iNTERViEWED
BY BRiAN LUSH
The Laguna Beach-based band ITALIAN JAPANESE have a primal,
ambient sound that will hopefully mark the next phase of music that we
can
expect to hear from the
Pacific Coast.
Their debut CD
‘THE LUSH ROMANTIC WEIRDNESS’ was over two years in the making and the
end
result is intoxicating. An unassuming echo-y guitar opens up ‘LE PONY’
before a
driving electro rock rhythm is established recalling ‘1979’ by the
SMASHING
PUMPKINS . Lead singer ALLEN’s whispery vocals float ethereally above
the
progress being made by the band. It’s the perfect ode to summer romance
and I’m
only guessing that the track would’ve made great backing for the long
canceled
FOX series THE O.C. ‘MINUS’ is a brighter number with the same driving
rhythm
as ‘LE PONY’ but is undoubtedly more assertive. Two-thirds of the way
through,
the percussion grows incessant and the vocals, more hurried as if
counting down
the remaining seconds of a relationship before it collapses. ‘JEREMIAH’
opens
deceptively with distorted noise only for it to fade to the background
behind a
plaintively strummed acoustic guitar and ALLEN’s distant coo.
Gradually, a
fuzzy electric guitar comes in and a sense of abandon and recklessness
are
created when a slow and steady tribal beat sends the elegant track into
high
orbit.
ROCKWIRED
spoke with the drummer CHRIS (No last names are
given) over the phone. Here is how it went.
Now
that the album is
out there for everybody to hear, how do you feel about the finished
work?
We are all very proud of it. It took a long time to put the
album together. It’s taken about two years.
We finally finished working on it over the summer
and it was a long
journey with a lot of heartache but eventually the whole thing came
together. I
think that it’s a solid first album for any band. Of course we have
high hopes
of progressing and making better records from here on out but I think
this is
the best music that I have ever recorded.
Why did it take two
years?
We started recording this album back in the beginning of
2007 and about one month into recording it we got the sense that we
just
weren’t ready. In that time we had about two or three songs and
eventually our
other guitar player left the band so we had to regroup. We came
together as a
band and started writing songs. What we came up with initially just
sounded so
defragmented. Nothing seemed to come together so we started recording
and
developing new songs. After a while, our sound finally came together.
Talk about the
genesis of this band?
I met the lead singer ALLEN while I was in advertising
school in 2006. A friend of ours introduced us and we all started
writing music
together. Once I had finished school I started developing these songs
and
developing this band. In the beginning we had another guitar player but
he
quit. The bass player who recorded on this record was from Italy
and he
decided to go back because he was bummed that we weren’t playing shows.
JUSTIN
– the drummer – was with the band the whole time but went into rehab
before we
went in to record the album the second time. He was in rehab for about
six
months. That is pretty much the culmination of everything. No matter
what, we
all just kept plugging away.
It all sounds
exciting. It’s got all of the elements of a reality series. You’ve got Orange
County,
a view of the ocean, rock n roll and rehab.
Actually I’m the only one that’s in Orange County.
JUSTIN, NOAH and ALLAN are in San
Diego and SEAN
is up in Silver
Lake.
I’m kind of stuck in the middle of
the map.
How did music begin
for you as an individual?
I started playing music when I was seventeen. I actually
started playing the bas and I just fell in love. Back in ’97 me and
SEAN were
in a band called COLOR TURNING in an we used to play at this place
called CUE
CAFÉ in Santa
Ana, California
which was really quite popular. It
was a really exciting time. I was in that band until 2003 and it didn’t
get
into music again until around 2006 when I hooked up with ALLEN. I just
fell in
love with doing music again. It’s been a long road.
Talk about your band
mates. What do you thing each of them brings to the table both
musically and
personality-wise that makes it work?
ALLEN is the lead singer and he’s toured around the world
with this older band that he was in. He’s got a great range and a great
voice
and he’s good at arranging the songs melodically. SEAN joined the band
after
the record was completed in September and he brings good ideas in terms
of
atmosphere and sound. JUSTIN is an explosive drummer and he’s into a
lot of
different types of music. He gives us some unique beats and not the
standard
4/4 cookie cutter stuff. His rhythms are very intricate. NOAH is the
bass
player and he also joined the band in September after the album was
completed.
He’s an awesome bass player. He just turned eighteen but he’s come
along way
musically since joining that band. He’s just awesome and really
confident.
Explain the creative
process within this band. How do you go about writing songs?
Most of our songs get written during practice. One of us
will come up with a riff and the rest of us will listen to it and work
on an
arrangement based off of that riff. From there we develop a vocal
melody while
we jam out on it and when that happens we’ve got about eighty-percent
of the
song done. The other twenty percent of the song gets developed in
practice. All
of our songs are written as a band. It’s never just one person.
Who did the band work
with in terms of production?
We worked with JUSTIN’s brothers actually. JON GREEN was the
recording engineer and he had actually tracked most of the record. His
other
brother RYAN GREEN was the one who produced it and helped us out with
most of
the arrangements. He’s based in Arizona
so we
went out to Scottsdale
to work on it.
What songs off the
album resonate for you the most and why?
It think the songs MINUS and LE PONY are the ones that stand
out for me the most. Those are the songs that just hit you right away.
I
remember creating thoe songs in our jam sessions and those two songs
really
flowed out. The energy in the room was awesome. Those two have that
hook to
them that I really like. I can’t speak for anyone else in the band but
those
two songs are the top choices for me.
Describe the reaction
to the bands live shows?
It’s been awesome. We did our first show in January in San Diego
and the place
was packed. We’ve gotten great responses and they’ve been playing our
stuff on
91X and 94.9 in San Diego.
We’ve also been played twice on KROQ in Los Angeles.
People have really been coming out to support
us and it’s awesome.
Any plans to tour?
We are looking into to touring this summer. At the moment,
we are diligently trying to contact booking agents. Who knows? We might
just
start booking our own shows. We’re working hard to market ourselves and
not
wait around for a record label.
What would you like a
person to come away with after having heard you r music?
I would like for them to like the record and want to go out
and buy it and tell all of their friends about it.
I want people to feel happy that they have
discovered us and to think that our music is interesting and that the
songs are
well structured.
MAY 10,
2010
BRiAN
LUSH (FOUNDER,
EDiTOR-iN-CHiEF)
