Kikagaku Moyo on American bands that refuse to say goodbye: “I find that so capitalistic. Why can’t you guys just end and do new stuff?”
The quintet will be calling it quits after their 2022 farewell tour.
Drummer Go Kurosawa said the group had achieved “more than what we were hoping for” in their career / Image: Roger Garfield / Alamy
Tokyo psych rockers Kikagaku Moyo will be saying goodbye after their 2022 tour and they have something to say to bands who refuse to call it a day.
Earlier this year, Kikagaku Moyo released their fifth and final album Kumoyo Island, before announcing that the band will be breaking up after an international farewell tour.
“We wanted to play psychedelic music festivals and tour the world, which we did. We poured time and energy into not just making music, but creating art, merchandise and a vision for what Kikagaku Moyo is,” drummer Go Kurosawa tells Guardian, “And we now get to complete our journey on our terms, on the highest note possible.”
Recalling the quintet’s early days in a recent interview with Bandcamp, Kurosawa says that the band have more than fulfilled the goals they’ve set out to achieve over the last ten years: “we realised we did pretty much everything we had wanted… actually more than what we were hoping for.”
Admittedly, Kikagaku Moyo’s decision to call it quits is a rare sight in an industry that’s so often fixated on the idea of longevity.
“So many American bands are like, ’Grow, grow! Next! Just keep going, never stop and never end,’” guitarist Tomo Katsurada laments, “I find that so capitalistic. Why can’t you guys just end and do new stuff?”
Currently on tour around Europe, the band’s final show will be at home at the Fuji Rock Festival. After which, Kurosawa and Katsurada will turn their attention to their record label Guruguru Brain, which already has many releases lined up for the future. The pair will also continue creating music, both by themselves and possibly together.
As for the farewell tour, Katsurada says he’s “enjoying it a lot, being very emotional,” and calls it “the best experience I’ve ever had playing music.”