Toe: Experimental Rockers' Simple Pleasures

Toe may be known as one of Japan’s most elaborate, sophisticated experimental rock acts. But the band’s guitarist got his start in a far more juvenile, and far less hip genre.

"When first joined Toe, I had to quit my old band, which had a scream-o emo sound," guitar player Yamazaki Hirokazu tells the Beijinger in the lead up to Toe’s performance at Yugong Yishan on September 4.

Below, Hirokazu tells us about about his simple pleasures, from emo to G'n'R, before describing the virtues of keeping things simple, even as Toe crafts some of Asia's most complex alt-rock.

Tell us about Toe's origins
At first, me and Mino (Takaaki, the band's other guitarist) jammed together once in a while, just for fun. But we had our own bands. Then I quit my emo band because I decided that I wanted to make a new band with Mino. We asked Kashikura (Takashi) to be our drummer, and it was easy to find a bassist, because Yamane Satoshi was already playing bass for me.

How is your latest release, an EP called The Future is Now, an evolution from your previous material?
I don't know how it is different from our old albums. I just want to be honest with the music that I play at the time. Some people think our music has changed, some people don't. It doesn’t really matter to  me.

Your Wikipedia page says: "While mentioned in many post-rock circles, Toe's song structure and dynamics are similar to many popular math rock artists." Do you agree, and if so, does it frustrate you to be lumped in with post-rockers?
I didn't write our Wiki! I don’t understand exactly what post-rock or math-rock are. I never think about that. But I'm ok with what people say about our band. It's all welcome.

You and your bandmates formed an indie label called Machu Picchu Industrial. How was that challenging, and what benefits made it worthwhile?
We just made the label to release our own Toe CD's. At the time we didn't think we would ever have the opportunity to release other bands' CD's on our label. But eventually we released music by bands like Mouse On the Keys, Enemies, and Tangled Hair. You know, we are not professional label owners so we can't do much to help the bands. All we wanted was to introduce music that we loved to a bigger audience through our label.

What is next for your band? What do you hope to accomplish on your next album, and how do you plan to do it?
We are working on our next full length album now. Maybe we will record it in November, because I've always loved the Guns 'N' Roses song "November Rain"! I never have any concrete plans that I want to accomplish on new albums. All I want is to make the songs I hear in my brain.

Toe will perform at Yugong Yishan on Sep 4 at 9pm. Tickets are RMB 200 at the door.

Photos: Courtesy of Toe