Interview with TarO&JirO

JaME had the opportunity to meet TarO&JirO, a duo made up of two brothers, a few times before their first showcase at the South version of the famous French convention, the Japan Expo. Surrounded by a pleasant atmosphere, both musicians answered our questions about their career, music and goals.


Could you introduce yourselves briefly and say something that would convince our readers to listen to your music and see you live?

TarO: We are TarO&JirO from Japan. Actually, we have been playing together for ten years — quite a long time — and we are brothers. At first, I invited him to play with me. We played the guitar, played in a band and finally decided to play as a duo again. We have gained a lot of experience from then till now. We play rock songs most of the time, but we sometimes play country and pop music as well. Actually, we like any kind of music. I think we are really funny people, but since we are very serious when we are on stage, I think no one knows that, so I tell them that we are funny people. We would just like to enjoy ourselves with all of them. And yeah... that's rock, isn't it?

Your stage name, TarO&JirO, comes from your own names. But does it have anything to do with the dogs named Taro and Jiro in "Nankyoku Monogatari," the well-known movie based on the true story of the 1958 Japanese scientific expedition to the South Pole?

JirO: Oh, no! (laughs) He is TarO and my name is JirO. Our real names are Kimitaro and Tomojiro.

So it has nothing to do with the dogs!

TarO and JirO: No, no. (laugh)

When did you start to have interest in music?

TarO and JirO: Ten years ago.
TarO: Because I really like Japanese music, folk and pop music. At that time, there were so many good musicians in Japan, so we were really inspired by their music.
JirO: It was ten years ago, when he was twelve and I was nine.

That's very young!

TarO and JirO: Yes.

What made you decide to make music your career since it can also remain a hobby?

TarO: We would like to make people listen to our music. We really want our music to be heard all over the world. If we just played in our room together, nobody would be able to hear us. So that's why we wanted to become musicians.

The music you're making doesn’t sound very Japanese. It's very folk/rock oriented, but more like American music.

JirO: Oh, really? Actually, our lyrics are in English.
TarO: In Japan, we have many opportunities to listen to American and British music — a lot of foreign music. We respect American music by bands such as Red Hot Chilli Peppers. It's really stylish, really dynamic and cool, so yeah, we are really influenced by this.

Some people compare your playing to MIYAVI. Do you know him? If yes, what do you think about him?

TarO and JirO: Oh yeah! We do love him.
TarO: He is the best guitarist ever. We went to his gigs in Japan. He's good! Actually, we hoped he will come here today. (laughs)

When you started your musical career, you mostly played on the streets. Were those times difficult?

TarO: It was a little difficult starting our career by playing on the streets because when we first played on the streets, it was ten years ago when we were really young. We were novice musicians.
JirO: But we were happy to play in front of a lot of people in order to be known, so it was a quite good experience.

Did your parents accept this choice?

TarO: Yes, they were really happy!

Oh, you were really lucky then.

TarO and JirO: Yeah! (laugh)

You went to London before, which is far away from Japan. What made you decide to go there?

TarO: Because we really wanted to experience and try new things.
JirO: We try to explore different things. Usually, Japanese people tend to stay in Japan. They don't explore new things. We decided to go to London because we really wanted to expand our music.

Was it a good experience?

TarO: It was great! We could see people from another country. We used to play in a pub. Of course, we met and spoke with Britons there. We just wanted to show them that Japanese music is great and enjoyable. So we tried performing on the train, on the streets and in the pub. It was really good.
JirO: That experience gave us the confidence to play abroad.

You have been making music for quite a long time now. What is your assessment of those ten years when you look back upon them now?

TarO: It was long. It was just long. (laughs)
JirO: Actually, we started ten years ago, but we weren't very professional then. We just played and sang together.
TarO: At first, it was like a hobby. We just enjoyed ourselves as we played in front of friends. But now, it has changed completely. We are really serious...
JirO: To achieve our dreams...
TarO: To be a musician...

Is this your first time playing at such a convention?

TarO: Yeah, it's our very first time.

