Shoegaze, noise and psychedelia: an interview with Qujaku
Qujaku (formerly called The Piqnic) ranks amongst the most interesting acts to come from Japan the last couple of years and their heavy, noisy, yet trippy mixture of shoegaze, psychedelic…
Heavy metal meets visual kei: an interview with Matenrou Opera
A few days ago, just about the same time this email interview was to be published, Matenrou Opera announced that they are cancelling their European tour. So, for a while…
The newest new wave – Plasticzooms interview
Plasticzooms is about to finish their long EU tour that started back in February, so, in this email interview, that was arranged to promote their tour final at Mondocon in…
Hybrid melodic punk and the legacy of FACT – an interview with Shadows
While Shadows - which plays a unique version of melodic punk rock with a bit of a hardcore and metalcore influence - is a pretty new band, that's only been…
Roses, renaissance and revival: an interview with Versailles (2016)
Versailles formed in 2007 and they quickly became one of the leading acts of the visual kei scene. The key to their success was their elaborate costumes, their unique take…
Pop, dance & mannequins: an interview with FEMM
FEMM is clearly one of the most interesting Japanese pop acts from the last few years: their unique take on electro pop with a bit of a hip-hop influence here…
Girl rock, Europe & anniversary – Scandal interview
Japan's most successful all-girl rock band Scandal just started its longest European tour so far on the 10th of September and they will be on the road till the end…
Food, love & art punk – an interview with TsuShiMaMiRe
TsuShiMaMiRe is getting ready for its current tour in Japan, that involves a bunch of quite interesting local and international and also, they are preparing for their first ever European…
An interview with Jun Konagaya of GRIM
This interview, which I believe is the first ever English one with Jun Konagaya, the man behind Grim and White Hospital, was conducted right after Grim's first appearance overseas, a…
The last days of Girugamesh – an exclusive interview (2016.05.25)
When you do an interview with a band there are some usual, almost obligatory influences, songwriting, the band's history and future plans. Now, these were all left out in part…