“Even if there are only a few sounds, I try to play in a way that directly expresses my feelings and touches our hearts”: Boris guitarist Wata is an experimental rock legend – and three decades on, her playing is still impossible to pigeonhole

Wata.

For more than 30 years, Wata and her band, Boris, have made a concerted effort to avoid explicit associations with any single genre. And, for the most part, despite critics continually hanging names like “experimental” and “doom” upon the Japanese group’s mantle, they’ve managed to accomplish that feat.

“I don’t really focus on continuing to push the limit or keep experimenting,” Wata tells Guitar World. “This band has occupied a big part of my life and has so much freedom. Each member is irreplaceable, and many things are naturally born from that relationship. Other than that, I’m greatly influenced by people around me, such as people we’ve collaborated with, people we’ve met and people whose music I’ve listened to.”