Minami Deutsch Nearly Went Broke Touring the States With Earthless – But the Japanese Krautrockers Lived to Tell About It
Tokyo krautrock treasures Minami Deutsch, which translates to “South Germany” (try wrapping your head around that one) conclude their recent tour of the U.S. tomorrow night. Having occupied a supporting slot for Earthless, a heavy psych-rock band from San Diego that doesn’t seem to ever stop touring, Earthless and Minami Deutsch are clearly well-suited for each other, having played a stretch of 14 gigs in spring 2024 that culminated with their performances at Austin Psych Fest.
The two heady projects recently reunited for another stretch of dates that ran from Oct. 8 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and lasts until they play Belly Up in Solana Beach, California, tomorrow night. Needless to say, Earthless have taken the much younger band — which formed in 2014, compared with the birth year of their partners-in-psych, 2001 — under their wing in a big way. Earthless consistently raved online about Minami Deutsch on their social media accounts, as if they were brethren.
And the bands practically are just that. Earthless’ latest album, Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, contains epic — and epically long — tales of traditional Japanese stories that are surely familiar to Minami Deutsch. While The Bad Penny tried and failed to get comments from Earthless about their tour, and didn’t have enough money to pay for a ticket and were rejected from getting on the guest list too, we did have the good fortune of connecting with Kyotaro Miula, who handles guitar, vocals and synthesizers for Minami Deutsch. He granted us a short-and-sweet email interview ahead of the Boise concert we had hoped to attend but for which the stars apparently didn’t align.
Here’s our interview with Miula in full:
Thank you so much for coming to Boise to perform what is shaping up to be a stellar show. Had you heard of Boise before getting booked for this gig opening for Earthless?
Well, we actually came here last year as headliners! Haha.
How did you get hooked up with Earthless?
Through our agents. It happened because the Earthless guys accepted that we [were a good match to] tour together. I really appreciate it. By the way, we toured together last year too. It was just the East Coast, though.
How many times have you toured the States?
We toured the U.S. in 2019 with Kikagaku Moyo. Then because of COVID, we couldn’t come back for a while. Since then, we’ve done both West and East Coast runs last year. So this is probably our third full U.S. tour overall.
Do you feel comfortable touring here given the political climate and harsh treatment of foreigners visiting the U.S.?
I have some interesting stories. But it’s not so much fear; nobody knows how insanely expensive it is for a non-U.S. band to even come here. American bands can go to Europe without spending anything!
What have been your favorite moments of playing here thus far?
Probably Levitation Fest [in Austin, Texas] in 2019. Touring and playing a festival with Kikagaku Moyo, who were friends in Tokyo at the time, was unforgettable. To be honest, I was taking some goodies, so I barely remember anything, haha.
What’s surprised you most about playing the States?
Definitely the audience energy.
Do you feel like the audiences here are connecting with your music as much as they do when you perform in Japan?
I actually feel more connected when playing outside Japan probably because you can’t take any goodies there, haha.
Do you or have you experienced stage fright? If so, how do you cope with it?
There’s always a certain level of nervousness, but it doesn’t really change depending on the venue or size.
What’s the best anecdote you can share from the tour thus far?
Probably when the neck of our bass snapped on the first day of the tour in Chicago.
Do you miss home?
Not really, no. If anything, I wish I could get a U.S. visa. I only miss sushi and yakitori.
Have you always wanted to play here?
I’d never even thought about it before, really.
For more on Minami Deutsch, go to their Bandcamp page.
The Bad Penny (beta) 
Leave a comment