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Who is Pandora Pop? What's Girl Pop Manga Punk about?
Where are we now? And is this still The Rock Explosion?
Of course here we are, and we'd like to make you meet
The Popzillas, a band which sells superpowers to give
super pleasures!
Hi Guys! Do you want to introduce
yourselves to the Italian fans ? Who are the PopZillas?
Yvy Pop: Okay -
here we go! The Popzillas are a conglomerate of 4 musicians
from all different angles of the universe. We are the
favourite band of our superheroine from NeoTokyo Pandora
Pop, and we describe ourselves as GirlPopMangaPunk:
Girl-fronted, Poppy LolitaVoice, Manga-Artwork and Loud
Guitars. In ancient times we used to play in bands such
as Swoons, Heroines or Faked Id. Italian fans probably
recognize our encore "Tu e l'estate" in the
film "L'Ultimo Bacio" of my former band The
Bambams.
How the PopZillas were born?
I know that you originate all from precedents experience.
Particularly you Yvy, have played with the Heroines,
why did you quit the band? Are you still in good relationships
with them?
Yvy Pop: The musical
roots of The Popzillas range from PopPunk to Artcore.
I think, this tensing mixture of different kind of genres
and influences makes our music special and entertaining.
Regarding The Heroines, yes we're still in contact.
We are now Penpals (laughs).
Are you inspired by Pandora Pop?
Do you wanna tell us life, death and miracles about
this heroine? I know that you're also working on a papery
version of these adventures. Who creates the graphic?
Yvy Pop: All the
band is inspired by Pandora, especially Sonic, guitarist
and songwriter and me. And I believe that Pandora and
me have a special mental relation… although we
never met personally. She was contaminated by nuclear
radiation, and since then she improved supernatural
skills such as telepathic communication and hypersonic
acoustic pressure. Although she feels, that something
inside is killing her, she fights the evil with all
her power. The mighty graphic-designer Le Han Nguyen,
my best friend, is doing most of the artwork, especially
the comic issues and character design. Our upcoming
Video Clip will be comic style, made by friends of us
and the Flash animation of our website made by Marc
is also worth seeing it. You see, there's a whole Popzillas
Factory working for us (laughs).
You define your sound as ''GirlPopMangaPunk''.
Do you wanna describe it with your words?
Mr. Bonsai: It´s
always better to create a section for your music-style
before someone else puts you into a miserable one, which
absolutely doesn´t quite fit…
How were your songs born? Who
writes the lyrics and who writes the music? Is it a
team work or is the songwriting just in the hands of
a particular member of The PopZillas?
Mr. Bonsai: Deathmonkey
gives birth to the songs. The rest of us raises them
up as if they were our own ones. The lyrics are mostly
part of Yvy´s and Deathmonkey´s visions
after watching movies (I guess!)… Rockzilla and
me are more to criticise both of them (laughs).
Yvy Pop & Sonic Deathmonkey:
But we love Bonsai and Rockzilla anyway…
According to me, your most representative
song is ''Pandora Pop''. You made me remember of an
American band, The Powder, which is also superheroes
oriented . Do you know them?
Mr. Bonsai: I´ve
never heard of this band.
Yvy Pop: Shame on me, I
don't know them either…
Yvy you have indeed a superb
voice, are you an autodidactic or did you follow specific
studies?
Yvy
Pop: The famous shower cabine gave birth to my
voice, but I seriously started singing at the age of
12. I screamed in a school punkrock coverband, inspired
by Nina Hagen. After then I became singer of M.D.W.
a really good band with sophisticated german lyrics
where I met my future BamBams member Ingo & Flo.
I'm autodidactic, but recently I started educating my
voice seriously.
Your sound spreads optimism,
do you really believe that the world can be saved through
a smile as recited by the homonym song?
Mr. Bonsai: As long
as the world is ruled by people like George "Idiot
son of an asshole" Bush, there is not much left
to believe in but a smile - especially when Bush turns
to eat some Pretzel again… But I feel optimistic
concerning the point that his term of "government"
is going to be over soon! It's just one point of improvement
but an important one! So, optimism never ends…
Yvy Pop: I believe that
a smile can open closed doors. You definitely ease your
life, considering barriers less hidebound. The lyrics
of "Save The World" are ironic indeed, but
to solve global problems, irony is quite a good way.
With this look, sound and attitude
you should be successful in the Country of the Rising
Sun! Am I wrong or am I right? I think that you are
very connected with Japan.
Mr. Bonsai: I definitely
wanna go there as I've never been to Asia so far! I
am very curious about the country, the people, venues
and bands!
Yvy Pop: I love Japan.
Le Han and me spent New Years Eve 1998/99 in Tokyo and
it really affected us. The Popzillas' comic style is
a hybrid hommage to western Marvel Comics and eastern
Manga/Animes - at least for geographical reasons. Of
course we reach out for a Japan Tour, this would be
Marvellous!
Then I have made a kind of equation.
The PopZillas are to Germany as Godzilla is to Japan.
I believe that you thought to it when you picked up
your monicker...
Yvy Pop: First we
thought about asian-movies-60/70s-trash-concept. We
read a lot about japanese monster cult and cult monsters.
