Otoboke Beaver
Otoboke Beaver performing at the 2019 SXSW Festival
Otoboke Beaver performing at the 2019 SXSW Festival
Background information
OriginKyoto, Japan
GenresPunk rock, garage rock, riot grrl, garage punk, alternative rock[1]
Years active2009–present
LabelsDamnably
MembersAccorinrin
Yoyoyoshie
Hirochan
Kahokiss
Past membersNishikawachi
Pop
Websitehttps://www.otobokebeaver.com/

Otoboke Beaver (Japanese: おとぼけビ～バ～) is a Japanese punk rock band from Kyoto, formed in 2009. The band currently consists of singer Accorinrin, guitarist Yoyoyoshie, bassist Hirochan, and drummer Kahokiss. Their most recent album Super Champon was released in May 2022.

Biography

Otoboke Beaver is named after a love hotel in Osaka[2] which was located near the high school of one of the band members.[3] The band formed in 2009 while the members were active in a rock music club at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto.[4][5] The original members included Accorinrin on vocals, Yoyoyoshie on guitar, Pop on drums, and Nishikawachi on bass.

In June 2011, Otoboke Beaver released a demo CD featuring three songs, including an early version of "Chuchu Song", a live track that would be later re-recorded and distributed to people who helped fund the band's first trip to the United States. In 2012, the group released their first live album via Egypt Records. In 2013, they released a limited-edition single via Jet Set Records, featuring the newly recorded "Otobokebeaver Daijikenbo" and two live tracks. In March of the same year, the band released the mini-album Love Me Sign. Bassist Nishikawachi left the band in 2013 and was replaced by Hirochan, a fan who asked to join via e-mail.[6]

Otoboke Beaver participated in Record Store Day in 2015, releasing the single "Akimahenka" on vinyl. In 2016, the band signed with the British label Damnably. The Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver compilation album was released that year, featuring the majority of the songs found on the group's first two mini-albums, with the addition of the "Akimahenka" single. The band recorded a live session for XFM and toured the UK with Shonen Knife and Leggy. The EP Bakuro Book followed shortly thereafter, with another EP titled Love is Short!! appearing the following year for Record Store Day 2017. The song "Love Is Short!!" reached the UK singles chart.[7]

Performing in Nottingham, 2016, with original drummer Pop

The band began touring internationally in 2016, including dates at the 100 Club in London and SXSW in the United States in 2017.[8] Their trip to SXSW was financially assisted by fan-funding via Campfire and Kickstarter.[9] In 2018, the band traveled over 24,000 miles (39,000 km) in one week to play two slots at the Coachella Festival[10] and a three-date headlining tour in the UK with label-mates Say Sue Me and Leggy. Other notable tourmates have included The Cribs, Miyavi, Guitar Wolf, and Wussy.

The compilation album Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver was re-released on vinyl for Record Store Day in 2018.[11] In that year, founding drummer Pop left the band.[12] Pop was replaced by Kahokiss, who had attended the same university music club as the band's founding members almost a decade before.

In March 2019, Otoboke Beaver performed at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas.[13][14] The album Itekoma Hits, featuring new songs and compiling some previously released singles, was released by Damnably in April 2019. The non-album single "Yobantoite Mojo" was released in late 2019; the song also served as the theme for the Japanese TV comedy Susumu Inomata and 8 Mojo.[15] Also in late 2019, the band played the Koyabu Sonic festival, featuring a mixture of comedy acts and bands in an 8000-person stadium held by the Yoshimoto company.[16]

Along with releasing the single "Dirty Old Fart is Waiting for My Reaction" in early 2020, the members of Otoboke Beaver quit their day jobs to become a full-time touring band.[17][18] They were able to tour for two weeks in Europe before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the lockdown period they focused on developing new songs and played several live shows via Instagram. The album Super Champon was released in May 2022.[19] Otoboke Beaver returned to touring in late 2022 with a series of shows in Europe, followed by their first full-length tour of North America.[20] Another tour of Europe and North America followed in early 2023.[21] Their performance at that year's SXSW received coverage from Rolling Stone, which described their set as "both a goddamned riot and tight as hell."[22]

