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Between the soundcheck and a blistering Worldwide live set at London’ s Cargo, Chaser catches up with Tokyo’s latest and hottest combo - Soil & “Pimp” Sessions. Since last year, they’ve produced one album, two mini-LPs and one single, and they’ve sold well over 20,000 units in their native Japan. Are you ready for a slamming dose of punky, energy fuelled, jazz-with-attitude?
“Back in 2000 the Tokyo club scene was dying and people were looking for something different," reflects “vibe controller” Shacho of the free style "Soil & Hemp” jam session he initiated in a coffee bar in Roppongi, Tokyo. “The idea was to create a party where there were no barriers... no physical barrier between the stage and the audience. Back then people saw it as unique and a little odd to have a live band at the same status as the DJ.
"The idea was to create a scene but one band can’t make a scene. We know loads of other musicians... we have lots of good friends who are in bands playing reggae, hip hop, Latin... and when we have events we share the stage with hard core rock ... even thrash metal!”
Looking like a refugee from an Emir Kustarica movie, Shacho hails from the darker side of Tokyo, a densely populated working class area of the futuristic metropolis. As a high school kid he was swept up by the quirky but rootsy, poetic ‘n’ phunky antics of north London’s Galliano crew. It is they who have since inspired him to pursue his current trajectory and aim for that “higher ground”. The prime mover behind Soil & “Pimp” Sessions – they changed their name when the “hemp” reference resulted in the cancellation of all their gigs in Singapore – Shacho deejays at their sessions and takes to the stage armed with a megaphone and his own brand of “concrete poetry”.
As we chat we are joined by their stellar alto saxophonist, Motoharu, a man with a monk-like aura and a serious stage presence. His horn solos, in the studio and live, betray serious training and it was no surprise to discover he’s studied in the US. When I suggest that the full-on bar-walking intensity of the horn parts on their debut LP and their latest offering, the ‘Summer Goddess EP’, reminded me of those hazy live be-bop recordings from the Forties with players like Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray and Bird, Motoharu wasn’t convinced.
“I’ve never listened to that music.” he states,”When I started playing sax I decided to avoid the influence of Parker and Coltrane... there was no point doing that. I didn’t want to sound derivatory.”
In fact, Motaharu intuitively hates the way that current generation of jazz players -– American or otherwise -– approach the music and it shows in the attack that defines his own playing. He’s out to grab the audience by the throat and in a way, that’s what I’d always felt about a 1940’s recordings like ‘The Chase’ which was recorded in a smoky club where there would have been virtually no sound system and everyone was drinking and chatting. Those guys had to fight to win over their audience, to make them listen and engage with the music. There’s little difference between what those musicians faced and what Soil & “Pimp” Sessions face today when they arrive in a club full of know-it-all punters schooled in club music.
While building a following in Japan they have naturally gravitated towards other combos, like Osaka based Sleepwalker, who possess a similar spirit.
“We are good friends with Sleepwalker,” confirms Motoharu. Both he and I agree that their wayward horn player ‘Masa’ is a genuine character and that his horn playing has really improved since the early days of Mondo Grosso. “I studied music... sax... at Boston and in some ways Masa was the opposite of what I believed but I am definitely influenced by him. The way he plays is untraditional, more free style. Masa is cool.”
Read the full article in the November 2005 issue of Straight No Chaser |
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Words: Paul Bradshaw
Pictures: Shoko Ishikawa |
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