Blume popo
https://blumepopo.wixsite.com/blume-popo-official
Vo. Miko Nomura
Gt. Dan Yokota
Gt. Ryuto Imanishi
Ba. Koudai Mizutani
Dr. Koyama
In September 2015, activities started in Shiga Prefecture.
He uses his unique and addictive vocal voice as a weapon and gradually raises the bar.
19-year-old 5-piece female alternative rock band from Shiga Prefecture.
Active nationwide.
He drowns in the she
笑う月
ベロニカ
溺レル
Interview
2019.10.12
Q.How did you form the band?
All 5 members met when we were all in elementary school
and around second year of middle school
I started thinking that I'd like to make a band
So that's when I contacted everyone and said 'let's make a band!'
and decided to play at our middle school cultural festival
and we just went from there.
Q.What's the story behind your band name?
This guy here on guitar is half-German
So like I guess in using that we wanted
to kind of do something in German for the name
So as we were saying "let's go with a German name"
He was like "well popo is pretty cute right?"
Yeah it's cute!
Like "popo"
It's kind of a round sound
Like it's a ho sound
and we've made that even rounder
So we were like "hey yeah sounds good"
And my parents run a flower shop
So I asked "what's flower in English?"
You mean German.
So I asked "What's flower in German?"
and he was like "well it's blume in German"
And it was like wait they sound great if you put them together!
And so we became "Blume popo".
Q.What is the appeal of Blume popo?
I think Blume popo's appeal
is the complex musicianship of the four people
that make up the instrument players of this band
matched with our vocalist Miko
who I think has a very unique vocal quality even among female vocalists.
I for sure think that as an individual
with the instrument ensemble having like mathrock
or alternative like shoegaze kind of influences
Where such a complex ensemble meets such a
unique and impressive female vocalist
is where our kind of Blume popo-ness becomes apparent I think.
Q. What's popular amongst the band members right now?
I wonder if you know this one...
It's a pretty recent game going around
seems like it's pretty popular right now in Tokyo
it's not popular around like Shiga prefecture or in the countryside yet
but I saw it over social networks recently
it goes like this
the one where it increases right?
You know this one yeah?
It's super new.
This is real popular right now hey.
For us this is the hot thing right now.
So you go like this and put forward one finger at a time.
So if you do this it becomes two.
It's two plus one so now it's three.
Three plus two means we get five...
What the hell?
...you lose one and the person who loses both
loses the game.
So there's that kind of rule..
There's one more thing
there's this and one more thing
this is a bit of a difficult rule
So it's this...
and this...
This is really tricky!
Ready and...one
Ready and...ten
There's no ten!
It's a max of six.
Idiot.
Ready and...two
It never ends!
Ready and...one
Oh got rid of one
Ready and...two
Oooh!
Ready and... zero!
Ahh it's impossible I'm too dumb to get rid of any
Ready and...one
Let's continue.
...This is the sort of thing
that's popular with us right now.
And with that here's
our first song for this week
"He drowns in the She".
Please give it a listen.
Q.How do you write your songs?
Songs are usually well for songs up until now
I'll make demos with the guitar bass drum and vocal lines laid out
then have everyone listen to them
and have them copy the lines and join in on the final arrangement
and then we have the vocalist write their own lyrics
and then the song is finished.
It takes a long time.
Honestly he takes so so long to write songs.
Like he's going well if he can complete one song every five years.
Just as the Olympics start
he'll bring us a new song.
About a four-year cycle hey.
Q.How about writing lyrics?
I write lyrics whenever the mood to write strikes me.
I record myself talking to myself while going for a walk or while in the bath
I've been recording myself talking to myself a lot recently
So I'll write my lyrics while listening
back to those musings as if it were the radio.
Q.What are the points of your songs that you want people to pay attention to?
The song we're going go play for you this week is called "warau tsuki"
And there's some arpeggio interplay with the guitars
Like in the intro and stuff
oh what do you call it...
I'm really fond of that "pretty" kind of sound
so the arpeggios are quite soft and relaxed
then in the chorus everything kind of explodes in all at once like "donnnnn"
I really enjoy that dynamic
so I'd love for everyone to look out for that.
The "piiiiin" that shows up in the middle of the song
or like the beat I guess...
The lyrics for this song "warau tsuki"
It's the first song I wrote for the members...
Eh? Really?
What'll you do?
Have you read the lyrics?
I read them.
They weren't quite finished hey...
Because I hadn't written the final sentence yet
What a relief
It was the first time I'd written for the members
well less "the members" and more for Yokota
For me?
