Polysics are Japan’s answer to Devo. Weird, experimental, blending elements of pop, punk, rock, and New Wave into a stew that’s definitively Polysics, they’re fun and totally unique.
With keyboard player Kayo about to graduate*, Kirsty Evans caught up with the band a few days into the American tour to chat about how things are going and their plans for the future.
(In Japan the term graduate is used to indicate that someone is leaving a band, or that a band are leaving a record label. The implications are positive, not negative. Also, please note that unless otherwise noted, the singer, Hiro, is doing the talking.)
How is the tour going?
All the shows have been great. The new songs from the new album have been very well received and we’re having a lot of fun.
How did Polysics get started? The only two original members are Hiro and Kayo, correct?
Actually I am the only original founding member. I saw the video for “Satisfaction” by Devo when I was in high school and was deeply influenced by it. I went to get my jumpsuit the day after that! I started the band but the various members were just in and out throughout the first couple of years. Kayo and I went to school together so I invited her to join the band and that’s how we ended up with the two steady members.
The boiler suits and shades look obviously was inspired by Devo. When you originally adopted that look did you think you’d still be doing it more than ten years later?
(Laughs) No, we had no idea we’d still be doing this after more than ten years.
You have kind of a unique sound. Other than the Devo influence, where else did you get your inspiration from?
Other than Devo, there were tons of artists that influenced Polysics, like Kraftwerk, a lot of German and British New Wave bands. Electropop is one of our big things but also we have punk and metal influences, progressive – it’s definitely all over the place. I think the one thing you can say about all our influences is that they were all the pioneers of the time – they were all pushing the boundaries back when they were active.
Before Polysics did any of you ever have a regular, boring day job?
(Kayo) I worked at the register in a grocery store!
(Hiro) Actually we were all still in school before Polysics so not too much. I worked at a donut stand.
(Fumi) I played guitar in another band and also worked at Denny’s.
(Masahi ) I had another band too and was also working part-time.
When you guys are onstage you seem like you’re having a really great time, there’s a lot of energy. How long can you see yourselves physically being able to sustain that? Ten or fifteen years from now do you think you’ll still be able to put on that kind of show?
(Laughs) I feel like we could do it. (Laughs) I might not be as reckless as I used to be when we started out, maybe, but that’s the only difference. I think we can still put on a great show ten years down the road.
Your sound has been fairly consistent for a while – obviously the skill level has improved in a technical sense, but the actual sound is the same. Do you have any interest in experimenting with very different styles or do you always want to stay true to that original sound and idea that you started out with?
A drastic change might occur after March, when we’ll go back to Japan and do a big show at Budokan, which is Kayo’s graduation. At this point we plan to carry on as a trio, so there might be a little bit of change there in terms of musical style. We definitely would like to experiment, but we do want to remain true to the spirit of the band.
As far as the Budokan show, have you ever played a show that big before that was just Polysics? Is it challenging to adapt your usual stage show to such a huge venue?
Budokan will be by far the biggest venue that Polysics have ever played, so it will be a challenge, but I think we’ll still put on a great show in the same spirit we usually do. The method or approach is the same, we’ll just try to do a bigger, Budokan-sized version of the Polysics show, which I’m sure is going to be great.
How did you end up suddenly playing such a large venue? Has your popularity been increasing lately?
The fanbase has been growing. That’s definitely one of the factors, but Budokan itself is just a very special place for a lot of Japanese musicians, and this is the tenth anniversary of Polysics being on a major label, the tenth album, and Kayo’s graduation, so there are a lot of special things happening around this particular show. That’s why we decided to go with Budokan.
As far as Kayo’s graduation is concerned, how are the rest of the band members feeling about that now?
It was never a surprise. We’ve all been talking about this for a long time. The rest of the band is very positive and happy about her departure and the new life that she’s going to lead after this. It’s a celebration – it’s a very positive occasion.
Have you experimented at all with playing as a trio to see how it goes and how it’s going to work?
We’ve had to play shows as a trio before for various reasons such as illness. That’s always been a temporary thing though, a case of filling in the blank spots of the person who’s not there, whereas this time it’s going to be kind of a new thing. It’s an opportunity to experiment, basically. We’re going to try to come up with a new Polysics sound, which may be totally different. It’s going to be a challenge, but I think it’s a positive thing.
Are you planning to do that thing that a lot of bands do where they have someone stand in the background and fill in during live shows but they’re not really a member of the band?
Basically, there is no replacing Kayo. We could possibly find a great keyboard player but it’s not going to be the same, so whenever we’re going to try and play the old songs we’ll just have to come up with a new way. We haven’t really thought about it yet.
After the Budokan show you’re going to take a little break, right? What are you guys planning to do during your hiatus? It seems like you’ve pretty much been working constantly for years.
It’s not really a break. We don’t actually intend to stop working. Right after the show we’re going to get started on preparations for the new Polysics right away, so it’s not going to be long before people get to see the new Polysics.
One Kayo has graduated, do you think there’s a chance that she might occasionally come back as a guest or call the other members up and go “by the way, I wrote a song”? Do you think there might be some ongoing involvement, not on a regular basis but occasionally?
I think that might be a great idea for our twentieth anniversary, to have Kayo come back and play a song or two. We haven’t really thought about it yet, but it might be kind of a cool thing to do.
I guess the question is, if you’ve been writing songs for ten years can you just stop?
(Kayo) It was Hiro who asked me to join the band in the first place, and I never really had much of an aspiration to become a full-time musician. Twelve years has been a fun ride, and I’ve been enjoying it a lot, but I want to see how I feel after I kind of take a break from it for a bit. It might come back and I might get hit by a musical bug and want to start writing again, but at this point I just kind of want to take a break from it, step aside for a little bit and then see how I feel.
That’s actually a question for the other members too. Obviously if you’re in a band it’s not something that you can do forever – is there anything else that any of you have ever thought that you might want to do when you’re older?
We’ve never really had anything in particular that we’ve wanted to do other than music.
You mentioned that the change brought about by Kayo’s graduation might lead to a change in your musical direction. Any thoughts yet about what that might be and what direction you might end up going in?
We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
Any idea yet of the timeline as far as when fans might be able to expect something new from you?
No idea really at this point, but it’s not going to be long.
To wrap things up, is there anything that you want to say to your fans overseas?
The album Absolute Polysics is definitive I think, and everyone in the band is very satisfied and happy with it, so if you love music go out and get it!
And for anyone who might be planning to check them out this time who’s never been to a Polysics show before, what should they expect?
An out of the ordinary, crazy, happy space.