Thanks so much to Riichiro and Jun for the interview! I wrote some weeks ago about Cleandistortion on the blog, hoping to find out more about this great Japanese band which I wasn’t sure if they were still going or not. Luckily they are, and they are working in new music. To find out more about them, you know what you have to do… continue reading!

++ Hi Riichiro! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Are there any news coming up for the band?

Riichiro: Hi, Roque, thank you so much for the opportunity to do such an interview at this time. I didn’t expect my favorite Cloudberry label to mention the name CLEANDISTORTION.

The band is now rehearsing and working on new songs with new drum support. We’ve been unable to play live due to COVID-19, so I’m really hoping it get resolved soon.

Jun, Vocal and Guitar of CLEANDISTORTION, is also joining this interview so I’m hoping he’ll answer about the band’s activities before I joined.

++ The band is still going on but it feels there has been many pauses. Am I right? Perhaps you all have been involved with other projects?

Riichiro: I think it’s not unreasonable to feel that way. We’ve got our own pace.

All the band members have full-time jobs or are involved in music activities while juggling family and child-rearing so it can’t be helped that the pace of our activities seems to be slow.

As far as cleandistion is concerned, especially around 2009, the drummer moved away from Tokyo for work-related reasons, so we went into a bit of a hiatus from there.

However, I personally continued to work with Hitoshi Oka(Sloppy Joe/Ivory Past) as the guitarist for Sloppy Joe, and I feel fortunate to have been able to play overseas shows like Indietracks (U.K.), BAYBEATS (Singapore) and Madrid Popfest (Spain).

For the past year or two, I and Jun Inoue, the core member of the band, have been thinking of resuming our activities as our child-rearing has calmed down a bit, and it would be nice to take it slow. Last year we had just played a few gigs with drum support.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

Riichiro: It’s been a long time since I heard the first music.Of course, when I was a kid, I loved all the songs that were on the air, especially the ones that hit the charts, and they were played on TV. But the first thing I picked up to listen to music for myself was an FM radio.

I used to listen to all kinds of foreign college chart music and MTV artists from FM radio. Punk, New Wave, New Romantic, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Funk/Soul, etc.

Especially I had a big crush on The Police. STING and Andy Summers are still my heroes. I think the artists I listened to as a teenager (The Smiths, XTC, REM, Aztec camera, Echo & The Bunnymen ,Joy division, New Order) are still in my guitar today.

Jun: The first memory of music goes back to elementary school and those were the Japanese hit charts.

I listened to a lot of Japanese idol groups.

If I take a look at it now, those artists who wrote music for Japanese idol groups  were very familiar to anyone who liked music in Japan, and those artists were very influenced by US/UK rock and pop music and I think you can hear it in my melody too.

As for Western music, I still remember when I was in junior high school, I was blown away by the intro of The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” played on the AM radio.

When I entered high school, I became friends with who had the same taste in music and then I really got into music.

Starting from the 60’s and 70’s soft rock (ex Roger Nichols,5th dimension), The Beatles’ follower bands (ex Pilot, E.L.O, Jigsaw, The Rutles) and singer song writers (I love Todd Rundgren!!!), and in the ’90s, I used to listen to guitar bands like Teenage Fanclub, Oasis, Blur and in the US, Weezer, Posies, Lemonheads, Jellyfish.

++ Had you been in other bands before Cleandistortion? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Riichiro: I had a couple of my own bands in my early twenties, but both of them broke up.

After that, I met Hitoshi Oka and joined “my coffee moment” on guitar. After that, we put out “Beginning To See The Light” 7inch on Firestation label and then we broke up.

After the band broke up, I met Jun, who had come to Tokyo from Osaka at that time, through the introduction of a mutual acquaintance.

Jun: For me, CLEANDISTOTION is the first and the last band.

++ Where were you from originally?

Riichiro: I lived in Kumamoto city until I was 18 years old.

A former member of JOHNNY DEE is also in Kumamoto, which is where THEE WINDLESS GATES is active!

Jun: I was active in Kansai area until I was 28, then I moved to Tokyo and met Riichiro and the others.

++ How was Tokyo at the time of the start of Cleandistortion? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Riichiro: CLEANDISTOTION is a band that was originally formed in Osaka. I’ll let Jun tell the story of those days.

Jun: When I formed the band around ’98 in Osaka, it was a place where punk, hardcore, mixture, heavy metal, blues, garage, 50’s, etc were the mainstream, and there were no bands playing alternative stuff that I liked.

In Osaka, I used to go to Shinsaibashi WAVE and TIMEBOMB for records and CDs.

I went to Shinsaibashi’s Quattro and Tenpozan bayside janie to see some new bands.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Jun: I formed the band when I was a sophomore at art college with ones who I met in the same college music circle, who have same taste in music.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Jun: In the beginning, I was practicing in a school club room with all the equipment and tried to write songs by just copying the people around me.It ended up being a bit like a bad Smashing Pumpkins cherubrock.It didn’t go very well at first.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Jun: I named this band because I wanted to express both the clean pop sounds and the noisy distortion sounds that I was influenced by.

Riichiro: When I first heard it, I thought it was a very straightforward band name, but I thought it was nice to be able to leave various interpretations to the listener.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Jun: The Beatles, weezer, posies, fountains of wayne, matthew sweet, teenage fanclub.

Riichiro: Dinosaur Jr, Blur, The Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer.

++ First release was a song called “Hang Up!” that appeared on a compilation called “Sunshine Pop Show! Vol. 3” on the Sunshinepoplabel. I must say I have never heard of this label. Who were they? Can you tell me a little bit about them?

Jun: You know it well.

The story goes back a little bit before this compilation album.

We had two goals as a band: one was to play live music in a live house, and the other was to be published our band name in the submission section of “American Music”, a magazine which was being published in Japan at that time introducing new pop bands from both domestic and overseas.

I was submitting a song for a while and then one day my name was on it and I got a compliment and that’s when I thought I might be able to release our songs, so I put it out to various places, and as a result, it was sunshinepoplabel that gave it to me for the first time.

To be honest, I’ve never met them in person and didn’t interact with them much before that.

++ I understand that your second release was a song on the compilation “Pop Comes Up!” that Bluebadge released. You would work with this label closely after this. I was wondering how did you know them? Were you friends? Or how did they approach you?

Jun: It all started when I met a band called “spaghetti vabune!” at a live house in Kobe, a city in Kansai area, and became friends with them.

At that time, I made the acquaintance of Mr. Higuma, the label owner who was going to release a music of “Vabune!”.

After meeting a couple of times, he started to like our music, so we decided to put it on the compilation first.

++ How was the relationship with other bands in the label? Did you know them? Share gigs?

Jun: We’ve done a few gigs with spaghetti vabune! that I mentioned about earlier, and we became good friends.

Also, I was a friend with a member of “Caraway” on the same label. They covered our song called “endpaper” in their own release from bluebadge label.

++ Speaking of labels, was there any other labels that were interested in your music?

Jun: Shortly before we had a release from bluebadge label, we had some relationship with a major label for a while, they were looking for new talent, but it didn’t turn out to be the case.

++ In 2004 you released “Teenage Archives” on the Bluebadge label as well. This is a great record, but quite short! Just 6 songs. Why so short?!

Jun: I don’t know, it feels like an eternity to me. All jokes aside, there was actually a full album’s worth of songs, but due to the level of perfection at the time, recording time and budget, I think we ended up with 6 songs as a result. Also, maybe it was risky because we weren’t such a well known band.

++ I also really like the artwork for the CD. Who made it? Was it one of you?

Jun: Thank you, I’m so glad you like it. It was done by a girl in the same art college who liked the band at the time. I asked her for something like if it were a cut from our college life at the time.

By the way, she’s married to a former guitarist of the band and now has a beignet and chicory coffee shop in Nara, so if you ever get a chance to come to Japan after COVID-19 converges, please visit there.

++ Where did you record the songs? How long did it take? Who produced the songs? And most importantly, what did the diet of the band consist during those sessions, beer and what else?!

Jun: We did the whole thing from recording to mastering at a recording studio in a local town for the bluebadge release. The other recordings were basically done in rehearsal studios. We do all the producing ourselves.

Most of the band’s food were come from convenience stores, but afterwards it was a beer party every night.

++ Then there was 2005 CD single with the songs “Sailor” and “Teen Wave”. This one isnt even on Discogs. On the cover there’s a photo of the four members of the band. Care telling me who is who?

Jun: The members on this jacket are from the Kansai era. From the left, Drums  Kenta Kobashi, Guitar Naoya Ookubo, Vocal/guitar Jun Inoue (it’s me! so slender!), Bass Takashi Icikawa, Now they are having their own lives these days.

++ How come you decided to release a CD single? I still remember 2005 and I feel CD singles were quite a rare format by then!

Jun: I’m not sure how I remember it, but I think they probably put it out as part of a promotion before they put out a mini album for 300 yen.

++ Lastly in 2010 there was another release called “One Four Harmony”. This is the one I have the least information. For example, who released it? In what format?

Riichiro: These are the first three songs we recorded after Jun moved to Tokyo. It’s completely self-recorded and I did the track-down, mastering and CD production.

After we started in Tokyo, we played quite number of lives, but we wanted to record our  sound at least for once, no matter what form it took. So we did it ourselves.

But we made it a little before. Actually, I think it’s about 2007-8.

++ Because I’ve been having a bit of trouble finding your releases, are there any more?

Riichiro: I can imagine your struggle to find sound sources and activities. After all, it’s not like there’s a whole record of our archives in one place.

Some of the songs were taken as demos, but unfortunately, after Jun moved to Tokyo, there’s nothing else had released out from our recorded materials.

Jun: When I was in Osaka, I played two songs in clover records’ “pop jingu vol 2”. Two songs, “Wendy’s blues” and “Teenage Green Cracker”. I joined the release event held in Tokyo at that time.

++ And are there more recordings by the band? Unreleased tracks?

Riichiro: There are a lot of unreleased songs for some reason. Some of them had been recorded but not released, and some of them are just live recordings that are posted on Youtube.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Teenage Green Cracker”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Jun: It started when I got this idea of making a song like “Some People Try To Fuck With You” by Teenage fanclub which I liked very much at that time.

Even before that, I liked songs like “you and me song” by the wannadies that blended bossa nova style and guitar pop.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Cleandistortion song, which one would that be and why?

Jun: The style of the work is different depending on the time period.

Before the mini-album, I think the song “Girl Friend” was well done as far as I’m concerned.

It’s more of a guitar pop feel.

Also, I’m loving “endpaper” and “Teen Wave”.

But a few songs we’re rehearsing and working on right now are the ones I like the most, and I’d like everyone to hear them.

Riichiro: I don’t know, I can’t choose just one but I sometimes like songs that we haven’t recorded before.

I really like the songs we’re rehearsing and making right now.

I recorded songs on “One Four Harmony E.P.”  so I have a lot of feelings for them.

I like “wendy’s blues” before I joined the band.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

Jun: I’ve done a lot of that. Recently, I’ve been concentrating more on each and every one of them due to limited opportunities.

Riichiro: Yes, We’ve done a lot of gigs. I’d love to do some recording, but I don’t get the chance.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

Jun: “Carnival Ride” was the most exciting event that we planned and played, having both DJs and bands who’s been good friends with us.

The best thing I’ve done recently was to play in the same live show with “Shortcut Miffy!”, a Japanese band that I respect very much.

Riichiro: Yes, I still remember the events we’ve held. It was a form of a party with DJs and we played with “PLECTRUM” and “BOYCE”. We also had Mr. Higuma, the owner of bluebadge label, as a DJ, so it was a very memorable night!

++ And were there any bad ones?

Jun: There were a lot of them, but I forget all about them when I had drinks.

Riichiro: There’s a lot of that, but those became a part of my fun memory now.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio? TV?

Jun: I love radio and TV, which I’m afraid I didn’t get involved with at all.

Riichiro: No, it didn’t happen at all. It would be interesting if we could be on a show like “top of the pops.”

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

Jun: In the same way.

Riichiro: We’ve never gotten much attention from the press or magazines.

++ What about from fanzines?

Riichiro: When Jun were in Osaka, there were a few things written in fanzines, weren’t there? How’d it go?

Jun: I think we had some of them, but I can’t remember that. Sorry.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Jun: Looking back, I don’t think we’ve accomplished anything yet.

I’m hoping to have some sort of highlight in the future.

Riichiro: I wonder what the highlight will be, I guess it’s just the beginning.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

Jun: Listening to radio shows, drinking beer while watching “STAR TREK”.

Riichiro: It’s nice to be camping. It’s a great feeling to have a drink outdoors, isn’t it?

++ Never been to Tokyo so I’ll take the opportunity to ask a local for any recommendations you’d have? Like sights one shouldn’t miss? Food and drinks one should try?

Jun: If you’re in Shibuya, Tokyo, you can go to “Bar-Edge End”,

If you’re in Kichijoji, I’m sure there’s a party you’ll love at “ichibee”.

Also, if it’s food, I can introduce you to Osaka (Udon, Kushikatsu, Yakiton…).

Riichiro: Have you ever eaten sushi?

If you come to Tokyo, you should eat it!

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Jun: We don’t know where it will come out or what form it will take, but we’re hoping to drop some new works by next year or so.

In Japan, there are good guitar bands (e.g., “Linustate”, “Shortcut Miffy!”, “Softtouch”, “Fishbasket”…) that’s been around for a long time, and they are releasing new songs one after another, so please check them out.

Riichiro: It’s a terrible situation all over the world, but we would like to stay at home and do some kind of creative activity. I can’t wait to make some of our works. So let’s keep stay at home / work from home / play at home / dancing on the inside!

Finally, thank you again for giving us the opportunity to do this kind of interview.

We really enjoyed the interview.

We’ll keep you posted when we release songs.

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Listen
Cleandistortion – Teenage Green Cracker

Thanks so much to Rick for the interview! The Bomb Pops was part of the amazing early 90s Minneapolis scene that spawned so many great bands including the Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, Dearly, The Hang Ups and the classic label Grimsey Records. I was lucky to get in touch with him, and I didn’t want to let pass the opportunity to find out the story behind the band! If you haven’t heard them before try to get hold of the compilation they put out on Grimsey, which included all their songs, “Recommended for Diversion Seekers”!

++ Hi Rick! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

No, for a short time, around 2005-7, I made some electronic and experimental, instrumental music as “Da Crouton.” Everything was hosted on a blog and plans were made for an album. But I’ve tabled that project.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

Until I discovered punk, I couldn’t bring myself to play an instrument. I was a terrible student, couldn’t stand taking directions or the deliberation involved in learning the fundamentals. I loved pop music. Blondie was my favorite band from about age nine. I grew up in the Twin Cities of Minnesota in the 1980s, so I was hearing Husker Du, The Replacements, and similar bands, and also Prince, of course. I loved all of that. At some point, around age 13, I discovered community radio (KFAI, the R&B station KMOJ, and KBEM). The jazz station (KBEM) was run out of a high school in North Minneapolis, and on Friday nights there was a program called “Ready, Steady, Go.” I used to stay up late taping the show and then go into a record store called Platters to try to find out more about what I had heard. I discovered a lot of stuff that way. Probably the first indie-pop record I bought through this process of discovery would be the first Soup Dragons ep on Subway. But I had wide tastes. Eventually, The Smiths and early R.E.M. became very important to me, especially the Smiths. I taught myself to play the drums and that was my instrument. My first band tried to weld together influences ranging from The Velvet Underground, Syd Barrett, and Iggy Pop. I was always the lyricist and lead singer, so I modeled myself after Grant Hart, whom I would eventually meet just after Husker Du broke up. He was a great pop songwriter and wonderful singer. I would return to playing the drums briefly in The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, after the break up of Bomb Pops. But I didn’t have the subtlety to really do what Jim needed. He was a good friend and probably thought he owed it to me to give me a chance, since I had a hand in landing him a recording deal after he thought it was probably over for that band. We had a fun year together. Matt from Dearly was in the band at that time, and we toured. That’s how I first saw cities like Montreal, New York, and New Orleans. I met a bunch of the indie-pop kids in D.C. on that tour, also, including Chip Porter of Veronica Lake and Audrey’s Diary (who released the first Bomb Pops single). But I was a punk drummer. It was doomed to fail! After that tour, I quit music for a long time. I wrote one or two songs, but I had already moved on to other things, so no one’s heard them. My first music memories, though? Prince and The Revolution live in 1984. Husker Du live in 1987. But mostly listening to Blondie records alone in my bedroom, dreaming of New York City in the 70s.

