Thanks so much again to Satori and Ishida for the interview! I interviewed them not too long ago about the superb Japanese band Daffodil-19 and today it is time to interview them about their first band, the legendary Penny Arcade! The band reissued all of their songs from previous releases and unreleased not long ago on a CD on Kilikilivilla Records called “A Girl from Penny Arcade” which is a must for any indiepop lover in the world! Classic, timeless, songs abound on it. If you have never heard them, this is a perfect time to do so!
++ Hi Satori and Ishida-kun! Thanks again for another interview! This time we’ll talk about your first band, Penny Arcade! But it was your first band? Or had you had any other band adventures before?
Hello again, Roque, and thanks for your interest in Penny Arcade. Penny was my first band to play our original songs.
++ We talked last time of Daffodil-19 and now I am curious how would you compare each band? What was similar and what was different in the way the band functioned?
Both are amateur bands. I was a college student when we started Penny, so we had nothing but time. We were young and naive, too.
With Daffodils, we all have full time jobs, so everything is time constraints.
++ I don’t know if I am right or wrong with what I’ll say, but the first time I heard Penny Arcade I couldn’t tell it was a Japanese band. It sounded like a British or American band to me. Even the vocals, it was hard to find a Japanese accent. What do you think of this view of mine?
We had no Japanese bands we wanted to be alike.
As for the accent, I spent 3 years of my childhood in the suburb of Philadelphia, so that explains..
++ Who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?
Buzzcocks, Magazine, Joy Division, Jazz Butcher, Cocteau Twins, Young Marble Giants, Girls at our best!, Pale Fountains, Eyeless in Gaza, Bauhaus, Velvet Underground, Wedding Present , Red Lorry Yellow Lorry , Echo & the Bunnymen, A Certain Ratio, Felt, WIRE, Jesus & Mary Chain, The Monochrome Set, Swell Maps, This Heat, The Chameleons, Gang Of Four, Sad Lovers & Giants
++ I also could dare to say that you were the first proper indiepop (or neo-aco) band in Japan. Or at least among the first. What impact did it cause? Was there a big fanbase at the time for this sort of music? Was there support from venues, radio or press?
There was no word “indiepop”, at the time, and we were quite different from what people expect with “neo-aco”. So I doubt we had any impact on anything.
There were no fanbase, no scene, just a small circle of friends, but we influenced each other a lot. And they were the only ones, who supported us.
The biggest support was from “eikoku ongaku”, a fanzine ran by Asako Koide, my college mate.
++ You told me last time about other bands you’ve been in, but what about the rest of members of Penny Arcade? What other bands they had played in?
Sotomura-san (drummer) played in various bands, when we met, he was in Grimm Grimms (not Grimm Grimm), and Anna Karina, both psychedelic bands.
As for Ishida-kun, we explained in the Daffodil-19 interview, so will skip that.
++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?
Ishida-kun and I met at Aztec Camera’s first Japan tour in 1985. Later that year, he made a compilation tape for his friends’ bands (including Bachelors, Monkey Dance Club, etc). It was something he did it for fun (he said it was an imaginary label, but it today’s term, you could call it a self-release on an independent label). And there was a release party on the Christmas Day. Everyone who attended this party had to do something on stage. Singing, dancing, magic etc… I teamed up with Ishida-kun (guitar), Saito-kun (bass) and with rhythm box, we were an instant band, and called ourselves Penny Arcade. Since we had no skill to do covers, we wrote several songs on our own.
Next spring, we restarted as a band. Saito-kun left, so asked Eko-chan (Eko Hatakeyama) to join us. (She used to play the bass in the Bauhaus cover band with me!)
I guess we recruited Sasaki-kun (our first drummer), right after our first gig. He was in a band called Paint Box (not Paintbox).
++ Were there any lineup changes?
Sasaki-kun was with us for about a year, and after he left, Sotomura-san joined. His drums were so powerful, we became louder (and wilder).
Karino-san (acoustic/electric guitar) joined as the final piece.
++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?
At Penny, each member wrote their own part. For example, Ishida-kun would come up with chord progressions or riffs, and we all wrote our parts.
For me, I wrote lyrics and vocal part that comes with it. (I never thought it was a melody)
It took time and interactions, but it was natural for us.
We practiced at rental studios (like most of other bands in Tokyo).
++ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
I got it from William Burroughs novel, “Wild Boys”.
At first I wanted to name it Penny Arcade Peep Show, but am glad we kept it short, for lots of reasons… 🙂
++ Your first release was a 1987 7″ single on the label Studio Penta. Who were behind this label and how did you end up releasing with them?
There was a contest ran by rehearsal studio, Studio Penta. Someone sent our tape (without letting us know), and we got a call to play in the competition. We accidentally won this, and 7inch release was the prize…
Our first recording was a nightmare. We were notified that they cannot record real drums (WHY?). So we borrowed LinnDrum, but soon found out that it was half broken. We struggled until midnight to program 2 songs.
We were extremely tired and fed up, but had to finish by morning. When we recorded all the materials, the engineers said they will “finish up” later. So we did not even touch the mixing console. I still hate listening to this, as this is not our music at all.
But looking back, we were lucky that experienced this on our first single. (Lessons learnt!)
++ And prior to this release, had you had made recordings? Or were the two songs on the 7″ your earliest recorded material?
This was our first studio recording. Before that, we only made cassette tape demos on the 4-track multi recorder.
++ This 7″ has a very particular art, who made it? And what does it mean?
