Thanks so much to Riichiro and Jun for the interview! I wrote some weeks ago about Cleandistortion on the blog, hoping to find out more about this great Japanese band which I wasn’t sure if they were still going or not. Luckily they are, and they are working in new music. To find out more about them, you know what you have to do… continue reading!
++ Hi Riichiro! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Are there any news coming up for the band?
Riichiro: Hi, Roque, thank you so much for the opportunity to do such an interview at this time. I didn’t expect my favorite Cloudberry label to mention the name CLEANDISTORTION.
The band is now rehearsing and working on new songs with new drum support. We’ve been unable to play live due to COVID-19, so I’m really hoping it get resolved soon.
Jun, Vocal and Guitar of CLEANDISTORTION, is also joining this interview so I’m hoping he’ll answer about the band’s activities before I joined.
++ The band is still going on but it feels there has been many pauses. Am I right? Perhaps you all have been involved with other projects?
Riichiro: I think it’s not unreasonable to feel that way. We’ve got our own pace.
All the band members have full-time jobs or are involved in music activities while juggling family and child-rearing so it can’t be helped that the pace of our activities seems to be slow.
As far as cleandistion is concerned, especially around 2009, the drummer moved away from Tokyo for work-related reasons, so we went into a bit of a hiatus from there.
However, I personally continued to work with Hitoshi Oka(Sloppy Joe/Ivory Past) as the guitarist for Sloppy Joe, and I feel fortunate to have been able to play overseas shows like Indietracks (U.K.), BAYBEATS (Singapore) and Madrid Popfest (Spain).
For the past year or two, I and Jun Inoue, the core member of the band, have been thinking of resuming our activities as our child-rearing has calmed down a bit, and it would be nice to take it slow. Last year we had just played a few gigs with drum support.
++ 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 at home while growing up?
Riichiro: It’s been a long time since I heard the first music.Of course, when I was a kid, I loved all the songs that were on the air, especially the ones that hit the charts, and they were played on TV. But the first thing I picked up to listen to music for myself was an FM radio.
I used to listen to all kinds of foreign college chart music and MTV artists from FM radio. Punk, New Wave, New Romantic, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Funk/Soul, etc.
Especially I had a big crush on The Police. STING and Andy Summers are still my heroes. I think the artists I listened to as a teenager (The Smiths, XTC, REM, Aztec camera, Echo & The Bunnymen ,Joy division, New Order) are still in my guitar today.
Jun: The first memory of music goes back to elementary school and those were the Japanese hit charts.
I listened to a lot of Japanese idol groups.
If I take a look at it now, those artists who wrote music for Japanese idol groups were very familiar to anyone who liked music in Japan, and those artists were very influenced by US/UK rock and pop music and I think you can hear it in my melody too.
As for Western music, I still remember when I was in junior high school, I was blown away by the intro of The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” played on the AM radio.
When I entered high school, I became friends with who had the same taste in music and then I really got into music.
Starting from the 60’s and 70’s soft rock (ex Roger Nichols,5th dimension), The Beatles’ follower bands (ex Pilot, E.L.O, Jigsaw, The Rutles) and singer song writers (I love Todd Rundgren!!!), and in the ’90s, I used to listen to guitar bands like Teenage Fanclub, Oasis, Blur and in the US, Weezer, Posies, Lemonheads, Jellyfish.
++ Had you been in other bands before Cleandistortion? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?
Riichiro: I had a couple of my own bands in my early twenties, but both of them broke up.
After that, I met Hitoshi Oka and joined “my coffee moment” on guitar. After that, we put out “Beginning To See The Light” 7inch on Firestation label and then we broke up.
After the band broke up, I met Jun, who had come to Tokyo from Osaka at that time, through the introduction of a mutual acquaintance.
Jun: For me, CLEANDISTOTION is the first and the last band.
++ Where were you from originally?
Riichiro: I lived in Kumamoto city until I was 18 years old.
A former member of JOHNNY DEE is also in Kumamoto, which is where THEE WINDLESS GATES is active!
Jun: I was active in Kansai area until I was 28, then I moved to Tokyo and met Riichiro and the others.
++ How was Tokyo at the time of the start of Cleandistortion? 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?
Riichiro: CLEANDISTOTION is a band that was originally formed in Osaka. I’ll let Jun tell the story of those days.
Jun: When I formed the band around ’98 in Osaka, it was a place where punk, hardcore, mixture, heavy metal, blues, garage, 50’s, etc were the mainstream, and there were no bands playing alternative stuff that I liked.
In Osaka, I used to go to Shinsaibashi WAVE and TIMEBOMB for records and CDs.
I went to Shinsaibashi’s Quattro and Tenpozan bayside janie to see some new bands.
++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?
Jun: I formed the band when I was a sophomore at art college with ones who I met in the same college music circle, who have same taste in music.
