Taffy? Who are Taffy?

One of my friends texted me earlier on, telling me about a band he'd just watched live in at the O2 Academy in Leicester, England called Taffy. They're supporting British indie rock band The Wedding Present, who are on tour at the moment, and he told me as he knows that I have love for Japanese bands.

I immediately took to YouTube to give them a listen, and then onto their official website to find out more.

The following is taken from the official site:

“The core of the band was made when iris(vocal) and Koichin(bass) met and formed a band “salt water taffy”.

Each of them were in their own bands prior to that, but they both just had broken up, and since they knew each other, they decided to form a band together.

The band went through a dozens of lead guitarists and drummers for years, and finally when Asano(lead guitar) and Ken(drums) joined, the band renamed its name to “taffy” and became what it is today.

Asano and Ken were both playing with other bands in Tokyo before taffy, but had been friends with salt water taffy as well.”

Other than that, I know absolutely nothing about them!

Here are some of their videos:





I'd never heard of them prior to hearing them today, but they've had two albums out so far; "Caramel Sunset" from last year, and more recently "Lixiviate", released in June earlier this year.

On first listen, I thought they sounded akin to Yokohama band noodles (who I briefly wrote about in my Top 10 Japanese Bands post), with their guitar driven alternative sound, and stirring melodic vocals. Now I've listened to them a bit more, I don't really think that they sound totally alike, but there's definitely something there... I'm really enjoying their songs now, so I thought I'd write a quick post about them. Gonna have to get hold of those albums!

My friend said he ended up talking with the band, and they said they will be looking to tour again in the UK; I'll definitely try to catch them live when that happens. At the moment, they have two more live dates on the current UK tour with The Wedding Present:

31 October - Roadmender, Northampton
1 November - 02 Shepherds Bush Empire, London

Take a listen on their official Soundcloud page for more music.
Buy the latest album Lixiviate at cdjapan.co.uk: Lixiviate

Anyway, I hope you like them too. Let me know what you think.




Image Credit: Header - Official Facebook Page