First things first—plane tickets are fully paid out of pocket by the band. No one else is covering those costs. That means flying economy is the only option, by default. And to save money, layovers are a must. We glue ourselves to Skyscanner, desperately hunting for the cheapest possible route.
On our last Europe tour, we managed to snag a dirt-cheap ticket from Haneda to the Netherlands via China. Sounds like a win—except it required a ridiculous transfer between two different airports within China. During that domestic transfer, Takano got ripped off by a Chinese taxi driver, and somewhere in the chaos, lost his credit card. That’s the kind of experience we never want to go through again.
Let’s keep going. Naturally, when it comes to overseas activities, there’s zero support from our Japanese management—no adults to lean on. But that doesn’t mean we do everything by ourselves when we’re on the ground.
maya ongaku is signed to Guruguru Brain, a label based in the Netherlands. We plan our tours in collaboration with Go-chan, the label boss, and a booking manager introduced to us through him. We’re lucky. In most cases, it’s just the band and a local booking manager handling everything. Some bands go completely solo, organizing entire tours themselves, but that requires an incredible amount of work, fluent English, and real-world business skills. And let’s not forget—a musician’s main job is to make music. Balancing both is no easy feat.
“Booking manager” might be an unfamiliar term. These are the folks who handle everything related to international shows: building tour routes, handling offers, coordinating with venues. It’s a complex job. They meet with the band, discuss ideas, plan the itinerary, secure venues, negotiate fees, and map out the entire journey.
Once we’re on the ground, we also hire a tour manager, who handles driving, communicating with venues, booking hotels, and arranging rental vans. Driving ourselves in unfamiliar countries would be a nightmare—accidents or delays could mean missing shows, so having a tour manager is essential. Since we basically live with this person during the tour, the bond tends to grow deep. That’s actually one of the best parts of touring abroad.
As for instruments and gear, we fly them over with us—just like regular luggage. Most tickets allow two checked bags up to 23kg each, plus one carry-on. For gear-heavy bands like us, we travel light personally—packing our clothes and daily items into a compact carry-on—and use our checked baggage allowance for instruments. We do whatever it takes to avoid excess baggage fees: trimming down gear, combining instruments with duct tape to save on item count—you name it.
We usually arrive at the airport a day or two before the first show. Of course, there’s no one there to greet us. We book a hotel ourselves (or through the tour manager) near the first venue and haul all our equipment to check in. Exhausted from the journey, we collapse onto the hotel bed—or rather, the rock-hard mattress of a budget inn.
On the morning of the first show, the tour manager pulls up in a massive van. That’s when we meet them for the first time. From there, we head to the venue—and that’s when the tour truly begins. (By the way, it’s usually been about a year since we started planning everything. It’s been a long road.)
Once we arrive, it’s straight into soundcheck. We set up all our gear ourselves, of course. Communicating with the local venue’s sound staff in broken English to dial in the sound is tough, but rewarding. Different countries mean different voltages too, and on our last tour, a bunch of our gear got fried. We had to make do with whatever was left. But strangely enough, shows like that often end up being the best ones.
After the show, there’s no time to rest—we rush to the merch booth. Selling merch is a vital source of income on tour (just like in Japan). It’s also the only real chance to connect with overseas fans.
On show days, venues usually provide a place to sleep and something to eat, which is a massive help. That’s why there are rarely any days off on these tours. If you look at an overseas tour poster, you’ll often see something like “25 shows in 30 days.” Taking a break just means spending more money. As long as we’re playing shows, our food and lodging are covered—so we keep going, night after night. For small bands like us, the accommodations are tiny, beds are often shared, and the food is rarely anything like what we’d get in Japan.
Once the final show wraps, we fly back home almost immediately—to save money, of course. It’s usually the day after the last gig. Naturally, we fly economy again, and our exhausted bodies endure another dozen hours of travel.
Starting to feel a bit uneasy about touring abroad?
Well, the scariest part is still ahead.
It’s time to talk about… the money.
maya ongaku US TOUR dates 2025
Apr 08 Seattle, WA, US｜Neumos
Apr 09 Bellingham, WA, US｜The Shakedown
Apr 10 Victoria, BC, Canada｜Wicket Hall
Apr 11 Vancouver, BC, Canada｜The Pearl
Apr 12 Portland, OR, US｜Wonder Ballroom
Apr 14 Chico, CA, US｜Argus Bar + Patio
Apr 15 Oakland, CA, US｜The New Parish
Apr 17 San Luis Obispo, CA, US｜SLO Brew Rock
Apr 18 Jacumba Hot Springs CA, US｜Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel
Apr 19 Los Angeles (LA), CA, US｜Teragram Ballroom
Apr 20 Flagstaff, AZ, US｜Coconino Center for the Arts
Apr 22 Santa Fe, NM, US｜Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery
Apr 23 Oklahoma City, OK, US｜Resonant Head
Apr 24 Austin, TX, US｜APF 25: Kickoff Party
maya ongaku
maya ongaku is a three-piece band formed in 2021 by Tsutomu Sonoda, Ryota Takano, and Shoei Ikeda, hailing from a coastal village near Enoshima, Japan. Rooted in an organic, psychedelic sound that feels both grounded and untethered, their music draws from collective improvisation and the atmosphere of their local music scene.
The band’s name—maya ongaku—is a coined term, not taken from ancient history, but imagined as a landscape beyond the visible frame, hinting at the spiritual and the unseen. The group sees their beginning as a kind of spontaneous emergence—like life arising from non-life—something that simply happened, without pretense or planning.
In May 2023, they released their debut album ‘Approach to Anima’ via Guruguru Brain and Bayon Production, followed by a successful EU/UK tour in November and a domestic tour across Japan in December.
Their latest EP ‘Electronic Phantoms’ was released in August 2024. That same month, they hosted “rhythm echo noise” in collaboration with WWW, inviting Dutch artist Felbm to Tokyo. The band was also named Best Breakthrough Artists at the inaugural TOKYO ALTER MUSIC AWARD 2024, a new platform highlighting emerging voices from Tokyo’s independent scene.
maya ongaku has performed at major Japanese festivals such as Mori, Michi, Ichiba, FFKT, FUJI ROCK, Asagiri JAM, and FUJI & SUN. Internationally, they have appeared at festivals in Korea and China, steadily expanding their presence in Asia and beyond.
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