Boredoms

Japanese experimental ensemble Boredoms have gone through many changes over their almost-three decades, from punk rock to experimental noise to melodic almost-pop and now – via their occasional Boredrum happenings – massive drum ensembles. Andrew P Street and Boredoms founder and sole constant member Yamantanka Eye attempt to bridge the language barrier.

Have you ever had a plan in place with Boredoms, or has it been guided by the people in the band and your interests at the time?
Meeting with new members is always very interesting creatively. The [move to a] more refined technique is wonderful and all [previous members] I think are great creative people. However, much of the inner man is going to change the sound, and we want to change with them.

You seem to have moved away from expressing the band through album releases and more on live events and happenings.
There is no such thing: we certainly want to release the recorded work, for sure. We are beginning a new recording [at the moment] and I think next year we will release this..

What interests you about tribal percussion and drumming?
We organise a band like a drum set itself. Interestingly, there is the moment that the drums will be equal even in one drum or 100 drums. The instrument with which the minimum and maximum, I think is a drum. Percussion breathes and feels the pulse of the people close to the earth and beyond the weight of life. We thought: a drum is an orchestra in itself. Each tom and cymbal has different sounds, and a drummer combines all the sounds: so if there's many more drums, it will sound like a real orchestra.