Japanese psych band Yura Yura Teikoku talk to Patrick Emery Posted May 12, 2007 YURA YURA TEIKOKU: FANS AND THE ART OF DEVOTION TO AVANT GARDE POP-PSYCH Eclectic is a term thrown around liberally in musical circles. Unfortunately it’s frequently a misnomer for art that’s about as diverse as including some steamed cabbage with your meat and three veg dinner, or a euphemism for tunes that have the direction and focus of a oversexed cat suffering the effects of a two day bender after consuming the remains of the 1950s chemical deposits stuck at the back of the garden shed. But in the case of Japanese psychedelic-pop band Yura Yura Teikoku, eclectic is the only adjective that’s even vaguely appropriate to describe the band’s diverse selection of musical styles. From heavy duty bouts of psychotic fuzz, to bruising rock guitar, to flowery pop better suited to the synthetic pop environs of Las Vegas, Yura Yura Teikoku has got it all. From its humble beginnings in 1989, Yura Yura Teikoku has evolved to become one of Japan’s most popular underground bands – so popular, in fact, that the band’s shows sell out regularly in a matter of minutes. Led by vocalist, guitarist and band auteur Shintaro Sakamoto, Yura Yura Teikoku has a legion of fans whose devotion to the band borders on manic. And now it’s Australia’s turn to witness the Yura Yura Teikoku show in its full psychedelic glory.

Yura Yura Teikoku arrives on Australian shores in mid May for shows in Sydney and Melbourne. To coincide with the tour, Yura Yura’s live album “na.ma.shi.bi.re.na.ma.me.ma.” will be released on Toshi Maeda’s Bop! Spoke to SHINTARO SAKAMOTO about the weird and wonderful world of Yura Yura Teikoku. What does Yura Yura Teikoku mean? ‘Yura Yura’ means the way of 'floating slowly' or 'hanging in the air' in Japanese. ‘Teikoku’ means 'Empire'. Vista plastik iletisim ppt.

It’s kind of an image of 'Empire of non realisty'. However, if we put those two words together in Japanese, it sounds nothing serious and even sounds a bit fool. So I guess you should imagine something like the Devil’s World in a kid comic or kid’s TV show. When you started in 1989 were you only a psychedelic band?

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I don't know exactly the border of psychedelic bands, but I remember there were a lot of interesting bands who were sounding like the mixture of psychedelic & avant-garde music. In particular, the bands around PSF Label in Tokyo or Alchemy Records in Osaka. Has your vision for the band changed much since you first started playing together? Nothing changed basically. Was there a big psychedelic sound in Japan at the time you started playing?

Only some people were digging the 60's psychedelic music that time, but in general, psychedelic music was not a big thing in Japan. What was the reaction to your music when you first starting playing?

I remember we had a lot of sombre people in our early audience. Even, we played very energetically or did some strange performances, no one was dancing or shouting with us and the whole venue stayed very quiet. There were a lot of people recording our live shows by their walkman. Do you have a definition or description of psychedelia that you like? I don't adhere to the word of 'psychedelic' but the sound I am aiming at is the music to break up the ordinary life, the music to make everything worthless and the music not arriving in anywhere. Your first album “333” received very favourable reviews in Japan.