MASH BROWN(マッシュブラウン)
https://www.mashbrown.jp/
Formed in Osaka in May 2017 after a predecessor band. Full-scale start from July.
A style of music that incorporates elements of jazz and country into the musicality influenced by Western pops.
Express free pop without being bound by the band sound.
All songs are available for free distribution (free download from HP, spotify, Apple Music, LINE MUSIC).
As soon as he formed, he was selected as a MASH FIGHT (MASH A & R) monthly artist and nominated for an eo music try Main Award.
In the start-up project, both Osaka and Tokyo were almost live with the mobilization of SOLD OUT.
In December 2019, MASH BROWN's first one-man live will be held.
Marching
Bye Bye
This is a Beautiful
Hello to everyone watching on Mahocast!
We are MASH BROWN.
I'm Kenta Tanaka on guitar and main vocals.
I'm Shobu Oda on guitar and backing vocals.
I'm Chaso on keyboard.
Thanks for tuning in.
Q.How did you form your band?
So for how we formed the band...
Well we were in a band together before this one
so as we were in that band
there was an accident
and we went on hiatus
for about a year? maybe six months
so we had this period of free time
and we decided to start MASH BROWN on the side to fill the time.
We totally changed the songs and a few things and melodies ended up changing
so we decided to try our best from then on as MASH BROWN.
Originally we were all classmates in high school
like this one's an acquaintance from middle school
he's another kind of thing
and I'd always wanted to make a band
so around the start of my second year at uni
I was like "man I wanna start a band"
and we were good friends
like he's a really great singer
and he used to play guitar
so he had a guitar too
So I just sent a message saying 'hey let's make a band'
and he was just like 'yeah sure'.
so with this really lighthearted feeling
like just because he had a guitar
not even because he played it
just because I'd heard from a friend that he had one
yeah right
so that's pretty much how we began.
Q.How did you come up with your band name?
Our band name?
It doesn't mean anything in particular...
Yeah not really
It's more about the way it sounds
we did have a few conditions though
Yeah we did hey.
When we were thinking about what we should go with for our name
we wanted a name that was easy to say
that was easy to remember and that was likeable.
For example
we started from there
and we want the name to start with an '~a' sound like a ka sa ta na
and we wanted to include a colour
and we wanted to include the 'n' sound from 'waon' (Japanese music)
and if the first letter is a symmetrical letter like M A or W
then it's easier to design a logo out of it
and then with that emphasis on likeability and making it easy to say
we came up with a few ideas
and we got a good name hey?
It really is a good name.
MASH BROWN
It's easy to say.
Because people kept getting our old band name wrong
we wanted a name you couldn't mess up.
When we first put forward "mash brown"
Our original bassist quickly messed it up
and wrote "MUSH BROWN"
like we specifically wanted a name you couldn't make mistakes with
and so went with MASH BROWN
then he comes in with a MU for MUSH BROWN.
Q.What kind of band are you?
MASH BROWN is...
A trendy pop band I guess?
So we say?
"Yeah we're a trendy pop-band"
I mean we...
Yeah
We're trendy.
We do trendy fun pop.
More than a kind of 'band sound'
we're more pop I think.
We want try all kinds of things.
Q.Regarding the one-man live show
It's unreal but on December 8th
we as MASH BROWN will hold our first one-man live show titled "Introduction".
December 8th yeah.
We'll have our first one-man show at a place in Osaka called Fukushima 2ndLINE
what do you think?
I think it feels a bit like "oh finally!"
Yeah you're not wrong.
We've always wanted to do one.
Are you looking forward to it?
Will you be coming?
I wonder what songs we'll be playing?
Have you bought your ticket?
I haven't.
Please go buy it quick.
I want to see that scenery you can only see at a one-man show.
As for what scenery that is I mean the scenery we can see from our side.
I think it will have a unique atmosphere.
On December 20th we're also doing an acoustic one-man show that we're calling 'the inverse one-man'
So including that
for the name "Introduction"
the meaning of "starting from here" is also a part of it
so we hope for everyone to love this new side of MASH BROWN
and for this one-man show to become our first step forward towards a new us.
What about the tickets?
It's normally ¥2500 for a ticket if you buy in advance
But if you bring a friend that's never seen MASH BROWN before
For both yourself and the friend you brought along
tickets are only ¥1000
So because it's much cheaper that way
everyone please get your friends and people around you involved and come along.
