Not the 90′s UK R&B boy band. This is Damage from Osaka… but they do have mad love for 90′s UK boy bands.
There were a lot of disheartened, soaking and tired faces at the rain soaked All Night Fuji stage at Fuji Rock Festival earlier this summer. But as soon as Damage took to the stage, that all changed. At one point during their set, I thought the rain was going to be danced right out of Naeba.
Damage are currently represented by Third Culture, alongside the likes of Dex Pistols, DJ Kyoko and Bryan Burton-Lewis. They describe their music as ‘acid-punk’, but it’s essentially top-notch dance music. ‘Mouth to Mouth’, their 3rd album, was released earlier this summer… and it’s a banger!
A few days before their rip-roaring Fuji Rock performance, we drank beers and fired questions at Atsushi… Damage’s charming, booze loving front man.
Get to know Damage…
There isn’t very much info about Damage in English, so please introduce the band.
We first formed in 2003, and at first we were more of a rock or electro-clash band. Back then, we’d just started going to clubs, and we all thought there should be more ‘rock’ in the club scene, so we wanted to start a band. I was working in a head shop in Osaka, and I met the rest of Damage in the shop… they were my customers. We became close friends and decided to start a band!
What were you all doing before you started Damage?
As I said, I was working in a head shop, but the rest of the guys weren’t working… they were just playing around, haha!
How would you describe Damage’s sound?
Dance music that functions as pop music.
What are your influences?
Brian Eno, David Byrne, Simian Mobile Disco and Klaxons.
Do you feel that Damage share a similar sound with any other bands?
No, I think we are really unique. Nowadays when we record, we just play with our feelings and follow our instincts.
How did the name Damage come about?
Because when we first started, all of us were really poor, and we used to use ‘damage’ as a way to describe our situation, like “Oh, I’m damaged”. Then we just stuck with it after that.
Which of the songs from your newest album do you think is a good introduction to somebody that has never listened to Damage.
Sign of the Times or Chaos of Love. That’s the new style of Damage.
Do you feel you have a better live or recorded sound?
Live live live!!! Thats the real Damage! You have to see our performance to really appreciate the music!
How has your music progressed since the first album?
On the first album, we were making tracks with a theme. For example, before we recorded a track, we’d decide that “this track should sound like 90′s madchester, and the next track should sound like Digitalism”, and so on. But for the new album we just forgot about all that, and decided to make something completely on our own, from however we were feeling at that time.
All the lyrics on Mouth to Mouth are in English… why is that?
Because I’m in Japan, and I don’t wanna convey a direct message… which would probably happen if we sung in Japanese. It’s kinda difficult to write in English, but I’m so used to listening to English music, so it come’s surprisingly easily. Actually, it’d probably be harder for us to write songs in Japanese now!
Tell us about the cover song ‘Chaos of Love’.
The original is an East 17 song! They’re an idol group, or boy-band from the UK. We really love old boy bands, because it’s kind of nostalgic, and to cover their song in a totally different way was good fun for us!
Whats the story behind the ‘Sign of the Times’ video?
We wanted to use a night-vision camera, and make something that looked dark and scary, because we made it just after the 3/11 earthquake, so we wanted to show some feeling related to that. But actually, it turned out to be quite fun. My favorite of all our videos is ‘Return of Satisfuckers’, the Justin Pearson remix. Check it out!
How has the fans reaction been to the new album.
Very, very good!
Which song do you enjoy playing live the most?
Everything I Do… because its in the style of dubstep, and i love the groove on that track.
And which track usually draws the best crowd reaction?
Sign of the Times.
In the past, you’ve performed alongside the likes of Simian Mobile Disco and Digitalism. How was that?
That was so great! When we played after Simian, we gave them Damage t-shirts and CDs, and told them to listen to our CD while wearing the t-shirt! They were so friendly, and they asked us a lot of questions!
You played at SXSW in 2008… how was that? Any crazy stories?
