01Profile
A Yutaro Furutachi Photo
Yutaro Furutachi
Musician — Tokyo
03Interview
Name
Yutaro Furutachi
What do you do?
Musician
Where are you from?
Tokyo
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
There are two that stick in my memory. The first is Oasis on the Green Stage at the FUJI ROCK festival in 2009. I was there with a bandmate at the time, standing around three rows back from the front. I remember Liam threw his tambourine, and it dropped right by my mate. We then got caught up in the melee as people tried to grab it. The other is a show I was playing at when I joined The Libertines for a night. It was just before the pandemic brought everything to a halt, and Pete Doherty had to drop out of the Japan tour for personal reasons. The other band members, Carl Barât and Gary Powell decided to come by themselves, so they needed a bass and guitar, so I and another bandmate took the job. There was no rehearsal; we just did some tuning backstage and then went on. I loved The Libertines and had covered most of their songs before, so I knew the music, to the point where Carl asked me what the chords were in one song. I remember him saying, “you know our music better than we do!” (Laughs.) I’ll never forget that gig.
Which sub-cultures have influenced you?
When I was a teenager, my sister's boyfriend, who was four years older than me, got me into Western music. The Libertines were the first band I got into. The music began to influence my dress, and I'd choose clothes that I thought UK bands would wear — high-top Converse and skinny jeans, for example. I often went to vintage stores in Harajuku to dig around for those clothes.
Of all the venues you’ve played, which is your favorite?
MAPLE HOUSE — a music venue in central Tokyo. I first went there in the first year of the sixth form, and I have a lot of great memories there. It’s where I began playing live music shows.
If you could be on the line up with any bands in history?
I would love to duet with Rod Stewart and be completely owned by him (laughs). He has such a great voice. I like the song 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain', so I'd love to be on stage with him and hear his voice up close and both our voices coming through the speakers.
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
I don’t know all the ins and outs of her life, but I’d love to go on a date with Amy Winehouse. I’m a big fan of her voice and fashion sense — she had such a cool look. This scenario is all completely in my imagination, but I get the impression she’d be pretty strong-willed and want to make decisions, but I’d like to take the initiative and lead from the front. We’d go to Shibuya — a place I would probably know better than her (laughs).
Your greatest unsung hero (or heroine) in music?
Belle and Sebastian — I included a track of theirs on my playlist. I think music lovers in the previous generation know their music pretty well, but they are surprisingly unknown among my age group — I was born in 1991. I find that strange because many of their songs are ubiquitous masterpieces, and pretty much all generations share a strong affinity for their work.
02Playlist
04Playlist Notes
What is the concept of the playlist?
UK music lit the fuse for me to start listening to music seriously, so creating the playlist was almost like digging deep into my own identity. The music I chose are songs I still love to this day, but they also track my music-listening journey.
The first track you played on repeat?
That would be ‘Horrorshow’ by The Libertines. It’s from the album ‘Up The Bracket’, and I used to play it all the time. In fact, I loved it so much that my mail address at the time was up_the_bracket@--!
A song that defines the teenage you?
That’s a tricky one to answer… but I think I’ll say the Franz Ferdinand track, ‘Do You Want To’. I played that song at our leaving party in my final year at secondary school. It was before I’d formed a band, and we were pretty new to it all and naive — the song brings back lots of memories for me.
One record you would keep forever?
The Beatles’ album ‘Let It Be’. It’s the first album I ever bought. It’s a fantastic album with one of my favourite tracks — ’Across The Universe’.
A song lyric that has inspired you?
I would say the Radiohead track ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ from the album ‘The Bends’. When I was in the sixth form, I was really into video editing, and I used to use this song a lot. I read the translated lyrics, and they are very impactful.
Best song to turn up loud?
Sam Smith and his track ‘Stay With Me’. I always find myself singing along to the gospel-like chorus.
A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
That would probably be ‘Story Of My Life’ by One Direction. It was massively popular when I was a university student. Even though I was only listening to rock bands then, One Direction had such power over the pop music scene that their music seemed to transcend genres, and I liked that about them.
What new bands you are listening to now?
