Formed in Sapporo in 2020, Tattletale have spent the past few years molding a sound that splices emo, post-hardcore, and alternative rock. Made up of Ryutaro Kawakami (vocals/guitar), Ayumu Takahashi (bass), and Yuya Takemae (drums), the group was built more on instinct and shared devotion than formal skill. Their chemistry has developed through a constant push and pull between genres and each other, taking them into unexpected territory both live and in the studio.
Their roots stretch back to early admiration for Japanese rock mainstays like ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, NUMBER GIRL, and Pay money To my Pain, but the real groundwork has come through late-night sessions and a commitment to staying unpredictable. On record, they’ve channeled that spirit into releases like their shoegaze-inflected emo debut ‘0state’ and the more focused, post-hardcore-driven follow-up ‘1ther’. On stage, they’ve earned a reputation for volatile live sets across Sapporo’s local scene.
With the release of their long-shelved single ‘Entenka’ (‘Under the Blazing Sun’) and their first international tour under their belt as part of Next Music from Tokyo Vol.17 in Canada, Tattletale spoke with Electric Bloom Webzine about the shift in mindset behind ‘1ther’, what they’ve taken from the Sapporo scene, and why live shows remain at the centre of everything they do.
In late 2023, the band experienced what you described as a “sense of crisis”. What brought this on, and what specifically changed in the band afterward?
Seeing the bands around us, who we’d been competing with day after day, visibly grow in numbers and play bigger shows and festivals made us feel like we were being left behind.
That feeling really hit us hard. So we pulled ourselves together, took time for intense training, and reexamined ourselves as a group to make sure we were moving forward in step. As a result, we created ‘1ther’, a very important work for us, and that period and experience have directly led to how we approach our activities now.
Early on, Kawakami chose Takahashi to join the band for his “passion” over technical skill. How has that passion shaped the band to this point? Has the chemistry between members grown stronger as a result?
Starting from songwriting to the music we take in each day and even how we spend our free time, he shares so many things with us, and that’s had a very positive influence.
Of course, there are times when our opinions clash or we get frustrated with each other in arguments, but I believe we’re able to reach places that I could never get to on my own.
Your first EP ‘0state’ and second EP ‘1ther’ feel very different. What do you think is the biggest change listeners can hear between the two?
First of all, the overall cohesion and quality of the recordings have improved. I also feel the sound has become brighter compared to our earlier work, with more complex arrangements. There are more songs that center around the vocals as well. It might also be that, simply put, our lives were in a more positive place during the making of ‘1ther’ than when we made ‘0state’, and that mindset shows strongly in the music.
Distortion-heavy standout ‘Eclipse’ from Tattletale’s second EP ‘1ther’, filmed in Kawakami’s hometown of Kushiro.
On ‘1ther’, most track titles come directly from Cardfight!! Vanguard’s Amber Dragon “ride chain” (Dawn → Daylight → Dusk → Eclipse → Midnight), with ‘Flameseed’ taken from Flame Seed Salamander. Did using this sequence influence how you wrote or arranged the songs, or was it mainly a thematic choice?
Absolutely! That said, there were many parts where we added the theme after or even during the songwriting process, so to be honest, even we don’t fully know how much it actually influenced the music.
But looking back now, I think having a set theme when creating the songs was important in helping us share a common image among the members from the start.
Your new release ‘Entenka’ was written in the fall of 2021, before your first EP ‘0state’, but you waited four years to release it. What was the reason for holding onto it for so long? What wasn’t ready at the time, and what finally clicked now that made you feel it was time to release it?
Ayumu: I personally would’ve been fine releasing it anytime, haha.
Yuya: What really set things in motion was Ayumu and I strongly pushing to record this song.
Ayumu: In this band, if even one member isn’t satisfied, we don’t release it—so it just happened that the moment when everyone’s opinions finally aligned was now. There wasn’t any specific trigger behind it.
Ryutaro: Honestly, I wasn’t a big fan of the song, but the other two (bass and drums) always liked it. For me, since the tuning is different from our other songs, I tended to avoid including it in our live setlists.
