Exclusive interview with ODBZ

Recently, JaME held an interview with the legendary rock/punk band ODBZ. The band has been making music for over twenty years, with more than seventeen albums to their name. We asked them about their formation, their name change, and the secret to staying together as a band for nearly two decades.

For our readers who may not be familiar with you yet, could you please introduce yourselves?

NAKAMURA: I'm the vocalist, NAKAMURA.
IMAI: I'm the guitarist, IMAI.
HASHIMOTO: I'm the bassist, HASHIMOTO.
KITANI: I'm the drummer, HIDEHISA KITANI. Nice to see you.

How did you meet each other?

NAKAMURA: We met in Nagasaki of Kyushu when we were 16-17 years old and first formed a band together. We graduated high school and after we started working, we said "Why don't we start a band again?", and formed once again. We came to Tokyo and made our debut in 1989. In 1995 we had a member change when HASHIMOTO joined us and then Roger TAKAHASI, who played drums for 4-5 years, left the band. After that, my friend introduced KITANI to us as "a 28 year old guy who came from Kyushu alone and plays drums for a living", so we had an audition with him before he joined the band.

At that time, was your sound similar to way it is now?

IMAI: We played various music, like rock'n'roll and punk music.

Which bands were you influenced by?

IMAI: I started playing guitar at around the time I began to listen to Deep Purple, KISS and Aerosmith.
NAKAMURA: I generally listened to hard rock like IMAI. I didn't listen to punk rock very much except The Clash and the SEX PISTOLS.
HASHIMOTO: I listened to various genres, but when I was in high school punk music started to become popular so I listened to The Clash and NY punk. Though, I started a band earlier than that. I'm from the Kansai area and, at the time, I liked blues bands in the local music scene.
KITANI: I listened to any kind of music except jazz.

So your music is a mix of various styles, isn't it?

NAKAMURA: Yes, it's not very straight-forward.

Previously, why did you use the kanji 「横道坊主」 (oudoubouzu) and the English 'odd-bowz' in your band's name?

IMAI: That's simply the phonetic equivalent of the Japanese name (laughs).
NAKAMURA: At first, we used 'odd-boys', but we said that we weren't "boys" anymore (laughs), then we used the substitute character 'bowz'.

Is there a reason why you changed your name from ODD-BOWZ to ODBZ?

NAKAMURA: Design reasons. We thought 'ODBZ' is cool so that's how it's written now.

What made you decide to leave your major label (Toshiba EMI, AMUSE) in 1994 and start your own label?

NAKAMURA: We belonged to a major label and were told, "You release a lot of songs, but aren't selling that many. Release fewer songs and sell more", which really confused us. We had to make new songs, but we couldn't do that so easily. We thought "What are we going to do?", so we said that we needed some time. They asked how long and we could only reply with "We don't know". Honestly, we didn't know how long it would take. If we knew for sure, for example, that it would take half a year then we could have been paid for that time. That wasn't the case, we didn't know how long it would take and hated to get paid while they were annoyed with us, so we decided to go back to the basics and left.

Was there any difference in the type of music the label wanted you to do and what you wanted to do?

IMAI: Around the time of our debut, they said this and that, but we became more free with our decisions as time passed. After all, we didn't want to trouble them; we just wanted time.

NAKAMURA, you acted in the movie ZAZIE in 1989. How was that?

NAKAMURA: I had to study a lot. Basically, I thought that movies would be the same kind of work as music, but when I did it, it was totally different.

Were you interested in acting?

NAKAMURA: Yes, I was very interested in it at that time.

You went to the UK for the recording of your 3rd album in 1990. How was that experience?

IMAI: The feeling was different. I stayed in my favorite town for about a month and worked on recording during the whole trip. I had a very good time.
NAKAMURA: We were able to concentrate on music since we didn't have to think about other things.

Why did you choose the UK?

IMAI: Personally, I like the UK very much.

So was the taste of the UK put into your album?

IMAI: Yes. If I dare to say whether it is American or British taste, I would have to say there is more of a British taste to it.

ODBZ has participated to various events for volunteers and charities, such as your contribution in 1991, when all of the profits from the event for Shimabara, which was damaged by the eruption of Mt. Unzen-fugendake. You did a free live in Shimabara Bunka Hall and joined live events wishing for world peace in Nagasaki. That is really great.