It’s something I drew in high school. (I don’t know what it meant. I guess I just wanted to paint color compositions.)
++ Then came a tape with the two other “first” indiepop bands from Japan, Lollipop Sonic and Debonaire. A tape called “Akko-Chan’s Anorak Party!” on the Boshi label. I have a few questions about it. The first is how did you end up working with Akiko and the Boshi label? Was she back in Japan at that time?
Akko-chan was living in her hometown, Nara. I guess she was a college student, when she started the Boshi label. She was a friend of Koide-san (eikoku ongaku), and asked us (Lollipop Sonic and Penny Arcade) to do a show in Kyoto.
This was the summer of 1987, and the show was “Akko-Chan’s Anorak Party!” (we called it “Anorappa” for short)
The tape is a live recording of that show.
++ Second, were you all friends? Were Penny Arcade, Debonaire and Lollipop Sonic part of a cohesive scene? Were there other bands that you liked in that period?
++ And third, there’s an acoustic version included of “A Boy from Penny Arcade”, does this song remain exclusive to this release?
There is another “acoustic” version of this song on the CD, but if you are talking about acoustic “live” version, this is the only one.
++ Then a self-titled album was released in 1992 with Wonder Release Records. Why did it take almost 4 years for a new release? What happened in the meantime?
Penny Arcade was active from 1986 to 1989.
This CD released in 1992, is actually a reissue of self-released cassette tape we sold on our last gig in 1989. (We recorded this album as memoirs for ourselves.)
++ And how did you end up working on Wonder Release Records? Care telling me a bit about this label?
Wonder Release was Venus Peter’s label. Yoda-san, the owner, did not know us when we were active.
But rediscovered us as Ishida-kun’s former band.
++ This album is truly wonderful, it had 10 songs of pure pop, from “Bicycle Thief” to “Green Telescope” and more. A song that caught my attention was “T.V. Personalities”, was that sort of a tribute to the Television Personalities band?
Not actually… (sorry)
Someone asked me what does Television Personalities mean in Japanese, and I said “uhh. That’s like TV talent – people you see on TV”… After that conversation, I wrote this song..
It was inspired by the band name, but not about the band.
++ Many of us rediscovered your music thanks to the KiliKiliVilla compilation “A Girl from Penny Arcade” that came out in 2016. It is a wonderful collection of indiepop that I suggest everyone to get. How did this compilation came about? Whose idea was it to put it together?
It was Yoda-san’s idea. (He is the one who originally reissued Penny in 1992.)
In fact, he has been asking me to reissue Penny for more than 20 years. He asked me every once in a while, so I thought it was just a social greeting (like asking “how are you?).
But on the fall of 2015, he sent me the URL of his new label, KiliKiliVilla. I clicked it and there was a video of Not Wonk playing a live show. It was awesome.
I watched it for 30 minutes, and replied, “Your new label is fascinating. We are OK to reissue on this label.”
So thanks to Yoda-san for his passion and patience, that Penny Arcade’s music is available today.
++ Are there still any unreleased tracks by the band? Or everything has been released?
Everything is included on the reissued album. Even early demos, which were for band members only.
++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Coming Down”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?
Ishida: I just loved the weddoes too much. That’s all.
Satori: For me, it was very buzzcocks inspired song. 🙂
++ If you were to choose your favorite Penny Arcade song, which one would that be and why?
Ishida: “Flowers” – It’s probably because this is the very first song, we wrote as Penny. I have so much feelings about this song.
“Boy Supreme”- This is the first song we made out of Satori-san’s vocal melody. We recorded on the MTR (porta 2)(which I’d just bought at the time) with rhythm-box.
“Blissful Deserted” – This the first song, we recorded as Penny at the proper recording studio. I played the acoustic guitar, I borrowed from EB (of Bachelors).
Satori: “A Boy from Penny Arcade” -This is one of our early songs, too. I wrote it as our theme song, but about “long lost” penny arcade show. Like being already dead in the beginning… 🙂
++ What about gigs? Did you play many?
We played about once a month… so quite a lot..
A young friend compiled the list of our gigs from data of old play-guide magazines recently.
I was so amazed, because we were playing so many shows. (Most of them, I cannot remember at all)
++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?
Probably, the last gig on December 1989.
Lollipop Sonic opened for us. (They were already the Flippers’ Guitar, but appeared as Lollipop Sonic.)
++ And were there any bad ones?
Early ones, when we had very few friends.
++ Did Penny Arcade appear on TV?
Never. We were just an amateur band.
++ When and why did Penny Arcade stop making music?
There was this battle of the band on the TV (called “Ikaten”).
When the show started in 1989, all the sudden everyone was in so-called “indies” band boom, like frenzy.
It was social phenomenon in Japan.
We did not want to be part of anything like that.
++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?
(Will skip for Ishida-kun, please refer to Daffodil-19 interview)
Sotomura-san played with various bands, Here is Eden, Blue bongos, Advantage Lucy, (and of course) Daffodil-19, etc..
He joined the Sherbets in 1997, Number the. in 1999 (both bands are still active).
++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?
We reunited in 2017, and played with Philips, (also reunited) Bridge and (also reunited) Debonaire.
++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?
Probably “Anorappa” in 1988.
It was like a school trip, and we got to meet new friends outside of Tokyo.
We had no large audience, nor hits (not even near hits), but we had friends who loved and supported our music for all these years. (30 years!)
That is more than anything.
++ Anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you for rediscovering us!
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