The name Popzillas should take a bow. Then suddenly
NeoTokyos superheroine Pandora Pop was contaminated
by nuclear radiation and improved supernatural skills.
As we knew that The Popzillas are her favourite band,
we decided to dedicate most of our songs to her.
How's to work with VitaminePillen?
I think that in Germany this label have a good visibility
and a strong potential.
Mr. Bonsai: The relationship
between label and band is great. Both sides try to give
their best concerning music-things (not to call it "business"!).
Of course, times are getting harder for both labels
and bands. But as long as we are able to keep recording
and Playing live everything's just fine!
Yvy Pop: Yeah, as the music
industrie's about to collapse and record deals ain't
easy to get these days, we are more than happy to have
found a home on Vitaminepillen Records. Our label-relation
(especially Sonics) lasts for years, and as The Popzillas
were born Ralf of Vitaminepillen was thrilled soon.
I also would ask you from do
your alias or nicknames come from. Is there any hidden
meaning behind them? If there is, please let's explain
it to us...
Yvy Pop: Well, of
course our names are wrapped in mystery. But to explain
the origin of each name, it would fill a book…
Which are the bands of the past
and those of today to which you feel closer to? Is there
any new German band that you would recommend to The
Rock Explosion's readers?
Mr. Bonsai: Important bands
in the past were bands like Ramones, Bad Religion, Nofx,
Social Distortion. Important bands for me in the present
are bands like the Weakerthans, Wir Sind Helden (to
name a good German band) but also bands like Helmet,
Tool, Therapy?… there are too many good bands to
name closely all of them, and I only say positive things
today…
But let's give a look to the future:
do you want to give us some anticipation about the new
album? I believe that our readers are waiting to know
Yvy Pop: The new
album will be entitled: "The Incredible Adventures
of Pandora Pop" and will contain versatile and
diverting tracks ranging from punkrock and glam to heartbreaking
pop ballads and ska/reggae tunes. That sounds quite
a lot, but I can assure you that the manifold tracklist
will be more than entertaining…
How is your live activity going?
Is there any show you remember with greater pleasure?
If there is at least one, would you like to tell us
the reason why?
Mr. Bonsai: There was only
one really bad show so far - the one in our hometown.
All other shows were just great!
Yvy Pop: Yeah, the homeplay
gig had a terrible sound. And it was much too loud.
At one gig I remember a boy in front of the stage singing
every hookline with me. As we presented just new songs,
I was charmed by his perfectly improvised phonetic version.
At another gig I wore a much too short skirt - without
realizing this tiny detail - and i was amazed about
the enthusiastic whistling boy-crowd.
Favourite drink, movie and the
5 top albums of all times:
Mr. Bonsai: Beer and vanilla
tea, "Fight Club" (just to name one), favourite
albums (five is very few!): Bad Religion - "Suffer";
Social Distortion - "White Light, White Heat, White
Trash"; Helmet - "Meantime"; Primus -
"Frizzle Fry"; Tool - "Lateralus".
Yvy Pop: This is a flavour
of the day question, so I start with my favourite drink:
a glas of good red wine (Vino Nobile di Montepulciano),
my favourite films - this is difficult, there are so
much. I was impressed about "Boys Don't Cry",
I was paralyzed by "Solaris" (both versions),
I was affected by Visconti's "La Caduta degli Dei"
(with Helmut Berger appearing as Marlene Dietrich) and
I still dram of Neil Jordan's "Company Of The Wolves".
Five favourite albums of all time are impossible to
choose. Let's modify the question into a fictional scene:
On a lonely island with just a solar-recordplayer, i
would take "This Is Hardcore" of The Pulp,
"Rattus Norvegicus" of The Stranglers, "Unbehagen"
of Nina Hagen, "Die Schwarze" of TSS (German
band) and "The Incredible Adventures of Pandora
Pop" to practise, in case someone would save me,
this could be useful…
Now a little personal curiosity:
do you know the Curlees Wurlee? I have met back them
during an Italian Festival! These girls and boys have
attracted my attention.
Mr. Bonsai: I already
heard that name but never heard any songs of them…
Yvy Pop: I don't know them
personally, but Anouschka of Thunderwoman/Thunderbaby
Records gave me their Xmas Single. Like all the Thunderbands,
I really like them. The Boonaraaas (god help me spell
the name) are also a great german Girlband. Watch out
for them!
Hey Guys, the interview is over,
wanna say goodbye to your italian fans? MangaMusic Rules!!!
Mr. Bonsai: My favourite
food is pasta (really!), so invite us to play in Italy!!!
And, by the way, get a new leader for your Country!
Yvy Pop: Okay so first
of all thanx to Rock Explosion especially to Bruno.
And let me try my last sentences in Italian: Ragazzi,
speriamo di vedervi presto, date un'occhiata al nostro
sito web www.popzillas.com,
che veramente vale la pena e lasciateci un messaggino
nel guestbook. Non vediamo l'ora di essere on tour in
Italia. Vi salutiamo, Rock'n'Roll e Baci!
Intervista realizzata da Bruno
Rossi.
Traduzione realizzata da Margherita
Realmonte e Laura
Delnevo.
Supervisione di Margherita
Realmonte.
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