UPDATED 5/17 3:29 p.m.
The Tampa emo band Pohgoh has just announced three headlining dates in Japan for early September in Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo. How the Japan dates came into fruition is just plain old music business networking.
Keith and Susie Ulrey of Pohgoh met musician and booker Hajime Kishino two years ago at Pre-Fest in Gainesville, and he’s been wanting them to tour in Japan ever since. His independent promotions company The Lost Boys have been responsible for bringing emo bands like You Blew It! and American Football to Japan for years. He also helped Pohgoh connect with folks who would eventually release and distribute the band's 2018 album Secret Club in Japan via DIY record label Waterslide Records.
The cultural difference between how music is consumed in the United States, and how it’s consumed in Japan, is an aspect that excites Pohgoh indefinitely.
“The whole idea that our records are still selling on other continents is humbling and mind-blowing and we’re so grateful and excited that someone wanted to put the time and energy in to plan this. We’ve been rolling with the momentum of our record release to see where it takes us and so far, it’s been far beyond anything we could’ve imagined,” frontwoman and guitarist Susie Ulrey tells CL.
The Tampa band started in the ‘90s with now married couple Susie and Keith Ulrey, but is experiencing a local and national resurgence in recent years, riding off the momentum of last year’s album Secret Club, their first release in two decades.
Pohgoh has been playing more shows all over the country since then, touring with bands like Jawbreaker and Mineral. But now they’re taking their resurgence outside America to East Asia, where buying physical records is still quite popular.
They head to Japan in a few months knowing that versions of their albums are already on the shelves, and the Tampa heavy hitters couldn’t be more excited.
