Homegrown

As the smallest capital city on Japan's forgotten island, Tokushima isn't know for much, but last week at Austin's South by Southwest Festival three Tokushima natives were making waves for their hometown. Joto High School's own Chatmonchy headlined the festival's Japan Nite on March 19, and while Japanese bands have had a notoriously tough time building a following stateside, the group was at least able to catch the attention of Spin Magazine, who included the girls in their "50 Must-Hear Bands at SXSW":

CHATMONCHY

HOMETOWN: Tokushima, Japan
WHY THEY MATTER: With catchy, raw, emotional rock anthems, this all-girl power trio is like the 21st-century Japanese version of the Runaways. Their sound has already swept their native land, and the band -- making their U.S. debut at SXSW -- is looking to repeat the success stateside.
YOU SHOULD KNOW: Almost all of Chatmonchy's lyrics are sung in Japanese. "We want to challenge ourselves in other countries and see if we can convey our music with just the groove, without the lyrics," drummer Takahashi told The Japan Times.

Read more from Spin here, or click here to check out the full interview from the Japan Times.