I saw Love or Die’s first ever show at Bears, opening for Permanent Voltage, and thought they were incredible. They performed all covers (Sonics, Bikini Kill, Red Aunts and others) but had this attitude and stage presence that made them stand out above dozens of bands in Japan. At the uchiagekai* (*after the show it’s common for all the bands to go out drinking together, usually at a local pub) I was really surprised to learn that it was there first ever show. Ao-chan (bass/vocals), Akimi-chan (guitar/vocals) and Shiba-chan (Drums) were talkative and friendly and I invited them to play an Exile Osaka event I arranged at Bar Noise with Ground Super and Permanent Voltage. That was a crazy show. For those that are not aware, Bar Noise was the size of a closet. No joke, you could barely fit 15 people in the place. Your average band wouldn’t even try to play Bar Noise but Love or Die pulled it off and had the packed-in-like-sardines crowd dancing and going crazy. Love or Die also played both Thora-Zine Invasion shows opening up for Concussion in September and The Motards in October. They played Tokyo for the very first time on the Motards tour (as a last minute replacement for Charlie & The Hot Wheels). That show was really special, Love or Die played with Tokyo bands Supersnazz, The Titans and The Great Mongoose and were just as good as any of those great bands.

Being a band from Osaka has it’s advantages and disadvantages. Fewer labels are based in Osaka and the national media is centered in Tokyo. A reporter in Tokyo is not going to go all the way down to Osaka (or anyplace else) to check out a new punk band, so a lot of good bands outside of Tokyo never get the attention they deserve. On the other hand, you have bands in Tokyo that quickly get snatched up by the majors (or fake indies) and never have time to develop properly. Too many people are molding their image and making decisions for them so the bands often wind up losing whatever spark they originally had. (I don’t what to suggest that all bands in Tokyo are like that. There are plenty of truly independent bands in Tokyo and plenty of sell-out bands in Osaka.)

Love or Die is not tied into the whole media monopoly game. They’re still pretty much unknown and have yet to release anything other than a cassette. But they didn’t start the band to become famous or have their music appear in television commercials. They’re not even part of a local scene. I like to call bands like Love or Die "ronin bands." A ronin is a masterless samurai, not part of any clan. (If you’ve ever seen a Kurosawa movie you’ll know what I’m talking about.) The ronin bands just play music because they want to play music. They don’t have time to play scene politics or promote themselves as much as they should. Things like work, beer, and lack of money just seem to get in the way. Ao-chan has said that Love or Die has written a bunch of original songs and plans to be more active in contacting other bands. They’ve already organized a show at Bears in January with other "girl" bands.

Ao-chan is from Kyoto. She left home at fifteen and has lived in a bunch of places over the years. It can be hard to contact her since she’s always moving and changing her phone number. She has a great raspy voice that sounds like she smoked too many cigarettes. Shiba-chan is from Osaka and like Ao-chan she speaks in the Kansai dialect, which is completely different from standard Japanese. People from other parts of Japan say that the Kansai dialect often makes women seem tough. (I have a friend in Tokyo who thinks it’s sexy, but then again he sounds like Little Lord Fauntalwhatever when he speaks "proper Japanese.") Akimi-chan is the youngest member of the band. She is from Amamioshima in Kyushu. She came to Osaka to attend college and graduated last year with a degree in literature.

I "conducted" this interview sometime in the winter at Ao-chan’s apartment. We drank beer, ate potato chips and listened to records. Some of the slower parts were cut out so this was not transcribed verbatim. Keep in mind that this is a translation and a lot of things were said in jest. Kansai humor and attitude is very difficult to translate into English. If you’re really friends with someone you can humorously insult them and not have to worry about hurting their feelings. It took me a while to realize this when I first moved to Osaka. I couldn’t understand why I was getting insulted all the time by people who were supposed to be my friends. Believe me, after you get complimented for the 1000th time about how well you can use chopsticks, you’ll long to be with people who won’t hesitate call you an aho (fool) to your face or make fun of how you dress. (That doesn’t mean you should go around insulting people in Osaka. Remember, I said your friends. Use common sense at all times. Never talk that way to elders.) Enough yapping, here’s Love or Die....