Inhaler. They made their debut in 2021, but they have a noughties kind of sound that is quite nostalgic for me.
03Interview
Name
Yutaro Furutachi
What do you do?
Musician
Where are you from?
Tokyo
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
There are two that stick in my memory. The first is Oasis on the Green Stage at the FUJI ROCK festival in 2009. I was there with a bandmate at the time, standing around three rows back from the front. I remember Liam threw his tambourine, and it dropped right by my mate. We then got caught up in the melee as people tried to grab it. The other is a show I was playing at when I joined The Libertines for a night. It was just before the pandemic brought everything to a halt, and Pete Doherty had to drop out of the Japan tour for personal reasons. The other band members, Carl Barât and Gary Powell decided to come by themselves, so they needed a bass and guitar, so I and another bandmate took the job. There was no rehearsal; we just did some tuning backstage and then went on. I loved The Libertines and had covered most of their songs before, so I knew the music, to the point where Carl asked me what the chords were in one song. I remember him saying, “you know our music better than we do!” (Laughs.) I’ll never forget that gig.
Which sub-cultures have influenced you?
When I was a teenager, my sister's boyfriend, who was four years older than me, got me into Western music. The Libertines were the first band I got into. The music began to influence my dress, and I'd choose clothes that I thought UK bands would wear — high-top Converse and skinny jeans, for example. I often went to vintage stores in Harajuku to dig around for those clothes.
Of all the venues you’ve played, which is your favorite?
MAPLE HOUSE — a music venue in central Tokyo. I first went there in the first year of the sixth form, and I have a lot of great memories there. It’s where I began playing live music shows.
If you could be on the line up with any bands in history?
I would love to duet with Rod Stewart and be completely owned by him (laughs). He has such a great voice. I like the song 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain', so I'd love to be on stage with him and hear his voice up close and both our voices coming through the speakers.
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
I don’t know all the ins and outs of her life, but I’d love to go on a date with Amy Winehouse. I’m a big fan of her voice and fashion sense — she had such a cool look. This scenario is all completely in my imagination, but I get the impression she’d be pretty strong-willed and want to make decisions, but I’d like to take the initiative and lead from the front. We’d go to Shibuya — a place I would probably know better than her (laughs).
Your greatest unsung hero (or heroine) in music?
Belle and Sebastian — I included a track of theirs on my playlist. I think music lovers in the previous generation know their music pretty well, but they are surprisingly unknown among my age group — I was born in 1991. I find that strange because many of their songs are ubiquitous masterpieces, and pretty much all generations share a strong affinity for their work.
04Playlist Notes
What is the concept of the playlist?
UK music lit the fuse for me to start listening to music seriously, so creating the playlist was almost like digging deep into my own identity. The music I chose are songs I still love to this day, but they also track my music-listening journey.
The first track you played on repeat?
That would be ‘Horrorshow’ by The Libertines. It’s from the album ‘Up The Bracket’, and I used to play it all the time. In fact, I loved it so much that my mail address at the time was up_the_bracket@--!
A song that defines the teenage you?
That’s a tricky one to answer… but I think I’ll say the Franz Ferdinand track, ‘Do You Want To’. I played that song at our leaving party in my final year at secondary school. It was before I’d formed a band, and we were pretty new to it all and naive — the song brings back lots of memories for me.
One record you would keep forever?
The Beatles’ album ‘Let It Be’. It’s the first album I ever bought. It’s a fantastic album with one of my favourite tracks — ’Across The Universe’.
A song lyric that has inspired you?
I would say the Radiohead track ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ from the album ‘The Bends’. When I was in the sixth form, I was really into video editing, and I used to use this song a lot. I read the translated lyrics, and they are very impactful.
Best song to turn up loud?
Sam Smith and his track ‘Stay With Me’. I always find myself singing along to the gospel-like chorus.
A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
That would probably be ‘Story Of My Life’ by One Direction. It was massively popular when I was a university student. Even though I was only listening to rock bands then, One Direction had such power over the pop music scene that their music seemed to transcend genres, and I liked that about them.
What new bands you are listening to now?
Inhaler. They made their debut in 2021, but they have a noughties kind of sound that is quite nostalgic for me.