[Cover photo credit to Mayumi Hirata]
Japanese Punk-Rock-Garage all-female quartet Otoboke Beaver release their new album Super Champon via Damnably on May 6th, and along with it, their final single and video for the album, “I don’t want to die alone.” The cartoon video (animated by the band’s guitarist, Yoyoyoshie) portrays a woman who is overwhelmed by the public displays of affection by couples in her day to day life and haunted by the idea of dying alone.
Vocalist and chief songwriter Accorinrin comments:
This is probably my favorite track on the new album, we mixed in a lot of different styles. There are ‘Pop’ parts, or like ‘idol’ style parts, and ‘hard rock’ parts. It’s fun to play.
Super Champon follows 2019’s Itekoma Hits. ‘Champon’ is a Japanese noun meaning a mixture or jumble of things of different types, as the band explains:
It’s a mixture of songs from love to food, life and JASRAC. Our music is genreless and has various elements. We hope that it will be our masterpiece of chaos music. It also sounds like champion.
Chief singer-songwriter Acco has remarked previously that she is influenced by ‘manzai,’ a traditional style of comedy in Japanese culture comparable to stand-up comedy, “exemplified by its use of slang puns and wordplay, speedy back-and-forth dialogue and impeccable timing in delivering a punchline”, and that this is characteristic of Otoboke Beaver’s music.
Super Champon 2022 Tour Dates
June 2 Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
June 30 Belfort, FR @ Les Eurockéennes
July 8 Trenčín, SK @ Pohoda Festival
July 9 Leiden, NL @ Werfpop
July 11 Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Noord
Sept 30 Toronto, ON, CA @ Lee’s Place
Oct 2 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
Oct 3 Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
Oct 5 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Oct 6 Washington, DC @ Union Stage
Oct 8 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle (sold out)
Oct 9 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
Oct 11 Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
Oct 14 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
Oct 16 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
Oct 18 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Oct 19 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
Oct 21 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
