Anamanaguchi [Official Site, MySpace] is perhaps the rarest thing today in indie music: they are original. And not the “we are experimental because we make horribly grating noises that nobody else has ever heard before” kind of original. No, Anamanaguchi are the kick ass sort of original. 8-bit arena rock power pop original. Combine Weezer with an old Nintendo and some Red Bull sort of kick ass.

The band was awesome enough to sit down with Radio Exile at Vassar College a short while back. What transpired was entertaining to say the least. Among other things, we talk about aliens who come to their shows, the Hudson Valley, and how Bear Hands are a bunch of assholes for backing into their car 15 minutes earlier.

Read on.

RE = Radio Exile
PB = Peter Berkman (guitar, vocals)
JD = James DeVito (bass)
LS = Luke Silas (drums)
AW = Ary Warnaar (guitar)

RE: Okay, first off, how do you say your band name? If I try I’m going to butcher it…

PB: Anna-mannaa-guchi.

RE: What is the origin of the name?

PB: It literally means nothing! It’s just kind of fake Japanese that kind of fits what we do.

RE: Did you make it up yourself or did you find it somewhere?

PB: It’s a long story but it was my screen name at the time, when I started making music, and I was like “ahhhhh, that works, whatever” and then it just kind of stuck.

AW: You’re being honest about it.

PB: Yeah, I am. For once.

[laughter]

PB: But, BUT. Who knows what that word means, cause I’m not going to tell. There is a story behind it. There actually is a legit story behind it that you guys [the band] probably know. Nobody else can know. But it basically, you know, makes sense. It’s an aesthetic thing.

RE: Yeah, it definitely fits the music.

LS: It’s like the Mae Shi. Also gibberish.

PB: The Mae Shi?

LS: What do you think the Mae Shi means?

PB: I always assumed it was Japanese for “Macys”.

LS: Oh, is that it?

PB: Yes.

RE: How would you guys, in a few words, describe your sound? It’s definitely a very unique sound.

PB: I think the best way to describe it quickly is we make hyperactive, fast power pop…without power. The power is implied. We make hyper active fast pop with a hacked Nintendo and arena rock guitars.

JD: And a Gameboy.

PB: And a Gameboy.

RE: So how do you get that sound? When I first heard you guys playing I “how the hell are they doing this”, then I thought I figured it out, then I realized I had no idea what I was talking about so I figure it was best that I just ask you. How…how do you do that technically?

PB: Technically it’s just about….you can get a program that runs on DOS, on Windows, and it’s basically just a sequencer that writes music in the language that the NES can understand. And you can take that out and put it into an assembly language and write that onto a chip as a binary file, zeros and ones, and then the cartridge will play your song.

RE: So this is something that you pre-program?

PB: Yeah, it’s all pre-programmed. All the Nintendo stuff is going and we are trying our best to keep up.

RE: Did you evolve that sound or was that something you sought out intentionally?

PB: It was definitely something I was interested in just because, obviously growing up and playing video games as a kid and also the harsh electronic sounds that they are. I just had never put them in a musical context before. Not a video game music context before but a kind of music that I want to write context. When I first got my hands on it, the first music that I started to write kind of sounded like video gaming but as I progressed and wrote more music it began to sound like my musical voice, the kind of music that I wanted to listen to and play.

RE: Then what are your influences?

PB: Pretty wide. I’m really into a lot of soundtrack stuff like this Italian horror soundtrack called Goblin from the ‘70’s. And them simple pop stuff like the Beach Boys and Weezer.

RE: Right, you had the Buddy Holly cover…

PB: Yeah. Exactly.

RE: …which made a lot of sense in the context of everything else.

PB: Yeah, in the same sense it’s about creating an atmosphere, and that’s where the soundtrack element comes into play. But it’s also just about having fun, which is where that Beach Boys Weezerey kind of pop element goes into it, where just the melody has to be catchy and drive you along.

