One of the great things about this job is the uncovering of major
artists that have, for purely logistical reasons, been
underexposed outside their native country. As a young record geek back
in the 80s, I picked up Sheena and the Rokkets' Stateside debut,
"Sheena and the Rokkets in the USA," at a used record shop in Columbus,
Ohio (I also ended up working there, but that's another story.) In that
pre-alternative rock, pre-internet environment, it could be a major
challenge simply to find anything beyond major label "classic" rock
from my own country, let alone imports of anything more from this
crazed bunch of Japanese rock obsessives.
At that time, in their native land, Sheena and the Rokkets were already
well on their way to becoming a Rock 'n' Roll institution, rubbing
shoulders with Elvis Costello, The Ramones, Dr. Feelgood, and countless
other punk rock peers. But I'm getting ahead of myself: in the Summer
of '77, Sonhouse guitarist Makoto Ayukawa decided it would be fun to
start a band with his girlfriend. After settling on a name (see below,)
they re-recorded Sonhouse's "Lemon Tea," had a hit, and thereby kicked
off one of the most influential and well regarded careers in Japanese
rock history. The bands they've influenced are legion, and now, over
three decades later, they're still taking the stage, showing their much
younger opening acts how it's done, and spreading the rock 'n' roll
gospel.
Last year, the band celebrated their 30th anniversary with a new album,
"Japanik." Where most artists entering their fourth decade would sand
off some of those rough edges, Sheena and the Rokkets have, if
anything, gotten sweatier and less polished, more dedicated to the core
essence of dirty rock 'n' roll than before. Recently, Ayukawa and
Sheena sat down with Jrawk to discuss computers, punk rock, and the
risks of being wrapped in clingfilm.
MA: Makoto Ayukawa / SH: Sheena / JR: Jrawk
JR:
"Japanik" marked the 30th anniversary of the band. Did you get back
together for the 30th anniversary? The previous album was back in 2000.
MA: It just happened that way! We're always, always thinking of making
the next album. But we hadn't had a new album in eight years...we felt
that was too long.
JR: "Japanik" is a very straight rock 'n' roll album, very no frills.
That's in contrast with some of your past catalog, like "@Heart," which
had some electronic touches. Did you consciously want to return to the
basics?
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| Japanik (2008) |
SH: It just happened that way, we didn't really have a plan.
MA: (nods) When we made "@Heart," we were thinking we wanted to work
with (Yellow Magic Orchestra mastermind Harry) Hosono-san again. He's
the top guy for electronic music, always has a lot of great ideas.
Sheena and I had just bought a computer in 1995, right when Windows 95
was released. I was really interested in computers, and I made some
music...well, I tried to make some computer music at home! (laughs) I
did it, I made a few songs, but I got bored. The first time was
interesting, but the next time, nothing happened. I decided we should
get our beat from Mr. Hosono's computer mind...
We felt great about our experience making "Synkuu Pack" with him, our
second album. It was fun to play guitar with computer effects...just
hit the button, "Ready, Set, Go!" (laughs)
JR: Chris Mosdell wrote the lyrics for the title track of "Japanik."
It's a very apocalyptic song, reflecting the troubles Japan is facing.
Did you set out to write a "serious" song?
SR: Sometimes I want to talk about serious topics, not just rock 'n'
roll and love songs. Sometimes I want to make statements, like a movie.
MA: Chris had written the lyrics first, he gave them to me about five
years ago. I thought I needed to write a song around them, they're
great, exciting, interesting lyrics. I see a panic in the world, but
it's difficult to address, since people don't like to talk about it.
But Mosdel-san has a very pure mind, he's very direct. It's a serious
idea, but it's up to others, the listeners, to decide. Each person's
feeling is valid. It took five or six years for the music to come.
I was a little lazy! (laughs) We were busy with another project. On our
25th anniversary, our record company wanted to make a video, a live
recording. Then the next year, in 2006, our back catalog was being
reissued through Sony, and we were busy with the remastering. But
that's just my excuse, I was really being lazy! (laughs)
We're busy all the time, playing live, making music. Everything starts
with those two things.
