Yakochu

JR: OK, so...Yakochu. Online research says that yakochu is an old video game...(band laughs)...and a phosphorescent algae that makes ocean waves glow red.

MD: We liked the image of red, glowing waves. It's a great psychedelic image.

JR: What were you doing before Yakochu?

AN: I was playing drums in a jam band.

LS: I was originally a bass player in a band called Aural Fit, who have releases on PSF. I left after the first album.

MD: I was playing my songs alone, with bass, under my own name, and those songs eventually became Yakochu songs. I started about four and a half years ago, and the band formed shortly after in June (2004).

JR: So the songs come from Madoka: how complete are they before the band hears them?

AN: She brings in bass lines and vocal lines, we add the arrangements.

LS: Basically, she comes in with as much as she had when she performed alone, then we flesh it out.

AN: Really, the most important thing is to come up with something that fits, that's enjoyable for us and the audience. We don't really push, we're there to arrange and fill out the songs. We make suggestions, of course, but what we do is something that only she can really do, and that defines the band. Our egos don't really factor in at all.

LS: It's her band, and we keep that in mind. There have been times we have conflict, especially between me and Madoka. (laughs) For example, I love 70s Japanese guitarists like (Flower Travellin' Band's) Hideki Ishima, and (Far Out's) Eiichi Sayu, but she has more of a garage pop aesthetic. Sometimes, she'll say "that tone is too heavy!" (both laugh) I'll also keep audience reaction in mind, or sometimes they'll recommend something: turn down the fuzz, something like that. That said, the song really isn't finished until we play it live. That's its final form. Even when we rehearse, we keep in mind that the song isn't finished until we play it on a stage. Our upcoming CD is mostly live.

JR: Do you discuss the lyrics beforehand, or do you add parts in a purely musical sense?

AN: I can get the emotion through the song in a purely musical sense. I don't really think about the lyrics too much.

LS: I'm thinking about the lyrics, and I'm playing to them, but I still have a lot of freedom. If she doesn't like it, she'll tell me! It's pretty straightforward, she comes in with the idea, and we go from there.

JR: What kind of influences do you have?

MD: Punk rock and Patti Smith, as well as stuff like Yura Yura Teikoku and Maki Asakawa.

LS: Yeah, she's the Japanese Billie Holiday!

MD: But I didn't really listen to Japanese music when I was growing up. I was much more interested in America and England.

AN: I started listening to music and playing drums more or less simultaneously, so I didn't really have any pre set influences, but I started getting serious after I heard Led Zeppelin for the first time.

LS: I was heavily into soundtrack music, Bernard Hermann, Toru Takemitsu, the soundtracks for Nagisa Oshima films, things like that. Also Akira Ifube, the guy who did Godzilla! Then I heard the soundtrack to "Apocalypse Now," which was done by members of the Grateful Dead, and there's a Doors song ("The End") in it too. That was my first exposure to psychedelic music. It struck me as very weird! (laughs)

AN: Of course, there was Japanese pop on TV and things like that. Anyone who grew up here was exposed to a lot of that.

LS: But in the 80s, it was extremely difficult to find older Japanese music, like GS (NOTE: GS, or "Group Sounds," was the Japanese response to the music of the British Invasion. Bands like The Jaguars, The Tempters, The Spiders and others started off aping foreign influences, but developed their own distinctive style very quickly. GS is highly respected within the Japanese rock community, much like the British Invasion is in the West today.) When CDs came out, that changed considerably. But when we were growing up, older Japanese music simply wasn't available, unless you wanted to spend a lot of money.

JR: The first time I heard the band, I was strongly reminded of the Velvet Underground, particularly Madoka's resemblance to Nico.

LS: You have a good ear! (laughs)

MD: (This statement causes Madoka to brighten up considerably.) Oh! I love the Velvets, Shocking Blue, Jefferson Airplane. Female fronted bands were a strong influence, of course. I'm not really trying to emulate them, but the influence finds its way into the music: when I come up with a song, it's something I'm focused on as being mine.

JR: You have a song on Tokyo Flashback 6 (NOTE: Tokyo Flashback is a well regarded series of releases by the PSF label that have involved such luminaries as Keiji Haino, White Heaven, High Rise, and many others.) Will there be an album?

LS: It's finished, we're hoping it comes out this year. It's mostly live, plus some tracks we recorded with Dan (NOTE: Dan Gear, translator for this interview, is a former member.) I think Dan's a very good player! (laughs)

DG: Make sure you print that! (laughs)

LS: I really think so. Really, I'm not kidding! (laughs)

JR: What kind of ambitions do you have? Where would you like to see the band go?

LS: We're just focused on getting the CD out now, obviously we'd like to expand, play bigger places, but the CD is the first step.

JR: How much does ambition drive the band?

LS: (laughs) We haven't reached a consensus! Our personal opinions are quite different, but it's important to keep a balance between private life and the band. Of course we have musical ambitions, but as a band we all have the same issues: we have jobs we have to work, etc. We keep a realistic view of it.

JR: What do you get out of playing in Yakochu?

MD: The ability to express myself. I'm essentially confirming my existence when I'm playing with this band.

AN: Me too! On top of that, I love playing, meeting people through the scene.

LS: I'm impressed with her originality, what she brings to her songs. Also, I'm a bass player first. When I joined, it was my first time playing guitar. The band's a good education for playing guitar, learning how to arrange songs. If she was simply copying some influence or other, there wouldn't be much to learn. It's also quite an experience playing with Ainsley, interacting with a drummer in a way that's different than what typically happens when I'm a bassist.

JR: You mentioned conflict: how much does internal friction drive the band?

AN: It's always been positive when we gets our opinions out, it's good to keep them from being bottled up. Absolutely, the friction can push in in directions we might not otherwise go.

MD: They come up with arrangements, sometimes I won't care for them, but even those ideas give me ideas, and songs will grow from that.

Growth is a natural process that doesn't necessarily need conflict. Actually, when we started, the songs were darker. But since we've been together, the songs have lightened up.

LS: Actually, the growth has really shown up more in recording. Playing live, the changes might not be apparent, but I think that people will hear some significantly different ideas when they hear the studio tracks.

AN: I'm really interested in seeing how people will react to the album. We were talking about how the songs are truly finished when we're in front of an audience, and the album will work in a similar way. It's really going to be a turning point in how we perceive ourselves.

JR: You mentioned that your songs are getting lighter. Do you think this is a result of getting them out?

MD: The way I feel is, obviously, directly reflected in the songs. The general feeling is lighter, and that's definitely because I've been getting it out through the band.

JR: What would you be doing if you didn't have the band?

MD: Drawing, probably.

AN: I wouldn't really be motivated to play the drums, actually. I'd probably just play for my own amusement on the weekends.

LS: I do free form bass improv, I'd be doing a lot more of that! (laughs)

JR: Speaking of which, I've noticed the way you play guitar is different than what I normally would have expected from someone who starts from a bass background. A lot more clean notes, out front guitar lines.

LS: I get a lot of that from working with her, how to apply chords, for example. I tend to play in explicitly different ways to push my understanding of the instrument. If I hear an idea in my head, I want to make sure I can get it out, so I do a lot of exploring of the instrument itself.

JR: So what's next? Where do you see the band going?

MD: Get the album done, get it out, and play to new people. There's no set plan, but we're ready to expand.

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Yakochu, as well as several other Tokyo bands, are on PSF's "Tokyo Flashback 6," which can be ordered at PSF's page (scroll to the bottom for the "Tokyo Flashback 6" listing, use the link at the top to order.)