'In Croatia, we played in a huge club and we were the only band, but around 200 people came along to see us and went totally crazy. Everybody there loves alcohol, and so the toilets were filthy!" laughs Miyoko Yamaguchi, drummer with garage-rock band Detroit7. "The toilets around Europe were all dirty. I think if we're talking about Europe, the toilets will come up a lot . . . "

Detroit7 formed in 2001 and quickly rose through the live-house ranks, thanks to their hard rhythms, aggressive guitar riffs and phenomenal stage presence. They release "Black & White" this week, their third full album (along with several minialbums and EPs), on the heels of their first ever United States release. But we'll come to that later.

Not content with being one of the few Japanese bands to tour the U.S. and actually get a stateside record deal out of it, Detroit7 have now set their sights on Europe. Having caught the tour bug at a one-off show in Italy in 2008, the band recently undertook a 13-date tour that took in shows in Germany, France, Spain, and the lesser-trod paths of Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary.