L to R: Junzo Suzuki, Takuya Nishimura, Koji Shimura

Since their genesis at the turn of the millennium, Miminokoto has weathered all manner of personnel changes, side projects, and other trials to quietly become one of Tokyo's more durable and intriguing purveyors of experimental psych rock. Finally the group ended their hiatus with a Live CD called, appropriately enough, "Live Performance 2007." Recently, the band sat down with Jrawk to discuss group dynamics, psych rock, and the difficulties in keeping a band going.

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JR: (Gestures to Shimura) You started Miminokoto with Masami Kawaguchi.

KS: Yes, Kawaguchi and I started. I started on bass, and he played guitar. We initially played in tiny jazz clubs, places like that, just as a two piece. We were playing at a coffee shop when a rep from a live house asked us to play. The place was much bigger than we were used to, so I thought we'd need to expand the band's sound. I moved to the drums, and Nishimura-san saw that show. He liked what we were doing, so he joined on bass. That was in 2000. He left in 2003, then we had a run of different bassists, and he rejoined later.

JR: Why are you attracted to psych?

KS: It's the music I grew up with, in the 60s and 70s.

JR: There's a big dynamic variance in Miminokoto's work: there's a lot of loud rock, but there's some very gentle music as well. Was the two piece setup on the quiet end? Did the compositional aim naturally get louder as a result of adding drums?

KS: It's difficult to say that definitively, but we simply enjoy both styles, the loud and the soft.

JR: Why did you join up with Kawaguchi-san?

KS: No particular reason! (everybody laughs) We were just drinking buddies. We started thinking about what we might be able to do as a band, and acted on it.

JR: Why did the band break up?

KS: We didn't! (laughs) But we were on hold after a few American tours. Everybody had other responsibilities, other plans. We needed to make money, of course...I wanted to go on a big, long tour, but the financial reality was such that it wouldn't have worked. We naturally kind of drifted off.  Then I found Suzuki-san and started again.

JR: Why start up Miminokoto again? Why not start a new project?

KS: Continuity. The purpose of this band is to build on and progress beyond what we've done before, which you naturally can't do with a totally different project. I've played in High Rise, White Heaven, Acid Mothers Temple, etc, but those are bands where I've joined in. Miminokoto is where I take more of a leadership role.

JR: How does the band come up with material?

KS: We don't start off with completed pieces when we bring things in to the band: we tend to come in with ideas and flesh them out from there.

JS: I'll bring in pieces, ideas, and show them to everybody. Then he (Shimura) will say "that's no good!" (everybody laughs)

TN: I don't practice! (everybody laughs) My practice is when I come in with them and start playing.

JR: I've noticed that the recent music has a stronger element of power, higher volume and intensity.

KS: We enjoy playing together, and once we got over the initial break (when Kawaguchi left,) we had a tighter focus, kind of like a new attitude. Also, we've been playing together for a while, and we're comfortable with each other's tendencies. That kind of clears the way to allow the music to flow.

JS: These two guys can play anything, but I have to play AND sing! (laughs) Sometimes i think they wish I'd speed things up a little during the shows (everybody laughs.)

JR: OK, changing the subject, what kind of music did you listen to growing up?

KS: Top 40! Top 40 from the 70s, that's what I grew up on as a kid. I also love the MC5, especially the debut ("Kick Out The Jams.") I was attracted to the beat, the whole atmosphere of being out of control.

JS: Just rock music in general. When I was 12, the Beatles' catalog was reissued on CD. I didn't have a CD player, but I got my friend to tape them for me, and I worked my way through the catalog gradually. We did two albums a month. It was my first musical obsession. Later, I got heavily into blues and folk music. In High School, the Rolling Stones came to Japan, I had a rich friend who bought me a ticket, since they were so expensive! (laughs) After seeing them, I got into blues: Muddy Waters, etc.

TN: As a kid in the 60s, I was into Kayou Kyoku (Japanese 60s pops,) GS (Group Sounds, Japan's answer to Beatlemania,) things like that. Later I discovered Pink Floyd, especially "Atom Heart Mother." I couldn't really understand what they were singing, and that had a kind of mysteriousness that appealed to me. "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" really left an impression.

KS: In the 70s, imported records were really expensive, so it was hard to explore and find music I might like. Only a few people could afford to buy albums. Despite this, Pink Floyd was pretty popular.

JR: How much does improv play a role?

JS: We'll work off of improv, but there has to be a base to work from. We'll go off and improvise for quite a while, but we need that basis to come back to when the improvised idea runs its course. Ideally, we play without concrete ideas, but it's always necessary to have that solid base, just to make sure we have a reference point. Each of us has a goal with this band, individually, but we try to reach a height as a team, together.

KS: We have our individual personalities, but we're really trying to disregard those in favor of reaching a height as a collective, independent of any one person's perceptions.

JR: How often do you reach that height?

KS: It hasn't happened yet! (laughs) But every time we play a gig recently, I feel like we've reached a higher plateau.

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Mimonokoto's MySpace page is here.