I first discovered Polkadot Stingray in late May of this year. I was watching Shiggy Jr.’s video for “Koishitara Baby” and saw the thumbnail for “Telecaster Stripe” as a suggested video. I was in a music-discovering mood and I’m glad I was, because the video completely blew me away.

I showed the video to a friend of mine (I think it had around 60,000 views at this point), and I think I prefaced it with telling him “this band fucking radiates coolness.”

Who could argue with that? The band, the music, the video, are all top notch. Just from this one song, you can tell that this band really knows how to play their instruments. There are bands I love, but I wouldn’t exactly call those bands musical pioneers. However, it’s evident each member of Polkadot Stingray is extremely talented. What makes it all even more impressive is that this video and digital single were created without the help of any label.

I don’t understand enough of the lyrics to figure out what exactly the song is about, but I’m very curious. For those who don’t know, a Fender Telecaster is a popular guitar. Available in several designs, you can get some with stripes on them. Stripes can possibly be seen on the backs of some guitars in the video, but the images are blurry. One image clearly shows stickers. For me, this all adds to the mystery! Furthermore, most guitars in the video are not Telecasters. I can make an educated guess that that the title is a metaphor. There is a bit of English mixed in the song, most notably “fall in love with you” and “try to stay away from me” in the chorus. However, some Japanese lyrics sites lists that last bit as “darling, stay away from me.”

I was headed to Japan in July of this year, planning to spend most of my time in Tokyo and Fukuoka over 3 weeks. I learned that Fukuoka happens to be the band’s hometown, and to my luck, they were playing a show there when I would be visiting!

It was an odd show; I could tell that before even arriving. It was at Kieth Flack on July 31, a Sunday. I headed there after a day at Seaside Momochi, mostly spending my time on Momochihama Beach directly in front of Fukuoka Tower.

After communicating with the ticket guy that I had been talking with the venue online a few weeks ago and was entitled to the early bird ticket price, I walked into the place. I remember the stairs were quite steep. I opened the door not knowing what to expect. It was a pretty small space, and not a great layout for shows. It was really narrow, but hey, that’s Japan. I look to the left and see the bar, and guess who? A few members of Polkadot Stingray!

That was super ironic, considering I had shown the “Telecaster Stripe” video to another my friend a few days beforehand and said “I’d love to have a beer with them and talk about music.”

There are times when I don’t mind acting as the dumb, out-of-place foreigner, and times when I can feel that I shouldn’t. This was the latter. The band was just relaxing and having some drinks while waiting for their turn to perform, so I let them be. I can’t say I don’t regret it a little bit; I’d love to take a picture with them!

The show was actually an album release party for another band. A total of about 6 or 7 acts were playing, and I believe Polkadot Stingray was third to play. That’s what I found quite odd: I had never heard of any of the other acts, but Polkadot Stingray were opening for 3 others. The “Telecaster Stripe” video had about 500,000 views at this point I believe, so they were definitely breaking through.

Moreover, Kieth Flack doesn’t hold many people upstairs at all. Maybe 150 maximum. It seemed really undersized for them, but I guess they weren’t a household name just yet. All people I met in Fukuoka who asked what I was doing in town said they had never heard of the band when my reply was “going to a Polkadot Stingray concert.”

I took in the other performers and a couple drinks before my main act took the stage, progressively making my way towards the front. What was really cool about a small venue such as Kieth Flack is that the band had to walk right through the crowd to enter and exit the stage. The equivalent to the backstage area is what is marked on the map above as “private”.

The show was everything I could have asked for. They played the two songs I knew, “Telecaster Stripe” and “Yoake No Orange.” I actually didn’t know that the band had released a 3-song EP in 2015, but saw the Yoake No Orange video through YouTube after watching “Telecaster Stripe” a dozen or so times. “Telecaster Stripe” was the final song in their setlist. They paused before the pitch-changing final chorus, and got us to exchange “ah Telecaster Stripe” with them for a while to add to the buildup. Job well done. Their stage presence was just as cool as I perceived it to be from their music video.

Every song was so technical and fun. Upon leaving the show, I found myself thinking about how much I was looking forward to hearing new recorded material from them. On November 9, my prayers were answered with the Honenuki EP!

They also released a video for “Ningyo” in September in further support of the EP release. Ever wanted to see a great band perform in a bathtub? Well here you go. The song peaked at #31 in the third week of November on the Tokio Hot 100. It’s great to see them continuing to gain exposure. They even appear in some recent Google Android commercials!

This latest one, released on December 1, has the band pop up from being buried alive in their large photo collection. They then convey how it’s easy to find your photos with Google Photo. Throughout this, they are performing an original song created just for the commercial! I would imagine that someone on Google’s side wrote the song, but it still feels like their style. Even in an ad, I get the vibes of how damn cool they are.

This one, released a couple of weeks prior, has the band make a cameo along with people from around the world. They all have trouble finding the photo they’re looking for, but then discover the operating system’s search features. The video has not been received very well at all, with nearly as many dislikes as likes. I’m not quite sure of the reason. There’s also a long version.

I look forward to see where Polkadot Stingray go from here. If I ever get the opportunity to sit next to them at a bar to chat or take a photo with them again, I’m absolutely taking it!

I’ll leave you with the Snapchat I posted to my story upon leaving Kieth Flack:

Update: Polkadot Stingray have been included on my list of The Best Japanese Songs of 2016!