++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?
Jun: In the beginning, I was practicing in a school club room with all the equipment and tried to write songs by just copying the people around me.It ended up being a bit like a bad Smashing Pumpkins cherubrock.It didn’t go very well at first.
++ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
Jun: I named this band because I wanted to express both the clean pop sounds and the noisy distortion sounds that I was influenced by.
Riichiro: When I first heard it, I thought it was a very straightforward band name, but I thought it was nice to be able to leave various interpretations to the listener.
++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?
Jun: The Beatles, weezer, posies, fountains of wayne, matthew sweet, teenage fanclub.
Riichiro: Dinosaur Jr, Blur, The Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer.
++ First release was a song called “Hang Up!” that appeared on a compilation called “Sunshine Pop Show! Vol. 3” on the Sunshinepoplabel. I must say I have never heard of this label. Who were they? Can you tell me a little bit about them?
Jun: You know it well.
The story goes back a little bit before this compilation album.
We had two goals as a band: one was to play live music in a live house, and the other was to be published our band name in the submission section of “American Music”, a magazine which was being published in Japan at that time introducing new pop bands from both domestic and overseas.
I was submitting a song for a while and then one day my name was on it and I got a compliment and that’s when I thought I might be able to release our songs, so I put it out to various places, and as a result, it was sunshinepoplabel that gave it to me for the first time.
To be honest, I’ve never met them in person and didn’t interact with them much before that.
++ I understand that your second release was a song on the compilation “Pop Comes Up!” that Bluebadge released. You would work with this label closely after this. I was wondering how did you know them? Were you friends? Or how did they approach you?
Jun: It all started when I met a band called “spaghetti vabune!” at a live house in Kobe, a city in Kansai area, and became friends with them.
At that time, I made the acquaintance of Mr. Higuma, the label owner who was going to release a music of “Vabune!”.
After meeting a couple of times, he started to like our music, so we decided to put it on the compilation first.
++ How was the relationship with other bands in the label? Did you know them? Share gigs?
Jun: We’ve done a few gigs with spaghetti vabune! that I mentioned about earlier, and we became good friends.
Also, I was a friend with a member of “Caraway” on the same label. They covered our song called “endpaper” in their own release from bluebadge label.
++ Speaking of labels, was there any other labels that were interested in your music?
Jun: Shortly before we had a release from bluebadge label, we had some relationship with a major label for a while, they were looking for new talent, but it didn’t turn out to be the case.
++ In 2004 you released “Teenage Archives” on the Bluebadge label as well. This is a great record, but quite short! Just 6 songs. Why so short?!
Jun: I don’t know, it feels like an eternity to me. All jokes aside, there was actually a full album’s worth of songs, but due to the level of perfection at the time, recording time and budget, I think we ended up with 6 songs as a result. Also, maybe it was risky because we weren’t such a well known band.
++ I also really like the artwork for the CD. Who made it? Was it one of you?
Jun: Thank you, I’m so glad you like it. It was done by a girl in the same art college who liked the band at the time. I asked her for something like if it were a cut from our college life at the time.
By the way, she’s married to a former guitarist of the band and now has a beignet and chicory coffee shop in Nara, so if you ever get a chance to come to Japan after COVID-19 converges, please visit there.
++ Where did you record the songs? How long did it take? Who produced the songs? And most importantly, what did the diet of the band consist during those sessions, beer and what else?!
Jun: We did the whole thing from recording to mastering at a recording studio in a local town for the bluebadge release. The other recordings were basically done in rehearsal studios. We do all the producing ourselves.
Most of the band’s food were come from convenience stores, but afterwards it was a beer party every night.
++ Then there was 2005 CD single with the songs “Sailor” and “Teen Wave”. This one isnt even on Discogs. On the cover there’s a photo of the four members of the band. Care telling me who is who?
Jun: The members on this jacket are from the Kansai era. From the left, Drums Kenta Kobashi, Guitar Naoya Ookubo, Vocal/guitar Jun Inoue (it’s me! so slender!), Bass Takashi Icikawa, Now they are having their own lives these days.
++ How come you decided to release a CD single? I still remember 2005 and I feel CD singles were quite a rare format by then!
Jun: I’m not sure how I remember it, but I think they probably put it out as part of a promotion before they put out a mini album for 300 yen.
++ Lastly in 2010 there was another release called “One Four Harmony”. This is the one I have the least information. For example, who released it? In what format?
Riichiro: These are the first three songs we recorded after Jun moved to Tokyo. It’s completely self-recorded and I did the track-down, mastering and CD production.
After we started in Tokyo, we played quite number of lives, but we wanted to record our sound at least for once, no matter what form it took. So we did it ourselves.
But we made it a little before. Actually, I think it’s about 2007-8.
