Nisemono 偽者: How Can We Carry On After Witnessing a Genocide?

New York City’s Nisemono 偽者 bring Japanese hardcore and Scandinavian d-beat together with the kind of guitar work that made last year’s excellent self-titled LP such a pleasure to listen to. They began as a recording project between Tye and Ryan, known from Nomad, Warthog, Dollhouse, and L.O.T.I.O.N., among many others, and have since become a trio with Kyoko, formerly of the long-running, Clockwork Orange-inspired Japanese punk band Hat Trickers, on bass.

Their new EP, 目の前で大虐殺を目撃した後、どうすればこの世界で、これまで通りに生き続けていけるというのか？ (After witnessing a genocide, how can you continue to live in this world as you have been?), arrived through Toxic State Records on October 23, 2026, following last year’s LP on the same label. It caught us by surprise; it’s four raging songs in just over six minutes, and already one of our favorite EPs of the year.

We spoke with vocalist and guitarist Tye Miller about the band, the political message of the new songs, and our shared love of Japanese hardcore punk and some of its contradictions. As this interview goes live, Nisemono are kicking off a short tour on home turf in NYC before flying to the UK and Barcelona for a handful of shows. If you’re lucky enough to live near one of their European stops, go check them out.

Nisemono started as a project between Ryan and Tye. You were then joined by Kyoko, if I’ve got that right. Can you walk us through the band’s history?

Nisemono started in 2021. I was bored during COVID and started writing some songs in a similar vein to my old band Nomad. I sent the songs I was working on to Ryan, who I play together with in L.O.T.I.O.N., and we released those songs as a demo later that year. After that received some positive reception, we wrote some more songs and released the LP, which came out in 2025.

After the release of the LP, we decided to play a live show. We recruited Kyoko on bass; she had recently moved to the US from Japan. We have been playing shows together for a little over a year and wrote and recorded the most recent EP together.

Your EP’s title asks how we can carry on living as before after witnessing a genocide. Amid all the death, destruction, and injustice in the world, some people put their bodies on the line. Music and art offer another kind of connection, perhaps a more emotional one. Do you think everyone with access to a stage and a microphone today, whether underground or mainstream, has a responsibility to use that platform to speak out?

Yes, I think any small action a person can take should be taken. It’s about doing the little things and the small changes we can control.

Have you seen the film Naza? I haven’t watched it yet, but your new EP got me thinking about the discussions surrounding it. We have access to so much footage and testimony, yet seeing what’s happening can leave us feeling powerless rather than equipped to intervene.

I have not seen the film in full, but I am aware of its contents. We have been watching a live-streamed genocide for three years as of this writing. It has been horrific. I think many people like myself have experienced a range of emotions, including shock, horror, anger, despair, and hopelessness. I think it is human to have these feelings.

However, I think it is important, especially for those of us living in the West, to keep in mind that wallowing in hopelessness will accomplish nothing. People are dying in large numbers and that is unacceptable.

“軍国主義” calls for pacifism and an end to militarism. What does pacifism mean to you in practice, and how does it inform the choices you make when supporting social movements, boycotts, pressure campaigns, etc.?

軍国主義, or “gunkokushugi,” means militarism. Militarism is the political philosophy by which the imperialist powers utilize their military might, or the threat of that military might, to maintain or expand their global hegemony, territory, financial interests, etc. Pacifism is the antithesis of militarism.

“残酷” brings war, poverty, and suffering together in a few words. What connections do you see between the violence addressed on this record and everyday life in New York? How do you assess Mamdani’s time as mayor so far? What did you make of his participation in the October 7 commemorations and the criticism it drew from Palestine solidarity activists?

I have spent several years working in the world of tenant and disability rights in New York City. The number of people who are one step away from homelessness or who lack access to the resources they need to survive in this city is staggering. The connection between this and the violence addressed on the record is that these are both problems manufactured by a handful of people with wealth and power, while the rest either suffer or struggle just to survive.

