| *The word "soul" is
included in the band's name, does the word represent you?
Kohama (K): Yes. I think music like punk and new wave is soul also. *You have an interesting horn section of baritone sax, trombone and trumpet, what's the intention behind this setup? K: I think there are quite a few tenor and alto sax players, but not that many baritone, although you do see them in use sometimes as a part of a very large horn section. We like how the instrument looks, not may people use them as a main instrument. *You're on trombone, do you have any idols? K: Rico Rodriguez. *So you've listened to a lot of ska then? K: Yeah, stuff like the Specials...... *What sort of music were you influenced by?
*When did black music start appealing to you? K: After I listened to punk and new wave, around the mid 80's. I like reggae, and that was the starting point for me to listen to black music. *So you went into ska and then into reggae? K: I went into reggae and then ska, I used to like the post new wave dub stuff like the On-U sound stuff and Linton Kwesi Johnson. *When did you start the band?
*The end of 92 is around when acid jazz sort of peaked in Tokyo, were you influenced by that? K: Yeah, stuff like Galliano, Brand New Heavies, the Talkin' Loud stuff seemed cool, so we listened to that stuff. *You seem to be influenced more by British music than American? K: Yeah, I think personally that the UK stuff is cooler than the US stuff, it just seems more fitting to me. *Have you listened to stuff that the UK people were influenced by, stuff like Curtis Mayfield?
*What sort of music do you listen to most now? K: Reggae. *Such as? K: Dub stuff, like Lee "Scratch" Perry, King Tubby, stuff that feels good. *What are your musical roots? Inoue (I): Blues, and then soul. *When did you start listening to the blues? ‚h: Around junior high, I started with Robert Johnson, and as for soul, I started from Marvin Gaye, which at now seems to be a good reference point. I used to listen to new wave too, so I suppose I listened to quite a bit of stuff. *What gives you energy most? K: I've been listening to some spiritual music lately, stuff that has sampled the voices of Native Americans, and that music seems to relate to a lot of styles, and it seems so important to me. Whether you take African or Brazilian music, they all seem to have a very spiritual element about it, and I think our music relates to that sort of spirituality. *What do you emphasize most in your sound?
*So you perform in clubs mostly, what do you do nowadays? K: There used to be a time when people just came to see us, no matter what we did. But nowadays, the club-goers are very critical about what they hear, so it's harder to satisfy them now, although we do try. ‚h: When you're in that sort of club atmosphere, you tend to be forgiven about what you do there because of it, but nowadays, we try not to rely on that mood, and playing hard music is one of them challenges. K:Lately, I think 'club music' is not smart. Everyone getting more concious of his roots fo music. *Is there anything apart from music that interests you? Is there anything you're angry about?
*So what's the future for the band? K: We'll do gigs once a month, and we also want to perform outside of Japan. I hear that instrumental music has a base for being accepted overseas, and we'd like to release our record and tour overseas. I think there are people now abroad who listen to Japanese music not for the sake of it being Japanese, but because they purely like it, and I hope that sort of situation creates a base of activity for Japanese bands overseas.
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A reissue album of Rico classics, show the spirit of young Rico. Dub Wise/Prince Far I
Sacred Spirit
Two Sevens Clash/Culture
Classic. Fiants of the Organ in Concert/
Feminina/Joyce
Lab Cabin California/The Phar Cyde
Brown Sugar/D.Angelo
(What's the Story) Morning Glory?/Oasis
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Source: http://www.ntv.co.jp/tko.rockin/HBJ96/017/FUE/int2.html
K:
I haven't listened to that much funk, it's been mostly punk and new wave
for me. I think the spirit of the punk bands, like the Clash for example
had a lot of emotion in it, and if you listen to their album "Sandinista",
you notice that they used a lot of non western rhythms, and were interesting.
K:*Around
the end of 92, and we started with more or less with what we have now,
except at one point we did have a female singer and backing vocals.
K:
Yeah, of course I did. After I went through the new wave phase, I started
to listen to people like Stevie Wonder and Curtis Mayfield.
K:
Melody, I guess, although the groove is also important. All the members
of the band including myself emphasize the importance of melody, and we
try to get that across even though we don't have any singers. And also
we perform dance music, be it 8 or 16 beat.
K:
That's personal, so I'd rather not elaborate on that, but I do think my
anger is reflected in the music. I often think up of new songs when I'm
angry, when I'm in the state of overload, and thinking of many things.
But since our stuff is instrumental, it's not reflected in a direct way
via words, we try to get the feeling and the mood of the emotion across.
I think a lot of bands nowadays try to get their feelings across.
[Kazuki Kohama's
Picks] (on trombone)