Ra’anan: Was the decision to sing in English made because you wanted to reach audience outside of Japan?
Kazuo: Not really. My generation of Japanese musicians was more familiar with American music than traditional Japanese music. We were into modern jazz, pop, rockabilly and then came the British invasion (especially the Stones and The Animals), so in the ‘60’s, none of the Japanese rock bands were singing in Japanese with the exception of the pop scene. That was until some rock band started to write and sing in Japanese in a very new way, which was weird for us in the beginning and took some time for my ears to get used to.
So that’s why we sang in English. Our singer at the time (Hiromi Ohsawa) was responsible for writing the lyrics and to be perfectly honest, I think I was only thinking about my guitar playing and the riffs for my original songs.
Ra’anan: The other three musicians in Blues Creation left the band after the first album. What happened?
Kazuo: By the end of ‘69, lead singer Nunoya left the band. He wanted to sing more rocking stuff, while the band still wanted to play hardcore blues. Soon after that, the rhythm section left the band as well for some reason. Those days we were like a big music family in the Tokyo underground music scene. Most of us were local boys and players would easy come and easy go. Only real music lovers remained.
Ra’anan: Was there a drug scene in Tokyo back then?
Kazuo: Yes, indeed. There were quite a few American military bases around since it was in the middle of the Vietnam war, so whatever you can imagine in the fields of grass and LSD, you could get there: Window Paine, Orange Sunshine, Purple Haze, Thai Stick, Buddha Stick… chemicals were not popular though.
Ra’anan: What bands were you listening to that influenced the change from the straight up blues-rock of the first album to the heavy rock of Demon & Eleven Children?
Kazuo: In those days I was listening to mostly British bands like Jeff Beck Group, Deep Purple, Eric Clapton (Cream, Derek and the Dominos, Blues Breakers First), Alvin Lee, Toni Iomi, Love Sculpture, Climax Blues Band, Savoy Brown, Colosseum, Humble Pie, just to name a few. I also listened to several American bands such as The Allman Brothers, Cactus, Blues Image, etc. in a way, listening to the so-called white blues kind of led us into a louder, heavier, harder rock instrumental ensemble. We also felt kind of a necessity to write our original songs and as a result the band’s sound changed to being more rock oriented.
Ra’anan: What is the meaning of Demon & Eleven Children?
Kazuo: I have absolutely no idea. Sorry. Perhaps something the record company suggested or maybe some other band member came up with this weird title. The idea of every song and its riffs came before its name.
Ra’anan: You released both Demon & Eleven Children and the album with Carmen Maki at the same day. Why did you decide to do that and why were both albums so musically different from one another?
Kazuo: Carmen Maki was a very well known Japanese folk and pop singer. All of a sudden she came to me and said, “I wanna sing rock. Will you help me?” Her record contract with Sony had just ended, so our record company at the time (Japan Columbia) wanted to get her in any means they could. That’s how big she was. So, I organized her album as a project. Since she was new to this kind of music, we picked up material from her daily listening records and I wrote some original songs for her accordingly.
Ra’anan: How big were you in Japan after these two albums?
Kazuo: We were very happy to play around in almost every outdoor rock festival in Japan. In those days, rock music was still considered underground and the mainstream Japanese pop market was always strong, but we were proud to be one of the leaders to do something new for the young generation of Japanese music fans.
Ra’anan: What are your thoughts today about Demon & Eleven Children?
Kazuo: I know there are some fans of this album, especially in Japan, but to tell you the truth, I feel a little embarrassed about it and it’s hard for me to listen to it today since it was done so long ago, when I was really young (19 years old) and it’s so innocent.
Ra’anan: On the live album, there are a couple of songs with Carmen Maki. Did she tour with the band and just came out to sing one or two songs, or did you play entire shows with her on vocals?
Kazuo: Usually we called her as a guest and she only sang two or three songs during the show. Then she needed her own band, so I introduced her some musicians I knew, including guitar player Kasuga, who was the lead guitarist of my sister’s band, Rusty Shack. Soon Maki and Kasuga’s collaboration took off. Oz was their band name.
Ra’anan: The song “Nightmare,” which appears on the live album - is there a studio version of it? What’s the story behind it?
Kazuo: I remember I wrote that tune for the second Blues Creation album and it was decided to postpone it to the next studio album, but before we got to the studios the band had broken up. So no, there’s no studio version of it.
Ra’anan: Is there any live or studio material which remains unreleased?
Kazuo: I don’t think we have any more. Some hardcore collectors in Japan found some live material (like Rolling Stone), but it’s already out there.
Ra’anan: Which other Japanese bands were you familiar with/friends with? Who was your personal favorite?
Kazuo: All the other bands of those days were our enemy, so to speak. That’s how dedicated we were to our music. But as far as I remember, the Flower Travellin’ Band was good, no doubt. Also, Shinki Chen was a great guitar player. We used to play the same club before both of us became a little famous in Tokyo.
Ra’anan: What were you doing after the band had folded in ‘72 and until the first album by your new group, Creation, in ‘75?
Kazuo: In ‘72 I went to London. I tried to open my music horizon and also wanted to play outside of Japan. I had a great time and a wonderful experience. Somehow, for some personal reason I came back to Tokyo to form a new group, Creation. It took us three years to make that first album, but in those three years I played so many live gigs.
Ra’anan: You got to record with Felix Pappalardi of Mountain for the second Creation album. How was it?
Kazuo: It’s a long story and very hard to describe. But simply said: working with Felix was just wonderful, both in music and in experience.
Ra’anan: And then you shifted into a more fusion style rock. Why is that?
Kazuo: In those days, I felt like I needed to give an answer to the fusion scene and players in Japan, but my tendency to jazz is more like jazz blues. That’s why I liked bebop and all those ‘40’s – ‘50’s hard bop jazz. If you’re referring to my first solo album, Misty Morning Flight, the image you might get from that is, ok, that’s more like fusion. But I always liked guitar players like Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, even in my Demon & Eleven Children days.
Ra’anan: Do you still play Blues Creation songs in your live sets today?
Kazuo: I’m afraid I don’t. If I’ll try, maybe I can still play those licks.
Ra’anan: Last but not least, could you share some funny or crazy stories from being in a rock band in Japan in those days?
Kazuo: Perhaps everything we’ve done was crazy and funny, abnormal and outlawed according to society’s moral code and what they thought was right. But in the eyes of God… he knows we were serious about our music and what we dreamt about and what we felt in our hearts.
Real funny stuff? Oh, too many to write, too much to remember.
