Charlie Finch

>Tanx off, but I've always had weird feelings about it.

Acid Mothers Temple SWR
“More Stones, More Women & More Records”
from SWR (2005)

CF: (listens for about two minutes, nodding along) Man! This stuff's awesome! I don't know this.

KV: This might be a little unfair because it's so atypical of this band. It's Acid Mothers Temple as a trio.

CF: Oh, OK! I kept waiting to hear the little organ stuff — I thought it might be them. At first, I thought it was a Chris Corsano thing — some jazz people making this insane rock ‘n' roll. I don't have this, but those guys have so much out. I kinda wish I had everything by them. I love that band. I remember the first time I went to see them, going to Atlanta at the Earl. I expected so much, and got everything in return. It was amazing.

Flower Travellin' Band
“Hiroshima”
from Made in Japan (1972)

CF: (Immediately) Flower Travellin' Band. Let's see, is this “Satori” Part... Two? Three?

KV: It's actually not from Satori, it's from Made in Japan.

CF: Oh, that riff sounds a lot like riffs on Satori. I haven't heard this record. I'm really happy this stuff is becoming available. I don't know a lot about them. I haven't read that Julian Cope [Japrocksampler] book yet.

KV: How did you happen to come across them?

CF: Through hearsay. Bands travelling through here, playing at the Pilot Light. Some band stayed with us, and we started talking about Japanese music, and they asked me if I'd ever heard this stuff, and I said ‘No,' and they said, ‘Oh dude! You're gonna love it!' (Laughs) This stuff is great. They listened to a lot of Sabbath and Zeppelin then brought it back to Japan and made a super rock band, and when you listen to them sing these English words, they have an accent that's almost sort of endearing.

KV: Can you remember when your love of Japanese rock began?

CF: Yeah, when I was 20 or 21, I got to see the Ruins and the Boredoms, and that was the first real Japanese underground rock music I'd heard, and that stuff completely blew my mind, especially the Boredoms. Just seeing [Yamatsuka] Eye go completely insane on stage, it seemed really liberating for me.

Les Rallizes Desnudes
“Enter the Mirror”
from Heavier Than a Death in the Family

CF: (Immediately starts singing the guitar line) “Enter the Mirror,” I think. You know, none of those albums were actually officially released; they're all bootlegs, which is pretty amazing.

KV: I think they may have recorded one studio album, and Mizutani Takashi was so disgusted with the process, or the way it sounded, he never recorded in a studio again.

CF: That's pretty great. I really need to read that book and find out more about them because there's no information on any of those bootlegs... “Enter the Mirror” is a song I've been wanting to cover. I've transposed a lot of those lyrics phonetically into hiragana, which is one alphabet of Japanese. , and Nori from Lay All Over It looked at them and said I got most of it right, which made me really happy.

Flaming Lips
“Unconsciously Screamin'”
from In a Priest Driven Ambulance (1990)

CF: I love this song. Oh man, what a band. I was actually talking the other day about how I missed the Ronald Jones aspect of the Lips. That was the era I grew up with, Transmissions From the Satellite Heart and this album. I was 15 or 16 at the time, I think. I got to see them on the Transmissions tour and was completely... I didn't know what to think of myself after that.

They had a stage full of Christmas lights, which they were manipulating along with the music. It was so bright... Those songs live were louder and more impacting, and it was basically like a religious experience, even though I'm not a very religious person. But seeing that and feeling those emotions at that age... when you're younger and more impressionable, stuff like that can really bend your brain. And it did mine, and the next thing I knew, I was a fan for life.