Bo Ningen are used to travelling enormous distances.
Born in Japan but based in Brighton, the psychedelic crew – if psychedelic isn't too tame a term for their stunning oscillations – seem to traverse hemispheres at their leisure.
Set to play Y Not Festival later this year, Bo Ningen are set to have a summer of travel. With that in mind, Clash asked the avant rock outfit for some touring tales…
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Best Tour Trip…
Big Day Out. Best hospitality and best summer. Beers and beaches. Snoop and Primus.
Worst Tour Trip…
A few years ago, we had a summer Japan tour and the last show was in Hokkaido (northern island, near Russia). We played and kept on drinking till 5am then flew to Heathrow (via Tokyo) straightaway where our tour van was waiting and then drove straight for 10 hours to Holland. Arrived there at 5am, slept in the van, played and then drove back to London straight after the performance.
Each shows were amazing but just the journey between was pure hell. And/or when we toured with The Cult, our van broke down on the way to the last show. On a highway somewhere in Germany. It was raining. It was cold outside. But we managed to get to the show and played an intense 10 minutes set. Probably this isn't worst because so many random people on the highway stopped for us and help so as the venue people/The Cult team. I felt love.
My favourite foreign venue…
It's a bit tricky for us to talk about "foreign" stuff. After 10 years of more or less nomadic state of life, we lost the sense of home. But well, it's not quite a venue and I don't even know if it has a name but FAUST's barn in Germany where they held Avantgarde Festival annually, was pretty amazing.
We're surprisingly popular in…
EVERYWHERE I hope.
Best and worst exotic foodstuff…
Again exotic is a tricky adjective. Something that hit me so hard was Tex-Mex or general American food. They all taste good but think how skinny we are and how big the portion is. But at the same time, we had the best Texas BBQ stuff. The best meat ever. U.S. is deep.
The most interesting individual I've met on the road…
There are so many. I can easily make Holy Mountain-ish psyche film from all these people. Oh but Kirin J Callinan is probably the most amazing one. He is beyond words. Everything about him is great.
Worst on-tour injury, accident or infection…
A hangover.
My essential travel item…
Books. So good when you read some domestic ones, e.g. Raymond Carver during US tour, Mishima at JP tour.
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Catch Bo Ningen at Y Not Festival (July 31st – August 2nd).
