“If I were the devil/I wouldn’t have made the world like this/We can’t count the time of our life/Because nobody knows how long we’ve got,”

Eriko Hashimoto sings plaintively on “Sekai ga Owaru Yoru ni.” It’s pretty heavy stuff for a top 10 hit, but that’s precisely why Chatmonchy is so popular. Like Yutaka Ozaki and Mr. Children, the three-piece band uses rock ‘n’ roll as a platform for expressing honest feelings and observations about life, and they don’t shy away from showing discontent. Despite the importance of lyrics to their music, Chatmonchy’s melodic and heartfelt music appeals to American J-rock fans, many of who were introduced to the girls by the song “Daidai” featured in the anime Bleach. Chatmonchy made their American debut on the 2010 Japan Nite tour, kicking off at South by Southwest and hitting New York City on Mar. 21 and 22.

Chatmonchy had fairly typical origins. Hashimoto formed the group in 2000, while she was still a high school student in Tokushima. The lineup changed a few times due to academic and other obligations but reached stability in 2004 with Hashimoto on lead vocals and guitar, Akiko Fukuoka on bass and Kumiko Takahashi on drums. The trio released an independent record and sold it themselves. A year later, they were signed to Ki/oon Records and released the album Chatmonchy Has Come, produced by Junji Ishiwatari of Supercar. By November 2006, they had their first top 10 hit single, Shangri-La. To date, they’ve released five major albums, including the B-side collection Expression from this March.

At the time of the interview, Chatmonchy was preparing for their New York shows. They spent their free time at SxSW checking out other bands, such as Takahashi’s favorite The XX. Fukuoka remarked that the festival was unlike anything in Japan, but Hashimoto found it too crowded. Takahashi had food on the brain, describing how she ate a hamburger in Texas and a bagel and donuts in New York.

Though they’d dreamed of performing in America as far back as two years ago, the girls didn’t try to make it a reality until after they’d completed a satisfying album, 2009’s Kokuhaku. Following a successful tour, the three decided to do whatever they wanted from that moment, and transformed their SxSW offer into a longer tour. “Regardless of the lyrics being in Japanese, we wanted to play in the U.S. without the boundary of lyrics,” Takahashi says. “We want to reach the audience here purely with our music.”
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