Otoboke Beaver

Otoboke Beaver is named after a love hotel in Osaka[2] which was located near the high school of one of the band members.[3] The band formed in 2009 while the members were active in a rock music club at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto.[4][5] The original members included Accorinrin on vocals, Yoyoyoshie on guitar, Pop on drums, and Nishikawachi on bass.

In June 2011, Otoboke Beaver released a demo CD featuring three songs, including an early version of "Chuchu Song", a live track that would be later re-recorded and distributed to people who helped fund the band's first trip to the United States. In 2012, the group released their first live album via Egypt Records. In 2013, they released a limited-edition single via Jet Set Records, featuring the newly recorded "Otobokebeaver Daijikenbo" and two live tracks. In March of the same year, the band released the mini-album Love Me Sign. Bassist Nishikawachi left the band in 2013 and was replaced by Hirochan, a fan who asked to join via e-mail.[6]

Otoboke Beaver participated in Record Store Day in 2015, releasing the single "Akimahenka" on vinyl. In 2016, the band signed with the British label Damnably. The Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver compilation album was released that year, featuring the majority of the songs found on the group's first two mini-albums, with the addition of the "Akimahenka" single. The band recorded a live session for XFM and toured the UK with Shonen Knife and Leggy. The EP Bakuro Book followed shortly thereafter, with another EP titled Love is Short!! appearing the following year for Record Store Day 2017. The song "Love Is Short!!" reached the UK singles chart.[7]

Performing in Nottingham, 2016, with original drummer Pop

The band began touring internationally in 2016, including dates at the 100 Club in London and SXSW in the United States in 2017.[8] Their trip to SXSW was financially assisted by fan-funding via Campfire and Kickstarter.[9] In 2018, the band traveled over 24,000 miles (39,000 km) in one week to play two slots at the Coachella Festival[10] and a three-date headlining tour in the UK with label-mates Say Sue Me and Leggy. Other notable tourmates have included The Cribs, Miyavi, Guitar Wolf, and Wussy.

The compilation album Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver was re-released on vinyl for Record Store Day in 2018.[11] In that year, founding drummer Pop left the band.[12] Pop was replaced by Kahokiss, who had attended the same university music club as the band's founding members almost a decade before.

In March 2019, Otoboke Beaver performed at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas.[13][14] The album Itekoma Hits, featuring new songs and compiling some previously-released singles, was released by Damnably in April 2019. The non-album single "Yobantoite Mojo" was released in late 2019; the song also served as the theme for the Japanese TV comedy Susumu Inomata and 8 Mojo.[15] Also in late 2019, the band played the Koyabu Sonic festival, featuring a mixture of comedy acts and bands in an 8000-person stadium held by the Yoshimoto company.[16]

Along with releasing the single "Dirty Old Fart is Waiting for My Reaction" in early 2020, the members of Otoboke Beaver quit their day jobs to become a full-time touring band.[17][18] They were able to tour for two weeks in Europe before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the lockdown period they focused on developing new songs and played several live shows via Instagram. The album Super Champon was released in May 2022.[19] Otoboke Beaver returned to touring in late 2022 with a series of shows in Europe, followed by their first full-length tour of North America.[20] Another tour of Europe and North America followed in early 2023.[21] Their performance at that year's SXSW received coverage from Rolling Stone, which described their set as "both a goddamned riot and tight as hell."[22]

According to its members, the band plays a "fast-paced and aggressive style of punk-rock", with "frequent changes in rhythm and tempo", accompanied by "gang vocals".[23] Their songs feature love and relationships as regular themes, some based on singer Accorinrin's own experiences,[3][4] and often critique the social roles required of women in modern Japanese society. This was not something Accorinrin was necessarily conscious of at first but she has embraced these feminist ideals after traveling abroad.[24]

They have said they are inspired by a particular style of traditional Japanese comedy, Manzai. Its speed, tempo, and rhythm of delivery are an influence on their musical style.[25] Accorinrin specifies Japanese comedian Ken Shimura and theatre comedy group Yoshimoto Shinkigeki as personal influences.[26]

Each member draws inspiration from her own differing musical tastes: Yoyoyoshie likes Japanese rock, Hirochan likes hardcore punk, and Accorinrin and Kahokiss like Japanese pop music.[27] They said that they are “influenced by western Riot Grrrl attitudes and the sounds of punk and angular post-rock”.[28] The band mentioned further influences from groups such as Yapoos, Hikasyu, P-MODEL, Momoe Yamaguchi, and Afrirampo.[28][29]

Otoboke Beaver's music has garnered them praise from the likes of Pitchfork[30] ("even if their music is not explicitly feminist, there is power in hearing a group of four Asian women say exactly what they want"),[31] and also from NPR,[32] The Fader,[33] Stereogum,[34] i-D,[35] and Fujirock Express.[36]

In 2017, they were nominated for Best Live Act at the AIM Independent Music Awards.[37] They have been featured on BBC6 radio.[38] Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters described Otoboke Beaver by saying, "It’ll blow your mind, dude. It’s the most fucking intense shit you’ve ever seen."[39] Upon the release of their album Super Champon in 2022, Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop remarked "with two really fantastic albums under their belt at this point, is Otoboke Beaver not one of the best modern Punk bands that Japan has to offer right now?"[40]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Otoboke Beaver.

• Otoboke Beaver's Official Website (Japanese)
• Otoboke Beaver's Official Website (English)