The Envy Of Your Friends

I first heard Envy when Level-Plane received its first shipment of the "All the Footprints You Ever Left and the Fear Expecting Ahead" LP for their distro. My roomate at the time was doing shitwork for the label and brought home a copy for me assuming I would be into it. He was not only correct in his assumption, but that record has been played so many times, it now sounds like it was manufactured in 1970, with all the crackles and pops a classic record should have.

Envy is easily the most expressive and emotionally jarring hardcore band I have heard in the last few years. Their songs are epic and unrelenting, and the vocals are desperate and pleading, but always confident and powerful. They strike all the right chords (no pun intended) and the attention paid to detail and effective songwriting comes through in a way that his heartbreaking rather than pretentious; this is the real deal. Hailing from Tokyo, Japan, the band has taken a completely Western type of hardcore and has raised the bar so high, it is difficult to entertain the thought that any other bands will come close to matching the sheer ferocity and technical aptitude Envy displays on a consistent basis. Sonzai Records has released their latest full length "A Dead Sinking Story" in Japan already, while Level-Plane prepares to release the American version of the record on both vinyl and digital formats this summer.

This interview was conducted via E-Mail, and the questions were sent before my band had the opportunity to tour Japan with Envy this past April. In person, the band is friendly, helpful and share a fantastic sense of humor and a collective passion for hardcore; they live this because they love it. I received the responses after I returned from tour and re-reading them reminds me of the great time spent in Japan seeing them absolutely destroy every place they played, every single night. Talk about a tough act to follow! The uninitiated will find a reason to check this amazing band out. For those who know, hopefully this will answer some unanswered questions and shed some light on Japanese hardcore's best kept secret.

Interview conducted via e-mail by Billy Werner. Photographs provided by Jeff Kane.

Names: Nobukata Kawai (guitar), Tetsu Fukagawa (vocals)

BW: What is Envy's history? What bands did it come from and how long have you all been playing together?

Nobukata: Three of us (Tetsu, Nakagawa and me) started as Envy after finished a band called Blind Justice in '95. I remember we were rather alienated from the scene back then. Before releasing the 1st album, guitar player Tobita and drummer Dairoku joined us and we became a quintet for a while. And right before the latest recording sessions, Daichi who used to be in a band called Sawpit joined us. Now we are a group of six. His participation has made a big influence and is a crucial factor now for the band I think.

BW: What kinds of topics do you like to cover in your songs? I wouldn't call Envy a "political" band, but I see elements of that in some of the writing.

Tetsu: I basically write about my personal thoughts. I line up the words like I make stories with various topics in my head and consider the things that are happening at the moment. They reflect on my words so much. As a band, we make songs, lyrics as we feel doubts and anger in political background at all times.

BW: Do you think that our personal battles are political as well? How does someone's personal life factor into society?

N: I have to admit that I have lack of knowledge on activities in consumer level in U.S. but I know there actually are consumer organization's activities. They tell people not to buy stuff in order to change the quality of companies producing. Though it's simply a tiny revolution in the level of producing. Considering the nation can control the companies, I guess it wouldn't reach the level of a real social revolution unless we become aware of the politics and laws as well. Also the very important thing is to consider the variety of a nation and a person. It is variety of religion, a variety of culture, variety of personal thoughts. Since the society is formed with various people, it seems that it's more important to discuss about how he or she can affect the society rather than just how much a person can do. What we have to remember is that both of us have this strong weapon that can break the walls of language and culture. It's called music. I really hope that someday we'll be able to gain enough power to compete with the capital of the corrupted big companies and political system by keep communicating like we are doing now.

BW: What is the punk / hardcore scene like in Japan?

N: Compared with the punk/HC scene before, there are various types of bands playing now. In the melodic sing along punk rock scene, it's a mess after the major companies started to pour lots of money in it. But personally I don't care about them so I wish they'll disappear as soon as possible. As for us, it has become more comfortable and easier to play since more people give support to our movement. But there are still some annoying facts like it's very expensive to be in a band in this country. We have to pay crazy amount of money just to rehearse. So I have to say it's not easy in that respect. I wish we'll be able to clear problems like that in the future.

BW: Is it very divided? It seems to me that there is a large thrash scene. Do bands like Envy and Melt Banana play shows with bands like Total Fury or Lie?

N: I feel that it is divided. Seems to me it is certain that the thrash scene is exciting but I don't think we can find much of the common ground with them. One of the reasons it's branched out is that I think people don't come when many different types of bands play in a show. I guess they only want to see the bands they want to see since they pay for the ticket, which is not cheap from the point of a listener’s view (mostly it costs about1500-2000 yen). For me, I'd like to see different types of bands in a show to make it worth it, but there isn't much space for them to rest in the venues between the bands and it could be tiring. It's a shame but that is how it is in Japan I think. The bands we often play shows with are Niceview, Ninedays Wonder. And of course there are many other great bands in Japan as well.

BW: What kinds of American hardcore do the Japanese like? Are there any American bands that are very popular in Japan?

T: It depends I guess. Record shops in Japan have many kinds of music, so I can't tell what kinds of American bands the people listen to. I think listeners in Japan have interests in various styles of music.

BW: I heard that Envy will be releasing a record on Rock Action records, which is run by the people in Mogwai. How did you get hooked up with them?

T: When Mogwai toured Japan last time, someone gave them a copy of our CD. That was a start and now we are working together to release Envy's new CD. It seems like they liked our music so much and it was such a surprise because I've always liked them as well. They are nice people and I feel honored to be releasing our record from the label.

BW: Does Envy have any plans to tour in the U.S.? There is a growing number of people that would love to see you guys!

T: We'd like to visit U.S. but so far the timing doesn't allow us to do that. All of us have jobs to do and it's very difficult to have long vacation. And there are many foreign bands telling us that they want to tour Japan. If we keep supporting bands like we are doing now with this pace, it'll take a while to realize our first tour in U.S. But we'll definitely work it out in the near future.

BW: How has Envy's song writing progressed? It seems that there is now a focus on longer more complex songs rather than shorter bursts or rage and passion. Is it a long process to write this way?

N: The method of songwriting has changed a lot over last few years. I'm in charge of writing music for the band and when I do I think of how I can make it sound as original as possible for Envy. That's the most important thing for me. From the very moment I put myself in the state of making, I don't listen to any music. It's like chasing myself into the corner. Sometimes it only take five minutes, sometimes it takes a couple of months. Then I bring those ideas to the band to rearrange them together. Most of the time the rest of the band mess up my ideas until they are out of shape and it pisses me off but it's what it makes interesting to be in a band I guess. As for the length of the songs, it's not done intentionally. It naturally turned out to be that long as it went through the process of making. We might make a very short song in the next record, we might not. Noboby knows, it's a mystery. For the feeling and color of the songs, since I believe it would turn into the positive power to dig yourself to the bottom negatively - I'd like to reflect the opposite thoughts on our songs. Sadness, anger, despair and hope. They are all crucial keywords for Envy. We declare our determination in every song we make.

BW: What is the future like for Envy? I hear that you have many releases lined up.

N: This year in sometime we'll put out a split record with Yaphet Kotto and This Machine Kills. I'm sure it's going to be good.