Hello readers! It’s been a while, but I’m coming back with a brand new collab band project called Chromatic Saints.
Since returning to my faith seriously in 2023, I really wanted to separate from the world and be more dedicated to Jesus’s Kingdom, so I told God that after Japan Festival in August, I won’t play guitar again unless for Him, and I really didn’t plan to play the instrument again. I already did all I wanted to do with it anyways. But then I was called to serve freely at a church plant in the city over, and have been playing there weekly since late January 2024.
Because of my vow and commitment to consecration and sanctification, this blog was also quite stagnant as I stopped listening to secular music and thus had nothing to really write about. But thanks to Japanese Christian music, I was able to find beautiful music that have the Japanese chord progressions I really love, while also supporting my brothers and sisters on the other side of the world.
If you didn’t know, while Japan has the 2nd biggest music industry, due to persecution in the past, the Christian population has always been less than 2%. So while there are bound to be native Christian artists, they don’t really have much of an audience and there’s no one really promoting them. You’re lucky if you could even find lyrics or chord charts as those are usually fan-made.
Additionally, Japan was built on Shinto and Buddhist traditions and is a conformist society, which means the few Christians who live there are either shy about their faith, or maybe persecuted and avoided. Thus, I really wanted to show my support for the artists and help those who could benefit and be ministered by their songs to find them by writing the first comprehensive article compiling all the artists, bands, and collab projects I could find.
Since I was quite new to my church back then and was still learning and getting familiar with their huge song list (over 50 songs) in which I had to find my own chords and/or earn by ear, and then transcribe them into progressions since the key always changes each week to allow us to flow between songs. Before joining, I’ve just been learning chords or tabs to match the song, and relying on memory since the chords and progression of the songs don’t repeat much, if at all. CCM was easier, but playing by ear, changing keys myself, and the song going in any direction was definitely new to me.
I also knew that I would be alone by May as that was when they were planning to move so they can switch to a morning service. They had a consistent keyboardist and drummer at the time, but one left earlier as their job relocated him to another province, and the drummer relied on him for a ride. So for April, which had a couple big events going on, we had a few people fill in.
And then when we moved locations to change service times, I was truly alone as other musicians would have to serve their own churches at that time. The first venue had everything installed already, speakers, monitors, lighting, a drum kit, cameras for live footage etc, but we would have to buy/rent and set up everything ourselves wherever we went. And as the only musician in the church, I had to teach, give input and help a lot on the back end, and then discuss keys and arrangement before church with the singers online. Thus, I really didn’t have the capacity to do much else musically.
But in September 2024, after I felt more established and confident in my role, and we found a keyboardist that looked like she would stay for a while, I felt it was time for me to work on improving my guitar skills. The CCM songs at church were simple, 4-5 chord loops, basic open or barre chords would do the trick, so I’ve gotten quite lazy. I would still prepare and practice seriously for service, but that only took me 10-15 minutes to memorize and be ready. I had nothing to work on otherwise, so I started looking into funk rhythm styles again, and also trying to find songs to cover.
Japanese Rock has always been my fav genre, so I found a few songs in that genre that were in my vocal range. I’ve been playing acoustic and full chords for so long that I kinda miss the simplicity of power chords haha. I initially thought about making my own backing tracks, but I already know FL studio can’t imitate electric guitar well, and the drums wouldn’t have the same power or drive as a real one, so I really considered making a band….just for one day, just for a few covers.
In the past, I didn’t have friends who were musicians, but to my surprise, thanks to my efforts to connect and build real friendships over the years, I actually knew a few Christian musicians already who I thought may be open to this, and they were. More on their stories in a soon coming article.
I already felt like they were doing me a huge favor just coming once, and as adults, everyone is really busy with their own lives, so I made it clear to them that this will be a collab project so they don’t have to worry that committing once means I expect them to come long-term. If they chose to come back, that’d be amazing, but otherwise, I’m excited to work with other musicians and singers in the future to do more covers. The more people, the more possibilities!
So if you’re in Toronto and you’re a Christian musician or a singer (who can sing Japanese) and would love to join Chromatic Saints and assist with this mission to help bring exposure to Japanese Christian music and support both the artists and the Christian community, please reach out to me directly at chromaticdreamers@gmail.com.