Interview with Bousouzoku Band BAKUBENI

On the third Sunday of September, BAKUBENI, the Ikizama Rock band from Osaka, held their very first performance in San Antonio, Texas at Sam's Burger Joint. This was their kick-off show for their U.S. Tour 2008 20,000 miles with fellow band and friends quaff. After meeting up with JaME, the band told us about their music, each other, and how they're influenced by the bousouzoku.


Thank you for meeting with us! Please introduce yourselves.
Rayla: I'm Rayla. I was the captain of a bousouzoku, a motorcycle gang; it's not the yakuza, but the stage right before it. Our music style is called Ikizama Rock, which means our music is "a way of life," our way of life.
Boin: I am Thunder, like lightning and thunder. (laughs)
Kozaken: My name is Kozaken.
Taiga: Taiga.

Let's begin with the band's origins; where are you from? How long have you been together?
Rayla: We're from Osaka, and we've been together for two and a half years.

What is the meaning of "BAKUBENI" and why did you choose this name?
Rayla: "BAKUBENI" means "red explosion." The concept is that everything explodes. We chose this name because it sounded cool. (Everyone laughs)

How would you describe your music to those who haven't yet listened to it?
Rayla: Our music is just fun rock.

Please tell us more about your music. How is it developed?
Rayla: We do everything from the bottom up, such as passing out flyers at the live houses. We used to have a band member named Oyabun, but he's no longer with us. Though, he's still the one who writes pretty much most of our lyrics and music. He just gives it to us.

What kind of feeling do you try to get across to your listeners?
Rayla: We want people to come to our lives and just feel our music and have fun with it.

You've released your album BAKUBENI this past July; please tell us more about this release. How did you decide which songs to put on this album? What do you plan on working on next?
Rayla: In Tokyo there's a really big live house called "Shibuya O-East" and that's where we performed our album. We took all of our singles that were out and combined them to create the one album. At the show, we tried to give the impression of everything exploding, like our concept suggests, we had fire on stage, which you can't have in small live houses. In November, we plan to work on a single.

Your visual style is quite extravagant with your unique hairstyles and outfits. What is the theme of your visual style? Please explain why you chose it to represent yourselves.
Rayla: I started off wearing a bousouzoku uniform, and then everyone else started to wear the same type of outfit. As for the colors of our hair, we're just trying to express ourselves through them.
Taiga: All of this is natural. (Everyone laughs)
Rayla: We wanted to make an impact and look different from other people.

This is BAKUBENI's first performance of this tour; how are you feeling? Are you excited?
Rayla: We're very excited! We're really excited to see so many people come to see us perform!

Which are your favorite songs to perform live, and why?
Rayla: I like Love ME because I made it. (laughs) It's a very special song to me.
Boin: ANGERHIST, because it's the most extravagant.
Kozaken: My favorite is Hanamachi, since it was because of this song that I decided to join this band.
Taiga: Bakubeni because every time we have a live, this is the first and last song we play in our set. So it's kind of like a tradition. Like in Judo, when you start you bow and when you finish you bow; it's customary.

For fun, could you say something about each of your band mates?
Rayla: (to Boin) He always makes me mad. (laughs) (to Kozaken) He's the kindest. (to Taiga) I can trust him a lot. (about herself) I'm the boss; I can do whatever I want. (Everyone laughs)
Boin: (to Rayla) She's the mother. (Everyone laughs) (to Kozaken) He's the father. (Everyone laughs) (to Taiga) He's the grandfather. (Everyone laughs)
Kozaken: (to Rayla) She's the boss. (to Boin) He's the partner. (to Taiga) And I respect him.
Taiga: (to Rayla) She's god. (Everyone laughs) (to Boin) He's the follower of god. (Everyone laughs) (to Kozaken) He's the angel. (Everyone laughs)

Thank you for meeting with us. Please give a message to your international fans.
Rayla: We have the spirit of the samurai! We want everyone who comes to see our shows to explode!
Boin: I want fans to feel like the explosion of BAKUBENI.
Kozaken: I want everyone, fans and people who haven't heard us before, to listen to our music and to feel it.
Taiga: We want to help people who live busy and tired lives. After they listen to our songs, I want them to be happier then we'll be their savior. (Everyone laughs)


JaME thanks to Jonny Yen for making this interview possible, Nao Iwasa and Kanae Jitozono for translating, SUTAIRU for the photo usage, and of course, BAKUBENI for taking time to answer our questions.