Music video for Tattletale’s long-unreleased track ‘Entenka’ (‘Under the Blazing Sun’), now their most-streamed video to date.
Have games or anime influenced any of your other work beyond that?
Not just games, anime, and manga, everything around us influences our work: movies, novels, the scenery in our hometown, conversations with friends, fashion, and more!
When it comes to ‘1ther’, we were especially influenced by BLEACH, NARUTO, and the Fate series. But beyond that, I think it’s precisely because we’ve been exposed to so many different works that we’re able to create what we do.
You’ve said ‘Entenka’ is the final installment in your “flame” series alongside ‘Kagerou’ and ‘Entei’. Beyond the shared character (炎) in the titles, what musical or lyrical ideas tie the three songs together?
Ryutaro: For me, “death” is an extremely significant theme, something I place great importance on, both when taking things in and when expressing them. I lost a friend I used to play in a band with to suicide.
By focusing on a death that was so close to me, I wrote the lyrics while questioning things like: what could have been done for them not to die, what kind of life they had lived or wanted to live, what the surrounding environment was like, and how I was involved, or unable to be involved, in that death.
“I don’t expect anyone to stand there trying to understand complicated wordplay during a show. If you’re going to put that kind of effort into it, I’d rather you just let go and dance like crazy!”
Your singles have each gone in different directions: ‘Vitamin’ pulled in jazz and funk rhythms, ‘Flameseed’ leaned into pop fundamentals, and ‘Eclipse’ ran on heavy fuzz and mathy dynamic shifts. What do you think ties those songs together as Tattletale?
We love all kinds of music, and if we could, we’d want to play every style and incorporate all of it into our own sound. But what we want to do and what we’re actually capable of are two different things, so we test those boundaries through studio sessions, creating songs and refining the details as we go.
I think it’s in that process that our natural habits and, most importantly, Ryutaro’s guitar, the core of the band, are what form what makes Tattletale unique.
Your recent single ‘babbling’ balances minimal, stripped-back sections with sudden bursts of speed. What was the starting point for the song, and how did it develop?
It all started with an improvised bass riff by Ayumu, and we gradually built up the sounds in sessions around the bass to flesh it out. From the beginning, we wanted to create a slower, quieter song, and we were able to keep that feeling and energy intact throughout the whole process.
The Japanese title translates roughly to “like formless words”. What does that phrase mean to you?
This song places a strong focus on the idea of metaphor itself in the lyrics.
A metaphor doesn’t just substitute one thing for another, it also has the effect of blurring a microscopic event into a macroscopic one. And just as I might want to play a technically difficult guitar phrase, I also think it’s cool to use complex or challenging turns of phrase in lyrics.
The song expresses the importance of how each blurred or abstracted word can still form clear meaning by retaining its contour (in this case, the “outer shell” of language itself).
Music video for Tattletale’s explosive single ‘babbling’ (‘like formless words’), released ahead of their debut Canadian tour.
Kawakami has said, “four bars of words are easier to understand than four bars of music”. How has this idea influenced your lyrics or the way you connect with audiences on stage?
Even though I said that, after finishing our Canada tour I’ve started to feel like, “Music isn’t going to lose to words!” haha.
That said, even when the language didn’t get across, gestures and simple words still conveyed meaning, and I realised that what really matters is the feeling you have toward the other person. It’s exactly like “words without form”, right? Haha.
I don’t have particularly clear pronunciation, and since a lot of our songs involve shouting, my feeling is more like: if people go home, look up the lyrics, and realise what they mean, that’s great. I don’t expect anyone to stand there trying to understand complicated wordplay during a show. If you’re going to put that kind of effort into it, I’d rather you just let go and dance like crazy!
RELATED: Tattletale drop new single ahead of first Canada tour with Next Music from Tokyo
Your lyrics often start from small daily events. Can you give an example of one recent moment that became part of a song?
Hmm, let me think, haha.
For example, in ‘daylight’, which is on our first release ‘1ther’, I wrote the lyrics about this one moment after a show when I was drunk at the afterparty, trying to impress one of my seniors, and ended up running around naked. From behind the bar counter, the drink server was watching me with this kind of pitying look in their eyes, and that scene made it into the lyrics.
