Tokyo Boredom is an irregularly organised event bringing together a number of bands from the Tokyo's underground scene, particularly bands with a no wave or post-punk bent. In advance of the next event, a two day extravaganza held at Tokyo University on the 19th and 20th of September, I caught up with the organising committee to talk to them about the show and more generally about Japanese punk music.

At the interview are Naoki Ogawa from tacobonds, Kojima and Tanaka from Worst Taste, Mochizuki from Groundcover. (the "." is part of the name), and Kashima from Bossston Cruizing Mania.

(Translation note: the interview took place in English and Japanese, with Ogawa acting as the main translator. As a result, some of the comments attributed to him, are actually his summaries of comments by other members of the team.)

CAR: Given the involvement of Kashima-san and Mochizuki-san it seems like the event is born out of a similarity in philosophy between the venues Akihabara Club Goodman and Koenji 20000V since they are the booking managers of those two venues and most of the bands seem to play quite often at those places.
OGAWA: We were just feeling bored and also we just wanted something fun with the bands around us. The system was that one band paid 10,000 yen, then we looked for a live venue where we could do an all night event for 100,000 yen only, which in this case turned out to be Shibuya Lush.
CAR: How many shows did you do at Lush?
OGAWA: Two. The first time was January this year.
KOJIMA: The second was June.
CAR: And the next one is at Tokyo University. Why did you move?
OGAWA: Tokyo University was another event plan by Kojima at first because he's a student there. So for Tokyo Boredom 3 Kojima was kind of the leader.

CAR: What does Tokyo Boredom do that's different?
KOJIMA: In normal events, one band usually organises the show and has the responsibility to gather most of the audience, and then all the other bands are like guests, but here everyone takes part.
CAR: So the power is split more evenly?
KOJIMA: Yes.
OGAWA: There are no guests and no organisers. And also the audience is equal. It's not perfect, but in the first and second events the audience was free apart from the cost of two drinks. The audience were free and the artists paid, which is the opposite of the way events usually are. It sends a message from the bands to the audience that this event is being made by us and you. And since they're free, they drink more!
CAR: But in this next one, it's still relatively cheap but the audience is actually paying for the tickets.
OGAWA: Because we have guest bands this time, like Kirihito or Melt Banana, who you can't book unless you're paying them something.

CAR: So how about in the future? What are your plans for the event?
MOCHIZUKI: The only answer really is that we have no plan at all. The one thing we can say is that if we get bored, maybe we'll quit.
CAR: How do you stop it from being boring then?
MOCHIZUKI: We're thinking of bringing more young bands into the organising setup.
OGAWA: Yeah, so maybe next time we will not be the main organisers.
TANAKA: So maybe bands from a different scene. We'll have to think about that after the Tokyo University show.
KOJIMA: Yeah, we're all completely focussed on the next show at the moment.
OGAWA: We're very much working at our own pace here. We're not trying to go bigger and bigger. Originally we were just trying to do a one-off thing, but after that event we changed out minds because we were so excited.

CAR: Tokyo Boredom is also taking charge of a night at the Drive to 2010 event at Shinjuku Loft on October 11th, which brings together a lot of the first generation punk and new wave artists from thirty years ago, as well as many new wave revival artists from ten years ago, and finally the current generation. How do you think punk and new wave has changed since the 1970s/80s, and what advantages does the current generation bring to the table?
KASHIMA: The biggest difference is that the 70s generation are the originators and we're not.
MOCHIZUKI: We've had the a full thirty extra years of music to build on or be influenced by.
CAR: I watched a video of an early performance by The Stalin recently and there seemed to be an immense amount of anger and violence in both the bands and audience that I don't really see nowadays.
TANAKA: In those days that kind of violence was part of the fashion and style. They did that because that was cool. We don't do that kind of thing because The Stalin have already done it.
CAR: Many bands of that generation also seemed very angry born out of confusion at the strange turning point the world was in at that time. Nowadays, outside of that social situation, do you think bands are more comfortable?
KASHIMA: Anger isn't the only point for making music, of course, but in my case it's still a large part of what my music is about.
TANAKA: For a lot of us it's like that. Our anger is quite a selfish thing, or maybe we could say a private thing.
OGAWA: For me too. Maybe that means we're emo! The original punks were perhaps angry in a more unified way, at the same things.
KOJIMA: There was a sort of common anger at that time about society.
MOCHIZUKI: My anger is that the Tokyo music scene is so boring.
TANAKA: But there are many things besides anger to make music about. Just making music about something interesting is enough.

CAR: So lastly, who are the young bands now who you think are really worth paying attention to?
MOCHIZUKI: All the bands at our event!

Tokyo Boredom will take place on the 19th and 20th of October at Tokyo University. Tickets are 2,000 yen for each day or 3,000 yen for a two day ticket. Start time is 12:00 midday.