The performance by Overground Acoustic Underground was a bit of a change-up from what I was starting to get use to at COUNTDOWN JAPAN. Not only is their music exclusively perfomed with acoustic instruments, but the member make-up of the band is rather unique.

Overground Acoustic Underground or more easily, OAU is composed of 6 members. Surprisingly, the band’s lead singer/guitarist/violinist is an American. Martin leads the band made up of Toshi-Low (vocals, guitar), Kohki (guitar), Makoto (bass), Ronzi (drums), and Kakuei (percussion).

OAU impressed me as having a few different types of songs. There are songs where Martin plays guitar and sings, others have Martin playing the violin in-between vocal parts, and the third involves a sort of duet between Martin and Toshi-Low. While the overall encompassing sound of OAU is discernable, these three varieties of sub-styles make each song a little more different than the last.

          An official shot of OAU performing, courtesy of the COUNTDOWN JAPAN quick report

The material that OAU performed during their set was mostly from their self-titled debut album. It comes as no surprise that mostly all of the band’s lyrics are in English. But it was cool since Martin mostly only spoke Japanese to the crowd. He was very funny, telling stories, jokes, and the like. In a nice addition, OAU performed a song which Martin wrote upon a return visit to the United States. Suprisingly, this song’s lyrics were wholly in Japanese. I really enjoyed performances of songs like “Squall”, “A Whole New Day”, and “The Rain” too.

Overground Acoustic Underground put on a really entertaining show. Compared to others artists featured at COUNTDOWN JAPAN, their music was really unique and at the time very refreshing. Before attending the concert, I listened to their album. After I found out that they’d be there, I looked into them and picked up a copy of their CD. Tecchan described Overground Acoustic Underground as her favorite band of the day. Likewise, I felt OAU put on a great performance and really rocked.

COUNTDOWN JAPAN 06/07 official site, rockin’ on Japan
Overground Acoustic Underground official site