Musical style and influences

According to its members, the band plays a "fast-paced and aggressive style of punk-rock", with "frequent changes in rhythm and tempo", accompanied by "gang vocals".[23] Their songs feature love and relationships as regular themes, some based on singer Accorinrin's own experiences,[3][4] and often critique the social roles required of women in modern Japanese society. This was not something Accorinrin was necessarily conscious of at first but she has embraced these feminist ideals after traveling abroad.[24]

They have said they are inspired by a particular style of traditional Japanese comedy, Manzai. Its speed, tempo, and rhythm of delivery are an influence on their musical style.[25] Accorinrin specifies Japanese comedian Ken Shimura and theatre comedy group Yoshimoto Shinkigeki as personal influences.[26]

Each member draws inspiration from her own differing musical tastes: Yoyoyoshie likes Japanese rock, Hirochan likes hardcore punk, and Accorinrin and Kahokiss like Japanese pop music.[27] They said that they are “influenced by western Riot Grrrl attitudes and the sounds of punk and angular post-rock”.[28] The band mentioned further influences from groups such as Yapoos, Hikasyu, P-MODEL, Momoe Yamaguchi, and Afrirampo.[28][29]

Critical response

Otoboke Beaver's music has garnered them praise from the likes of Pitchfork[30] ("even if their music is not explicitly feminist, there is power in hearing a group of four Asian women say exactly what they want"),[31] and also from NPR,[32] The Fader,[33] Stereogum,[34] i-D,[35] and Fujirock Express.[36]

In 2017, they were nominated for Best Live Act at the AIM Independent Music Awards.[37] They have been featured on BBC6 radio.[38] Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters described Otoboke Beaver by saying, "It’ll blow your mind, dude. It’s the most fucking intense shit you’ve ever seen."[39] Upon the release of their album Super Champon in 2022, Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop remarked "with two really fantastic albums under their belt at this point, is Otoboke Beaver not one of the best modern Punk bands that Japan has to offer right now?"[40]

Members

Discography

Albums

  • Anata No Ai De Manshitsu-chū (あなたの愛で満室中, demo, 2011)
  • Konya Kagiri Nante Zettai Honto ni Iwasenai! (今夜限りなんて絶対ほんとに言わせないっ!, EP, 2011)
  • Present Progressive Form #002 (live, 2012)
  • Love Me Sign (EP, 2013)
  • Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver (compilation, 2016)
  • Bakuro Book (EP, 2016)
  • Love Is Short!! (EP, 2017)
  • Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver (remastered version, 2018)
  • Itekoma Hits (2019)
  • Super Champon (2022)

Singles

  • "Otobokebeaver Daijikenbo" (おとぼけビ～バ～大事件簿, 2013)
  • "Akimahenka" (2015)
  • "S'il Vous Plait" (2017) [split with Say Sue Me]
  • "Anata Watashi Daita Ato Yome No Meshi" (2018)
  • "Yobantoite Mojo" (2019)

Videos

  • "S'il Vous Plait" (2017)
  • "Love Is Short!" (2017)
  • "Mean" (2017)
  • "Anata Watashi Daita Ato Yome No Meshi" (2019)
  • "Datsu, Hikage no Onna" (脱・日陰の女, 2019, directed by Haruka Mitani[41])
  • "Don't Light My Fire" (2019)
  • "Dirty Old Fart Is Waiting For My Reaction" (2020)
  • "I Am Not Maternal" (2022)
  • "Pardon?" (2022)
  • "I Don't Want to Die Alone" (2022)

