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Chance,
fate, lady luck…what’s in coincidence?
Well, let’s say you decide to buy yourself
a new guitar after a six year riffing hiatus. Soon
after, you’re introduced to a banshee of a
drummer who decides – with no prior singing
experience – to multi-task lead vocals and
drums. Within a couple of weeks, you’re together
on stage storming through a thunderous set to a
rapturous London audience. This is what happened
to Akiko and Simon who, back in 2004, were respectively
thrashing on drums, screaming out vocals and overdriving
guitars at their first gig as Comanechi. A visionary,
punk metal sound – with furiously hard, distorted
noise and addictively catchy lyrics – has
made the duo undoubtedly one of London’s most
original bands for quite some time. If you don’t
know Comanechi already, you soon will.
The
Japanese/British so-much-more-than-rock duo have
amassed a rabid fan-base with an EP out on the
Loose Lips Sink Ships label followed by a tasty
pair of 7” singles. Their endless gigging
(effectively their most immediate form of self-promotion)
and explosive, hypnotising live shows, are partly
responsible for the Comanechi ascent. Akiko quips:
“Why send out loads of random records? We
do lots of gigs; maybe we’re stupid not
following this, but I feel gigging is more real.
We love playing live. We played four gigs in 24
hours once and it descended into total chaos.”
The
scuzzy guitar, erratic drums and syncopated yelps
are less confusing and more developed than it
first seems. The hook-driven lyrics and low-mixed
vocals (Akiko’s unmistakable voice sounds
like Joanna Newsom being bitch-slapped over and
over by a Japanese badass cutie) juxtapose the
simple bass-heavy guitar riffs of death. “It
makes it into something you’ve never heard
before. I try to make it as melodic as possible,
even if it’s just the drum rhythm; I want
to make it sound like the drums are singing,”
explains Akiko. Simon adds: “Just one guitar
also makes it more focused; elements can get lost
with three metal guitarists - one guitar can actually
be heavier.” |
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What
about that low end without a bassist? “Basically,
it’s turning the bass up on full,”
Simon explains. “Our secret strings,”
Akiko adds with a giggle. Simon continues: “It’s
tempting to find the best guitar amp of all time,
but using a cheap bass amp and a guitar can make
it more interesting. Take Lightning Bolt, he uses
a bass with the top two strings being guitar strings;
it’s stuff like that I like.”
So
are Comanechi into noise bands? “I love
noise bands...more than indie bands; Trencher
are one of my favourites,” Akiko replies
enthusiastically. Simon delves deeper: “We’re
kind of obsessed with Electric Wizard. They’re
really heavy but catchy; they stand out from the
whole genre - they’re quite poppy in a way.
You’ll hear one of their albums and all
day it’ll be stuck in your head, unlike
Queens of the Stone Age or Kyuss. We’re
also into Part Chimp, Die Manch Machine, Silver
Apples and Coachwhips - but they’ve split
up now.”
The
duo explains how their sound has developed over
the relatively short year-and-a-half since their
first EP, ‘One Pervert Knows Another,’
dropped back in June 2004. Akiko begins: “It
was heavier, and I think my vocals have changed
and developed.”
“They have changed a lot; you’re a
lot more confident,” adds Simon.
“I never tried to sing before, but it was
hard to find a vocalist, so I decided I’d
play drums and sing. I wasn’t very confident
at first because I’d never sung in front
of people - I thought I was rubbish - but I got
used to it.”
The story of how and when their first EP came about
should also inspire any slack would be DIY musicians
out there. “We recorded it in Akiko’s
bedroom with a karaoke machine microphone and got
it mastered and mixed by her next door neighbour.
We played at a Loose Lips Sink Ships magazine night,
where Steve Gullick saw us and he put out our first
EP. We literally had a release within about ten
days of recording.” |
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Naked
is their latest single - a red heavyweight 7”
limited to 1000 copies, put out by White Heat
Records (of the White Heat club fame) and produced
by Lenny Franchi, the engineer/producer whose
previous work includes Bjork, Tricky, Mogwai and
My Bloody Valentine. With this release, Comanechi
unleash their ‘a-pop-calyptic’ sonic
boom: ‘Naked, I wanna get naked, naked,
washing with my toothbrush.’ Genius.
The
conversation swiftly moves onto the music industry
with Simon pondering: “Maybe bigger organisations
can’t understand how they can turn us into
something that sells. We don’t fit neatly
into being the next Killers or Bravery.”
“I think we confuse them,” Akiko offers.
“I don’t think they’re ready
for us!”
Simon continues: “It’s surprising
that people say you have to be more poppy…”
“…They want to change the way you
write songs,” says Akiko. “How far
will they take this?” Simon asks, adding.
“I’m suspicious of people with huge
marketing budgets and flash websites. I find it
really creepy when you think a band is really
underground and the record label’s in-house
designer is all over it: It turns me off. But
my argument turns back on myself: How much help
do you want straight away? And it would be nice
for someone to release our records.”
So what’s with the name Comanechi? Well,
the story starts with the Russian gymnast, Nadia
Comanechi who scored a perfect 10 at the age of
14. However, Akiko explains that the band doesn’t
just relate to her incredible performance. “It’s
more from a perverted point of view. She was really
young and cute, wearing leotards and she had the
whole gym watching her. I look young and the guy
who came up with the name Comanechi was older
and had a massive beard. When we were together,
he looked like a pervert; it’s quite funny
when you think about it.” Like I said: Genius.
Check
out the Comanechi
video and singles now at pimpguides.
Comanechi
illustrations by Akiko
www.comanechi.com
Photography
by Luz Martin |
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