particular line-up.

The opening night headlining performance by Acid Mothers Gong at the Gong Unconvention 2006 festival in Amsterdam (November 2nd to 5th) was rapturously received by the fans, with many declaring it the best show yet.
Kawabata also participated in the Glissando Orchestra, as well as playing with Daevid Allen and Steve Hillage.

GODMAN bassist Enomoto has for personal reasons become unable to play with the group. His official replacement was Tabata Mitsuru.

Zeni Geva, whom Tabata played guitar with, have decided to resume operations. They plan to tour in 2007.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. has a new official female vocalist, Kitagawa Hao (aka. Imao Hao : ex Biscuit Holic). You'll be able to hear her angelic vocals on the new album "Myth Of The Love Electrique" due out on Riot Season this autumn. She plans to join them for their next US tour, currently being booked for next spring.

Tsuyama. Kawabata and Yoshida Tatsuya played many sold-out dates in the US and Mexico as part of their travelling Japanese New Music Festival (AKA the smallest festival in the world). As usual, their three heroes played as seven different units - Seikazoku, Akaten, Shrinp Wark, Zubi Zuva X, Ruins Alone, Zoffy, and Acid Mothers Temple SWR. At the two New York shows, Ron Anderson (g) and Jesse Krakow (b) joined them in stage to create another group, Ron Ruins.

Acid Mothers Gong toured Japan for the first time in two years. The line-up this time around was the sextet of Daevid Allen, Josh Pollock, Tsuyama Atsushi, Higashi Hiroshi, Kawabata Makoto and Yoshida Tatsuya. Gilli Smyth was on tour in Europe with Mother Gong so unfortunately she had to pass. On the tour there was a lot more Gong and Soft Machine tunes being woven into the improvisations that last time. The tour also bore witness to Daevid Allen's first ever solo shows in Japan. And finally there was a jam band de/re-construction of some Gong pieces, courtesy of Kawabata, Tsuyama, Higashi and Josh Pollock- this ad hoc unit was immediately dubbed D-Gong-Distruction.

Full details for this year's Acid Mothers Temple fest - held annually on the second Saturday of December at Tokuzo in Nagoya - have been announced. This year's fest, the fifth, will take place on December 9th. The line-up will be Kawabata Makoto (g), Higashi Hiroshi (syn, g), Tsuyama Atsushi (b), with special guests Mani Neumeier (dr, from Guru Guru), Yamamoto Seiichi (g, Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba, Rova), as well as Kuriyama Jun, the original singer of cult Japanese 60s garage band Ox. OHPIA from Yokohama will providing extreme psychedelic lighting. Their key concept for this year's fest will "transform Tokuzo into the Fillmore '67!" Look forward to timewarping cosmic hippy festivities! More details on the Live Schedules page.

Kawabata has formed a new group with original Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. member Suhara Keizo and Acid Mothers Temple & The Incredible Strange Band's much-disussed Amazon female drummer Aiko (from Noise Wakame). The new group has no name as yet, but recordings are already taking place.

Shimura Koji joined Overhang Party's October tour of Europe as support drummer.

San Diego acid folk trio Maquiladora safely completed their third tour of Japan. Kawabata and Higashi went along for the ride as support members for ten dates out of the twelve. For the two Tokyo dates they missed, they were replaced by Shimura Koji and Tabata Mitsuru.

At MySpace, the unofficial AMT site has now become officially recognized by the band. www.myspace.com/acidmotherstemple

Shimura Koji (Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno, Miminokoto, ex Mainliner, ex High Rise) has joined Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. as their new drummer.

Osaka's Bridge hosted a quintet concert featuring Yamamoto Seiichi, Tsuyama Atsushi, Uchihashi Kazuhisa, Yoshida Tatsuya and Kawabata Makoto. Seven sets were performed - Zoffy, Uchihashi/Yoshida, Yamamoto/Uchihashi/Yoshida, Guitar Trio, Yamamoto with Seikazoku, Tsuyama/Uchihashi/Yoshida, and Yamamoto/Tsuyama/Uchihashi/Yoshida/Kawabata. The Zoffy performance was an ad-hoc performance to a CD by Uchihashi and Yoshida, but Tsuyama's bass was so loud that the CD player began to skip. Yamamoto was perplexed by the whole thing.

Afrirampo held a video screening and talkshow in Osaka about the time they spent with the Baka pygmy tribe in Cameroon. There was also an acoustic set, with a special guest appearance by Kawabata.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno's eight-country, eleven date 'Summer of Inferno' tour of Europe was a blast. Sets were 90 minutes, and centred around "Anthem Of The Universe", "Pink Lady Lemonade", "Trigger In Trigger Out" and "OM Riff From The Cosmic Inferno". At the Nippon A Go Go festival in Paris (part of the huge Cite De La Musique event), we played together with Konishi Yasuharu (ex Pizzicato Five). At the final date in Zagreb, Shimura and Okano smashed up their drumkits - a fitting end to the tour. Before the tour Tabata broke his collarbone and we thought that we might have to cancel the tour, but fortunately he recovered in time and was able to play all the dates.

