This year, the Middle Tennessee Anime Convention had their first overseas band in the form of Quaff.

Quaff makes “Samurai rock.” Their style blends modern rock music with tinges of old style Japanese music. Quaff mixes and matches the old with the new. For anyone familiar with Psycho le Cemu, you’ll notice that the similarities are uncanny. However, Quaff goes the extra mile to include traditional Japanese sounds in their performance. Japanese flutes, and ancient Japanese dialects really show the effort that Quaff puts into having a unique experience.

The concert at MTAC 2010 was fairly segmented. They had an amazing opening that really showcased the talented tour-de-force of their dual-vocalist style. The middle portion was mostly ballads and slower songs. Quaff wrapped up the concert going back to what made the first part of the concert so amazing. I felt like the middle of the concert should’ve been cut down to size. I was excited by the energy portrayed in the beginning and end, but the middle part left a damper on the overall experience.

The concert was a blast; however, I feel the energy could’ve been spread a bit more evenly. The best parts of the show were the back-and-forths between the lead singer crooning in traditional Japanese style and the MC ‘rapping’ in the most antiphonic way possible. The call and response between the two individuals was definitely worth the price of admission. Then again, I’m a more inclined to like that sort of thing anyways.

Here’s the first part of the interview with Quaff where they introduce themselves, and answer a few other questions. They seem like a really nice and positive group.

I got to ask them one question of my own, and I chose to ask them about what made them decide to change their style over the years. I had scoured over most of their discography, and they seemed to veer towards a newer sound in the last couple of years.

Since I had literally been silent for about 45 minutes straight, I had to clear my throat. My apologies for such unsightly sorts of audio!