It’s always a good thing to leave Hawaii, or the United States for that matter, and see what the world has to offer.  We left behind shoyu, poke and plate lunches for raciones in Spain, schnitzel in Germany and even some vegan stuff in Denmark.  We traded sun and warmth for a good time and never thought twice about it.  We saw old friends and made a lot of new ones.  We partied in castles and also slept uncomfortably in the tour van.  

Nevertheless, it was the very contrasts from day to day, week in, week out, that kept our resolve strong and our determination pure in our pursuit to rock out all across Europe.   Our fascination with the whole wide world out there never wavered, whether we performed in a dungeon or at cavernous concert halls.  That’s why we play music and that’s what keeps a band like us going on for as long as we have.  There’s adventure in this life and it’s anyone’s to take – I’m just glad we’re able to share it.

Above is an except from one of the Hawaiian Punch Euro Tour galleries, 1 of 6 new photo galleries I just uploaded onto GoJimmyGo.com: 2 from Kokua Fest (pro photog Brian Bielmann’s pics are sick!), 2 from the Hawaiian Punch Euro Tour, 1 from the send-off party at thirtynine hotel and 1 all the way back from our xmas album release party for Holiday Hell Yeah! at Pipeline Cafe.  We’ve been busy, that’s for sure, so I’m finally glad to get these visuals up there for everyone to see.  The pictures themselves tell the most of the story.  If you want the full one you’re gonna have to catch me someday, pull up a chair and buy me a few beers for an unadulterated, detailed account of all the debacherous acts and incidents we got ourselves into.  Geez…I built that way too much — sorry — but, it was fun and exciting.  See…”fun and exciting” aren’t fun and exciting anymore.  I’m sticking with debauchery and dubious and that’s that!

The way you repay a favor is double it and say no more. That’s just what we did with the Oi-Skall Mates, a band musically like us but just about twice as big and probably wouldn’t hesitate to scarf down a carton of natto in a heartbeat. Yeah, so they’re a little different but those things are minor when you think about it. The main thing, like it’s always been with us, is the music and that’s what really counts. When it comes down to it we’re all strumming our guitars and blowing horns to the same beat, the ones that originated back in Jamaica way back when and has us all doing pretty much the same thing just in different countries and languages and such. Ain’t music great like that?

Back to the beginning….our two bands first met sometime in April 2006 when Go Jimmy Go went to headline their first Japan Tour. The country, the people and the food all coalesced, joined forces to make that one of the best tours we’d ever been on. Being from Hawaii made the “land of the rising sun” somewhat similar in most respects and we devoured the rest deliciously bite after savory bite. And in the end, we met Oi-Skall Mates at the last gig in Tokyo, sold out and dangerously packed. We could believe the energy and firepower this band brought to the stage — it was both amazing and inspiring all at once. We shared the same war stories after the show with the Duty Free whiskey we had hoped to bring back home, but some things are worth sacrificing for the sake of a memory. Fast forward roughly two years to 2008 and a scene change and you have Oi-Skall Mates in Hawaii (America, even) with Go Jimmy Go hosting them for a two night stand at the venerable Anna’s and even a BBQ to boot.

So, make that tripled…the favor, and I’ll say no more. There’s no need because despite the huge language barrier we all faced, in the end it was the music that mattered.

Nothin’ Like A Little Fire-Breathing Lizard Shooting Lighting Bolts To Get Peeps To The Show

Oi-Skall Mates / Go Jimmy Go Crew “Backstage” At Anna’s

Tenor, Trombone, Now…Singing?!? Reviving The Tantra Days

Tony Trying His Best To Imitate The Old Japanese Guy On The Vinyl

John Being…Well, John

Oi-Skall Mates Lost Their Pants During Their 4.5 Hour Customs Ordeal; The Crowd Pays For It, Dearly.

Lead Singer Wataru Is A Fashion Genius — Look At Those Matching Bebs And Slip-ons! Tight!…Literally.

Da Japanese Bruddahs At Their Farewell BBQ @ Kaimana’s

This Is Almost Everybody That Came Out

Akira’s Hiding Behind Us But He’s The One That Leads The Charge For Us In Tokyo

Oh Yeah, It Was Also Shon & Ryan’s Birthday. They Forgot Their Ages But Remembered It To Be A Good Time.

The send-off party for Go Jimmy Go’s Hawaiian Punch Europe Tour was off the chain, a debaucherous night put on by our friends at Unity Crayons and Jenko Hawaii in Chinatown one cool Spring evening. Everyone was out to wish us well and we couldn’t have done it at a more swank venue than 39 Hotel. All the usual suspects were in attendance and the surprise here was Aaron of Honozooloo.com. I just rediscovered these killer pics and had to post them here on this blog for all of you. If you haven’t check out Aaron’s site make sure you do because you’ll see some of the best photography of Honolulu’s urban art & music scene you’re going to find on the internet. You could easily spend hours checking out the latest events and the peeps that go to them at his site; there’s tons of stuff….very nice.

