Saturday 31st October 2009

On the origins of Osaka...

Having looked at the old photo of our old band on Russ’s bio page, and been blown away by my innate sense of style which has lasted unerringly through the years (ha, ha), the time has come for me to shed some light on a question which has obviously been on Russ’s mind for all these years – the origin of the name Osaka.

The naming of bands has always been both crucial and contentious. Agreement is never easy.

I recall, even after all this time, that there were heated debates about what to call the band which eventually became the near-legend (obscurity is never far away) that is Osaka.

The leading candidate for some time was ‘Freedom Rider’, a name championed by Russ and taken from a song by Traffic. At that time, I was ignorant of the more important origin of the term ‘freedom riders’, the name given to those unsung heroes and heroines who so visibly took their own stand against racism and segregation in the USA in the 1950s and 60s.

Not all could agree to this name, however, and after others which have now passed into the shadow realm were ditched, in desperation the name Osaka was mentioned. This was because I thought the name looked cool (that innate sense of style again) when I was looking through LP covers and came across Deep Purple’s ‘Made In Japan’, a particular favourite of my older brother’s at the time (along with ‘Jolene’ by Dolly Parton – nice one bruv).

Anyway, either because we had come under a mysterious spell, were bemused by Wordsworth or were just drunk, the name was coined.

That same brother immediately started calling us ‘Oscar’ in his usual disdainful and slightly mocking manner. It lives with me to this day.

It was therefore something of a surprise when, last year, t-shirts started appearing with the legend OSAKA emblazoned upon them – fame at last!

Clearly we should have sued.

As for the naming of Sun Machine, that was an altogether more harmonious affair, with Russ coming up with the suggestion and (this time) the others being sensible enough to follow his lead.

Unfortunately, the name is an issue which refuses to go away. But on the good side, if it remains an issue, it means that we’re getting somewhere and we’re being noticed. Long may that continue!

Tim