NAKAMURA: Well, we are from Nagasaki and we felt so bad about the disaster in Shimabara. Growing in Nagasaki, we experienced the events for world peace every summer in which we talked about the atomic bomb that was dropped. So we thought people had those events everywhere in Japan (laughs). We know people who don't do such events and say "You guys do that in Nagasaki?" and our reply is "Why don't you do them in your area too?" (laughs)

In your career that spans over 20 years, what do you place the most importance on, live shows or your CDs?

NAKAMURA: I think both. I like both of them equally.

What do you think the key is to keeping your band going for such a long time?

NAKAMURA: It was an accident! (bursts out laughing) In a way, I really do think that's true. Each member has naturally assumed his own role and does his share similar to that of baseball positions. IMAI does this, I do that, JUN (HASHIMOTO) follows this, and KITANI leads that. What's more is that we each have different likes and dislikes about music and we understand one another's likes and and dislikes. We mostly argue about music, and sometimes we'll make a big fuss, but it's okay as long as we make comfortable and cool sounds in the end. During this step, we don't push our opinions onto each other. We just say "I think this", and all of us think of it as "IMAI's opinion" or "KITANI's opinion". We all trust and respect one another.

Do you make songs respectively and bring them together?

NAKAMURA: Basically IMAI makes 99.8% of them. (laughs)

Who writes the lyrics?

NAKAMURA: IMAI writes about 99.8% of lyrics, too. (laughs)

Then do the other band members select and arrange them?

IMAI: Yes. As we arrange songs, melodies become more firm, I put lyrics to them, and then I give them to YOSHITO (NAKAMURA).

NAKAMURA, for example, when you sing songs made by IMAI, do you think anything like "These lyrics don't match my feeling" or "I want to sing like this"?

NAKAMURA: Yes at times. (laughs) Then I consult with him very carefully. (laughs)

Do you spend a lot of time in completing your songs?

IMAI: Yes. I have another band (HHR THRILL LOUNGE; IMAI's three piece band), in which I can make songs very quickly. In ODBZ, I try various things to create songs, so I can make them more intimately.

Does each member arrange each instrument?

IMAI: Basically, yes.
HASHIMOTO: But we interact with each other, and we don't play alone, so we create while working with each other.

How do you create songs?

IMAI: Before, I often made songs from lyrics, but since we have been doing this for such a long time now, I hardly create songs from the lyrics anymore. Now I often make them from guitar riffs and melodies.

Having been a part of the music scene for a long time, do you think a lot of things have changed, such as using modern technology to make music, but also the more 'negative' side for musicians: people sharing music around the web instead of buying it? What do you think about this?

NAKAMURA: We can't do anything about that. Before, when analogue records changed to CDs, we who were used to analogue were surprised like "Wow~! No way!", but once the flow starts it just keeps going. Well, I know some people still listen to analogue, but everything has changed to CDs, so they can't find the analogue records that they want. Then you could start to download CDs, and no one could imagine we could copy CDs at home, but now anyone can do it by using a desktop PC. The world has changed so much and there really is no other choice other than to accept it. Many people copy music and are fine doing it, but we can't say anything about that. We don't want to waste our time complaining about it, because that's boring. So we have to think instead about how to accept it and how to work within it. We know that if someone can get music for free, they probably will. So it's better to do more and have live shows. It's time to think about what is best for us in this situation.
HASHIMOTO: And we realize the goodness of analogue now. I think this kind of thing will happen again and again. We can see the importance of paying money in this world even though we can get many things for free. So I don't think negatively about it at all.

People can now make songs easily by using computers. How do you think about it as a musician?

IMAI: Basically, I like new things. I use it like a toy and I enjoy it very much. It doesn't mean that I actually use computer in ODBZ, but it's very convenient.
NAKAMURA: In our recording, we can do what we want to do so quickly by using computers and it makes it easy to convey our message. We don't use computer effects in our music, so basically we use computers when we do things we used to do by analogue. Well, sometimes we use loops in our music, but basically we haven't changed.

Could you tell me about your 16th album BAD BOOSTER released in 2006?

IMAI: We used to rely heavily on vocals and make the most of them, but we decided to challenge ourselves by using more of a rock overtone and more guitar riffs in this album.

