08.05.2008 - 20:00 (Thursday)
FIRLEJ (ul. Grabiszyńska 56)
Tickets: 45/35PLN
Psychedelic / Alternative / Noise / Doom etc.
Japanese experimental band “Boris” returns to Wrocław at the occasion of the release of their new album “Smile.” For more info: www.inoxia-rec.com/boris. The concert features also a US duo Growing.
Read on for the interview with Atsuo, the drummer and the vocalist of Boris // The questions are by Bartek Gil and the interview is published here by the courtesy of PopUp [www.popupmusic.pl - the Polish version]

Bartek Gil: Where do you think acid/psychodelic music re-gains its strength from?
Atsuo: いろいろな過去音源の発掘作業も充実してるからね。みんな未来に絶望してる風潮もあると思う。だから過去に夢を見ようとしている。過去の方が捏造（批評）することに、あまり責任を問われないし、危険の伴わない謎解きをしているように感じる。未来を作って行く方が危険で、やっぱり意義のあることだと思うんだが。
[Well, a lot of audio materials from the past have been restored and are readily accessible today. And also there is this hopelessness that everyone seems to feel about the future. That’s why everyone tries to find dream in the past. There is much less responsibility in fabricating (criticizing) the past, and it feels like solving puzzles without taking any risk. It is more risky to move towards future, but I think it would be more meaningful...]

Q. it used to be popular ages ago and apparently it seems now it’s attractive to people who seek for more contemporary commentary and interpretation of reality. Would you say it’s blossoming now or it’s just that it’s being hyped at the moment?
現在はいろいろな価値観が共存しているし、サイケデリックのムーブメントはあの６０年代後半の未開な文化の状態であったからこそ熱病のように世界中に広がったんだろう。それは音楽というよりは現象であったろうと思うし、今の時代はパソコンの画面の中で”経験すること無く”物事が進行して行く。そんな時代への憧れもあるんだろうね。
[I think the psychedelic movement spread all over the world like a fever only because of that wild, untamed period that the end of the 60’s was. It was more like a cultural phenomenon and not simply about music. But today many different values and tastes coexist, and things happen in the computer screen “without actually experiencing them.” It may be that people feel a certain longing for that period.]

Q. (by the way - do you yourself have an interest in contemporary music? who would you call a cutting-egde artist?)
そういった意味で、今自分たちは”音楽”をやるつもりは全くない。音楽には興味が無い。音楽というジャンルにいながら”経験”を促すきっかけを作るようなことをBorisはやるようになってきている。自覚的、コンセプチュアルにやっている訳でなく、面白いことを求めて行ったらこういうことになって行ったね。
だからSunn o)))とかはやはり経験そのものだし、すごく刺激になるし、影響も受けてるね。
[We have now no intention of making “music” in that sense. We have no interest in music at all. Boris has been doing things that could help setting off the “experience” without leaving the music as a genre. But we are not doing that self-consciously or conceptually. It just happened this way when we pursued what interested us.
So, in that sense, we get inspiration from the bands like Sunn o))), for example, which is a pure experience, and we also get some influences from them.]

Q. How spontaneous you are when it comes to recording? It seems that not necessarily every sound appearing on an album is deeply thought-out and you prefer recording live to overdub. If it’s right, does it come more from pre-recording assumptions or your general attitute about creative process?
”Smile”のレコーディングではどちらの側面もあったね。自然体、つまりインプロビゼーションを主体に、記録された素材を曲にして行く（自然に聴こえなくしていく）やり方。パズルのようにリフを組み合わせつつ、そのあとのアクシデントと出会わせるやり方。結局は”混沌と秩序”そのどちらかに偏ること自体がつまらない。混沌と秩序をひとつの作品のなかに共存させることが、僕らにとってスリリングな音として経験できるものだな
[The recording of “Smile” had both. We create a tune from recorded materials on the basis of spontaneity – or, improvisation – and make it less natural and spontaneous as we go along. While we combine riffs like a puzzle, we also break it down. In the end, it is boring if we must choose between “chaos and the order.” To make “chaos and the order” coexist in one work – that’s the thing that we can “experience” as exciting sound.]

