London grunge pop artist Cream with a K (a.k.a. Tokyo) just released a new single called "5:35 in LA" and to celebrate we asked her to tell us about the track. Here is the story:
I wrote 5:35 in LA on a bored sunny afternoon. In a jam session I prompted the drums to play dah-da-da so I could riff over it until I found the chords on the guitar.�
We recorded the drums and distorted the hell out of them.�I looped it over and over again in my headphones, I thought it sounded just like the slow motion knocks and bangs of a train approaching through the subway.�
When I started singing out loud over it, with not much direction, I found some words and phrases I felt good about and then it happened really quickly. "5:35 on the Ginza Line". 5:35am; the first train of the day.
I realised it was about my experience riding home early morning on the Ginza Line train (from Shibuya to Gaien-mae). At 19, 20 years old, I was a drinking party girl-slob and remember observing all my fellow all nighter's and the after math. Drunken salary men, white faced sleeping students, general miscreants (in Japanese known as "Yanki"), tourists, prostitutes - you name it... but it's very harmonious and peaceful. You hardly ever see fights like you do in the West.
Tokyo is a very cold and clinical place sometimes but the morning after is when you get to see a whole new side of Tokyo. People are very human and unguarded and soft. For a place that seems so efficient and logical, there is a lot of self destruction and it is very normal and not judged badly at all.
I really enjoy singing this song live in Tokyo because there is always such a big reaction from the audience and people always comment on how it resonates with their own personal experience.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself here and learn more right here!
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