by JOHNSON CUMMINS
translation by ALAN CUMMINGS

If you stripped psychedelic music down to the actual essence of the word “psychedelic,” you would wind up with Tokyo, Japan’s Acid Mothers Temple, an extended freak-moozeek “soul collective.” Since ’96, AMT’s panoramic sound has combined elements of white noise terror, Sabbathy rock groove and explosive free jazz, all played with teeth-gnashing heaviosity that is as aurally aggressive as it is mind-expanding. The Mirror exchanged e-mails with leader Kawabata Makoto, who knocked over a few ofs sacred cows.

Makoto on psychedelic music: “I don’t feel any longing for ‘psychedelic culture’ as it used to exist. It may have meant something at that particular time and place, but it would be pointless to try to resurrect that now. Not everything that has been broadly categorized as psychedelic music was good music. The creation of this idea of psychedelic music is something that has come about with the passage of time.”

Makoto on hippie cults: “The Acid Mothers Temple soul collective is totally different from the old-style hippie communes. I used to live in one of those communes, but I wasn’t able to get on with their left-wing politics and belief in nature. AMT is a collective of souls rather than a physical commune. As to how many members there are... maybe around 30? The reason why I can’t give a definite figure is that we’re open to anyone who wants to join, and anyone who wants to leave can do so whenever they like. And they can rejoin whenever they like. Some of us are involved with music, but lots of members are involved in totally different activities. Some perform or paint, some farm, some just drift around. Some are on the run from the yakuza, and one of our members is even on a quest to find mermaids. We’re a collective of social drop-outs, people with extreme ways of life. Some of us used to live together, but it was around the time of the subway gas attack by the Aum cult and we got mistaken for one of their cells and evicted. We’re not so weak or stupid that we believe that we always need to be together in a physical sense.

Makoto on drugs: When I was younger I tried every drug I could get my hands on. I realized that drugs can provide you with a hint but they can’t give you an answer. I was able to find my way to the door with the help of drugs, but for going beyond that door drugs were useless. Being high on drugs is only a fake experience. It can only give you a hint of what you can do without them. But at the same time, I don’t deny the role that drugs can play and I’m not against them. Everyone should be able to try them and find those hints about how to get to the next stage. Whether you decide to stop right there or progress depends on your own spiritual power.

Makoto on rock: The only thing we aim for is the coolness of rock. For me, any cool music is rock—Captain Beefheart, Stockhausen, troubadour music and Abba are all rock. But the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Aerosmith and Paul McCartney? Definitely not rock. :

Makoto “jams” with several local scenesters
on Monday, Oct. 14, $10, and the full AMT,
with HRSTA, play on Tuesday, Oct. 15, $15.
Both shows 9pm at la Sala Rossa

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