Kiiiiiii

Utako and Reiko formed Kiiiiiii in 2002.  They've yet to tour Japan but they sure have made the rounds in the States.

After landing a gig at SXSW, Kiiiiii played show after show from Texas to New York.

Now that they're back in Japan, what did they think of our great land?





Chief Magazine: We love Kiiiiiii!  The show the other night [at Red Cloth in Shinjuku] was awesome!

Reiko: Thanks!

What was up with the comedy bit at the beginning?  Do you do that before every show?  

This was the second time we did it.  This time the story was a little different, but it was basically the same idea: us dressing up as small-town high school boys from Hokkaido [the northernmost island of Japan] and putting on a fake concert.

You fooled us, we had no idea it was you. Why are they called Taboo?  

Because their entire show is things that Kiiiiiii would never do. Like, when Kiiiiiii does a show, we never talk while we’re performing, or in between songs. But Taboo is constantly like, “This next song is about the environment,” or, “This one here is a very special love song,” or “This next one really means a lot to me.” Kiiiiiii isn’t into that. But Taboo is like obsessed with it. They’re like the anti-Kiiiiiii. If we ever went to one of their shows we would be like, “Booooo!”

Yeah, to be honest, while Taboo was on, I was getting really frustrated. I really wanted to hear a song, but they never played one.

Yeah, they try to start songs but it never quite works out. So it ends up being just talking. It’s the opposite of Kiiiiiii. So it’s fun.

So during the show both you and Utako had some unfortunate stage dives. I have never seen anybody avoid getting caught. It looked like you were going straight for the ground. It was amazing.  

Yeah, nobody catches us! A huge space opens up every time we jump out there. It’s like Moses and the sea parting.  Everybody just disappears.

---

---

---

You just got back from your first US tour. Were American crowds different from Japanese crowds?

America was great… so much fun. And, yeah, the people there definitely reacted to us differently.  In Japan people usually react less, and don’t get as into our shows. But in America people were into it immediately. Right after we started playing people were like, “Whaaaaa!”  Also in Japan, the fact that we don’t have a guitar somehow becomes, like, an obstacle for people. A lot of Japanese people have this image of a band as having a guitar, so since we don’t have one, sometimes people are a little confused, like, “Is this a band? What is this?” But in America, stuff like that didn’t turn people off, or maybe they didn’t even notice, or care.

Where in the States did you go?  

We started in Texas, then San Francisco, Portland, Baltimore, Washington, and New York.

Having spent a full month there, did anything about the US surprise you?

One thing that got me was that, in Japan, live houses [venues] always have an in-house drum kit, but in America they usually don’t.  So before our shows I would always talk to our contact person and arrange to have a drum kit set-up for me, since I didn’t have one with me.  Every time they were like, “Okay, no problem!”  But every time when we arrived on the day of the show, they were like, “Oh no… I’m so sorry, I totally forgot!”
 
Really? Where did this happen?

Everywhere.  It didn’t make a difference how many times I confirmed or re-confirmed.  No matter what, when we got to the venue… But actually, since everyone was so nice, it didn’t really matter. 

How did you get around in the States?

We flew and took the bus.

The bus? Greyhound?  

No, some really cheap bus.

The Chinatown bus?  

Yes!  It was terrible!  It was freezing and Utako got sick. But it was only twenty bucks.

What was your favorite place in the US?

Well, we played four shows in New York, and it was really fun.  We did shows at the Secret Project Robot Gallery in Brooklyn, Cakeshop, Tonic, and Cinders Gallery in Brooklyn. Cinders was really cute, and they had a drum set. New York was also great because every show we played, more and more people kept showing up. By the time we played at Cakeshop and Cinders, they were pretty full.

[UTAKO SHOWS UP]

Utako: Hi! I’m so sorry.  

Hi.  We were just talking about your US tour. Where was your favorite place in the US?

Utako: New York, for sure.

Reiko: I really liked San Francisco, too.  I would want to live there.

Utako: The only thing was that we were so busy that we didn’t have any time to do any sightseeing.

Reiko: I really wanted to see the Statue of Liberty!

If you could do another tour in the US, where would you want to go?

---

Reiko: Hawaii.  

Utako: Ooh, I want to go to Hawaii.

Reiko: And LA.  We weren’t able to go this time.  

Utako: Yeah, definitely. And Miami. I love Miami.

Reiko: And I really want to see the Grand Canyon.

Utako: Me too, me too!  And Yosemite.

Reiko: Yeah, I really want to go to a national park.

So did you see anything in America that struck you as stereotypically American?  

Utako: You mean like huge hamburgers and stuff?  

Reiko:  I saw lots of huge hamburgers.

Utako: Me too. And steaks. Huge steaks.   

Reiko: When we were in Texas we went to this Denny’s, and like every person had these neon pink and green drinks that were this big!

Utako: And one time I got some green tea at a convenience store that was so full of sugar. But whatever… America was fun.

Reiko: 100% fun.

How did your US tour come about?

Utako: It just happened.

Reiko: It was random. The first thing that happened was that a bunch of us – a bunch of our friends here – all applied to SXSW together.  Of course we didn’t think we would get in, but we just thought it would be great if all of us did somehow get in.  But in the end, we were the only ones.

