Center: Joe Yamanaka. Clockwise from top left: Joji Wada, Jun Kobayashi, Hideki Ishima, Nobuhiko Shinohara.

Anyone who has paid any attention at all to Japanese rock history knows The Flower Travellin' Band. Beginning with 1970's "Anywhere," through 1973's initial swan song "Make Up," they became one of the biggest acts in Japan, as well as achieving no small degree of success overseas, particularly Canada, where the band lived for roughly two years. Today, over three decades later, their catalog still has the power to shock, disorient, and above all astonish even the most jaded listeners.

With recent attention stirred up by both their new album, "We Are Here," and effusive praise from Julian Cope in his book "Japrocksampler," The Flower Travellin' Band is poised for another go at world domination. Recently, vocalist Joe Yamanaka and sitarlaist (we'll explain that in a minute) Hideki Ishima sat down with Jrawk to discuss making their own sound, the current musical climate, and naked motorcycle riding (American tour information for the Flower Travellin' Band can be found after the interview.)

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JR: How did this whole thing start? Yuya Uchida started the Flowers initially, then decided to create the Flower Travellin' Band. How did you catch his eye?

JY: Uchida-san was producing the Flowers, he was a very big star in the 60s. He came to see a band that Hideki and I were in together.

JR: Was this (Joe Yamanaka's Group Sounds band) Four Nine Ace?

JY: No, it was... (looks at Hideki, starts laughing.) We forgot the name! Was it...Mystic Morning?

HI: (nods) When I was 19 Joe and I first met, we originally met in Hokkaido. Later, after I had left (Group Sounds band) The Beavers, we bumped into each other in Shinjuku and started talking. We said "we should do a band together someday," and that became Mystic Morning. Yuya came to see us, and he picked up Joe and I for his new project.

JY: Yuya told us he wanted to make an international group, one that could have appeal outside Japan.

Terumasa Hino's "Crash"

HI: Mystic Morning was a blues band, but we wanted to do something more original.

JY: Our first record as The Flower Travelin' Band was a single backing up (jazz trumpeter) Terumasa Hino. It was a jazz/rock collaboration called "Crash." After that came "Anywhere."

JR: So (Kuni Kawachi's) "Kirikyogen" wasn't the first? (NOTE: copies of "Kirikyogen" are often credited to "Kuni Kawachi and Flower Travelin' Band.)

JY: No, that was Hideki and I, but not with Joji or Jun. That was before we went to Canada, between "Anywhere" and "Satori."

JR: How did the cover for "Anywhere" come about?

JY: Yuya likes nudity! (everybody laughs) For the photo shoot, we just did it. It was first thing in the morning, in the seaside area that eventually became Odaiba (NOTE: Odaiba is currently a big shopping area / tourist attraction in Tokyo Bay.) It used to be a garbage dump. There was no one around, only garbage! (laughs)

JR: "Anywhere" is mostly covers, but some of the songs are so transformed they're almost unrecognizable.

Anywhere

JY: Before, we were just copying western music, blues bands. We wanted something original. When we did "Anywhere," it was mostly covers, but our versions were pretty different. We started to naturally get our own sound.

HI: I think we could smell FTB coming! (laughs) We didn't want to just play around and ape other people's material, we wanted something that was our own.

JR: Even so, the leap from "Anywhere" to "Satori" was huge. How did that album come about?

HI: We'd get together, I'd come up with a riff, or we'd try new ideas on each other. We tried to make our own sound. I really like Indian music, I wanted to play Oriental stuff, and that became an element.

JY: We'd just start working together. We'll be playing, and Hideki and I will make eye contact, then we change from there. We still do this today: every time we play, it's always a little different. Today's version is always different than tomorrow's! There's always some small part, some different phrase. We change them all the time.

One thing that's different for me in the Flower Travelin' Band is that my voice is one of several instruments. In my solo career, I'll sing things like blues, ballads, things like that, more traditional stuff. But in FTB, it's more like one of the instruments. That's why the band's been so important to me for so long, that difference. In FTB, there's more improvisation, and sometimes I'll try things like scat.

Satori

HI: I really like that! (laughs)

JY: (laughs) Whenever I try something like that, I always wander over to Hideki and kind of check with him, to get his reaction.

HI: (laughs) Yeah! Go ahead!

JY: At the show in Hibiya, in "Hiroshima," we hadn't planned on a drum solo. But when we were playing, we all looked at Joji and he just did it.

HI: Yeah! Jazzy! Do it! (laughs) There was always a lot of improvisation. Like he said, we still do this now.

JY: That's why there are relatively few vocals on "Satori:" the other instruments can keep going, keep playing while they choose a new direction. You can't do this with lyrics. I stepped back and trusted the other musicians.

HI: Another reason was that I was too freaky! (everybody laughs) He had to give me room!

JR: How did it come about that the band moved to Canada?

"Satori" single

HI: We wanted to try it!

JY: We wanted to become international. Not just Canada, but the US and Europe. In 1970, Osaka had Expo 70, and were were playing the festival plaza there. The Canadian Pavilion featured a band called Lighthouse, they were big in Canada, and they came to see us. They liked us, and said "Hey, why don't you come to Canada?" Yuya said it was our big chance, so he produced us and we made "Satori" to take to there and try our luck. We did that album in two days! One day recording, one day mixing. We didn't have much money, y'know?

A lot of people were surprised! They didn't realize there was rock in Japan, and really, we didn't look typically Japanese. We looked like hippies! When we first went to Canada, our first fans were in this dormitory at the University there. There was also a local DJ named Larry Green that was fascinated with Japan. He played "Satori" constantly, it became really popular, and GRT records approached us. We also opened for Lighthouse in some huge place, maybe 10,000 people.

