Monday the 11:th of October, 1999
Taking the plane from Gotheburg to Copenhagen then from Copenhagen to Narita international airport in Japan. Since I´ve recently turned 30, into a grumpy old man, there had been some serious birthday parties the previous days and I was really confused how the hell I ended up in a plane over Siberia. I started to watch Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones but boy, did it suck. Fell asleep. Much more inspiring.


All the crazy guys and gals visiting my Freak Guitar Clinic
in hall 3 in Sunshine City in the Tokyo part Ikebukoro

Tuesday the 12:th of October
Mr Shin Nishiuchi from my record company, JVC/Victor, and Itaru Kanno from Caparison Guitars picked me up at Narita. Itaru had just finished the work of the Apple Horn III and brought it to my excitement. It was, as always with these guys, extremely well-built and cool looking. Full details and photos will come soon.
I was driven to the hotel, Tobu Hotel, in Shibuya-Ku in Tokyo. Shibuya is a really nice part of Tokyo and I´ve stayed at the hotel once before so it was a strange feeling of deja-vu in the air.
The jet-lag was a pain in the butt and to my relief I could take the day off and get my shit together. Slept a bunch of hours before going to Italian dinner with Shin. Then I went back to sleep again.


Mr Shin from my South East Asian record company, JVC/Victor

The gifted guitar inventor Itaru Kanno and the new signature model



Wednesday the 13:th of October
Met the inimitable Captain Wada in a rented TV-studio/club-kind of place with a drum-kit, lights and amps, etc. Captain and myself had a nice long, talk for his TV-show Hard Shock Night about Freak Guitar, Freak Kitchen and other things. I then performed "The Grey Hat of Compromise" and "Revenge of the Bambi-Loving-Terrorist" from the FG-cd, playing to a backing-tape I had prepared at home. I was a bit uncomfortable with my new guitar, since I hadn´t got any time to make some adjustments (I have the strings really high-up, for instance). It went down ok, though (I hope).



Talking to Captain Wada and the TV-show Hard Shock Night

Wanking the guitar in the Kyowa booth


Had lunch with Shin and the female interpretator before going to a peculiar rent-a-rehearsal-place/studio. Well there, Itaru, Nobu and some other guys from Kyowa/Caparison had brought the requested Laney VH100R + cabinet as well as two more Apple Horns for me to try out for the up-coming Freak Guitar Clinic at the Tokyo Musical Instruments Fare on the Sunday the 17:th.
I was to pick one of the two new Apple Horns to become my signature model. I choosed a real, neat looking instrument with an almost disco (!) vibe to it. It´s got the 27 frets, devil´s tail head, clock inlays and a silver apple horn on the body as well as the head. Sounded terrific!
Afterwards, I was driven to a huge music store where I hung out for a while, tried some guitars and signed some photos for the staff.


One of the guitar shop staff members

Trying to remember my licks for Young Guitar photographer


Thursday the 14:th of October
First day at the Tokyo Musical Instruments Fare. Lots of fun and a real treat to meet the listeners. As soon as I sat down and twiddled on the guitar in the Kyowa booth it only took second before it was crowded. I played some, showed the hose-clip and then signed and took photos together with the fine, Japanese fans. Walked around some by myself and looked around the fare and all the time there were people calling some buddy on his/hers tiny cell-phone and pointing: "Mattias-san! Hai! Hai! Freak Kitchen! Mattias-san!". I enjoy talking to people so this always took quite a while. I nearly drove the poor Kyowa staff nuts since they always had to send a couple of guys looking for me as I happily stood in some booth talking.
Tokyo afternoon traffic is no picnic and it took a small eternity to get to the other side of town from Ikebukoro to Shinjuku. A photographer had been hired to take promotional shots of me and the new signature model as well as the older Apple Horns. Some two hours late we arrived and equipment was rigged for the session. I stayed up most of the previous night, writing scores for a concert with orchestra and guitar next summer, and looked like a sweaty, tired pig. A lot of polaroids were taken to make sure the guitar looked alright, that you would be able to see all the details, and I had one laugh better than the other at my swollen face. What the fuck, as long as guitar looked good...


The Polaroids from Hell...

In the JVC studio recording for Young Guitar magazine


Caparison Guitars constructed the IA-pick, really thick as I like it.
Slightly over 2.0 mm.