Tsuyama's violent bass-playing antics on the tour have led to a fear that he may have torn a ligament. His doctor has advised total rest.

Uki Eiji, who drummed on the last Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. of the USA, has joined Melt Banana. They currently only have Japanese dates planned, but he may appear with the group overseas as well.

At Kawabata's instigation, a site is planned where AMT live recordings can be downloaded for free. The plan is for a space where fans can upload recordings from venues as well as homemade artwork. Downloads will be free with no need for registration or IDs.

Tabata was unable to play at Godman's concert at Sunsui in Osaka due to his broken collarbone, but was replaced at the last minute by Tsuyama Atsushi. Kawabata's amp blew up halfway through but the performance continued regardless. It was a short but intense set.

Tsuyama Atsushi's ongoing series of gigs 'Tsuyama Atsushi Yarippanashi' has continued with two days in Tokyo and one in Osaka.
The first day in Tokyo saw performances by Tsuyama solo (with guest spots from Kido Natsuki, Suzuki Junzo, and Suhara Keizo), NishiNihon, Zoffy, and Acid Mothers Temple & The Incredible Strange Band. For the encore Yamamoto Seiichi (Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba, Rovo) guested on hurricane guitar with AMT & TISB.
The second night was a Tsuyama-flavoured 'jazz special' with a performance by his faux-jazz unit O-Jazz. The group included Kido Natsuki (g), Nasuno Mitsuru (b), Kawabata Makoto (g), Ono Ryoko (sax), and Yamamoto Seiichi on piano (he was introduced by Tsuyama as 'Cecil Taylor'). Tsuyama himself played drums. Since Korekyojin members Kido and Nasuno were on hand, the group with Tsuyama taking Yoshida's place on drums played some Korekyojin covers, under the pisstake title Bokekyojin. Then Yoshida suddenly appeared and took over on drums, turning it into a Korekyojin performance proper. For the encore, since the Omoide Hatoba drummer Ogushi was in the audience, Omoide Hatoba was hastily convened and played two tracks.
The Osaka performance saw special guest appearances by Haino Keiji and Michishita Shinsuke (LSD March). Sets were played by AMT & TISB (minus Kawabata, who was on tour), Tsuyama/Michishita, Tsuyama/Haino, and a Tsuyama/Michishita/Haino trio. The Haino/Tsuyama set was especially incendiary, with Tsuyama simultaneously playing drums and bass.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. toured the US for the first time in two years, playing 29 dates in total. The two-hour sets were based around "Pink Lady Lemonade" and "Dark Star in the Dazzling Sky", alongside improvised arrangements of "La Le La", "La Novia" and "In E". There was more improvised material this time around, including impromptu covers of "Heart Breaker" and "Dark Star". Tsuyama's Cosmic Joker persona was in full effect, delighting audiences with his skits and unfathomable dances based on each city. His George Bush-themed encores also drew much laughter. Their tour driver Justin Waters injured his leg in an accident, but bravely battled on to the end of the tour, justly earning himself the rank of 'fifth member'.

Yoshida Tatsuya, Tsuyama Atsushi and Kawabata Makoto's three-man, seven-unit (Seikazoku, Akaten, Shrinp Wark, Zubi Zuva X, Ruins Alone, Zoffy, Acid Mothers Temple SWR) showcase tour "Japanese New Music Festival ver.4" hit China and was greeted with rapturous enthusiasm. This was Kawabata and Tsuyama's first trip to China. Tsuyama deployed a two-string bass, inspired (or so he would have you believe) by Miyamoto Musashi's famous two-sword technique. Kawabata kicked out the jams on a borrowed biwa. All in all, it was a different tour than the recent one of Europe.

Tsuyama Atsushi has formed a new AMT-monikered unit called Acid Mothers Temple & The Incredible Strange Band. Members are Tsuyama Atsushi (guitar, vocals), Tsuyama Akiko (vocals), Suhara Keizo (bass), Aiko (drums, from Noise Wakame), Kawabata Makoto (bouzouki, electric sitar, hurdy-gurdy, etc). The group's repertoire will be based upon European trad and folk with an added twist or two | thus reflecting Tsuyama's own musical obsessions.

Magic Aum Gigi has managed to get off the blocks first with his AMT-monikered unit, Acid Mothers Temple & The Pink Ladies Blues. They have already released their first album on CD and LP on the French label Fractal. This unit contains no core AMT members.

