Blast From the Past: D-Clone
This interview originally ran in MRR #320, January 2010, now sold out but the issue is available as a PDF here
D-Clone, hailing from Nagoya City, Japan, plays full blown, noisy D-beat in the vein of Discharge and Disclose. I’ve had a chance to check them out before in Tokyo and absolutely blew my fucking mind! The noise coming out from two full stacks and bunch of pedals with very well orchestrated use of noise (and not noisy in the excuse of shitty equipment) was nothing like I’d experienced anywhere. Show spaces in Tokyo have a great sound system and usually the PA system catches all the sound very well, but their amps were powerful to the point that the PA system is barely able to match their extreme wall of noise coming directly from their amps. Following the Disclose US tour few years back, this has been one of the very few chances that we get to see a contemporary Japanese noisecore band from Japan here in the states. After playing few shows in the states during their “Zatsuon Souzou Hanongaku USA Tour,” I got to sit down and interview Hiroshi from D-Clone.
Interview/Translation conducted by Daiki Kusuhara 10/14/09
MRR: Please tell us who’s in the band, what instrument they play, and a brief history of the band.
Hiroshi: Hiroshi on guitar & vocals, Yutaro on bass and chorus, and Shinji on drums. We’ve been around since 2004, so for four years now.
MRR: How’s the tour so far?
Hiroshi: It’s been great!
MRR: Any differences you guys felt between US and Japanese shows?
Hiroshi: All bands bringing their own equipment for shows (in Japan, the venue provides all the amps and drums), and the idea of house shows. We would never be able to do this kind of stuff in Japan.
MRR: Where did the band’s name come from?
Hiroshi: First, me and Shinji were drinking friends and weren’t intending to play in any bands. But with being drunk, we just went to a rehearsal space and played Discharge and Disclose covers alot. Been doing that even though we weren’t intending to play shows, but we got booked one show and needed to decide on a band name. I was reading a book at the time and found an article about how Crucifix was a Discharge “clone,” which was rather used in a negative context. Also, we wanted to continue playing the d-beat style, so that’s why it’s “D-Clone”.
MRR: Is there any message or theme as a band?
Hiroshi: We wanted to deliver our message not sounding so pushy.
MRR: So when the reader reads it, the reader will have its own interpretation of it?
Hiroshi: Yes. I’m writing from my own perception and expressing my own view points. I’m not sure if my English is correct though, haha!
MRR: How is the recent punk scene in the Nagoya/Toukai Area?
Hiroshi: In the past, there haven’t been much crust bands in the area besides us and few other bands. We were the young generation band and after playing for some years, recently there’s been newer crust type of bands emerging.
MRR: Any certain bands?
Hiroshi: System Fucker, Folkeis, and Attack SS. These bands are the new bands that recently emerged.
MRR: This came out a little while ago (March of 2009) but tell us about the “Nagoya City Hardcore” compilation from MCR Company. How did this come about?
Hiroshi: Initially, Reality Crisis and Clown brought the idea to us. We’re in a rather different stance or seniority group as them and there’s been some differences in how we think. They’re sort of Yankee type of guys (Japanese term for bad boys or rebel mentality people) and are pretty scary/dangerous dudes! Haha! We didn’t have a relationship before but since playing for a while in the Nagoya area, we’ve made some connections and started playing together more. Those guys wanted to include the top running bands of the Nagoya scene and that’s how it ended up as the five bands (Clown, Reality Crisis, Zilemma, D-Clone, Demolition). We weren’t too sure why we were picked in the list though. I guess we were seen in a positive way, so they asked us. We weren’t really thinking about it too much. Also MCR Company is a legitimate label and has good distribution so we were for it.
MRR: What kind of influences do you guys have as a band?
Hiroshi: It might be obvious, but Disclose, Discharge, older d-beat bands, Swedish hardcore, etc. It’s not directly implemented in our sound but we listen to alot of other types of music as well.
MRR: Other than the stuff you mentioned, what else?
Hiroshi: Metal, grind, just any raging music with distortion. Even harsh noise, and even J-pop!
MRR: What’s the best way to get in touch with D-clone?
Hiroshi: MySpace is our main contact but I only understand simple English. We’ve gotten alot of emails but had to ignore it. Not because we’re avoiding it, but we get alot of emails every day and it takes us one day to read one email (asking friends to help, researching, and translating it via online). If you’re going to send emails, please send short, simple emails please.
Daiki: Thanks for participating in the interview!
Hiroshi: Arigatougozaimasu!