++ Had you been in other bands before the Bomb Pops? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

I never recorded with this first band I mentioned, but we played some gigs in Minneapolis and they were well received. I must have been 16 and 17 when I first played drums local bars. Andrea and Bryan of Bomb Pops were both much more musical. Andrea played cello in a youth orchestra. Bryan was a talented multi-instrumentalist and was learning to record and produce. He could already play the studio by the time he was old enough to drink legally. It’s a wonder he put up with my amateurism. I taught myself the guitar (took just two lessons, with David Becky of The Autumn Leaves).

++ How was Minneapolis at the time of the Bomb Pops? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

I was deeply involved in local music. My older brother played in bands, and we both worked at First Avenue for years. I also worked at the Walker Art Center which, in the late 80s and early 90s, was a typical day job for local musicians. This is a really formative time, but it isn’t focused in any stringent way on one kind of music. I was friendly with Lori from Babes in Toyland and loved that band, also Cows and other nastier-than-grunge music. But most of those people were also into The Chills and stuff that resonates more with the indie-pop scene. In the same year, my two favorite records were Sonic Youth’s Goo and the Sarah Records compilation Shadow Factory (which I still think is that label’s finest moment). I didn’t see any contradictions in liking these extremes, but some around me did and still do. Shortly thereafter, bands like Unrest, Beat Happening, My Bloody Valentine, and a personal favorite (which I knew of but didn’t concentrate on, at first), Felt (already split up). Just before Bomb Pops formed, I discovered The Hang Ups. They were in their last year at the local art school and Brian Tighe, the main songwriter, submitted their first recordings as his senior thesis. This tape made it around and I saw them play. It was exactly what I was looking for. Until this time, Minneapolis music seemed darker, louder, basically more American. But there were people like Brian, Jim Ruiz, John Crozier (of The Funseekers, later Ninian Hawick) who were doing sophisticated but d.i.y. pop music. Dave Beckey’s band The Sedgewicks were towing the same line as the Go Betweens, whom I still adore, and then Dave started a band called Glow, which turned into The Autumn Leaves. It started to look like we had a scene, suddenly.

++ I am still wondering about the Minneapolis scene that spawned such cool bands in the 90s and also the Grimsey label. Were there any bands that for a reason or another, that you remember, didn’t get the attention they deserved? Perhaps bands that didn’t record anything or just some demos?

This is about the time that grunge hit. The bands that gained exposure didn’t sound like us. We remained friendly and received genuine support from the more rockist and punk people. But we were somewhat sidelined. Grimsey was Andrea’s genius. She rescued some of us, made us feel like there was an audience waiting somewhere. Dearly is probably the band that, to me, seemed most promising. From the moment I heard them, I wanted to be in that band. I commissioned recordings, maybe their first, for a one-off fanzine cassette I released. Their Grimsey single was in the same vein, but with the propulsion of a full band and excellent production by Bryan Hannah. They were good live–my band wasn’t. One of their last shows, they had reinvented their sound. It was veering toward power pop, even Mott the Hoople. They played a cover of Wings’ “Silly Love Songs” and it was brilliant. I’m not sure why they dissolved, but I think they could have done much, much more. Matt Gerzma, their songwriter, was extremely talented.

++ And how tight was this scene? Did it feel like a scene?

We’re talking about a small city and a small concern within an already underground music scene. Everybody was in everybody else’s business. It was extremely incestuous. There was a sense of conspiracy. We helped each other discover things, shared influences. Dave Beckey introduced me to Big Star. John Crozier introduced me to The Razorcuts. Jim Ruiz revived my interest in The Style Council and Francoise Hardy. Stephanie Winter and I both loved Blondie and The Apartments. Brian Tighe of the Hang Ups taught me about The Kinks. I was lending out my Sarah and Creation singles to anyone who cared. There were internal dramas of all sorts. There is a collective label now in Minneapolis involving some of the remnants of this scene. It was a perfect context to attempt what we attempted with Bomb Pops. But it wasn’t until the band broke up that there was much infrastructure. Grimsey didn’t exist while we were recording and releasing music. All of our records, until the retrospective of course, came out on far-flung labels in Germany, the UK, and (closer to home) Michigan. We never met the people who did the most to make our music accessible to listeners during the life of the band. So it was also lonely, in a way. We went to raves, rehearsed and wrote, and lived together on and off. But the bulk of the indie scene was out there somewhere, unless you were making very corrosive rock music.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Bryan and I were high school friends. He recorded my first band on a four track. Then we were roommates. That’s when I started writing songs on the guitar and we were playing as a duo, just in our apartment. Brian had just started working at a local studio and found we could use it when there were no bookings. We recorded one weekend, four songs, and I sent out tapes. This produced the “Paler” ep and a compilation appearance of the song “Plastic Toy Gun.” But we had no plans to do anything else a band should do, like perform. Then Andrea, whom we knew briefly in high school, came back into our lives. We invited her over one night with the intention of plying her with gin and tonic and playing her our favorite records. I distinctly recall listening to the Creation Records compilation “Doing It for the Kids” that night. We were persuading her to join us, on bass and/or cello. She said yes. Half of our rehearsals over the next couple of years went like this: eat, drink, listen to records, very little actual playing. I then started writing songs about her, because I had fallen in love with her for the second time. That went well, in fact!

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

We kicked out a roommate and turned his bedroom into a rehearsal space. But that was short lived. We then moved into a shared rehearsal space in an industrial area. We shared it with John Crozier, Jim Ruiz, and the Hang Ups at various times. Paying rent on the space did incentivize us to take rehearsal a bit more seriously. As for writing, I would write chord progressions and lyrics, usually most of the melodies, and a basic arrangement. Then the other two would shave away my worst mistakes and write their parts. Andrea’s bass lines are very inventive. And Bryan was a magnificent lead guitarist–which no other band he’d been in had realized or exploited. The problem was that we didn’t have a drummer. Bryan was a great drummer, but he couldn’t play two instruments at once. So recording was easy–we’d start with he and I playing live together on rhythm guitar and drums, then we’d overdub the rest. Steve Ittner of the Hang Ups played drums with us at our last gig, also our first gig as a four piece.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

There is no story. I thought it was a good name. It was a full sentence if you put an article in front of it; “The bomb pops.” But there was a rock band in Detroit with that name, so we just called it Bomb Pops, after the Boston Pops. Bert Kaempfert and other kitchy 60s artists were never far from our minds.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Felt. That’s obvious. I still adore Lawrence. He’s my idea of a pop star, even and especially because of his famous shortcomings and untenable longings. I think that if you put on the “Pillows and Prayers” compilation and strummed along, you’d accidentally run into most of our songs. There was a strong influence from Manchester: New Order, Smiths, The Fall, Stone Roses, as different as each of these bands is from one another. We had soaked up a lot of that stuff. When I first met Andrea, I was amazed to find her walls covered with New Order posters. We all loved Brix-era Fall. And “Fool’s Gold” was an important record for Bryan and me in the year or two leading up to Bomb Pops, though I don’t think you can hear that in what we were able to produce together.

++ Your first release was the superb “Paler” 7″ on Audrey’s Diary. This Michigan label release many classic US bands from the 90s. How did you end up signing with them and did you ever meet in person?

I think I already mentioned that I met Chip after the demise of Bomb Pops, when I was playing with Jim Ruiz. There was a whole gang in Washington D.C. The zine Chickfactor was there. I had a copy of the Black Tambourine single “Throw Aggi off the Bridge” and I thought it was brilliant. So Audrey’s Diary was among a small handful of labels we sent our first recordings to, including Sarah, Bus Stop, and Slumberland.

++ Something exciting, that is not common these days, is that this 7″ was actually repressed. How many copies were made in the first run and in the second? Who pick the burgundy color for the repress? Yourselves?

The burgundy vinyl was the first pressing. I don’t know how many were pressed nor how many were sold. We made a mock up for the artwork and Chip mercifully improved on our efforts. But I remember specifying the color scheme. So though the color was our demand, we certainly didn’t expect him to press on colored vinyl.

++ Your next 7″ was released in Germany by A Turntable Friend! How did you end up all the way there? Did you mailed them a demo? How did it work out?

We mailed our second set of recordings to a slightly broader clutch of labels. We had a phone call from Germany one day claiming “Girl Daredevil” and “Riverside.” The very next day the phone rang and it was Bus Stop Records, also seeking to release “Girl Daredevil.” We gave them “Won’t Find It” instead, which they heard as the B side. We then went in to record “Decal,” which ended up being the B side.

++ This 2nd 7″, “Girl Daredevil”, had the artwork credited to the Tree of Heaven. I believe they did also some art for the Jim Ruiz Group. Who were they?

They were one guy, a friend who worked with me at the Walker Art Center, Dave Lofquist. He was a record collector and dj. He also had a keen design sense. He civilized me a little, which was no small task. Many others did their part, but his example alone was formative. Then we ended up in a love triangle and I don’t think I ever saw him again, after that imploded. I don’t know where he is now, but he was so talented. I love his work on those Jim Ruiz Group records.

++ Lastly, the 3rd 7″ was released on another classic label, Bus Stop Label. One thing I wonder about this record, is where was the photo of the band taken that is on the back of the sleeve?

It was taken at the base of a very old water tower on top of a hill in a Minneapolis park, near a lake. That narrows it down to about a hundred possible locations. The photo was taken with an antique camera by a friend of Andrea’s. The color scheme was based on an outift I really loved and wore regularly: a vintage football sweater in purple with faded lime green jeans. I think I lent Andrea the shirt she is wearing in that photo. It was a windy autumn afternoon, as you can see from Bryan’s flowing hair. We had about a month or two before the band would break up. It’s among the last happy moments we spent together as a trio, that photo shoot.

++ Of course, after talking about these classic American 90s labels, would you have liked to release in any other ones? American or not?

We had some plans to record. I wanted to do a four song covers ep while we worked on writing a full length album. Bus Stop records was lined up to do the album. But I thought we could interest Slumberland or maybe K Records in the covers ep. Two songs we briefly rehearsed for this were “Souvenir” by OMD and “Double Negative” by The Subway Sect. The only song we finished for the album began with this prophetic couplet: “These are the best laid plans / and they’re falling from my hands.” It was about not having strength enough to play my guitar properly.

++ 5 years after the 3rd 7″, Grimsey Records put together a compilation called “Recommended for Diversion Seekers”, a must have for any indiepop fans. Are these all the recordings the band made? Or are there more unreleased recordings by the band?

The only unreleased recordings were demos. The only worthy demo recording was a less washed out version of Riverside, instrumental. I think if we’d have built on that foundation, and added a bridge, maybe helped the lyrics along a little, it could have been great. But the compilation represents everything Bomb Pops finished.

++ I was checking out on Discogs the compilations you have appeared and one that caught my attention was the one on a tape called “Firefly 2” that was a tape that came with the fanzine “Burning the Midnight Firefly” by Keith D’Arcy. I feel I am much more familiar with UK indiepop fanzines, but there were some pretty good ones in the US. Were you involved in that scene at all? Do you remember appearing on other zines?

We were interviewed for a fanzine called Luddite. Also Chip interviewed us for his zine, but we were drunk and belligerent that day and we were embarrassed that he printed it. I think I contributed something to Chickfactor at some point. But that’s it. I released my own fanzine, called “Let Us Be Nice to You.” I read fanzines a good deal for a couple of years. But I wasn’t too deeply involved in the indie-pop fanzine world, not for long. But now I work in publishing, so it wasn’t all for nothing.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Girl Daredevil”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

This song was a weird way of trying to seduce my bass player. It was a little like an ultimatum. It probably simply means that I don’t care if this band has to break up; I just want us to stay together. The chord progression was Bryan’s. It’s the only Bomb Pops song for which I didn’t write the rhythm guitar part. It’s clearly the best thing we ever did. I’m very proud of the melody. I still remember coming home with a cassette of the rhythm tracks, which we recorded, Bryan and me, while Andrea was out of town. We had this tape for a couple of weeks, waiting for her to return and finish it with us. In that time, I wrote half the bass line, feeling impatient. We played that tape constantly, because until we heard it, still unfinished, it wasn’t clear that it was any good. But when the final pass at the chord progression comes in, that giant, compressed cymbal crash, the whole thing just opens wide. You could already hear that with just two guitar tracks and the drums, nothing else.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Bomb Pops, which one would that be and why?

My favorite Bomb Pop is the one I married. My favorite Bomb Pops song is probably “Love Me Nots.” If we’d shrunk it down to two and a half minutes and changed the key so that my voice sounded decent,  it could have been an indie hit. John Crozier plays electric piano on it. It deserved more than we gave it, despite his very thoughtful contribution.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

We played four, the first of which was the release party for my zine in a local record store called Let It Be. A great store. My proudest moment performing with Bomb pops was when we covered “Peace Pipe” by The Shadows. This song was made for us. When we launched into it, there was exactly one person in the club (The Seventh Street Entry) who was likely to recognize it. That person was Jim Ruiz. And he gasped so loudly it was audible from the stage.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

The most memorable was not the best. It was a show I played solo during the Bomb Pops’ brief existence. I played a song we never recorded and also a Television Personalities song (I can’t remember which, though I know it’s on their Painted Word album). Then Matt from Dearly and John Crozier joined me to play “Dreamabout” by The Poppyheads. This was in a coffee shop in Dinkytown, a neighborhood near the university. All of the local pop scene were there and everyone was very kind. I was in a bad way and I think it was obvious that I was sick at the time. People cheered and treated me with care. It was very therapeutic, personally. That night I felt it was important to survive, which was not a steady sentiment in my world back then.

++ And were there any bad ones?

The first one was awful because I had a new hair cut that I was unhappy with. I also dropped my pick several times during the first song. I had only one pick. I think you are supposed to have a whole line of them taped to your microphone stand, aren’t you? Not me!

++ When and why did the Bomb Pops stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

Bomb Pops broke up when the friendships within the band hit some turbulence that we were too young to handle. I think if we had a fourth member or had more money or were more confident on stage, things might have continued. I would have continued, I know. But I was tired, also. I wanted to continue to write, but I also wanted to read more. I read for a couple of years after the end of the band, before finally pursuing a doctorate in literature. This was something I could do alone. And that felt necessary, being alone, for a while at least. I contributed to the Ninian Hawick ep on Grimsey in, I think, 1998. And then there was Da Crouton, which received some positive feedback but played itself out by 2008.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Bryan remains involved in music, primarily on the production side of things. Andrea works in the music business, and of course she ran Grimsey. They are both successful and brilliant people. I hope they take enormous pride in what they do, because what they do is impressive and improves our world. I love them both.

++ Has there been any Bomb Pops reunion?

We ate a meal together once. No one has sought us out, unfortunately!

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

None that I know of.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

A guy who ran a label called OXO in Minneapolis at the time–his band was called Smut–wrote a glowing review of the “Paler” ep in the local paper. That was the first and only mainstream press we received until the compilation came out years later. Someone in Toronto wrote a nice review of the compilation. But by then, other Grimsey releases had far outshined anything we had ever done.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Possibly that first night of gin and tonics, before we lost our innocence by trying to play live. Another possibility is playing “Goodnight, Now” in one take at four in the morning, the same recording that made it to the record. I don’t think we thought of ourselves as a band yet then, though. It was the gin and tonic that transformed us into a band.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I have been involved with small press publishing since 1998 and fight very hard for my authors. I also like to play go to baseball games with my daughter.

++ Never been to Minneapolis so wondering if I can ask a local for any recommendations you might have? Like sights one shouldn’t miss? Food and drinks one should try?

I have lived in Chicago for a long time now and left Minneapolis for good in 1996. But if you should ever go, you must get breakfast at Al’s in Dinkytown. Then walk around a lake and imagine there is no way out except to walk into the water and drown. That’s how it was back then. No wonder I left!