Aside from that, a lot of my lyrics also come from things that happen in dreams. I think dreams are an exaggerated projection of reality filtered through the unconscious, which makes them really easy to use in lyrics.
You’ve said you want to be a band that “shocks” people live. What does that mean for you in 2025? Is it about sound, energy, or something else?
All of it! We want to surprise people with our sound, and with our energy too.
I think one of our strengths is being able to keep exceeding people’s expectations and imagination by making them think, “What are they going to do next?” through sudden changes in a song’s tone and our use of contrast between stillness and movement.
That mindset isn’t just limited to our live shows either. Even in casual conversations with friends or a girlfriend, I’m always thinking about how I can surprise someone, make them laugh, and leave an impression.
““I want to start a band like yours”… In that moment, I thought, Ah… I’m really glad I chose to be in a band.”
Seeing fellow Sapporo underground unit CARTHIEFSCHOOL at 161 Warehouse was a key moment for you. What lessons from their live performance still influence you today?
Of course, their energy was incredible, but what really influenced us was the sincerity with which they weave their sound together as a band, their very way of being. No matter when or where you see them, every single moment you catch is just effortlessly cool.
Their performance gave us the kind of impact that felt like our old ideas about music were being shattered. And once all of us began sharing that same sense of influence and admiration toward one band, I think our understanding of Tattletale deepened even more.
Sapporo live shows often mix very different genres on the same bill. How has that environment affected the way you plan your sets or the energy of your performances?
Since we want people from different audiences to get excited too, we’ve come to pursue a sense of universal fun, freshness, beauty, and the kind of coolness that ties all of those together.
When we play alongside bands from all kinds of genres, we don’t just take their strengths as moments of surprise or inspiration, we also take them home as a kind of frustration that pushes us to do better. In our next studio sessions, we study new approaches and explore how to absorb those influences and make them our own.
Tokyo and Osaka’s live scenes often get more international coverage. For someone looking to explore Sapporo, which venues or spots should they check out?
Definitely Sapporo KLUB COUNTER ACTION! It’s the sacred ground of Japanese hardcore, and it’s also our home base as Tattletale. Aside from that, we recommend Sapporo Sound Crue and the live bar Sapporo Brew it. Also, I think the Sousei River and Toyohira River, which flow through Sapporo, have had a big influence on the city’s artists, so I hope you’ll visit them with a drink in hand!
Next Music from Tokyo Vol. 17 was your first tour overseas. How was the Canadian tour experience for you?
It was just so much fun. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the view from the stage or the scenery in each place we visited.
After one of the shows, an audience member came up and showed me a screen with a message they’d translated into Japanese that said, “Tonight’s show was the best I’ve ever seen. I’ll never forget today. I want to start a band like yours”. In that moment, I thought, Ah… I’m really glad I chose to be in a band. We’ve got to take this further. The kindness and love we received in every place truly warmed my heart and made me so happy. Not just the audience, but everyone from convenience store and Starbucks staff to party organisers was genuinely kind.
I can’t wait for the chance to play in Canada again.
Which song received the strongest reaction in Canada?
To be honest, I feel like we got good reactions to all of our songs, but among them, the new one that doesn’t even have a title yet got an especially strong reaction. As the chorus hit, people started jumping up on stage one after another and just danced their hearts out, haha. It’s a mid-tempo track with an intense sound, a solid beat you can really move to, and a great melody, so please look forward to its release!
✳︎TOUR DIARY✳︎
— Tattletale (@tattletale_0318) September 24, 2025
Next Music From Tokyo vol.17
Day3 at Montreal.
We are "Tattletale" from Sapporo.
video : @ogttpi pic.twitter.com/HttJia1AcR
With a new single and your first international tour now behind you, what’s next for the band?
We have plenty of ambitions and goals, like organising our own shows in Tokyo and performing at major festivals. But we believe our true purpose as a band is to keep delivering the best possible experience at every single live show. So, staying true to Tattletale’s spirit, we’ll keep giving our all to everything right in front of us!
Tattletale
Entenka
Release Date: 03/10/2025
Label: JMS
Stream: Links
