The Pen Friend Club -- Beyond the Railroad

 

Several years ago, I wrote about a band called The Pen Friend Club（ザ・ペンフレンドクラブ）. Led by vocalist, guitarist and percussionist Yuuichi Hirakawa（平川雄一）, I found out via their J-Wiki article that since 2012, this group has been into 1960s music including West Coast Rock but also the music of Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）and Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）. In fact, that first article regarding The Pen Friend Club was focusing on the fact that the band had covered Tats' welcoming "Doyoubi no Koibito"（土曜日の恋人）.

I didn't do it then but I will do it now, and that is to introduce the current lineup: along with Hirakawa, there is bassist Rie Nishioka（西岡利恵）, drummer and percussionist Takayuki Sakumo（祥雲貴行）, glockenspiel player and percussionist Yumi Nakagawa（中川ユミ）, saxophonist and percussionist Asako Otani（大谷英紗子）, acoustic guitarist Rika（リカ）, organist and pianist Soi（そい）, and vocalist Megumi. As well, since 2021, Manaka Tanabe（田辺真成香）has also been helping in support as a drummer.

This is a small thing but I have to say that I really like the logo for the band name. It's very early 1970s in style. Anyways, as much as The Pen Friend Club has enjoyed covering their heroes' songs, they have also created their own works. Earlier this August, the band released a digital single titled "Beyond the Railroad" which was composed by Hirakawa and written by Youth Yamada.

A song about the joy of driving just for the heck of it, I've been able to hear quite a few musical influences from it. First hearing it, I did get some of that roots rock mixed in a poppier sensibility but then on repeated listenings, I additionally received some California pop and some good ol' country music. And just today, I even got some of the vibe from Tats' old band Sugar Babe. "Beyond the Railroad" is also a track on their most recent album, the 2022 "The Pen Friend Club".