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| #1 (1979) |
JR: To trace the history a bit, how did the band come together? You
were originally in Sonhouse, then formed Sheena and the Rokkets later.
Didn't the first album come out on Sheena-san's birthday?
MA: That was a coincidence! We started in May or June of the previous
year, thinking about band names. Hmm...rock...rocket...
Her name is Etsuko, so we thought rock...Etsuko...rock
Etsuko...Rokkets! First we were just The Rokkets, but then I started
thinking about Sheena. My grandmother's name was Sheena, and my
favorite band is the Ramones, who sang "Sheena is a Punk Rocker." So
she became Sheena!
That summer, we had the band in our heads already. By autumn, we had a
fixed lineup.
JR: So when the first album came out, you were part of a scene called
Mentai Rock.
MA: Mentai Rock was a convenient tag for bands that came from Kyushu,
Fukuoka specifically. There were a lot of bands that were called Mentai
Rock, although the bands themselves usually didn’t think of
themselves as Mentai Rock. It's a term that came from a music magazine,
or something, but we didn't identify with it.
JR: What's "Mentai?"
MA: Mentaiko is a kind of roe or caviar, it's very hot, comes from
Korea. Very spicy, lot of chillis. It was a popular souvenir, a big
thing, it was really the thing to get if you went to Hataka.
JR: The second album, "Synkuu Pack," had you working with Harry Hosono
(YMO, Happy End.)
MA: We have really good memories from that period. We were working with
Hosono-san, everybody from Yellow Magic Orchestra. They're more of a
project band, working with an idea rather than as a live unit. My
definition of a rock band is just..."Go Sheena!" Lots of volume, play
guitar, very fast, play 40 minutes, then bye-bye! That's all. But
YMO...they take time. Back then, electronic music took a lot of time
and equipment, one or two hours to set up. It was much more cerebral,
and I love their outlook.
Anyway, Hosono-san is a pioneer, and working with him meant that he
showed us his way of producing a record. We didn't really have an idea
of how to do that. Watching him...he was very methodical, planned
everything: the studio, the engineer, he'd write it all in his notebook
before he'd even start. We didn't do that...let's play, think about it
later!
|
|
Synkuu
Pack (1980)
left: original cover / right: replacement cover
click to enlarge |
JR: There was some controversy about the cover: you were wrapped in
cellophane.
MA: The photographer was Sukita-san, Masayoshi Sukita, a very famous
photographer (NOTE: Sukita-san is responsible for several David Bowie
album covers, as well as T. Rex and countless others.) We were happy to
work with him as well...we're both from Fukuoka. He had the idea to
wrap us in cellophane.
We loved the cover, everybody was happy except Murai-san, the president
of Alfa Records. He wanted to change it, because he thought people
should be able to see our faces better. He was right, actually, so we
thank him for that. About six months later, we changed it to a
different cover.
We got lucky with one song, "You May Dream." Japan Air Lines (JAL) used
it in a commercial. Sheena sang some different lyrics for the
commercial, and it became a very well known song. It opened a lot of
doors, we got to meet a lot of people through that.
JR: You continued to work with Hosono-san through the next album,
"Channel Good."
MA: We were touring with The Ramones, when they first came to Japan in
1980, June or July...June, I think. We had a meeting with Hosono-san
and (Yukihiro) Takahashi-san (also of YMO,) and Hosono-san said he had
other things happening. So Takahashi-san spent more time with us on
"Channel Good."
JR: Did the experience change the way you write?
SH: Not really. Maybe I got better! (laughs)
MA: We don't plan too much ahead. We write the song, go to the studio,
record. We need more songs? OK, let's play some more, keep going. Once
we have ten songs, OK, there's the new album.
JR: What about your work outside Japan? "Happy House" was recorded in
New York City.
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| Happy House (1988) |
MA: Yes, that was our first experience outside Japan. That's more good
memories, it was an exciting time.
SH: I love New York! There's a kind of magic power everywhere around
there. It's spiritual, I got it from everywhere. Every time I go there,
I feel that.
JR: How did you hook up with (Dr. Feelgood mainman) Wilco Johnson?
