The Folks Of Boris Are Seriously Dedicated To Their Craft

As Takeshi recalls, the period in which Boris were crafting the album that came to be Pink was very special. The band was starting to build on the momentum they created with two quintessential drone metal releases, Absolutego and their perfectly titled 1998 classic Amplifier Worship, and by the turn of the millennium, they were working at feverish pace.

As they slogged away, hitting the recording studio with a frequency that would make their prolific spiritual forebearers Melvins seem lazy in comparison, Boris began to evolve their molasses thick wall of sound into a sonic representation of the band's hectic schedule.

"When Pink was released in 2005, it was a very busy time for us because since 2003 we increased our output in terms of both touring and releasing records. At that time we had day jobs, so after work finished at 10pm, we'd be in the practice studio jamming and recording, and kept repeating the process. There was a strong urge to take the energy we got during tours to some form of output. At that time the speed of the band became faster and faster."

Playing faster for Boris meant playing seven-minute songs where they used to be 17, but the shift towards brevity also saw the band embrace everything from hardcore and dream pop, while also laying down some of the doomiest metal their career has ever produced. The pitch-black funeral dirges, sitting next to energetic punk songs that abut warm, atmospheric pop numbers is something that Takeshi feels defined Pink, and helped the album achieve its cult status.

"Pink was not a product that followed any so-called method in general, both in terms of the songwriting and recording. It was just made following our own desires, and the desire of the sound itself being born from jam sessions. So it was surprising to receive such a huge reaction to that album, but at the same time we gained confidence that we can actually do things in that way."

Immediately upon its release, Pink catapulted Boris out of the underground. It was the album that saw them form their long-running and creatively fruitful partnership with Southern Lord Records and had indie publications from all corners of the globe frothing over the band. The songs from Pink would go on to form the backbone of the soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's navel-gazing arthouse film The Limits Of Control, further cementing Boris' coolness and appeal to the world outside of the metal scene.

"The songs are living things. They show new expressions during the show, created with the audience."

Yet, despite how Pink forever changed the trajectory of Boris' career, Takeshi says he and drummer/vocalist Atsuo Mizuno and guitarist/vocalist Wata were initially reluctant when the idea of performing the album start to finish live was pitched to them. "This 'performing Pink' tour was proposed by our booking agent about two years ago. We actually declined immediately," Takeshi says. "We always want to make something new, and we had already finished a new recording."

There were a few things that changed the band's collective mind about the idea, primary of which Takeshi believes is "We've started thinking that our next release would be more interesting after showing the flow of our actions and sorting out some of the history."

The bassist says the band also came around to the idea of the Pink tour when the realisation dawned on them that every time they are playing a show, it's basically like they're creating new songs. Big proponents of the idea that a studio album is a mere blueprint for what is going to occur in the live arena, Takeshi said playing Pink in full has become quite creatively exciting for Boris.

"The songs are living things. They show new expressions during the show, created with the audience," Takeshi says. "Especially with the songs on Pink, I still don't fully understand the sound production and playing of those songs - even after playing them dozens of times, there are still new discoveries every time. How we make sound and our feelings have changed over these ten years, and naturally the ways they are seen or heard are also different from what we played at that time.

"We don't try to just replicate what we recorded, but instead we create shows with the audience, always being aware of how the songs want to be in the atmosphere each time. We face every stage with the feeling of creating new songs."

Ahead of the Australian leg of the Pink tour, Takeshi says fans can expect something they've never before experienced at a Boris show. However, some things aren't going to change. Namely, the band's propensity for the overuse of smoke machines when they play. "In being blinded by fog, there will be something else you will come to see, notice and hear," Takeshi says. "We hope all the audience members individually can enjoy the sensation that comes out from within themselves."