Tsuyama Atsushi has started a series of live gigs under the title "Tsuyama Atsushi yarippanashi" (Tsuyama doing whatever the hell he wants). The events will showcase a whole evening's worth of performances by Tsuyama solo and his various groups. On the bill is Nishinihon #2 & Nishinihon #3, both new versions of this old favourite, as well as his new AMT unit, Acid Mothers Temple & The Incredible Strange Band. The events is also feature a wealth of special guest appearances from the likes of Haino Keiji, Kido Natsuki (Bondage Fruite), Kitajima Tatsuya, Michishita Shinsuke (LSD March), etc. For more information see Live Information.

Kawabata Makoto has formed a new duo unit with Kuriyama Jun, the original vocalist with legendary 60s Japanese garage band Ox. Live dates are forthcoming, with guest appearances from Yoshida Tatsuya and Tsuyama Atsushi on their cover of Ox's knock-out classic "Tell Me". Will the screaming, fainting teens of old put in a reappearance?

Tabata Mitsuru's psychedelic trio Leningrad Blues Machine toured Japan to huge acclaim. Kawabata guested at the Kyoto date, and the group trembled on a heavenly improvised knife-edge between tone-float and crushing heaviness. Damo Suzuki guested at the Tokyo gig and unveiled his unique brand of sonic trippiness.

AMT organized gigs in Osaka and Nagoya for Damo Suzuki on his recent Japan tour. The Osaka date featured a pick-up group of Yamamoto Seiichi (guitar, Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba, Rovo), Tsuyama Atsushi (bass), Kawabata Makoto (guitar), Higashi Hiroshi (syn), Taiqui (drums, Ain Soph, ex Ultra Bide). The performance was rather minimal, ranging back and forth between heaviness and floating spaciness. The Nagoya date featured Tsuyama Atsushi (bass), Kawabata Makoto (guitar), Higashi Hiroshi (syn), Ono Ryoko (sax, Gakusei Jikkenshitsu), Kei (guitar, ex Hanadensha), and Taiqui (drums, Ain Soph, ex Ultra Bide). This performance was more filled with variation and improvisation.

A trio featuring Tsuyama Atsushi, Kawabata Makoto and Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru) carried out a guerrilla-style live action in Nagoya. The performance was well jazz and included a guest appearance by Ono Ryoko on sax. They plan to continue this group with Mani.

Tsuyama Atsushi and Kawabata Makoto's Zoffy duo played their first ever one-man concert at the Enban record shop in Tokyo. Yoshida Tatsuya joined as special guest, and the whole performance lasted over three hours. New songs and new routines were plentiful.

Kawabata Makoto played a solo tour of southern Italy. The sets moved away from his previous solo guitar drone scapes, getting into some new areas. He headlined at the all guitar "Guitar Festival" in Salerno, which also featured Jack Rose on the bill.

Hearing that Mizutama no Heya, the club run in Yonago by acid folk singer Ayami Yoko, was to be closed down in late January on orders of the building's new owner, Kawabata played a two-man date with Ayami on January 27th, and the new Kawabata-Tsuyama-Higashi-Uki line-up of Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. played their first ever gig on January 29th. Kawabata's solo guitar drone set combined sadness for the loss of a favourite club with anger at its absurd closure. Massive volume drones mutated into a lengthy noise guitar solo. Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. played on the club's last-night, in a barren space already stripped of its interior decoration, and in their first performance in 13 months churned up a raging gulf of a performance that unveiled several new songs.

Tsuyama Atsushi has been overcome with uncharacteristic embarrassment over the name he chose for his label (which recently reissued the Zoffy live album), Disc Omeko. He has decided to change it to Disc Oboko for future releases.

At Kawabata's current mountain-peak temple home in Asuka-mura, this winter saw worst cold front and the heaviest snowfall in over fifty years. The roads were closed and the temple cut off, but thankfully local musician Kasazawa struggled through the drifts to deliver much needed to supplies to the stranded Kawabata.

In December Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno played at the Mars Volta-curated All Tomorrow's Party UK (AKA The Nightmare Before Christmas). They were originally scheduled to play an early evening slot on the final day, but due to various equipment supply problems They ended up closing out the entire festival. The set comprised "Trigger In Trigger Out", "Pink Lady Lemonade", "OM Riff from the Cosmic Inferno", and then they were joined by Damo Suzuki for a full-on churning improv finale. Kawabata provided eloquent testament to the wisdom of allowing AMT to close the festival by cathartically smashing his guitar into a million pieces.

