Thanks again to Hitoshi Oka for this interview! I actually interviewed Hitoshi many years ago about the band Sloppy Joe who released some wonderful albums and for me played one of the best gigs I ever saw at Indietracks. But of course, he had been involved in othere bands, like most recently Ivory Past. I was aware of the band he had been prior to Sloppy Joe which was called My Coffee Moment who released a terrific 7″ on Firestation Records, but I knew very little about this band. So I am very happy to learn more details about My Coffee Moment as well as the Japanese scene of the 90s/early 2000s.
++ Hi Hitoshi! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! Many years ago we did this great interview about your current band Sloppy Joe, and was wondering what’s new with the band? Is it still going?
Hi Roque! Thank you for interviewing me again.
Sloppy Joe released new album ‘Waiting for the night begins’ (LP and CD) on July 2020.And we released remastered version of the album ‘With Kisses Four’ (LP ,Originaly CD released on 2011). Please check our Bandcamp. You can listen and get our releases here. https://sloppyjoe-jp.bandcamp.
Because of Covid-19,we Sloppy Joe haven’t organized new album release party yet.
++ You have also been working lately on another project called Ivory Past which sounds amazing. Are there news on that side?
Thank you for always giving me praise comments about Ivory Past. Ivory Past recorded for releasing a split cassette with fanzine in 2012, which was released by Satomi(Twee Girrrls Club,LITEN BUTIKEN) for Trixie’s Big Red Mortorbike Live Tour in Tokyo. After that, in 2016, I released a cassette single from Miles Apart Recors. In 2018 I released a split cassette with snowflakes, and in 2020 I released a split cassette with Shino Kobayashi from Blue-very Label.All of them are cassette releases, but I’m not particular about cassettes.
I want to record more songs and release it, but I haven’t been able to make enough time. I’m planing to release some songs as Ivory Past or another project.
++ So let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen to at home while growing up?
When I was a kid, I only listened to popular Japanese music such as the theme songs of TV dramas. I became interested in fashion magazines and music magazines from the 14 or 15 years old. I remember being interested in The Who, The Jam,Style Council and so on by fashion magazines. And after listening japanese Cornelius’ debut album, I became interested in Flipper’s Guitar as well. That’s when I started listening to artists from Japanese Trattoria Label and Cruel Label such as Bridge, Wack Wack Rhythm Band, Freedom Suite, Citrus , Roof and Favorite Marine etc. At the same time, I was addicted to music like Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, The Monochrome Set, Felt and The Smiths.
I started playing the guitar when I was in high school. I saw a TV program which introduce Orange Juice , Everything But The Girl etc…, and the moderator of the TV program was playing my favorite song on the guitar. I decided to buy a guitar. I bought an electric guitar and practiced songs of Flipper’s Guitar and The Smiths.
++ Had you been in other bands aside from the ones we’ve mentioned so far? If so, how did all of these bands sound? Are there any recordings?
I’d been in the band called ‘Ollie Vee’ on bass guitar.The band was with the singer of ‘Airplane Rider’ and the drummer of ‘Chicago Bass’. One of the band’s song was included a compilation CD. We play some original songs and cover version of Eggstone, La’s, and the Fairground attractions songs at our gigs.
++ Where were you from originally?
I was born in Tochigi prefecture and lived there until in high school.I couldn’t buy a lot of records because there weren’t so many record shops there.After moving to Tokyo to go to college, most of the money I earned from my part-time job was spent buying 80’s and 90’s indie pop records.
++ How was Tokyo at the time of My Coffee Moment? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?
I remember a senior in college taking me to a gig of the band ‘Lucy Van Pelt’ (later renamed Advantage Lucy). Then I started going to their gigs a lot. I met some friends at their gig,and they invited me to the indie pop party.Then,I started the band and DJ party.
At that time, I was crazy about collecting records of the 80’s and 90’s indie pop. And I often went to gigs of overseas band. It was an incredible night to see the jazz butcher, max eider, dislocation dance overnight. I also saw Trash Can Sinatras, Rocketship, Eggstone, Poundsign, The Aislers Set and so on.
There were some good indie pop record stores in Tokyo, and I used to go there almost every day. Zest, Rough Trade, Vinyl Japan, Blue-very records (now Disques blue very), Warszawa etc. I had a lot of friends I met at the record shop. And I also worked at a record shop named ‘DMS’ as part-time job. At that time, there were a lot of indie pop DJ parties, and I was doing an event too.
My coffee moment was often played mainly at the venue named Shinjuku Jam.And, I saw a lot of indie bands there. There were many other indie pop band gigs at venues in Shibuya and Shimokitazawa too.It’s also a good memory to have performed several times at the Clover records event at a bar in Ikenoue (Local Station in Tokyo) called Bobtail.
Shinjyuku JAM closed in 2017.Japanese indie musicians and fans were very sad about it.I’m grateful that I was able to perform as sloppy joe just before the store closed.
There were so many indie pop bands around us, but I think most bands had a hard time releasing CDs and records.So,many bands sold their own copies of the cassette like us.
