15 January 2011 (released)
15 January 2011
London based grungers Japanese Voyeurs all set to roll into the grubby mitts of rock stardom following the release of their new album, which is yet to be named, later in the year.
Mix the grungy tones of Mudhoney and Hole, add a female vocalist whose high pitched voice goes from loud to well, just plain squeaky and add a few synths in there too and you’re pretty close to equalling a band that resembles Japanese Voyeurs. These five young twenty some things, fronted by female lead singer Romily Alice at a first glimpse could be mistaken for any other teenage band found practising in the garage. But this band is so much more than that, granted that compared to the likes of big grungies Nirvana it’ll be hard to see the ‘grunge’ resemblance. It’s tracks like ‘Dumb’ and ‘That Love Sound’ with the trashing guitars and Romily’s shrieking voice that echoes in your head like something from a horror film, that give this band away. This is a big band in the making. Grunge or no grunge.
I managed to catch up with Johnny, the bassist from the band whilst on his travels in London. Talking to me over the phone in a short but sweet interview, I managed to get him lost just off London’s Liverpool Street Station and get him to inadvertently walk into a pneumatic drill. I did however get an insight into the surprisingly laid back life of the band, where the bands rather intriguing name came from and of course the possible release date for the album...
Music News: Can you tell us the story behind the name Japanese voyeurs?
J: Erm, okay. It started off as one of our songs about this guy (I really need to learn this guys name!) he was a photographer and he took pictures with infrared cameras of people having sex in a park in Japan and the photos were called Japanese Voyeurs. The song was about that. We didn’t have a band name for like, six months so we took that!
MN: I watched your new video for ‘That Love Sound’ and I love how creepy it was, with the dolls burning and stuff! Can you tell us a bit about the location?
J: We were really happy how it turned out ‘cause it was like a last minute kinda scramble. We met the director about a week before we made the video and we didn’t have a location until about three days before we filmed it. It ended up being in the directors’ grandmas’ friends house I think it was. In Kew in London and yeah we just stayed up and played a bunch of times in this house and then played around with toys afterwards.
It’s at this point in the interview Johnny lets me know that instead of walking down a quiet backstreet he’s walked into a massive drill.
MN: And finally... What’s in the pipeline?
J: We’re just sorting out doing our album, which we’ll hopefully be doing in March. We’re currently doing a little tour before the release of the album in March.
It comes to the end of the interview, and upon asking Johnny where he is, he tells me he was at Liverpool Street Station until he walked down some quiter roads and I got him lost. Sorry Johnny!
Japanese Voyeurs will be on their UK tour in February and I can say that although Johnny was not letting slip the name of the new album, the release date is expected to be this March.
Upcoming dates:
19th Dec Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes - London w/ Rolo Tomassi
21st Dec O2 Academy Islington - Rocksound Christmas Party - London w/ Family Force 5
3rd Feb The Crown - Middlesbrough
4th Feb Adelphi - Hull
5th Feb Hustlers - Dundee
6th Feb The Tunnels - Aberdeen
7th Feb Mad Hatters - Inverness
9th Feb Shipping Forecast - Sound City - Liverpool
10th Feb Sugarmill - Stoke-on-Trent
11th Feb Escobar - Wakefield
12th Feb Freaksome at Phoenix - Exeter
14th Feb Moles Club - Bath
15th Feb Clwb Ifor Bach - Cardiff
17th Feb Esquires - Rocksound Tour - Bedford w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
18th Feb Champions - Rocksound Tour - Bournemouth w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
19th Feb Audio - Rocksound Tour - Brighton w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
20th Feb Forum - Rocksound Tour - Tunbridge w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
22nd Feb Haymakers - Rocksound Tour - Cambridge w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
23rd Feb O2 Academy 3 - Rocksound Tour - Birmingham w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
24th Feb The Garage - Rocksound Tour - London w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
25th Feb O2 Academy 2 - Rocksound Tour - Bristol w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
27th Feb King Tuts - Rocksound Tour - Glasgow w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
28th Feb O2 Academy 2 - Rocksound Tour - Newcastle w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
2nd Mar The Cockpit - Rocksound Tour - Leeds w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
3rd Mar Roundhouse - Rocksound Tour - Manchester w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
4th Mar Duchess - Rocksound Tour - York w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
5th Mar Joiners - Rocksound Tour - Southampton w/ Dinosaur Pile Up + The Xcerts
