Zzz’s

Plucked from relative obscurity following a chance encounter with famed Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore at a secret noise show in Miami, Japanese trio ZZZ’s cut their jagged, razor-edged post-punk teeth on two long US tours well before they made a dent back home. We caught up with bassist Yukari during a brief touring respite to figure out just how three childhood friends from a small industrial town on the outskirts of Osaka could end up making such a finely-tuned racket

Phone interview by Charlotte van Zanten, photos shot by Simone Dedola and Steve Freeman in Osaka, Japan

“We only sing about reality and never about love or about personal discomforts”

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We hear about bands from Tokyo all the time, but there’s rarely word from Osaka. What’s the underground scene like there?

It’s very different from Tokyo. Tokyo is comparable to metropolitan cities like New York, filled with international people. Osaka doesn’t have that international atmosphere. It therefore has a very strong, authentic identity; a city full of friendly but weird individuals. There’s a big underground music scene in Osaka with lots of punk-rock bands. Of course, there aren’t as many venues as in Tokyo, but there’s definitely a lot going on.

How do you spend your time when you’re not performing?

I serve Japanese sake and shõchõ a few times a week. The other two work in a call centre and a pharmacy. This is how we save money to go on tour. It’s been very hard for us to keep our jobs, because there’s always that moment in which we have to explain to our bosses that we’re leaving for a few weeks. It’s become easier now, because we’ve all been working at the same place for a long time and our bosses understand. Of course we want to quit as soon as possible…

Do you work late?

Not too late. I take the last train home.

There’s a rumour that the only reason the public transport system in Japan winds down around midnight is so that people can finally get away from the office. If not, bosses would keep their employees all night.

Sometimes we also work like the salarymen, but it’s because we have a dream. If we want to tour all over the world we need money. The problem in Japan is that everybody seems to be completely overworked. Japanese people take their jobs very serious and they feel obligated.

“The problem in Japan is that everybody seems to be completely overworked”

Is there a lot of pressure to find a job and work around the clock? How do your families respond to your rock’n’roll lifestyle?

Luckily our families understand our lifestyle. My father is a musician as well. My family encourage me to walk my own path. The same goes for the others; we’ve been playing for ten years and they’re all supportive.

A few recent studies show that Japanese women tend to continue working instead of getting married and having babies nowadays. I’m curious: what’s your view on marriage?

We have many friends who are married and have babies. And even though we don’t understand the life of a housewife especially, we respect them and they respect us. Sometimes ZZZ’s talk about marriage and love. We decided we can get married, but we can’t have children right now.

The love doesn’t really seem to come through in the lyrics. You sing about dystopia, suicide… Why is that?

We have a first rule when we write lyrics: we only sing about reality and never about love or about personal discomforts. With our music, we try to touch current social conditions. Everybody has his or her own reality, but I think it’s important to talk about the problems we see. We show people our reality. Our songs are often about the dark side of people and they usually have a theme. ‘Dystopia’, for example, came from a movie. It was inspired by Blade Runner. Today the guitarist and me came up with a new song about Karma, inspired by the film Enter The Void.

Is it about doing drugs?

No, about a near death experience. We loved that scene in the toilet.

ZZZ’s play on 16 May at De Nieuwe Anita in Amsterdam. The show is free for Subbacultcha! members.