And what do you think about playing there?

TarO: Well, we are really excited, really really excited. We are happy to play in front of people from Marseille, Paris and other countries. That's what we want...
JirO: It's very good. Each opportunity to be known by a lot of people, to show our music...
TarO: When we think about the Japan Expo, we are really happy.

You have been staying in Marseille for a few days now, right?

TarO: Oh, just like one week ago.

Did you have time to visit different places? What do you think about the city?

TarO: Yes. Well, it's a bit dirty. (laughs) We can't walk without watching our feet because there is a lot of dog shit on the ground. (everyone laughs)
JirO: The architecture is really beautiful because we don't see this kind of architecture in Japan. The town is steeped in culture and history.
TarO: And I think the people are really kind. Japanese people are you know, a bit shy. But here, if we get lost and don't know where we have to go, people come and tell us “oh, you can go this way” and so on.
JirO: Everybody says “bonjour” even if we don't know each other.

Could you tell us about your creative process? How do you compose your songs?

TarO: We used to compose pop music. Because I was the one who made us play together, I was the leader. I always composed the songs and told him to make this like this, and play this like this... But now, our song making process has changed and we either make songs together or individually. When we have jam sessions, he makes a sound like 'todotodotodo' and I make 'tidutidutidu' and like 'tododitododitododi' and this is how we create a song. Or sometimes, we just make it like this. (begins to sing) I don't know how to explain it. (laughs)

Do you make the music first and then think about the lyrics?

TarO and JirO: Yeah.
JirO: We make the melody before putting the lyrics in.

As you're brothers, is it sometimes difficult to always be together?

Together: Yeah... (laughs)
JirO: It's good to practice our songs, but since we are brothers, it's difficult to be serious when we are together. We can be together any time, but we have to be serious sometimes. When we play together, we never think of each other as brothers. I think he is a musician and I think I'm a musician. But when the rehearsal is over, we take a bath together and we are just like normal brothers. (laughs)

Do you think you will someday work with other musicians or do you want to stay as a duo?

JirO: Because we have played music for a long time, we have got all kind of songs. Sometimes, we play rock. So we actually want to have a band. We used to play in a band, so yeah, we might have other musicians joining us in the future.

Does the title of your last album, BROTHER FIGHT, have something to do with your relationship?

TarO: We fight sometimes. In fact, in London, we fought with each other and ended up with a very bad relationship.
JirO: We didn't talk to each other.
TarO: That period of time when we didn't speak with each other and took pictures together made us more determined and gave us some power. But after that, he started to compose songs individually, more rock songs. After that, we decided to play together again. In our music, we always play guitar rock (makes guitar sounds) and it sounds like fighting. We fight using guitars. So that's why we chose this title. It doesn't mean we are fighting all the time. (laughs)

Can you tell us how you created this album? What is the concept?

TarO: We really wanted to make a rock album. We didn't want to use the drums and bass. It could be good but...
JirO: Because we can't play it on stage at this moment, we decided to just use the guitar and one kick drum and show how we play rock with these two instruments.

What are your goals for the future?

TarO: To be musicians who are known worldwide. I think I want to play all over the world. Yeah, I really want people to know what Japanese music is and know more about Japan.

What about the near future? Do you have any new projects?

TarO: Actually, before we went to Marseille, we recorded a new song. We will release it on our website. Also, we are going to stay in Marseille for a while. We will be playing at a bar called the Paradox on March 26th. (note: the schedule was changed after our interview and the show will happen on March 25th instead)
JirO: And so we will experience playing abroad more.

Finally, would you like to leave a message for our readers?

TarO: Firstly, merci beaucoup ("merci beaucoup" means "thank you very much" in French) for reading our interview. We are really excited and look forward to playing in France, in Marseille. We are really happy to be known by readers and we just hope people would like our music.
JirO: We hope we can go to all countries in the future.

Thank you!

TarO and JirO: Thank you so much!


JaME would like to thank the Japan Expo Sud and TarO&JirO for making this interview possible.