Jansen and Barbieri Interviewed by Angie Somerside for Chart magazine [UK] January 1984:
A year after the split of Japan the four members of the group are still heavily involved in music in one form or another. David Sylvian and Mick Karn being involved in individual projects, while 1984 sees Richard Barbieri and Steve Jansen coming together to work as a duo on a “long term project”.
The 2 took time off from writing their forthcoming album, due out in the spring, to talk about their musical past, present work and future plans.
After the split Steve and Richard went on to work on David Sylvian’s solo album, then fitted in a tour of Japan with a Japanese group, before returning to Britain to start work on their album.
Japan’s music was very much influenced by Eastern culture. I was intrigued to find out whether the duo’s material had a similar sound?
“We’re getting away from that”, explained Steve. “We don’t really play heavily on any influence. We’re just trying to write material that is not what people would expect from ex-members of Japan”.
Do they feel then that perhaps the Eastern influence came more from David’s fascination with the culture?
“No way! Dave was no more influenced by Eastern culture than anyone else in the band. We were all very much involved with that. As far as the instrumentation goes, which was all left down to us, that was where the oriental feel came from. We wouldn’t like to fall back or rely on that sound although we were very much a part of that.”
So how would they describe their present music? “It’s a bit more dynamic than Japan’s music. Japan’s music worked against what should be. Where there should have been dynamics there weren’t any, intentionally. Rhythmically its more dynamic and musically it makes more sense” explains Richard.
So how’s Steve finding taking over the vocals? “It’s not something that comes naturally to me to do, obviously, because I have done it before. I’ve been aware that I could sing if I wanted to, but I didn’t know how well I could put it across come the time. Not that I expected it to come the time.”
The next few months for Steve and Richard revolve around getting the album finished and then possibly a tour depending on the success of the album. There will obviously be a lot of immediate interest from Japan fans. I asked Steve and Richard if they ever realized just how popular Japan were?
“Not until the very end. It kinda struck me that the fans were a lot more dedicated than we thought,” muses Steve. “I think they’re interested in what we’re doing”.
“Even in the beginning there was something strange about it. When we did our first concert at The Music Machine we were playing in front of 2000 people and there were fans with banners with Japan and badges they’d made”, Richard remembers.
And the future? “We hope to do something that’s equally as important as Japan was” says Steve.
But does he think they ever will? “Yes, I believe that even if we’re trying to achieve something as important as Japan was then that’s enough, but if we achieve it that would be even better”.
“As long as we’re staying inspired to do something and not turning into cabbages then we’ll be happy”.
I don’t think they need have any worries.
AS.
Yes, that's what I thought too.
