Meet The Binges (again)

Following up on the Flattbush interview excerpt, I'm going to run some of our more recent interview with The Binges from Giant Robot 58. They're going on first at the GR show at the Ruby Room in San Diego on Saturday, July 25 (over Comic-Con weekend) promptly at 10:00, and you don't want to miss them. They've probably got the widest appeal of the lineup with their crowd-pleasing, head-banging riffs and balls-out style of straight-up, kick-ass rock 'n' freaking roll. If KNAC, The Cathouse, and Headbanger's Ball were still in their glory days, The Binges would be the toast of the town... Instead, they're making it happen the hard way and are well worth the 5 bucks admission on their own.


Centered on the ferocious guitar and bass attack of Mayuko (left) and Tsuzumi (right) Okai, you might think that The Binges must have emerged from a jungle after 20 years with no idea that Nirvana came along to crush Guns ’n’ Roses. I’ve seen the band rip it up at a jaded rocker club (where an ex-G N’R keyboard player jammed with them on covers like “Godzilla”) and a cheesy NAMM spotlight in a hotel ballroom (where music teachers in Hawaiian shirts nursed drinks at banquet tables). Despite all odds, each time I was blown away by the sisters’ hard-rocking, no-nonsense, and technically brilliant mastery of their respective axes, and arranged to meet them for a quick coffee on Sunset Blvd.

GR: When did you two move to the United States from Japan?
MO: In April, it will be 9 years. She was 17 and I was 18. We had a bass, a guitar, and a cat.

GR: Did you know anyone here?
MO: We knew a couple of people, but we came here to play music. We started by playing house parties and going to music stores--which are not my type of scenes--but we’d run into people and become friends. We didn’t know English, but we knew The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, and The Beatles. Music was our way to communicate.

GR: Why were you into rock music instead of idol music like SMAP or Dreams Come True?
TO: I am not into those bands. I think they are gay.

MO: Our parents loved what we love.

TO: Like The Beatles, The Stones, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix.

GR: You don’t dress like kogals, either.
MO: We don’t have money or time for that.


GR: Were both of you already good musicians when you came over? Were you part of a scene?
TO: We played one year before we came here. We played songs by Cream, Guns N’ Roses, and lots of metal. In Japan, there is a scene that likes classic rock, but everybody thinks, “Why are you listening to old songs?” Time is very important to people. They think, “That’s a new song so we should listen to it.” But time doesn’t matter. A good song is a good song.

GR: By the time you arrived in L.A., not many bands were playing music like that.
MO: We came to find musicians and form a band, but there was pretty much nobody.

TO: I was very shy and couldn’t even talk. Playing bass with a lot of musicians changed my life. Having confidence was very hard, but jamming with people and having good experiences helped me to express myself.

GR: Did you move straight to Hollywood or did you live somewhere with a lot of Japanese people?
MO: That was not our purpose. Our purpose was very clear. We came here because rock ’n’ roll was born in England and the States. We came to California for that, and it took us a few years to get used to the culture. We took ESL classes.

GR: Here, people almost expect you to be an asshole. If you’re not an asshole, sometimes people won’t pay attention to you.
MO: We learned that you really have to stand up. Just be straight up and say yes or no. No bullshit.

GR: How long did it take to get the band’s lineup together?
TO: We’ve been through many bandmates. We used to jam as the house band at the Cat Club.

MO: We were like a cover band. Our heroes would go there to jam, which made us stronger.

GR: Were your heroes a little older and not as popular by then?
TO: Some of them had played in bigger places, and they had something very special about them that’s hard to explain.

MO: After we did that for a few years, I decided it was time to create my own stuff. I had a vision of what kind of music it was going to be. Whenever I write music, I always imagine the personality from each band member. That makes it easy for me to create music. I love that about The Binges, because we have really good musical chemistry. Personal life is sometimes hell, but I’m always happy with my band and the music.



GR: You play a partying style of music. Do you partake of the lifestyle?
TO: Totally, and our audience drinks a lot.

GR: Do you drink before shows or do you wait until afterward?
MO: It depends. I start drinking a little bit before the show and am fine onstage with maybe one shot because my blood is already moving so fast.

TO: We get drunk pretty easily.

GR: Does your face turn red, too?
MO: Yeah, it does!

GR: That’s doesn’t look cool.
TO: No, it doesn’t!

GR: It seems like you play a lot of 21+ shows.
TO: It’s very hard to get all-ages shows in Los Angeles. It’s a bummer because young kids should be able to listen to music any time anywhere.

MO: In our rehearsal space, there are so many rooms but I don’t hear any bands rehearsing. What are they doing? Why do they rent the rooms and not use them? For storage? It used to be way crazier. Even seven years ago, sounds from the other rooms would disturb our rehearsal. Not any more. It’s kind of quiet at night.

GR: Maybe they’re at home making music on laptops.
MO: That’s gay. I mean, good for you to spend time with music, but there is no organic feeling to music anymore. It’s all too convenient. Too easy.

GR: Do you feel like you’ve achieved much so far?
MO: Not even close, but I appreciate and love our fans. We have fans that come to see us every time. Not one or two people, but at least six or seven. They carry our gear. Sometimes I get so frustrated, but when I think about them, I appreciate it.

GR: Do you ever worry about getting too close to certain fans?
TO: If we need room, we can tell them.


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