The Japanese music sensibility is nothing if not unpredictable. Sure,
you've got Jpop, which is by definition as formulaic as can be, but
once you start poking around at the edges, there is no
shortage of surprises.
One of the biggest surprises is the relative dearth of glam bands.
Seeing as how Kiss more or less stole their makeup from Kabuki theatre,
the mutual, decades long love fest with glam superstars such as David
Bowie and Marc Bolan, and that Technicolor attention grabbing is the
norm for pretty much every modern Japanese medium, you'd think the
place would be positively overflowing with platform shoed wannabes.
You'd be wrong. Very wrong. While Japan had bands like Rouge and Vodka
Collins during glam's heyday, they were seriously toned down, didn't
last long (even in terms of glam bands,) and they're generally excluded
from the constant reissue fests that make up such a huge part of the
Japanese record geek scene. So Young Parisian, and its vocalist
Tsuneglam Sam, aren't just an anomaly: they're downright freakish. Five
Tokyo gents (?) who take Gary Glitter stomp, Slade sing alongs, and
Bowie dramatics, and mix them up in their aesthetic blender, creating
music that simultaneously embodies the 70s and (thanks to their novelty
in the scene) remains completely fresh.
Recently, Jrawk sat down with Tsuneglam Sam in a club in Shimokitazawa
to discuss glitter, superheroes, and the sweet anticipation of tragedy.
JR: What inspired Tsuneglam Sam?
TS: I was a very mannish looking kid, tough looking, and I
didn't want that kind of image for the band. There are so
many bands that take a tough pose, it's actually pretty
aggressive to play a character as slinky as feminine as Tsuneglam Sam.
I was influenced mostly by David Bowie and Ippu-Do.
JR: Has that persona ever landed you in trouble?
TS: No problems from fights or anything, but it has sometimes caused
problems in terms of people not taking the band seriously.
JR: Has it caused booking problems, then? There
aren't really many glam bands in the Japanese scene, I would
imagine some live houses don't know what to do with you.
TS: Not with bookings, but sometimes, we're booked together
with some tough guy bands, and they tend to give us some abuse. One
group tore our clothes!
JR: Young Parisian didn't start off as glitzy as they are
now, How long did it take for the idea behind clothes and makeup to
emerge?
TS Immediately. We were supposed to be one hit wonders! But after our
first show, we got booked again right away, and it's been
that way ever since. We never talked about any specific vision of the
band, it just happened.
Most bands talk about what they want to do. We never did that. We just
played, people booked us, and things went from there.
I was putting on makeup at our first show, but I hadn't
discussed it with anyone. When I looked up from the mirror, everybody
had been putting makeup on too! (laughs)
JR: How do you think of the character, how do you think of yourself?
TS: I'm a messenger from space, a missionary. My first song
was called “Glitter Satelliter.” There are so many
glam stars in our universe, and I'm the satellite between our
universe and the Earth.
JR: What's your most important piece of clothing?
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| Young Parisian's Debut (2006) |
TS: Platform boots. They symbolize the entire era.
JR: What is glam?
TS: Glam is a mutation, a mutation of Rock ‘n' Roll.
JR: What do you prefer, real or fake?
TS: I want a real fake!
JR: Who in rock is a perfect fake?
TS: (Immediately) Gary Glitter!
JR: Is there anything you'd like to do with the band that
hasn't been done yet?
TS: A lot. I don't have my own manga (comic book.)
JR: Manga?
TS: Like Kiss. I will destroy evil. I will fight the soldiers in the
bars when they tease prostitutes! I throw glitter into their eyes.
JR: Musically, where do you see yourself going?
TS: I want to approach black music, like (David Bowie's)
Young America. It would be called After The Glitter.
JR: Bowie, Bolan…these men had a tragedy, a fall in their
lives. What will be yours?
TS: The second album had some disco. Usually when rock bands try to do
disco, they usually fail, but I want to keep after it. And I want to do
a solo album, and wear a white tuxedo on the front. It would be made up
of jazz standards, and no one will buy it! (laughs)
JR: Do you ever feel like a fish out of water?
TS: Always. Always. Since I was a child.
JR: Do you think you amplify the character in an attempt to define
yourself, or is it all just a laugh?
TS: I don't just amplify the character, I amplify my senses,
my whole being.
JR: OK, change of subject. Do you see yourself as a specifically Japanese
glam musician, or a glam musician who happens to be Japanese?
TS: I'm a Japanese musician playing glam. I'm going
with my Japanese sense.
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| All That Glitters (2009) |
JR: How do you think that differs from the Western sense?
TS: I can absorb everything, not just from the local scene. I can pick
and choose between the two, whereas those two scenes had distinctive
flavors.
JR: Do you think your music could have existed outside Japan?
TS: Hmm…last time we played, a got a lot of good feedback
from non-Japanese. So yes. I want to be heard in the places glam came
from, and now there's the internet making that possible. We
get some good feedback from outside Japan, but I'm not sure
if it's our music, or the novelty of the band. Do you know
Frank Chickens? (NOTE: Frank Chickens was a London based Japanese duo
with a strong component of humor.) That's not the kind of
band we are, and sometimes I'm concerned people see us that
way.
I don't have any particular nationalism. I don't
get worked up when we do well in the Olympics, for example. I
don't think much in terms of patriotism.
But Japanese people tend to be very precise. For example, if someone
likes 50s music, they'll try to replicate that as closely as
possible. Punk, Mods, whatever. If I weren't Japanese, I
might not be as obsessive about the details of glam.
I love punk, but I'm not punk. If I did punk, it would feel
like I was running from something, trying something easier.
JR: Why be in a copy band, rather than absorbing glam as an influence
in a more personal sound?
TS: It started as a hobby, just playing with friends. We
didn't plan anything, we didn't think too much
about it. But I wasn't a satellite yet! (laughs)
Now I'm a satellite, sending music into the world. If someone
doesn't receive the music, they're missing the
sense.
JR: Does the character ever take over?
TS: It's happening right now! (laughs) Sometimes
I'll revert to myself on stage, and I'll hold on to
the character. Not now! Sometimes, I do forget which is which.
JR: Any plans for the next album?
TS: No concrete plans, but I have the next five albums figured out in
my head. I'm waiting for reality to catch up.
JR: Hmm…so is this whole thing dream fulfillment? Did you
have this sequence of albums figured out ahead of time?
TS: Since I was a child. This is why I'm in a band.
I've been thinking about all this since I was a child. But
it's difficult…in my imagination, I'm
supposed to be married to a black woman, but it hasn't
happened yet! (NOTE: both David Bowie and T Rex's Mark Bolan
were married to black women.)
JR: Just make sure you follow the Bowie/Bolan path, and not the Gary
Glitter path. Well, maybe not all of the Bolan path.
TS: (laughs) I'll be careful!
