GREAT ADVENTURE

Our greatest ambition is to put on a show like Sly & The Family Stone circa 1969

The enigmatic threesome that opened for Kasabian shocked the living daylights out of the audience with their freaky, mysterious grooves.
An embodiment of the real deal and a potential that lies within an unknown nationality, Great Adventure seemingly popped onto the North Saitama scene out of nowhere.

This mysterious trio leapt out onto the stage as Kasabian¡¯s opening act during their Japanese tour in November of 2004. Sporting police caps and sunglasses that looked like they were lifted from the possessions of an English policeman, they thoroughly managed to bewilder the packed crowd waiting for Kasabian, who stood stock-still at the sight of this anomaly. But more importantly, their sound is just incredibly cool! Halation causing samples and vigorously boosted keyboards top a mean side-swinging funk, rolling grooves contract and expand at will. And what¡¯s more, these guys pull off a maddeningly free form stage; their musical structure based on disco-punk is so full of holes and gaps, it leaves enough room for the rich and heavy grooves to play in.
Say hello to Great Adventure, the newcomers from North Saitama.

TARUMI (Bass) ¡°We¡¯ve played with loads of different bands in tons of different venues in the past¡¢but I felt like we finally met someone from the same scene when we played with Kasabian, like I sensed this connection on an international level, even though I wouldn¡¯t say we play the same sort of music. But in any event, it was really, like ¡®well finally!¡¯¡±

OTA (Vocals & Guitar) ¡°Playing with an electrifying band would have raised our adrenalin for sure, but honestly, that¡¯s something we¡¯d never previously experienced. Basically, there really aren¡¯t any bands in Japan that we can relate to musically. So Kasabian was the first to give us that sort of stimulation.¡±

Though they¡¯d plodded through the live circuits, it¡¯s not surprising to hear that they never once got along with the other bands on the same bill. Well of course they¡¯d never mix in with the present Japanese rock scene. After Kasabian¡¯s show, the audience who just got their first dose of the Great Adventure experience was split into two camps. One could be heard gasping ¡°incredible!¡±, ¡°who the hell are they?¡±, ¡°they¡¯re fantastic¡± to each other, while the other camp was turned off because they choose to speak in English when they¡¯re Japanese. What¡¯s important is not whether who is right or wrong, but that a show by Great Adventure is a force to be reckoned with and a surprising experience that cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand.

OTA (On why they speak in English during their set) ¡°Rather surprising they figured out we¡¯re Japanese. I don¡¯t mind if they think we¡¯ve got some nerve (speaking in English) when we¡¯re Japanese. The important thing is that they listen to our music. We started writing our lyrics in English just because it seemed to fit our music better ¨C like English bounced better off the rhythms we create. We obviously want our music to reach the ears of Japanese music lovers but that¡¯s not our ultimate goal. We¡¯d like to play with other foreign bands like we did today, and we¡¯d like to make it big internationally as well. You know there¡¯s no way your average Japanese band can handle English like a native speaker. So then they just shrug it off as impossible because of the language barrier and that¡¯s the end of that. But we owe our music to the English language so we can¡¯t stand to have our choices narrowed down by language problems.¡±

While I find it incredible that an anomaly such as they were growing quietly in the corners of northern Saitama for the 3 years they¡¯ve been together, listening to their album Great & Funky you¡¯ll understand that for them it was really a natural process.
The structure of the album is decidedly disorderly, what with funk, 4/4 beat disco, catchy melodies reminiscent of Brit Pop and brazenly loose guitar riffs. But it¡¯s not the kind of disorder that comes from trying to do everything just because they¡¯re clueless. Rather their music is filled with a conviction, knowing that their ideas fly in all directions because that¡¯s what makes part of their identity.

OTA ¡°After we started with our present lineup as a threesome, we¡¯d already begun envisioning our present sound, so it¡¯s no coincidence that we sound the way we do because that¡¯s what we set out to do from the start. I guess we never lose our way no matter what we do because we¡¯ve got strong foundations in our musical roots. You know, Country music, Blues and Punk. If for example, we all like the same sort of music and played the same style, we¡¯d only be able to do one thing, wouldn¡¯t we. But with our band, TARUMI¡¯s absolutely nuts about Funk music, Nomoto (on drums) likes to listen to the Stooges, Punk and Iggy Pop as well as David Bowie and Bob Dylan while I¡¯ll - Rockin' On