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

I found you by searching for extant copies of Dearly’s first cassette, more or less out of idle curiosity. I love that you profess your appreciation for their music. And I love that you remain committed to indie-pop. I don’t listen to it much anymore, but it was a hugely compelling force for me at one time. It gave me my first successes in life, and I mean that literally. But it is so often belittled, as a genre. Those who made this music, who still make it, who stand by it, all deserve a fond salute. So here is mine, to you! Thank you, Roque. I wish you the best!

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Listen
Bomb Pops – Girl Daredevil

Thanks so much to Zack, Dan and John for the interview! I wrote about Rebecca Fishpond in early November and immediately got in touch with the band. That was super cool! This very obscure but wonderful SE London band was around the late 80s and even though didn’t release any records left a bunch of great songs! If you’ve never heard them before, you must do so before the year ends! Sit back and enjoy!

++ Hi Zack, Dan and John! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Zack: Hi Roque, all is grand! Yes, I’m still busy making music with my band Mystery Tapes and also as a solo performer. I’m also planning to write some new stuff with my long-time pals from my old bands The Kildares and Rebecca Fishpond again which is something I’m very excited about. Music is in my blood and I try to make a point of doing something musical every day in my home studio. Some folks play music for a period and then quit to do something else but that’s not me. I have no inclination to stop anytime soon as I feel that I’m still improving. Plus I still get a real buzz from recording and performing.

Dan: I still doodle about with music. Acoustic guitar mainly, but haven’t performed live since 2010.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

Zack: My first music memory is sitting on the stairs at my Uncle Hendrick’s house in Singapore watching him jam out some cheesy, seventies easy-listening hits with his covers band – Freddie Fender’s Before The Next Teardrop Falls, some Jose Feliciano stuff, that sort of thing. My first instrument was a flute. I had a few lessons at school but the flute got the better of me. I was hopeless at it and ended up losing the damn thing at school, much to my parent’s annoyance. At home growing up in the seventies, it was mainly the hits of the day that was being played – Leo Sayer, Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, Bad Company and a fair bit of disco.

Dan: I was brought up around Welsh choir music but was also in love with pop music from an early age. Probably started off listening to Buddy Holly’s Greatest Hits and Johnny Cash’s Greatest Hits courtesy of my parents. Then top 40 pop music.Went through a stage of listening to heavy rock from about aged 10 to early teens, then rock music, chart music, and ‘indie chart’ music by my late teens. Learned piano for a couple of years around the age of 9. Also learned cornet for a bit at primary school. Started learning guitar aged 17.

John: I remember my parents having Irish records, the Dubliners, Val Doonican- compilations of 60’s hits with Lilly the Pink on.  My mum would sing hits from when she was younger and my dad would whistle a lot but not tunes I recognised.  The first record I bought was the first Fun Boy 3 album.  I didn’t get pocket money so wasn’t an early consumer.  I remember stuff like Yazoo, Bronski Beat, Culture Club- gender ambivalence- making an impression on me on Top of the Pops.  I remember Ghost Town and Cure songs but also Angel in the Centrefold and Kim Wilde singing Kids in America.  In the Scouts, my leaders were big Queen fans and I remember doing a review where I was in platforms as the bass player miming to some song.  For me though they weren’t earthy, Queen weren’t and I remember being influenced by criticism of them for playing Sun City under apartheid..  I remember being impressed when what looked like super cool kids in the local park, wearing bondage trousers, asked me the time and I remember kids coming to school dressed as rude boys. I had piano lessons with Mr Ham, maybe while I was still in primary school, but I lacked inspiration, which Mr Ham didn’t provide, and I just pretended to practise until he told my mum I wasn’t learning anything.  Once I sent a ‘jingle’ into a Saturday Superstore competition- just me singing onto a cassette- ‘Saturday morning and I’m feeling bored, I turn on Saturday Superstore, maybe if I’m lucky one day I’ll see, a message in the tellygrams just for me’; nothing came of it.

++ Had you been in other bands before Rebecca Fishpond? What about the rest of the members? I read that some of you were in The Kildares, right?

Zack: Before the Fishponds, I formed The Kildares with a few pals whilst studying in the UK – in Oswestry, Shropshire, out in the sticks. We were a school band that played all originals, mainly written by me with my repertoire of bad poetry and five or six open guitar chords, really basic stuff. I was inspired to form a band by The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy and the C-86 scene that was happening at the time. I was also heavily into David Bowie, The Smiths and Postcard bands like Aztec Camera and Orange Juice but they seemed like musical gods to me, virtuosos that were way out of reach for mere mortals like myself. I had missed out on punk and was slightly too young to get into the post-punk scene so when the C-86 thing came along, it was as if a light turned on in my head. I felt that it was something that I could get myself involved in and I wanted a piece of the action so bad. To travel around making cheap records, playing gigs, drinking beer and meeting girls, that seemed infinitely more preferable than going to college, university or worst, full-time employment. None of us could play our instruments worth a damn but technical expertise didn’t seem to matter that much with bands like The Pastels and The Shop Assistants, or so we thought back then. They sounded as raw and untutored as we did which gave us a real boost, like, if they can make records with stand-up drums and gnarly, out of tune sounding guitars and get on John Peel, so can we. The folly of youth eh?

Dan: Yeah I was in the Kildares from aged 17. Zack Yusof and Andrew Richardson were also in the Kildares.

John: I wasn’t in any bands before or after.  Always had a frustrated itch to write songs and then maybe have them heard.  Had a guitar for decades but never left the launch pad but have written a couple of dozen blinders that languish in my head.

++ Where were you from originally?

Zack: I was born in Singapore. My family relocated to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia when I was five or six and then when I was 11, we packed up and moved over to the UK, settling in Orpington, Kent. Currently, I live in Perth, Western Australia with my wife, son, cat and dog.

Dan: I was born in Walsall, West Midlands, then brought up in North Wales, near Oswestry, where the Kildares formed.

John: I grew up in Bristol.

++ Whereabouts in SE London was Rebecca Fishpond based? Were there any bands in the area that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Zack: The Fishponds were based in South East London; Lewisham first, which wasn’t nearly as gentrified back then as it is now, and then Blackheath which was much posher and prettier. There was nothing really appealing about Lewisham back then, apart from the cheap rent and quaint, quiet pubs, which attracted some interesting arty types, our type of people. I can’t remember any decent local record stores though. Buying cool records back then meant having to go into the city to the Rough Trade shop or Sister Ray in Soho. But even though Lewisham was a bit of a dump, we were only a short bus ride away from Goldsmiths College in New Cross – that wonderful English art institution where the likes of Blur and Damien Hirst attended and first cut their teeth as artists – which was very handy when it came to meeting pretty female students and buying cheap drinks at student prices during uni disco nights. In New Cross, there were places like The Goldsmiths Tavern, The Dewdrop pub and The Venue, cool, slightly ramshackle hangouts where we could get glammed up in our indie finery, drink cheap booze and meet like-minded souls. Through hanging out at those places, we became tight with some of the best local bands in the area like Laverne and Shirley (who are still going strong now as Spearmint), The Desirables and A Colourful Mess. With those bands, it felt like we had our own little cool South East London scene happening. Our friend Mike Meniro and his pal Alison ran a great regular indie night at Goldsmiths Tavern and they gave us some of our first gigs there. That place was like our CBGB’s. Mike was our first supporter with any sort of clout (he ran his own club night and booked some of our favourite bands to play there) and he used to blast our demo through the club’s PA after gigs which was a fabulous ego boost. I have a hazy memory of us supporting The James Dean Driving Experience there at one of our earliest shows. Great times.

Dan: We were based in Lewisham, S.E. London.

John: Az was living in Blackheath with his brother when I met him, before Dan and Richie moved to London- I was living on the Old Kent Road.  Mostly our stomping ground was New Cross where there was Goldmsiths University and the Goldsmiths Tavern where the promoter took a liking to use and put us on supporting the Inspiral Carpets amongst others.  He also started running gigs at the Venue in New Cross, a bigger venue, and put us on there and he put a word in with the guys at the Falcon in Camden so we got gigs there.  I remember mates’ bands, Laverne and Shirley- we were signed by guys who managed the Beloved who were relatively big news but we never met them.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Zack: The Kildares broke up when I left school up in Oswestry and headed down to London to embark on a new musical adventure. My plan was to get a serious band together and really go for it or end up in rehab trying. To that end, I began studying the musician wanted ads in the Melody Maker every week until I eventually met John Sheehy, who looked drop dead cool in a sixties, Velvet Underground kind of way and who had a really nice, gentle way about him. The fact that he could sing, write great lyrics and was thoroughly committed to the cause was a bonus. To make up the rest of the band, I drafted in my old Kildares brothers Dan Rowlands and Andrew Richardson who, to my utter amazement and delight, were just as keen to put higher education on hold indefinitely in order to chase that rock dream of ours. Every band needs a drummer, especially one with a big red van, and when John brought his pal Lar to beat the skins aggressively and drive us around, the Fishponds line up was complete.

Dan: As mentioned three members of Rebecca Fishpond had been in the Kildares. Zack had hooked up with vocalist John in London, and drummer Lar was a friend of John’s

John: I met Az through an ad in Melody Maker or one of the music papers.  We made a demo.  Dan and Rich, who’d done stuff with Az/ Zack at school in Oswestry, came to London to be in the band.  I knew Lar, he was a neighbour, he played drums.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

Zack: After about a year, maybe more, Richy left the band for reasons I can’t quite remember now and was replaced by our good pal Mr Toby Carter on bass, a naturally gifted musician, witty raconteur and sporter of the finest mane of hair this side of Lee Green. Tobe was so talented and so funny, it made us all collectively up our game.

Dan: Yeah Toby Carter became the bass player when Andrew left.

John: My memory is Rich left and Toby Carter took over on bass.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Zack: One of the things I loved about us was the way everyone would chip in with ideas for songs. People in the band either wrote songs on their own or with others. Personally, I loved writing with John as much as I did writing on my own and I really loved the songs Richy wrote with John too. John was really great in the way that he wouldn’t never object to singing our lyrics even though he was hands down the best lyricist in the band. Dan contributed some great finished songs too, as did Richy. We were a real band in the sense that everyone had a go at writing and weighed in with ideas, either musically or lyrically. There were no egos in the way of getting the songs done. After months of schlepping around dodgy rented practice rooms in Deptford or New Cross, our managers Angie and Robert eventually sorted us out a practice room in Camberwell which we shared with a band called Spin who went on to become Gene. Remember them?

Dan: Mainly jamming I would say. My recollection is that lyrically and musically it was pretty collaborative. I guess I’m talking about once the group was up and running on the live circuit. We used to rehearse in rented rehearsal rooms in various S.E. London locations.

John: Initially, Az had a bunch of songs ready and I had a few lyrics and melodies that he and I bashed into the songs on the first demo.  I couldn’t play anything- just had lyrics and melodies.  When the others got involved, the vibe changed a bit.  Dan wrote stuff and worked on it with Az I think.  Maybe it started to pull in different directions from early on.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Dan: I think John and Zack came up with the name or maybe just John. Fishponds is an area of Bristol where John had previously lived as I recall.

John: My memory is it was my idea- Fishponds is an area of Bristol where I grew up as a child.  Rebecca was just a girl’s name- at the time, to me, it sounded like a posh name.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Zack: Our influences were quite diverse. I was heavily into early Primal Scream and that My Bloody Valentine record Isn’t Anything and was trying to push the band into that direction with the material i was bringing into the band, a heavier, more shoegazey type of sound. I still really love that record. John was into sixties stuff like Love and The Velvet Underground as I recall and Dan was very partial to the rockier side of indie, things like House of Love’s Destroy The Heart. We loved the sound of guitars in the Fishponds and most things with a good melody. We weren’t too snobby about our tastes. We started out jangly and then got heavier as time progressed.

Dan: Influences wise I guess there were loads…Anything from the Marine Girls to Dinosaur Jr I guess would be one way of putting it. I guess we loved guitars. Acoustic guitars, electric guitars, amplified guitars. Distorted amplified guitars. Me, Zack and Andrew used to mess around covering U2 tracks and stuff sometimes, but live performance-wise it was original material only.

John: I guess we started sounding jangly then, influenced by stuff around, moved to sound a bit heavier.

++ I know you recorded a 5-track demo tape. Where was it recorded? How many days were you in the recording studio? Was it your first time in one? Any anecdotes that you can share?

Zack: That first five track demo, the one that really kicked everything off for us, was recorded over the course of a single day in Enfield, Middlesex at a studio called In The Pink Recordings. Five songs in a single day seems incredible now but that’s how we did it back in those days. It wasn’t my first time in a professional studio as a couple weeks previously, I had booked a half day in another studio somewhere to lay down some songs that John, whom I’d just met a couple of weeks previously, supplied lyrics to, just to show John that I wasn’t bullshitting when I said that I could make songs out of his poems. So Enfield was actually my second time in a professional studio and John’s first. I can’t recall why we chose that studio in Enfield as we had never been to that part of the world prior to the session or anytime since. That session, I remember being quite nervous and tense to begin with but also very prepared. I knew what I wanted to do in the studio and worked hard to prepare accordingly. I played all the instruments, John sang and I worked out the drum machine programming with the engineer. The engineer was cold and unfriendly to begin with as he had us pegged as a couple of clueless kids. As the session progressed, he warmed up to John and I and ended up laying down an amazing Roddy Frame-esque acoustic guitar solo in one take on the last song of the session, a tune called All I Ever Wanted. That demo has stood the test of time to my ears which is quite incredible considering how little time we spent making it.

Dan: Zack and John got together the initial 5 track demo but it had a track on it that I had written called “Tell me when it’s twelve”.

John: Az and I recorded it in a day in a small studio in someone’s house in Enfield- a place we’d found in the music press small ads.  I think Az and the Oswestry boys might’ve been in the studio before- they had some recordings from before London & Rebecca Fishpond.  For me it was the first time in a studio but it was relaxed, just three people in someone’s spare room.  I remember being on a train platform with AZ on a cold, bright day.  Felt quite different from the Elephant and Castle and Old Kent Road, areas of London I knew that were more inner city- Enfield was more open and green- I think we could see either the Alexandra Palace or Crystal Palace transmitter aerial from the station.  Az seemed to have in his head what he wanted.  He played guitar and bass and guided the engineer guy how to set the drum machine.  The engineer I think put on some guitar and keyboards.  I sang two or three songs and backing vocals.  Did I contribute some tambourine too?

++ Aside from these 5 songs I know there are two more songs, “Revolved” and “Bought and Sold” that were properly recorded. Was there a second demo tape? Or what’s the story behind these songs?

Zack: Revolved and Bought and Sold, we recorded at Meantime Studios in Deptford. Those two songs were the sound of the band moving away from our old jangly thing into harder territory. Bought and Sold was Dan’s tune. Revolved, I wrote with John. I can’t remember much about how that song came about but I do remember buying a cheap, secondhand fuzzbox to use on the track. That pedal was so noisy, it practically played itself. The session was paid for by our managers Angie and Robert who ran a company called Orange. Orange also paid for another session in a posh 24 track studio where we re-recorded two tracks – Laugh and Always In A Dream – for a possible seven inch single release. We also did another studio session where we recorded another two tracks – Dream On and Two Ways To Die – but those tapes seem to have vanished.

Dan: Yeah that was the second demo tape I think. John’s lyric to “Revolved” still sounds a winner…”Bought and Sold” was my lyric. The music was probably a collaboration. I’m on vocals in “Bought and Sold” too – Smiths / Morrissey falsetto influence at the end and all…

Vocal craft is tricky. I guess you gotta tell the story your own way, not Morrissey (or Sinatra’s) way. Ha ha. I guess lyrically Bought and Sold is not a bad music industry analogy.

John: The former was a song I wrote with Az, the latter was Dan’s song.  I think we did a couple of versions before the managers spent for a proper studio.  The sound was getting rockier.  The former is about being unsure in the world and aged about 20 years old, about it being like that everyday, about a feeling of life?  Dan’s song, I remember was more about heartbreak.

