44 Facts About Remi Matsuo

Remi Matsuo is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, and artist.

Remi Matsuo is best known as vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Glim Spanky since 2007.

Remi Matsuo is known for her husky vocals, and frequently collaborates with and writes songs for other artists.

Remi Matsuo was born in the rural country village of Toyooka, Nagano, Japan on December 7,1991.

Remi Matsuo's parents operate Happy Days, a shop founded in November 1999 that sells collectables, records and other miscellaneous goods.

Remi Matsuo has a younger sister, who attended fashion school.

Many of her relatives, including her grandfather, were painters and Remi Matsuo entered drawing competitions as a child.

Remi Matsuo heard Shibuya-kei played at home as a child, and came to admire Maki Nomiya.

In junior high school, Remi Matsuo learned to play guitar from an adult acquaintance.

Remi Matsuo was then shocked when she heard The White Stripes.

Remi Matsuo realized she could achieve this by starting a band; she could sing songs and design the album covers and merchandise.

Remi Matsuo attended Matsukawa High School, where she was vice president of the student council in her third year.

Remi Matsuo formed Glim Spanky in May of her first year of high school to perform at the school's 2007 cultural festival.

The bassist and other guitarist quit after the festival, but Remi Matsuo wanted to play another live in a week and recruited an upperclassman to play bass as a three-piece.

Remi Matsuo found that Kamemoto was not only committed to the band, but was able to immediately understand and provide the guitar parts she wanted for songs.

Remi Matsuo said she felt she could not express her feelings if the songs were not her own.

Remi Matsuo would go to the closed down karaoke bar they rented in Iida, Nagano directly after school, practice all day, and have her parents pick her up at night.

Remi Matsuo said that before Senko Riot, adults in her hometown would laugh at her when she told them she wanted to make a living in music, but the other acts she met there showed her it was not a pipe dream and she decided to move to Tokyo to make her dream a reality.

Remi Matsuo enrolled in the design department of Nihon University's College of Art.

Remi Matsuo chose the college because she felt, with its film and photography departments and Tokyo location, it had everything she would need for her band activities.

Glim Spanky's bassist and drummer decided to stay in Nagano and although the older Kamemoto was already attending Aichi Gakuin University in Nagoya, he transferred to the closer Dokkyo University so he and Remi Matsuo could continue the band in Tokyo.

Remi Matsuo stated that their first four years playing live houses in Tokyo were difficult, but because they were particular about their sound, stage presence, costumes and artwork, she was confident that the music industry would not leave behind a band with such a complete package.

In 2014, Remi Matsuo covered Janis Joplin's song "Move Over" for a Suzuki Wagon R Stingray commercial in 2014.

That year, Remi Matsuo contributed guest vocals to the song "Nightfever" by Analogfish.

Remi Matsuo has provided several songs to other recording artists, where she is credited for the lyrics and co-credited for the music together with Kamemoto as Glim Spanky.

Remi Matsuo wrote, composed, produced and sang backing vocals on "Candy Moon" for Nomiya's 2022 album New Beautiful.

Remi Matsuo is featured on The Bawdies' January 2024 song "Scream" and appears in its music video, and on Kujira's June 2024 song "Baby".

Remi Matsuo has cited Paul Delvaux and Max Ernst as some of her favorite painters.

Remi Matsuo took the selfie used as the artwork for her band's cover of "Whiskey ga, Osuki Desho", and designed the logo used in 2024 for the 10th anniversary of their major label debut.

From October 2015 to January 2017, Remi Matsuo wrote a column on the website FanplusMusic titled "LOVE FAV LIFE".

Remi Matsuo designed stuffed animals that appear in the 2016 film Hentaida.

Remi Matsuo designed the cover and booklet of Glider's 2020 album Eisei Amuto.

Remi Matsuo is known for her husky vocals, and has been said to have a "once in a decade voice".

Remi Matsuo's voice is frequently compared to that of Janis Joplin.

However, she is not a particular fan of Joplin and this comparison and the subsequent assumption that she was influenced by her because she covered one song for a commercial bothered Remi Matsuo until Kamemoto convinced her it was a positive thing.

Remi Matsuo has cited The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchell as influences.

Remi Matsuo said that, although she loves old rock music, she does not want people to label Glim Spanky a nostalgic band and wants to convey that they are connected to the music of today.

Remi Matsuo is the principal songwriter of Glim Spanky's lyrics and music, but when she only has a guitar riff, chord progression or drum phrase before working with Kamemoto to turn it into a song, then both get credited for the music as Glim Spanky.

Remi Matsuo has said that to write, she needs to become the main character of the song.

Remi Matsuo achieves this style by darkening a room, lighting candles, opening a book of fantasy literature or surrealist paintings, and filling the room with incense until "tripping" into another world.

Remi Matsuo believes that the adults who laughed at her childhood dream of making music once had dreams of their own, but society often forces us to hide our "pure heart" from others and she wants to open their hearts and minds through her music.

Remi Matsuo continues to use the first guitar she ever owned, a Gibson Les Paul Special that was probably made in the late 1980s and has had its pickups replaced and other modifications.

Remi Matsuo gave her the Les Paul Special to commemorate her first time.

Remi Matsuo has another model of the guitar, a 1960 Hummingbird Light Aged, which she described as having a deeper sound.