The Mops – White Rabbit

The Mops – Psychedelic Sounds in Japan 1968

A buzzing, hard-hitting batch of psychedelic rock from Japan’s The Mops — featuring some groovy, echoey tunes penned by the group and sung in their native language — plus a nice choice of passionate covers! The sound is a little bit like Love in their early rawness — and the Mops obviously have a great feel for psychedelia at its fuzziest and most tuneful. Great stuff!

Hiromitu Suzuki – vocals
Masaru Hoshi – lead guitar, vocals
Tarou Miyuki – guitar
Kaoru Murakami – bass
Mikiharu Suzuki – drums

The Mops are one of Japan’s best know “group sounds” bands, particularly noted for their psychedelic period. The group was founded in 1966 by high school friends Mikiharu Suzuki (drums), Taro Miyuki (guitar), Masaru Hoshi (lead guitar) and Kaoru Murakami (bass), playing mostly instrumental rock ala the fabulously popular Ventures. Suzuki’s older brother Hiromitsu joined in later and became the group’s main vocalist, sharing the job with Hoshi.