++ And then I found yet another song but played live, “Two Ways to Die”.  Was this track recorded in a studio too?

Dan: Yeah it was. Not sure whether any one’s got a copy of that demo though.

John: My memory is that this was written and sung by Dan.  I don’t remember if we recorded it.

++ In total, how many songs did you have in your repertoire? Did you play any covers?

Zack: We had about 20, 25 songs in total and several others which never made it beyond the demo stage. We played all originals.

Dan: Hard to put a figure on the number of songs. I guess between 10 and 20. Original material only.

John: We didn’t do any covers.  Did we maybe have 15 or 20 songs?

++ Is it true that there was a chance to end up releasing in Sarah Records?

Zack: Not too sure about that but I wholly support the rumour being perpetuated decades down the line! I did get a lovely rejection letter from Matt from Sarah one time though, when the Kildares were still going. How I wish I still had that letter!

Dan: Not that I know of personally but I think the Kildares sent a demo tape to Sarah Records.

John: Not that I’m aware of.  My sense is we were on the tail end of that but Az was big into that stuff at the beginning?

++ Was there any interest from other labels?

Zack: There was talk of a seven inch single being put out through a new label that our friend Mike was going to set up but i have no idea if that came to fruition or not. Martin from The Flatmates who ran The Subway Organisation label really liked Always In A Dream from our Enfield demo but not the other tracks on the tape. He wrote to me and said that if we had three of four other songs just like Always In A Dream, then we had a deal. We didn’t so nothing happened.

Dan: We had professional management and at one point there was talk of a single deal with Creation Records.

John: The people who took us on to manage, they would’ve been aiming for that.  I don’t think there was anything concrete before the fabric started to come asunder.

++ Why do you think your songs never ended up on a record? Not even on a compilation, right?

Zack: I really have no idea why we didn’t end up on a record or a compilation. The songs were certainly good enough to be put out for mass consumption I felt.

Dan: The group did do a 24 track studio demo, which hopefully one day might surface, but no record deals were sealed back in the day.

John: I don’t think we achieved that level of profile or traction before we went our separate ways.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “All I Ever Wanted”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Zack: All I Ever Wanted, if I recall correctly, was a bit of a throwaway tune that John and I bashed out just before heading into the studio in Enfield. We never played it live to my knowledge. Musically, I was going for a summery, Orange Juice kind of thing and wrote the bulk of it on the bass. I thought John mentioning Cocteau and Rousseau on the track was a nice touch.

Dan: That track is a Zack and John collaboration as far as I am aware.

John: This was a song I did with Az in his bedroom early on and it’s on that 5 track initial demo.  I remember the line, maybe, ‘all I ever wanted was someone to hold’.  I think in my mind it was like one of those Velvet Underground songs sung by Moe Tucker, like ‘I’m sticking with you’- just a simple song with simple lyrics, almost like a list song.  My memory was that it was pretty vapid but funny now listening to it after literally decades, the thing about wishing I had something profound to say is still here so maybe it was true.  This is the song that the engineer put guitar on top of I think, what Az called Echo and the Bunnymen guitar.  Did it feel like a filler?  I don’t think we played it live.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Rebecca Fishpond song, which one would that be and why?

Zack: I still have a soft spot for Laugh. I like the way the song has no chorus, just a bunch of verses, and I really love John’s vocals on the track. It was the first song I wrote that made me think that maybe I could make a go of being a proper full-time musician.

Dan: I would probably say “Always in a Dream”. It kind of feels like a signature tune of sorts, to the group as a whole.

John: It’s difficult for me to stand back from but the favourite for me is ‘beauty’.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

Zack: We played a fair few shows, mainly around London and a couple out of town. I remember moaning to the guys a lot at the time about how we should gig more. I always wanted to play.

Dan: Can’t recall exactly how many gigs but a fair few round the S.E.London gig circuit.

John: Did we gig for about 2 years?  Did we play 20 gigs?  I don’t know.  I know we played our first gig in Oswestry or Shewsbury, because the Oswestry lads knew people there.  We played once in a university to the north of London- then we played in London, New Cross, the Elephant, Camden.  I remember we played in a pub around Old Street once.  I guess we were building a circuit of London venues that would put us on, trying to up our profile.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

Zack: Apparently we supported Jesse Garon and The Desperados at The Camden Falcon but I can’t remember anything about that at all, which is a shame because I was a huge fan of that band. The gig did happen though because I saw the flyer for it! I once stupidly left my bag of guitar pedals at a show in Stoke Newington which almost ruined the band for me. My guitar sound completely changed after that show to a more stripped down thing. Not by design I have to add although that was the vibe that I told people I was going for!

Dan: There was a pub in New Cross called the Amersham Arms where we played more than one show which went down well with the punters. I saw an old flyer recently for a gig we did with Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes at the Falcon pub in Camden but I can’t remember it! Zack said he couldn’t either… Ha Ha.  Some of the gigs were at venues I can’t recall the names of. I remember some good nights playing at Goldsmiths Tavern in New Cross, and also the Union Tavern in Camberwell.

John: I remember playing the Venue in New Cross- that was the biggest place we played and we used to go out there regularly as punters, so it was super cool to play there and I remember seeing Radiohead there about the same time (although they already had ‘creep’ on the radio).  One thing that sticks in my memory is we got a rider for the 1^st time and I got very drunk. The Falcon in Camden was always a cool place to play and the Goldsmiths Tavern felt a bit like our home ground.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Dan: I don’t recall any that were too bad. Occasional sound issues I guess which could be frustrating.

John: I don’t recall any bad ones.  I remember being freaked out before the first gig in Shropshire and probably having my back to the audience the whole gig.

++ When and why did Rebecca Fishpond stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

Zack: The band just naturally ran its course in 1990 or 1991. We were very young and everyone ended up wanting to do different things. When a band loses sight of its common goal, that’s when the fun stops. After The Fishponds, I set up a band called Release. I also played in a band called Fast Boyfriends who are still going strong now. I moved back to Asia at the tail end of the nineties and formed a band called Free Deserters which lasted for a decade. We put out several records and did a fair bit of touring around the region. After Deserters, I started Mystery Tapes which is still my main gig today. I also perform solo and deejay a bit.

Dan: I don’t really recall specifically why the band split. We were all pretty young. I was the singer in a band called Open Up with Toby Carter after Rebecca Fishpond, then between ‘97 and ‘03 I was in a band called Emergency Exit in Manchester.

John: I went to Norwich to do an English degree in 1993 and did a year access course before that so we must have stopped by 1992.  I think we weren’t that tightknit and there were pulls in different directions.  I did a few songs with Richie, in the kitchen, with Az putting some guitar on.  I wrote things over the years and always had an unscratched itch but not enough momentum to go beyond that.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Dan: Zack has been in a few bands that I know of. The Fast Boyfriends, Free Deserters, and Mystery Tapes. Mystery Tapes is his current band as far as I know. Toby Carter went on to be in the London band UK States, and is still involved with music.

John: Sounds like Az always has and I hear Dan has been doing stuff.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

Zack: No radio play that I know of. John Peel, he really missed a trick there.

John: I don’t’ think we had anything the radio could play really- no single.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

Zack: We got a lovely review from the now defunct Sounds music paper once which was very exciting as we all devoured the music press back then. This was during the heyday of the British music press, when the UK had three music papers coming out weekly. Incredible stuff.

Dan: At one of the gigs at the Union Tavern in Camberwell which I mentioned, we got reviewed by Sounds. The review said we had “blistering potential”.

John: We got a live review in the Melody Maker, in a pub between Camberwell and the Oval.  I think Angie, one of our managers, pulled a string with some press buddies.  That was exciting though.  Still got the cutting bookmarking somewhere.

++ What about from fanzines?

John: Don’t’ think so.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Zack: For me, the best part of being in the Fishponds was making music and living the band life with my musical brothers. We were a tight-knit band and the fact that we are all still friends today proves that. There were many things that, in retrospect, we should have done differently for the sake of our career but life is too short to have regrets.

Dan: I’d say one highlight would be some of the quality tracks in the catalogue. That, and the great friendship and camaraderie in and around the group.

John: I remember weird ego rub of having our photos taken around Camberwell one time.  The MM review was a buzz.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

Zack: Music is a full-time hobby for me. I barely have time for anything else. Apart from playing music, I also host a radio show called 33rpm which broadcasts out of Kuala Lumpur on the station BFM 89.9. The show is in its tenth year now which is amazing. I’m also starting up a new blog called Analog Vs Digital which will be focussing on guitar pedals, music gear, that kind of geeky stuff.

Dan: I like movies a lot, and am trying to increase the amount I read and write. Writing wise I’m currently just journaling / diary keeping for my own amusement. I still dabble with lyrics / poetry sometimes.

John: I’m 52 years old now, I think.  I have recently started piano classes which is a delight so far.  I have two school aged kids (who I’m getting to listen to the Everly Brothers), a wife and a full-time social worker job.  I try to swim once a week and I commute on my bike.  I like telly, an occasional beer in the pub and if I get to see a thoughtful grown-up film (I don’t mean XXX) that’s good.  I have learnt to make a reasonable pizza this last year

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Zack: I think it’s fantastic that our music has managed to endure after all these years. The fact that people are still aware of our little band in places like Asia, the US, Japan and continental Europe is a source of great pleasure and pride to me. Not bad for a bunch of lads from Lewisham! Thanks for keeping the flame alive. Salut!

Dan: Just thanks for the interview. It’s been a pleasure.

John: Gosh.  It was all a long time ago and only a brief thing, and I’ve done lots of other things which were also influential but Rebecca Fishpond was a fun, memorable time.  Who knows, with some different breaks, who knows how it might’ve gone.

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Listen
Rebecca Fishpond – All I Ever Wanted

Thanks so so much to Rowan Smith for this interview! The MacGuffins were an amazing Melbourne band from the late 80s, and I’ve been a fan since the first time I heard two songs of them almost a decade ago. I wrote a post about them of course, and about the songs “Rich Together” and “Dirty Ol Life”. These two songs were released as a 7″ and I thought for a long time these were the only recordings they did. But no, that’s not the case. There’s more! So here comes some very good news, we are working now on a Cloudberry Cake Kitchen compilation to be released next year! Very exciting. And of course, you want to know more about the MacGuffins, sit back and enjoy this interview. Let Rowan tell you the story here!

++ Hi Rowan! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Hi Roque, thank you for this opportunity. I’m doing well and yes, still making music. Working away on what will be my seventh album.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

My father was a gifted pianist who played ‘by ear’, meaning he could hear a tune and play it without any written music. When I was an infant, he’d sit me on his knee at the piano, with my small hands on top of his. I learned music this way. It was a gift he passed on to me that I cherish, also as he died all too soon when I was seven years old. But from that beginning, I could play music ‘by ear’. I still own and play my father’s piano.

My family were church-going folk and hymns and gospel music was what I was exposed to early on. Also where I first saw a drum kit, which was ‘instant love’. Turned out my father’s brother was a drummer and together they’d been quite the band in their time. He taught me his chops. Picking up my sister’s acoustic guitar came quite naturally. We were a very musical family in all, with a devoted mother, who after my father died became even more involved with running the church youth group my parents had nurtured together. At one point Mum even hired an Air Force concert band member to write charts and be our conductor. Hugh led our little youth band once a week, with rehearsals in our lounge room. My sisters Glenda on trumpet, Lynette on clarinet and other members on trumpet and clarinet trombone, flute, and me up the back (the younger brother) on a little red drum kit which was my first treasured instrument. It was quite old and my eldest sister Roselyn’s boyfriend (husband now) had helped paint this kit secretly in the shed, ahead of my ninth birthday.

The first ‘secular music’ I really remember hearing was when a Grade Four teacher invited us to, “Rest your head on your desk, class. I’m going to play you a record called ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’, by Rick Wakeman.” Hearing this just blew my mind!

++ Had you been in other bands before the MacGuffins? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Underground Lovers’ Glenn Bennie and Vince Giarusso attended the same high school as I did. Glenn and I became good friends following high school and during our first years of university; Glenn at Melbourne Uni studying Drama and myself at Swinburne studying Graphic Design. We started jamming together on weekends, Glenn playing guitar and me on drums. Then Glenn put together our first band with Vince, singing. We were called Wildworld. Cesare Bertuzzi was on drums and I was playing keyboard. Our first gigs were at house parties which went well and soon we were playing some of the music pubs on Brunswick Street, Melbourne.

At some point I wanted to express more than this role, and started to explore writing my own songs.

Michael Wilkins and Michael Paxton were in a band together before MacGuffins; I can’t remember the name – and more on that later.

++ Where were you from originally?

We were all from Melbourne, Australia.

++ How was Melbourne at the time of MacGuffins? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

The Melbourne music scene in the late eighties and early nineties was absolutely vibrant, especially for independent music, earning the ‘music city’ reputation that lives on today. Pubs and clubs with bands playing every night of the week stretched from Brunswick and Collingwood to Richmond and St Kilda. There were many great Melbourne bands and artists, some already quite famous such as Hunters and Collectors, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Paul Kelly, Joe Camilleri and the Black Sorrows, Stephen Cummings… Glenn Bennie introduced me to Essendon Airport, members of which went on to form, I’m Talking.

MacGuffins’ peers were bands such as Sea Stories, The Killjoys, Ripe, Captain Cocoa; we played together often.

Naturally, there were many great record stores too, and still are. The ones I frequented most were Gaslight, Mighty Music Machine, Readings and Greville Records.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Through peripheral circles I’d learned about a fantastic rhythm section across town, Michael Wilkins and Michael Paxton (on drums and bass respectively) that as word had it, might have been interested in forming a new band. I met up with them semi-secretly after one of their band rehearsals. I remember arriving early at the rendezvous point and sitting outside the hall listening to the drums and bass coming through the solid brick walls and thinking, “These guys are really good!” I ultimately played them a couple of my rough demos recorded into a Fostex X-15 Multitracker I’d purchased; I had a little Korg Poly-800 keyboard, recorded my guitar in ‘DI’ and vocal ideas. To their credit and my surprise they agreed to start rehearsing as a new band.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

Philippa Nihill was a friend of Michael Wilkins from university and joined the band as backing singer and keyboard. When Philippa left the group, Gina Hearnden (playing with Billy Baxter and the Hollowmen at the time) joined us for our tour of Sydney, along with Neil Brennan playing keys and extra vocals. Lastly, Kim Hellier joined for a while, again for backing vocals and keyboard. Philippa of course went on to join Underground Lovers.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Once MacGuffins got underway I was writing songs all the time. The feeling of firstly playing together as we rehearsed, then to an appreciative and growing audience was simply infectious; so I was writing prolifically and when something felt presentable-enough to me, I’d take this idea along and we would road test it together at rehearsals – once a week and twice or more towards a show. We were very hard working, rehearsing and working on the songs. It was a really tight bond.

