WATA AND HER IMPOSSIBLE-TO-PIGEONHOLE BAND, BORIS, HAVE TEAMED UP WITH NYC INDUSTRIAL METALLERS UNIFORM. WE’LL LET HER EXPLAIN WHY...
By Andrew Daly
FOR MORE THAN 30 years, Wata and her band, Boris, have made a concerted effort to avoid explicit associations with any single genre. And, for the most part, despite critics continually hanging names like “experimental” and “doom” upon the Japanese group’s mantle, they’ve managed to accomplish that feat.
“I don’t really focus on continuing to push the limit or keep experimenting,” Wata tells Guitar World. “This band has occupied a big part of my life and has so much freedom. Each member is irreplaceable, and many things are naturally born from that relationship. Other than that, I’m greatly influenced by people around me, such as people we’ve collaborated with, people we’ve met and people whose music I’ve listened to.”
As a guitarist, Wata consistently straddles the razor-thin line between light and shade. That’s never been more apparent than on Boris’ latest record, Bright New Disease. But this time — and perhaps not shockingly — Wata and company have added a twist; they’ve collaborated with fellow alternative heroes, New York industrial act Uniform.
“Uniform was our support act band in 2019; that’s how we met them,” Wata says. “As we continued the tour, our friendship deepened, and at the same time, we would relate well to their attitude, way of thinking and perception of music. We were able to perform at the tour’s encore together.”
Beyond new music, for Wata and her bandmates in Boris, life will continue as it has since the group’s inception. Unshackled by the pandemic and still musically explorative, for Boris, the future is bright and the possibilities are boundless.
“Now that the pandemic is over, we’ve officially resumed tours and live performances,” Wata says. “So I’d love to see everyone. I want to perform in cities worldwide for as long as my physical strength lasts. It’s all because I get a lot of power from various city sceneries and audiences.”
Tell us about Bright New Disease.
After touring with Uniform, we began talking about someday making music together. Shortly after, the pandemic hit, and we were immersed in the recording process. Once Boris had recorded about three albums, we naturally flowed into the process of making this collaboration. First Boris rec
