INDEX
We had never heard of YOUR SONG IS GOOD or SAKEROCK.
The formation of Chappo dates back to 2019, but after going through the pandemic, they spent a long time just practicing and writing songs, which they humorously refer to as their “underground era.” They didn’t start their visible activities until 2023, and their first release came about after meeting Kakubari. The initial demo they handed over included both instrumental and vocal tracks, but under Kakubari’s guidance, they decided to debut as an instrumental band.
Hosono: The very first song we made was one by Oto, and it had lyrics, right?
Fukuhara: Which song?
Hosono: Wasn’t it “Meshi”?
Fukuhara: Then it must be an instrumental track.
Hosono: Oh, so we actually started as an instrumental band.
Fukuhara: We did. In fact, there were more vocal tracks on the demo, but I didn’t really follow through with them because I thought it was “embarrassing” [laughs].
So it wasn’t like we had the intention from the start to be an instrumental band.
Fukuhara: That decision was completely made by Kakubari-san. Honestly, we didn’t have any strong intentions. We weren’t worried at all about how people would perceive us, but having someone like Hosono-san around did put a bit of pressure on us—like we couldn’t just casually jump into the scene. That’s when Kakubari-san paved the way for us, saying, “Let’s go with instrumental,” and since we could create instrumental music, we were fine with it.
YOUR SONG IS GOOD and SAKEROCK both have instrumental music as part of their identity, and that style aligns with the label color of Kakubari Records, right?
Fukuhara: At the time, we hadn’t really listened to either YOUR SONG IS GOOD or SAKEROCK, so we thought, “Instrumentals are the tradition these days” [laughs]. For us, even though our instrumental tracks usually have lyrics and vocals, the most important thing is that there’s no real separation between them.
While you certainly have an affinity for 1940s music and the pursuit of boogie-woogie and swing, Chappo’s music isn’t simply a direct reflection of that. The approach to whether it’s instrumental or vocal, or the genre, arrangement, and era, isn’t strictly defined. It feels like you’ve just been accumulating things that you find interesting, and that’s what formed the album.
Fukuhara: I think during our “underground era,” we went too far with that approach. We’d stop making something if it started to sound too similar to something else. For example, if a bass line sounded too typical or if it felt like it evoked New Orleans, we’d just stop. As a result, things got more and more confusing.