There were some great rehearsal rooms across Melbourne. We were mainly between either the Jam Hut in Preston (we also did some recording in a studio there) and another great room called Troy’s in South Melbourne. Troy’s had three large rooms and often one of these would be locked out for a week or two with a big band preparing for a tour. I recall Crowded House was there and I think Midnight Oil another time. We were regulars at both these rehearsal studios and they were great times. We’d set up and run through the songs or go round on a new idea if it seemed to be working. We’d take a break midway through the session and go out for pizza and the odd video game, then return and nail what we’d been working on before. One crazy story, late one night in winter and we were leaning against Michael Paxton’s Holden Kingswood station-wagon having a final cigarette and chat. It was after midnight and frost has covered all of Michael’s windscreen and windows – so that we hadn’t seen the figure inside the car who suddenly tried to turn over the engine. The car lurched forward a little with the three of us leaning with our backs against it. This surprised us as much as we did the would-be thief, who, clearly stoned, must have dozed off at the wheel having broken into the car and now trying to somehow make off in it. The culprit then fell out of the driver’s door onto the cobblestone alleyway, lurched up and was gone into the night. Having momentarily stood back to assess the situation – expletives flying – we checked over Michael’s car which was otherwise ok.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Film student Michael Wilkins gave us the fantastic name, MacGuffins. He knew it from Alfred Hitchcock’s description of a plot device that the filmmaker loved for building suspense in a movie; an adjunct thread to the main story. Hitchcock once said, “A MacGuffin is a trap for catching lions in Scotland.” Angus McPhail, the British screenwriter who worked with Hitchcock is credited with coining the word. Our only instrumental in the set, Angus, was named in his honour.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

There were comparisons with the Go Betweens and The Smiths and both were big influences, definitely. Also that first Crowded House album was a favourite in the years before we formed. A Sydney review of the ‘Rich Together’ single mentioned Prefab Sprout, which I had to look up. I was also really into Orange Juice after Glenn Bennie had introduced me. Having found the love and platform for songwriting I was also listening a lot in those days to Bob Dylan, and I remember hearing Leonard Cohen’s, ‘Tower of Song’ late one night on radio and the next day purchasing the album, ‘I’m your Man’. Like many, LC has been a favourite of mine ever since. In those years, for me it was a crash course in these and songwriter artists like Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson’s ‘Love & Mercy’ album and (Beach Boys) ‘Pet Sounds’; Willie Nelson (‘Stardust’ remains my favourite all-time album); Johnny Cash; Peter Gabriel; Kirsty MacColl’s, ‘Kite’ was another that wore out the repeat button on my CD player, as did Suzanne Vega’s debut album. Michael Wilkins introduced us to XTC’s Oranges and Lemons (more oranges). And Glenn kept introducing me to other new music. Thomas Dolby, early Split Enz, OMD, The Reels, Los Lobos… he was always playing me new things.

++ Your first demo caught some attention like the one of Rondor Music (Universal) and manager Linda Gebar who helped you bill many good gigs in Melbourne. Was wondering about this demo tape. What songs were on it? When and where was it recorded?

We made three really good quality demo tapes, released at gigs on cassette.

The first, in 1987 and which I don’t have anymore (but hope there’s a copy out there somewhere) contained three tracks, ‘Down on the ground’, ‘A skip in your step’ and ‘Red Bouquet’.

The second cassette listing was, ‘A Simple Arrangement’, ‘Rhyme about Reason, ‘Men and Women’ and ‘Earnest’. This was the demo that Linda Gebar circulated, getting us on the bill around Melbourne. And that Michael Wilkins mailed to a few places and that Graham Thompson at Rondor heard, subsequently wanting to sign us.

The third cassette in 1989 contained, ‘Maybe not Tonight’, ‘Italian Wedding’, ‘Rich Together’, ‘Angry Words’, ‘I can’t stop my heart’ and ‘Relying on your love’. This tape was put together to shop around labels and ultimately signaled the ‘waiting’ period where we were listening to advice from Graham (at music publisher, Rondor) and also from a music lawyer, which I’ll explain later on.

Tapes One and Two were recorded at Michael Wilkins’ house in Collingwood, each time over a long weekend. Michael and Michael were great engineers and really knowledgeable about what gear to hire, which microphones to place where and so on, not to mention the recording and bouncing down process. We’d hire a Tascam or Fostex tape machine and set everything up at Michael’s house on Saturday, play everything through and record on the Sunday, and mix and bounce down on Monday. As was noted recently about the surprising quality of these cassette tapes, “Of course, it’s all been recorded on analogue tape!”

Linda Gebar, our first manager, saw us at an RMIT Battle of the Bands and approached us afterwards. It was our first gig.

++ You only released one 7″ in your time, the amazing “Rich Together” single. And of course I have a few questions about it! First, where was the photo from the front cover taken?

The photo was taken by a professional photographer friend of mine, Gary Moore who had the studio, the backdrop, the lighting. Thanks Gary!

++ This single came out on a label I’ve never heard before. Who were DEX? How was your relationship with them?

Dex were (and still are) a Melbourne-based production and distribution house, not a label and so a great option while we were waiting for something to happen between the conversations with Graham Thompson at Rondor Music Publishing in Sydney and Melbourne music lawyer, Phil Dwyer. Graham wanted to sign us, and Phil was advising to wait until he got us a record deal. In that space we self-financed the single and Dex were great with distributing it.

++ On it you got Glenn Bennie from the Underground Lovers to play guitar. What did he bring to the table and had you collaborated with him in other occasions?

Glenn brought along his signature guitar sound – and any song is better for that. We were and still are great friends. Also I can’t really play lead, or even rock really! My playing was described as jangly guitar, also ‘warm and fuzzy’. Glenn also guested with us on stage at the Melbourne Music Day at the showgrounds in 1988. This was the forerunner to the Big Day Out which came next.

++ Both songs on the 7″ were recorded at Sing Sing in 1988. How was that experience? How long did it take? Did it go smoothly? Any anecdotes you could share?

We’d probably booked it for as cheap we could. Two days, two songs. Some Hammond overdubs on the B-side, as Sing Sing had an awesome Hammond B3 organ and Leslie cabinet. It was a great experience together as a band and then fun having Glenn come in. Actually the other thing I remember, Michael’s Wilkins and Paxton both smoked rollies (rolled up cigarettes) every chance, whereas I’d never touched a cigarette in my life before hanging around rehearsal rooms and studios with these two smoking constantly. Now suddenly I’m on the Red pack Stuyvesant’s! (I was able to give them up a couple of years’ later.)

++ And how come there were no more releases? Why no album?

Michael Paxton quit the band. That was it. One day he announced he was sick of waiting. Never occurred to continue without him; in fact it would have just felt impossible at the time because he and Michael Wilkins were inseparable anyhow.

++ Though I saw now that there were many recordings that are now available on the web in two volumes of “lost tapes”. Were they really lost? And where do these songs come from? Different demo tapes?

They were lost to me. I’d thrown everything away. True Story.

I’d moved interstate to Hobart after the end of my second band, Barefoot and recording of my first solo album too. I was in need of a fresh start for many reasons. And with a new young family as well, I was headed in a new direction.

We’ve talked earlier about Glenn Bennie and I being great friends? Well, in his generous and always unassuming way, Glenn had posted me a copy of the Underground Lovers fourth and seminal album, Rushall Station. I can vividly remember hearing that record for the first time. I was in our living room in Hobart. In the corner of the room was a really nice Ludwig drum kit – that hadn’t been played in quite some time. (I’d been lucky to purchase this from I’m Talking’s drummer, Cameron Newman, before leaving Melbourne. Cameron initially loaned me the kit for making my solo album but when it came time to return it, he offered it for sale.)

This had been a dream kit for me, a Ludwig! But now it sat there, shipped interstate but not played for many months; symbolic to me of the music I wasn’t creating or playing.

And of course Rushall Station is such an incredible record. (Recently re-released and widely celebrated on vinyl.) So I was in the audio aura of that record. Perhaps understandably, or not, I felt like ‘Mozart’s Salieri’, comparing myself to my high school buddy. No, buddies.

Shortly afterwards I sold the drum kit, had a big cleanout and along with other remnants from the move, the MacGuffins tapes ended up on the South Hobart tip.

Fast forward through a lifetime now in Tasmania, wonderful adult children, a further three solo albums under my belt, and a conversation last May on my front porch. With Glenn Bennie.

“Can I ask your advice, Glenn? I mean, I’m tinkering away in the (home) studio, and it never leaves you does it… but I’m at the point where working away on the next Rowan Smith release just feels a bit, well, pointless. What would you do if you were me?”

Glenn said, “I think you should look back at MacGuffins. You guys were great and part of the scene and I think you might be surprised who’d be interested.”

So I did. And the second person to be interested, was me. It was so strange, hearing MacGuffins objectively after all this time. I thought, “We really had something!”

So I have Glenn to thank for the MacGuffins catalogue now being online, and ultimately available for this amazing CD compilation, thank you, Roque.

And because these tapes – which have now been remastered and digitised – are courtesy of my mother and sisters having kept copies – thank you to my family.

Tape One is, for now, still lost. But I’ll take two out of three! These tapes, including many other tracks which ultimately didn’t make the cassette listings are the two volumes now available as ‘The Lost Tapes’ Volumes 1 and 2.

++ Are there more recordings by the band? Unreleased songs?

Just Tape One. If anyone out there has it, or knows someone who might do? Please let us know and I’d be very grateful.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Rich Together”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Phew! I’m glad that’s on vinyl, then 🙂 I love cafes. I love walking into a cafe, taking in the vibe and sitting back. I love the ambience. I’m addicted to coffee. I love the cacophony of sounds, music playing, the drone of multiple conversations. ‘People watching’ too, I guess. With regards to the song, things like the ‘magazine stand’, and ‘the ring where my coffee had been, it was fading into the laminex’ would have come through observations in real time. And then I’m an eternal romantic so there would have been a yearning or a question or a happiness with my lot in love at the time. And the preoccupation with having or not having any money – I’ve worked for myself now forever. At that time I loved reading about the post-impressionist painters. Their attitude, struggles and (when it came) celebrations, I found so visceral. So perhaps this sums up being ‘Rich Together’.

++ If you were to choose your favorite MacGuffins song, which one would that be and why?

At the moment there are two. ‘Men and Women’ because it really captures the essence of what MacGuffins was about; Paxton’s growling bass, Wilkins’ big steady time and hits, Philippa’s drone note keyboard and my jangly guitar and warbling about over the top. This was one of those ‘Go Betweens’ comparisons but an esteemed compliment really and also conjures place and time, now.

The other is ‘Angry Words’ (aka ‘If I could only afford what you want’ – another money theme!). I think this one is the closest to rock, or is it blues, that we get – and gives a hint as to why we went over well, live.

++ Your first gig was at a “Battle of the Bands” competition. How did that work out? Is it more stressful to play a competition gig compared to a “regular” gig?

It was our first outing live. So yes, lots of nerves and I spent my lunch hour that day walking around a Melbourne park singing the songs out loud to myself, to get used to the idea and also being so worried I’d forget the words. Actually, because the night was so well run by RMIT (the university), with great production, P.A. and fold back wedges and so on – also the fact we were so tight from months of rehearsing – the playing was really great fun. We placed second, to Ripe. But we met the best manager in Linda Gebar.

++ What about other gigs that you remember? Did you play many? 

We ended up playing relatively a lot over our four years together. A standout was our residency at the Evelyn Hotel in Brunswick Street. It was one of the best gigs in town and we had Friday nights – for a month! The line to get in got longer down the street each week, and the room was packed. It was the best.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

There’s many great recollections. A New Year’s Eve at The Tote. We played this night with a band called Young Dub. They were amazing and I really thought they’d go places, but can’t find anything about them now. Underground Lovers played their first gig with us at the Corner Hotel. And Frente played a very early show with us at the Cricketers Arms. There’s a great review of a double bill we played with Sea Stories at the Queens Arms Hotel. They were a great band and the most lovely people. We played a few shows with them – I think that might have been Linda managing us both.

++ And were there any bad ones?

I did use alcohol a bit back then; Dutch courage. One night at the Evelyn I fell backwards into the drum kit.

++ When and why did MacGuffins stop making music? You were involved in Barefoot afterwards, right? How different would you say were these bands?

After Michael Paxton quit, ending the band, I had a long talk with Graham Thompson at Rondor. Graham had wanted to sign me for publishing all along; he remains one of my biggest fans and a friend today. Graham’s commitment was still there. I signed with Rondor and Graham produced some early demos in Sydney and our first EP in Melbourne featuring luminary musicians Peter Luscomb, Bruce Haymes, Michel Rose, Ben Butler and Mark Punch.

I also went about advertising for a new live band. Aside from Kim, who stayed on, first to join what became the band, Barefoot, was guitarist Tim Prince. Tim had answered my ad and attended the day of auditions I’d set up at Troy rehearsal studio. He’d previously been playing and touring with Archie Roach. Tim soon became my good friend and wingman in everything Barefoot, including managing the tours. Barefoot ended up a six piece and we had some great times, including an east coast tour of Australia as our single, ‘Baby you got in the way’ made the Triple j Hottest 100 in 1993, on high rotation that summer. Journalist Jeff Jenkins was travelling with us for part of that tour. One night as we left the Sydney hotel and piled into the minivan for the gig, Russell Jeffrey, our drummer was driving and as soon as he turned the ignition we heard the first bars of ‘Baby’ on the radio. Jeff commented, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

Other Barefoot members were, Steve Lindsay (keyboards) and Mark Bernsons (bass). Towards this line up, Pete Poumbourios and Rosie Westbrook had also played bass and Sean Condon, drums.

++ And had you been in other bands too?

Just Wildworld, as mentioned earlier. (And earlier, that concert band!) In 2010 I was honoured to play a part in Glenn’s live band for the third GB3 album, Damaged/Controlled GBS/Steve Kilbey. This ‘supergroup’ was Glenn Bennie and Maurice Argiro (Underground Lovers) guitar and bass respectively, Steve Kilbey (The Church) vocals, Philippa Nihill (Underground Lovers) vocals, Ricky Maymi (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) guitar, Robert Tickner (Conway Savage) guitar and melodica, Andrew Nunns (The black Heart Death Cult/USER) drums, and myself on keyboards.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Michael Wilkins went on to some other bands. Michael Paxton didn’t play in any other bands. And of course Philippa is a star now, in the Underground Lovers.

++ Has there been any MacGuffins reunions?

There hasn’t been any conversation for that in the past. But I am open to it happening. I’m just glad firstly – and very recently – being back in touch with both Michael Wilkins and Michael Paxton. They’ve loved hearing the songs again and seeing the material online. Philippa and I have been friends since MacGuffins, and Pip was a very special guest on both my album project Sirens in 2009 and then its debut performance during the Tasmanian Festival of Voices, in 2013.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

The ‘Rich Together’ single was very well supported by independent radio in Melbourne (3RRR and 3PBS) and Sydney (Triple j). Also some of the songs off the cassette tapes were played during various interviews and so on. It’s been great to hear MacGuffins on air again recently as the tapes are being released digitally and there’s new interest for the band.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

Yes, there were some very supportive reviews of our live shows and single reviews.

++ What about from fanzines?

I think these came later – and by then we were disbanded. I certainly moved on; firstly totally focused on Barefoot and the Rondor Publishing years, and later my solo projects which have generally taken several years each time.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

It might just be mid 1989 when things were really taking off. We were incredibly tight together as a band, on-stage and off. The Evelyn Hotel in Brunswick Street, Melbourne, was one of the happening venues – and on Friday night the room was absolutely packed. And we were given a month’s residency; there was a line up the street to get in.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I have always juggled my passion for music and bands with a job in communication design. So it’s ‘bands and brands’ a lot of my time, as I’ve also worked for myself for many years. My other passions are St Kilda Football Club (Australian Rules) and swimming laps which keeps me physically and mentally grounded. I also love movies and any time spent with my partner Rachel, and my grown, son and daughter – they’re both so awesome.

++ Never been to Melbourne, nor to Australia. So I will ask for some recommendations. If  I was to visit your city what shouldn’t I miss? What are your favourite sights? And any particular food or drinks that you think one shouldn’t miss?

I’d say land in Melbourne then come visit me in Hobart, Tasmania; the little island underneath the mainland of Australia. Having been lucky-enough to come to New York in the past, I’ve since said my ideal would be time spent between the ‘Big Apple’ of New York and ‘little apple’ of Tasmania. Here we have a very livable capital city of only 350,000 people, set in the midst of wilderness and that has taken off culturally over the past decade to now being the envy of other mainland states. Or come in winter and we’ll meet in Melbourne and go to an Australian Rules football game. In Australia we’ll argue forever whether the cultural hub is Melbourne or Sydney (bit like an East Coast, West Coast rivalry?). Food-wise, other than Vegemite which I still think holds a fascination abroad, food has become food everywhere hasn’t it? But here (if you like seafood) we will serve you ‘prawns’ not ‘shrimp’, if we’re really lucky ‘crayfish’, not ‘lobster’ and certainly in Tasmania we do have some of the best fresh produce in the world. And if you’re game we’ll serve you kangaroo or wallaby; these are simply leaner red meats than beef or lamb; plenty of those on the menu too. And Australian beers and world-renowned wines are always worth your sampling.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you Roque, for these great questions allowing me to further reflect and share about the MacGuffins. And for producing this CD compilation! It’s been the best thing discovering new fans of the band all these years later. I’m very grateful.

