Interview with PISTOL VALVE

PISTOL VALVE are a ten-piece girl group of classical musicians with a difference as they utilise their instruments to create a variety of jazz, ska and even hiphop influenced music. On their recent tour throughout Europe, JaME caught up with the girls at their Paris gig to talk a little about the world of PISTOL VALVE: their early years and their fashion!


Hello! First of all, can you introduce yourselves please?

Ando!: My name is Ando! with an exclamation mark.
Why an exclamation mark?
Ando!: It's not a first name nor a last name; it's energy. I put all my energy in that exclamation mark.
Tommy: Me, I'm Tommy. I play euphonium and I'm a singer.
Ando!: I sing too and I play tenor saxophone.

How did you meet? Were you in the same music school?

Ando!: Nine of us were students at the same music school. There was a classical music section and a jazz section but no rock section. We formed a group to make this rock section. Initially, our goal wasn't necessarily to play all together in a single band but to share our passion. Actually, we were even more numerous at the time. Gradually the band was formed within this section. When we played together, it immediately worked; it was at this moment that we became a band. There is only one person who wasn't with us at the time: DJ Lilya who joined us later. DJ Lilya came to see us play in the street and she really liked our music so she offered to join the band. As soon as we played together, it worked immediately and she stayed. This is the story of the formation of our band.

Where did you play in the street?

Ando!: In Tokyo: Shibuya between Yoyogi park (Yoyogi Koen) and Harajuku station. There is a place there where bands come play. As we didn't have money to rent a studio for ten people, we played in the street.

How did you get noticed? A producer spotted you in the street?

Ando!: That's exactly it. A representative of a record company noticed us and after we could play in small clubs.

Why the name PISTOL VALVE?

Ando!: As you can see we have brass instruments in our band. On these instruments there are pistons called "piston valve" in English. When you push it, it goes up (she mimics the gesture). We didn't want it to go down, we want to go all the way up without returning. It's like if we shot with a gun, it would go and never return. This "bang" of an explosion seems us to be quite an adequate fit with our state of mind. So, it came from piston valve but we changed it to pistol valve.

Why are there only young women in the band?

Ando!: We never thought about having boys in the band because we wanted to impose our peculiarity we are sexy, stylish and sweet at the same time. We want to bring out the feminine side that characterizes us. And we don't want to change.

Your look is very important; are you looking for your style everywhere in magazines and so on?

Tommy: In terms of stage costumes, we talk together about our costumes being in connection with our new songs. So, when we write the music, we think about the look.
Ando!: Of course, like all girls we love fashion a lot but for the stage costumes it's really different. As to our image, we always have tastes in common and we adapt to the sensitivity of each other. Fortunately, there is a connection between us and the energy is the same.

You made a fashion show for QFD, could you tell us something about that?

Ando!: We work with a lot of brands like QFD or Rico and collaborate with many designers such as Kashira who make hats.

Thank you for the interview and have a good show!


Thanks to Emiko San Salvadore for the translation, Tak of BUG Corp., JMusic Live and of course the girls from PISTOL VALVE.