It’s a bit difficult to make a determination of how the mayor is doing as he has been mayor for less than a year. However, some of his choices concerning issues of tenants’ rights, failure to prevent the NYPD from working with ICE in NYC, and the recent October 7 commemorations are, in my opinion, justified criticisms.

How did you first get drawn into the cult around Japanese hardcore punk? The internet and social media have made it much easier to discover, and now you can find people on Reddit discussing all kind of obscure Japanese punk. How do you think that accessibility has changed the way people discover and relate to underground music?

Being a Japanese person who was living in the West when I got into punk, I immediately felt a connection with Japanese punk bands as soon as I discovered them. Bands like Confuse, The Stalin, and Disclose were massive influences on me when I was in high school.

When I was a teenager, tape trading and word of mouth were the main ways of hearing about underground punk bands. Then, blogs started popping up posting about bands that I had never heard of that I fell in love with.

In my opinion, the more accessible this music is, the better. Punk is for anyone who feels like an outsider, who can see that there is something wrong with the world and wants to find a community that they can connect with.

Sharing the stage with Death Side at the Bowery Ballroom for their first NYC show in ten years must have been something special. I heard they also had some trouble with passports or entry paperwork, which wouldn’t surprise me given the current US government. What happened, and was there a point when you thought they might not come?

I am not in Death Side, so I have no personal knowledge of the facts and circumstances concerning the issues they had coming into the United States. What I can confirm is (1) our friend Joe B filled in on drums because the drummer was not able to get into the country, (2) the singer said this would be their last performance in the United States, and (3) they put on a great show.

Big metal labels like Relapse have reissued records by GISM, Zouo, and Lip Cream, introducing Japanese punk to people who listen to more mainstream metal and hardcore. Do you see value in bringing the records to a wider audience, or does it feel like a money grab by labels that don’t care much about the scene and its ethics?

I am not really familiar with these represses or the financial aspect, but how much money can these labels possibly be making off of Zouo? Again, as mentioned above, the more accessible this stuff is, the better in my opinion.

Personally, I’m not a GISM fan. I think most of their music is absolute shit, and I think plenty of people wear GISM patches for the aesthetics and provocation without really listening to their records either. Then there’s the whole mythology around Sakevi and the stories of violence, which seem to get celebrated as part of the appeal. There are also allegations about his right-wing conspiracy theories, etc. Do you think Japanese punk sometimes gets an exemption from the political scrutiny we’d apply to bands closer to home?

I am not a huge GISM fan myself for some of the reasons you mentioned above. However, I am not sure this is a unique issue to Japanese bands. I can’t think of another Japanese punk band that should be subject to scrutiny for its “sketchy” political stance. I can, however, think of plenty of punk, metal, and “extreme” music bands from places like the United States and Europe who are either apolitical or “sketchy” that people seem to enjoy without issue.

What are your all-time favorite Japanese hardcore punk records, and which current bands, both in Japan and elsewhere, do you think keep that spirit alive?

For me, Confuse, Death Side, Disclose, Gloom, and Framtid are probably my favorites. In terms of current bands: Framtid, Ferocious X, Skizophrenia, Stagnation, and Raw Distractions are some favorites.

There are too many bands to mention worldwide; we should all consider ourselves lucky that there are so many bands that are active and playing, writing, and recording great music.

What makes hardcore punk and DIY culture important today? When bands reach a more mainstream audience and compromise their DIY ethics along the way, should we be more critical, or is there room to be more open-minded about those choices? What do you think about using corporate platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, and YouTube to share and promote punk music and culture?

I got into punk by watching Rancid and Green Day music videos on MTV. I cannot stress enough the importance these bands had in acting as a gateway to so much more for me. If a newer band like Turnstile or Angel Du$t does the same for someone who is a kid now, I say that’s great.

Like I said before, punk should be for anyone who shares the values of what punk is about. It would be a shame if a person didn’t find something that might help guide them through life just because there wasn’t anyone in their high school to show them.

I abhor the corporate platforms we use to connect and share our music and I wish there was an alternative. But I think the issue goes back to accessibility; those platforms are how people connect and hear music these days and I think for that reason we just have to make do.