Torsten: I was delightful surprised when listening to your new album! Compared to your former releases it sounds more catchy – has reached a certain maturity. You changed your songwriting this time or is it the logical development?
Bony: We had not the pressure to write enough songs when entering the studio like it happened when recording Hardcore aus der ersten Welt. We collected ideas over two years, condemned a lot of them or arranged them completely different. When all songs were recorded we noticed that a few songs very were catchy, not typical JAKA-stuff. Anyhow, we released them.

Torsten: You say: „This is Popgrind – forget Grindpunk“. This could be the faux-pas word 2007… Put this statement in perspective for our readers!
Bony: Some people resent the idea „Popgrind“ indeed. But they were relieved then when listening to the album. They noticed that we made them insecure without any reason, like we love to do it several times.

Torsten: This brings up the next question: Rauchen & Yoga has been released two weeks earlier. You decided to play more Grind than Pop in the studio and finished earlier in the consequence? ;-)
Bony: You have to ask the record company why they released Rauchen & Yoga two weeks earlier as planned. There have been logistical reasons in which nobody of the band is interested. The recordings finished since 6 months ago, simply the mix was time-consuming. Christof always sent “very important” E-Mails including suggestions for improvement to Rob from the Counterforce Studio (“the fade-out at the end of Erfolg Verdammt has to be a little smoother” or “the second Tom at the end of Eruiert is too quiet”).

Torsten: Thus Relapse haven’t pushed you… You recorded a split with the Batchtubshitters for the Relapse Slimewave Series not so long ago? What was the reason for this “wedding”?
Bony: They asked us and we had time. We were allowed to choose a band out of big pool which had the pleasure to be on our B-site. We chose a Japanese band because of our name.

Torsten: Let’s go back to relaxing exercises… Rauchen & Yoga is fitted in a fat and brute sound. Carsten Rehmann recorded this album in the Zeche Carl – your favored candidate and location?
Bony: To tell the truth, the CKB-Studio is our rehearsal room at the same time. It’s equipped with a mixer and technique. That means, we recorded every time we want and like to instead of hanging around for days in the studio to lose the overview.

Torsten: You had a stake in the endmix? How many?
Bony: Our drummer Christof had so much influence in particular, that Rob was at the end of one’s rope. He will never work together with other guys except himself.

Torsten: The title Rauchen & Yoga represents the antipole to your kind of music – or should your album be enjoyed with joss sticks at an alternative healer?
Bony: Rauchen & Yoga is good to be heard while shopping via earphones. I experienced that I choose my eatables more careful. But it’s not the best acoustic irradiation during sex. I asked a “female provider” at one of my several knocking shop visits if she could play Rauchen & Yoga during her service, but she only said: “You must be sick in your head”:

Torsten: The pop-influence is quite evident on the We Will Rock You influenced opener Der Angriff startet. A homage to Freddy? Anyway, this song is brute and heavy produced… An awesome opener!
Bony: Angriff only works as an opener. If we placed it somewhere in the middle of Rauchen & Yoga it will deflagrate. This song doesn’t bang when recording, so we decided to put this song away at first. But we eased up when Marcos bass filled this song.

Torsten: You are heavy on Industrial sometimes like heard in Der Angriff startet and Hungerhilfe …
Bony: We are addicted to Industrial since founding. Maybe it has more effect because of the brute production.

Torsten: The title-track could be a chart-suitable song…
Bony: I don’t think so. You need a catchy refrain to place a song in the charts, Rauchen & Yoga only exists of staves. It seems that the top-ten single will be refused without much doubt.

Torsten: You release all your lyrics on your homepage – a cool idea in my opinion. You think that you reach a lot of guys by doing this? You get feedback?
Bony: We have no other choice! We have to release them on our homepage because if we don’t do somebody else would… maybe wrong. By surfing through sundry forums I find tons of JAKA lyrics citations. This fact demonstrates that we reach a lot of people.

Torsten: I have no lyrics of Rauchen & Yoga… But titles like Wir haben nicht gewusst, dass es solche Lager gibt points out your sociocritical view. Can you concentrate the statement of Rauchen & Yoga? Titles like Punkerpolente, Betatier, Hungerhilfe or Verrat am Metal sound promising…
Bony: The album is about the present, the now and here and this means: advertisement, consume, TV, Metal/Emocore-Bands (which demand individuality but anyhow, there is no difference between them and their equal look), sex and bad food.

Torsten: The account manager is strictly attacked… anybody of you had bad experiences with one of these guys?
Bony: Go and ask our guitarist Klaus! When he was an Arcor client he wasted so much time by calling an account manager. You have no chance; you have to make a song about this.

Torsten: Is there a song on the album which means something special for you?
Bony: This may sound pathetic, but the album has the most importance in its totality. Amongst all releases I was part of (and this were many), Rauchen & Yoga is the sole album which I can listen to completely without getting headaches at any places. A lot of bands correct their technical faults with the help of their producer and his computer after recording. But we do not like them. I love every mistake on this album. I’m glad when listen to them and think: we made the next mistake in the following stave.

Torsten: Issue gigs: The JAPANISCHE KAMPFHÖRSPIELE rocked the Fuck The Commerce festival this year. I’ve heard some critical meanings, the audience stayed away for example. Can you take up the cudgels for this festival or is the evolution to be seen critical?
Bony: When the real big names are missing on a festival billing it’s no wonder that the people are missing out. There were only 900 guys at this open air. We played as the co-headliner Saturday evening – this is fact enough. That there won’t be thousands of metalheads can be expected in the time before. Anyhow, the FTC was a cool open air. We ate tons of meat, drunk a lot and our new guitarist Rene nearly knocked out the teeth of the dislikeable second Cuntgrinder vocalist. So we had no cause for a complaint.

Torsten: Somewhere I read that you take constant time-outs filled with oxygen-tents after some gigs. At present you also planned “only” a few gigs for the next weeks. I won’t miss out on your gig in Ravensburg! Won’t you begrudge any more gigs for your fanbase?
Bony: We’re playing as often as we have fun on it. And that is why we don’t go on tour for months where the music debauched to a job which is done without any fun. But have a look at our homepage once in a while. We are playing very often for our circumstances. And we are even playing in America 2008.

Torsten: YouTube and Co. are fine platforms… Some private lessons in Grindcore-Drumming are given by Christof :)
Bony: For me the most important in his films is his citation: technique has no preference, mainly fast!!!

Torsten: These pearls can be seen on the forthcoming DVD which is planned for 2008? What can we expect? Maybe the video to „Komm wir drehen einen Porno“?
Bony: I’m able to say what the fan doesn’t get: Dolby Surround, concerts filmed by several cams … or to cut a long story short: high end is something different. But besides miscellaneous live-songs of the last five years there will be a lot of “Behind the scenes”-stuff: JAKA in the studio, JAKA backstage, JAKA at the Loveparade and Klaus drunken and pissing in a cigarette-seller slot.

Torsten: Give us your actual top 5 playlist:
Bony:
01. Interpol - Case Is The Trick (Song)
02. Nonstop Spritzen - Internet Ist Out
03. Ben Folds - Songs For Silverman
04. S.Y.P.H. - Zurück Zum Beton (Song)
05. Brutal Truth - Extreme Conditions

Torsten: The last word is yours!
Bony: Shave your balls. Everything else is unacceptable!

Thank you fort his interview – we’ll see on tour!
Bony: Which tour?

Rock on.