Thanks in advance.
As for what kind of band MASH BROWN is
we'd like to have you hear that for yourselves.
We'll have you listen to a song that's really typical of us very MASH BROWN-esque
so without further ado please listen
"Marching".
Q.Please tell us your songwriting process
So for songwriting...
Firstly I'll make like a demo or something
and chuck it to the other members
then usually after that we shape the song
by arranging it all together at the studio.
That's normally how it goes.
Yeah it's always been like that.
I'm a little uneasy as to if we can even do it any other way
That's pretty much our only method.
Like just get the song made kind of thing
I normally come up with melodies
when I'm in the bathroom
or riding my bike
or on the sofa
so I'll turn those melodies into demos
and that's how we make MASH BROWN songs.
Q.Please tell us how you write your lyrics
Lyrics are like
We order them from a game to start with
So it goes like this
I'll make the first verse rhyme a bit
and I'll have the second verse rhyme
the chorus rhymes
the whole song rhymes.
That's just hip hop!
It's popular now to make the whole song rhyme
It's hip hop! That's just rap!
Rather than really caring about having everything rhyme
it's more about the sensation of how it sounds.
So I think of lyrics with an emphasis on that actual sensation.
When I pass the melody to the others
and say like "I want the lyrics to be like this"
there are times when I say I want the song to head in a certain direction
as well as times where I say "do whatever you like with it"
and then feel like 'hmm...' about it.
In that case don't tell us to do whatever we want with it!
Q.What points of your songs should people pay attention to?
Special attention... I guess MASH BROWN
is kind of jazzy?
Ah yeah I know what you mean.
Like chords
or to pick a song
the intro for a song like "Bye Bye"
I wonder if there are people who noticed?
People might not have picked up on it yet
Might just go on and say it here.
That song actually uses the intro of another famous jazz song
or rather the start of the song plays homage to it.
For now no one's really picked it up.
I mean to start with there aren't many who really get it
but if you're someone who likes jazz
like the key is different too so there's that
but my piano teacher recognized it.
As you'd expect!
They were like "hey, wait a minute
I feel like I've heard this before..."
So happy to hear that.
In making a song that pays homage to a famous song from years ago
it got recognised.
But that's pretty common hey
in a lot of our songs.
As you recognise it there's that "huh?" moment
We tend to incorporate those references in a number of our songs.
Because you can have those 'wait... I think I recognise this' moments
and I think that that's another way to enjoy the music
please listen for yourself.
I think we'd like to have you to listen to something and
pay close attention to the intro.
Why don't we do just that with the song we were just talking about?
So with that please listen.
"Bye Bye"
Q.Tell us about each member's personalities.
Let's start with Chaso.
You guys are gonna talk about my personality?
He's a massive airhead.
It's pretty bad.
There are way too many episodes
so I don't even know where to start but
for example to go with something easily understood
we ask him to go buy a permanent marker
and we know full well
that if we ask Chaso to run an errand that something's bound to go wrong.
So we ask him to grab a permanent marker
a black permanent marker
an oil-based marker
Specifcially an oil-based one
"There are both water-based and oil-based pens so make sure you grab an oil one"
then he goes and gets a water-based one.
or by default his socks don't match
or when he thought 'and more' was an actual band name...
Oh that's right!
So back around
when we first started playing shows
you know they had listed the bands before us
like so and so are playing
then 'and more' is written on the bill as well
so Chaso goes
"Wait we're playing with 'and more' this time?
They play a bunch of festivals and everything too right?
That's so scary oh man"
Like even before that 'and more' play way too many shows!
Yeah like 5000 or so in a year!
Shobu's also a huge airhead.
Hang on
we can't ALL be airheads!
It's a bit worn out hey.
Shobu is
extremely punctual and responsible
to a level where it wouldn't even be weird to call him a perfect human.
But he really is perfect huh.
He doesn't really have any bad points right?
His voice is a bit too loud
and he's too energetic in the mornings
but that's about it.
Kenta is
surprisingly earnest and serious.
He's methodical
just very reliable.
