The Slants to play at Sakura-Con

Date: 2007 November 29 18:07

Posted by Joe

We've received a press release from The Slants an Asian dance/rock band from Portland, Oregon who will be playing at Sakura-Con 2008 the anime convention in Seattle, Washington state. This will be the 11th annual Sakura-Con and is set to run from March 28th to 30th. With attendance figures of over 10,000 at the 2007 convention, it proves that the convention is popular, and we recommend going to a large anime convention at least once. ^_^

Full Story

Press release as follows:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

SAKURACON ANNOUNCES THE SLANTS AS MUSICAL GUEST FOR 2008 CONVENTION

Seattle, WA – November 20 - Sakuracon is proud to The Slants in addition to their current line of honored guests. The Slants are an Asian dance rock band hailing from Portland, OR who have been sweeping the country playing at another anime conventions, such as Kumoricon and Pacific Media Expo, as well as receiving international press (they are in Shojo Beat's hot list for December 2007). They will be joining the band Ketchup Mania (from Japan). Ketchup Mania has recently been receiving plenty of attention, with their chart-topping "Greetings from Tokyo" song and winning the "Best Japanese Punk Group" award in Shojo Beat's 2007 music issue. Other guests at Sakuracon 2008 include:
Vic Mignogna (voice actor) and Steve Prince (voice actor), with more many to be announced shortly.

Sakuracon offers the unique opportunity for personal face time with each of the guests at their annual Guests Reception dinner. In addition to the concerts, Sakuracon will feature many contests, cosplay, video games, panels, Lolita fashion, and much more!

Sakuracon will be the highlight event of The Slants' West Coast Spring tour, as the convention will be their final performance after several weeks of playing throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. They will be touring in support of their new album, Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts.

Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts represents an emotional journey of growing up as first generation Americans in an Asian family, characterized by stories of the Triad and Yakuza (Asian mafia). Taking pride in their rich cultural traditions, The Slants further distinguish themselves from other artists by layering their image and writing with references to Asian cinema; in particular, the crime genre, paying respects to directors such as John Woo, Johnny To, and Takeshi Kitano.

The Slants are excited to play another convention in the Northwest. Founder and bassist Simon Young says "This is one of the shows that we've been looking forward to playing the most because we'll be able to see many of the friends we made from Kumoricon. We've already had many of our fans write to us, saying that they will be attending Sakuracon just to see us! Also, I think it's great that we'll be able to expose more of our non-anime fans to a whole different dimension of Asian culture."

More information about Sakuracon 2008 can be found at www.sakuracon.org

For information about The Slants, visit www.theslants.com or www.myspace.com/theslants