Staying Alive with Yuzame Radio’s Debut Single “Afterglow”
“Even if I cannot see you, the fact that you are still breathing somewhere in this world encourages me to live each day,” explained Hino Haku.
Wormbrain World recently chatted with Haku and the other members of Japan’s budding shoegaze troupe Yuzame Radio about their debut single “Afterglow.”
“This song tells me that sometimes I may be saving someone just by living a healthy life myself,” Haku elaborated. “What I have seen, what I have felt, was hard, was happy, was cherished, was not cherished, was helpless, could not be helped, was painful, the words I could not say, the tears I had to hold back, the love that lost its way, the wounds inflicted by others, the wounds inflicted by myself, and the wishes that never came true — I make music with the hope that all of these things will rest in peace. I think you have something like that, too. If our music can loosen up something that you have been straining to hold on to, nothing would make us happier.”
Yuzame Radio brings together the vast, varied influences of all four members — vocalist/guitarist Haku Hino, guitarist Gokita Daisuke, drummer/vocalist Ueda Maya, and bassist Odajima Takumi — including Lil Peep, Sigur Rós, Ling tosite Sigure, Machine Gun Kelly, SUPERCAR, girl in red, GRAPEVINE, The xx, Avril Lavigne, [Alexandros], BiSH, Quruli, and beyond. Additionally, Haku told W.W that in their unique backgrounds and outlooks, the band finds inspiration, “Not only the music, but also the people, books, movies, words, and scenery that each member has encountered in their lives, all of which are blended into our music.”
Their name roughly translates a Japanese-to-English as “Feel-Cold-After-A-Hot-Bath Radio” according to the band, but they were hesitant to give any further explanation. “The meaning behind the band’s name is a secret,” they claimed. “We leave it to your imagination. It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
Photo courtesy of the artist.
While some of the Yuzame Radio quartet have played in other bands previously, the humble hit “Afterglow” is apparently the first song that Hino Haku had written and this project marks her first step towards rockstardom. The “prototype for the song” was brought by Haku to Daisuke who helped to flesh the full band arrangement, then Maya and Takumi “each gave their input… and helped with the arrangement.”
“As for future songwriting, we would like to take a variety of approaches, without being bound by a formula.” Looking towards next year, Haku said, “We wanna try experimental things. I would like to collaborate with overseas artists to produce songs someday. We will continue to distribute sound files. We already have a lot of good songs, so please look forward to them. In 2023, we will be more energetic than this year, not only in distribution but also in the live scene.”
“Please pay attention to us!” Okay, we will.
“If our music can loosen up something that you have been straining to hold on to, nothing would make us happier.”
Photo courtesy of the artist.
Wormbrain World asked Yuzame Radio if they’d ever heard of the only vaguely similarly named band Hot Water Music and showed them their music video “Remedy” — here’s what Hino Haku of the project told us:
“With all due respect, none of us had heard of the band. They sound insanely awesome and cool! I love the passionate and powerful vocals.
After you shared this song with me, I also watched their music video called “Habitual” and was drawn in from the opening message. A band that sings for someone else is sincere and I can feel what it means to be a flesh and blood human being making music, not a robot.
They have been active since 1993? A very long time! I hope we can continue to be a band for as long as they have. I feel like I want to grow old like them.”
W.W: What is Wormbrain?
DG: I like pigs, because they are very cute and also delicious to eat. My “Wormbrain” means just like that.
HH: I pulled up a dictionary and “worm” means “caterpillar” and “brain” means “brilliant,” so it’s a coined word that combines two words that seem like opposites. To me, Wormbrain is the world, because the world seems decent at first glance, but in fact it is quite crazy. People are born, but die, there is an Earth and it rotates, what I am thinking can never be completely conveyed to someone else, and so on. There are many ways to rationalize, but when I think about it carefully, the world is full of things that don’t make sense.
W.W: Thank you for sharing with Wormbrain.
Yuzame Radio’s debut single “Afterglow” is out now everywhere streaming digitally online.
