Brahman sold out its most recent Japanese tour of 42 venues, including three in Tokyo that held around 2,000, in one hour. The band has released two CDs. Each have sold half a million.
In Taiwan for last week's Formoz music festival and gigs in Taipei and Taichung this weekend, the band found itself staying at a love hotel not far from the Taipei Train Station.
PHOTO: DAVID FRAZIER, TAIPEI TIMES
At around 2pm on Monday, the day after their first show on the island, Toshi, the band's lead singer, was looking kind of rough, sitting in the very back of the lobby. He had a paper cup of "Quality Coffee" clenched in his fist.
His big goateed tour manager, Yoshi, who was wearing sunglasses and smoking Marlboro lights, looked a little better. He was there to translate.
They were there because it was four days until their next show, and they didn't have anything better to do. I found that out when, running low on questions and trying to keep the conversation from dying out altogether, I finally asked: so what are you going to do while you're in Taipei this week?
Toshi, adjusting his eye-shielding cap, answered, "I don't know ... uh, do you have any good ideas?"
"No," I answered, and started thumbing through my notes to stall until I thought of another question.
Noticing the lull, Yoshi explained that last year in Japan, Brahman played more than 100 shows. Most of the venues only held around 200 people, because they like to keep shows intimate. Tickets cost a cheap ?2,500.
"When I was a kid," interjected Toshi, who despite the hangover is a pretty plain and fit-looking 27, "it only cost two thousand. So I keep the same price."
Brahman's four members have been together six or seven years; they're independently managed so they've avoided becoming record company pawns; Toshi hates "big commercial music"; he's the only band member to have graduated from college, though his best job was preparing lunchboxes; by forming the band, he said, "we drop out in life," but couldn't explain what they've dropped out from. Their performance style, I'd already learned from Yoshi, consisted of "hard action" and "speed" and the previous night on stage it looked like Toshi broke five or six mic stands, but actually there were only two and they just kept switching them.
So I said: "That's cool. Because last night's show really kicked ass."
"Yes," Toshi agreed. "Afterwards. Very tired. ... I can't move for 10 minutes."
And then?
"Afterparty. We always have an afterparty," he said. "But there were some Taiwanese bands there, and I don't understand why they don't drink beer. We were all drinking a lot of beer, but the Taiwanese bands ... not really."
I nodded in commiseration.
"Well, then, what would you do if you weren't in a rock band?"
Toshi thought for a few seconds, then politely replied, "Sorry, I don't understand."
Brahman plays two matinees this weekend with local bands Spunka and Reproduction. The first is today at 1pm in Taichung at Private Beach. Tomorrow's show is at 2pm in Taipei at Zeitgeist, Chunghsiao E. Rd., Sec. 2, No. 122. Tickets cost NT$350.
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