I'm turning Japanese, oh yes I'm turning Japanese, I really think so!

Osaka is great and I've been enjoying every moment here in Japan. The place is full of amazing shops and places to eat and the only let down is not having all the money to get what I want. So far, I've spent the most in the Sanrio Gallery for Hello Kitty things that can't be bought anywhere else but in Japan and I've loved all that kind of thing since I was in pre-school. Then there is Tokyu Hands, the huge lifestyle department store which has all these amazing craft and hardware materials that I've not been able to buy anywhere else. I'll definitely be busy when I get home, making lots of cool accessories to sell on the market at the Download and Reading festivals! I discovered a brilliant merchandise and collectables store called the Rock 'n' Roll Museum, which has separate stands for particular bands and it is very well laid out. There is everything you can get merchandise wise for any band you want in the store and if there isn't an item on display, it can be ordered specially. I got a few photos of the Fueled By Ramen shop, the My Chemical Romance shop and Gimme Shelter, which is all dedicated to the Rolling Stones.

My local hang out here is Rock Rock, just a few minutes walk around the corner from the hotel I'm staying in. Two days ago Bullet For My Valentine were here. I arrived here in the morning on Tuesday, then went to bed for a few hours, then got up and went to Rock Rock. Fuck jet lag!

I met up with guitarist Michael Paget and drummer Michael "Moose" Thomas and a few guys from the Bullet For My Valentine crew and it was good to see Mole again, a tech who I first met almost seven years ago working for Rock City in Nottingham, but now works on tours. Two Japanese fans recognized me from being in photos on various websites with bands and Yoko from Rock Rock pointed me out and said, "I've seen you before..." and she's seen more of me since, because that place really does rock. It's a small bar, but with a great atmosphere and they play the best music from the past and present. The walls are covered with polaroids of all the bands who have partied there and it is literally an A-Z of who's who in rock 'n' roll, everyone who is anyone.

I got a photo pass for the Bullet For My Valentine show at Namba Hatch, I will upload the live photos from that show on here soon. A few video captures from the show are now on the YouTube page, so stay tuned for all the live photos...

Partied over the last two nights and now I'm in need of a good sleep!

This past Friday and Saturday night were spent with friends in a trendy West London hotel, while the Give It a Name shows were happening at Earl's Court. I never got a photo pass, because I was told back in March that they were only using one photographer for each Give It a Name show at Earl's Court and at the Sheffield Arena, which was a let-down. I never even bothered going to the concerts. I decided to hang out in the hotel bar Friday and last night and it was absolutely packed with most of the bands performing at Give It a Name.

Spotted in the hotel bar were Alkaline Trio, Paramore, The Audition, My American Heart and most of the crew members and concert production people. Also in town and socialising last night were The Raconteurs, who were bust rehearsing for a show this coming Wednesday at Hammersmith Apollo. Although these days, frontman Jack White doesn't even stay in the same hotel as his bandmates because "he thinks he may get too much attention". At the hotel we were at, I very much doubt anyone would even care about hassling Jack White, considering more famous rock stars than him have actually staying there and been given plenty of privacy.

I am off to Japan in less than 10 days. After being told by so many people how great it is in Osaka, I am more excited. Obviously a lot of the bands we hung out with this past weekend have been to Japan and nobody had anything negative to say about it and they love it, so I am more excited now.

Simple Plan in London and Bristol

Canadian pop/punk band Simple Plan finished their UK tour in Bristol last Monday, April 21st and it was a big success. I only made it to two shows, in London at the Astoria theatre and at Bristol Academy.

It was good to return to Bristol after about three years, because the last time I was there was to meet up with my youngest sister Millie who was a student at Bristol university. I think the last band I saw their was Stone Sour (Corey Taylor and Jim Root from Slipknot's other band).

I brought along two friends who I met from going to see rock concerts here in England since I came back last August and the same old faces from years ago are still around. By coincidence, the very person who I met the first time I ever met Simple Plan back in April 2005, showed up at the Good Charlotte show in Brixton, then as a guest of Simple Plan at the Astoria and that was nice to see her again after about two years. I also decided to stay in the same hotel where I first met the band, which happened to be just 10 minutes walk from the Astoria and came up top of the list for last minute hotel deals on Lastminute.com and that was lucky! It was worth the spending, especially as rooms in that particular hotel are normally at least £200 a night during the week. I am trying to save money right now for the Summer festival season and going on a trip to Japan, but life is too short for negative thinking and I want to enjoy myself while I am still young(ish)! There was a lot of talk about the Astoria being demolished before the end of 2008, which is just awful to think about. Everyone is so pissed off about it all, especially as the venue is the only decent size venue in central London where so many big bands play. Next stop there for me will be Lostprophets in June.

I filmed a series of Simple Plan live captures from the Astoria show and a few from Bristol. Only got a few shit photos, but they are better than none at all.

All live video captures are here:

www.youtube.com/sophiecalifornia

Good Charlotte at Brixton Academy on Saturday April 12th

I decided to go to Brixton Academy last Saturday to see Good Charlotte and what a good show it was! The Madden twins have been more focused on in the press for their recent Hollywood relationships with people like Nicole Richie (Joel) and now Benji is coincidentally dating Nicole's friend Paris Hilton!?! but that was all out of the window when I heard their fun hits again like Girls don't like boy, girls like cars and money and I wanna be like you and Lifestyles of the rich and famous, which I think is a pop punk classic. This band are always great fun to watch and make an effort to entertain and talk to the audience in between songs.

Before the doors opened, I was waiting around outside with some fans who I know from having seen other bands and we met actress Mischa Barton who played Marissa in The O.C. She was a friend of the support band, so she was just hanging out and enjoying the show.

Video captures from the Good Charlotte show can be viewed on my YouTube page. I didn't get any photos as there were too many people in front of me and I didn't have time to arrange a photo pass.

I got back yesterday from a crazy few days in Amsterdam and got to see Velvet Revolver's final show with Scott Weiland as vocalist

I returned from a few days in Amsterdam and had a great time and was very lucky that by coincidence, Velvet Revolver were staying in the same hotel and I finally got to meet Slash and Scott Weiland, who are two of my favourite rock stars of all time! A surreal moment happened when I was by the hotel reception last Monday afternoon and the reception desk in this particular hotel (which I won't name, as many bands are known to stay there) is next to the entrance to the hotel bar and there is a photo of Slash with Duff on the wall in the bar that is clearly visable from when you stand at reception. I looked at that very photo and when I looked back, right behind me was Slash in the flesh and I never usually get starstruck anymore, but at that moment I felt ecstatic!

The rumours about Stone Temple Pilots reforming have been circulating for a while and it's true. Scott's last performance with Velvet Revolver was in Amsterdam and I was so pleased to have been there on Tuesday night. I can't wait to see Stone Temple Pilots again after so long. I actually had an encounter with Scott in our hotel just two hours before the show started and him and his friends asked whether I was going to the show. I then had the opportunity to tell Scott that out of all the live photos I've ever taken of so many bands over the past ten years, he is one of my favourites. When I photographed him onstage at Rock City in Nottingham in August 2001 with Stone Temple Pilots, those photos were some of the best I've ever taken.

I got a few of these crap photos of Velvet Revolver onstage at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, but because I only took my small camera, they aren't the usual professional shots. A shame I never managed to arrange a photo pass for the show. That would have been amazing.

Video captures from the show in Amsterdam can be viewed on here:

www.youtube.com/sophiecalifornia