TsuShiMaMiRe

J-rock

TsuShiMaMiRe (つしまみれ, also known as TSMMR) is an all-girl Japanese rock trio. Members are Mari, Mizue, and Yayoi. Their style is energetic hard rock, mixing punk and pop tendencies with idiosyncratic, quirky, and often funny or disturbing lyrics. They are one of the many bands to have become famous in the United States through the Austin, Texas South by Southwest music festival, and also through their performances at anime conventions alongside the Suicide Girls, and at Benten Label's Japan Girls Nite U.S. tours. Although tsushimamire sounds like a Japanese word, it is not. It is a combination of Tsushima (the family name of bassist Yayoi) with Ma (from guitarist/vocalist Mari) and Mi (from drummer Mizue). In addition, mamire means mixed up in Japanese: thus the effect is that of Tsushima (Yayoi), Mari, and Mizue all mixed together. TsuShiMaMiRe's musical style can be broadly classified as hard rock, with eclectic influences of punk and Japanese pop music. Several of their songs begin with strong bass lines by Yayoi, but Mari's guitar and Mizue's drums finally make equal contributions. Several songs combine sweet female vocal harmonies with hard drum playing and punk guitar riffs, for a deliberately ironic effect, for example in their signature tune, Tea Time Ska. The lyrics are consistently quirky and idiosyncratic, with the most common themes being sex, food, and death, and sometimes all three at once. Underneath sweet vocal harmonies, the lyrics frequently hin...