Q. Your discography is impressive. One can have an impression that incessant stream of consciousness and need of communication is crucial for the band. Where would you place it on your ladder of values (especially when you were to confront it with formal limitations)?
制限は無いんだよね。いつも。レーベルからいつまでに！ってデッドラインが決められることはないし。
レコーディングも自分達でやってるから、コストも他のバンドに比べてすごく低いと思うよ。
だからレコーディング時間の制約も無い。
それで、「incessant stream of consciousness」ってのは実は誰でも本当は持ってるものだと思うんだよね。世間一般的に「日常は退屈なもの」とかそういうことになってるだけで。目の前の現実に目を向けたらそこにはスリリングな日常が本当はあって、そうしたら意識はドライブせざるを得ないと思うんだけど。僕らは普通のことを普通にやってるとおもうよ。
それとコミュニケーションの本質は「わからないこと」だと思ってる。理解し合うことがコミュニケーションではない。わからないまま、もやもやした気持ちも抱えながら、保留の状態で進むこともすごく大切なことだと思うんだ。バンドの中ではそれほど言葉によるコミュニケーションに重きを置いてないし、制作の過程の中では音に耳を傾ける時間、その音が世界にどう響いていくのか感じること重要になってくる。
[There is no formal limitation. We don’t have a deadline from a label. Because we record by ourselves, I think the cost is much lower than other bands, and that’s why there is no limit to the recording time, either.
We think that “incessant stream of consciousness” is something that everyone has. It’s just that people already decided that “everyday life is boring,” but I think if you take a close look at the reality in front of us, you’ll see an exciting life and your mind will just get going. I just feel that we are not doing anything more than that ordinary thing.
By the way, I think the essence of communication is “not to understand.” Understanding one another is not a communication. I think it is important to continue even in suspension, without understanding and with some unresolved feeling. In our band, the communication with words is not that important, and in the creative process, it is more important to pay attention to the sound and feel what impression that sound is going to leave in the world.]

Q. As this is an interview for an on-line magazine and your albums are often limited to a few thousands copies what do you think would/can make people realize that it’s not the more CDs you rip off the more cool you are?
お？これは僕らの音源が「rip off」と言われてるってこと？（笑）リリースの枚数が限定になるのは、僕らのアイデアがコストがかかりすぎるし、一般的な製造ラインには無いことが多い。だから限定になってしまうんだけど。でも見たいものは見たい。作り手の強靭な欲求がなければ、それを買ってくれる人にも「新しい経験」は訪れないと思ってる。そういう意味でも、ぼくらは自分達の経験という快楽を追求するよ。
あとはそれが買ってくれた人にとって「良い経験」となることを願うのみ。だね。誠実に、ひとつづつまじめにコツコツやってくしかない。今までもそうやってきたし、これからも変わらない
[Are you referring to the fact that people are calling our audio sources a “rip off”? (laugh) The number of our albums is limited, because our ideas cost too much and often not commonly available. That’s why the release gets limited, but still we want to do what we want to do. If we don’t have a strong enough will to pursue what we want to do, I think the people who buy our albums won’t get any “new experience.” In that sense, we will continue to explore the pleasure called our own experience.
We just hope that this will be a “good experience” for people who buy. All we can do is to work sincerely, and one step at a time. We did it like that until now, and that won’t change.]

Q. You play with growing and shellac on this tour. what are these bands to you?
Growingはアメリカでも一緒にツアーもやったりしていて、個人的にいろいろ共感できる部分が多い。
そのことを彼らと話したことはないけど、言葉でわかり合う以上に、一緒に”同じ空間”に居られるってことが重要だな、って思うし。すごい感じのいい奴らだし、彼らの音ももちろん好き。
[With Growing, we also toured together in U.S.A. and personally there are a lot of things that I feel close to. I’ve never told them, but the fact that we share the “same space” matters to me, much more than understanding one another with words. They are nice guys and, of course, I like their sound as well.]

Q. do you feel any kin towards (ex)kranky bands and is steve albini’s attitute appealing to you anyhow?
Rapemanは大好きなバンドだったな。最悪な名前だけど。最悪な名前は日本の漫画からってことも知ってるけど。彼の録音方法は僕らのそれとは対極にあると感じるね。
[Rapeman was a band I liked a lot, although it had a terrible name. And I also know that they took this terrible name from a Japanese manga. I feel that the way he records is exactly opposite to ours.]

Q. Your famed jumps over your drum kit, stage diving and crowdsufring are more an effect of dealing with real emotions or rather a result of awareness that people expect a bit of spectacular show from such a conceptual band.
「いやいや、そんなの嘘の感情で、演出、お約束に決まってるじゃん。」って言った方が期待に添えるのかな？（笑）それとも「ライブ中は感情が昂って、訳が分からなくなってどうしてもあんな風になってしまうんだ。」って言う方がいい？
この二つは僕にとってどちらも本当で、どちらも嘘。ただ、ショウを「オーディエンスと一緒に楽しみたい」とはいつも思ってるよ。
また次回会場で会えることを楽しみにしてる。
[Would you like me to say: “No, no, of course all the emotion is a fake and it’s all just a performance”? (laugh). Or, do you prefer: “During the live concert, I get all excited and things just happen that way”?
For me, both of them are true, and both of them are just a lie. But I always want to enjoy the show with the public and that feeling is true.
I’m looking forward to seeing you again at a concert.]

// Translated from Japanese to English by Toyotaka Ota [WroclawWeekly.pl]

Posted by toyo on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 9:39 am.