++ Because I’ve been having a bit of trouble finding your releases, are there any more?
Riichiro: I can imagine your struggle to find sound sources and activities. After all, it’s not like there’s a whole record of our archives in one place.
Some of the songs were taken as demos, but unfortunately, after Jun moved to Tokyo, there’s nothing else had released out from our recorded materials.
Jun: When I was in Osaka, I played two songs in clover records’ “pop jingu vol 2”. Two songs, “Wendy’s blues” and “Teenage Green Cracker”. I joined the release event held in Tokyo at that time.
++ And are there more recordings by the band? Unreleased tracks?
Riichiro: There are a lot of unreleased songs for some reason. Some of them had been recorded but not released, and some of them are just live recordings that are posted on Youtube.
++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Teenage Green Cracker”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?
Jun: It started when I got this idea of making a song like “Some People Try To Fuck With You” by Teenage fanclub which I liked very much at that time.
Even before that, I liked songs like “you and me song” by the wannadies that blended bossa nova style and guitar pop.
++ If you were to choose your favorite Cleandistortion song, which one would that be and why?
Jun: The style of the work is different depending on the time period.
Before the mini-album, I think the song “Girl Friend” was well done as far as I’m concerned.
It’s more of a guitar pop feel.
Also, I’m loving “endpaper” and “Teen Wave”.
But a few songs we’re rehearsing and working on right now are the ones I like the most, and I’d like everyone to hear them.
Riichiro: I don’t know, I can’t choose just one but I sometimes like songs that we haven’t recorded before.
I really like the songs we’re rehearsing and making right now.
I recorded songs on “One Four Harmony E.P.” so I have a lot of feelings for them.
I like “wendy’s blues” before I joined the band.
++ What about gigs? Did you play many?
Jun: I’ve done a lot of that. Recently, I’ve been concentrating more on each and every one of them due to limited opportunities.
Riichiro: Yes, We’ve done a lot of gigs. I’d love to do some recording, but I don’t get the chance.
++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?
Jun: “Carnival Ride” was the most exciting event that we planned and played, having both DJs and bands who’s been good friends with us.
The best thing I’ve done recently was to play in the same live show with “Shortcut Miffy!”, a Japanese band that I respect very much.
Riichiro: Yes, I still remember the events we’ve held. It was a form of a party with DJs and we played with “PLECTRUM” and “BOYCE”. We also had Mr. Higuma, the owner of bluebadge label, as a DJ, so it was a very memorable night!
++ And were there any bad ones?
Jun: There were a lot of them, but I forget all about them when I had drinks.
Riichiro: There’s a lot of that, but those became a part of my fun memory now.
++ Did you get much attention from the radio? TV?
Jun: I love radio and TV, which I’m afraid I didn’t get involved with at all.
Riichiro: No, it didn’t happen at all. It would be interesting if we could be on a show like “top of the pops.”
++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?
Jun: In the same way.
Riichiro: We’ve never gotten much attention from the press or magazines.
++ What about from fanzines?
Riichiro: When Jun were in Osaka, there were a few things written in fanzines, weren’t there? How’d it go?
Jun: I think we had some of them, but I can’t remember that. Sorry.
++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?
Jun: Looking back, I don’t think we’ve accomplished anything yet.
I’m hoping to have some sort of highlight in the future.
Riichiro: I wonder what the highlight will be, I guess it’s just the beginning.
++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?
Jun: Listening to radio shows, drinking beer while watching “STAR TREK”.
Riichiro: It’s nice to be camping. It’s a great feeling to have a drink outdoors, isn’t it?
++ Never been to Tokyo so I’ll take the opportunity to ask a local for any recommendations you’d have? Like sights one shouldn’t miss? Food and drinks one should try?
Jun: If you’re in Shibuya, Tokyo, you can go to “Bar-Edge End”,
If you’re in Kichijoji, I’m sure there’s a party you’ll love at “ichibee”.
Also, if it’s food, I can introduce you to Osaka (Udon, Kushikatsu, Yakiton…).
Riichiro: Have you ever eaten sushi?
If you come to Tokyo, you should eat it!
++ Anything else you’d like to add?
Jun: We don’t know where it will come out or what form it will take, but we’re hoping to drop some new works by next year or so.
In Japan, there are good guitar bands (e.g., “Linustate”, “Shortcut Miffy!”, “Softtouch”, “Fishbasket”…) that’s been around for a long time, and they are releasing new songs one after another, so please check them out.
Riichiro: It’s a terrible situation all over the world, but we would like to stay at home and do some kind of creative activity. I can’t wait to make some of our works. So let’s keep stay at home / work from home / play at home / dancing on the inside!
Finally, thank you again for giving us the opportunity to do this kind of interview.
We really enjoyed the interview.
We’ll keep you posted when we release songs.
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