Pic taken from Jpop Asia
Gen from 04 THE LIMITED SAZABYS hosts Monday’s segment on radio program The King’s Place with vocal/guitarist, Nobuo Ohki, of J-rock group, ACIDMAN. While digging into the origins of the long-standing trio and how they’ve survived for nearly two decades, we’ll also get to learn more about their influences, their signature hats, and even Nobuo’s famed ‘library’.
Keep reading or click from the table of contents to skip to your favorite parts: 👇
Who is ACIDMAN?
ACIDMAN consists of vocalist/guitarist Nobuo Ohki, bassist Masatoshi Sato, and drummer Ichigo Urayama. They formed in 1997 as a four-piece band, but became three members in 1999. They released a variety of demo tapes before making their major debut with ‘赤橙/せきとう/Sekitou/ Red-Orange’ in 2001.
They’ve continued their activities since then, releasing major albums such as “ ALMA”, “Lambda”, and “INNOCENCE” to name a few. Their discography is honestly so extensive that I recommend you simply go onto Apple Music and Spotify to listen to their top ranking songs.
Consistent with their generation, ACIDMAN is probably what you’d consider ‘classic rock’. They shift between elements of hard rock (their most recent single: 輝けるもの/かがやけるもの/Something to light up), punk (造花が笑う/ぞうかがわらう/Zouka ga Warau/ Artifical Flowers Laugh), and progressive rock (Rebirth).
Nobuo’s gentle vocals against the varied string and drums have leant them a disguishable and nostalgic sound that’s reminiscent of Straightener, BRAHMAN, and Nothing’s Carved in Stone.
J-Wave: THE KING’S PLACE
The King’s Place is a radio show on the Tokyo station: J-wave 81.3. From Monday thru Friday, there are regular J-rock bands who serve as hosts, such as Mr. ふぉるて, DISH//, and Man with a Mission. My favorite segment is the one on Mondays with 04 LIMITED SAZABY’s. I access the radio through the app RADIKO, so if you’re interested in hearing the program live, feel free! ♪ However, be warned that it’s all in Japanese.
Radio Song list ♪
1)輝けるもの (かがやけるもの/Kagayakeru Mono/ Something to light up)- ACIDMAN
A new song that was written for the movie ‘Golden Kamuy”. ACIDMAN loves the series ‘Golden Kamuy’ and it was suddenly suggested that their song ‘Stay in my hand’ would suit the movie well. Nobuo doesn’t really go into how the movie song became ‘Kagayakeru Mono’, but I guess throughout interaction the band ended up making a new song.
2) PYRAMID– 宇宙コンビニ (うちゅうこんびに/uchu conbini)
A mathrock band distinguishable by the mix of gentle vocals and the layered, complex instrumentals. Unfortunately they’ve disbanded.
3)世界が終わる夜(せかいがおわるよる/ sekai ga owaru yoru/ the night the world ends)- ACIDMAN
A soft rock song whose music video was filmed in Iceland.
4)ファウスト(Faust)- BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS
★ The song that Nobuo chose as the song that was influential to him. Before he first heard them, he’d mostly been into Western music. However, the lyricism of BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS impressed Nobuo, and he started getting more into J-rock, appreciating how well certain artists use Japanese language.
5)RE: MONOLITH– 04 LIMITED SAZABYS
An energetic acoustic remix of the pop punk song ‘Monolith’. In my opinion, there are jazzy elements in the drums, but I hesitate to call it a jazz re-imagining.
Intro
★ DISCLAIMER ★: Information has been paraphrased or omitted for simplicity. Please don’t interpret the dialogue as being direct quotes.
Gen starts off the segment with: When you hear “twins”, what do you imagine?
For Gen, it’s the famous Nagoya born identical twins “Kin-san” and “Gin-san”. They were known for being the longest living twins at the time, as they were born in 1892 and died in 2001! Knowing how Gen is from Nagoya, it was a refreshing revelation of local culture, since I’ve also lived in Nagoya for about 8 years, now.
However, the more romantic Nobuo Ohki answers that when he thinks of ‘twins’, the constellation comes to mind.
How about you? Are you more like Gen or Nobuo when you think of “twins”?
