If things had gone differently for ’60s Japanese group Flower Travellin’ Band, we might think of them alongside the American and British psych and outsider rock acts of the ’60s and ’70s.
But a missed chance to tour with the Rolling Stones left a road in history untraveled, as guitarist Hideki Ishima accepts. His band were set to open all shows during the Stones’ planned visit to Japan in 1973. But when authorities refused to let Mick Jagger enter the country as a result of an earlier drugs conviction, the tour was canceled.
“I don’t know much about the Stones,” he says dryly. “But it doesn’t matter – we can’t change what’s gone.”
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Now 82, he formed Flower Travellin’ Band with vocalist Joe Yamanaka, bassist Jun Kozuki and drummer Joji Wada. Early on they crafted two classic records: 1970’s Anywhere, a covers record; and the following year’s Satori, an album of freakout originals.
Ishima was just like many of his generation, spending his early playing days learning from records on his treasured Guyatone guitar and amp. “This was when The Beatles came out,” he says. “Their music was very impactful on me, and so were bands like The Yardbirds, The Zombies, The Kinks and other British Invasion bands.”
Though he was mesmerized by Page, Beck, Davies and Clapton, he had no real idea what sort of player to be. “I practiced and I kept an outlook of wanting to get better – wanting to find a style that invited me in.”
Which is why the Flower Travellin’ Band’s early days on the cover scene didn’t sit right with him. “It wasn’t fun to keep copying others’ music. I wanted us to have our own identity.”
That desire led to second album Satori and its prevailing attitude: “We met a guy named Stoner, a hippie from Texas. He listened to our music and wrote a poem for the album. It was just a one-shot recording with little overdubbing.”
Flower Travellin’ Band went on to record two lesser-known records, 1972’s Made in Japan and 1973’s Make Up. “Made in Japan was recorded in Canada,” Ishima says. “The producer was Paul Hoffert, who I liked. I remember having a strange feeling about that album. Make Up was based on a live recording we made at Yokosuka Bunka Kaikan, so it’s not done in the studio. We overdubbed it a lot in the end.
“I still remember the enthusiasm of the audiences at that time,” he continues. “But young musicians asked me, ‘Why is Blue Suede Shoes included in the album?’ People didn’t understand the pressure on us – ‘Will our music be accepted overseas?’ We loved that song, but the truth is that I didn’t want to cover it. It was against my will.
“I told my band members, producers and record companies it was crazy, but no-one agreed. So I gave in to political power and left Flower Travellin’ Band.”
Next came his 1973 solo album, the cult classic One Day. “That’s where I let my frustration out! That worked for me.” Tired of the industry machine, he receded into the background; but he didn’t stop playing.
It’s a point of contention – he’s bothered by rumors that he abandoned guitar in the early ’90s when he invented the sitarla, an instrument that combines the sitar with characteristics of a solid-body electric guitar. “A lot of people think I quit,” Ishima says. “A lot of people think I didn’t pick up the sitar until then. I’d been playing sitar for a long time.
“But the sitarla came in when I thought, ‘What’s the most touching instrument?’ I believed it was vocals. I wanted to make the sitarla sound like someone singing, and I wanted to combine that with my techniques like meend, gamak, krintan and zam zama.”
After years of exploring new avenues, Ishima reunited the Flower Travellin’ Band, who’d gained a cult following by the turn of the century. They released We Are Here in 2008 – their final record. “We made one last album, and we even toured the United States in 2009,” Ishima notes.
He cites stops at New York’s Knitting Factory and Webster Hall, the Velvet Lounge in Washington, D.C., and a slot at South by Southwest Festival in 2009 as reunion highlights. “We had the most fun on that tour,” Ishima says.
The band ended in 2011 after the passing of Joe Yamanaka. Ishima is still playing guitar sitar, and sitarla at home, but he’s put recording and performing behind him. “When I think back on my musical life, for better or worse, I feel good about it.
“I don’t think back on what I could have done as a player, but what my soul could have done. We tried to reach a foreign audience and wanted to see if our music could impact the world. As time has gone by, I’ve found that our music has done that. I have no regrets.”
