With the high anticipation from the fans, CHTHONIC’s 8th, but the first album in five years, Battles of Aura finally came out. They had a pop-up show on the release day last week (October 10th) at Revolver, a bar nearby Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei. Two days later, they flew to Hokkaido, Japan, to kick off a series of events for their new album. CHTHONIC played their first overseas show, also their first time in Hokkaido, at 1 past midnight on October 13th at No Maps Music Festival in Hokkaido. Because of frontman Freddy’s daily working schedule in the congress, he could only rush to the airport after work in the congress to take the flight from Taipei to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Hokkaido. Although the flight was delayed for half an hour, which really made both the band members and festival crew nervous, fortunately, Freddy arrived at the venue an hour before the show and got on the stage on time.
Right after the tour in Hokkaido, without much rest, CHTHONIC flew to Tokyo to start another series of promotional events including fans meeting at Disk Unkon, a famous record store in Tokyo; for the autograph signing at Tower Records, fans were lining all the way from 7th to 9th floor. Other than fans meeting and autograph signing, the organizer also arranged metal bar cruising and screenings of the documentary of CHTHONIC frontman Freddy’s journey from a rock star to a congressman at four metal bars in Shinjuku Kabukicho. CHTHONIC also did a “tour” to all the four metal bars crowded by fans for photos and autograph signing. Besides, they weren’t only Japanese fans, but also Western fans who happened to be traveling in Tokyo came to meet CHTHONIC.
One of the most special experience to CHTHONIC was that in the fans meeting in Tokyo, a fan from China said that this was his first time going somewhere outside China and also first time had a taste of freedom. Meeting CHTHONIC, one of his favorite idols, he couldn’t help trembling out of excitement. Freddy jokingly commented, “I’m happy for him but also worried about his safety once he’s back to China.”
Other than shows in Japan, is there any possibility CHTHONIC will be touring in the US and Europe in the future? Doris noted that “Because of each members’ own works, we’ll put festival shows in a higher priority and have some solo shows in between festivals. Our booking agent in Europe is also working on it. This might be the most likely way we’ll performance in Europe. All I can say is that this is going to be a rare chance, please take advantage of the opportunity!”
More information about CHTHONIC new album is to be announced. Please tune to CHTHONIC facebook fan page https://www.facebook.com/chthonictw/