Japanese hard rock pioneers Murasaki will perform at the Time To Rock Festival in Sweden on July 6 (a Saturday). It will be their first concert not only in Sweden but in Europe as well. Their 1970s albums ”Murasaki”, ”Impact” and a live album that I have blogged about earlier, gave them a certain notoriety in Sweden back in the day, so this is an amazing thing that is about to go down. Not only for all the long-standing fans of Murasaki, but for the band themselves. This interview with George Murasaki has been made specifically to go public just as the concert is coming up. It is the second interview with George on this blog (see date in the archive mentioned below). The post right before this on the blog today is a nice bonus. Enjoy.
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The Time To Rock festival contacted you and offered you a spot in this years lineup. How was your reaction to hear from them?
– ”It came as quite a surprise. I may have already given the following explanation, but the first person in the world to send a message to my Facebook page almost immediately after I publicized it several years ago (after keeping it unpublicized for a few years even after I created it more than ten years ago) was a Swedish person named Erik Wahlstrom. He told me he had been a fan of Murasaki ever since our albums and singles released in Japan in the mid 1970s got released by a Swedish label called Heavy Sound Records in December 1978. He sent me pictures of his collection of records and CDs related to Murasaki. I told him I wanted the LP versions released in Sweden, so he hunted for them in used record stores in Sweden and sent them to me. In return, I sent him CDs released in Japan that were missing from his collection. We have been communicating on and off for all these years, but he told me that he went to the Time To Rock Festival last year and said that it was a nice rock festival held in a cozy atmosphere. He happened to meet the festival organizer Michael Ivarsson and told him that Murasaki has always been interested in performing in Sweden, especially because there had been talks of a European tour for the band in the late 1970s which never materialized because of the band’s initial breakup in 1978. (We did not know anything about this European tour plan. Had our record company and management told us about this before we disbanded, perhaps we may not have broken up and could have put on shows in Europe, including Sweden, around that era). Anyway, a couple of days after Erik told me that Michael Ivarsson would be contacting me soon, I got an email from the latter offering Murasaki to perform at the Time To Rock Festival. I accepted the offer without any hesitation, as performing in Sweden would be a dream come true (after nearly 50 years)”.
This will be your first gig in Sweden. Will the live set differ from shows in Japan?
– ”The live set will be quite similar to the last couple of shows we did in Japan, but we will add some songs from our latest album “Timeless” and perform several songs from “Purplessence” and “Quasar,” as well as a few songs from our 1970s albums “Murasaki” and “Impact””.
Can you mention some songs that you will perform for sure?
– ””Don’t Look Back” and ”Raise Your Voice” from ”Timeless”, “Heaven’s Gate” and “Borders Drawn in Blood” from ”Quasar”, “No Monsters” from ”Purplessence”, and a couple of older songs such as “Magic Mountain Way,” “Doomsday,” and “Mother Nature’s Plight””.
I highly regard the new album ”Timeless” that can be bought through import stores such as iMusic.dk. Can you tell us a little bit about this album?
– ”I wrote the music and JJ wrote the lyrics to “Raise Your Voice,” the first song on this album, when we received an offer for a documentary film on Murasaki. We decided to write more songs for a new album, which eventually came out as “Timeless”. The new album contains songs that we wish people to recognize what is going on in this world right now, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and think deeply about what can be done to restore peace and order and make the world a better place for everyone to live in”.
The cover art is a modern peace loving take on the first (1976) album work. Was the art commissioned to make a point?
– ”Our debut album released in April 1976 had a cover designed by an artist whom our Japanese record company hired. Since I formed the band in Okinawa, a small island prefecture in southern Japan that hosts the majority of US military bases in the country, the record company redesigned a flag-shaped logo, which had a peace mark on each of the four corners in our original design, and it seemed okay at first, but later on, some people (especially non-Japanese people) got the impression that it was designed after the Japanese imperial navy flag. However, we never intended that when we first had a local flag making company make it for us. Consequently, it caused reactions that we never expected. Therefore, the artist hired for the album cover on ”Timeless” took the same album cover and added some changes (flowers) to create an impression that the band believes in and stands up for peace and love”.
To me, Murasaki has never sounded better than today. How does it differ to record an album now if you compare to the early days?
– ”With modern recording technology that our bassist Chris has mastered, we can sound just the way we want us to sound compared to when we recorded our works in the 1970s when our recording company hired engineers, directors, producers, etc. who had their own ideas. We now have full control over our recordings in terms of concept, music, production, mixing, mastering, and various other aspects”.
Is there any chance that this concert at the Time To Rock festival will be recorded or filmed?
– ”Yes, there is a possibility. We have received an offer from a German company that records/films live performances, etc., so if all goes well, we may get to release a live recording CD/album and/or DVD, etc”.
Bow Wow from Japan is also on the bill. Have you met them before?
– ”Yes, we toured with Bow Wow and guitarist Char’s band in 1977 titled “New Wave Concert” that took us across several major cities in Japan, culminating in a concert at Budokan on July 28, 1977. This tour was recreated under the title “New Wave Concert” at Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall in August last year, with Murasaki performing with Char’s band and Kyoji Yamamoto’s band Bow Wow G2. In our recent concert in Tokyo, we had Kyoji appear as a guest. Additionally, Kyoji and I also performed together at a concert in Tokyo titled “Tribute to the Artists Fighting Cancer – Rock Summit 2014″ when Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice was invited as a guest in late November 2014”.
