Interview with Byee The Round

After their most recent show at Shinjuku Nine Spices Byee The Round were nice enough to give us some of their time for an interview. They played a 5 song set that blazed through some familiar numbers and added a brand new song to the mix. They ended the performance with a powerful performance of “Image” from Give Me A Chocolate. The concert was great overall; it featured many great bands, and Byee the Round delivered as usual. Nine Spices is a newly established live house in Kabuki-cho of Shinjuku. Although it has nice decorum, and good sound. The size of the venue was easily overpowered by Kouta’s voice. He often sings with Vibrato and if the equipment and size of the live house are not sufficient, is voice bounces all over the place. A few shows back, they were rehearsing in an adjacent room and his voice overpowered the band that was actually playing. With such eccentric qualities and great music Byee The Round is moving up the indies scene and you could tell by them being the main attraction and the finale. Without further ado here is the interview:

Me: When did you guys first get together?

Byee The Round: We initially started in September of 2003. Through a complicated network, we became acquainted. The core of the network was Koushi, who went to College with Yuusuke (bass) and went to high school with So in Aomori. Satoshi was originally just a support guitar for a little while but we settled on another guitarist who played for the first few years. Years later, Satoshi came back to us and we are the original members once again.

Me: How did you come up with your name?

Byee The Round: Well it’s actually a stupid story. But in Japanese ashtray is “Haizara”. We observed that almost everyone smokes, especially in the music scene so we decided to make our band name reflect that. We wanted to come up with a name that Phonetically matched haizara, which turned into “Byee The Round”.

Me: Your songs are very diverse and intricate. Who does the song writing and where do you get your ideas from?

Koushi: I do all of the song writing. I guess I usually listen to a lot of music and get influenced through music, but mainly I just play on my guitar all the time and tunes just pop in my head.

Me: After releasing your album last summer your band has been gaining a following. What are your plans for the new year?

Byee The Round: We really want to play as many shows as possible. We plan on releasing another album and have already writing some new songs.

Me: One of which you played tonight… What is the premise of the song?

Byee The Round Life is short, stop wasting my time. It is a song about many different topics, but that is the main emphasis of the song. It is also a big FUCKYOU to politicians, but also about having passion in the things you love and basic human emotions such as crying and laughing.

Me:How does the indies scene work in Japan? For example, how do you find concerts to play in?

Byee The Round When we started off it was very difficult. When it all comes down to it, connections are the most important. We have made it a band policy to stay from start to finish of every concert we are lucky enough to participate in. After the concert is over, we also make a point to join the Uchi-age ( an event after the concert that involves drinking, eating and talking). Up until now, we have never declined an Uchi-age. Many bands don’t do that, but we made it one of our basic tenets when starting the band. Currently, we get invited to play at shows and we try to join as many of them as we can and the fans try to catch up (laughs).

Me: Recently you were featured on an omnibus of Club251’s. How did you end up on there? Byee The Round:

Well, we are friends with the owner of Club251, and that is also where we started. Club251 is one of the most popular indies clubs in Shimokitazawa (the center of Japanese Indies music), so we are always delighted to play there.

Me: The term “shimokitazawa-kei” is popular to describe bands like yours, what do you think of that term?

Byee The Round: We fucking hate that term. Japanese listeners feel they can’t access or understand a particular band or music without having a category slapped on it. We don’t like being lumped together with music that we feel doesn’t represent us. We are just rock.

Me: Do you have any message for fans living outside of Japan

Byee The Round: Just be passionate about everything and understand your feelings.

If you get a chance to see them live, it’s highly recommended. Check here for their upcoming shows.