Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on June 2011
Courtesy of Sony Music Artists
Japanese music fans tend to divide along fairly clear lines between those who prefer hogaku (domestic music), and those into yogaku (Western music).
Until recently, the young haafu singer for Okamoto’s was firmly in the latter camp, a minority in a hogaku-dominated market. “I used to listen strictly to Western music,” answers Sho Okamoto when talk turns to influences in an interview at Sony records.
“I couldn’t relate to Japanese rock until I discovered bands like Murahachibu and Sonhouse,” he adds. “There’s something naïve but compelling about Murahachibu’s lyrics—it’s something current Japanese rock lacks. I was also blown away when I found out how hard-living they were. They were real rock ‘n’ rollers.”
The influence of 60s and 70s Western rock on early Japanese bands like Murahachibu was perhaps stronger when compared to today’s more diverse music market. But the indelible imprint of Western rock on the Okamoto’s template explains why the West has been so quick to pick up on them. Barely 20, the quartet has already toured North America and Australia.
Yet the group still gets the “it came from Japan” treatment. “We were in the States for two weeks last year, and we were treated as an eccentric Japanese band,” Okamoto says. Born to a Japanese mother and American father, the singer lived in New York until he was five and can sing in fluent English.
Adding an extra twist to the picture is the fact that Okamoto’s take their name and inspiration from legendary Japanese avant-garde artist Taro Okamoto, whose giant mural adorns Shibuya Station.
“We were contacted by the organizers of his 100th birthday event,” the younger Okamoto says of his namesake. “We thought they would demand we change our name, but instead they invited us to play.”
Okamoto explains that it was the other Okamoto’s dynamism and forthrightness that moved he and his band mates—guitarist Koki, drummer Reiji and bassist Hama—to name themselves after him.
“He was like an artistic explosion,” Okamoto enthuses. “We took inspiration from him but hadn’t yet written a song inspired by him—until our new album due out in September.
“I think it’s one of our best yet,” he says about their raucous new single. “The title is ‘Yokubo Sakebe’—it’s about embracing your inevitable appetites rather than trying to resist them.”
Like the Ramones, the band, formed by high school mates in suburban Machida, uses one last name for all members. “We think of ourselves as a quintessential rock band,” Sho Okamoto says. “We don’t have a singer-songwriter-leader type heading the band. Each of us has something to contribute—that’s another thing we have in common with 60s and 70s bands. Each member was a hero.”
Young as they are, the Shinjuku-based Okamoto’s are still old enough to have grown up before YouTube made the entire history of rock only a mouse click away.
“We would go to used bookstores and rifle through old magazines,” Okamoto recalls. “That’s how we discovered bands such as the Stooges and MC5 that preceded what was in the charts when we were teens, like Green Day. If you listen only to the charts it’s hard to find these bands because current Japanese groups don’t reference them as influences.”
In one month’s time, the Okamoto’s live out another rock ‘n roll fantasy. “Getting to appear at Fuji Rock is a dream come true,” admits the singer. “None of us has ever been to Fuji or Summer Sonic.”
July 28, 7pm, ¥3,150. Akasaka Blitz. Tel: Hot Stuff 03-5720-9999.
Fuji Rock Festival ‘11
Coldplay, Yellow Magic Orchestra and many others. Jul 29, 9am; Jul 30, 9am; Jul 31, 9am, ¥16,800 (one-day pass)/¥39,800 (three-day pass). Naeba Ski Resort. Nearest stn: Echigo Yuzawa. Tel: Smash 03-3444-6751. www.smash-uk.com/frf11
