Interviews: AKABANE VULGARS ON STRONG BYPASS

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Garage Punk/Post-Punk/Punk band AKABANE VULGARS ON STRONG BYPASS from Japan. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did the name AKABANE VULGARS ON STRONG BYPASS come from, and what does it represent to you after 20 years as a band?

First of all, thank you for being interested in our band name.

It almost feels disappointing to admit this, but the name itself was never meant to represent a strict concept. We simply wanted something long, strange, and memorable. The word “Vulgars” does reflect a certain independent spirit and desire to carve out our own path, but beyond that, we were also inspired by bands with unusual, oversized names.

This year marks our 21st anniversary as a band, still with the original lineup intact. The fact that the three of us have been able to continue creating together for this long is something we’re genuinely proud of.

2. How did the band originally come together back in 2005 in Tokyo’s underground scene?

The band began when our bassist, Miki, was invited by a friend to play a live show and decided to start a band.

She invited Kei, who was her high school friend and a basketball player at the time, because she believed someone athletic would probably make a good drummer. Then she asked Yumi, her older sister, who already owned an electric guitar and had started playing in bands with friends from university.

That’s how the three of us came together.

3. Looking back on two decades together, what has kept the three of you pushing forward without stopping?

After 20 years together, the mystery of “What is this world?” has only become deeper. (laughs)

When the band started, Yumi had just graduated into adult life, while Miki and Kei were still teenagers. We stepped from a kind of suspended youth directly into the music world, and suddenly we found ourselves having to negotiate with adults while still being very young ourselves.

Freedom became more limited than we expected.

As women, and simply as people trying to exist honestly in society, we spent years questioning what freedom really means and what it means to live as ourselves. In many ways, the band continued because we kept struggling with those questions.

Little by little, though, it feels like we’re moving toward better answers.

Having music accompany us through that journey has been one of the greatest fortunes of our lives.

4. What does releasing Future Babies mean to you after such a long history as a DIY band?

To me, this EP feels like a declaration of self-liberation.

At the same time, we never want our music to become something that pressures others into following us or adopting our way of thinking. The world still tries to force people into categories and expectations, and we know there are many people struggling inside those misunderstandings and forms of repression.

If this record can tell someone, “We understand your fight — we’re standing in that same place too,” then that would mean a lot to us.

5. How would you describe the evolution of your sound from the early days to now?

In terms of sound itself, I think the three of us have always shared a consistent vision. We’ve always been drawn to deep, expansive, powerful sounds, and we’ve been chasing that feeling since the very beginning.

If anything has evolved, it may be the groove between the three of us. It’s not an easy thing to achieve, but it feels like we’re gradually getting closer to the strongest version of what only the three of us can create together.

If that can be called evolution, then we’d be very happy.

6. The EP feels raw, energetic, and unfiltered. What was the creative mindset going into these recordings?

We always try to approach music this way, but especially during these recordings, we wanted to remain honest with our own creativity.

Of course, we want the songs to reach people, and we’re happy when listeners connect with them. That naturally creates moments where ego and self-consciousness appear. But ultimately, we try to face our music as honestly and directly as possible.

7. How do you balance garage rock chaos, punk energy, and heavier metallic elements in your music?

It makes us very happy that you hear those elements in our sound.

At the same time, we don’t consciously separate those influences while writing or recording. We don’t sit down and calculate how much chaos, punk, or heaviness should exist in a song.

Instead, we try to treat each song as a single emotional world and follow wherever that world naturally leads us.

8. What role does the Tokyo underground scene still play in shaping your identity today?

To be honest, we sometimes feel slightly out of place within Tokyo’s underground scene.

At the same time, we’ve met incredible musicians and have been supported for many years by people who believed in us, which is one of the reasons we’ve been able to continue this long.

But the underground scene also sharpened our rebellious spirit. In that sense, Tokyo’s underground culture gave us the strength to continue pursuing our own style rather than adapting ourselves to fit expectations.

9. You’ve played internationally across SXSW, Canada, the UK, Australia, and Sweden. How have those experiences changed your perspective as a band?

I think we only truly began trying to understand ourselves deeply after we started performing internationally through experiences like SXSW.

Rather than focusing on how others perceived us, we became more interested in understanding ourselves as active creators. That shift helped us think more clearly about the kind of music we genuinely wanted to make.

Meeting local bands and communities across different countries taught us an enormous amount.

10. What’s the most memorable or chaotic live show moment you’ve had over the years?

Our first overseas performance at SXSW 2012 remains one of the most memorable shows we’ve ever played.

It made us realize that we could become even freer.

11. How do you keep your sound from becoming nostalgic while still honoring your roots?

Probably by continuing to embrace even the smallest or strangest ideas without fear.

That sense of experimentation keeps us moving forward.

12. What bands or scenes originally inspired you when you first started, and who still inspires you now?

Japanese garage rock and the band culture of the 1990s had a huge influence on us, and those influences still remain very important to us today.

13. What was the most challenging part of creating or recording Future Babies?

Writing the title track “Future Babies” itself was probably the most challenging part.

Even at the demo stage, it contained many ideas and textures we had never attempted before, and it took a long process of trial and error before everything finally came together as a single song.

14. How important is it for you to keep everything DIY after all this time?

It’s extremely important because it allows us to treat the music, band sound, artwork, and visuals as one continuous piece of art rather than separate elements.

15. If this EP had a visual identity or film influence, what would it look like?

That visual identity already exists.

We actually printed it on a T-shirt available at our shows.

The core concept is regeneration and awakening. The artwork depicts a figure rising from a bathtub-like cultivation chamber after undergoing a process of restoration and repair.

We think it would look incredible if transformed into a film.

16. Is there any direction in modern punk or rock you intentionally avoid?

Probably the idea of constantly raising the middle finger.

We understand that impulse, and honestly, we feel it ourselves at times.

Anger and frustration are often necessary responses to the world we live in.

Having convictions and expressing them is important, but we feel disappointed when expression immediately turns into confrontation.

If people continue trying to carve out territory only by attacking opposing viewpoints, the world will never have enough room for anyone.

We believe people with completely different opinions still need to find ways to coexist with care and dignity. Otherwise, it feels like the world could destroy itself very quickly.

That’s why we don’t want our music to revolve around hatred or symbolic aggression.

17. What do you want listeners to feel when they hear Future Babies for the first time?

People are free to experience the record however they want.

They can love it or reject it — both are fine.

We simply want to leave behind proof that our perspective existed. We hope it won’t be erased or ignored.

At the same time, we also want to remain open to as many different voices and viewpoints as possible.

18. What keeps the fire alive after 20+ years of playing together?

In many ways, we’re grateful that we’ve always carried a punk mindset.

The three of us can be very pessimistic people. We often complain about how irrational or exhausting the world can be.

But the anger and emotional energy born from that frustration is also incredibly powerful. (laughs)

Maybe that’s exactly why, even after more than 20 years, we still feel like we have so much left to do.

19. What’s next for AKABANE VULGARS ON STRONG BYPASS after this release?

Over the next two years, we plan to continue releasing new singles while also working toward a full album.

Time disappears quickly once we begin writing and recording.

It’s probably going to be another intense and chaotic period for us — but we’re excited for it.

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