RE: So do you guys usually have green men at your concerts or was that just a welcome addition?

(editors note: there was a student in a full body, from face to toes green body suit riding his bike around the stage when Anamanaguchi was playing)

PB: I think that was actually the first time…

JD: We’ve had a blue man Pokemon…

RE: Was he all in blue though like the green man today?

LS: We had a guy who came to see us in a full out blue…

PB: No, I’m talking about the blue man who showed up with the orange wig and the silver face paint.

LS: Oh yeah, he was at one of our shows.

PB: We had just played this show and there was this guy in the audience who was wearing this blue jumpsuit with silver face paint…

LS: He kind of looked like Ziggy Stardust but you know, with like stars and….

PB: He basically looked like a bad DJ…

LS: He WAS a bad DJ…

JD: He was our DJ…

PB: I’m actually being serious, this happened to us at Mount Holyoake, where this like 6’3” ….space alien basically wearing this blue full jump suit, so yeah, it HAS happened to us before….

RE: I feel like your music would inspire it, more so than most other bands. Creatures and other colors…

[laugher]

PB: I mean yeah, the dude looked like he was from outer space. He looked lost.

RE: So how did the band come together? Where did you form? How did you form?

PB: I started making music in high school, probably when I was a freshman or sophomore. I played in bands all throughout high school and James (DeVito, bass) , we grew up in the same town, and he also did as well, and we were both in different bands, both good bands, and we were both like “hey, we’ve been in like 100 different bands”. I started making this music and I was like “hey, why don’t we unite and do some cool shit”. We all started to go to college and studying music technology, we [Peter and James] went to the same school [NYU] and that’s where we met Ary and he kind of joined the ranks as the second guitar player. Luke called us or e-mailed us when we were coming out to California – he had heard the first album that I had put out before college – and basically asked us “hey, I heard that your temporary drummer quit. Can I play drums for you guys?”

So we were like “well….FUCK THAT GUY…yeah, we’ll see, we’ll fucking see!” and then we were like “yeah, we’ll give you a shot, at this small show that we’re playing” and then he tore it up and now he’s here, forever, and going on tour

RE: So then you two (Peter and James) are both from the Hudson Valley?

PB: That’s right, Westchester County.

RE: I’m from Poughkeepsie. So, Hudson Valley. Upsides? Downsides?

JD: We’re from Chappaqua actually…

RE: Oh, so you’re next to…

JD: The Clintons, yeah.

PB: But the obvious benefit is that you’re close to the city. The downside is that you’re not in the city.

JD: And there is no real musical scene.

Interview continues below the mp3

RE: Unless you like emo or more…no, it’s more thrash screamo metal…

JD: Not even in Chappaqua…

RE: If you go to Poughkeepsie it’s all just like…shit

JD: We played shows at Club Crannel Street.

RE: Nice!

JD: Not us but high school bands.

RE: A good band came out of that place? That’s amazing…

PB: Ehhhh, debatable.

[laughter]

[Question and answer omitted at band’s request…the only thing I was allowed to leave in was LS: Jake Gyllenhaal you’re dope]

RE: You are a new record out?

PB: Yeah! It’s called Dawn Metropolis. We basically spent over a year doing it…

[everybody looks at a model of a human skeleton which now has a jar of jelly wedged in between its pelvic bones]

LS: I remember that the original idea that you explained to me in early January of last year…

PB: January of 2008.

LS: …It took over a year….

PB: We basically wanted to make something that was not my basement recordings like our last album was. And we also wanted to create some sort of audio-visual experience kind of thing to match the aesthetic of the music…

RE: Is that your website?

PB: Yeah

RE: That’s actually a really good, really cool….it ties in really well with everything.

PB: Oh, thank you! We spent a lot of time on it. I even did some of the motion graphics on it myself and definitely a lot of love went into it.

