It is not often that a Japanese band with ties to anime soundtracks comes to the 9:30 Club, but that anomaly will occur tonight.
Tokyo-based duo Boom Boom Satellites consists of bassist and programmer Masayuki Nakano and guitarist and vocalist Michiyuki Kawashima.
The band’s name comes from a rather unlikely source: a track off Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s 1988 album Dress for Excess called “Boom Boom Satellite.” It’s a choice that betrays the band’s former new wave influences.
Boom Boom Satellites have been through a musical metamorphosis over time, moving from electronic to more rock and punk tendencies. While in the past, the band’s sound was described as being similar to such acts as The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers, these days the band says it is drawing more comparisons to industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails.
This is a pretty logical association, as Boom Boom Satellites uses the same kind of electronic and rock blend as Nine Inch Nails. In contrast, however, Boom Boom Satellites’ music is a lot less angst-filled. Its music is upbeat for the most part, best evidenced by the track “Kick It Out” on the album On.
Then again, the band’s best songs are arguably the instrumentals, such as “On the Painted Desert,” a slow, epic song from Out Loud in the band’s more electronic days.
In September, Boom Boom Satellites released a compilation of hits spanning six albums and three EPs that were then remixed and re-mastered especially for American audiences. The album, called Over and Over, was created in anticipation of the band’s U.S. tour, which centers around the Boom Boom Satellites’ appearance at New York’s Comic Con last weekend, where the band played alongside other Japanese music greats such as Zazen Boys and Puffy AmiYumi.
While the band is in the United States, it will stop in Philadelphia, Boston, California and Oregon as well as New York. It will also make an appearance tonight in Washington at the 9:30 Club.
Boom Boom Satellites took some time off from rehearsing in Japan to talk with The Diamondback about their upcoming U.S. tour — in Japanese.
This will not be the band’s first time in America; it went on tour with Moby in 1998. Still, the band members are happy to embark on this trip.
“We are not a type of band that America has very many of, so people might be surprised, but I think they will be pumped,” said Nakano about how he anticipates American audiences to respond to his band’s music.
A unique aspect of the band’s music is that all of its songs are completely in English — Nakano learned English while living in England a few years ago, which might make wooing American audiences a little easier for the band.
Part of Boom Boom Satellites’ recognition stateside might be attributed to its dabblings in anime soundtracks. Anime is a large subculture in America, as anyone who has ever been to a comic convention can attest. The band contributed to the soundtracks of anime films such as 2004’s Appleseed and 2007’s Vexille.
Nakano said that he is proud to be a part of such films and that he watches anime himself.
“I like anime,” he said. “Japan has a lot of good anime, so from childhood I’ve been watching a lot of it. I like films like Akira and a work called Ghost in the Shell.”
Boom Boom Satellites will play at the 9:30 Club tonight with Vampires Everywhere! Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20.
wildman@umdbk.com