Utako: And by chance, I was already going to be in America like a month after SXSW, for my husband’s friend’s wedding party in New York. I was thinking it would be kind of pointless to go to America, then come back here, then go back again…

Reiko: So we started thinking maybe we could put a tour together. But we also had a back up plan, just in case we couldn’t get any gigs. My mom’s friend has a farm in America, and we were going to work on it. But in the end we got the tour to happen. We got lots of help from everybody we know, and it worked out really well.

What kinds of people went to your shows in the US?

Reiko: Well, in New York there were lots of people who seemed like they came because they had heard of us, or already knew us.  But in some smaller places it was different. It was more like, “What’s Kiiiiiii?” But even there, there were some people who surprised us, people who had gone way out of their way to come to our shows. In Texas we had someone drive five hours just to see us, and also in D.C. there were some girls who drove three hours.

What about in Japan – does the crowd reaction differ from place to place?

Utako: We actually haven’t taken a tour in Japan yet. But we have played in Osaka and Nagoya, and of course Tokyo. And yes, there are some people who get it immediately, and many others who never react. And the amount of time it takes people to react also varies from place to place. But some people like to dance and stuff, and others like to just watch quietly, which is cool. It would be a little creepy if everyone were dancing together or doing the same thing.  So we’re happy whenever people enjoy our shows, it doesn’t matter how they enjoy it. I hope that people can feel free to release themselves when they see us. If people can get into the music and become free, it’s good for them, it’s healthy, so I hope that’s what people feel when they see us perform.

Are you both from Tokyo originally?  

Utako: I am.

Reiko: I was born in Fukuoka but raised in Tokyo.  

Utako: We went to middle school together.  

How did you become friends?

Utako: We both kind of stood out in school, so we found each other pretty quickly.

How did Kiiiiiii start?  

Reiko: It started because Utako was in a drama group – she acts – and her drama group was doing this event at a club.

Utako: I had a chance to perform – to do anything I wanted - and I was like, I want to do something with Reiko.  And that's how we began.

Reiko: People really didn’t like it.

Utako: They were really not into it. We got a pretty cold response. People were just like, what is this. Also, maybe what we were doing at that time was a little different from what we do now. Overall very similar, but as we’ve performed longer, our show has, I think, become a little easier to understand. But the first time we really just did what we wanted, and I think people were like, “Whoa, I really don't get this.”  The other thing is that in my drama group, I was kind of like everyone’s little sister. It was a mostly male group, and they were all kind of like my big brothers.  So they kind of would take care of me as if I were their little sister. And when we first did our Kiiiiiii thing, they were really taken aback. Like they hadn’t seen it coming. It was too crazy for them. They couldn’t handle it. They were speechless.

Utako: But we were into it. And eventually, they got into it, too. Some of them even started to like it.

---

---

Is Kiiiiiii now the main thing you do?  

Utako: Well, when I’m working with my drama group, Tetsuwari Albatrosket, I’m pretty focused on acting. And when it’s Kiiiiiii, it’s Kiiiiiii.  Right now our album is about to come out so I’ve been focused on Kiiiiiii stuff.  But yeah, when I am busy with acting it gets really busy, too.

How did you end up putting out a DVD before putting your first album out?  

Utako:  Actually, we wanted to do them at the same time, but making an album just took way longer.

Reiko: Kiiiiiii’s sound is just drums and vocals, and sometimes keyboard. A lot of what Kiiiiiii is is visual: the dancing, the props, and the color. That lends itself to video. So putting out a DVD was the best way to convey what Kiiiiiii is in a way that we couldn’t do by just putting out an audio recording. Also, our CD is going to sound quite different from our live sound.  We’ve recorded with lots of other instruments as well, which is another reason it took so much longer.

I haven’t seen the DVD yet, actually, but from what I’ve read, it seems like there was some kind of concept, or a story.

Utako: Not really. Basically, we just decided to make one, filmed it, and it was fun, and that was it.  

But there’s like a story, right?  Like, Kiiiiiii versus -

Reiko: Gold and Silver? That's at the very end.  They weren’t in the video at first.  But then we were thinking, there’s too much serious stuff in here. Maybe not serious, but it was mostly just us performing, and, you know, kind of “cool” imagery and stuff.  So at the end we wanted to put something in that was a little more just fun.  We were at my house, in my room, the two of us, and we just put the video in and started filming.

Are you putting your new album out yourself?

Reiko: We’re putting it out on our own label, Best Pet.  

Utako: Kiiiiiii’s the only band on it. Kiiiiiii equals best pet.  The new album is called AL & BUM. It’s coming out on July 7th,  2007, so three sevens yo.

Reiko: We’re with a good distribution company so you will be able to get it anywhere.  Tower, Amazon… everywhere!  Even America.

You should probably take another tour to promote the album.

Utako: I want to!

---

You have to go back to America. By the way, what does Kiiiiiii’s name mean?  

Reiko: It’s just something you scream. “Kiiiiiii!” No meaning. Just sound. And it looks cute when you write it, because of all the i’s.

Website

www.kiiiiiii.com

Photos

Naoko Wowsugi
Jaimie Warren

---