Exile Osaka: Give me the scoop on how Love or Die was formed...

Ao: I really wanted to start a band and placed an ad in Doll Magazine for a guitarist. That’s how I met Akimi-chan. We practiced a bit and then Shiba-chan said she wanted to play drums. We couldn’t play our instruments to save our lives and...

Shiba: Wait, Akimi-chan already knew how to play the guitar...

Akimi: The truth is that I had only been playing the guitar for about two or three months when we started.

Shiba: Really?

Ao: Akimi was just a beginner. We couldn’t play our instruments so we thought we’d just do something fun. We didn’t even notice that somewhere along the way we had become a "real" band.

EO: I can see that this interview is going to be fun. Most other bands are not as talkative as Love or Die. They just give very vague answers and use very polite language.

Ao: (Laughs) We don’t know how to use polite language so you don’t have to worry about that.

EO: Okay, tell me about your musical background.

Ao: When I was fifteen, I was in a band called The Zenryoku Onanies*. I just did background vocals. I played bass in one other band but it didn’t last very long.

(*The Zenryoku Onanies were a parody/tribute band to the Genbaku Onanies, a legendary punk band from Nagoya. Both bands released albums and CD’s on Alchemy Records)

Shiba: I started playing bass when I was in high school and kept it up for a while. I took up the drums after I joined Love or Die.

EO: You started playing drums just for Love or Die?

Shiba: I went to a drum school...

Ao: ...and wasted money!

Shiba: I signed up for lessons and paid the fee but wound up quitting soon after. It didn’t help me one bit.

Akimi: I started off playing the drums in high school, then I switched to bass. I started learning the guitar and looked for a band that needed a guitar player. I saw the ad in Doll and thought, "Hey, this looks good."

EO: There are tons of classified ads in Doll every month. What made you choose that particular one?

Akimi: I really like Bikini Kill and they were listed as one of the bands.

Ao: Did I list Bikini Kill? Oh yeah, I did. Bikini Kill, The Lunachicks, Babes In Toyland and a few others. I guess it’s because grunge was popular at the time.

EO: How many people responded to the ad?

Ao: Only two! (Laughter.)

EO: So you had to choose.

Ao: The first person was a guy and we started another band together.

Akimi: So you didn’t need me!

Ao: I’d figured I could start a "girls" band with you! (Much laughter.) We decided to meet at a bar since we’re both strong drinkers.

Akimi: We were drinking and running back and forth to the restroom the whole night.

Ao: We were drinking and running to the restroom, drinking and running to the restroom. We didn’t talk about music at all.

Akimi: We ended up talking about my boyfriend at the time. He was pachinko crazy. He lost all his money playing pachinko and didn’t have enough to buy a stove for winter.

EO: What was the first practice like?

Ao: We tried to play Bikini Kill and Babes in Toyland songs. I think we might have done a Hole cover too. That’s what we sounded like at first. We met Kou of Permanent Voltage and he invited us to open up for them. It was fun playing with garage bands.

Akimi:The show with Permanent Voltage was the first time we ever played live. We really didn’t have any idea about what we wanted to do at that point.

EO: When did you finally understand what you wanted to do?

Ao: We still don’t know what we are doing! (Laughter.) It came together somehow.

Akimi: I guess we’ve reached the point where we have some idea what we are doing.

Ao: I should hope so. We’ve been around for two years now!

Shiba: Has it been two years already?

Ao: Yeah, we’ve played about ten shows already.

Akimi: We’ve played much more than ten shows.

(Shiba gets a phone call.)

EO: I’m going to write that Shiba got a phone call in the middle of the interview.

Akimi: You should also add that Ao-chan has a lot of adult videos in her apartment.

Ao: Hey...well, it’s true.

Akimi: They’re the household treasure! (Laughter)

EO: (Flustered) I see. (Changing the subject...) So what club did you belong to in high school.

Ao: I was in the Kendo club.

EO: Really? Do you still practice Kendo?

Ao: (Laughs) No, not at all.

Shiba: I was in the swimming club in junior high and high school, for like six years.

Akimi: I was in the...

Ao: You were in the brass band club weren’t you?

Akimi: Yeah, actually I was also in the tumbling club.

