May 5th, 2011

Q&A with Hard Nips

It’s fair to say that when you’ve named your band Hard Nips, it ain’t so easy to find out information on the internet without getting sent in the wrong direction. So we hit up our favourite girl band to ask them some quickfire questions about what’s going on for them right now, playing alongside Lou Reed, having Neil Diamond visit them in hospital and whether they’re living up to their honorable motto of ‘Better sushi, better sex and more rock n roll’.

So where are guys from and where did you meet?

We are all from different parts of Japan…Tokyo, Osaka, Okinawa. But we met in Brooklyn through mutual American friends.

Can you tell me about the band set up, who does what in the band?

Yoko Nips on the vox, Mariko Nips on guitar, Gooch Nips on bass, Emi Nips on drums. And we make our songs collaboratively.

How does the punk rock scene in Japan differ from NYC?

The true punk & true rock scene is pretty much the same in Japanese cities as it is in NYC. Posers are posers.

Who are your major influences?

AC/DC, Cheeseburger, Live Ones, Awesome Color, Go-Gos, Loudness, Dave Nada.

Emi had a bike crash that left her leg shattered. How did she recover from that and keep going with the band?

The rest of the Nips and all of our musician friends took care of Emi every single day (she was popular at the receptionist’s desk cos she had an unusual number of visitors!). Dr. Carlos said, with all their help, Emi can drum again as soon as she got out of hospital. And she did! Even on crutches!!

I heard Neil Diamond came to visit Emi in hospital?

He showed up listening to his iPod and said, “hi, I’m Neil Diamond.” Emi said, “hi.. uhh.. what are you doing here??” Allison, of ex-Awesome Color who was hanging with Emi at the time asked him, “what are you listening to?” and Neil replied, “well, actually myself live from the 70s”.

What’s the best thing that’s happened to you as a band?

Our song ‘Sunshine Overload’ is currently playing behind Masaharu Fukuyama, a Jap version of Brad Pitt, in a “kewpie” mayonnaise commercial and it even made it to the gigantic screen at Shibuya Scramble junction.

You just came back from SXSW and California. How did that work out?

We had an amazing amount of fun. We had our own showcase called A PRUS (A+!) JAPAN NIGHT, played a hot outside show with Peelander-Z, and a suuuper party show at a co-op with Cerebral Ballzy where their singer Honor shooed off the cops by dedicating a song to them. We went off to LA, visited Titmouse studio where Metalocolyps and Superjail! are being created, then hung out in the sun with new and old friends!!!

What’s the best show you’ve ever played?

We played a benefit show called “Concert for Japan” at Japan Society. It was the best sounding stage ever and Ryuichi Sakamoto, Lou Reed, Phillip Glass, John Zorn, and Lori Anderson played before us!! It was great to communicate our support back home to people in Japan via Ustream.

Where would you love to play next?

Primavera, ATP, and Summer Sonic in Tokyo.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve done on stage (or off stage)?

Driving away from a show on a 87 Toyo Van pissed off from Trash Bar. We heard someone screaming so we looked back through the wide open back door and found the snare hopping down the middle of the street. We learned to remember to close the back door since.

Are you currently living up to your motto of ‘better sushi, better sex and more rock n roll’?

We’re still working hard on all of those.

What’s coming up for Hard Nips?

We’ve got a BIG show at Webster Hall with Peelander-Z and Friends on May 7th. And we’re recording our second full album at the end of May!

Head here to get advance tickets for their big show on Saturday!