Of further note was the general directing the sound attack, DJ Big Barr, a personal friend of ours from back in the day…way back! Also, The Spacifics represented as Honolulu’s only live hip-hop band with me and Ryan now permanent members on the horns. The crowd gave up huge support for this unique band as several guest mc’s whipped everyone up into a frenzy during the set. As for Go Jimmy Go, it was quite memorable as well. The most interesting part of the show came as we had Shon’s replacement on drums for the Europe tour, Johnny, sit in on a few tracks and Shon torching the mic unexpectedly song after song. I think he really dug not being stuck behind the drums like he has done the past ten years and he really worked the whole stage with his newly found freedom. Inspiration was short lived and a few songs later he was relegated to the back of the stage to his kit and keeping the rhythm tight as usual. No complaints there on our part and it was business as usual — to rock!

The pictures below probably tell the story better than I tried, so…have at it then!

Last Stop!: Hotel Street

Promote! Promote! Promote!

This Is My New Gig — The Spacifics

Here’s My Partner, Ryan, Throwing One Of His Signature Moves

Ha! I’m Still Learning The Music

I’m Seeing Double Here w/ DJ Packo In The Background

Oh My God, Who Gave Shon The Mic?!?

DJ Supastar In A Matter Of Minutes…In His Mind, Anyway

Bison Works The Front Row

Go Jimmy Go Rhythm Is Tight Ya’ll!

Everybody Gets Into The Act: Kelii & Shon Sing And Drink Beer At The Same Time — What A Concept!

Business As Usual

I think it’s been about a month since Kokua Fest 2008 but looking through these pictures sends me right back there all over again. Pictures are great like that and even though they may be worth a thousand words as they say, they’re even better. They transport me from the dull here and now to rocking times. Great scenes of motion, people, interesting conversation and general fun. For instance, I’m here at home writing this blog after spending 12 hours on the computer planning my wedding and I’m tired and rather delirious. Before I write these blogs I always browse the pictures of the particular event to stir the creative juices and hopefully something good comes out in written form. Letters, phrases, sentences, paragraph all mingle and eventually form like the first cellular organisms you read about in biology class so long ago. All these parts coagulate, and even mutate sometimes (especially when I’m dead-beat tired like right now in my branium and you get the result that hopefully is somewhat interesting and at least a better story than without.

First off, I have to say what an honor it was to be on board for an event like this. It was easy to tell friends later that throughout the twelve years I’ve been with GJG I can honestly say this was the coolest experience ever. Let me tell you, we’ve had our fair share of experiences, but none quite like this. In fact, the first Europe tour was more fantastic as a whole — 39 straight shows in 16 countries — but for the three days of Kokua Fest 2008 you can’t touch it. I wish we played Kokua Fest every month — I’d be so stoked!

The funny story is — and Jack told it one time at a sold-out Pipeline back in 2003 (?) — Jack Johnson opened up for Go Jimmy Go back before he became a superstar. That’s right. We both played a mutual friend’s wedding up in Pupukea back in the summer of 2001 and we played with a Jack Johnson, a bluesy, folksy mellow guitar player. We played after and the best man ended up throwing the groom in the pool. Yeah, it ended up like that but it started with Jack. I remembered the name because it was catchy to me.

Anyway, so here we are at his festival and it’s the most hyped up musical event year after year. The stories were leading up to the festival were the tickets for both nights sold out in 15 minutes and they were going for up to $1,000 on Ebay and Craiglist. Whoa! Whatever the case we were in through the (back)door and were stoked to see Jack again and Dave & Tim for the first time. The other artists on the bill, Paula Fuga and Mason Jennings were class acts too. Matt Costa showed up for a few tunes as well to the delight of all the girls in the crowd. Ryan and I worked out some horn parts for the encore song and what more can I say? Oh yeah, thanks for having us and giving us an experience that we’ll never forget. Jack, Kim, Kokua Foundation — you guys rock!

Videos from MSN.com!!!

Go Jimmy Go Horns on Kokua Festival “3 R’s” Encore

Kokua Fest 2008 Jack Johnson Performance + More

Bison, Mason, Tim, Jack, Dave, Paula, Ryan @ The Press Conference The Day Before

Can’t You See Why We Were So Stoked?

Yeah! Showtime! Holy Crap It’s Hot!

