Interview with Voodoo Club (暴動クラブ): ‘I “met” The Beatles and was really touched by their music and became a rock ‘n’ roll fan!’

Tokyo-based Voodoo Club (暴動クラブ) have released their latest 60’s-inspired garage rock anthem ‘恋におちたら’ (If You Fall In Love’), a song that transports you back to the swinging sixties, albeit amped up with a good pinch of Japanese rock. 

The band comprises Gen Kugiya (vocals), Rize Matsushima (guitar), Hinako ‘Rosie’ Kido (bass) and Ippo Suzuki (drums), all of whom are around 20 years old and at university. ‘Rize and Ippo, I met them four years ago when we were high school students and we joined a band club,’ Kido said. Of their band name she says: ‘Voodoo Club doesn’t really have a meaning in English but in Japanese, “voodoo club” means “riot club”, like us!’

‘I wrote this song because I wanted to play a love song that was a little bittersweet, with a melancholic melody’

‘If You Fall In Love’ is an ebullient punk rock track characterised by fuzzed up guitars and an infectious swagger: ‘Gen wrote the lyrics and the melody,’ Kido said. ‘He was in another band before we got together, The Sugarcoats, the song was written at that time. We are all singing on the chorus, we only added the harmonies in when we recorded it. Rize wrote the solo, I really love his guitar playing. He’s playing a Gretsch and added in the effects afterwards.’ As Kugiya puts it: ‘I wrote this song because I wanted to play a love song that was a little bittersweet, with a melancholic melody,’ he said. ‘I love the pop and cute beat music of the 60’s, and this song was specifically inspired by Dave Clark Five’s ‘Because’ and the theme song from the movie ‘That Thing You Do’. When we were recording, I thought it wouldn’t be interesting to just imitate a 60’s sound, so I added effects to the drum beat and the vocals to make it sound dreamy.’

In April, they will release their next single, ‘Cynical Baby’: ‘It sounds like glam rock and pop!,’ Kido said. If Kugiya could write a song with anyone, he picks Brian Jones: ‘I want him to make cool arrangements of my songs with various instruments and his guitar,’ he said. ‘The marimba on ‘Under My Thumb’ is awesome!’

They have also covered the Alvin Stardust glam rock track from the 70’s ‘Ma Coo Ca Choo’, revving it up and fuzzing it up, making it punkier and giving it a more playful, modern edge: ‘We have played it in our concerts before, it’s a song we all love,’ Kido said. ‘Our singer picked it as a cover song.’ Kugiya, for his part, describes it as ‘the coolest electric boogie on the planet’.

‘My favourite Japanese band is The Roosters, from the 1980’s – they played garage punk rock’

Typically, Kugiya writes the lyrics and the rest of the band write their own parts, according to Kido, who, remarkably, only started playing bass two years ago when she started university: ‘I didn’t have a particular reason for choosing bass. Before, I played drums in high school but I was tired of playing drums! My father is a very big fan of 70’s and 80’s British hard rock and people like Michael Schenker (a German guitarist and member of rock band UFO) and The Scorpions. I was raised with that music. When I was in elementary school, I “met” The Beatles and was really touched by their music and became a rock ‘n’ roll fan! My favourite Japanese band is The Roosters, from the 1980’s – they played garage punk rock, they don’t exist anymore.’

Kido is studying French literature at Keio University but is also very inspired by French films: ‘I love French movies as well, like those by Jean-Luc Godard,’ she said enthusiastically. ‘I’m more interested in movies based on books. My favourite French movie is ‘Vivre sa vie’ (starring Anna Karina, from 1962) although it’s not based on a book. I really love the story itself, I cry whenever I see this movie. I also love its camerawork and music but, above all, I am a big fan of Anna Karina!’

She describes the Japanese music scene as being dominated by pop: ‘Rock music is not so popular in Japan, people are more into J-Pop, that idol culture, like dance,’ she said. I ask her which musician, dead or alive, she would most like to meet. ‘That’s hard! I want to meet John Lennon because he is my very first inspiration for my music history. I want to ask him: “What do you think of our band?!”‘

Last summer’s tour of Japan was a bonding one for all of them, according to Kugiya: ‘It was the funniest ever, we went to the Kansai area, it was the first experience for us to perform in not Tokyo but in another part of Japan. It was like travelling, so we became closer than before through that touring. Next time, I want to go on a world tour!’

(Photo credit: Mikio Aruga.)