This year's 4th Acid Mothers Temple Fest featured an immense, three-headed a supergroup "Acid Mothers Afrirampo Ruins" that brings together Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Afrirampo and Ruins. There were two long and improvised sets, with an acoustic interlude, and we played "Dark Star Blues", "Pink Lady Lemonade", "La Le Lo", as well as Afrirampo's "Akan kono mama kaesanai". Tabata Mitsuru stormed the stage unannounced for a few tracks as well. With the money raised from Tsuyama's annual auction they were able to treat the audience to a drink or two at the AMT year-end party. The 5th Acid Mothers Temple Fest is scheduled for Saturday, December 9, 2006, again at Tokuzo in Nagoya.

For three weeks in November, Yoshida Tatsuya, Tsuyama Atsushi and Kawabata Makoto swung through twelve European countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy and the UK) on their showcase Japanese New Music Festival ver.4 Europe Tour. Between the three of them they played as seven different groups - Seikazoku, Akaten, Shrinp Wark, Zubi Zuva, Ruins Alone, Acid Mothers Temple SWR, Zoffy). All dates were completed without serious incident, and the night of our return they played a homecoming show at Hatsudai Doors in Tokyo. Further dates are planned for late January, at Tokuzo in Nagoya and Bridge in Osaka.

Kawabata Makoto joined Omar A Rodriguez-Lopez (Mars Volta) and Charles Hayward (ex This Heat) as member of Damo Suzuki & Amazing All-Stars Band at 93 Feet East in London.

Concerts were played in Tokyo and Yokohama to celebrate the release of the debut album by GODMAN, the joint unit consisting of Kawabata, Higashi and Mandog. The group's usual bassist, Enomoto, was unavailable so his place was filled by Tabata Mitsuru.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno's North American Tour began under a cloud, with ten dates having to be cancelled the first 10 gigs due to the late issue of their visas. In the end they played 27 dates, starting in Seattle. For various reasons Okano Futoshi had his request for a visa refused and was unable to take part. Some highlights of the tour - playing a 50 minute of In C at Terry Riley's 70th birthday party concert at UCLA in Los Angeles; the drum-destroying madness of Sam Lohman (ex. Nimrod) who joined us for several dates after the Atlanta gig. Guitar pulverizing - by Higashi in San Francisco and Kawabata in NY. Kawabata's simultaneous two-guitar technique on "Anthem of the Space" combined with Tabata's bass synthesizer made the performances of this song very different to the European tour version.

Following the news that the entire staff at Osaka live spot Hard Rain were being dismissed at the end of October, an all night concert entitled "Goodbye Hard Rain - With Love from AMT" was hastily organized. On the bill were the AMT Volunteers Special, Zoffy, Atsushi Hiroshi, Nakaya Koichi (Nasca car) + Higashi Hiroshi + Kawabata Makoto, and Hiroshi Na + AMT. Club owner Ito Seiko joined AMT for a version of "Love Hard Rain".

Before this event Hard Rain hosted a special three hour gig by Tsuyama Atsushi. The audience witnessed appearances by Nishinihon ver.2 and Nishinihon ver.3.

The first joint album by Acid Mothers Afrirampo will be released on the AMT label. The group has a five-person line-up - Oni, Pikachu, Tsuyama Atsushi, Kawabata Makoto, and Higashi Hiroshi.

The Acid Mothers Gong tour of Japan & Australia scheduled for January 2006 has been cancelled, due to problems with Daevid Allen's health.

Tsuyama Atsushi has formed a truly fake jazz band called O-jazz. Their concept is to 'play jazz while taking the piss out of jazz'. The group look poised for a string of appearances.

The "Psychedelic Forever Placebo" event at Namba Bears in late August featured a guitar duo between Kawabata and Yamamoto Seiichi (Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba), and a second set that added Tsuyama Atsushi on drums. Voices from certain quarters suggested an Acid Mothers Hatoba project...

Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno have successfully completed their tour of eight European countries. Sets have been around an hour and a half, incorporating an improvised medley of "Pink Lady Lemonade" and "OM Riff". In Manchester an audience member got a bit over-excited and invaded the stage, incurring the wrath of Okano. In Massa Carrara we managed to blow up every single amp on stage. At an extra gig in Zagreb we played a joint set with Croatian heavy psychedelic group 7 That Spells - Tabata was in explosive rock-star mode on lead vocals. In Finland the encore was "Moi Moi Metal", and the audiences lapped up Tabata's Ozzy impression.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. are currently in the midst of recording a new album. In contrast to our previous high levels of productivity, we are planning to take a lot of time over this one, aiming at a release in spring 2006.

Tsurubami are planning their first gigs in over two years. While the group was taking a break, drummer Emi Nobuko started the Tsurunoko duo with Kawaguchi Masami (Miminokoto, ex Aihiyo), played with Hasegawa Hiroshi's (Astro, ex CCCC) improv group Astral Travelling Unity, and jammed with Yamazaki Mazo (Masonna) and others.