MA: I had been a big fan of Wilco since I was in Sonhouse. Sonhouse's
first album was called "Uchoten," Dr. Feelgood's first album came out
at around the same time, and I was knocked out. I thought that maybe,
in some ways, it was better than ours. But then, I think that in some
ways, ours was better! (laughs) He can't sing in Japanese!
We were a little more bluesy...we were a little more reverential of the
blues, whereas Dr. Feelgood were less so. So anyway, I had always
dreamed of working with Wilco. In the mid 80s, (Masa) Hidaka-san, of
Fuji Rock/Smash, he booked Wilco Johnson solo. He invited me, because
he knew I loved his work...I was always talking about him in
interviews. He was surprised when he discovered how much younger I was
than him! (laughs)
Masa called me to join his band on stage for some live radio
program...and Wilco remembered my name when he introduced the
musicians! That's great...a lot of musicians can't remember Japanese
names, it's pretty difficult. But he remembered after being told once.
Masa helped make that a reality.
JR: You have a lot of what could be called classic influences...rock
'n' roll, of course, but also blues, 60s soul...do you ever think of
yourself as a blues band, or soul band?
MA: We think of ourselves as a straight rock 'n' roll band. We use very
basic, rock 'n' roll instruments: bass, guitar, drums, and Sheena's
vocals...that's all. We don't really bring session musicians in too
much...sometimes, but not too much. But we're a punk rock band, but we
have a lot of respect of blues, Phil Spector, things like that.
I'm very interested in Old American music. Bob Dylan has an internet
radio show, plays a lot of old, obscure American music. I'm very
interested in that, we're still learning about it. We grew up with
American music, The Beatles, British music. We prefer Western music.
JR: What was your first exposure to Western music?
SH: Movies. Seeing Elvis in the movies.
AM: The radio would have the hit charts as well, I was attracted to Ray
Charles, Little Richard...
SH: I love dance music, things like "The Twist," the jitterbug...dance
music.
AM: But really, The Beatles. They seemed to invite me to play: "you can
do it!" It spoke to me. I had been listening to Little Richard, Ray
Charles, Elvis, and it sounded great. But I can't play that...it
required technique that I didn't have. But when I heard The Rolling
Stones, The Beatles...that power made me start playing music.
JR: One thing that really stands out about Sheena and the Rokkets is
your image. Ayukawa-san always has his sunglasses and guitar,
Sheena-san has the outfits and the teased hair...
SH: It just happened naturally for me. I love American comic books,
that's where I got some of it.
AM: I love playing music. My goal was just to play music, like The
Stones, or Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix...rock 'n'
rollers. I just played naturally, I didn't really try to hype myself. I
don't like to force myself on people...I just want people to naturally
enjoy the music.
But...when we played with Elvis Costello for the first time, we thought
maybe we could try to show off a bit more. Tokyo is a difficult place
to keep a band going, so I thought maybe we need to stick out. We
needed gigs...we'd play Shinjuku Loft, or places like that, and look
out to see how many people were there. It was great, but we needed to
get our name out. We learned that from Mr. Costello.
JR: What do you think is the single most important thing in rock 'n'
roll?
AM: Being real, to decide to do it. But sometimes, the beat. The beat
is what got me, I still want to be inside the beat. It's the same as a
heartbeat, it means I'm alive. A living man should rock!
SH: Love! (laughs)
JR: Do you have a favorite Sheena and the Rokkets album?
AM: I love everything! Each song is like my child. There aren't any
songs I don't ever want to play again...freedom is one of the most
important things in a rock 'n' roll band.
JR: Do you think you'll ever stop?
AM: No!
SH: No, it's my life.
AM: I'm thankful that I can do this...I'm not sure who I'm thanking!
(laughs) But I move my hands, play guitar, move my lips, and it feels
right. The band always gets together when we need it...we're thankful
to be able to do that. We have to keep playing.
JR: What would you do if you couldn't play rock 'n' roll?
SH: I'd create rock 'n' roll all over again! (laughs)
JR: What do you want to do next?
AM: (thinks) We're in history, we're part of history, but we're not
trapped in it. We're always thinking about our next live show, our next
record. Sometimes we enjoy thinking about the past, but we're only
happy if we can play our next show. That's what I'm living for, I need
to live for the next show.
