Crashing onto the global music scene like a diminutive but no less destructive monster, Bo-Peep are two small girls who make a very big noise.
Formed in Fukuoka, Japan and now based in Tokyo, Bo-Peep blend Mika’s chaotic guitar riffs and manic vocals with Ryoko’s take-no-prisoners rhythms.
In 2016, the pair issued their fourth album, Thank You. Underpinned by Nakano’s industrial-strength drums, with Yoshimura’s vocals squealing above the whole affair, the album is a document of a new level in the music bond that has developed between Yoshimura and Nakano over a decade and a half.
There’s an almost telepathic connection between the pair that really needs to be experienced live, where the full-force of Yoshimura’s rock-god posturing (she’s been known to break a bone or two jumping around on stage) is the yin to Nakano’s grounded, solid yang.
The girls’ explosive live reputation has seen them storm stages across Japan and the UK, with their most recent US jaunt in March 2015. Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival, Britain’s The Great Escape and In The City, and now Texas’ South By Southwest – all have fallen under the spell of Bo-Peep.
“A Surprise from Japan! Years of rock-showcase experience have shown me that Japan likes to export jokey concept bands that quickly wear thin. So had I not looked at a wrong date in the SXSW schedule, I never would have ended up seeing Bo-Peep. Lucky me. There was no joke about Bo-Peep’s brutally efficient riffing, whether the band was bashing out brusque one-chord stomps or dissonant metal lines or blaring punk…Bo-Peep could strongarm itself a place alongside any American or English stoner rock band, and should.” – The New York Times
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