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Listen
Macguffins – Rich Together

I wrote about the German band Viola Crayfish some months ago. And guess what, I got in touch with them! And what’s even better they were up to answering my questions! So why not discover this terrific indiepop band from the Bremen area who didn’t release any proper records but left a handful of very strong songs!

++ Hi Lars, Folker and Bernd! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Lars: Thank you for having us. I am fine and still making music.

Folker: I play guitar on my own, and also as a teacher in special educa1on with handicapped pupils. 1-2 1mes a year i teach a friend of mine guitar tricks in song playing (not in a commercial way).

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

Lars: We had to learn “Blockflöte”, a flute maybe you call it “recorder”. I was talentless. My Mother was always listening to radio and I figured out that some songs are better than others.
The best radio station in Western Germany was BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service), in the early eighties they played all the hits from UK. When I was older I realised they had John Peel later in the evening.
I became a fan of Queen when I was 12 and bought a final record 1982. They lead me to Sparks, David Bowie and Roxy Music.

Folker: I played a wooden flute as a kid, later i started playing on a classical guitar. Luckily my guitar teacher was never interested in classical playing. He teached me to understand chords and melodies. Not only in Theory of musical harmonies, also in an emo1onal way.

Bernd: That’s an easy one. I first and foremost listened to what my brother listened to, no thinking needed. The few times I bought my own stuff, it was on the embarrassing schmaltzy side. Probably all about melodies, I rarely listen to lyrics. Still a habit today, hence I like Greek and Hawaiian music. Just sounds great and soothing.

++ Had you been in other bands before Viola Crayfish? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

++ Where were you from originally, the Oldenburg area?

++ How was your town at the time of Viola Crayfish? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

++ And there has been a few lineup changes through the years, right? Why?

Bernd: I moved away, first inside Germany then abroad. So I was replaced with a machine I guess which as probably for the better anyway…

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name?

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

++ Do you have say, like a top 5 German bands? Maybe some obscure ones that you played with perhaps that could recommend me?

++ Something that caught my attention was that you didn’t release anything back in the 80s. Why was that? Was there no interest from labels? No money?

++ I am aware of at least one demo tape, one called “Nordsee”. But are there any other demo tapes? If so, care listing them for me?

Folker: I think the tape was called “Viola Crayfish”, but I dont remember well…

++ I got introduced to your music through the 1989 compilation “Diamonds and Porcupines”. How did you end up on it? How was your relationship with the Beat All the Tambourines label?

++ Then you appeared on the latest compilation of Firestation Records featuring bands from the late 80s, early 90s in Germany. On the small bio it mentions that at some point you decided to start writing songs in German. What made you take that decision? Did you stop singing in English? Or was it a mix of both?

++ On Discogs I found about a 2011 CD called “Far Out”. How was this one available? And are these newer songs? What can you tell me about this release?

++ On Soundcloud there are even more unreleased songs by the band. I was wondering if there are any plans at some point to make them all of them available in some way?

++ My favourite song so far, maybe because it is the first I ever heard, is “Love is More than Weather”. Was wondering if you could tell me the story behind it?

++ If you were to choose your favorite Viola Crayfish song, which one would that be and why?

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? All over Germany?

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

++ And were there any bad ones?

++ When and why did Viola Crayfish stop making music? Or you never stopped? I see that you’ve played at least up to 2008 or so?

++ And had you been involved in any other bands aside from Viola Crayfish?

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

++ What about from fanzines?

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Bernd: If you think about now, in hindsight, the highlight was actually finding the time to practice every week or more often, develop the ideas and songs, and just have fun with it. At time it was about playing in front of people. Nerve wrecking and exciting in equal measures. We once played in a staircase for a true fan’s birthday bash. You can’t make it up.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

++ So I will ask for some recommendations. If  I was to visit your town and area what shouldn’t I miss? What are your favourite sights? And any particular food or drinks that you think one shouldn’t miss?

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

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Listen
Love Minus Zero – Fade Away

Thanks so much again to Satori and Ishida for the interview! I interviewed them not too long ago about the superb Japanese band Daffodil-19 and today it is time to interview them about their first band, the legendary Penny Arcade! The band reissued all of their songs from previous releases and unreleased not long ago on a CD on Kilikilivilla Records called “A Girl from Penny Arcade” which is a must for any indiepop lover in the world! Classic, timeless, songs abound on it. If you have never heard them, this is a perfect time to do so!

++ Hi Satori and Ishida-kun! Thanks again for another interview! This time we’ll talk about your first band, Penny Arcade! But it was your first band? Or had you had any other band adventures before?

Hello again, Roque, and thanks for your interest in Penny Arcade. Penny was my first band to play our original songs.

++ We talked last time of Daffodil-19 and now I am curious how would you compare each band? What was similar and what was different in the way the band functioned?

Both are amateur bands.  I was a college student when we started Penny, so we had nothing but time. We were young and naive, too.
With Daffodils, we all have full time jobs, so everything is time constraints.

++ I don’t know if I am right or wrong with what I’ll say, but the first time I heard Penny Arcade I couldn’t tell it was a Japanese band. It sounded like a British or American band to me. Even the vocals, it was hard to find a Japanese accent. What do you think of this view of mine? 

We had no Japanese bands we wanted to be alike.
As for the accent, I spent 3 years of my childhood in the suburb of Philadelphia, so that explains..

++ Who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Buzzcocks, Magazine, Joy Division, Jazz Butcher, Cocteau Twins, Young Marble Giants, Girls at our best!, Pale Fountains, Eyeless in Gaza, Bauhaus, Velvet Underground, Wedding Present , Red Lorry Yellow Lorry , Echo & the Bunnymen, A Certain Ratio, Felt, WIRE, Jesus & Mary Chain, The Monochrome Set, Swell Maps, This Heat, The Chameleons, Gang Of Four, Sad Lovers & Giants

++ I also could dare to say that you were the first proper indiepop (or neo-aco) band in Japan. Or at least among the first. What impact did it cause? Was there a big fanbase at the time for this sort of music? Was there support from venues, radio or press?

There was no word “indiepop”, at the time, and we were quite different from what people expect with “neo-aco”.  So I doubt we had any impact on anything.

There were no fanbase, no scene, just a small circle of friends, but we influenced each other a lot.  And they were the only ones, who supported us.

The biggest support was from “eikoku ongaku”, a fanzine ran by Asako Koide, my college mate.

++ You told me last time about other bands you’ve been in, but what about the rest of members of Penny Arcade? What other bands they had played in?

Sotomura-san (drummer) played in various bands, when we met, he was in Grimm Grimms (not Grimm Grimm), and Anna Karina, both psychedelic bands.

As for Ishida-kun, we explained in the Daffodil-19 interview, so will skip that.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Ishida-kun and I met at Aztec Camera’s first Japan tour in 1985.  Later that year, he made a compilation tape for his friends’ bands (including Bachelors, Monkey Dance Club, etc). It was something he did it for fun (he said it was an imaginary label, but it today’s term, you could call it a self-release on an independent label).   And there was a release party on the Christmas Day. Everyone who attended this party had to do something on stage. Singing, dancing, magic etc… I teamed up with Ishida-kun (guitar), Saito-kun (bass) and with rhythm box, we were an instant band, and called ourselves Penny Arcade.  Since we had no skill to do covers, we wrote several songs on our own.

Next spring, we restarted as a band.  Saito-kun left, so asked Eko-chan (Eko Hatakeyama) to join us.  (She used to play the bass in the Bauhaus cover band with me!)

I guess we recruited Sasaki-kun (our first drummer), right after our first gig.  He was in a band called Paint Box (not Paintbox).

++ Were there any lineup changes?

Sasaki-kun was with us for about a year, and after he left, Sotomura-san joined.  His drums were so powerful, we became louder (and wilder).

Karino-san (acoustic/electric guitar) joined as the final piece.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

At Penny, each member wrote their own part.  For example, Ishida-kun would come up with chord progressions or riffs, and we all wrote our parts.

For me, I wrote lyrics and vocal part that comes with it.  (I never thought it was a melody)

It took time and interactions, but it was natural for us.

We practiced at rental studios (like most of other bands in Tokyo).

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

I got it from William Burroughs novel, “Wild Boys”.

At first I wanted to name it Penny Arcade Peep Show, but am glad we kept it short, for lots of reasons…  🙂

++ Your first release was a 1987 7″ single on the label Studio Penta. Who were behind this label and how did you end up releasing with them?

There was a contest ran by rehearsal studio, Studio Penta.  Someone sent our tape (without letting us know), and we got a call to play in the competition.  We accidentally won this, and 7inch release was the prize…

Our first recording was a nightmare.  We were notified that they cannot record real drums (WHY?).  So we borrowed LinnDrum, but soon found out that it was half broken. We struggled until midnight to program 2 songs.

We were extremely tired and fed up, but had to finish by morning. When we recorded all the materials, the engineers said they will “finish up” later.  So we did not even touch the mixing console. I still hate listening to this, as this is not our music at all.

But looking back, we were lucky that experienced this on our first single.  (Lessons learnt!)

++ And prior to this release, had you had made recordings? Or were the two songs on the 7″ your earliest recorded material?

This was our first studio recording. Before that, we only made cassette tape demos on the 4-track multi recorder.

++ This 7″ has a very particular art, who made it? And what does it mean?

It’s something I drew in high school.  (I don’t know what it meant. I guess I just wanted to paint color compositions.)

++ Then came a tape with the two other “first” indiepop bands from Japan, Lollipop Sonic and Debonaire. A tape called “Akko-Chan’s Anorak Party!” on the Boshi label. I have a few questions about it. The first is how did you end up working with Akiko and the Boshi label? Was she back in Japan at that time?

Akko-chan was living in her hometown, Nara.  I guess she was a college student, when she started the Boshi label.  She was a friend of Koide-san (eikoku ongaku), and asked us (Lollipop Sonic and Penny Arcade) to do a show in Kyoto.

This was the summer of 1987, and the show was  “Akko-Chan’s Anorak Party!” (we called it “Anorappa” for short)

The tape is a live recording of that show.

++ Second, were you all friends? Were Penny Arcade, Debonaire and Lollipop Sonic part of a cohesive scene? Were there other bands that you liked in that period?

++ And third, there’s an acoustic version included of “A Boy from Penny Arcade”, does this song remain exclusive to this release?

There is another “acoustic” version of this song on the CD, but if you are talking about acoustic “live” version, this is the only one.

++ Then a self-titled album was released in 1992 with Wonder Release Records. Why did it take almost 4 years for a new release? What happened in the meantime?

Penny Arcade was active from 1986 to 1989.

This CD released in 1992, is actually a reissue of self-released cassette tape we sold on our last gig in 1989.  (We recorded this album as memoirs for ourselves.)

++ And how did you end up working on Wonder Release Records? Care telling me a bit about this label?

Wonder Release was Venus Peter’s label.  Yoda-san, the owner, did not know us when we were active.

But rediscovered us as Ishida-kun’s former band.

++ This album is truly wonderful, it had 10 songs of pure pop, from “Bicycle Thief” to “Green Telescope” and more. A song that caught my attention was “T.V. Personalities”, was that sort of a tribute to the Television Personalities band?

Not actually… (sorry)

Someone asked me what does Television Personalities mean in Japanese, and I said “uhh. That’s like TV talent – people you see on TV”… After that conversation, I wrote this song..

It was inspired by the band name, but not about the band.

++ Many of us rediscovered your music thanks to the KiliKiliVilla compilation “A Girl from Penny Arcade” that came out in 2016. It is a wonderful collection of indiepop that I suggest everyone to get. How did this compilation came about? Whose idea was it to put it together?

It was Yoda-san’s idea.  (He is the one who originally reissued Penny in 1992.)

In fact, he has been asking me to reissue Penny for more than 20 years.  He asked me every once in a while, so I thought it was just a social greeting (like asking “how are you?).

But on the fall of 2015, he sent me the URL of his new label, KiliKiliVilla. I clicked it and there was a video of Not Wonk playing a live show.  It was awesome.

I watched it for 30 minutes, and replied, “Your new label is fascinating.  We are OK to reissue on this label.”

So thanks to Yoda-san for his passion and patience, that Penny Arcade’s music is available today.

++ Are there still any unreleased tracks by the band? Or everything has been released?

Everything is included on the reissued album.  Even early demos, which were for band members only.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Coming Down”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Ishida: I just loved the weddoes too much.  That’s all.

Satori: For me, it was very buzzcocks inspired song. 🙂

++ If you were to choose your favorite Penny Arcade song, which one would that be and why?

Ishida: “Flowers” – It’s probably because this is the very first song, we wrote as Penny.  I have so much feelings about this song.

“Boy Supreme”- This is the first song we made out of Satori-san’s vocal melody.  We recorded on the MTR (porta 2)(which I’d just bought at the time) with rhythm-box.

“Blissful Deserted” – This the first song, we recorded as Penny at the proper recording studio. I played the acoustic guitar, I borrowed from EB (of Bachelors).

Satori:  “A Boy from Penny Arcade” -This is one of our early songs, too.  I wrote it as our theme song, but about “long lost” penny arcade show.  Like being already dead in the beginning… 🙂

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

We played about once a month… so quite a lot..

A young friend compiled the list of our gigs from data of old play-guide magazines recently.

I was so amazed, because we were playing so many shows.  (Most of them, I cannot remember at all)

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

Probably, the last gig on December 1989.

Lollipop Sonic opened for us.  (They were already the Flippers’ Guitar, but appeared as Lollipop Sonic.)

++ And were there any bad ones?

Early ones, when we had very few friends.

++ Did Penny Arcade appear on TV?

Never. We were just an amateur band.

++ When and why did Penny Arcade stop making music? 

There was this battle of the band on the TV (called “Ikaten”).

When the show started in 1989, all the sudden everyone was in so-called “indies” band boom, like frenzy.

It was social phenomenon in Japan.

We did not want to be part of anything like that.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

(Will skip for Ishida-kun, please refer to Daffodil-19 interview)

Sotomura-san played with various bands, Here is Eden, Blue bongos, Advantage Lucy, (and of course) Daffodil-19, etc..

He joined the Sherbets in 1997, Number the. in 1999 (both bands are still active).

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?

We reunited in 2017, and played with Philips, (also reunited) Bridge and (also reunited) Debonaire.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Probably “Anorappa” in 1988.

It was like a school trip, and we got to meet new friends outside of Tokyo.

We had no large audience, nor hits (not even near hits), but we had friends who loved and supported our music for all these years.  (30 years!)

That is more than anything.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you for rediscovering us!

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Listen
Penny Arcade – Coming Down

Thanks so much to Taku and Miki for the interview! The two of them form the Japanese duo Smokebees! I’ve been a fan of their music since I discovered them a year or two ago! A bit late I admit! But I really like their tunes and it was with sadness that I hear they are calling a day. Because of that I wanted to talk to them about this band and other things too!

++ Hi Taku and Miki! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Taku: Hi there. Thank you for having us! I’m doing ok, still trying to stay musical. Right now, I’m preparing for a show with my solo project called desksnail.

Miki: I recorded some music after nights of not sleeping for a new project called “h-shallows“. (It’s named after Heavenly + Shallow (a tune from Heavenly)).  I’m releasing a new work with h-shallows soon. Please look forward!

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

Taku: I first picked up my guitar at the age of 15, I think. I’m from a musical family so everyone at home could play one or more instruments, and it was just natural for me to play something.

Miki: I listened to ’80s, funk, soul and Yumi Matsutoya as I grew up since my parents liked them a lot. My first experience with music instruments is from elementary school; I played the drum in a marching band. I first picked up the guitar when I entered university.

++ Had you been in other bands before Smokebees? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Taku: The first band that I ever joined was called “traffic light”. It sounded like the La’s, Teenage Fanclub, and other bands from Glasgow. It’s about 7,8 years ago now but I still like the songs and listen to their songs sometimes. After that, I started my own project called desksnail. It’s more minimal but I try to put a lot of ambiance in the tunes. You can find my soundcloud if you are interested!

