whales, playfulness, and a silly gay clown

Written and Photographed by Michelle LoBianco

Brooklyn based band first president of japan talks about playing at a food court in Chinatown, whale falls, and their upcoming EP, “Your Recommended Daily Intake Of first president of japan”.

Brooklyn, USA

Why are you called “first president of japan”?

When talking about our name I’ve been finding it important to reiterate! Clarify! DOUBLE DOWN! That we are not First President of Japan or THE first president of japan, or even First president of japan, we are first president of japan, all lower-case, no preceding articles, in the tradition of adrienne maree brown and bell hooks. I have no interest in the band being a “proper noun.” I don’t want to be proper anything!

The words “first”, “president”, and “Japan” are each brimming with so much hierarchical, patriarchal energy. Let’s reduce them to little words that come together to mean a silly gay clown fronted punk band. Also, all these letters are way cuter lower case.

But WHY first president of japan? Here’s the pretentious artsy answer I’ve been workshopping in preparation of being elevated to avant garde, performance art status (we’ll take a Macarthur genius grant, thank you!): Contemporary Japanese playwright Toshiki Okada, heavily influenced by Brecht (as am I (Non)), creates theatre that centers Japan’s ‘lost generation’ and those who exist in the margins. An adept user of verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect, coined by Brecht - I told you, we’re getting pretentious), Okada’s plays do not allow for audience passivity as he exposes inadequacies of government, social structures, and other socio-economic contexts that easily get taken for granted. In his post 3/11 play “Zero Cost House” (tr. Aya Ogawa), Sakaguchi – a character based on the architect Kyohei Sakaguchi who specializes in housing for the unhoused – decides to act upon his dissatisfaction towards the government’s response to the earthquake and disasters that followed by declaring himself the Prime Minister of Japan on Twitter. He says “I am perfectly aware of the shadiness of my statements, and my existence. Go ahead, watch me, criticize me, that’s fine.” He’s fine because he will at least know he “...lived in this world and put my ideas into practice, and those who laugh at me, were just watching me, and the world, while I was really experiencing it.” If you’ve humored me by reading this far, you’re probably meant to be the love of my life so please come find me at a show so we can keep talking about first president of japan as Brechtian theatre.

What is one of your favorite songs to perform and why?

I… mean! Our closer of all closers, WHYEDFM. It’s camp, it’s epic, it gives us so much space for playfulness. Our one last moment to leave everything on the stage with the audience. It takes our set and turns it into a Show.

What has been your favorite show?

During our first year, we got to do a show at Mott Street Eatery, a food court in Chinatown. 6pm on a Saturday, prime dinner time. I will never forget the transformation of the room from being annoyed/upset that loud music could disrupt their family outing to aunties and grannies standing up, dancing, lifting babies and children into the air. As a granny’s-boy it still warms my heart to look back on that intergenerational joy.

Tell us a little about your latest single, or if you have a new single upcoming?

We just released WHALE SONG, a single from our upcoming EP, “Your Recommended Daily Intake Of first president of japan.” It’s a short and sweet moshpit banger that emerged from my obsession with whale falls – what happens when a whale dies – and distress upon learning how many whales have been choosing to beach themselves rather than whale falling.

What are a few sources of inspiration when you write?

Before I started this band, stand up was my main form. So I approach songwriting with the same brain I used for jokewriting. It all still comes from the same place: observations, fixations, “this thing happened to me” – it’s just applying it to how a song functions, rather than a joke. This sometimes confuses people into thinking I’m aiming for musical comedy, which, absolutely not. That is a different form.

Musically, all of our backgrounds and inspiration are pretty different, so I think everyone brings in what they like and want to play, and we jam and figure out how we want to fit into each other’s ideas. I am a clown though, so it does ultimately have to land where it feels good to perform in my body.

What is next for fpoj? What are you all working on now (tour)?

We have “Your Recommended Daily Intake Of first president of japan” coming out on April 7th, and then we’re going on the road! We kick things off on 4/10 at MACROCK Festival in Harrisonburg VA, and go to Philly, Boston, Providence, New Haven, and come home to Brooklyn. We have some festivals down the pipeline and a ton of shows. All the info will be available on Instagram @firstpresidentofjapan and on our website firstpresidentofjapan.com

You have zero excuse to not see us live!!!