Supercar

In 1995 the melodic rock quartet Supercar was formed in the northern Japanese prefecture of Aomori. This guitar and vocal oriented band, which consists of Nakako on guitar and vocals, Miki on bass and vocals, Junji on guitar, and Kodai on drums, released their debut single, Cream Soda, in September of 1997. Their first CD, Three Out Change, was released in April of 1998 and featured Cream Soda with two other previously released singles (Lucky and Planet). A year later Supercar released their second CD, Jump Up. With this CD they sped into second place on the Japanese domestic charts. In May of 1999 the band shifted into overdrive and cranked out a compilation of outtakes entitled OOKeah!!, which was distributed in limited numbers. A few months later Supercar added some tracks to OOKeah!! and reissued the CD domestically in conjunction with the release of their fourth CD, OOYeah!! In the Supercar sound, one can identify such influences as the Jesus and Mary Chain and Echo and The Bunnymen. Supercar has a particular predilection for richly textured guitar distortion and melodic vocal lines. Due to their admiration for such acts as the Chemical Brothers and Primal Scream, Supercar has recently been working with sounds and techniques related to the realm of techno, swapping sound files with outside collaborators and relying more heavily on drum loops and samples. On the live side of things, they opened for Pavement in Tokyo back in 1999 and played Austin’s SXSW at Sony’s Japan Not For Sale artist showcase in March of 2000. ~ John Vallier