While their name may sound like a Japanese band, the duo Fujiya & Miyagi are an English group that formed in Brighton in 2000. Their music deftly moves from one genre to another, with a preference for “Krautrock”, deep soul and pop, as demonstrated by their recent album Lightbulbs.
They’ve been compared to a long list of musicians, including The Human League, Pink Floyd, Tom Tom Club, David Byrne, Brian Eno, Wire, Serge Gainsbourg and James Brown. In the following interview, singer and guitarist David Best gives us a glimpse of his world of music and much more.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW FOR YOOX.COM
1. Three words to define your music.
Fujiya & Miyagi.
2. A Japanese name for an English band. What do you like about Japan?
None of us have ever been which adds to the mystery of why we chose the name, I suppose. At the time, Japanese culture seemed more interesting than British culture as when we started British music was recovering from Britpop.
3. Last concert you saw.
Project Jenny, Project Jan in Manchester.
4. The first record you bought.
Shakin’ Stevens & Bonnie Tyler, A Rockin’ Good Way (To Mess Around And Fall In Love).FUJIYA & MIYAGI’S DREAM BOX
5. If you had the chance to make a time-travel trip, in which period would you like to live?
I’d like to go back to the plague of London and see if it was any different than it is today
6. An artist you really dislike.
Walter Sickert.
7. Your favorite writer.
Vladimir Nabokov.
8. If you had to use your last album as a film soundtrack, which movie would you chose?
Silent Running.
9. Which are the forms of artistic expression that you like? Besides music, of course…
I like some books and some paintings but I prefer music as it doesn’t physically exist. It also takes less time to listen to than it does to read a book and it stands up to repeated use more.
10. Can you tell me one of your dreams?
I used to have dreams where I found the same record really cheap in a record shop. This went on for years. It was a Galaxie 500’s record, which I owned anyway. It was most curious.
11. If you were not a musician, what would you like to be?
A footballer for Arsenal.
12. Your biggest wish.
That racism didn’t exist.
13. An artist (or more than one) you’d like to invite to collaborate to your next album.
I’d like Jaki Liebeziet on drums for a song and MF Doom on maybe the same tune as well.
14. Mark Twain wrote: “Man – a creature made at the end of the week’s work when God was tired.” Do you agree?
Yes, and we should remember that we are not as important as we think we are.
Lightbulbs
Listen and download the album on iTunes