Following the joint performance in December 2004 between Kawabata Makoto and Tokyo psychedelic unit Mandog (who also have links to Damo Suzuki), a new group consisting of Kawabata, Higashi Hiroshi and Mandog has been founded. The unit is called Godman. Their first gig took place in August, and plans are afoot for the first studio recordings.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O., with Yoshida Tatsuya on drums, closed out the 18th anniversary events at legendary Osaka live spot Bears. This was the first gig by the regular line-up of the group in Japan in two and a half years.

To celebrate the release of "Warsaw Pact", their second album, Seikazoku played concerts in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. These gigs also saw sets by Kawabata, Yoshida and Tsuyama's other units - Acid Mothers Temple SWR, Akaten, Zoffy, Shrinp Wark, Ruins alone, as well as performances by Mr & Mrs Tsuyama's trad unit Atsushino & Akiko Tsuyamason. "Warsaw Pact" was released by Japanese label Littlemore, but it seems to be hard to find in shops in Japan. No overseas distro at all.

Tsuyama Atsushi, Kawabata Makoto and Higashi Hiroshi appeared at the Flower Man psych event, proposed by Yamamoto Seiichi. At the second Flower Man event on January 10th, they played an unprecedented 10 hour track. They comment, "we're never doing that again".

Kawabata Makoto and Higashi Hiroshi guested on seven dates on Argentinian cult guitarist Anla Courtis's (ex Reynols) Japan tour. A live album is somewhere in the works.

Apart from the Shopzone, all AMT operations moved to a mountaintop (570m) Buddhist temple in Asukamura, Nara in early April.

In February Cotton Casino gave birth to a son. They have named him Hunter. Congratulations!

We would like to announce the birth of a new group bearing the Acid Mothers Temple name, Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno. Recording of the group's first album has already begun. The group has a twin drum line-up, and the members are: Kawabata Makoto (g), Higashi Hiroshi (syn, g), Tabata Mitsuru (b, from Zeni Geva, Leningrad Blues Machine, ex.Boredoms), Shimura Koji (dr, Miminokoto, ex High Rise, ex.Mainliner, ex.White Heaven) and Okano Futoshi (ex Ghost, ex Subvert Blaze). The group has been born out of the line-up of Kawabata Makoto & The Mothers Of Invasion mk3. Live dates and tours are currently being plotted.

Acid Mothers Temple mode HHH, originally formed for the 2003 Japanese New Music Festival European Tour, have changed their name to Acid Mothers Temple SWR and become a permanent group. The group is a trio: Yoshida Tatsuya (dr: from Ruins), Tsuyama Atsushi (b, vo), and Kawabata Makoto (g). This is the same lineup as Seikazoku but Acid Mothers Temple SWR is an entirely different group.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. completed their thirteen country European tour, although due to unavoidable circumstances two dates had to be cancelled. All dates consisted of a two hour set, featuring "Dark Star Blues", "La Le Lo", "Pink Lady Lemonade" plus some improvised pieces. The final date in Athens ran for three hours. We expect that this will be the last long tour by Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. In the future we will still tour, but on a much smaller scale. This tour also marked the end of the Kawabata/Tsuyama/Higashi/Koizumi line-up.

The third Acid Mothers Temple Festival at Tokuzo in Nagoya showcased two sets by the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. plus Afrirampo joint unit.
Set 1:
1. Improvisation
2. Dark Star Blues
3. Improvisation
4. La Le Lo
Set 2:
1. Improvisation
2. St. Vel Canta
3. Improvisation
4. Pink Lady Lemonade (incl. Kunoichi)
Encore: Na Na Hey Hey
The first song was played by AMT alone, and Afrirampo joined them for the rest of the two sets. The extremity of Afrirampo's performance reawakened the original chaos of AMT, and the set ended up as a raging maelstrom. The second set included an acoustic section, with Tsuyama on acoustic guitar and Kawabata on hurdy-gurdy. "Pink Lady Lemonade" featured an inserted section of Afrirampo's "Kunoichi". The encore of "Na na hey hey" featured Tsuyama, Kawabata and Oni on triple lead guitar. During the interval Tsuyama did his now customary MC/comedy auctioneer act. The proceeds from the auction were used to fund free drinks after the gig, as audience and band joined together in a special AMT bonenkai party. We plan to hose the 4th AMT Festival at the same venue, Tokuzo in Nagoya, on December 10th, 2005.

Kawabata Makoto and Mandog played three consecutive gigs in Tokyo, in a spacey, minimal style. The final day saw Kawabata's first ever solo guitar performance in Tokyo, and a guitar duo by Kawabata and Miyashita Keiichi (Mandog) - their first since a spring 2004 date in Korea.

