“One room, six of us in bunks, sleeping with the light on or the cockroaches would come in… that was the lowest point – before we got in the recording studio”: Japan’s career was much more fun than it seemed

UNSPECIFIED - JANUARY 01: Photo of Mick KARN and JAPAN and Steve JANSEN and Rob DEAN and David SYLVIAN and Richard BARBIERI; L-R Steve Jansen, Richard Barbieri, David Sylvian, Rob Dean, Mick Karn - posed, studio, group shot (Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns).

In 2019 Prog spoke to Japan drummer Steve Jansen about the band’s life and times, and discovered it had all been more fun than their image appeared to suggest.

Like any kid growing at the height of glam rock, when 14-year-old Stephen Batt formed a band with elder brother David and schoolmates Richard Barbieri and Andonis Michaelides, they knew they needed cool names. Barbieri could just about cut it as a rock’n’roll surname, but not Batt – so their singer became David Sylvian, bassist Michaelides became Mick Karn, and young drummer Stephen became Steve Jansen.