How is the rock scene in Japan these days in your opinion?
– ”Even though you often hear the phrase “Rock will never die,” the music scene in Japan appears to be overrun by rap, hiphop, and club music events. Younger artists may play rock music, but they tend to insert rap sections into their performances. However, like you often mention, there are groups like Babymetal and many other female rockers and rock bands that I also think are leading the hard rock and metal scene not only in Japan but also overseas such as the US and Europe”.
Is there anything that you would like to say to the fans that will see you in Sweden now?
– ”It seems like a miracle that we will be performing at a rock festival in Sweden where rock fans were exposed to our music in the late 1970s. It’s also exciting for us that bands such as Uriah Heep, whose songs we were covering before we landed a recording contract with a major Japanese label, will be performing at the same festival. Since we will be performing with veteran groups as well as younger artists from around the world at this festival, we are looking forward to presenting our music with our best performance so we can gain added support from rock fans in Sweden, hoping that we can come back to Sweden, as well as get invited to various rock events in Sweden and in other parts of Europe”.
(End of interview)
By Mike Eriksson (if quoted let me know about it) / Trinkelbonker (2024)
(My shot of Murasaki CDs etc)
The first interview with George Murasaki can be found in the archives on December 3 2021 – this is a much longer interview with loads of history. Trinkelbonker has written several times about Murasaki and related topics. See the ”Japanese Rock & Metal” tag on this blog.
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CLASSIC ROCK INTERVIEWS ON TRINKELBONKER: METALLIC KITTY/DECADENCE 2007 (May 14 2024), FABIENNE SHINE/SHAKIN`STREET 2008 (May 9 2024), ECHOES OF ETERNITY 2007 (May 6 2024), 220 VOLT 2002 (April 17 2024), THEY WATCH US FROM THE MOON 2024 (March 29 2024), BERNIE MARSDEN 1981 (September 3 2023), BRIDEAR 2023 (June 13 2023), STEVE LUKATHER 1989, Part 2 (May 29 2023), LADIES OF ROCK 2008 (April 25 2023), GLENN HUGHES 1993 (February 23 2023), JON LORD 1983 (June 26 2022), BLIND GOLEM 2022 (April 29 2022), PUBLISHER HANS HATWIG 2015 (Part 2, December 24 2021), MURASAKI 2021 (December 3 2021), PUBLISHER HANS HATWIG 2015 (Part 1, November 22 2021), CARINA LIROLA 2008 (November 9 2021), TOTO 1987 (September 17 2021), HEAVEN & EARTH 2001 (July 25 2021), STUART SMITH 1998 (July 4 2021), RAINBOW 1997 (June 28 2021), MARINA AMMOURI 2021 (February 12 2021), VISIONS OF ATLANTIS 2007 (November 10 2020), RITCHIE BLACKMORE & CANDICE NIGHT 2001 (October 27 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (October 18 2020), ACCEPT 1986 (July 17 2020), DEEP PURPLE 1996 (June 27 2020), EUROPE 1986 (June 16 2020), DEEP PURPLE PODCAST 2020 (April 6 2020), KIMBERLY GOSS/SINERGY 2002 (March 31 2020), RAINBOW 1997 (March 9 2020), RAINBOW 1996 (March 6 2020), MICHAEL BRADFORD 2003/MAKING OF DEEP PURPLE´S “BANANAS” (March 2 2020), URIAH HEEP 1988 (February 18 2020), ANNE-LIE RYDÉ 1984 (January 21 2020), CRYSTAL VIPER 2020 (January 16 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (January 12 2020), ARTOMUS FRIENDSHIP 2019 (November 10 2019), NAZARETH 1989 (August 26 2019), VELVET INSANE 2018 (September 11 2018), JON LORD 1981 (December 15 2015), DAVID COVERDALE 1981 (November 13 2015), GLENN HUGHES 1996 (May 12 2015), TOTO 1988 (March 31 2015), YNGWIE MALMSTEEN 1990 (March 1 2015), MARTINA EDOFF 2009 (December 4 2014), MICHAEL MOJO NILSSON 2014 (January 21 2014), THE HUGHES TURNER PROJECT 2001 (December 29 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1996-1998 (October 9 2013), GLENN HUGHES & JOHN NORUM 1988 (September 21 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1994-1995 (September 9 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1993 (September 7 2013), STEVE LUKATHER 1989 (September 4 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1983 (August 22 2013), RAINBOW 1995 (July 19 2013), MICK UNDERWOOD/GILLAN 1982 (June 11 2013), DEEP PURPLE 2002 (May 2 2013), DEEP PURPLE 1998 ( February 25 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1986 (February 12 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1987-1989 (December 31 2012), JOHNNIE BOLIN 2012 (December 24 2012), MARTIN POPOFF & RICH GALBRAITH 2009 (November 12 2012), DAVID COVERDALE 2000 (October 14 2012), JON LORD 1984 (September 7 2012), JOE LYNN TURNER 1992 (August 31 2012), JUDAS PRIEST 1986 (August 22 2012), RONNIE JAMES DIO 2001 (August 20 2012), NIGHTWISH 2002 (August 14 2012).
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