TOE: The Humble Legends of Post-Rock

In August of 2019 I had the pleasure of interviewing Japanese Post-Rock heroes TOE, a band I had been a fan of since highschool when I began really diving into music becoming the massive music nerd I am today. This article unfortunately never got to see the light of day due to incompetent editors at the former magazine I worked at that will remain unnamed. However! I've decided I'm just going to post it here for anyone who would like to read what TOE has to say. This is one of their rare English language interviews and I am incredibly lucky that I got to be the one to write it.

I'm going to be posting the interview as it was originally written as well as their answers to some of my questions that didn't make the cut. Enjoy.

For those who experienced their adolescent angst a decade ago many will find themselves stricken by the closed-fisted force of nostalgia at the emotional sound of a post-rock band’s emo inspired musings of love and loss from days gone by. For some, Japanese post-rock legends Toe are the force behind those memories.

Debuting in 2001 with their EP Songs, Ideas We Forgot Toe has spent the last 17 years as legends of post-rock underground with releases like 2009s For Long Tomorrow and 2015s Hear You. In that time, the musical landscape has evolved and drastically changed. However, Toe’s sound remains consistent. For most bands, a lack of evolution can be a detriment, but for a band like Toe it’s everything they could want and more.

“The first EP was the result of ‘I want to play in a band like this!’ and realizing that initial concept. Every band likes their first album, right? Through the years, I’ve never been in the mindset of ‘What does the audience want to hear?’ But more of making the music that I like at the time I’m making it.” says Hirokazu Yamazaki, also known as “Yama” guitarist and founder of Toe. “I don’t know what we’ll sound like in the future, but I think that’s one of the great things of playing in this band.”

The band’s fun and cohesive groove is rooted in the lack of pressure from a major record label. Starting their own label to maintain complete creative freedom, Toe releases music when they want to instead of when they have to. However, this leads to less music over time and according Yamazaki the lack of pressure results in a sort of laziness, but looking deeper proves quite the opposite.

“We all have jobs outside of our band. In Japan, when you consider the population of alternative music listeners it’s hard for bands like us who don’t fit into the pop music genre to make enough music to support four guys with families. It might work if we were all young and single, but the biggest reason why we all work is if were to only do music, we’d have to make enough money to survive, we’d have to sell as much as we can, we’d have to make music that sells and appeals to a larger audience. I don’t want something that I love to be prioritized by if it sells or not, so it makes it that much better when it does sell. If I have another source of income it makes it simple: I get to make music and play in a band that I love.”

Balancing their regular lives between their lives as Toe, finding time to record a new album can prove difficult. That’s when their latest release That’s Another Story came to be. A compilation of unreleased tracks, remixes and commercial work, That’s Another Story acts as a celebration of the history of Toe as it revisits and reimagines their greatest work that stands up just as well today as it did when it debuted more than a decade ago.

NOW THE ORIGINAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

JL: It's been nearly 20 years since the inception of the band. In that time the landscape of music has evolved exponentially, yet you've stayed true to your sound. Ranging from "Songs, Ideas We Forgot" all the way to "Hear You", the sound of the band has remained consistent. How different is the post-rock/math-rock landscape now compared to when you first released "Songs, Ideas We Forgot"? And how do you keep up with the change while remaining true to yourselves as a band? TOE: The first EP was the result of “I want to play in a band like this!” and realizing that initial concept. Every band likes their first album, right? Though the years, I’ve never been in the mindset of “what does the audience want to hear?” but more of making the music that i like at the time I'm making it. I don’t know what we will sound like in the future, but i think thats one of the great things of playing in a band

JL: Each member of toe has a such a varied background coming from bands like Dove, Reach and Pop Catcher; bands that all possess a much heavier sound than what you currently do. What attracted you to post-rock/math-rock and what inspires you to continue to do it? TOE: When I was younger, in the 90’s, I was really into DIY, hardcore, punk, emo (i don’t like this term). I used to go out looking for 7” all the time and played in bands that was influenced by that music. I started writing music with an acoustic guitar before i started toe with the same mindset of hard and heavy music (like my band at the time). That sort of acoustic expression done in this way was new to me.

I found Ghosts & Vodka’s 7inch (released off of Hefty Records) and I thought to myself “wow, technical and instrumental and emo, this is the type of band i want to do!” Thats when i started toe with all the songs i’d written with my acoustic guitar.

We continue to do it purely because its fun. It’s hard at times, but i feel that bands that have been together for a long time have an essence of persuasiveness to them.

JL: It's been 3 years since the release of "Hear You" and this January you just released the compilation album "That's Another Story". Being under your own label, do you find less pressure to release music as quickly? Do you feel pressure from the fans to release more music? What inspired you to release "That's Another Story"?

TOE: We control everything since it's our own label, including when we want to release. The flip side to this is that since no one is putting pressure on us, we become a bit lazy and take too long recording. I don’t feel that much pressure (i think our listeners know we’re slow), we are always playing shows in Japan so its easier here, but i’m starting to think that we need to regularly release and do shows, or we will be forgotten overseas...

Its been a while since we came out with anything after “Hear You” and we felt like we should release something… but we didn’t have time to record. thats when I saw something on social media about a “compilation of tracks from commercials” and i thought it was a great idea since we wouldn’t have to record anything new, and thats how “Thats Another Story” came to be.

JL: I read in an interview from 2010 that, during the release of "For Long Tomorrow" you were all still working your regular jobs. I think a lot of people imagine that once you start touring the world that means you've achieved complete success and music is your full time job, but for many artists that's not the case. Is that something you as a band still have to manage or have you been able to make toe your main job?

TOE: We all have jobs outside of our band. In Japan, when you consider the population of alternative music listeners, it's hard for bands like us who do not fit into the Pop Music genre, to make enough money to support four guys with families. It might work if we were all young and single.

But the biggest reason why we all work is… if we were to only do music, we’d have to make enough money to survive, we’d have to sell as much as we can, we’d have to make music that sells and appeals to a larger audience. I love music and playing in a band. I don’t want something that i love, creating music, to be prioritized by if it sells or not. I don’t think i can. So it makes it that much better when we do make some cash when it does sell. If I have another source of income, it makes it simple, I get to make music and play in a band that i love.

JL: Do you feel "Hear You" brought you closer to the mainstream or do you still feel like an indie band that is connected to a smaller scene?

TOE: I’m not sure if it's main stream or underground…. I don’t think about it in that way, and i think, now in 2018, those categories are irrelevant. People will listen to the music they love whether its main stream or underground and theres so many outlets to listen to music now. But of course i want as many people as possible to hear our music.