Bo-Peep are three young women who make a high octane brand of rock’n’roll, inspired by the likes of Nirvana, Sonic Youth, the Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, L7 and the seminal Japanese bands Friction and Super Junky Monkey. While their style is too loud and aggressive for the mainstream J-pop realm, they have earned a strong following at Japan’s livehouse scene, and have picked up a substantial international following.  The band originally formed with Fukuoka high schoolers...

Bo-Peep are three young women who make a high octane brand of rock’n’roll, inspired by the likes of Nirvana, Sonic Youth, the Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, L7 and the seminal Japanese bands Friction and Super Junky Monkey. While their style is too loud and aggressive for the mainstream J-pop realm, they have earned a strong following at Japan’s livehouse scene, and have picked up a substantial international following.  The band originally formed with Fukuoka high schoolers Mika Yoshimura (guitar and vocals), and Ryoko Nakano (drums, chorus), with a revolving cast of others.  While attending university the band re-formed with the addition of Junko Himei (bass, chorus).  After gaining significant local popularity through their live shows, the band decided to relocate to Tokyo and make a go of things there . With a new homebase in Tokyo set, they began touring across Japan, and signed to the indie Mother Records, with whom they released their debut album 0x3? in June 2003.  For their second album in 2005, Time of Rock,the band moved to the Third Stone label and drafted Isamu Fujita of Mo’Some Tonebender to engineer. In 2006 the band made their first overseas tour, going to the UK, where they appeared at the first Great Escape in Brighton, and received very positive reviews, including the Sun newspaper calling them “the unexpected hit of the festival”. Bo-Peep enjoyed high praise from blogs, well known music sites like Drowned In Sound and from mainstream newspapers alike, with the words “brutal”, “dynamic” and “explosive” frequently used.  Returning to Japan, they released their third album Is It Good For You? in January 2007, which has gathered their best sales to date.  Having fared well in the UK, the band decided to take a stab at playing in the States. The band booked a short tour, starting with an appearance at SXSW in March of 2007, where amongst those who took notice of the band was the New York Times.  Their newest album, Sick Orange TV, was released in June 2008 , and produced by Yoshinari Arie of Go! Go! 7188 . In late 2008 Junko dropped out of the band to become a mother, and after a stretch with fill-in guests, in January 2009 the cute yet ferocious Kaori “Take” Takebayashi took over on bass. In March 2010 Bo-Peep will return to SXSW, proceeded by shows at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go in LA and gigs in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Houston.