This is special interview for cutie morning moon reader.
AT: I was playing at a club called Red Shoes in Yokohama when I was 14 or 15 years old, and I was scouted by a professional band, the Freelancers, but their original members had already quit, so I was disappointed. After that, Jiro Kitamura (ex-Swing West) and I tried to form a new band. He called his friends [guitarist Hiroshi] Koshikawa and [vocalist Keikichi] Usui, from Nagoya and Oka. We formed the band and we recorded our first single a week later!
The band started out as the Robins, and changed it to the Carnabeats, which was taken from Carnaby Street in London. Their first single was a Japanese-language version of the Zombies' "I Love You." It became their first and biggest hit single. (At that time, there were no Japanese hit record charts yet.) After the success of the Carnabeats' version, the Zombies' original recording was released as the A-side of a single in Japan and became a Japanese standard.
Q: What kinds of songs did the Carnabeats cover?
AT: When we started out, we didn't have any original songs. Usui and I were the vocalists. Before that Usui sang pop songs like Pat Boone numbers. I had sung Zombies, Herman's Hermits and Lovin' Spoonful numbers in an amateur band. Usui tried to sing new songs. He started doing "In My Room," but he also sang Andy Williams songs. He was a funny guy. With his wild voice and my cutie voice combined, it created the Carnabeats' sound. All of the members could sing. Jiro Kitamura was a falsetto; he also chose our new repetoire.
Q: Which GS bands do you think were the most technically proficient?
AT: At first I thought the Spiders were, but when we went pro and I listened to our own records, I actually thought I was better than [Spiders drummer Shochi] Tanabe. The Golden Cups were good technically good, and some of the unknown groups were good, like the Dynamites, The Blue Comets and the Village Singers were good players, but they were not my cup of tea, I couldn't get into them.
Q: Which GS bands were you personally familiar with?
AT: At the time, we were controlled by our producers. Each of the GS bands could not become friends because the other bands were considered rivals. We were familiar with the Jaguars. [The Jaguars were a similar-sounding band on the Philips label that made their debut at the same time as the Carnabeats]. [Jaguars vocalist] Sin Okamoto came to my house in secret because it was forbidden. Later I became friendly with [Golden Cups lead guitarist] Eddie Ban.
Golden Cups '70
Back left to right:Eddie Ban,Dave Hirao,Kenneth Ito,Mickey Yoshino:Front Ai Takano
Q: How did you come to join the Golden Cups?
AT: I didn't try to join the Golden Cups. Around the time that the Carnabeats broke up [Fall '69], the Japanese rock scene moved away from GS to a more heavier rock sound. That was the time of the first outdoor rock concert, at Hibiya Yagai Ongakudou [Hibiya Open Air Hall] in Tokyo. I loved hard rock. I also loved Jethro Tull.
Eddie Ban asked me to join his new band, the Eddie Ban Group. Originally, the drummer was Eddie Fortuno [ex-D'Swooners], but he was too hooked on marijuana. I wondered if I could play such difficult music, but Eddie Ban said, "You can do it. You're a good drummer, but in the Carnabeats you cheated yourself." He knew me from my amateur days. I joined his band, but some months later he went back to the Golden Cups and I joined too.[Jan.'70]
Q: Tell me about the Golden Cups' last gig, in Okinawa.
AT: The last tour was in Okinawa in December '71. The Golden Cups repetoire was "Communication Breakdown" and Led Zep numbers, etc. We played with an Okinawan band called the Canabis - their drummer later formed [Deep Purple copy band] Murasaki. I lent him my drum kit.
On New Year's Eve, [vocalist] Dave Hirao told us to play "Nagai Kami no Shoujo." It was a moody popular song, but it was their biggest hit. We said, "We don't need to play that!" but we played it anyway. Most of the audience was made up of GI's, they didn't know the song because it was a Japanese hit song. We played it in a different arrangement - George Yanagi played bass, Eddie played guitar, me on drums and John Yamazaki played keyboards.
While we were playing it, bassist George said, "I smell something!!" and opened the curtain behind the drums. Suddenly fire attacked me! There were drunk foreigners and GI's there, so I shouted in English, "Fire! Fire!!" but, as you know, "Fire" is the title of a song, so the audience thought I was calling out the song and said, "C'mon."
All of the instruments got burned. We didn't get a pay guarantee, and the firemen stamped on the cash and it crumbled, so we couldn't get any money. It was sad.
Q: Which of the Carnabeats' songs did you love the best?
AT: We covered Curtis Mayfield's "Um Um Um." I don't think it worked because I played it thinking that the drumming did not fit the song. As a singer, I like "Nakazuni Itene." I don't like "Chu! Chu! Chu!" but as far as my original songs go, I love "Suteki na Sandy" [which appeared as "I Love You Sandy" on the Planet X album, "Big Lizard Stomp!"].
Q: When did you start playing the drums?
AT: It was when I was around 14 years old. My father was a jazz musician, he was a sax player, so I started playing instruments when I was tiny. He bought me a very a very expensive snare drum.
Q: Which bands were you influenced by during the GS era?
AT: Beyond question, it was the Zombies, Who and Lovin' Spoonful. It was said that the Carnabeats' image looked like the Who and sounded like the Zombies. [Some of the Carnabeats' covers of Zombies songs were released, but unfortunately they didn't record any Who covers.]
Q: How do you feel about a contemporary American band covering your song?
AT: It's very cute! I'm pleased! Rock is peace and love.
Q: Please tell me about Gary Walker [the Carnabeats made a single,
"Cutie Morning Moon"/"Hello Gary," with Gary Walker, and later performed
with Gary Walker & Rain].
AT: At first I was amazed that he couldn't play the drums very well. I used to tune the drums with very high tension, but they [Gary and Scott Walker] tuned them lower and lower. Scott Walker produced the single. We learned a lot from him about recording techniques.
When we joined Gary Walker & Rain, Joey Molland [later of Badfinger] was one of their companions. At the concert there was a power shortage, so we waited in the dressing room for awhile. While we were waiting, Joey and I sang Beatles' song with acoustic guitars.
On the other hand, Gary used to make us smile because he was kind of dopey - I can't believe that he was able to become a famous musician!
Thanks to Ai Takano and Sally Taki