Friday the 15:th of October
Went and checked out Paul Gilbert´s DiMarzio show at the fare. Boy, has that fellow got some serious picking-technique. Paul played some songs together with Japanese musicians and showed his new double-neck where one of the necks only has three strings, each tuned to E in octaves. Sounded nice, if somewhat limited.
More signing, talking, playing at the fare.


The add for the Freak Guitar Clinic



One more time, please...


Saturday the 16:th of October
Went to the great store Tokyu Hands (it´s really spelled like that) and bought hose-clips. I thought it would be nice to have a hose-clip as a present for each and every one who´d ask a question at my clinic. Checked out a truly strange guy named Jinmo and his show for Takamine Guitars. Jinmo looks like an evil wizard and plays that way too. Connected to some multi-effect he makes his acoustic sound pretty outlandish. He had some tuning problems and it took away some enthusiasm maybe but overall it was quite fun.


In what other city but Tokyo will you find a short Japanese Beatles cover band with very tall Paul Gilbert on guitar...


In the evening me and Shin went to the Tokyo Hard Rock café and later to a club called Abbey Road. There was a terrific, Japanese Beatles cover-band playing and later in the evening they were joined by Paul Gilbert. We all had a blast.
I wanted to prepare some for tomorrow´s appearance and we went back to Tobu Hotel.






Entering Hall 3 in Sunshine City/Tokyo Musical Instruments Fare

A sweaty Swede and his dildo


Sunday the 17:th of October
Now, this was a really strange feeling. A lot of people showed up at my clinic and before, curious as I am I wanted to take another of those walks around the fare and talk to everyone but today it was a bit different. Things got a little bit crazy and I found myself with security guards around me, guiding me to the closest service elevator. The same happened when I entered the hall where my clinic was to take place; security on top level. I felt like, if somewhat long-haired and ugly, Michael Jackson or something. Really odd.


Gimme five, or something...

The Freak Guitar Clinic went really fine and everyone greeted me in a super-friendly fashion. I had a great, great time and thank you all who showed up! The clinic lasted for around two hours and the hose-clips seemed appreciated. Afterwards I, again, really wanted to go out and talk to the fans but was strongly forbidden this since thing could get outta hand.
In the evening I went to a swell South Korean BBQ-party in Asakasa Kyowa/Caparison threw. Got a bit drunk and insisted on saké so some of us left for a saké-bar. Shouldn´t have done that since...


An ugly Swede, Shin from JVC and the Kyowa staff in a serious party mood
(minus Itaru Kanno who took the photo)

Monday the 18:th of October
...damn, what bloody saké-hang-over! Got better after some strong coffee (thank god for caffeine) and toast for breakfast.
Had a very nice day with the always so well-prepared guys from Young Guitar magazine. First I recorded a karaoke-tune with my guitar-playing in JVC studios for a free cd in the forth coming issues of Young Guitar. Home in Sweden I had recorded 12 tracks of different exercises also for the cd so we went spent some time where I broke it down slowly for the video-camera and the talented transcriber Masaki Fuguda. I also listened to Yngwie Malmsteen playing the same karaoke-song and boy, do we live in two different worlds! Couldn´t believe we were wanking away to the same song, but of course that´s good since you get the best of worlds checking out various styles. Later the same day I did a long, interesting interview for YG. Talked so much we had to take a break to let in Rie from Player magazine. Another fine Japanese guitar publication. Rie was very well-prepared as well and we had a nice hour talking about everything from Mr Libido to dildo-playing. Afterwards I did a photosession for Young Guitar with the new Apple Horns.


Together with the great and dedicated Young Guitar staff

A couple of hours later I met with old friend Hiroshi Tominaga and we went to Shabu-Shabu-dinner. Hiroshi gave me a present for the flight home; a really frantic computer-game called Beat Mania where you´re supposed to catch flying objects to a hysteric techno-beat. I couldn´t resist playing it while on the restaurant and chop sticks were flying around the table.

Tuesday the 19:th of October
Leaving for Sweden again. Itaru and Shin drove me to Narita and Itaru had developed the pics on this page for me (thanks!). More photos and coverage will follow. I had six kilos overweight and was charged 23 000 yen, gee... Anyway, it was a splendid visit and, again, I like to thank everybody involved and hope you enjoy the Freak Guitar record. Goodnight.