To name one time where I thought he was really reliable
during the World Cup everyone made their predictions as to who would win
and he updated the group LINE chat
with all the results
like "X vs. Y team X won"
and drawn out games that resulted in a penalty kick
he neatly wrote out who had scored what
even as everyone else had lost interest
because we'd all already stopped watching.
Once he starts cleaning he can't stop
To a point where he's covered in sweat.
Once when there was a typhoon
he was like "I'm just gonna go out side and fix this thing real quick"
I had to stop him like "dude no wait until it's over!"
And when he came to my house
After he washed his hands he then immediately washed the sink
and got his hands dirty again.
Stop!
Q.Tell us about a time in the past where you messed up.
There are a few examples but...
with alcohol
so Chaso and our support drummer Fuku-chan
like to drink
so we were all watching the world cup at a sports bar
and after that we all went drinking somewhere else.
I made everyone drink a bit
and we all got pretty drunk
Chaso was dead drunk
absolutely hammered
and I don't really know why but the two of them
got into a big fight.
The two people least likely to fight anyone
and they were absolutely going for it.
I don't remember that at all.
I thought I told Fuku-chan
but I thought it was a total stranger picking a fight.
Definitely an alcohol-based blunder hey.
Next time we got together at the studio I apologised on my hands and knees
like "I'm so so sorry".
Fuku-chan is a kindhearted person
so he said he was really sorry too.
Absolute least likely guy to get in a fight.
Even a mishap like that is a fleeting memory hey?
We make countless mistakes when we're young.
It'd be quite fitting if we had a song about fleeting youth don't you think?
So with that please listen:
"This is a Beautiful"
Q.What is important for you guys when you play live?
It's all important.
Maybe that?
Like the "show" part of it if we had to pick.
The entertainment.
Yeah right.
You looked like you wanted to say something
so please go ahead
Ah sorry
I'll take this chance to talk then
we really emphasise the idea of a "show"
and a sense of entertainment.
It's a "show" more so than a normal gig.
We play shows with the concept where
we create a fun atmosphere
so we genuinely have fun performing
and everyone else there has fun too.
It's might not be something we can really do
at the sorts of live houses we play at now
but as the stages we play get bigger
there are all kinds of things we'd like to try.
Q.Tell us about your one-man live show.
We already mentioned this
back in week one
but on December 8th
we will hold our first one-man live show titled "Introduction".
It's already been about 2 years since we've formed.
With this as our first one-man live show
we'd been saying how it'd be nice to hold a one-man show...
or rather we were more just like 'let's do it!'
We talked about this back in week one as well
but tickets are normally ¥2500
however if you bring along a friend that doesn't know MASH BROWN
or someone who's never seen a MASH BROWN show before
both your tickets will be only ¥1000 each.
Everyone please get the people around you involved!
This time we've also got the acoustic one-man show
we're calling the 'inverse one-man'
on December 20th
about two weeks after the main one-man show.
Because we've also go this more like laid back acoustic show
whether it's the main show or the acoustic show
it'd be great if you could look forward to both of them
but what are the highlight points
of the one-man show?
We'll be playing songs that we don't play at regular shows
and we know there are people who say they like those songs
so I want everyone to listen to those songs we don't normally get to do.
What if we just play the one-man show with nothing but brand new songs?
Sounds good to me.
Songs that absolutely no one knows
even I don't know!
Oh what's that?
I gave it to you during the drive
you haven't heard it?
Q.Tell us about your future goals as a band.
To those of you who made fun of us back then
are you watching now?
What are you talking about?
So we can prove you all wrong...
What the hell man.
Today we've come this far
why don't we try saying our goal for the band all at once?
Wouldn't it be wild if we all said the same thing?
We were just asked in this interview what our main goal for the band is
so rather than answering all in order
if we answer all at once and all say the same thing that would be wonderful.
Okay here we go.
Ready?
And... go!
Sold-out one-man show!
Arena tour!
Major label debut!
So close!
You totally hesitated at the end there...
Whatever it's fine right?
We're looking at different points.
So close though!
It all starts from there though yeah?
After a sold-out one-man show
comes a major debut and then an arena tour.
Wow!
They're all tied together.
We're to keep working hard from here on out
so we can follow that path.
Well we've already reached week four.
We're MASH BROWN
and we've had an absolute blast.
It was only for a short while
so we'll keep working hard so we can do things like this again.
So with that please listen to our last song
"Boku ni wa"