News

Way to go there, guys! This has not been announced on the official website at the time of this posting.(Update: Now on official site as well) I just read it on a japanese blog, who read it in a newspaper this morning.

So yeah, 17th album “MAGIC”. It’s going to be out November 18th, 2009 (I told you so! November!). The Limited Edition comes with bonus documentary footage as well as live footage from SHOWCASE 2009 and SUMMER SONIC 2009. The bonus DVD is entitled “Magical Backstage Tour 2009”.

Limited Edition Price: 3780 Yen (tax incl.)
Regular Edition Price: 2940 Yen (tax incl.)

Tracklisting:

01. Introduction
02. DIVE
03. Time Flies
04. MY LONELY TOWN
05. long time no see
06. Ichibu to Zenbu
07. PRAY
08. MAGIC
09. Mayday!
10. TINY DROPS
11. Dare ni mo ienee
12. Yume no Naka de Aimashou
13. Freedom Train

B’z LIVE-GYM 2010 “Ain’t no magic”

Schedule

January 14, 2010 — Aomori Civic Cultural Hall
January 15, 2010 — Odate Shimin Bunkakaikan
January 17, 2010 — Sendai Sunplaza Hall
January 19, 2010 — Fukushima-ken Bunka Center
January 22, 2010 — Asahikawa Shimin Bunkakaikan
January 24, 2010 — Hokkaido Kousei Nenkin Kaikan
January 26, 2010 — Hakodate Shimin Kaikan

February 12th, 2010 — Fukuoka Yahoo Japan! Dome
February 13th, 2010 — Fukuoka Yahoo Japan! Dome
February 17th, 2010 — Nagoya Dome
February 19th, 2010 — Nagoya Dome
February 20th, 2010 — Nagoya Dome
February 24th, 2010 — Kyocera Dome Osaka
February 26th, 2010 — Kyocera Dome Osaka
February 27th, 2010 — Kyocera Dome Osaka
March 3rd, 2010 — Tokyo Dome
March 4th, 2010 — Tokyo Dome
March 6th, 2010 — Tokyo Dome
March 7th, 2010 — Tokyo Dome

News

Happy birthday B’z!

B’z debuted on September 21, 1988 and this is now their 21st year since their debut. Keep going B’z!!

I was hoping for a major announcement being made today, but unfortunately Japan is celebrating the Respect-for-the-Aged Day (敬老の日; keirou no hi) today, and on September 23rd, Japan will celebrate Autumnal Equinox (秋分の日; shuubun no hi), so there won’t be any updates until holidays are over on September 24th. September 22 is also a holiday because it’s in between two holidays.

Anyway, let’s hope for some big news this week, and don’t forget Koshi Inaba’s birthday on September 23rd!!

Cheers,
Tobias aka “Arthuro”
OFF THE LOCK Webmaster

News

Hey guys,  a special SUMMER SONIC 2009 show was aired in Japan today, and as you know, B’z performed MY LONELY TOWN there.  Fortunately now I don’t have to put up the live-recording from SHOWCASE 2009 on here, hehe.

Without further ado, MY LONELY TOWN and Ichibu to Zenbu. Enjoy.

MY LONELY TOWN (Watch in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFGXUPUuyiU)

Ichibu to Zenbu (Watch in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzve-WZo6sk)

Feature

Yep, this is an interview, from the March 2009 issue of the official B’z fanclub magazine. You only get it if you’re a member of B’z PARTY. This is just a rather small part of the interview, but I’ll continue to translate parts of it until I have the whole interview translated. I’ll keep you updated. For now, just enjoy.

(more…)

News

Hey folks!

Looks like “MY LONELY TOWN” is finally out of the bag! But, of course, that doesn’t mean the new album is not gonna hit the end of the year. I’m still confident, that it is going to be released in November. If I’m wrong, feel free to stop by, the cold beer’s on my tab.

By the way, is it just me, or does the new single’s release sound a bit rushed? It’s like they’re shelling out new singles just to be on schedule for something else (a new album?). I mean, did you ever see a B’z single come with a music video of the very same? To me, it appears that B’z just doesn’t have the time for promotion, which would explain the announcement made roughly one month after the Ichibu to Zenbu/DIVE release, as well as the upcoming release in only one month’s time.

Now for the Single itself. As you’ve all read the news and checked out B’z Net Party, there’s not much to say about the single, except that there’s going to be a normal version and a limited version(which comes with a DVD that includes the music video). Retail prices are as listed on my page to the right.

Tracklisting:

1. MY LONELY TOWN
2. Kirei na Namida (Beautiful Tears)
3. Ichibu to Zenbu -Ballad Version-

However, there’s one interesting aspect to note about the single: the cover!

The photo taken there, have you ever wondered what it is, or where it was taken? It is actually a real location in Japan. This place is called Hashima Island, also nicknamed “Battleship Island”(軍艦島; “gunkan jima”) due to it’s unique shape that resembles a battleship. It is a small island off the coast of Nagasaki, and was once used for coal mining out in the sea. By the time petroleum replaced coal in Japan in the 1960s, coal mines were shut down one after another, and now it’s just an unmanned island. It is often called a “ghost island” by the Japanese. Here’s another picture of it:

Taken from wikipedia.org

For more information, you might want to check out:

Hashima Island – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gunkanjima (Warship Island) | Places of Interest | Nagasaki City Tourism Guide
Nagasaki’s Battleship Island | Japan Probe

News

So yeah, it has been quite a while again. I’m finally done with work, and now I’m just waiting for university to start (Oct. 5). 🙂
Really pumped for it.

There have been some rumors about B’z lately. With “PRAY” officially announced(also available for download as ringtone as of 8/24) as a theme song for a movie, and a new song(the title is “My Lonely Town”, by the way) that has been played at SHOWCASE 2009 and Summer Sonic 2009, fans speculate whether a new album is going to be released in the near future, or not. I’m guessing B’z still has got a few songs up their sleeves they can produce an album with.

The other day, I got some inside info from a friend, who read an interesting post by a B’z fan somewhere on the internet. That fan claimed he was eavesdropping on the SHOWCASE 2009 staff, and apparently heard that the new album is scheduled for November. The LIVE-GYM is to follow early 2010.

I, myself, have been speculating about an album release due end of the year, so this could only confirm my prediction. It would really make sense, since they didn’t announce another single with PRAY(which was the case with “Eien no Tsubasa”, though). On the other hand, the release window could’ve been too tight to release another single shortly after “Ichibu to Zenbu/DIVE” was released, since we’re talking about September. As a single has not been announced, it is highly likely, that the song will hit the movie’s official soundtrack CD.

This is still all rumors and speculation, but what is your take on it?  What do you think?