Hideki Ishima was born and raised in Hokkaido. After graduating from high school, he joined a band called Jarows. Jarows played in clubs around Hokkaido and their act featured covers by the Zombies and Them. The group’s line up in its final stage included Ishima, future Beavers vocalist Ken Narita, bassist Masaaki Ito (soon to join Sharp Five), as well as guitarist Kouji Shibata and drummer Fumihiro Kongou(?), who both went on to found The Voltage.
In 1966, Ishima and Narita left for Tokyo to join The Outlaws. Vocalist Masao Hayase had formed the band after leaving the boy band, Three Funkys and brought band leader and drummer Yukio Awamura with him. (According to Narita’s blog, he was asked to come to Tokyo by Awamura when Three Funkys visited Hokkaido. Narita answered he’d come, if Ishima could come too.) In the beginning, the band had four vocalists backed by a four-piece band but this was eventually trimmed down to Ishima, Narita, Hayase, Awamura, Masayuki Hirai on rhythm guitar and Hiroshi Arakawa on bass.
For the next year, the band played around Tokyo including the Western Carnival in January 1967. In 1966, they had a minor role and played an instrumental in a movie called Aitakute, Aitakute. When their first production company went out of business, they joined Spiderduction, which was run by The Spiders. A director at King Records was impressed by Ishima’s guitar sound, often referred to as “the seven-tone guitar sound”, and gave them a chance to record their debut album.
Right before their debut album was released in June 1967, they were told by King executives to change their name to something cuter and chose The Beavers. In total, The Beavers released 5 singles and one album before they broke up on April 1,1969.
Even at this early point in his career, Ishima had a unique guitar sound and tracks like such as “Kimi Suki Da Yo” (the solo from 1:05), “Why Baby Why” (the solo from 1:25), and “Kiminaki Sekai” (the opening and the solo from about 1:25) hint at what was to come. (Hear these tracks at Garagehangover. Or at Japanese Old Prog/Psych Rock.) The Beavers were known as “Japan’s Yardbirds” so it’s not suprising that they covered “I’m a Man” and “Over, Under, Sideways, Down” on this album. The “raga” stylings on “Kiminaki Sekai” show a debt to “Heart Full of Soul”, which was a regular in the Beavers’ live show. On another cover, Ishima replaces the piano riff and mellotron on the Stones’ “She’s A Rainbow” with his guitar.
Ishima was a bit troubled by the “raga” references, as he knew little about Indian music at the time. Immediately after the Beavers broke up, he acquired a sitar and started studying on his own using a Ravi Shankar instruction manual. In Rocks Off Vol. 5, Ishima mentions that Gabor Szabo use of sitar in jazz was a big influence on him. There are some samples of his album Jazz Raga at Last FM.
Trivia
(Trivia sections are encouraged under Golden Best Japan guidelines)
- Hiroshi Kamayatsu of The Spiders wrote the words for “Kiminaki Sekai” and the music for “Why Baby Why” under a pseudonym.
- Ishima plays flute on the Beavers’ cover of “Nights in White Satin”.
Sources
- Liner Notes to One Day by Hideki Ishima
- 日本ロック紀GS編 コンプリート Psychedelia in Japan 1966-1969
by Susumu Kurosawa
- Ken Narita’s blog (in Japanese)
- THE DIG JAPAN Edition ROCKS OFF Vol.4 and Vol.5