In your album information, it's written ‘As they feel their first impulse of rock, they use their original backbone of punk well and express their spirit openly in this work.'

IMAI: Yes. I remember how excited I felt when I first played rock music, so I kept that in mind while we made the album.

So you made the album with this rock impulse and a punk backbone, when you started recording BAD BOOSTER?

NAKAMURA: At that time we were just over 20 years into our career, and we wanted to make something different from before, because it would be 'the album for the next 20 years'. Basically, when we put our sound all together, it made our hair stand up, and we really felt the power of rock.

How about the following DICE, your 17th album released in 2007?

NAKAMURA: We made this album thinking “If we add humanity and warmth on BAD BOOSTER, what it would be like?”

As I read the lyrics, they are full of humanity and tenderness. In the album information it was written as ‘This is a warm and positive work in which ‘rock lives' as they straightly face themselves, their mature human charms mixing well.'

IMAI: I want to sing always facing myself. The words are important, because the meanings change in how they connect and the order of the words, which I'm interested in now.

NAKAMURA, how do you feel singing the lyrics written by IMAI?

NAKAMURA: People often ask me “Do you have any difficulty singing lyrics written by others?”, but we have done so from the beginning, so I think I'm able to do it well. I sing what is written by IMAI through my filter. For example, I can sing very cold lyrics warmly. As long as it works well, I think we can continue on in this combination. Sometimes it might turn a little negative for IMAI, like he thinks “I thought it should be done this way but it turned out like this”. If he feels it's dull, our combination can't be like this anymore, because it means I can't portray his songs well. We often say “We want to be a combination like a good fisherman and a good cook”, saying like “You caught good fish!”, “Yeah, cook them well!”, “Of course!” (laughs) It's nice if we can do it like this.

NAKAMURA, do you have any desire to sing in your own words?

NAKAMURA: No, I don't! (bursts out laughing) I sometimes write lyrics, but I can't write like he does. IMAI studies hard and I think he's great.

Now you are doing lives of ODBZ TOUR 2007 GO!GO!. How is that?

IMAI: Out of all of our tours, this is the best one so far. Our feelings on the stage have been really good.

In your annual year-end live, I heard you play about 40 songs for about 4 hours. Are you all right physically?

NAKAMURA: It's hard (laughs).
IMAI: Well, it's like a special festival only once or twice a year.

Do you change the set list of your lives each time?

NAKAMURA: We have a basic pattern and change some parts, which we often do. We don't often do totally different set lists. Basically, we play songs that are best for that season.

What will your new release be like this autumn?

IMAI: Next will be close to the first impulse; it will be hard yet warm.
NAKAMURA: We want to make clear the importance of guitar riffs. I would like you to feel "It's so cool!" when the intro starts and "This is great!" when the lyrics start.

Are you interested in playing overseas?

NAKAMURA: We always talk about that before. I really want to go overseas and do our lives as we have in Japan. When I was a child, I listened to The BEATLES and thought they were great. When I listened to Deep Purple, I thought they were cool even though I didn't understand the meaning of the lyrics at all, but I just listened to their sounds. So I hope foreign people would feel the same way when we play in Japanese in their country.
IMAI: Recently, there are bands that sing in Japanese. It seems the opposite to before.
NAKAMURA: Even if I worked hard to pronounce my English better, I wouldn't be able to say express myself as well as native English speakers. So I think it's better to sing in Japanese.

If you were to play in front of people who aren't Japanese, how do you want to appeal to them?

IMAI: I think we would do the same things as in Japanese live houses. Nothing would change.
NAKAMURA: I think I would say "Hello!" in English at the beginning of my MC. (laughs) Maybe I wouldn't be able to say the words that should follow. (laughs)

Please give a messages to the JaME readers.

IMAI: I hope you try to listen to our music. Please listen to our sound at least once.
NAKAMURA: We're a band working hard in Japan, so please listen to our music and tell us your impression.
KITANI: When you come to Japan, please come to see our lives!
HASHIMOTO: I started being affected by American and British music, and I still like music from various countries, such as Ireland and Brazil. I'm looking forward to hearing how you feel when you listen to our music.

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JaME would like to thank ODBZ for taking their time to answer our questions and making this interview possible.