Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2011

With her signature Telecaster in hand, Yuu Nakashima takes center-stage and delivers a snappy solo, leaning deeply into her final slide down the fretboard. Anyone who has seen Nakashima pumping out her poppy, danceable and exciting music will tell you how she can energize a crowd of thousands, transforming them into a mass jumping and shouting in unison.

Nakashima’s musical confidence belies her unassuming personal demeanor, which borders on the painfully shy. Her posture is slightly awkward, and long bangs hide half her face. She’s as soft-spoken in person as she is on stage.

For more than a decade, Nakashima has served as lead guitarist and songwriter for the three-piece pop-punk band GO!GO!7188, which has released eight albums while touring Japan extensively. But with GO!GO!’s bassist taking time out with a new baby, Nakashima is focusing on her second group, Chirinuru Wowaka. Shiro Ana, the group’s first album in six years, is due out this spring.

Since Nakashima has already achieved such a high level of success with GO!GO!, many are inclined to think of Chirinuru Wowaka as her new solo project. “No, that’s incorrect,” she says. “I want us to be seen as a band.” After releasing Ten No Mikaku, her first solo record in 2004, Nakashima realized that she was less interested in working alone and decided to form a new band. She sought out the musicians she most wanted to work with, even though she had never met them in person. The band formed in 2005 with bassist Eikichi, drummer Kosaku, and original guitarist Haruhito, who later moved on.

Replacing Haruhito is Wowaka’s newest and youngest member, 25-year-old Natsuki Sakamoto. “I’ve played with so many professional session guitarists,” Nakashima says, “but when Nakki came along, I had the feeling the person I was looking for had finally come.” That is, a guitarist who could play straight and simple, a genuine musician with youthful energy, not a guitar-geek with an oversized effects rack.

The addition of a second guitar is one of the things that separates Nakashima’s two bands. While GO!GO! often goes for an eclectic sound mixing the quirkier elements of punk, ska and rock, Wowaka takes a straight-ahead approach. The band uses double guitars to create a fuller sound that sometimes attains anthemic proportions, such as in “Kasugai,” the catchy lead single from 2005’s Iroha.

The video for the group’s latest single, “White Hole,” further exhibits Wowaka’s rock ’n’ roll prowess. The verse showcases intricate guitar fretwork and Nakashima’s characteristic vocals, which momentarily jump into the falsetto range. Some scenes were shot with the entire band playing in a recording studio. I asked if the band usually recorded with everyone together. “That’s the real thing,” she answers. “Those videos were taken as we were laying down tracks for the actual recording.”

With a Tokyo music scene saturated with hot young bands, will Wowaka be able to compete? “I don’t think there are any bands out there who make music that compares to ours, or that we personify a certain type of band,” Nakashima says. “I play with the belief that music is a force that can’t lose to anyone. I suppose that’s all we can do to compete.”

Apr 23, 6:30pm, ¥3,500 (adv)/¥4,000 (door). Blaze, Shinjuku. Tel: Kyodo 0570-064-708. Shiro Ana release date delayed due to earthquake.