References

  1. ↑ Phares, Heather. "Otoboke Beaver: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  2. ↑ "Otoboke Beaver Utopia Takayama (Adult Only)". Planet of Hotels. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  3. 1 2 Swartzentruber, Jack (10 April 2020). "Otoboke Beaver challenges notions of feminist expression". The Bowdoin Orient. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  4. 1 2 "Otoboke Beaver - Crazed and Deranged Kyoto Garage Rock". Electric Bloom magazine. 1 May 2016. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  5. ↑ "圧巻のライブで世界を驚かせるおとぼけビ〜バ〜、まだまだ進化中！" [Otoboke Beaver that surprises the world with a spectacular live performance is still evolving!]. Rooftop (in Japanese). 8 August 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  6. ↑ Monks, Rebecca (21 March 2017). "Interview: Otoboke Beaver – 'People in Japan perform feelings without moving bodies. But people in the UK tell us directly'". The List. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  7. ↑ "Official Vinyl Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  8. ↑ "Otoboke Beaver おとぼけビ～バ～". SXSW. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  9. ↑ "Otoboke Beaver - Chu Chu Song". Damnably. 29 October 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  10. ↑ "Why Coachella's Spotlight on J-Rock With X Japan and Otoboke Beaver Is Significant". FuseTV. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  11. ↑ "Otoboke Beaver - Okoshiyasu Otoboke Beaver". recordstoreday.co.uk.
  12. ↑ "おとぼけビ～バ～のおへや おとぼけビ～バ～を応援してくださっている皆様へ" [To everyone who supports Otoboke Beaver Otoboke Beaver]. Official website (in Japanese). 4 March 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  13. ↑ "Otoboke Beaver". SXSW 2019 Schedule. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  14. ↑ "ASTERISM, eX-GIRL, Otoboke Beaver among top Japanese indie acts at SXSW 2019". J-Generation. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  15. ↑ paulmaps (13 November 2019). "Single Review: Otoboke Beaver – yobantoite mojo (Don't Call Me Mojo)". Joyzine. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  16. ↑ SONIC 2019, KOYABU. "KOYABU SONIC 2019". KOYABU SONIC 2019 (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. ↑ Yu, Zhenzhen (2 June 2022). "Otoboke Beaver, the fierce and funny punk band, finds new courage". NPR. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  18. ↑ "Otoboke Beaver YAMETATTA 2020 Tour". Scala. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  19. ↑ Strauss, Matthew (4 March 2022). "Otoboke Beaver Announce New Album Super Champon, Share Video". Pitchfork. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  20. ↑ "Otoboke Beaver to tour North America and Europe in 2022 • AVO Magazine - One-click closer to Japan". 20 December 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  21. ↑ Geiger, Amy (5 October 2022). "Otoboke Beaver announce 2023 tour". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  22. ↑ "Remi Wolf, Mariah the Scientist Turn All the Way Up in Austin". Rolling Stone. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  23. ↑ loan (11 April 2016). "Otoboke Beaver - pre-tour interview and EP review". Louder Than War. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  24. ↑ "おとぼけビ〜バ〜【後編】- 考えても考えてもライブより面白いことが思いつかない！ - インタビュー". Rooftop (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  25. ↑ "Otoboke Beaver". 24.shure.com. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  26. ↑ "おとぼけビ〜バ〜【前編】- とにかく今は「次なんかできへんかな」の精神で！乞うご期待！ - インタビュー". Rooftop (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  27. ↑ "Otoboke Beaver". 24.shure.com. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  28. 1 2 Ioan (11 April 2016). "Otoboke Beaver - pre-tour interview and EP review". Louder Than War. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  29. ↑ Listen to "Love Is Short" by Otoboke Beaver, retrieved 4 January 2022
  30. ↑ "Otoboke Beaver "Love Is Short"". Pitchfork. 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  31. ↑ Jagota, Vrinda (29 April 2019). "Itekoma Hits". Pitchfork. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  32. ↑ Gotrich, Lars (21 April 2017). "Japanese Punks Otoboke Beaver Take Revenge In A Grindhouse-Inspired Video". NPR. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  33. ↑ Mandel, Leah. "Watch Outrageously Cool Japanese Band Otoboke Beaver Rock Your Socks Off". The Fader. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  34. ↑ "Otoboke Beaver – "Anata Watashi Daita Ato Yome No Meshi"". Stereogum. 22 February 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  35. ↑ Kaplan, Ilana (14 March 2017). "otoboke beaver, the all-female japanese punk band named after a love hotel". i-D. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  36. ↑ "Scream If You Wanna Be In The Red Marquee". Fuji Rock Express. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  37. ↑ Songkick (14 June 2017). "Vote for Your Favorite Live Act of 2017". Songkick.
  38. ↑ "Gideon Coe". BBC. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  39. ↑ Jenkins, Craig (26 October 2021). "Dave Grohl Has Seen Too Much". Vulture. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  40. ↑ Otoboke Beaver - Super Champon ALBUM REVIEW, retrieved 20 May 2022
  41. ↑ DeVille, Chris (11 April 2019). "Otoboke Beaver - "datsu, hikage no onna" Video". Stereogum. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
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