[NOTE: The awesome website can be found at http://anamanaguchi.com/]

PB: It’s kind of like a evolution of the first album. I think the ideas are more developed and Ary actually wrote the last song on the album, which is a huge step for Anamanaguchi, which lets us do more crazy things in the future. It’s kind of like an 8 minute epic track that is kind of like Peter and the Wolf style.

RE: What are your guys plans for the future as far as touring and future releases?

PB: We are actually working right now to set something up in August that is a month long tour of the entire country, which we have never done. East coast, middle coast, west coast.

JD: I think a five day deportation to the UK is probably in order…

AW: We should just get deported from the US. That would be tough

[laughter]

PB: Beyond that, in June we’re doing a tour with our friends in Previously On Lost who, if we are on the fringe of being a gimmicky band, by transcending a Nintendo gimmick band, these guys are shamelessly, 100% a gimmick band.

JD: Recap rock!

PB: Yeah, they play quote unquote “recap rock” where they take episodes from Lost and talk about highlights from each episode and basically just sing about them.

LS: Which includes a full set of airplane parts and palm trees.

PB: Yeah, it’s pretty much the most amazing gimmick in the world. But they make awesome music and they’re friends of ours, so it’s gonna be an awesome time.

LS: We’re also going to play the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle which is the biggest video game convention in the US. We’re very excited to be doing that again with the Mini Bosses and Freezepop.

PB: We definitely want to write more stuff also which sort of expands upon what we left Dawn Metropolis on. But at the same time maintains that kind of energy and pop that we’re all about.

RE: Any last words? Any feuds you want to start?

PB: Any feuds? Yeah! We want to start a feud with Bear Hands. I know that I told them I wasn’t going to press charges but you f**king hit my car and you guys are going to get sued for every f**king dollar that your s**ty dreadlocked band has! Cause you have f**king dreadlocks and you got a drummer and, like, you also have a guitar player but….

JD: Two of them!

PB: … f**k you guys! They have TWO guitar players! And a bass player! What’s that about? It’s like f**k you guys, give me $60. My 1993 Honda Civic has a f**king dent in it.

LS: Bear Hands, have fun not working ever again, ever ever.

PB: You will never work in this f**king….college again! I don’t even know anybody here so….

LS: You will never play a show at Vassar again and then you’re gonna give us a bunch of money and then you’re going to go about your business. What’s up with that?

PB: Another feud that we want to start…..[points to guy at food table who is trying to make a sandwich]…are you in Devlin and Darko?

Guy At Food Table: I manage them.

PB: Well, we’re gonna start a feud of Devlin and Darko, who are the DJs and, I mean, he’s right here so its a pretty good time to start a feud. I mean he’s f**king hogging ALL the f**king food man! Look at this s**t!

Guy At Food Table: I just ate ten cookies.

PB: He ate all the granola bars and chips

AW: He ate every olive.

[laugher]

PB: So yeah, one day, two feuds. I think we’re gonna have a fun tour.

Upcoming Tourdates

August 6th – New York, NY @ The Studio at Webster Hall
August 7th – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
August 8th – Baltimore, MD @ The Hexagon
August 9th – Washington, DC @ The Black Cat
August 11th – Richmond, VA @ Gallery 5
August 12th – Lexington, KY @ Al’s Bar
August 14th – Dayton, OH @ Blind Bob’s
August 15th – Chicago, IL @ Martyr’s
August 16th – Chicago, IL @ Tacoskull
August 17th – Chicago, IL @ Giraffetorium
August 18th – Cleveland, OH @ Now That’s Class
August 19th – Akron, OH @ Musica
August 20th – Rochester, NY @ The Bug Jar
August 21st – Pittsburgh, PA @ Belvedere’s
August 27th – Los Angeles, CA @ Junction Block
August 30th – San Francisco, CA @ DNA Lounge
September 2nd – Portland, OR @ Ground Kontrol
September 3rd – Seattle, WA @ The Comet
September 4th – Seattle, WA @ Penny Arcade Expo
September 5th – Seattle, WA @ Lo-Fi
September 6th – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon

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