Astronaut Samurais is a garage rock project from Moreno Valley California created by Alberto Alvarenga and Tyler Stevens.  Establishing themselves in the Southern California backyard scene since 2012, Astronaut Samurais have carved their name wherever they play, amassing a niche fan base as well as a reputation for crazy live shows. Alberto and Tyler put the band on hold for a while, with Alberto playing guitar for The High Curbs, and Tyler writing solo material for his project Boy Bingo and finishing his bachelors in computer science. Regrouping after a long hiatus, Astronaut Samurais is better than ever, ready to make some good ol’ rock and roll.

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[L-R] Masako Shibuya (bass/vocal), Manabu Ougi (drums), Maika Sasakawa (guitar)
2010 	1st mini-album "Karasu To Medama" ("Crow And Eyeball") released on own label/distributed by Lastrum		 		Ougi joined the band	
2011	Single "Toberu"/"Yuurei Dance" ("You Can Fly"/"Ghost Dance") released on own label, available at live venues and Disk Union (sold out) 
2012 	2nd mini-album "Mousou Tengoku" ("Delusion Heaven") released by 3rd Stone Records/distributed by Lastrum	
2013	3rd mini-album "Ai No Houchou" ("Knife Of Love") released by 3rd Stone Records/distributed by Lastrum
2014	Single "Onna No Ana" ("Woman's Hole") released by 3rd Stone Records/distributed by Lastrum; main theme of the movie "Onna No Ana"
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Mamadrive are not like other bands. Formed in Kobe and never tempted to relocate to the capital in pursuit of success, they are a band of integrity – but more importantly, they are a blistering rock band, a female-fronted power-trio with a dark, warm sound and brutality to spare.

It starts with rhythm, an ingredient that many recent Japanese rock bands forget to include altogether. Drummer Manabu Ougi mixes up tempos and hits heavy, but never disappears into obscurity, keeping the songs tight and danceable and always thrilling. Bassist-vocalist Masako Shibuya (known to fans as “Mako”) capitalises on this with aggressive pop basslines, not too showy, just right to cement an energised groove. Maika Sasakawa’s guitar lines draw from classic Japanese alternative-rock bands such as Number Girl, throwing up jagged riffs one minute and psychedelic washes the next.

Mako’s voice is Mamadrive’s other great weapon. She often sings the verses in sultry tone, false innocence dripping and collecting in pools, before she builds to a climax in hysteric banshee wails on the choruses. 

It’s a raw kind of passion, as direct and sexualised as her lyrics of erotic possession, angst and overwrought desire, of glorious dependence and glorious independence. After all, the title of their 2013 album Ai No Houchou (Knife Of Love) was inspired by Nagisa Oshima’s In The Realm Of The Senses, a 1976 film in which a forbidden love affair results in severed genitalia, while the title of 2014 EP Onna No Ana translates crudely as Woman’s Hole, with torrid lyrics in the title song about reaching heaven and hell together.

Mako even sings back-up with herself via a pitch-shifter effect pedal that adds a layer of artifice, like a choir of plastic angels singing third harmony, dazzlingly audacious and yet as cool as ice. And even when she is being sincere and sentimental on slower songs, the band’s tantalisingly aloof, violent energy means they never descend to balladry, but instead paint a bruising and compelling canvas of longing.

As intense on CD as they are on stage, Mamadrive are a band to fall in love and lust with, to risk deafness for, to play as loud as possible and just disappear into. Knowing they’ll never love you back is simply part of the deal.

-Daniel Robson-


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