Miki: I had already belonged to Girl President and with me! before we started Smokebees. Girl President is a lofi alternative pop band led by the wife of Katsyuya from CAUCUS. With me! is led by my friend aota, a musician/illustrator. I first joined her as a supporting guitarist, but I ended up as an official member of the band. With me!’s genre would be neo-acoustic, anorak, and guitar pop. Currently, I am involved in a crazy number of bands, such as Red Go-Cart (indie pop, dream pop), Minor Toast(post-punk, hardcore), Broccolies (garage rock, punk), and three berry icecream (soft rock, indie pop). Please check out my bands’ bandcamps and soundclouds for release info and so on!

++ Where were you from originally?

Taku: I’m from Tokyo. I’ve lived in other cities like Melbourne, Akita, and Aarhus after graduating from university.

Miki: I was born and raised in Yokohama. I studied in London for a few months two years ago.

++ Are there any bands in town that you like? Were there your feavourite record stores? What about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Miki: Boys Age is a musician we respect so much and he is a great friend of ours. Whenever we organized our own concerts, Boys Age always played, and Kaz (the main person from Boys Age) helped us on bass for one of our live shows.

I have many favorite record shops, but I especially recommend “disque blue very” in Tokyo, and “FILE-UNDER” in Nagoya. The pubs I’d recommend are “NONSUCH” in Tokyo named after XTC, and “Donzoko”, a pub loved by famous Japanese writers.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Taku: Miki and I got to know each other through our music projects. I think the first time we met was when I played the guitar with a project called “with me!”. In 2014, desksnail used “It’s a Wonderful Life” by Sparklehorse for background music when entering the stage. This surprised  Miki apparently because she had never found anyone who liked Sparklehorse. This was the trigger for starting Smokebees. In two years we decided to form a band respecting the experimental spirit of Sparklehorse.

++ Has there been any lineup changes?

Taku: So Smokebees started as a two-person band, and no one else has been involved in the core of the band. We do invite people to play gigs with us, though. Kohey, the guitarist, a friend of mine from college, Sakurai, the bassist from with me!, and the drummer, Yuki Kawasaki, who is in several bands in Tokyo including Boyish.

Without their support, we couldn’t have survived the album recording and the release tour!

++ What are the future plans for the band? Are you playing in other bands simultaneously?

Taku: Well, this might sound surprising, but we’ve decided to stop the band as of September 9th. We know this is not the best timing to stop the band right after the full-length album, but it’s the conclusion we both agreed on. Part of the reason is that we’ve done so much more than what we thought we could on the album, and we are satisfied and a bit overwhelmed by the process. Another reason is that there is so much else going on in our lives and the amount of dedication we can put into music feels different than what we had 3 years ago. On the bright side, we both are so satisfied with our album and we are very proud of that. Also, we both will keep playing music with other music projects, so please follow our activities!

++ Also you are involved with a project called the Smokebirds, right? Tell me a bit about it? Is it just a live project or are there releases? How did it come about?

Miki: Smokebirds was a one-night live performance project by Yoko Satori(Penny Arcade, Daffodil-19, Marble Hammock) and Smokebees. I asked Yoko to perform with us for Smokebees’ album release party. We played songs by Daffodil-19, Smokebees, and desksnail as well as covers of The Velvet Underground and Pervenche. The band had a set of minimal instruments respecting Young Marble Giants.

++ How is the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Taku: We exchange data on the Internet. One of us may create a demo, and the other adds stuff. Or one of us almost finishes the tracks and the other gives opinions and feedback. When we started the band I lived in Akita (550km away from Tokyo) so this has been our process of making music. After my settling in Tokyo in 2018, we sometimes went to a studio together for recording, but we kept this process for song-writing.

When we practice for live shows, we go to some rehearsal studios in Tokyo. They have everything we need for a band practice including drum sets and guitar amps. So you just have to carry your guitar. It’s very convenient.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Taku: Since we started as Sparklehorse fans, we named our band after their lyrics. I’ll give you a clue: it’s from their third album, and you have to omit a few words to find “smoke bees”.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Taku: We cannot talk about our music without naming Sparklehorse. Sparklehorse was the start of us and has always been the guide. There are of course other bands which influenced both of us. For example, some music Miki recommended to me, like Yurayura Teikoku and Grandaddy, have influenced our songwriting, I suppose. Especially when it comes to mixing, I learned from them a lot.

Miki: The majority of the inspiration for the band comes from Sparklehorse, as Taku mentions. Other than that, I got a lot of inspiration from Misophone, Taku’s recommendation, and Mice parade and Sakana. We both like Mice Parade and Sakana from when we were at university.

++ Your first release was a CD EP called “Swimming Souls”. Was this record self-released or how did you put it out?

Taku: It was a self-release. Our good friend Katsuya Yanagawa from CAUCUS helped us master the CD. It was right before I went to Denmark for my job, so we had to finish the EP within the summer. I remember staying at Miki’s place to finalize the tracks until the last train.

++ I notice that there are few copies remaining, how many did you press? And also tell me a bit about the artwork, where was this photo taken?

Taku: Haha, yes, we made 500 copies! I suggested the number because I was confident that it was a great EP! Now that the band is stopping, we have quite a few remaining copies haha.

The photo is taken in Myanmar by a friend of mine. I thought the reflection of the house and the dark sky represented what we wanted to express.

++ Then in 2017 the fine Galaxy Train label released the “Sunstroke EP”. Something that caught my attention is that you included a cover of the song “Jesus’ Blood Has Never Failed Me Yet” by Gavin Bryars. Later on you’d cover the band Pervenche on the following tape you released. What other covers did you record? Or maybe covers that you played live?

Taku: Thank you! We got to know Gavin Bryars through Sparklehorse, and we really wanted to try our version of the song. Kaz from Boys Age sings the repeating vocals, and it brought us attention, too.

We like doing covers from time to time. We’ve performed “Wandering Ones” by CAUCUS, “Summer Feeling” by Jonathan Richman, “Season of the Shark” by Yo La Tengo live and recorded Either/Or by Elliott Smith. Oh, and of course, “We Surely Become Happy” by Pervenche. It’s a hit from “Tonal Memory”!

++ How did you end up working with Galaxy Train? How was your relationship with them?

Miki: We got to know Galaxy Train through red go-cart. If I remember it right, the owner of Galaxy Train came to “New Moon”, a party red go-cart held with us in January 2017, and this resulted in the release of Sunstroke EP.

We released the full-album from Sauna Cool because they offered us first, but we have been really good friends with Galaxy Train and we appreciate them a lot.

++ Then the 2nd tape I was talking about, “Tonal Memory”, was released early in 2019 on the label Sauna Cool. I don’t know this label at all. Care telling me a bit about who are they?

Miki: Sauna Cool is run by Shota Kaneko, the leader of a three-piece band called Teen Runnings. Teen Runnings has worked with Jon Greece, who produced Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles, on an album release, released a split 7’ with the Lemons, and performed at SXSW2013. Sauna Cool itself has received positive reviews, too. Their first release “Sauna Cool 1” was valued for its uniqueness. The compilation album involved shorter-than-thirty-second songs by 51 Japanese indie bands. Recently they’ve had a few new releases, and they’ve invited TOPS to perform in Japan.

++ On this second tape some songs from the first EP appear. Are they the same versions of the songs? Or are they reworked versions? Why did you decide to include them?

Taku: The second tape “Tonal Memory” is released from SAUNA COOL as an introduction for the album. We put songs from the first EP and two new recordings to introduce ourselves to the fans of the label. We remixed remastered the songs from the first EP.

++ Lastly, last March you released your first album, “Imaginary Lights Never Fade”. The artwork is very curious to me. What does it mean?

Miki: I have been a huge fan of the artist Sakura Fantasma, and I asked her to do the artwork. She is based in Yamanashi and Europe, and she is known for the exotic and yet comical tone of her artwork. The artwork for our album is a collage from an old photo album she bought in Northern Europe and was created after she heard a few demos from our album.

++ This album has 11 songs! Some of the songs were recorded by a good friend of mine, Katsuya Yanagawa from Caucus. How was that? And were was the album recorded? Any anecdotes from the recording session?

Miki: Katsuya helped us record “Begin Again” and ”Miyoko”. He’s been a friend of mine for about 10 years now because of Girl President. The drums were recorded at a recording studio in Tokyo, but we recorded the bass and the guitars at a recording room in his place. The process was very smooth thanks to Katsuya’s expertise, but when I was playing the guitar for Miyoko, I got too loud so Katsuya was worried about getting complaints from his neighbors.

++ There’s a song on it called “Miyoko”, was wondering if it is inspired on a real person called “Miyoko” or perhaps not?

Miki: “Miyoko” is the name of a friend of mine. This song was originally a birthday present for her 10 years ago. Back then, I was into songs with Japanese names such as “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots” by Flaming Lips and “Yuriko” by Monoland. I rearranged and recorded it to put in the album.

++For this album I notice that Disk Union got involved. That must have helped distributing and getting attention to the album, right?

Since Sauna Cool is supported by Disk Union, we were able to distribute our album on their sales network. We’re grateful to them because without their nation-wide distribution network we couldn’t have reached as many listeners. It was amazing to see our album displayed at Disk Union shops.

++ Are there more recordings by the band? Unreleased songs?

Taku: There are no unreleased recordings. We’re not very efficient songwriters, so we basically put all the recordings into releases. There is one recording you can only find on Soundcloud, though. It’s “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, a Christmas tune we covered only on Soundcloud.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Made for Faking Strong”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Miki: It’s such an honor to have “Made for Faking Strong” as your favorite! It is a song I made after struggling for half a year. Whenever I find myself in a slump I go out to the sea, and this song was also made at the sea in the end of summer.

The hidden theme of this song was “Smokebees’ version of ‘Sensitive’ by the Field Mice,” so you can find the essence of Sarah Records. Also, parts of the song, like guitar combinations, are inspired by new and old indie-pop like Beach Fossils, Real Estate, and Felt. The lyrics are by Taku, and my favorite phrase is as follows:
450 tons of reality
Through that, you swim your days|
(With) looming fear of a whale

++ If you were to choose your favorite Smokebees song, which one would that be and why?

Taku: I’d choose ”Begin Again”. I like both the EP version and the album version. I didn’t know I was able to make that kind of large scale song with over 50 tracks. Writing this song made me believe in myself a little bit more. With help from the great players, we can sound like Slowdive!

Miki: It’s hard to decide on one song since all of the songs mean a lot to me. I’d choose “Ancient Lies” if I were to choose one. This is the very first song I wrote for Smokebees, and without this song, we would not have had the three years of Smokebees. Even though it is from the first era of Smokebees, it never gets old and still sounds fresh.

++ What about gigs? Have you played many?

Taku: We’ve performed 19 gigs in total in these three years. We had only been performing with the two of us until the album recording started. While recording, we started to perform with the band. We thought that it was easier to create the sound we wanted with a full band.

We’ve played many shows in Tokyo, a few in Nagoya, and one in Denmark.

++ And what are the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

Taku: For me, the last one at Shibuya 7th Floor was an epic. The floor was packed, the band worked so well, and DJs and other bands’ performances were great.

I have to mention the one in Denmark as well. I wanted to perform in Denmark while I lived there so badly that I asked my friends to let us use their rehearsal studio. It was a small concert with only a handful of people watching, but It was so nice to perform in front of people who helped me settle in a new environment.

Miki: I’d say the last show at Shibuya 7th Floor, too.

The groove of the band was at the highest at this point since we all knew this was gonna be the last performance. Also with help from Mayumi Ikemizu(three berry icecream, ex Bridge) and Daremo Shiranai Tokoro, we were able to play the songs how they should sound almost perfectly. The other performers did a perfect job, and it was an unforgettable night.

By the way, our first show in 2016 was at Chigasaki, where we brought a crazy amount of gear into a cafe-like venue and tried a very experimental performance. This was very tiring and we’ve decided not to do this again. This might have cast a huge influence on how we ran the band. haha.

++ And has there been any bad ones?

Miki: When we were invited to play an in-store show right after finishing the making of the album, we had to stop playing the encore song in the middle because we didn’t remember how to play the song. We didn’t think about an encore at all but we tried “Lights Of Home”, and we couldn’t remember the chords and we had to stop…haha.

Taku: Hmm… I agree with Miki. We totally forgot to prepare any extra songs for the in-store event. It was embarrassing but funny.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio? TV?

Miki: We haven’t got on TV, but we got on the radio once. Disque blue very introduced us to a program called ”Hickory Sound Excursion” by FM Matsumoto. It was our first time being on the radio, so it was a great experience. We played “Ontario Gothic” by Foxes in Fiction which is our favorite tune for traveling.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

Taku: No we haven’t got anything from the press.

++ What about from fanzines?

Miki: When we were invited to Mito, where aota of with me! lives, she made a special zine featuring us. It included introductions and interviews with all the performers for the night. I was so happy that I still keep it as my treasure.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Taku: It’s a tough question. These three years have been amazing. I could never have achieved this much only by myself. I’ve experienced a lot of things that I wouldn’t have without Smokebees. We did have some bad times, but the experience itself is radiant and spectacular. I’d say these three years have been one of the highlights in my life!

Miki: I can say the three years has been a highlight of my life, but maybe releasing a full album is the greatest highlight. Although there were challenges, we managed to make a piece of work which I am confident to say is the best I can do for now. I wanna take it with me to my grave when I die.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

Taku: I like reading and cooking. I don’t make anything special now but I like the process of cooking. It’s a small project you can work on in your kitchen. I think it’s similar to songwriting in that it requires subtle adjustment and inspiration, and when it’s done, you can enjoy the result on the spot.

Miki: I have so many hobbies like movies, modern ballet, handcraft, architecture viewing and so on. I go out to see architecture whenever I get long holidays. It’s interesting because it is a physical, large-scale work of art, and because it influences the lives of citizens by being a part of the scenery.

++ Never been to Japan. So I will ask for some recommendations. If  I was to visit your city what shouldn’t I miss? What are your favourite sights? And any particular food or drinks that you think one shouldn’t miss?

Taku: Tokyo has countless touristy places. Asakusa, Tokyo Tower, Yoyogi park, to name a few. I think Asakusa is good because you can enjoy the traditional and modern scenery at the same time. Food is a great attraction of Tokyo! Try Yakitori (Japanese chicken sticks) with beer at izakayas (Japanese bar).

Miki: I recommend Asakusa, too. You can experience the combination of Japanese tradition and modern culture. I also recommend the islands in the Seto Inland Sea. They hold the International Triennale and all the islands are filled with art. The Teshima Museum in Teshima is my museum and piece of architecture, so please consider visiting there if you have a chance.

Any Japanese food will be good, but my recommendation is soba and sushi!

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Taku: Well, thank you Roque for having us on your blog! It’s an honor. This was a great chance to dig deep into our history and the whole band activity right after we stopped the band. It’s a little bit sad, I have to admit, but the music remains and you can always revisit Smokebees. Please follow our music projects as well; we both will keep on playing music!

Miki: I got to know Cloudberry through CAUCUS and Boyish, and I have been listening to many releases by Cloudberry records, and have been reading your blog. So it is amazing to think we’re finally being interviewed.

It is an honor to talk about our activities with this opportunity even though Smokebees has stopped. It’d be great if you, the readers, keep enjoying our music. Please follow our new music activities, too!

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Listen
Smokebees – Made for Faking Strong

Thanks so much to Gerry Cooke for the interview! Some time ago I wrote about The Beautiful Strangers, trying to find info about this London band that only released one 7″ back in the 80s. Happily Gerry came to the rescue and able to answer my questions! Enjoy!

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

I was brought up in a care, but being in care gave me the opportunity of having a record player and access to records.  I remember listening to the Beatles, ‘She loves you’ on repeat play for hours. My first instrument was a recorder, which I learned by ear.  I started playing bass in 1977; again I learned to play bass by ear.

++ Had you been in other bands before The Beautiful Strangers? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Yes, I was in a few bands before the BS, the notable ones were ‘The Ya Yas’. We were an R&B band, more mod than boogie (as reported in Time-out magazine, a London based Mag). With this band we made recordings with some of the members of Madness.  The two founders of the band Phil Payne and Phil Saxby went on to form the band ‘Arnold’. Mark Saxby also played with X-ray Specs in later years.