We've got nothing to do with this.
We'd love for you to listen to this song while thinking about
the dynamics in the music and the meaning of the lyrics.
Here's our song for this week "warau tsuki".
Q.What are the members' personalities like?
I can suddenly get
really really dark and negative
and in that gloomy mood
I just eat a bunch of okra.
Translator's note this is just a pun on negative nekura and okra okura.
Wasn't that super funny just now?
That's the sort of guy you're dealing with here.
He's extremely diligent and earnest.
Without fail whenever he eats a meal
Even though no one's watching he'll put his hands together
and say itadakimasu and gochisousama desu
to give thanks for the food every single time.
For real this is like your special ability.
It's nothing like that.
anyone can do it.
Is it a Buddhist thing?
If you had to say either way it's more of a Confucian thing right?
Is it Tenrikyo?
I mean Tenrikyo is a kind of Buddhism
in a compliance kind of way.
It doesn't really matter.
Just your personality then.
Temper's a bit wild.
The hell's that supposed to mean?
Is it raining?
There's a huge difference between
when you're calm and when you're really pissed off.
Kouta's personality is
actually I can be kind of gloomy and dark myself so I eat a lot of squid.
Translator's note Same pun between negative nekura and salmon roe ikura.
I'm really holding it.
Q.What's a secret only the other members know?
I wonder if it's okay to say.
I'm also thinking of one that I'm not sure I should say.
About who?
Ryuto.
Might just say one.
Who's?
Mine.
Don't have to worry about if it's okay to let slip or not that way.
If you're okay with that then sure.
This really is a member-only secret
only Dan and Kouta know about it
But yesterday
I laughed so hard
that I full on pissed myself.
I laughed so hard that I wet my pants.
It left a pretty nasty stain.
It's come out like this.
Q.What's a mistake from your past?
On the day of a really important festival
I slept in really late
everyone was sending me messages like
where the hell are you? but they couldn't get to me
so they rang my mum.
They had to call my mum and get her to wake me up.
I've got no shortage of failures.
I do have one success story I can tell though.
What's that?
Getting this band together of course!
And with that for week three
here's Veronica.
Please check it out.
Q.What is extra important to you at your shows?
For what we take special note of at our shows
more than being diligent and conscientious or getting everyone all fired up
like focusing more on how sincerely the audience at each show is
interacting with us is what I personally care a great deal about.
Basically the same as our singer here
while still being very conscious of the audience we're playing for
I try to perform while really immersing myself in the song.
During lives
just feeling how fun it is like
when I look at the faces in the audience
I always think about how fun it is.
Q.What's the highlight of your live show?
Imanishi's clothes are always
the same every time.
Always a purple shirt and black skinny jeans.
That's pretty much the usual for Dan.
Once in a while...
Honestly it's practically a costume at this point.
Like with a Heartache shirt you haven't washed in like 5 years.
The neck's all stretched
the color's all washed out
It's honestly super rare.
A forgotten costume!
Well then wear this lower one.
No no.
It's not even a real highlight of our shows or anything!
It's what you were saying
luck of the draw and that's a winning day!
That's a win? A miss you mean?
Certain pressure and the like
of our singer Miko's voice that you can't hear
on the original recordings
not just Miko singing either
we're not the sort of band you can
clap along to the beat with easily or anything
but you'll get it if you come and see us.
I guess it's like the idea of enjoying the live aspect.
Q.How do you spend your time before you go on stage?
It's something I place a lot of care on
but I guess I focus on my throat.
I properly warm up and practice projecting my voice.
You don't sing though?
Eh? You don't hear me?
I always sing.
I've always sung.
Lately because I want to use my iPod
I'll use that to listen to my own songs
and listen to recordings of my own personal ramblings
that sort of thing.
I guess I kind of search for some alone time in that way.
Q.What's the goal for the band?
To continue for a long time I guess.
There are a lot of bands that end up quitting
but if you quit then that's game over
so if we don't continue on with what we have now
I mean what can ya do?
I feel like someone said that...
Who?
An old guy who works at a local fishery
he's been running the local fish shop for a while
When all is said and done
making sure we continue on
takes priority above all else.
It's time to introduce our final song.
Our final one!
I wonder what it'll be?
Dan what do you reckon it will be?
I think it'll be that
you know from (Neon Genesis) Evangelion.
"A Cruel Angel's Thesis"
No?
Nope.
That's not even our song.
You gonna stretch this out?
Please listen to our last song
"oboreru (drown)".
We're going with oboreru?
That's a great track hey?
Enjoy.