It May Not Be The Silver Screen But This Will Definitely Do!

Did I Mention It Was Friggin’ Hot? Yeah, It Was Hot!

Bison Looms Over Waikiki

Nightfall And The Light That It Brings

Walking Around I Found Free Banana’s and Uncle Calvin’s Nose Flutes. Kelii and Bart Are Obviously Stoked For Me.

Ryan Called Me Out. I Never Back Down From A Nose Flute Battle! Never.

All 8,000 People Love Us….Nah, That Was For Jack

Last Song Of The Festival — How Do You Top That?

That’s A Wrap! Jack, Take Us With You…Horn Section For Hire!

Saturday — 3/29/08
The Paradox Of A Good Time
Brussels, Belgium
Blogged by E. White

Well, we were back where we started and it’s bittersweet to say the least. It feels like we’re just hitting our stride as a band, but now it was the last gig and we had no choice but to leave everything behind. I guess that’s the beauty of it, but I’ll get to that later.

I was particularly excited for this gig because not only were we going to play with the Pepper Pots for the first time but also because we were finally going to meet the rest of the band we hadn’t already met in Girona at the front end of the tour. This was their first show back after just finishing up their first-ever Japan tour. Our tour manager, Chris Storm, warned us to take everything with us into the club because the street we were on was notorious for break-ins and hookers. Nice. If there was a tour story waiting to happen this definitely would be ground zero for just that.

During the last tour I met a guy from Belgium named Colin at our gig in Lille, France. I remember we first talked about beer and how Belgian beer was hands down the best in the world. That was a huge statement and I told him I was of course up for the challenge. Little did I know how right he would turn out to be. The second thing I remember from that conversation was that he owned a little record label and also promoted shows in Belgium. One year later we find ourselves together again testing his theories on suds at his show in his hometown. It just goes to show the interconnectedness of people, places, conversation and the lubrication that makes it all work so great together, alcohol.

Upstairs was where the backstage was and it was like a huge kitchen and living room all rolled in one. The fridge was filled with Belgians and I tried a couple way too early in the evening just because I could. Later on in the night as the backstage filled up with all the performers and others the room would become one loud giant smoke pit. Hey, that’s Europe for ya. It was our last show with Red Soul Community and made sure I went down for to wish our new friends from Granada off.

I had regrets about the show and our performance, but — whatever — that’s life. Basically, the monitors in front of me and ran were feeding back in a way that I’ve never experienced and he eventually had to unplug them to make the situation somewhat o.k. We were about three songs deep, shrugged it off and enjoyed the rest of the set with everyone in the front row and the guys on stage with me. The Pepper Pots were later killed the show with one exciting bang. It’s quite a spectacle. There are like ten people on stage; the guys looking dapper in slick suits and the three girl singers in awesome handmade go-go outfits. The set was a mix of soul and ska and everyone was so lit up by the end they didn’t let them off stage until like two encores later.

Back upstairs after all the madness that is a ska show I told Ryan to check out the big hooker on the corner dancing’, singin’ and trying to pick up dudes as they drove by. She was quite a scene unto herself and Ryan took a picture of her from our third story loft. The hooker starts yelling at Ryan I think to come down there and pay her but he just laughed. She ended up confronting him at load out later on but we distracted her as he made his Bond-like getaway.

And so that was it, our Hawaiian Punch Europe Tour ended with a homerun. The place was packed, we met new friends, hugged and sang with the old ones, drank 9% Chimay Blue for the first time, survived the smoke pit, escaped from hookers, and lived on for another day. Like I said before, that’s the beauty of it — it’s gone but it’s the memories of all the people and places we’ve been that get us through another day back home where we play, but mainly work.

This Is The Final Stop! — GJG, Pepper Pots, Red Soul Community, and Friends

The Pepper Pots Kick Ass!

These Girls Kick Ass! Marina, Mercé, Adrianna

The Mighty Chris Storm Towers Over All, Terrorizes Friends And Patrons Alike

I Guess The Poem Worked

Brussels At Night With The Best Tour Guides Around — Charles, Mara and Colin

It’s Crazy How A Simple Alley Way Can Lead To….

…This!

The Belgian Wall Street

Belgian Waffles Fo’ Real!

This Is The Famous Shi Shi Boy Of Brussels. This Is The Source Of All Those Replicas. He Supposedly Peed And Put Out The Fire That Would’ve Destroyed The City Back In The Day.

See, He’s Everywhere!

The Whole Street Was Like This — Reminded Me Of Paris

Eh, You Guys Da Best! Charles, Mara, Colin

The Beer Cave Had All The Belgians and Some 2,000 Others. What A Great Way To End The Night, Tour!