-Listener’s messages-
“What’s your favorite place, and what’s your favorite place at home?”
Radio name: Kuri-seki-han
Nobuo: As for my house, I love to meditate in the garden surrounded by plants and animals, while drinking green juice.
Gen: Hahaha, green juice??
Nobuo: Yeah, I’m living like an old guy~
Gen: For real haha. Do you like to go stargazing at night?
Nobuo: Yeah every day! But it’s not that I’m like an expert in stars and constellations. I’m interested in how the stars and the universe came to be and how it works. Stuff like that.
Gen: Wow. Well, I like the bathroom. I’ll take selfies or just space out in there, and then suddenly I’ll have been in there for about an hour.
Nobuo: Don’t songs suddenly come to you in there, too? That happens to me sometimes.
Gen: Really?? Do songs come to you then??
Nobuo: Hahaha, yeah, sometimes it just comes out suddenly…with everything else.
Gen: Haha, well as for songs, they tend to come to me while I’m washing my hair.
Nobuo: But isn’t it hard to take it down? Or do you use a voice memo or…
Gen: Well I quickly try to get it down, but sometimes even when I listen back to it, it’s like “Huh??” By the way, you read manga a lot, right?
Nobuo: Well actually, I didn’t read them much until 3~5 years ago. That’s when I realized just how good Japanese manga is. So many genres.
Gen: If you had to pick a manga from your generation, what would it be?
Nobuo: I guess DragonBall or Rokudenashi Blues. And I read “Hinotori (Firebird)” like the Bible!
Gen: Oh!!! I love that too!! It’s mystical with the stars and space and stuff~ Actually, I was asked who I’d like to meet among celebrities who’d died. I had to choose three, and I chose: John Lennon, Tezuka-san (the author of Hinotori), and…oh man. I forget the other person. But I want to be able to ask Tezuka-san a lot of questions.
Nobuo: Definitely. Me too.
“If you won a million dollars, what would you spend it on?”
Radio name: kaimonotenomonopoli
Nobuo: Well I’m a cautious person, so I think I’d save it.
Gen: You wouldn’t splurge on a cool car or something??
Nobuo: Nah, nah.
Gen: Well you always seem really cool and stylish. What’s your car like??
Nobuo: Well I don’t drive much, but I have an old car–a Jeep. Like from the 70s.
Gen: Coooool. I want to ride in a big car
Nobuo: I think it’d suit you. Like a Porsche or Cayenne
Gen: OOOH~ I’d love that! A Cayenne! Anyway, we’ll go to the next song, now. Following the theme of stars, we present ‘PYRAMID’ by Uchu Conbini (‘Uchu’ means ‘space’)
‘THE ULTIMATE YON-TAC’
A question is posed and the listeners guess how the hosts would answer. After discussing the question and deciding the answer, they reveal whether the listener was correct or not. If correct, that listener gets a signed gift.
Question: If you discovered a new planet, what would you name it?
- After yourself
- After a family or pet member
- Something you coined yourself
- After someone you look up to
What do you think they chose??
Considering what you’ve learned about them thus far and their thought processess, try to guess the answer before clicking the button below ♪
Answer
Answer: 1
Nobuo: Well if it was my own name…’Nobuo’ seems like it’d be kinda cool.
Gen: Not ‘Ohki’?
Nobuo: Aaah, yeah ‘Ohki Planet’ sounds cool, too.
Gen: Oh without the long’ Oh’ sound and it’s just ‘Oki’.
Nobuo: Kinda artsy~
Gen: It has a Hokkaido feeling. Actually, I really love ‘Oki Ainu Dub Band’ from there.
Nobuo: Ooh! Nice, nice! Coincidentally, I came to know that band through ‘Golden Kamuy’ (apparently the series features Ainu people and the culture)
Gen: Anyway, that’s a bit off topic. So…what we’d name a planet…
Nobuo: I think I’d choose my own name
Gen: Yeeeaaaahhh. Like a planet being called ‘Gen’.
Nobuo: I think that’d be a super cool name
Gen: you think so? the name of a star? But actually, they seem to discover a new star every year. You often look into space, haven’t you found something?
Nobuo:Then I’ll name it ‘Gen’.
