INTERVIEW ~ CHATMONCHY: March 21, 2010
The three-piece all-girl band, CHATMONCHY, made their US debut at SXSW, and followed it up with a short US tour. We got a chance to speak with them before the Japan Nite show in New York.
Please introduce the person to your right.
Eriko: (English) She is Komiko. She plays drum and chorus.
Komiko: (English) She is Akiko. She plays bass and chorus.
Akiko: (English) Her name is Eriko. Eriko plays the guitar and sings.
How did you all meet?
Eriko: We went to the same HS together, and were in the same class.
Akiko: We were in the same music club during college.
When you were selling your first CD, did you ever thinbk you would get as popular as you are now?
Eriko: Obviously we sing in Japanese, so we didn't expect to be here in the US. We were only focused on making it happen in Japan...
What was the most exciting thing about becoming a major artist?
Akiko: Our families were happy!
Eriko: Just the fact that we had professional people around. Before, we were doing it all ourselves, and now we have the tech people, and a manager.
Does that make it a lot easier?
Eriko: It's a mixed feeling. Yes, it makes it easier, but now there's so many people around, it makes it difficult to get our message out, because it goes through a filter, and people have different minds. That makes it difficult.
Komiko: We're from Tokoshima, which is in Shikoku, in the southern part. After we went major, we went to Tokyo, which has a completely different vibe. That was different, and a little bit of a culture shock.
How would you describe CHATMONCHY's music to someone who's never heard it before?
Eriko: It's very difficult!
Komiko: We've actually been thinking about the answer to that since our debut...
Eriko: It's definitely a simple sound, because it's just the three girls. That's all you hear. Individually, we play it fully, but it's still simple. It's difficult to describe that...
What do you want your listeners to hear or think when they listen to your music?
Komiko: In Japan, we like to have more focus on our lyrics, but now that we've performed here in the US, we felt that we could really move people with our groove and our arrangements, musically. So definitely it's both, depending on the country, because people here don't understand the lyrics.
What are your goals as a band?
Komiko: There aren't any. Being a creator, we feel that we shouldn't have a goal, and don't have a goal, being someone who is a creator.
Like having spontaneaty?
Eriko: Since we write the music together, the music is actually leading us, so we rely on where the music takes us, actually.
You guys recently digitally released three of your albums here in the US. What else can we expect from you guys here in the near future?
Komiko: It's the same with our fans over in Japan, it's basically to listen to the new music that we're working on right now. We're constantly making new music, so look forward to that.
Rock music is traditionally dominated by males. Do you feel like you have to work harder to be noticed as a female band?
Akiko: Well definitely when we were first starting out, we thought about that, being a little disadvantaged. But now we feel that we were able to come here because we're three girls. We're very confident now, and happy that we are a three-girl band.
What do you feel when you're performing a live?
Eriko: It varies depending on the day. Sometimes we really concentrate and seriously focus on our music, but sometimes we get annoyed by different things, like the sound mixes, the audience. We easily get distracted by that as well.
What is your idea of a perfect live?
Eriko: That's when we as a band, as well as the audience, can both feel satisfied.
Do you ever get nervous before you perform?
All: Yes!
How do you deal with your nerves?
Eriko: I try not to think about anything, and I just play and sing, even before we go on.
Akiko: When there's other bands playing, I watch them perform as much as I can so I can feel motivated. And if it's a solo show, I watch other bands' DVDs and use that to build up the motivation.
Komiko: I eat a lot!
Akiko: She doesn't want to starve during the show!
You guys are here on tour fo your American debut. What were your expectations for this?
Akiko: We have the single, Dai Dai, which is kind of famous here because of BLEACH. But despite the anime tie-in, we want to have the US listeners listen to our music with no boundaries, and just get to know our music and enjoy it.
As far as the song Dai Dai having that anime tie-in, do you think you would like to come back to America to perform at an anime convention?
All: Not really.
Akiko: Actually why we came to the US was to try out our music here, where rock started, and we really wanted to try our sound here as a rock band. It would have a different meaning, because of the anime tie-in, it'd be a different approach. We really wanted to try our music purely as a rock band.
Do you like anime?
Komiko: I like Dragonball.
Eriko: I like Kiki's Delivery Service.
Akiko: I like Gundam and Evangelion.
You were able to participate in the event SXSW a couple days ago, how was that experience?
Akiko: Just the fact that the whole city was like a music town. It was very supportive to the music, with no complaints in general, and you can never get that in Japan. That experience is very special and really great.
Is there anything you want to do while you're here in America?
Akiko: I wanted to go to a cinema. Because of the different approach in Japan, it's absolutely silent, no talking or laughing. You try to avoid that. But here, if it's funny, you laugh. I want to experience that.
Eriko: We've been flying to different cities, Austin, DC, NYC. I want to get used to that, little by little.
Komiko: I just want to walk around the cities. The buildings are different. The colors are more brilliant.
What's your favorite English word?
Komiko: Enjoy!
Akiko: Love it!
Eriko: Yeah! I just learned that here (laughs)
If you could be any kind of dessert or sweet, what would you be?
Eriko: Pancakes! Like five of them!
Akiko: Donuts! I just had one earlier.
Komiko: Hamburger! (everyone laughs) A big burger. It's not a dessert though.
Can you give a final message to our readers?
Akiko: Now with the digital technology, and having our albums available online through all major digital outlets, for those who can't make the live shows, if you could listen to our music on iTunes or whatever, that would be great. But we'd really like people to come to our live shows, if possible.
interview by Melony
thank you to CHATMONCHY for taking the time to answer our questions; thanks to SONY for making this possible
LINKS
CHATMONCHY Official Website
CHATMONCHY Official MySpace
CHATMONCHY's music on iTunes
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