++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?
In 1997,I met Takeyoshi on drums at university. I remember I lent him some vinyl records of Aztec Camera, The Monochrome Set, Orange Juice and McCarthy.Then he went into indie pop.Yuko, the bass player, met at the club and had a DJ Party together. I formed a band with them. Katsumi (PROGURU) also helped me with gigs and recordings. All members loved indie pop well.
After that, Riichiro (currently a member of sloppy joe) joined as a member on the guitar. I remember meeting for the first time at the DJ Party of Guitar Pop Jamboree(Disc guide book) after recruiting members. Later in the band, Osamu Shimada (The Caraway, Swinging Popsicle) help me with the drums.
++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?
The songs were basically made by me and played in the studio as everyone liked.The lyrics were written by some members.We practiced at a rehearsal studio near my apartment. We always spent the night listening to records in my room after practice. It wasn’t difficult to share what I wanted to do because the members really loved indie pop.
++ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
The band name was taken from the catchphrase written on the vending machine. I still think it should have been a different band name.
++ Who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?
We liked Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, Dislocation Dance, The Man from Delmonte, The Desert Wolves, Razorcuts,The Chesterfields,The Close Lobsters, etc. And we wanted to make that kind of sound. We weren’t so good at playing though.
++ I believe your first releases came out on tape. I’ve seen some on Discogs and they seem quite rate. Were these early tapes distributed in any way? Sold at gigs?
It was difficult for the indie pop bands around us to put out vinyl records and CD, so we often made our own cassettes and sold them at gigs, or had them sold at record stores, and we did that too. I think I only copied 100 or less. There were also some shops that sold a lot of unknown indie pop band’s cassettes like us.
++ One of the tapes is called “Scrapbook Sampler” and dates from 1999. This one has two songs and it says it was released by Duplo Records. Wondering then who were Duplo Records? Was it yourself perhaps? And then there’s also a “Scrapbook” compilation 7″ where you contribute one song. There are three other bands on it, Corniche Camomille, Red Go-Cart and Airplane Rider. Was the tape just a promotion piece for the 7″? Was a release party with all four bands? Were you all friends with the bands or at least you were aware of them at the time?
It’s a extra cassette for the 7inch released with Red Go-cart,Corniche Camomile,Airplane Rider from Duplo records.The label was organized by Osamu Ikeya who was writing articles and apprentices in ‘Beikoku Ongaku’.He was the same age as me and loved indie pop. He really appreciates that he released our songs.
The all members of Airplane Rider was friends of Osamu. I was in a band called ‘Ollie Vee’ with Yasutaka the singer of them.
Red Go-Cart is a band from Sendai (Miyagi prefecture). When I went to Sendai with the band ‘Poussin’ for their gig, we stayed at their room after the gig. One of the girl I met at the night was White Lily Records’ owner who later released Sloppy Joe album ‘With Kisses Four’.
++ The other tape, also from 1999, is called “I Saw Many White Tea Cups..” that had 3 songs. This was for sure a self-release. One thing that I wonder is why did you go through the cassette release route? Are you a fan of them? What do you think of the rebirth of tapes that’s been happening in the last 5-10 years?
t was a self-release. We wanted more to release on vinyl than on cassette, but we had no choice but to release on cassette.We didn’t have enough money to release it on vinyl or CD, and we didn’t have a label to release it.
There’s a boom in cassette releases these days, but I think it’s better to put it on vinyl for me.
++ Then I see a demo tape with “Spring”, “Real Life” and “Girlfriend from Summerfield” dating from 2000. Did you make any other demo tapes? Or was this the only one?
This is what we were giving out to some friends. I sent this to uwe on Firestation Records and then had the song ‘Spring’ put into their compilation ‘I Tried A Thousand Times, A Thousand Times To Change Your Mind’.
++ The one release I have by you is the 7″ Firestation Records released in 2001. I am curious about how this relationship started, you being in Japan and the label in Germany?
Shortly after the compilation, it was released on Firestation Tower Records. It was a very incredibly happy event for us.
++ Were there interest from any other international labels to release your records? What about within Japan?
It was included in some cassettes with Japanese fanzine, but I don’t think other labels were interested in releasing our songs.
++ The 7″ has a nice photo on the sleeve and was wondering if it is you on it?
That is our member. I had my college friend take a picture with me. There was a video (The Bird from Northern Britain) he made at that time, and it wasn’t released until now, but I uploaded it so please watch it.
++ And what about the split cassette with Proguru? Who was this band? I’ve never heard them! When was it released? Do you remember? It seems it was only limited to 110 copies and of course I wonder who released it and why such a limited release?!
It’s a project that Katsumi was doing, who also participated in my coffee moment in the early days. He loves indie pop and was a benefactor who taught us a lot of great bands.
Perhaps the split cassette was released 1999.Around 1998 to 2000,we released some compilation cassette with his other projects “QUADRATEENY” and “PROGURU” and other friends’ “MEGNOW” and “Orange Bike” with us.I think these were distributed at our DJ party.