Tsuyama, Kawabata and Higashi Hiroshi will play at the Flower Man psychedelic unit organized by Yamamoto Seiichi of Boredoms. The second instalment of this event, on January 10th at Namba Bears will feature a ten hour endurance performance. Please check it out!

The debut performance of Tsuyama Atsushi and Yamamoto Seiichi's new unit Risu took place at the Kichigai (Madness) Festival at Namba Bears in Osaka. The performance was so mystifying that the band were greeted with shouts of 'madness' from the audience. Looks like the event lived up to its title.

AFRIRAMPO have joined forces with Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O., and are in the midst of recording several albums together. Two of these albums featuring the Afrirampo girls on vocals only have been released autumn 2004 by a UK label Riot Season and a Polish label Multikulti. Another full-on collision session between Afrirampo and AMT will be released at a future date.

There will be an AMT film concert on October 6th (Wed) at the record shop/event space Enban in Tokyo's Koenji district. They finally screened the "Rosina de Peira e Acid Mothers Temple" concert film that had to be pulled from the Osaka film concert. There also were a solo set from Tsuyama Atsushi and Zoffy with Yoshida Tatsuya of Ruins.

On the recent Kinski US tour which featured Kawabata as guest guitarist, covers of Mainliner's "Soft Line" and AMT's "In E" were performed at the special request of Kinski. Kawabata's casualty list for the two week tour: 2 blown amps, 4 ruined effects pedals, and 1 smashed guitar. On top of that the tour van broke down, but somehow the group were finally able to complete the tour.
The French group UEH, on their first US tour with Kinski, put in some splendid performances and impressed the hell out of many who were hearing them for the first time. A tour compilation featuring tracks by Kawabata Makoto and Ueh has been released by the AMT label to coincide with the tour.

American acid folk trio Maquiladora wowed audiences across Japan on their second tour of the country. Higashi Hiroshi and Kawabata Makoto joined them for ten dates of the tour, and Tsuyama showed up to play drums at the Osaka date. The two Tokyo performances featured a special guest appearance by Narita Munehiro from High Rise. The Matsusaka show witnessed a special duo performance by Bruce on harmonium and Kawabata on hurdy-gurdy.
The two CD set, "Kiss Over", by Maquiladora with Kawabata on the AMT label which was due to be released in time for the last tour finally saw the light of day to tie in with this tour.

The new line-up for Kawabata Makoto & The Mothers of Invasion has been decided:
Kawabata Makoto (g), Tabata Mitsuru (b, from Zeni Geva), Okano Futoshi (dr, from Nishinihon, ex Ghost, ex Subvert Blaze), Shimura Koji (dr, from Miminokoto, ex High Rise).

KAWABATA MAKOTO & THE MOTHERS OF INVASION – Acid Mothers Temple "Soul collective"

Kawabata has produced a new recording session by the new generation of Japanese psychedelia Up-Tight. The session also saw Kawabata participating on guitar on all tracks.

Up-Tight: http://members.aol.com/uptight001/index.htm

A new guitar/synth/drum unit called Andromelos has been formed by Kawabata, Yamazaki Maso (Masonna, Space Machine) and Okano Futoshi (Nishinihon, ex Subvert Blaze, ex.Ghost). The group are currently recording their first album which will be released by the Finnish label Ektro Records.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. have successfully completed their first tour of the USA in 19 months. This was also the first time they toured as a quartet. Sets were generally two hours, including improvisations and new tracks like "Dark Star Blues" which is due to be included on a new album entitled "Does The Cosmic Shepherd Dream Of Electric Tapirs?" scheduled for release this summer from Space Age Recordings. The usual run of tour misadventures included Kawabata smashing up his guitar on the second day of the tour. There were also a number of Tsuyama's now legendary idiot-happenings, including a Bird Dance using two chairs in Detroit and a Cosmic Puppet Show in Philadelphia.
All tour t-shirts sold out over the first few dates so we offer our apologies to those of you who were unable to get them. The same line-up of the group plans to tour Europe this autumn.

The May 5th Acid Mothers Temple festival at Hard Rain in Osaka saw the first Japanese showing of the AMT documentary film "dokonan". For various reasons they were unable to show the live film of AMT with Rosina de Peira. The festival also included the first performance by the quartet line-up of Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.

Live Schedule archive: Acid Mothers Temple Festival (Special Event) (sat. 8th May @ Hard Rain UMEDA OSAKA)

Following the release of the new "Acid Motherhood" album, Cotton Casino has now left Daevid Allen's Gong. In her place, Higashi now joined Gong.

