BOREDOMS's foundation by Eye Yamatsuka in 1986 was preceded by the reputation of notorious noise punk band, Hanatarash with which Yamatsuka had previously performed and destroyed a good number of venues and equipment.
Even the band's first line-up consisted of Hanatarash members; drummer Taketani, guitarist Mara Tabata and bassist Hosoi although apart from Eye they all went onto other projects later on. Mara, for instance, left BOREDOMS for Zeni Geva to be replaced by Yama-Motor. Inoue Yosui's support drummer EDA joined them for a short time and others like the manager Junko's three month old daughter Nana aka 77 or God Mama had small guest appearances as dancers.
It is as good as impossible to create an exact timeline about the band and member history since the members often changed their names, some joined and left several times and the CD credits are often incomplete or wrong. Eye, himself, changed his name to Yamanataka without any explanation, and then later became Yamataka. BOREDOMS' album discography is equally confusing, since they released the same albums in many countries, but with different track lists and covers.
The music was just like the band, always changing; depending on the era, the members, the mood and god knows what other factors. Some tracks seem to be carefully arranged while others are more improvised and yet still it might appear to you that the planned parts are often more chaotic than the improvised ones. BOREDOMS can change their style drastically from album to album, song to song and maybe even moment to moment.
The band's first release had been the Anal by Anal EP in 1986, followed by the album Osozeran no Stooges Kyo - both being taken together and later released as Onanie Bomb meets the Sex Pistols LP. In 1988, the first woman joined BOREDOMS. Yoshimi Yokoya aka Yoshimi P-WE would also be the most constant member apart from Yamataka.
Many member changes later and through the cooperation of Yamataka with avant garde master John Zorn they released the album Soul Discharge under the American label Shimmy Disc in 1990. This album made them gain a certain reputation among underground college radio stations in the United States. Because of this popularity, they had the chance to support acts like The Smashing Pumpkins, The Flaming Lips and the Beastie Boys from 1993 on. They soon signed with the major label Warner and released Pop Tatari. Around 2000, the band became more electronic and drum orientated, and less noisy. During their show at the Fuji Rock Festival in 2003 they performed in a circle of drums with Yamataka at the synthesizer.
Around 2004, they released another album under the pseudonym Vooredoms, although their following concerts in the USA were held as BOREDOMS again. During the next year, BOREDOMS went on a small hiatus while Yamataka continued to DJ, and while the band wasn't very active, he still released a series of remixes under their name while crafting his new skill.
While there were no releases in 2006, their live activity was steady, and the following year brought even more fans to see the group as they again performed overseas. In New York, on July 7th, the group held the 77BOADRUM show, where they used 77 drums played by 77 drummers. They later played in Norway, Sweden and Finland during their '07 European tour. After a small break they again hit the road and through October, stopped in Ireland, Belgium, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
It wasn't until 2008 that BOREDOMS' next music debuted in CD stores, releasing Super Roots 9 in the United States. This was soon followed by a full tour through the US, making stops in places such as California, Oregon, Washington D.C. and New York, for a total of eleven shows. Most notable about the tour was the fact that BOREDOMS decided to outdo their drumming record from the previous year. On August 8th in Los Angeles, they held the show 88 Boadrum, this time using 88 drummers.
The following January BOREDOMS released SUPERROOTS 10 and started the year off touring. In July, they spent a few days on the LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMOND RING tour. Keeping tradition, in September they performed BOADRUM9, but instead of 99 drummers, they had only nine which performed with Yamataka on the 9th in Japan. By early 2010 they had visited Mexico City and by May they'd toured Japan. In October, BOREDOMSs also went to Australia, touring there for the first time in Sydney and Melbourne.
While the band was busy through much of last year, 2011 has been much quieter and BOREDOMS has only played one event, I'll Be Your Mirror at Studio Coast in Tokyo in February. As we move into summer, fans can hope to hear more from the band soon.
