Introduction Gathering influences from bands such as Boredoms, Afrirampo, Sonic Youth and Melt-Banana, Kulu Kulu Garden mixes catchy pop melodies and ferocious guitar-driven rock creating a distinct sound and stage presence. Kulu Kulu Garden is currently on the Next Music from Tokyo Tour in Canada with 4 other Japanese bands -- andymori, mothercoat, OWARIKARA and ??? (goomi). Keikaku recently talked to Kotone Miyahara and Ryotaro Aoki of Kulu Kulu Garden about the tour and the origins of the band's name. back to features		Kulu Kulu Garden Please introduce yourselves? Kotone Miyahara: Hello. I'm Kotone Miyahara. I sing and play the bass. Ryotaro Aoki: I play guitar and write the music. How did you come to be included in the Next Music from Tokyo Tour? Ryotaro: Steve, the promoter, came to see one of our shows early last year. Apparently he heard us on this free compilation sampler that we were on and decided to come check us out. He liked us I guess, and came to a couple more shows afterwards, and we got to know him pretty well. I would bump into him at other shows in Tokyo a lot too. Last fall he told me that he was interested in doing something like Tokyo Boredom (this underground festival they do here in Tokyo) overseas, and asked me if we were interested. It was just an idea at this point. But he e-mailed me a couple weeks later saying that he was seriously going to do the tour. We were ecstatic! Is this your first overseas tour? Kotone: Yes. Ryotaro: We want to go to other countries soon though. Maybe like Taiwan, Australia, or the States. Random, but I read somewhere... What is it about maple cookies you like so much? Kotone: Well Canada reminds me of maple cookies. I'd like to savor a lot of maple cookies in Canada! Where did the name "Kulu Kulu Garden" come from? Kotone: You know the song "round and round the garden like a teddy bear…" Recently, I found that "kulu kulu garden" reminds us of this song. ‘Kulu kulu' means round and round or spinning around. Anyway, we named it because we like the sound of it. Ryotaro: See, my grandmother used to have this teddy bear. It was called Kulu. She buried in her garden. We dug it out a couple of years ago. It was really dirty. Actually there were two teddy bears, and they were both named Kulu. That's why we say it twice. Basically we are honoring all the poor dead buried teddy bears out there in the world. Let's hear a little about your tastes not related to music. Could you name some of your favorite books or movies? Kotone: I like this question! I love reading and movies! I prefer Japanese literature, especially Tanizaki Junichiro and Uchida Hyakken. Yesterday, I watched fantastic movies, "Daisies" and "Kin-dza-dza!" I love them so much. Koooooo! Ryotaro: There's this movie theater in Tokyo that do these double features of all kinds of movies. Like I went to see one where it was "Inglourious Basterds" and Sam Raimi's "Drag Me To Hell." And we both went to go see a Jean-Luc Godard double feature they played. We both like to watch anime too, like FLCL. I think we both watch more movies than we listen to music! I also like comic books a lot. Who would be your dream band to perform with, either from Japan or from overseas? Ryotaro: I think it would be cool to play covers of old Japanese pop songs with someone like John Zorn or something. Kotone can dance like one of those Showa idols. Tell me a little bit about the songwriting process. Who is the songwriter and what inspires you to write music? Kotone: First, Aoking writes songs and I write lyrics about what I'm reminded from his songs. Most of lyrics are composed of my childish fantasy. Ryotaro: I come up with little pieces of songs all the time, and whenever I have a good batch I string them together and make a demo. The demo usually has all the drums, bass, guitar, and the melody, and it's all pretty much arranged. I send the demo to Kotone, and she figures out the lyrics. After everyone learns the song, we play it together in the studio. We then work out the little details, especially the drums. A lot of times the songs are pretty much like the demos, but some songs get totally revamped. I get inspired by movies and music. I see and listen to things and go, "I wish we had something like that in our band." It's all about mixing it up. But we try not to stick to a certain type of sound or genre. It's more about the idea of the band. We don't feel like we're playing music. We play Kulu Kulu Garden. Our songs are all a reflection of whatever we're into at a specific moment. With the absence of a full-time drummer and the new acoustic sets, how do you think it will affect the way you write music? Ryotaro: The lack of a drummer isn't by design. We would have a drummer if we could. It hasn't really changed the way we write music really, but the fine details within each song have definitely changed. But the actually process of writing the music hasn't changed at all. We've always wanted to do the acoustic sets, and we've always sort of had quieter material. It wasn't so much the lack of a drummer that spurred us to do them. Some people couldn't see the connection between the loud three piece and the quieter stuff, which was puzzling to us. We just stopped caring I guess. To us there's no dividing line; it's all the same band. Ideally, we would play everything in the same set, but that's just not realistic time-wise at an average Tokyo show. Out of all the songs you've written, are there melodies or lyrics of which you are particularly proud? Kotone: I like "Tori." This song is about just a bird. I enjoyed playing with the words. Ryotaro: I like one of our new songs "Koyubi Sentimental." It was fun to write and it's fun to play. I guess my favorite melody would be "Tori" though. As it pertains to the band, how would you define the word "success"? Kotone: Enjoying. Ryotaro: To have fun basically. And that when I look back I want to be able to say that we did everything that we possibly could have ever done in our power to be the best band that we could be. Is there anything you'd like to say to your fans all over the world? Ryotaro: Don't bury teddy bears. Eat maple cookies. Kotone: I just wanna go to your country as fast as I can! This is your chance to promote your CDs, bands, tours, websites & gear? Ryotaro: Our EP "Detorake Yuuenchi" is available from iTunes, Amazon, and CDBaby. Of course, we'll be selling it at the shows in Canada, and we're adding something special just for people who buy it on this tour. Download the FREE "NEXT MUSIC FROM TOKYO" tour sampler from Hearjapan.com. We've recorded our new song "Aliens" just for this sampler! Available for a limited time only! Interview from 2010.05.20. Keikaku.net staff would like to thank Kulu Kulu Garden: Kotone Miyahara and Ryotaro Aoki for their participation in this interview. Kulu Kulu Garden official site Kulu Kulu Garden official myspace Kulu Kulu Garden official facebook Kulu Kulu Garden official twitter - Denise
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