Gen: Hahahaha! Then I guess it’s number one? But if it were to be someone you look up to, what name would it be?
Nobuo: Well I look up to my parents and…Tezuka-san–
Gen: ‘Hinotori (Firebird) Star’??
Nobuo: Oh, good idea!!
Gen: Or Japanese Gods…..is that possible?
Nobuo: Seems like it’d be a thing.
Gen: That’s true.
Nobuo: ‘Sekitou’ is actually a term we coined. (‘Sekitou’ is an ACIDMAN song. The kanji ‘赤橙’ actually just means red-orange, so I’m not entirely sure if I understood this exchange correctly. Maybe he means that it’s a term they became known for??)
Gen: OOH that’s an interesting idea!
Nobuo: but it doesn’t seem like a ‘star’ name.
Gen: Well…it seems that it’s ultimately number 1: Our own names. Let’s see what the listener thought.
(Listener’s guess: 2. I think Gen and Nobuo would name a planet/star after family or pets)
Gen: NOPE! But by the way, do you have a pet, Nobuo?
Nobuo: Not me, but there’s a dog at my parent’s house. I grew up with a dog and although that dog, Berry-chan, died while I was high school, she still appears in my dreams sometimes.
Gen’s Room
★ At this point, I surpassed the three-hour listening limit, so…from here, it’s all paraphrased from memory.
ACIDMAN’s origins
Gen starts off by noting how all the members of ACIDMAN are the same age, which prompts Nobuo to explain that because there were something like 800 people in his graduating class, it was easy to find members.
At the time of formation, ACIDMAN had four members, with Nobuo only being the guitarist. However, in the midst of member changes, they were put in the awkward position of seeking out a new vocalist. It was then that bassist, Masatoshi, suddenly suggested they seek out a female vocalist.
Both Nobuo and Gen note how it would’ve been really interesting to have a female vocalist, but at the time, the band weren’t able to find one quick enough. Therefore, Nobuo decided to step up and fell in love with singing.
Similar to how Gen sings and plays bass in 04 LIMITED SAZABYS, Nobuo respected and enjoyed the challenge of singing and playing guitar. Ultimately, this is what inspired him to continue providing his transcendent vocals to the band’s hard rock sound.
The thing with the hats
It seems that the image of ACIDMAN is heavily tied to hats, Nobuo in particular. Gen asks if Nobuo has accrued a large amount over time, but he counters that he only ever switches between the same ten or so.
ACIDMAN started wearing hats to stand out as an indie band, hoping audience members who liked their songs would be able to say things like “I liked the band with the hats”. Just briefly scrolling through their band photos, it seems that all of them have continued this trend.
Nobuo’s book collection
Gen brings up hearing about ‘Ohki’s Library’, which prompts Nobuo to explain his extensive collection of digital and paper books. He especially enjoys keeping paper books because, similar to a library, his friends can browse the shelves and borrow something they like.
An author that often comes up during the segment is Haruki Murakami. Nobuo is a big fan and has been since high school. Gen also mentions how he’s grown curious about the author, but hasn’t had a chance to actually check him out. Nobuo strongly recommends him because Murakami’s writing mixes dreams and reality, creating a kind of mystical sci-fi atmosphere with unexpected outcomes. Apparently Gen also likes those kinds of books.
ACIDMAN’s rivals?
It seems that Nobuo generally sees every band as competition, saying how he even considers Gen as a rival with how unique his voice is.
“No one can sing like you.”
-Nobuo talking about Gen
Like a true artist, it seems that Nobuo–rather than wanting to be better–is constantly inspired by others to continue to improve the band’s sound and his own musicianship. It’s likely this mentality that’s helped the band survive for so long!
Outro
I apologize that this article seemed to end a bit suddenly. Usually I’m able to listen for longer than three hours and pull out more specific dialogue, but I guess some rules changed on the radio app I use.
In any case, I certainly learned a lot about a band I only knew by name and status. Simply with their longevity, ACIDMAN is considered one of those legendary J-rock groups that almost everyone knows and respects, yet can seem intimidating to delve into because there’s just SO MUCH discography. What I mentioned in the intro is a VERY small chunk of what you can find IN ENGLISH on their official site. So if you want to know more about their roots, please look into it! ♪
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