Guitarist loves singing the blues

Paul Andersen

BURBANK -- Guitarist/singer Alan Mirikitani realized that he wanted to

pursue a career in music after playing an eighth-grade dance with his

first band while in junior high school in his hometown of Downey.

“After we got done, some girls came and sat in our laps,” he said. “I

thought, wow, this is really cool. I like this.”

He’s been playing ever since. The Burbank resident, who goes by the

nickname B.B. Chung King when he fronts his band, the Buddah Heads,

longtime favorites on the local music scene, gravitated toward the blues

at 4.

“My father would take me to get a haircut, and he’d bribe me to keep

still by promising to take me to the five-and-dime across the street,”

the guitarist said. “I don’t know why, but I loved going through their

record bins, and one of the first ones I grabbed was ‘Bright Lights, Big

City’ by Jimmy Reed, all because I liked the cover. But when I heard it,

it was like, oh, wow! I was hooked.”

His music is a mix of roots rock with a heavy blues base, and never

strays too far from what he refers to as his blues backbone. Raw and

powerful yet melodically rich, the songs that Mirikitani writes are full

of the hooks that radio loves, and caused RCA Records to sign the band in

1994. But after just one album, they parted ways.

“The president of the company really loved us,” the guitarist said,

“but after he moved on, they didn’t have a clue as to what to do with us,

and we asked to be released. Though we liked being on the same label as

Elvis, we knew there wasn’t any point in staying.”

After a few releases for a Japanese label, Mirikitani and his group,

which includes bassist Boyd Lefan and drummer Joe “The Bricklayer”

Pafumi, released a compilation of those Japan-only recordings titled “In

the Mirror” in 1998, and last year came out with a collection of new

songs, “Go for Broke.”

Supporting the album through numerous club and festival dates, the

Buddah Heads have built a fanatically loyal and large following. And, by

recording it in his own studio (The Doghouse) and releasing it on his

own, Mirikitani discovered another benefit of being independent.

“Actually, we’re making more money on the Internet through mail-order

sales than we ever did at RCA,” he said. “And besides, we have control

over everything this way.”

Mirikitani took a year and a half off to build his state-of-the-art

24-track studio, which is busy with all sorts of outside projects.

“The Doghouse has ProTools and everything else you might need,” he

said. “It’s amazing what they can allow you to do, but ultimately they’re

just tools. We still like the magic of playing live.”

Even though B.B. Chung King is Chinese and not Japanese, the name hung

on Mirikitani by a friend, in reference to his hero, B.B. King, has stuck

throughout the years, and he’s comfortable with it. As for the band name,

there is a legacy behind it.

“Buddah Head was always a derogatory term for Asians,” the guitarist

said, “but it was also the highest-decorated infantry unit in World War

II, composed of Japanese Americans who wanted to prove their loyalty to

their country. We’ve taken it on as sort of a personal underdog theme,

and today we’re trying to break down the term, and break down walls.”

“After all,” he said with a laugh, “the guys in the band are white,

but as far as I’m concerned, we’re all Buddah Heads.”

THE MIRIKITANI FILE

NAME: Alan Mirikitani.

RESIDES: Burbank.

FAMILY STATUS: Married to Nikki (who also sings background vocals for

the group); son Justin, 19 (from previous marriage); daughter Alana, 2.

BAND MEMBERS: Alan Mirikitani, guitar and lead vocals; Boyd Lefan,

bass; Joe “The Bricklayer” Pafumi, drums.

LATEST ALBUM: “Go for Broke.”

CURRENT MP3 HIT: “Little Girl.”