Acidmotherhood / Gong
(Voiceprint[UK]/CD/2004)

On the Acid Mothers Gong (the group is a fusion of psychedelic originators Gong, led by Daevid Allen, and leading members of the new psychedelic generation Acid Mothers Temple) tour of Japan, Daevid Allen's arrival was delayed for three days so the first few gigs centered on Gilli Smyth - perhaps we should have renamed the group "acid Mother Gong". To add to the complications at the Yamaguchi gig Daevid managed to injure his hand, so the following night's gig in Tokyo saw him concentrating on vocals. But he made up for it with a fully naked performance at the final performance at Bridge in Osaka. All of the concerts were primarily improvised, but tracks like "Flying Teapot", "OM Riff" and "Pink Lady Lemonade" were also played.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO's appearance at All Tomorrow's Party UK (at the kind invitation of Mogwai) was Cotton's final appearance with the group. They were given a short 45 minute slot, and we played three songs - "Soleil de crystal et lune de l'argent", "Pink Lady Lemonade" and "La Nova - Speed Guru". The performance was specially dedicated to our late, great friend Trevor Manwaring.

Live Schedule archive: Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.@ All Tomorrow's Party 2004 (fri. 26th Mar. @ All Tomorrow's Party 2004)

The guitar duo of Kawabata Makoto and Jean-Francois Pauvros, whose album "Venus" was recently released on PSF, toured Europe in March. Performances lasted for over two hours, running the gamut from string ensemble work to full-on guitar drone explosions. A CD release concert will be held on May 17th (Mon) at Super Deluxe in Roppongi, Tokyo. This will be the only Japan appearance by this duo.

Kawabata and Ichiraku Yoshimitsu (ex AMT, I.S.O.) have formed a complete new style of duo. It may look like a regular guitar and drums duo, but it will in fact be a multimedia sound and visual collaboration, with visuals being triggered and controlled by their instruments and sounds. The group is currently recording its debut DVD.

Live Schedule: Ichiraku Yoshimitsu (2004 autumn & winter)

Emi Nobuko, the drummer of Tsurubami, has formed a new unit with Kawaguchi Masami of Miminokoto and ex.Broomdusters. They have named the group Tsurunoko.

Emi Nobuko solo [INDEX] – Acid Mothers Temple "Soul collective"

Cotton Casino has now left Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. She is now living in the US with her new husband Billawtm. And Cotton Casino's website has been updated and its name changed to "Cotton & Billawtm web". You can find it here:
http://cotton.zero-yen.com/
As regards the upcoming AMT releases, the records which she played on will be released as planned. The AMT tour from now, will go ahead with the remaining four members

Four members of Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (Tsuyama, Kawabata, Higashi, Koizumi) played live with Damo Suzuki (ex.CAN) in Japan February 2004. Tsuyama joined Yamamoto Seiichi (Boredoms, Rovo), Okano(Nishinihon) and Yamazaki Maso (Masonna) at Damo's Osaka date, while Kawabata, Tsuyama, Koizumi and Higashi played at the Nagoya date. Higashi and Kawabata also played a date in Korea with Damo. More info here.

Live Schedule archive: Damo's Network "Never Ending Tour 2004" (18,20,24th Feb.)

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O., who had taken a one year holiday from live performances, kicked off a new round of gigging with their set at the 2nd Acid Mothers Temple Festival at Tokuzo in Nagoya. On the night they played the following tracks:
[first set]
1. Love & Confused
2. Soleil de Cristal et Lune d'argent
3. Blues Pour Bible Noire
4. La Le Lo ~ new song
[second set]
1. Ange Mecanique de Saturne
2. Hello Good Child ~ Virginal Plane 5:23
3. La Nòvia ~ Pink Lady Lemonade ~ Speed Guru
[encore]
God Bless AMT
The group has moved into a second phase of existence, with songs featuring Cotton Casino's vocals becoming central to the set. Old AMT favourites have been considerably rearranged, and were played in a medley to close the set. On the night AMT were joined by special guest Yamazaki Maso (Masonna), and he contributed vocals and synthesizer to all tracks. As well as guitar, Kawbata also rocked out on electric sitar and bouzouki, and at the very end after a "thumb to neck" appeal to the audience he smashed his guitar to pieces. As well as his usual stupendous bass playing, Tsuyama also contributed vocals and guitar. After injuring his right hand last year Higashi Hiroshi had been unable to play guitar for several months, but at this gig he played nothing else. Koizumi Hajime, who has decided to return as a full touring member of the group, showed up his maniac drummer moves.
Between the two sets, Tsuyama appeared as MC and funnyman auctioneer, selling off various rare recordings and out of print releases - and even Kawabata's guitar. Profits from the auction were used to fund a drinking party for the whole audience after the gig.

Live Schedule archive: "ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE FESTIVAL vol.2" (DEC/13@TOKUZO Nagoya)

Cotton Casino and Higashi Hiroshi's duo D-Pardons-X (ex. Pardons) have split up. Their last performance was in September 2003 at the "Psychedelic Electronic Music Night" in Osaka.

