Fujiya & Miyagi

"I was thinking, ’Who’s gonna be there? Why would anyone want to watch us being quite stationary when there’s Iggy?’"

Shitdisco

With influences ranging from Can to Serge Gainsbourg, Brighton foursome Fujiya & Miyagi’s singular music is a strange brew indeed. They have just released their third album, the marvellous Lightbulbs, and with a mountain of touring on the horizon, including dates in Belfast and Dublin later in the month, we pinned down frontman David Best for a chat.

The new album is about to come out – do you feel a lot of anticipation or excitement?

I just hope noone slags it off. I get really pissed off. Well, I try not to read stuff. We were really lucky with the last one [2006's Transparent Things], we didn’t expect it to get half as much press, so that’s fine, but when you’ve been working really hard and you’re so close to it, you don’t know. We couldn’t have done any better at that point in time. But I’m excited inasmuch as we did an album, and we want people to hear it. It’s kind of a funny feeling, it’s like you’ve done your exams and you’re waiting for your results.

Are you happy with the way it turned out? Did it turn out any differently to what you imagined?

With the fact there’s now four of us, it’s impossible to have an idea at the beginning and it to be exactly the same at the end, otherwise it would be quite boring. I thought it would be a bit darker or a bit moodier, and it actually turned out not as moody as we thought it would be, but then that’s the nature of the processes - writing with other people. I like it though, it’s good. But now I just want to do the next one, you know? I know we’re just going to be playing for like-

You’re going to be caning it for the next year, year-and-a-half.

Yeah, which is really good fun and that, but I just want to get on to the next one.

When Transparent Things came out, you were pretty unknown, whereas now that’s not the case. Was that on your mind when you were writing and recording the album, the fact that there would be so much more anticipation from press and fans?

Of course we were aware of that, but we tried not to be. Because if you start trying to pander to what you think people will like, it goes against why you’re doing music in the first place. Obviously people liked it because of what we did, so why second guess it? Musically, or even lyrically, I don’t think it’s a giant step, not as much as the first one was to the second. Because I think we want to do more songs like the ones we’re doing now and on Transparent Things, and make it better, and then for the next one we’ll probably go somewhere else. I kind of think that if people liked Transparent Things, they’ll appreciate that it’s a different record, and it’s got different dynamics and even smarter than Transparent Things. So I’m not too worried. If we’d done, like, a ska record, that would’ve put the cat amongst the pigeons!

It does sound like it’s in a similar vein to Transparent Things, and it’s very recognisably you.

Yeah, it’s tricky though, because at first we were like, ‘We’ve gotta make it different, we’ve gotta make it different’, but then that’s kind of how we sound. That’s the sound of those people and the sound of the instruments we’ve got; the synths we’ve got. My voice. You know?

You have a drummer now as well [Lee Adams], so there’s now four of you. Why did you decide to bring him in?

Well, we’ve worked with a drum machine since we started, which was nine years ago or something, and there’s some things you can’t do with a drummer, like turn round and say, ‘Go faster!’ or ’Slow it down!’. From the live aspect it’s good, and both visually and dynamically it’s a lot better. It’s also good to just bring someone new in. We were friends of him anyway, and if we had a drummer it would always be him if he wanted to do it, so that’s kind of changed the dynamic in a nice way.

And that’s the second time you’ve changed the dynamic, because [bassist] Matt came in before the second album, didn’t he?

Yeah, well before that it was always me and Steve, and then we had two other guys in, and they left and Matt came in and now Lee’s come in. It’s good. Matt coming in, we needed to do that because – he’s really important – but me and Steve only have two pairs of hands. We don’t play stuff off samples, apart from the drum machine, because it’s good to play everything live. Maybe that’s why we got Lee in as well, because we want everything to be… live.

I was pleased when I read about the fact that you were bringing a drummer in, because I imagine it would take things up a notch live. I’ve seen you a couple of times, and especially the last time which was Electric Picnic last year, that was amazing.

Oh yeah, I loved that gig.

I got the impression that you were taken aback by the reception.

I’m not being a kiss-arse, but we all love playing in Ireland. We’ve played in Dublin and Cork, and the first time we played in Dublin there was only about 20 people there, but it was the first time people were singing our songs back to us. We were like, ‘Fucking hell, the know our songs!’. It was when we released [single] ‘In One Ear & Out The Other’, before the album [Transparent Things] came out, so I think we’ve always had some sort of… well, we love going back there. And Electric Picnic, I remember looking out during the first song and thinking… ‘Cause I’m a big Iggy Pop fan and they were playing on the other stage. And one, I was fucked off I was missing him, and two, I was thinking, ’Who’s gonna be there? Why would anyone want to watch us being quite stationary when there’s Iggy?’. And it was, it was packed! It was great.

I can imagine that now you’ve got a drummer, the live show will change a bit. Because your dynamic is so rhythmic.

Definitely. At the moment, because we haven’t had enough time to practise everything, we start off with the drum machine for three or four songs and then Lee comes on. So you really notice it.

So he doesn’t play on all the old stuff?

He plays on the old stuff, we just haven’t worked out a lot of the new stuff. Because he doesn’t play on all the new songs on the album.

Finally, you’re often described as a Krautrock band, and you are obviously big fans of that, but it’s noticeable as well how you’re a pop band, which is something those bands didn’t have. Was it a conscious decision on your part to take elements of that and channel it into pop music?

It’s just how it came out, I think. I don’t mind the Krautrock references because I love all that stuff, but if I wasn’t in the band and someone told me, ‘There’s this band and they’re real Krautrock’, and I got the album, I’d be like, ‘No, they’re not really’. At the minute, I love Sixties soul music – that’s what I listen to – and the ‘In One Ear & Out The Other’ stuff sticks out like a sore thumb. Soul always does that, takes phrases, and it’s got that kind of hooky element. And yeah, I love pop. I dunno, it’s not as contrived as it probably seems. It’s just how it evolved. But I’m pleased with it, I didn’t want to be one of those bands that were like math rock and too serious. Some of that music is beautiful, but I love pop too much to be doing that.

Interview by Chris Jones

LIGHTBULBS IS OUT NOW ON FULL TIME HOBBY. READ OUR REVIEW HERE
FUJIYA & MIYAGI PLAY THE FOLLOWING IRISH DATES LATER THIS MONTH -

SEPTEMBER 18 - ROISIN DUBH, GALWAY
SEPTEMBER 19 - CYPRUS AVENUE, CORK
SEPTEMBER 20 - SPIEGELTENT, DUBLIN
SEPTEMBER 21 - STIFF KITTEN, BELFAST

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/FUJIYAANDMIYAGI

Issue #51 - I Told You This Would Be A Good Issue

Featuring Biffy Clyro, Of Montreal, Duke Special, Frightened Rabbit, Cold War Kids, Jay Reatard, Pat Mills, and more.