JaME had the pleasure of interviewing rock trio detroit7 for the first time.
A few hours before detroit7’s second Parisian concert of 2010, JaME had the honor of interviewing all three members, who looked quite excited to be there.
Hello, thanks for allowing this interview to take place today. Can you introduce yourselves to our readers?
Nabana: Certainly. We are detroit7, a rock trio from Tokyo. I’m Nabana, guitarist and vocalist. Enchantée!
Kotajima: I’m Nobu, the bassist.
Yamaguchi: And I’m Miyo, the drummer.
Where does the band’s name come from? Why 7?
Nabana: From our imagination. And it sounds cool!
Do you have any musical influences that come from Detroit?
Nabana: Yeah, I love MC5, Iggy Pop and The White Stripes!
How did you meet?
Nobu: (looks at Nabana) We worked together.
Nabana: Yeah, part-time in a Japanese casino.
Miyo: As for me, my musician friends introduced me to these two roughly ten years ago.
How did you guys come together as a band?
Nabana: I just really wanted to make a hard rock trio happen, so I created detroit7! (laughs) I did it!
When did you all learn your respective instruments?
Nobu: Hmmm… when I was 14. My friend gave me a bass, so I started playing it.
Nabana: When I was 18, I loved 70s rock. Jimi Hendrix in particular, so I wanted to play just like him!
Miyo: I started off as a taïko drummer, then took care of percussion in an orchestra. Tambourine and cymbals! I started a Japanese music cover band afterwards, where I took care of the drums.
Which bands did you cover?
Miyo: Princess Princess. Do you know them?
Of course, they were big in the 80s.
(All three are surprised)
Nabana: I can’t believe you’ve heard of them!
Miyo: Awesome! We also did some Unicorn, you know them?
(We nod)
Nabana: Excellent! (they smile)
Does being only three make things harder when composing and performing?
Nabana: Our music is really simple, which is actually very important to us. Sometimes it’s a little hard, but it makes things interesting.
Nabana, what are some of your influences when it comes to vocals?
Nabana: Hmm... Janis Joplin, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed... (she thinks a while, then Miyo whispers something in her ear) Oh, of course! David Bowie! (laughs)
Describe your music in a few words for us.
Nabana: Describe our music? Garage rock. Energetic music.
Your lyrics are written both in English and Japanese. Which is easier for you?
Nabana: Both! Ha, no! (laughs) I’m Japanese, so it’s obviously my strength. But I do enjoy writing in English.
Can you tell us about your latest album, NUDE?
Nabana: It’s a rock album that is simple and full of energy. The theme of the album is “live your life”. There you go! (laughs)
How were the recording sessions?
Nabana: Great! We recorded songs as if it were a jam session. We played all at once, together. It sounds really cool. The engineer knew our sound, so he made it work really well.
Can you explain your composing process a bit more?
Nabana: Well, I come up with a few riffs, we get together afterwards and work on it, adding and removing as we go!
Everyone helps with the composition?
Nabana: Yeah! I’m in charge of lyrics, though.
Any themes when it comes to lyrics?
Nabana : Life, love... “la vie!” ('the life' in French)
You seem to be on tour quite often. What motivates you to be so active?
Nabana: Well… there really isn’t a reason. Music is our life!
So you like being on a stage?
Nabana: We love it! (laughs)
You’ve been to quite a few countries. Is there one that you like more than others?
Nabana: Ummm… France! (laughs)
Is there a specific area in France?
Nabana: Paris!
Did you visit Paris?
Nabana: Not much, but we really want to go to The Louvre.
How would you gauge your success so far? What's your biggest memory?
Nabana: We played the Printemps de Bourges last year. Five songs and then poof, no electricity! (laughs). We were wondering what happened! Although Miyo kept drumming away. Eventually we heard sirens (she imitates their sound), so we thought there was a fire or something. But, no, it was just a power failure. It lasted ten minutes, so during that time Nobu and I tried to pump the crowd up until things fixed themselves. When the electricity finally came back and our instruments’ sound came through the speakers, the crowd went crazy! It was amazing! That’s a great memory!
Did you get to see any other bands play at that festival?
Nabana: At the Printemps de Bourges? MONO was there, do you know them? We had done a show with them at the Shimokitazawa in Tokyo, so we walked up to them and said, “Hello, nice to see you again. Remember us, detroit7?" Other than that, our schedule kept us from seeing others.
Next year is your band’s tenth anniversary. Do you have any special plans?
Nabana: Yeah! We’ve got a bunch of shows set for Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo. We’re working on the details.
Thanks again for the interview! Any messages for your European fans?
Nabana: Come to our shows! We’re amazing live, so please! (laughs) Our new album, NUDE, is 100% rock n’ roll!
JaME wishes to thank detroit7 and Gekido Tour for making the interview possible.
