When Tori Kudo was a 13-year-old growing up in Matsuyama, Shikoku, he didn't spend his evenings at cram school like classmates, but instead played cheesy piano in nightclubs as a member of a professional big band.

"I didn't analyze the chords or practice for hours on end," he explains via e-mail from his home in Tobe in Ehime Prefecture, not far from Matsuyama. "I improvised."

Fast-forward 30 years and he has made a career out of not practicing by becoming the band leader -- and only remaining original member -- of pop primitives Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Since its inception, Maher has had a shifting lineup that included musicians such as Saya and Takashi Ueno, who have gone on to make Maher-inspired music in the Tokyo-based band Tenniscoats.