D-Pardons-X (ex. Pardons) – Acid Mothers Temple "Soul collective"

Yoshida Tatsuya, Tsuyama Atsushi and Kawabata Makoto recently completed their Japanese New Music Festival European Tour 2003 three man=five units (Zubi Zuva X / Akaten / Ruins -1 / Zoffy / Acid Mothers Temple mode HHH), six week tour of fourteen countries (Norway, Sweden, Poland, Croatia, Austria, Germany, UK, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Italy). The only, triumphal Japanese date by this line-up took place at Hard Rain in Osaka on December 12th.

Gong and Acid Mothers Temple joined forces as Acid Mothers Gong for a stunning show at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The totally improvised cosmic hippie festival freak-out vibe (and its high volume quotient) really divided opinions amongst Gong and AMT fans, but the unit plans to continue its activities regardless. The group plan to play in Japan in April 2004.
http://www.acidmothers.com/tour/2003amg_london/

Audrey Ginestet's AMT documentary film "dokonan" has been completed and was recently screened in Toulouse. She is currently working on a subtitled English version.

Two songs from Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. album "Absolutely Freak Out" are used on the soundtrack to Gus Van Sant's Cannes Palme d'Or winning movie "Elephant".

Tsuyama has formed a new psychedelic trad duo called "Atsushi & Akiko Tsuyamason" with his wife Akiko. According to the boyo himself, they play "lovebird psych".

Tsurubami completed their recent Japan tour without serious incident. The group's usual explosive drone style was only featured at the first date in Tokyo, while the next night in Hamamatsu turned into a display of heavy rockin' moves. The Osaka gig coincided with the unprecedented victory of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team (Kawabata's favorite team) in the Japanese Central League leading to a stage invasion by Tsuyama, an explosively loud version of "Noise Rokko Oroshi" (the Tigers theme song), and an entirely chaotic ending. Later dates at Himeji and Okayama were a bit space-rocky, and the final date in Nagoya was like a tour digest of all the other dates. Glimpses were provided of a new direction for the group.

Tsuyama Atsushi has recently formed a duo with legendary Japanese underground figure Hiroshi Na. A duo studio album has been released.

Hello-Good Bye Studio (Hiroshi Nar): http://www2.memenet.or.jp/~ken/

Tsuyama Atsushi has formed a unit called"Risu" (Squirrel) with his blood brother Yamamoto Seiichi from Boredoms.

The AMT Soul Collective Tour 2003 threw various troubles at us, including the theft of Cotton's helmet and Kawabata's bow. A nasty combination of a French public services strike and horrible weather on the East Coast meant that they had to cancel one of our NY dates. But in the end, they survived. It seems that someone even put around the rumour that they were canceling gigs because they'd caught SARS, but there is no truth whatsoever in that story.
On the tour Kawabata dropped "Pink Lady Lemonade" into most of his solo sets. At the Manchester gig Pardons staged the "5 minute hero" version of their set, with Cotton AKA Pardon Dos in particular reaching the depths of her own unique mania. At the Camarthem gig Nik Turner from Hawkwind guested, while Daevid Allen (Gong) joined us in London and Bristol for two Guru & Zero sets. In Seattle on the final night of the tour Tsurubami brought down the curtain with a set that seemed to presage total, all enveloping destruction.

Guru & Zero (Daevid Allen from Gong, with Cotton Casino and Kawabata Makoto) played at the Festival Les Toritonales, dedicated to the Canterbury scene, in Paris. The group played two sets, during which they were joined by special guests Didier Malherbe (Gong) and Higashi Hiroshi. This performance drew the biggest crowds of the whole three week festival.
Other acts booked to appear are:
Christian Vander Offering, AD Vitam (Julie Vander), Faton / Seffer / Causse - Ethnic Trio, Poly Soft (Hugh Hopper / Elton Dean etc.) - Tribute to Soft Machine, Mats & Morgan, Richard Sinclair, Phil Miller's In Cahoots, Pip Pyle's Bash, John Greaves - Roxongs Trio, Guapo, etc.

The improv power trio of free jazz drummer Hano Shoji, Tsuyama Atsushi and Kawabata Makoto formed a new power improv trio"Dare Devil Band".

Dare Devil Band 1st "Inomusha" / Dare Devil Band
(PSF[Japan]/CD/2003)

Maquiladora's tour of Japan was a raging success. Nine of the gigs included Kawabata on guitar, seven of them included Higashi Hiroshi on synth, and four had Tsuyama on guest guitar.

Live Schedule archive: Maquiladora Japan tour 2003 (thu. 10th ~ sat. 19th Apr. 2003 in Japan)