It’s ridiculously easy to get sucked into a Youtube time portal (as those total Yass Queens from Broad City can attest to.) One minute you’re watching an interesting video that’s informative and nothing to do with cats, the next minute you find yourself in the same spot, but it’s 5 am and you’ve accidentally stumbled upon the tear inducing hilarity that is a video of a baby covered in peanut butter. It happens.

Thankfully, it’s not always a complete waste of your existence. One such video trawling session occurred in the early hours one evening a year or so back, having discovered the video for ‘Ochansensu-su’ from the stupendous Japanese math-rock outfit tricot. Without any hesitation, I was soon blasting through everything they had released up to that point. My head was flooded with delectable, infectious math-rock songs that encompass all manner of styles, even flitting into J-pop territory on occasion. I was hooked from the first note, and it seems I was not alone. The videos too are all incredible little cinematic masterpieces!

That initial track was taken from their debut album ‘The’ when they were still playing as a four-piece. Following its release, the band parted ways with their drummer, citing music differences. Not to be deterred, when it came round to their sophomore album ‘And’, tricot elected not to fill the vacant spot with one drummer, instead using a range of different drummers, each brining their own style of play into the mix. The ludicrously cool video for the album’s fourth single ‘E’ is a nod to this, featuring the trio each sat at the kit at different times throughout.

This charming trio are making their highly anticipated return to UK soil this month, with performances scheduled for Leeds, Cardiff, Exeter, Brighton, Dublin, Glasgow and Leicester, with things kicking off in London at a sold out show at Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen this Friday! They’re playing alongside some Birthday Cake For Breakfast favourites too, with Canal Capitale, Delta Sleep and Axes getting involved in the festivities!

With excitement building for their first proper UK headline tour, Birthday Cake For Breakfast reached out to Motoko, Ikkyu and Hiromi (with a little help from Sho Yoshimoto at BAKURETSU RECORDS!) to discuss the tour, their expanding fan base and what they’ve got coming up this year.

BCFB: You’re returning to Europe soon, with shows in the UK this March. Where are you looking forward to getting to on the tour

Motoko “Motifour” Kida: I’m very happy to come back to Europe! We’ve been to the UK before, but only London and Cornwall. So I’m looking forward to going to more places in the UK and other countries that we have never been to on this tour.

The last time you were in the UK it was supporting the Pixies – Was that your first time playing the UK? How amazing an experience was that for you?

Ikkyu Nakajima: That was the first trip to the UK for the band, but we performed in London the day before we played with the Pixies. It was a great opportunity to have so many people in the UK watch our live performance, thanks to these shows. Most of them were seing us for the first time and they looked older than our fans, so it was not like they were moving and dancing so excitedly. But they reacted with cheers and applause after each song ended, so I believe we could show them that our music is cool!

Speaking of the UK, there’s a vote over on Facebook for who fans would like to see at this year’s ArcTanGent Festival, and Tricot are in the running! It would be fantastic to see you there – Are you familiar with the festival?

Hiromi “Hirohiro” Sagane: I didn’t know about that festival. I hope we can perform there sometime!

Last year saw your first North American tour – Are you thrilled that you seem to be rapidly picking up fans all over the world?

Motifour: Yes, I am. It’s so incredible for me. Amazing!

Your drummer left the band after your debut album was released, so for its follow up ‘And’ you used a number of different drummers – How was that whole process of trying out new drummers and creating different styles/sounds on the album?

Ikkyu: Under the negative situation that the drummer left the band, we were able to go further to the next step and to the new “tricot” – in terms of both musical and mental aspects – by doing sessions with many drummers. Each member tried to think and name drummers who we respect and wanted to play, then we asked them to join in for the album.

You recently released the delightfully titled ‘Pork Ginger’ – Is this from an upcoming release? What are you working on at the moment?

Ikkyu: We have been recording new songs and will release an EP with 5 songs in April. It was recorded with four drummers, who are different from the drummers on the previous album. But “Pork Ginger” is not included in it!

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