Hyper-enjoy!!! It was so fun! We stayed in Texas for 1 week and played 2 shows. The crowds were great, so much more energetic than Japanese audiences. Even though they didn’t know our music, they seemed to really like it. We sold lots of merchandise too, and we’ve kept in touch with a lot of the people we met out there. We also got to see some great bands, like Crystal Castles, RTX and The Whip. When we first arrived in Texas, we were speaking to lots of random people in the street, and asking if they had anything that could… get us high. One guy kindly took us to his house… and it turned out that he had everything that could get us high! So we had a lot of fun, haha!
Mark Stewart remixed one of your tracks. How did that come about?
Mark actually e-mailed us! We were so surprised, and at first we were kind of suspicious as to whether or not it was really him, but we checked, and luckily it was! He just found us whilst browsing Myspace, and mailed us saying “I really like your music, and if you have any new stuff, please send it to me”. Then we suggested that he remix one of our tracks. He wasn’t too sure at first as he’d never done remixes before, but he decided to give it a try, and that was that!
Who else has remixed your music?
The Locust, a rock band from San Diego remixed one. Also Justin Pearson, who was vocalist on a few Bloody Beetroots tracks, remixed one of our songs.
If you could choose anybody to remix a Damage track, who would you choose?
Tough question! Erm… Flying Lotus. Or I’d really like somebody from the rock scene to do a remix, like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And of course Simian. As for Japanese artists, I’d love Killer Bong to do it!
So, onto Fuji Rock. You performed in 2010… tell us about it! Were you nervous?
Yeah, last year was our first time, we played on the Day Dreaming stage. It was so fun! I wasn’t nervous, just really excited [at this point Atsushi picked up 2 bottles of beer from our table and double fisted them!] I’ve been to Fuji Rock maybe 4 times, and I was there at the first ever Fuji Rock… the infamous one! I enjoyed it so much, but almost died! Haha!
What is your best Fuji Rock memory? Any funny stories?
Gang Gang Dance, 2 years ago! I probably have so many funny stories, but I always drink too much there, and forget everything! I always end up getting too hyper, and completely forget to watch the band I really wanted to see!
Looking forward to playing ‘All Night Fuji’ this year?
[Atsushi laughs and double fists another 2 beers from the table! Haha!]
Who are you looking forward to seeing at this years Fuji Rock?
James Holden and Four Tet. We kinda clash with Four Tet, but I’m gonna rush over there to see their set! Also War Paint and Corner Shop. I actually met the guy from Corner Shop in London a long time ago, and I gave him a CD. He was really cool, and he sent me a mail afterwards saying “I really liked your music, and I have a record label, so if you have any new stuff, please send it to me.” But at that time, we didn’t have any new stuff, so I sent him some of our older stuff… but he replied saying that the older stuff isn’t very good! Haha! So I plan to give him our new CD at this year’s Fuji Rock!
Do you have any special prep before your live shows?
Just drinking, haha!
So as we know, you are based in Osaka. What is the difference between the club scene in Tokyo and Osaka?
Well I usually come to Tokyo about once a month, for performing or partying. For people like me, that are just visiting, the scene seems a lot crazier in Tokyo. But, thats the same for people visiting Osaka from Tokyo. The grass is always greener. Tokyo clubs are more sophisticated, whereas Osaka clubs are full of junk! I love Club Wire in Tokyo!
How about the music scene in Osaka?
In Osaka, people just do what they want, they don’t follow trends, like there are no trends in Osaka. So the Osaka music scene is more interesting in my opinion. Lots of people think that our band would be better off being based in Tokyo, and I sometimes think like that too, but I remember that all of my friends are in Osaka. And it’s actually quite nice coming to Tokyo as a band from Osaka!
Which artists do you recommend from Osaka?
Bogulta, an electro-punk/junk band. And Cycheouts, they created a new style called ‘Amen-beats’, it’s like speed-dubstep! They’ve released records in Germany. In Tokyo, I like Lillies & Remains, and my favorite DJ is Kyoko.
And finally, any messages for your fans?
Everybody in the chaos of love!
Thanks a lot Atsushi! For more info on Damage, check out their homepage.
‘Mouth to Mouth’ is available on iTunes.