The other band was ‘Hearts Agas’, a bit of a glam rock type band. We made lots of recordings and did loads of gigs around West London in the early to middle 80s.  The guitarist from that band, Jo Almida, went on to play with the band ‘Dogs d’Amour’.

++ Where were you from originally?

I am from South East London, born in Chelsea.

++ How was your town at the time of The Beautiful Strangers? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

South East London during that time was great.  There were great bands everywhere and record stores on every street corner.  As for the pubs and venues there were loads. I played at many of them.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

The band had already formed when I joined it.  I was asked to play in the band by the ex-drummer, of  ‘The Ya Yas’. He told the other members of the band that he knew a great bass player; I auditioned and was asked to join them.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

Yes, in 1985, I left because my first child was about to be born.  They took on another bass player; he lasted just 6 month and then left.  I re-joined the band and not long after we went on to record ‘Elizabeth’.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

I was given free range to play and create the bass lines. I was given the chords and went on from there.  As for practising, If my memory serves me right, it was in a studio near London Bridge, Borough Market.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Keith Sparrow, he can be found on FB.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

The main influence behind the band were ‘The Smiths’.  My own influences were Paul Gray from ‘The Hot-rods’ and Bruce Foxton from ‘The Jam’.

++ As far as I know you only released one 7″ back in 1986. This was a self-release, right? How did that work for you, doing the label part? Did you enjoy it? How many copies were pressed?

Yes, just one record, and yes it was a self-release.   You’ll have to ask Keith about the artistic side, he did all that. 1000 copies were made.

++ You named your label Two Zeros Above. I was curious about the name, what does it mean?

Again Keith and Sheila (the guitarist).

++ Were the songs on the 7″ your first proper recordings? Or had you had any experience in recording studios prior to them?

No, they weren’t.  I recorded with Polygram before.  I also recorded in Pathway Studios, with ‘The Ya Yas’ and some of the members of ‘Madness’.

++ The songs on the 7″ were recorded at Elephant Studios with John Hurst and Nick Robbins. How was that experience? Any anecdotes that you remember?

Jon Hurst…  I remember that I didn’t have a lot of money during that period; I had 2 kids by that time and no spare money to buy new strings so I had to record using old strings.  It was also during the time of the printers strike so every time we finished recording we had to battle through the protests of the Wapping printer’s strike.

++ On the back of the sleeve there are photos of all of you and I was wondering where were they taken? And also why does your name appear as Jerry instead of Gerry?

They were all taken in Keith and Sheila’s back-garden.  My name was spelt with a J and not a G because in those days I just thought it was cooler with a J!

++  Why weren’t more releases by the band? Was there any interest by labels to release you? Maybe big labels?

We did record a second single, ‘Family’ in 1986 at London Bridge Studios and it was produced by Mark Dearnley.  Who went on to produce an Album by ‘ACDC’. Some labels were interested but nobody seemed to know what to do with us unfortunately.

++ Are there more recordings by the band? Unreleased songs?

Yes as above and lots of demos.  Again ask Keith.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Elizabeth”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Keith wrote the song so you’ll have to ask him.

++ If you were to choose your favorite The Beautiful Strangers song, which one would that be and why?

‘Heavens’, which is the B side of ‘Elizabeth’.  Because it was a complex bass line and when we played it live, it sounded as good as the recorded version.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

We played loads, all around London and Brighton.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

We played at the Herne Hill Tavern, we supported a big band, it was either ‘The Bigger Splash’ or ‘The Mystery Girls’. I can’t remember.  What I remember was the entire place was rammed and the crowd adored us. It was a great gig.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Yes a couple, Camberwell, we had an audience of 2 people!

++ When and why did The Beautiful Strangers stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

We broke-up at the beginning of 1987, because we didn’t seem to be going anywhere.  Keith and Sheila went on to other bands, John disappeared. As for myself I have been involved in many since.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

For a few week ‘Elizabeth’ was played on Radio one.    We were on ‘Singled Out’ – hosted by Janice Long. The song was reviewed by Kirsty Maccoll and Peter Powell.   And Capital Radio played it too.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

We had good reviews about the single.

++ What about from fanzines?

Keith was a cartoonist and he created his own fanzine.  Keith had a database of followers and he used to create the fanzine is and send it on to people.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

It was the first time we heard ‘Elizabeth’ on the radio.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I have been involved in motor racing during my life.  I raced in a French championship on my 50th birthday. I worked a racing circuit for 11 years here in France.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

I am still playing bass.  I am currently involved in 2 bands here in France.  A recording band called ‘Nephast’. You can find our album ‘You Have To Know’ on Deezer, Amazon and most of the download websites. Some of the local radio stations have played a few of our songs.

I am also involved in a band called Black Jack V.  We are a covers band, 60,70,80,90 pop-rock. We play most weekends in pubs and bars here in South West France.

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Listen
The Beautiful Strangers – Elizabeth

Thanks so much to Tomohiro for the interview! For you who don’t know him, he was part of a fantastic Japanese indiepop unit called All Twin’s Birthday that released a superb 7″ on the Behavior Saviour label that our friend Masahiro (from Love Mushrooms and Tricycle Popstar – both interviewed in the blog) used to ran in the early 90s. Aside from that 7″ they appeared on some classic Japanese compilations but we always wondered what happened to them! Luckily now we’ll get to learn more about them! Join me!

++ Hi Tomohiro! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Hi, Roque! I’m good. I’m still making music.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

First music memories? That’s a tough question.
When I was an elementary school student, I listened to 60s / 70s US & UK rock, junior high school student, I began to listen to the standard of jazz, and high school student, finally I began to listen to guitar pop and neo-acoustic.
I became crazy about 50s / 60s modern jazz before listening to new wave and twee pop. It may be a slightly strange music career.
My first instrument is guitar. How did I learn? My own way.
I played  and played my guitar. I slept every night with holding my guitar.
At home while growing up, I mostly listened to the good old music, not hit song of the time.

++ Had you been in other bands before All Twin’s Birthday? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Before All Twin’s Birthday, there are not any recording.
I played only cover songs. When I joined All Twin’s Birthday, I wrote original song for the first time.

++ Where were you from originally, Tokyo?

From Chiba-city (famous for novels of the cyberpunk).

++ How was your Tokyo at the time of All Twin’s Birthday? Were there any bands that you liked? What were the good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

I was able to check out gigs of many 90s bands.There were good record stores in Nishi Shinjuku: Vinyl Japan, ROUGH TRADE SHOP etc.
As for legendary venue, Shinjuku JAM was very good (closed December 31, 2017). We played many times there.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

We were students of the same university. We talked about music.
The taste of our favorite music was similar very much, so we formed a band.
Yuka Banno (great bassist) and Bo Suzuki (great drummer), they have a great talent. I was fascinated by them. And I can sing and play the guitar. So it did not need the recruitment of members.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

I played guitar in my room to write songs. I usually practiced in my room as private studio.

++ Something I find very interesting is the amount of great Japanese indiepop bands that started appearing in the 90s! I was wondering if you have like a top 5 Japanese indiepop bands? And also if you would recommend some that are not very well known?

Probably you have a detailed knowlodge of Japanese band than me. So I am not suitable for choosing top 5 Japanese indiepop bands. But I try. All 5 bands were splendid, so this list in random order.

・SPEED WAY STAR was splendid anorak band. Their performance was always great. But they released neither album nor single. They contributed only one song to compilation CD “What Do You Want A Japanese To Do? -The first Vinyl Japan Sampler.

・HARMONY IN YOUR BATHROOM was based in Osaka. OEAMOM was released by CONPACT FAST RECORD in 1998. It is difficult to easily categorize their music. Keigo Matsumura (leader of this band) has a great talent of composition. He is active now in a band called BLINDDATE.

・Love Mushrooms, well you know Masahiro Kodama’s another unit.

・Bridge, well you know most important Japanese indiepop bands!

・Chicago Bass. After Bridge stop making music, Mami Otomo joined this band. Chicago Bass is great Japanese alternative band.
This band’s bassist Kayoko Yamauchi has a great talent.
She, Yuka Banno and I joined band named Milk Film afterwards.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Josef K, The pastels, Television Personalities, Haircut 100, Brilliant Corners and Primal Scream… the list of examples is endless…

++Your first release was a 7″ on the label Behavior Saviour. I was wondering how did you end up working with Masahiro and his label? How was your relationship with them? How did you meet?

There were three key persons and our demo tape.

First key person is Sin Makino. He was organizer of live show named LOST PIECES. We played some gigs at his live show, he offered to play gig in Osaka. We went to Osaka (by Shinkansen?) and performed.

Second key person is Takako Kasa. She was organizer of live show in Osaka. The night we performed in Osaka, we met her. I presented our demo tape. she was a friend of Masahiro. She gave Masahiro our demo tape to listen. This demo tape (titled “live in a B/W movie) was not live recording, that was studio recording, include “Everytime We Say Good-Bye” plus 4 songs. Not for sale, for promotional use only. I like to watch the old b/w movies, so I would expect to add meaning to our demo tape “Lifetime in a B/W Movie” just like daydream.

Third key person is Kazushige Kanazawa. He was a shop assistant of the record shop (ROUGH TRADE SHOP), organizer of live show named “LOVE SO FINE”, too. And he offered to play All Twin’s Birthday & Masahiro (Tricycle Popstar). We met at the gig, and we liked each other’s performance. A few days later, Masahiro sent a letter to me, “Do you release 7inch from my label?”.

++ And you did work with Masahiro at least on one song, “Everytime We Say Good-Bye”. Was there ever an intention of forming a band together?

There was not ever an intention of forming a band together.
Masahiro was producer of All Twin’s Birthday in a sense.

++ This 7″ had two songs, “I Second That Love” and “Rudy Van Gelder’s Secret Note”. Where these your first proper studio recordings? Had there been demo tapes before it?

Not proper studio recordings. We brought small 4 track cassette MTR into rehearsal studio to recorded basic track (bass, drums and rhythm guitar) of two songs. This material transferred my 8 track cassette MTR and overdubbed vocal & chorus part etc…
8 track MTR is very big and heavy, so hard to carry. However Masahiro & I had same type 8 track cassette MTR. I went to Masahiro’s room with mastertape only, and was able to do a continuance of the recording work. For example, “I Second That Love”s organ part was recorded Masahiro’s room. I am a lucky man.

++ And I have to ask, are you big fans of Rudy Van Gelder?

Very nice question! The answer is yes! He is a great recording engineer. I respect him so much.

++ Why were there no more releases by the band after this record?

I hoped to work with Masahiro, but he emigrated abroad after “I Second That Love” was released. We exchanged air mail about All Twin’s Birthday’s full album. In all honesty I wanted to record same way of “I Second That Love”. But we could not meet, there was not yet email. And there was American label’s offer of the release, too. But did not come true. If now time, it might come true.

++ Aside from the 7″ you did appear on two compilations. Both times you contributed the song “Everytime We Say Good-Bye”. Was there a reason to choose that song twice?

If I remember correctly, label side chose the song, not me.
But arrangement of the tracks for each compilations were different, so I agreed to their plan.

++ One of this compilations was called “Let’s Muc Out on Sound” that was releasde by Loose Sound in Japan on tape. I don’t know nothing about this tape, so I was wondering if you remember who was behind it? if it came with a fanzine? or any details at all!

Loose Sound was a cassette tape label organaized by Takako Kasa. “Let’s Muc Out on Sound” included “Everytime We Say Good-bye” (“Live in a B/W Movie” version). She released our 1st official 5 songs cassette tape titled “live in a B/W movie Vol. 2”
(limited 100 copies) And she published a great fanzine entitled “RED RUBBER BALL”. And she was organizer of a party named “red LOVER ball”, too. She’s still so cool!  I’m grateful to her.

++ The second compilation was on Behavior Saviour and was the great “Behave Yourself!”, and so I wonder if there are more compilation appearances?

“Everytime We Say Good-Bye” of “Behave Yourself!” version was added new arrangement by Masahiro. He added organ part to basic track of “Live in a B/W Movie” version. I thank for what he did. There are anecdote about “Behave Yourself!”. Masahiro wrote a song. He intended to record the song in “Behave Yourself!”. Thereafter he noticed the song’s climax resembles “Everytime We Say Good-Bye” ‘s climax. So he entitled the song “Last Time I Say Good-Bye”. It’s a joke for him. On the other hand, “Everytime We Say Good-Bye” I quoted from a title of the standard of Jazz. Lou Reed quoted from a title of the standard of Jazz, too. “Beginning To See The Light”, “After Hours”, etc… I was influenced by him. SOMEONE INFLUENCES SOMEONE LIKE THAT. We contributed songs to some compilation.

++ What about unreleased tracks?

There were not a few tracks.
And there were many unrecorded songs, played only gigs. I hope to record those songs someday.

++ It is hard to pick one, but I think my favorite All Twin’s Birthday track is “Everytime We Say Good-bye”, was wondering if you could tell me the story behind this song?

In a sense it was the song I wrote for the first time in my room.
Before I wrote the song, I made the music from parts of jam session at rehearsal studio. And the song I wrote lyrics in English for the first time in my life.

++ If you were to choose your favorite All Twin’s Birthday song, which one would that be and why?

“Nothing Like Our Way”. I wrote this song immediately after writing “Everytime We Say Good-bye”, And we recorded for
“live in a B/W movie Vol. 2”. However I think I could not record it well. We played the song at live show many times. The song often played ending of gigs. And we recorded the song again. However I am not satisfied that recording. I hope to challenge recording satisfactory version someday.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? All over Japan?

We played many gigs, usually performed in Tokyo, played once in Osaka.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

“LOVE SO FINE” organized by Kazushige Kanazawa. Cause, I was able to meet Masahiro. There was a large audience. Many people danced to our music, and seemed happy.

++ And were there any bad ones?

That’s a tough question.
“LOVE SO FINE”. Cause we was not able to rehearse that night.
The gig held in the middle of the night. Before “LOVE SO FINE” began, different live show was carried out, but it was not over on time. So we did not have time to prepare enough. It was bad to my heart to go on the stage without sound check. A good thing and a bad thing often happen at the same time.

++ When and why did All Twin’s Birthday stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

Probably it was about 1997. I think that we wanted to try something new. I joined some units. After that, I joined 3 piece band again. The name of this band is Milk Film. Yuka Banno (all twin’s birthday’s bassist) and  Kayoko Yamauchi (Chicago Bass’s bassist) sang and played the guitars. And we recorded and released CDs.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Bo Suzuki is active as a instrumental band’s leader of Noahlewis’ Mahlon Taits.

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?

Reunion? God only knows…

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

I think probably our song did not play on the radio.
On the other hand, many DJs played our 7inch at club, and still play.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

Fanzines gave us some attention than the press.

++ What about from fanzines?

For example, our long interview (14 pages) was published on STEREO CASTANETS CHANNEL (just 7inch size fanzines) with an article on (or interview of) Kahimi Karie.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

We played as opening act before Television Personalities of their Japan tour! I brought their 1st album on that day, and I was going to say to Dan Treacy,  “Can I have your autograph?”. But I was not able to do. I have been impressed just to watch him. Their performance on that night was great and moved me so much.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I like reading novels, essays and poetry by American writers and poets. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan, The dogs bark by Truman Capote
and great poetry of William Carlos Williams.

++ Never been to Tokyo or Japan. So I will ask for some recommendations. If a popkid was to visit your city what shouldn’t they miss? What are your favourite sights? And any particular food or drinks that you think one shouldn’t miss?

I think Shimokitazawa is splendid place for popkids. Personally, Ochanomizu and Kandajinbouchou are my favorite towns. There are so many musical instrument stores, new and old bookshops,
record shops and coffee shops (I especially like Sabouru, very nice coffee shop!).

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks Roque! Your questions inspired me! I thank all friends who cooperated to answer this question. And I thank popkids of the world.

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Listen
All Twin’s Birthday – Everytime We Say Good-Bye