Interpretation by Reiko Sawamoto

 

Unless you're active in the Tokyo rock scene, you've probably never heard of Motopsycho R&R Service. And yet, if you follow Japanese rock to any serious degree, you've undoubtedly heard them. This rock trio's members have been key players in some of Japan's biggest bands, like The Roosters, VooDoo Hawaiians, Friction, The Willard, Mayumi Chiwaki, Zi:LiE-Ya, Mosquito Spiral, Loopus and others.

With all those bands under their collective belts, it's not surprising that they're a strong live unit. The Motopsycho R&R Service harness all that firepower for good time, straight ahead, unpretentious rock 'n' roll, taking such disparate tunes like Louis Prima's "Sing Sing Sing" and Fleetwood Mac's "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked in Tonight" and giving them traditional but nonetheless fresh new life.

Despite this, the trio themselves remain modest in their goals, with one EP as their sole release. They're driven by rock 'n' roll as an art form, thinking only of how to put their unique stamp on the music they love. Recently, they sat down with Jrawk in the backstage of a small Kabukicho live house to discuss rock 'n roll, the lineage of the rock 'n' roll sound, the universality of rock 'n' roll, and rock 'n' roll.

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JR: All three of you have impressive histories on your own. How did this particular band come together?

TS: We just started playing in bars, mostly just drinking and playing together, and eventually we started getting offers from live houses. It was all very matter of fact, hence the name: R&R Service. We're delivery men! (laughs)

JR: Your individual pasts are with big, loud bands, often with strong punk influences, but Motopsycho R&R Service is straight, no frills rock 'n' roll.

NA: I'm from Fukuoka City, in Kyushu. Sonhouse was the big band in the area at the time, they were at their peak. They played straight blues rock, pub rock, British beat, stuff like that. I was in High School at the time, they left a big impression. There was also Sheena and the Rokkets, which featured (former Sonhouse guitarist Makoto) Ayukawa-san. Punk started growing when I was a teenager, but more straightforward rock 'n' roll was still my first love.

Sumida and Anai in action

TS: I like simple rock 'n' roll. Simple is best. Stuff like Nine Inch Nails, for example...people get tired of that kind of thing eventually, they grow out of it. But simple rock 'n' roll retains its power.

MS: Hmmm...I don't really think about it! (everybody laughs)

JR: What first attracted you to rock 'n' roll?

TS: I can release myself.

NA: I hated studying as a kid! (laughs) When punk happened in the UK, it was because the younger generation didn't feel that they had a place, so they rebelled and created their own place in the culture. Same thing with me. I hated school, and when I thought about what I wanted to do with my life, I decided on rock 'n' roll.

TS: Same thing happened in Japan in the 90s. The kids were apathetic. I wanted to do something with it.

JR: You have one EP so far...any plans for an album?

TS: Uh...eventually! (laughs) Maybe next year.

JR: Where do you want to take the band, artistically?

TS: Well, we write songs. But really, with this band, we're more interested in covers. There are so many things we want to cover! Truthfully, we're interested in expanding into other styles that rock has embraced in the past: Latin rhythms, blues...anything that works inside the rock format.

JR: One thing that's interesting about the Japanese scene is how many musicians from successful bands have side projects that are mostly a labor of love: no real focused ambitions, business-wise. I'm an American, I'm used to bands getting together, playing, touring, looking for a recording contract, constantly pushing for exposure. Here, you have a lot of very successful musicians who are playing constantly with bands who don't even seem to be particularly concerned about recording.

NA: (nods) The music business is fundamentally different here. The market is smaller, for one.

TS: Well, there is always the goal of making money from what you love, but like he said, the business is smaller here. There's also the recession to contend with! (everybody laughs) We want to do more, but of course on top of the recession, the actual structure of the business makes things much more difficult (NOTE: Sumida-san is referring to differences between Western and Japanese indie business norms, like higher CD pressing costs, or "pay to play" system of most Tokyo live houses, which often make some things American or UK bands take for granted much more difficult for Japanese bands.)

JR: OK, changing the subject a bit...what was your favorite band growing up?

NA: Chris Spedding. The Beatles, of course. Hmm, who else...

TS: Hey, just one! He said favorite! (everybody laughs)

NA: ...The Yardbirds, I also love Brian Eno and Roxy Music, The Damned...but if I had to pick one, I'd have to say John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Maybe. Or Eno! (everybody laughs) Too many...Chris Spedding, Canned Heat, The Modern Lovers...I love that stuff. 70s music.

Six Rolls  (2007)

ST: Hmm...pass! (laughs)

TS: Hmm, Eno and...if I had to pick one alone, I'd say The Cramps. Everything about them, the music, the songs, the image, the whole package.

NA: Hey, don't forget the Ramones!

JR: Was there a big division between classic rock and punk in Japan? It seems like the split was much less pronounced here.

NA: Yeah. I look at bands like The New York Dolls as punk. When actual "punk" happened, it was just continuing the tradition. There wasn't a clean break.

TS: When I was growing up, the radio would put the Sex Pistols next to T-Rex. It was all rock, there wasn't a big cultural divide in terms of the music. But music is a personal thing. You listen to it as your own music, not necessarily as part of a group.

NA: We play covers, and we can feel the continuing thread of rock 'n' roll throughout it all. When we were kids, there wasn't much in the way of media coverage of this stuff, so we knew the songs, but we didn't really know that there was supposed to be a difference between punk and rock 'n' roll, or any other division, really. So we filled in the blanks with our imagination, and just followed the music. If you look at a song like "The In Crowd," Dobie Gray did the original, Bryan Ferry covered it, and it went from there.

JR: How much did Japanese rock play into all this? Were you more fixated on foreign rock, or did Japanese rock play a major role?

TS: There was stuff like Eleki (a Japanese version of surf music) next to Chuck Berry, but when I was a teenager, there just weren't many famous Japanese bands. I listened to foreign music because that's what was available in terms of rock. For every five foreign bands, there might have been one Japanese band.

NA: Of course, you had Sheena and the Rokkets, Sonhouse, Gedo, others. But they were exceptions.

TS: Even in terms of Japanese bands, the rock bands were pretty Westernized.

JR: Does it feel like there's a division between Japanese rock and foreign rock?

TS: In the past, maybe, but not now. You still have the language barrier, obviously, but that's about it.

JR: In the interviews I've done, people seem to fit into three categories: Japanese musicians who have a strong national identity, Japanese musicians who are adamant that there's no real distinction to be made, and Japanese musicians who never bothered to think about it. How about you?

TS: We're a rock band. We just happen to be in Japan. I've had thoughts about spreading Japanese rock in foreign countries, kind of representing the home team, but it's not such a novelty anymore. The world is getting smaller. You, as an American, can come to Japan and participate in things that are traditionally Japanese. It works the other way as well, and it's not so unusual anymore.

NA: At this point, almost nothing like this matters. You could be young, old, a child, gay, straight, black, white, Japanese...what is rock 'n' roll? The Rolling Stones, Sheena and the Rokkets, Sonhouse...it's all rock 'n' roll. That's what we're after, the rock 'n' roll sound. There used to be this big divide, but the differences don't matter now.

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