Mika Bomb Interview @ Knitting Factory NYC

A UK-based Japanese punk rock band recently made their summer stop in New York where they played with Peelander-Z in what could be one of the hottest nights in the city. We talked about mosquitoes among other important stuff.

KaraterRice: Please introduce yourself

Mika Bomb: I’m Ako, I play guitar. Mika (Handa), I’m singer. Mika (Kanayama) , I play the guitar. I’m Ergi, I play the drums.

KR: Can you tell us where you get the name Mika Bomb?

MB: Well, I started the band and my name is Mika. I just thought it would be catchy and nobody would use the name and just put the bomb after Mika. That’s it.

KR: One of your albums is called Osaka. Is that your hometown?

MB: Mika Kanayama is from Osaka. But I’m not from Osaka. Because she’s a yellow bitch. (Mika K - guitar) Yellow bitch from Osaka city.

KR: Who are your influences?

MB: Ramones, the big one. Lots of things. New York bands are cool. Iggy Pop. Also garage bands. Lots of Motown bands. That’s what Mika Bomb is about.

KR: Is the UK scene different than the US?

MB: It’s hard to say. Every place is different. UK is so small. Everybody just come and enjoy the show. But in States, sometimes people drive in a car for 2 hours to see us. I think that’s so crazy. Amazing. (Ergi) That is amazing. People don’t even go 5 miles to see you in London. You live down the road and they come to see you. But if you live further, they probably won’t come out.

KR: Yeah you get more fanatics here who would drive all the way to see their favorite band. Plus, it’s summertime so it’s like a road trip for them.

MB: Yeah but you also get mosquito bites in US.

KR: Really?

MB: Yeah. There’s no mosquito in UK. Even in summertime. (Ergi) Here, they are big mean and they sting really hard. It’s just me and Mika somehow that got it. (Mika) Probably I have about 20-30 bites already. (Ergi) I got about 30 bites so far.

KR: That’s the warm US welcome

MB: Yeah. Welcome to US with mosquitoes.

KR: How long have you guys been living in UK?

MB: Well, I came here about 10 years ago. Everybody’s different (living time).

KR: You have Holly Golightly in one of your album. How did she get to sing in that album?

MB: Yeah, I used to see her in Thee Headcoatees. She was in that band and played with Billy Childish and I used to see them like every week. Then, at that moment, we were in the same label. And I asked and our label asked her, can you sing a song with us? And yeah, she came down and just one take and…(Mika K-guitar) Cool. She’s so cool. Really cool.

KR: Besides Holly, which other artist do you wanna work with?

MB: Iggy Pop. And Phil Spector.

KR: How was your new album different from the last one?

MB: I think the first one is way produced. This one is more raw. It’s with Ed Deegan. He’s worked at Toe Rag where White Stripes recorded Elephant. There’s quite punk rocky and garage sound. That’s the kind of thing we’re going at the time.

KR: The recent album called Fake Fake Sound of Progress is similar to LostProphets album called Fake Sound of Progress. Is there any coincidence?

MB: No. Our album is first and it’s called Fake Fake Sound which is double negative which means it’s true.

KR: Oh, so it’s just a coincidence then.

MB: Right

KR: Tokyo Alice did your illustration for your new album. How did you get her to do the artwork?

MB: She was doing her exhibition in UK. And our bass player, Wataru, went to see her show. And he thinks it’s wow so cool, let’s use that for our album. So she came down to our rehearsal and I said let’s do it. At the moment, we’re touring US and she’s having her exhibition in Detroit.

KR: What do you guys do when your not rocking out?

MB: We all do different things. Drinking, hung over

KR: That’s it guys. Hope it’s fun the rest of the tour.

MB: Thank you very much.

more images of Mika Bomb can be found in the Karaterice Gallery