Ao: The tumbling club! (Much laughter)

Shiba: You had to do leg splits and stuff?

Ao: Somersaults! (laughs)

Akimi: Matt, did you go to the matsuri (festival) last month?

EO: Yeah, I went. I drank too much sake. I met some yakuza types and they insisted I drink with them. I wasn’t planning on drinking at all because during the afternoon festivities I was invited to drink with a bunch of fifty year old guys who were having their sixth grade reunion. But one of the yakuza types said, "Ore no sake ga nomen no ka?" (What, you don’t want to drink my sake!?) So I couldn’t refuse. (Laughter)

EO: How long does it take you to learn a song?

Ao: Usually about a week.

EO: What about songs that are difficult to play?

Shiba: We just give up. (laughs)

Ao: If we can’t figure it out we just say forget it. We tried to do a surf cover but we couldn’t handle it.

Akimi: Any song that requires any kind of technique usually gives us trouble. (laughs)

Ao: We usually play fast and don’t bother to learn our individual parts.

Akimi: We’re a real inchiki * band. (If you read the "How to Speak Japanese Like Holden Caulfield" article in the last issue you would know that this means "phony".)

Ao: Next year we want to be more active getting our tape out and playing with other bands. We’ve been really lazy up until now. We just don’t care about the music business at all.

EO: Ao, you posed nude for a poster for Bakara Records (tiny indie label). I’ve seen that poster all over the place. Pete (Bulb) has it on his wall.

Ao: I think there are only seven of those posters left. This year we plan to put out a homemade Love or Die videotape of shows and stuff.

EO: Are you going to appear nude in the video?

Ao: Sure, why not.

EO: Aren’t you embarrassed?

Ao: No, not at all. Why should I be?

Shiba: Ow, the cat is biting me! Get off me!

(laughter)

Ao: Love or Die is more like a family than a band.

Akimi and Shiba: Yeah.

Ao: If we were really siblings, then who would take the role of the the eldest sister?

Shiba: Ao-chan, for sure.

Ao: It would suck being the eldest. I’d rather be the youngest.

EO: What are your day jobs?

Ao-chan: I work in a pachinko parlor.

Akimi: I work in an aesthetic salon. I want to quit because I can’t devote as much time as I can to the band.

Shiba: I don’t want to talk about it.

Ao: She doesn’t have a job anymore. She used to work at a bank and got fired.

Shiba: That’s right. I got fired.

Ao: Shiba-chan got fired for having an affair with a married co-worker!

Shiba: Hey! Are you going to print that?

EO: Don’t worry. It’ll be in English. No one you know will read it.

Shiba: Oh, then I guess it’s okay. I’ve got to make a phone call. (Leaves.)

Akimi: She’s going to call her man.

EO: The married guy from the bank?

Akimi: Yeah, we don’t like him at all.

Ao: He looks like a pig! What a waste of time.

Akimi: Shhh, she’ll hear you.

Shiba: (Returns.) You were talking about me!

EO: Yes, we were gossiping about you.

Shiba: I already know they don’t like my boyfriend.

Ao: Yeah, I hate his guts.

EO: Well what would you do if you had a boyfriend that Akimi and Shiba didn’t like?

Ao: I’d break up with him.

Shiba: Hold on! It’s more complicated than that.

Ao: Well, as long as he didn’t put a strain on the band it would be all right.

Shiba: Yeah, my guy can be a pain sometimes.

EO (Looking at Ao-chan’s record collection): I see you have all of the Big Black albums.

Ao: I love Big Black! And Rapeman too. We should do a Big Black cover. Albini is my type. Do you think he’d record our album if I went out with him? (Laughs.)

EO: Let’s end the interview on that thought.

A few weeks after the interview, Ao-chan gave me the Love or Die video they released on a tiny label called Bakara Records. The cover art is ugly, the opening scene is revolting. But other than that, this video release captures exactly what Love or Die is all about down to a "T". I guess it’s because Ao-chan directed it (with the help of Bakara Honcho Eizi). The live/practice studio performances are great. The skits in between, parodying some B movie horror flick are funny. Ao-chan really does appear nude, I thought she was just joking about that. Nudity is not a big deal in Japan anyway. Public bathing has been around for over 1000 years. Buy or Die!