Yuu Okumatsu awoke one morning in 2023 with two random words in her head. That was the morning Cyber Cherry was born.
Hailing from Hyogo she now calls Tokyo home, although as we will find out, her growing up years have been spent around various areas of Kyushu and Kobe.
Her first full length release,”Fake California Forcefield” was released last year in Japan on the Koenji based label, Call and Response. Its a dynamic collection of upbeat songs where Yuu is trying out styles and sounds using a band format as well as electronic sounds. All are her own compositions recorded over the past few years some of which had been self released on streaming sites.
Koenji Music are handling the official release in the UK and EU so we meet up with Yuu during the Golden Week holiday in Japan and posed some questions to find out a bit more about this emerging artist that we are very excited about.
KM: Tell us about yourself: where is home now and have you lived anywhere else?
CC: I live in Tokyo now. I was born in Hyogo and spent my baby days in Fukuoka, Oita and Hiroshima then grew up in Okayama. Kobe is my second home since I spent my college years there!
KM: What have been your interests in music, favorite bands or albums when growing up and also current music?
CC: I grew up in 2000s listening to J-POP idol songs like Mini Moni, and eventually became obsessed with musicals as I started ballet. When I was 20 I started listening to 70s punk rock like the Damned…
My current favorite band is the Garden!
KM: Any musician or band that has particularly influenced you?
CC: My Chemical Romance, Kathleen Hanna, Natalia Osipova (a ballet dancer, she’s not a musician but she’s one of my biggest inspiration)
KM: I notice most of your songs are in English, any particular reason?
CC: I spent most of my life obsessed with something in English (movies, books, music, etc.) from an early age, so singing in English was one of the things I wanted to do. But when I make music, I let my instincts decide whether I go with Japanese or English, so there are many unreleased Japanese songs as well.
KM: What instruments do you play? And
any you would like to use in the future?
CC: I play the guitar! I want to play the piano and sing with it someday.
KM: Outside of music, what do you do? Work? Interests?
CC: I work in an office, sadly. I wish I could do music full time!!!
I like writing fictions, I’ve written theatre plays and directed them when I was in college.
KM: The name Cyber Cherry, explain why you chose it?
CC: One day in 2023 I woke up with those random words in my head.
KM: Plans for the future. Where might your next album take you? On a similar path or maybe a radical new direction? Someone described your newer music as being a bit darker. Is that the case?
CC: My first album is kind of like an experiment, trying out different styles like other musicians starting out. Right now I think I’m pursuing my way to sharpen my vision… I want to go creatively extreme.
Thanks so much Yuu for taking the time to answer these questions. We are very excited about being part of your journey and cannot wait to hear what you come up with next.
In the meantime, Fake California Forcefield is out on CD now in our web store as well as our Bandcamp shop.
here
You can see Cyber Cherry on her Youtube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/@_cybercherry_
