‘We weren’t allowed to meet Oasis!’: Japanese singer Otoboke Beaver on entertainment, feminism and celebrity fans | Party

They say brevity is the spirit of genius and few teams have it all like Otoboke Beaver. Playing short, sharp songs full of horror and dark humor, next week the Japanese band will play easily their biggest gig in the UK, at Liverpool’s Anfield stadium in support. Foo Fighters.

“We met the Foo Fighters at a festival overseas, and in Japan,” says singer Accorinrin as we chat in a concert hall in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, hours before Otoboke Beaver takes the stage and drives the audience around the O-Nest. “Dave Grohl told a lot of people about us, which helped us a lot. He didn’t have to start a band with nobody like us, but Dave was always looking for newcomers and wanted to connect us with music.”

Partly due to Grohl’s preaching, Otoboke Beaver’s popularity has spread: along with putting out a dozen records in different genres since he created it 17 years ago, he has opened for the likes of Green Day, Idles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack White, Eddie Vedder and Oasis. “I learned from those shows that amazing bands have amazing supporters,” says wild-eyed guitarist Yoyoyoshie (all members of Otoboke Beaver go by names like these). “These employees are professionals, and they care about the professionals they work with. It seems like a small thing, but it really impressed me.”

I ask what the Gallaghers were like. “We weren’t allowed to meet them. There were a lot of restricted areas and black curtains were hung when the Oasis members walked by. So what? Nonsense? They were like a group of very friendly guys, and asked us to have a drink together.

Otoboke Beaver’s music is easily described as punk, but that’s not the half of it. Their songs are short but surprisingly thick, full of changes in tempo and tone, aggressive but surprisingly funny. Each song is a beautiful picture box: beautiful on the surface but deep enough to be revealed.

Accorinrin sings about love and food, as well as being abused by old perverts ( Dirty Old Fart is Waiting for My Reaction ), the pain of working with Jasrac’s Japanese music agency Jasrac ( I put My Love to You in a Song , Jasrac ), and his lack of desire to have children ( I’m not Mom ). Despite the themes of these songs, “I didn’t think our music was feminist until people said it was feminist,” she says. “Japan has always been a man-loving people, so I was never worried.” Any hidden frustration, he says, “naturally comes out in my words”.

The group was founded in Kyoto in 2009 and was a group favorite from Osaka near Oshiripenpenz, whose gonzo performances are full of surprises. “I didn’t believe that music could be like that,” says Yoyoyoshie.

As home to Japan’s biggest comedy talent agencies, the Kansai region, home to Kyoto and Osaka, is Japan’s comedy factory; and thus, Otoboke Beaver takes humor as music. Accorinrin said: “It’s in our DNA. If the music isn’t funny, it’s not fun. Indeed, that night at O-Nest, Accorinrin scolds an audience member for using the flash on his phone camera – “Old men who don’t know how to turn off their flash should strap on their phones!” – and raises his middle finger to each member of the audience in turn: it brings to mind the opposite of Stewart Lee. Not least because the audience is in on the joke: the relationship of sadomasochistic which is endlessly fun. Accorinrin says that the group can work on a song or a lyric idea “many times, trying new things, thinking about the feelings we want to express, and how we can make them funny or silly”.

Longtime Kahokiss drummer Otoboke Beaver left the band recently, prompting them to run three shows and make small trips to see him. Their last show with him was a joyous celebration rather than a maudlin farewell, according to Accorinrin and Yoyoyoshie, and he was replaced by Emi “Leo” Morimoto, a former Osaka veteran and fellow comedian Shonen Knife. The most complex basslines are handled by Hirochan.

At O-Nest they play four new unreleased songs written by Leo including Don’t Buy In Front of My Grave, which is poppy and mid tempo with their standards, and they dance a lot. Fans are asking for new things like this: the group’s most recent album – the 18-track, 21-minute Super Champon – came out four years ago. Making fun of the constant complaining, one of the songs on their new album called Is the New Album Out Yet?

Accorinrin says: “We’re taking things slowly. “Our songs take a long time to write, and we like to play a lot, and we’ve had line-up changes.”