JR: "Made In Japan" was recorded there, how did that go?

JY: (Drummer Joji) Wada-san, when we first went to Canada, had tuberculosis! He was in the hospital just before our first show. We checked with the doctor, and he was able to play that once, and after that show we got a Canadian drummer (Paul Delon) for a few months.

Made In Japan

But beyond that, the rest happened very easily. Paul Hoffert, the keyboardist from Lighthouse, helped produce "Made In Japan." It all flowed well, very easily. Our manager was artistically inclined, he was pretty well versed in music, lyrics, film those kinds of things. His wife was as well, and she wrote the lyrics.

HI: She would take them from conversations with us, things like "Hiroshima" and "Kamikaze." We'd discuss them with her, and she'd build the lyrics from those conversations.

JY: They were our ideas, but she wrote the actual English. "Heaven And Hell" were lyrics I had written in Japanese, and she translated them. A lot of younger people today seem to like that one!

JR: What about "Make Up?"

HI: That went really well also. We really enjoyed it.

JY: We came back from Canada, and we wanted to do an album with both live and studio songs.

JR: Did you plan this studio/live mix from the beginning?

HI: Yeah, we wanted a mix of sounds. We wanted to try acoustic stuff, experiment in the studio with things that wouldn't be so easy in a live setting. We also started with more individual contributions. We were starting to grow both as a band and as individuals, and "Make Up" was a reflection of that.

Make Up

JR: So if the band was starting to mature, why stop? Why was "Make Up" the last album?

JY: A lot of different reasons: money, things like that. Also, when we came back from Canada, folk had gotten big, there wasn't so much room for rock. Things changed on us! We were also supposed to open for the Rolling Stones, and we had all these dreams: after this, maybe we can go to Europe, do all these things. But Mick Jagger had visa problems and the tour was canceled. That was a big shock. We were just getting tired.

HI: We didn't break up, though. We just stopped, took a break. "Give me air!" (laughs) It turned out to be for 36 years!

JR: Why get back together after all that time?

HI: There's a lot of reasons, everybody had their own individual reasons. Joe had his reasons, I had mine...

JY: A lot of people, young bands, kept saying they wanted to play out with us.

HI: It took a year and a half to decide to start up again. We as a band talked about everything for a long time: what producers to use, business stuff, everything. We decided on doing this initially for three years: then we'll see how our music does in the current climate.

We Are Here

JY: If, after three years, we're still "genki," then we'll keep going! (laughs)

JR: The newer material is a lot more positive, as compared to the darker, older stuff.

HI: We're older! Maybe that's it.

JY: The 70s stuff had a strong Oriental element, musically, very Japanese rock. "We Are Here" has the element as well, but in a more pop context.

HI: I'm playing a different instrument as well: I started working with the sitarla (NOTE: the sitarla is a combination sitar / guitar that Hideki can be seen playing in the image below.)

JR: When you got back together, it had been 36 years. Did you have a moment when you realized "yeah, this is working?"

HI: There was no difference! I couldn't believe it!

JY: Yeah, immediately, it was the same. Like nothing had ever changed, like we had never taken a break. Also, after "Make Up," we all played on each other's solo records, so we kept working together, even though it wasn't as The Flower Travelin' Band.

HI: I had suggested that we forget about the past and just work with each other's new ideas. We didn't do anything, no rehearsals, until we got to the studio in Canada. Everything happened in two or three takes! It was really enjoyable, fresh.

JY: When we got back together, we wanted the same people. We called up (Bassist Jun) Kozuki-san in Canada, and although he hadn't played bass in years, we needed his sound. He was a little nervous, but it worked out fine.

JR: And, of course, you can still hit those notes! One thing that's interesting about your vocal style is that is stays in the higher register. Most singers save that for the climax of the song, but you stay there.

JY: That just happened naturally. And I quit smoking! Touring is hard work, the schedule can be really difficult, so I "hmm, maybe I should quit..."

HI: He has a special voice, it's a necessary part of FTB's sound.

JR: What about your guitar? There's not really anyone out there like you.

HI: I love Oriental music, Indian music, and I just play from my mind. When we got to Canada, we did a jam session with some local musicians. The drummer seemed bored. He was playing the blues, but he had been doing that since he was a kid, he lost interest. So I showed him Japanese scales, and that he got a lot more enthusiastic! That really encouraged me to stay away from imitation, to follow what originated from me as a performer.

JR: Is there anything you would have done differently?

HI: You always have regrets when you create something. Every time we did something, there would be some kind of regret. We'd love to be perfect, and we try to be, but we don't need to actually be perfect. Do you know Yokozuna? (Yokozuna is the highest possible ranking in sumo wrestling.) I don't want to be a yokozuna! (laughs)

JY: Any artist, photographer, painter, I think all creative people have those kinds of regrets. They're necessary, they force them to reach for things and improve. They allow you to grow.

JR: Speaking of growing, do you feel any pressure to stay the same, pressure to duplicate your past?

JY: All bands with a history have people who would prefer that they never change. When Eric Clapton has a new album, some fans will say they prefer the older stuff. We tend to ignore that! (laughs)

HI: We still play the old stuff live, of course. But in the studio, we don't worry about it. If we worried about that when we made "We Are Here," we never would have gotten anywhere! We listen to people's opinions, naturally, but we don't focus on the past.

JY: I'm looking forward to the next album, because I want to see where we'll go.

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The Flower Travellin' Band will play the Knitting Factory in New York City on December 9th, and at the Revival Bar in Toronto on December 15th.

"We Are Here" is available at Amazon US as a download, and at Amazon Japan as a CD.