A Closer Look at My Recent Covers
I uploaded new videos to YouTube in each of the past two months. Both were covers, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about them and a few earlier covers as well.
I’ve included videos of the originals, too. It might be fun to compare them…
1. Kraftwerk - “Pocket Calculator / Dentaku”
I had a chance to borrow a demo unit of the BOSS Loop Station RC-500. The band had just premiered our cover of Kraftwerk’s “Dentaku” live, so this time I decided to see what I could do with it on my own and put the looper to work. Part of the thrill of this song is hearing the German electronic music legends sing it in halting Japanese. I did my best to make it sound cool with a native Japanese speaker singing it, too. It’s also the debut of my new Ibanez guitar!
I filmed it while I was looking after our family dog, Petit. At first he was doing a pretty good job of getting in the way, but by the time I got a usable take he was fast asleep behind me, haha. (He’s gone back home now, and I miss him.)
Here’s the original. They start singing in Japanese around the three-minute mark.
2. Frank Zappa - " Uncle Meat "
My solo cover of Frank Zappa’s “Uncle Meat” was what first caught the attention of his son, Dweezil Zappa. Now I’ve put up a live version with the band!
Shows were hard to come by during the pandemic, but we finally booked our first gig as a band in a year and a half (!!). This is the footage we streamed live that day. It’s still rough in places, but I was so happy to get everyone together and capture a take with hardly any mistakes that I wanted to share it.
Here’s the solo version.
Here’s the original. Ruth Underwood’s marimba is fantastic!
3. Vampillia - "Lilac"
The original is by Vampillia, a Japanese band known internationally, and features Jun Togawa on guest vocals.
I first heard the song in 2018, when dancer Tsuyoshi Shirai and I performed as a duo at the Aichi Prefectural Art Theater.
The day after our onstage showdown, where I’d swung my guitar like a sword, I was completely spent. Shirai and I had the day off, so we wandered around Nagoya and went to a museum. All the while, this was the song going round and round in my head, instead of the music I’d played onstage.
(Photo courtesy of Aichi Prefectural Art Theater.)
Masako Yasumoto’s Kora Kora was one of the three pieces on the bill that day. She used this song in the piece, and since we were on after her, we kept having to resist getting swept up in it while rehearsing backstage. Even back in Tokyo I couldn’t get it out of my head, so I gave in and covered it.
I started recording and filming as soon as I got home. (Looking at it now, the lighting and camera angles could use some work…) I played it for Shirai, who shared it with Yasumoto. She said she’d like to try dancing to this version too, and we even talked about making it happen. I was thrilled. (It fell through, though…) I hope we can do it someday.
I shot it so quickly that I barely did anything fancy on guitar, but I think that gave my singing a chance to come through.
Shirai and I went on to perform our duet at various venues, though it’s been a while since we’ve done it, what with the pandemic.
I’m aching to get back to those performances with Shirai and other contemporary dancers, where the tension is so thick you can feel it.
The first time I heard this song was when I was performing with the dancer Tsuyoshi Shirai at the Aichi Prefectural Art Theater in 2018.
One of the performances at the triple bill on the same day was a piece by Masako Yasumoto called "Kora Kora".
It was this song that was used in the play.
We were rehearsing backstage, and we had to endure being pulled in by this song many times.
I couldn't get it out of my head when I returned to Tokyo, so I decided to cover it.
A video featuring Masako Yasumoto
The original: Vampillia’s “Lilac.” The grotesquely beautiful music video makes it all the more poignant.
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So there you have it: some long-overdue notes on those covers. What did you think?
I’ll be posting original songs as well, of course. In fact, I’ve got one coming tomorrow!
Someone on Twitter asked for “Planet of Rabbit Fur” a while back, so I’m putting up a new video of the full band playing it.
Give it a listen!
See you next time!
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