UPDATE: Keith is not supporting or not not supporting OCD's version of The Return of Dr. Octagon. This doesn't really confirm or deny the speculation and hearsay below.
I also posted a review of 'The Return of Doctor Octagon.

Kool Keith approached Fanatik J years ago to do an album heavy on the guitars. It was decided that the album would be a sequel to Dr. Octagon titled 'Return of Doctor Octagon'.

Keith and Fanatik needed a label to release it on, so they sent out some early demos and eventually signed with CMH Records (a country label known for bizarre tribute albums).

The contract Keith signed had a clause stating that in addition to the original album they can release some dance remixes (which Keith was against). They tried to get Fanatik to sign a similar contract but he refused all contracts and money - they supposedly even got someone to forge Keith's signature on contracts.

Keith gave them some old vocals to complete his part of the contract.

CMH took the demo Fanatik sent out (without the rights), some material Keith game them and remixed it. Their version of the album is so short (34 minutes), contains so little Keith and has poor vocal quality because they didn't have any proper material to start with.

CMH was meant to release it in 2004 but Fanatik's lawyers were able to stop it.
CHM apparently created OCD Records to release the album and somehow get around legal details.

OCD has this to say:

"Keith brought the lyrics to the table and One Watt Sun worked the production... This album was created with Keith and then Keith jumped ship during the post-production. This was all based on personal issues and has nothing to do with the material on the record. Keith had to hear the record before it was submitted for mass-production. It's in our contracts that Keith had to approve the music... We are hoping that very soon Keith will open up in support of this record, as we still talk to him regularly."

"Kut Master Kurt will be blessing us with a remix shortly in additional support - a move that I'm quite certain that he would not do against his friend's better interest."

So there you go, the whole OCD thing sounds quite dodgy.
The album is on emusic (under label CMH Records) so I'll buy it and give it a good listening to and slagging, then post a review on sardless.com.

Japan
Japan is great, lots of different stuff to see and do.
Not as quirky, busy or expensive as I thought it would be.
There are vending machines everywhere you go selling beer, smokes and food; sometimes in the weirdest places but they are great, most of my money probably went into vending machines trying all the fancy food and delicious beer.
And if the vending machines don't have what you are after there are convenience stores every 10 metres, 7 Eleven, Circle K, Family Mart etc.
The shopkeepers are also very polite, which is a pleasant change from the usual ignoring you or saying 'yeah wot u want?'.
For a Non-English speaking country they have a great range of English movies and music. I picked up the bonus Japanese only edition of Project Polaroid and a brand new copy of Rodans out of print 'Theophany - The Book of Elevations'.
Television is quite different in Japan, the bulk of the shows seem to have some guys in their 60's wearing suites and big black sun glasses discussing various topics with some attractive young ladies. I am not quite sure what they talk about but everyone is laughing and having a great time so it must be quite good.
My only regret is having to leave the Neo-Geo CD there :(

Kyoto
Kyoto is very clean and quite small (1.5 million).
It's best know for its historical buildings such as the infamous Golden Pavilion.
Lots of old temples and that's the bulk of Kyoto, after a few nights in Kyoto I took the bullet train out of there!

Yamanashi
Yamanashi is quite small (200k people), quite rural.
There's still some stuff to do.
I went on the Suntory whiskey tour ("For relaxing times, make it Suntory Time"). The tours very good and well worth the free price - free whiskey glasses and tasting.
Karaoke is also good value, put down 20 bones each and you get a room for 2 hours with unlimited drinks, I was not interested in the Karaoke but the drinks were very drunkening.

Mount Fuji
Going to Mount Fuji was very impressive, not much else to say apart from its quite big.

Tokyo
Tokyo was probably the most exciting place on my trip.
Being a geek I went to Akihabara which is one of the largest shopping areas on Earth for electronic, computer, anime, and otaku goods. They have so much wicked crazy techo stuff.
My favourite store in Akihabara would have to be Super Potato. They seem to have every video game system ever made and cartridges stacked wall to wall. I even got to play a Nintendo Virtual Boy!
I ended up buying a dreamcast and a stack of accessories and games (mostly Street Fighter).
The next best thing in Tokyo was Disneyland, the Space Mountain ride is probably the 6th best thing to ever happen to me.
Lot of futuristic stuff to see and do in Tokyo and wasn't as busy as I though, mind you I didn't get to go to Shibuya, next time!

Singapore
Singapore is great, very clean, quite small and everyone speaks English (of sorts - Singlish).
Every thing is very cheap, clothes, electronics and transport; but beer is very expensive e.g. $14 SD for a 330ml Heineken.
Highlights would be, the massive electronics mall Sim Lim Square, the Night Safari, lunch at Hooters, the river tour boat getting stuck at low tide, the food and seeing a wild monkey in a park.

Now I am back in stinky old Christchurch right in the middle of winter :( :(

One thing you might notice about FanatikJ's site is that he has photos of him and Keith in the studio, where as OCD has nothing.
OCD does not even have Keith in the first singles music video, they just have some guy dressed up who people are meant to assume is Keith.

In other Keith stuff I got an email from IZ-REAL (producer of Mr. Nogatco) the other week saying that they are putting out DVD quality videos of the Nogatco movie for music video shows and are working on a follow up to the Hip Hop Street Credentials documentary.
So keep an eye out for that.

I will be in Japan in a weeks time, so my apologies to any avid readers as there will not be much in the way of updates for 3 weeks.

No doubt it is going to be mental and heaps of fancy stuff to buy and do. Have already ordered some out of print cd's (such as Rodan - Theophany: The Book of Elevations) for pickup on my arival. Hopefully can pick up Japanese releases of Monsta Island Czars, Kaijin and Project Polaroid.

I hope I will not encounter any Godzilla related turbulence...