++ Aside from these releases you did appear on a few compilations. Mostly on Firestation Records and then on a few Japanese ones. There’s one CDR compilation that I believe was put together for The Lucksmiths Japan Tour in 2001. Clover Records put this out. Did you play a gig with the Australian band? There are 19 bands on the compilation, so I am not sure if all were part of the tour, or how did this work out?
We’d done a couple of Clover Records events, and we played with The Lucksmiths in Tokyo. I don’t remember the CDR well, but I think it contains the bands that appeared on their tour.
++ The other compilation that caught my eye was the “Beady Compilation Vol. 2”. This one has a few obscure bands I’ve never heard before like The Cartoon Characters, Patorush, Maybelle or Start Up Bus. I should look for them. But wondering if you’d recommend me some obscure Japanese bands as well?
Beady was a good indie pop fanzine.”Beady Compilation Vol.2” includes 9 bands. Bobbie’s Rocking’ Chair, Trans Alphabet, Chain Letter are good Japanese indie pop band you know. Especially,I remember being very excited when I heard Trans Alphabet songs on their self release cassette. Patorush and Maybelle released some cassettes,and Patorush released a CD from Minty Fresh Japan in 2000.
I still have the cassettes I bought in the late 90’s, so I’ll show you some of those bands.
Harmony Hatch, Risette, Ping Pong Dash! were the band we played on our first or second gig.We played with them some times.
Cyclon 86 was C-86 sounds band as the name suggests. I have two cassettes of them. Bass player of Cyclon 86 is now playing as the member of Bertoia. Bertoia is very good shogazer style band that is still active.
I have cassettes of other bands, but many of them are obscure bands that only released cassettes, so it may be difficult for you to get them. I’ll send you a photo of the cassette for you.
++ Are there still many unreleased songs by My Coffee Moment?
There were a few unreleased songs that were being recorded at the time, but two were provided for the Firestation Records compilation ‘Still Mad At Me?’ released in 2000. There are a few more songs that I couldn’t mix properly in the middle of recording and ended the band activity, but I don’t know if the day will come when they will be released.
++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Remember”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?
I think it was a time when I was influenced by Close Lobsters, The Desert Wolves, The Man from Delmonte, and so on. Of course I still love their songs
++ If you were to choose your favorite My Coffee Moment song, which one would that be and why?
For early year songs, I like ‘Seventy Seconds Tea Time’. We were happy that our song became a vinyl record for the first time.And ’Remember’ (released from Firestation Tower Records) is the best. I also like ‘Living’. The song couldn’t be released while we were active, but I’m glad to have it included in the Firestation compilation ‘Still Mad At Me?’
++ What about gigs? Did you play many?
We did lots of gigs. The most of our gigs were at Shinjuku JAM which was one of famous venue for japanese indie bands.We played there once or twice a month.
Most of our gigs were with Japanese bands, but we also played against some overseas bands such as The Lucksmiths and The Salteens etc. The Salteens was also included in the Firestation tower records compilation ‘I Tried A Thousand Times, A Thousand Times To Change Your Mind’ with us.
++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?
Poundsign and The Aislers Set Japan Tour held by Beikoku Ongaku (I remember the gig was with Japanese The Capuale Giants). Mike (Owner of Slumberland Records) stayed in my apartment, and he came to our bands’ gig with them. That’s so excited to us.
++ And were there any bad ones?
I think there were a lot of bad gigs. We were not so good at playing, especially the first gig I have some videos of our gig. It’s scary to watch for us.
++ When and why did My Coffee Moment stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?
I don’t remember the reason why I quit, but I think it was disbanded when I graduated from college. After that, I started making demo somgs by myself and became an activity of ‘Sloppy Joe’. I’m still interacting with them.
++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?
Takeyoshi was the drummer of ‘Sloppy Joe’ early year, and he played drums several times with ‘Poussin’ and ‘Boys and Girls Together’. Riichiro on the guitar is also the current Sloppy Joe guitar. He also participates in a band called Cleandistortion. At the end of the band, Osamu (The Caraway/Swinging Popsicle) was temporarily playing drums in our band.
++ Has there been any My Coffee Moment reunions?
Probably there is no reunion. It’s been so long that I don’t think I can play the songs of the time, and each one has a different environment.
++ Was there any interest from radio?
As far as I know, a local radio show in Fukushima played our song only once.
++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?
The press did not show any particular interest in us. Because we weren’t famous.
++ What about from fanzines?
We were interviewed by a few indie pop fanzines.“Beady”, ”Calino” and more. And our songs was included their compilation cassettes. Those interviews were also valuable to us.
++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?
After all, it was the best for us to released our 7inch single from Firestation Tower Records. I’m really grateful to Uwe.
++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?
My hobbies these days are running and taking pictures. I always run with my camera. DIY work is another hobby of mine. I make 7 inch record cases for LITEN BUTIKEN(the general shop and cafe).
++ Anything else you’d like to add?
I’d like to release some new songs of sloppy joe, ivory past and others.
I hope I can let you know something soon.
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Listen
My Coffee Moment – Remember
