The impetus for Maher Shalal Hash Baz came when Tori met euphonium player Hiroo Nakazaki on a building site, and found that they shared an interest in the music of Mayo Thompson and Syd Barrett.
After a couple of self-released cassette albums, the Japanese Org label released Maher Goes To Gothic Country (1991) and the 83-track box set Return Visit to Rock Mass (1996).
They have released two albums on Geographic: the compilation From a Summer to Another Summer (An Egypt to Another Egypt) (2000) and the 41-track Blues Du Jour (2003); plus a number of EPs on various labels, including Souvenir De Mauve (Majikick, 1999), Maher On Water (Geographic, 2002), Faux Depart (Yik Yak, 2003) and Live Aoiheya January 2003 (Chapter Music, 2005).
Tori Kudo has resisted defining the sound of his band, although in an interview with Tim Footman in Careless Talk Costs Lives magazine (August 2002) he declared: "I am punk."
There are also elements of folk, psychedelia and free jazz; the band's tendency to ask members of the audience to join in adds a sense of "danger" in live performance.