You’ve already rocked out a few cities on your tour. How has it been so far?
Performing over here is really, really special. It’s totally different from other countries. I was not able to speak English when I was 25 years old. I didn’t grow up bilingual and wasn’t educated in the language. I still remember the first time that I had a tour in the States, I memorized whatever I was going to say to the audience. I memorized and scripted everything. So at that moment, I was pretending to react to my audience, but I had no idea what they were talking about. I always get nervous when coming back to the States. It’s something like, oh, I am back in the States.
I remember the first MV I saw from you. I was like “wow” this guy is crazy on the guitar and he’s got style. How would you say your style has changed over the years?
First of all, I do appreciate my fans for supporting me and following me, even when I have changed my style. I’m recently taking on more film roles and sometimes I play the asshole in the film. It’s a big deal to my fans. I’m like beating up the other characters in the film, or I’m like a fairy in Maleficent, or a Yakuza boss. My music style has been changing as well. As a solo artist, it’s a lot of responsibility, but at the same time, lots of freedom to experiment with new things. I just follow my instinct. I want to be excited every single time. I believe that I can’t get the audience or my fans excited without being excited myself. I think about everything from hair, makeup, and costumes. It’s fun. I mean, I’m sure I confuse my fans sometimes but it’s all good.
With a growing family, does your job as a musician change? Whether it be things like what you think about when writing a song or how much time you can commit to practicing and being away from home.
It is challenging. After the third child, I am still learning the process every single time. In my case, it’s not me, it’s Melody, my wife. She’s the one who’s doing 90% of the work. I always communicate with my kids in my way. That’s why our bond is really strong. But physically, I’m not the one who’s always been with them because I’m always away, especially when it is time to tour. I can’t see them the whole time. Facetime can only do so much. Seeing their face and hearing their voice is ok by with kids, they need real interaction, and they need to be held and touched to feel safe. I can’t thank Melody enough for this.
Are you going to teach your children how to play in your signature style?
I mean, they look like me, and especially Aily, the oldest one looks like me and acts like me, but I’m not teaching them. They know they can’t be better than me. But Skyler, the baby boy, has actually already started slapping the strings. And you know, if he wants to, he can but there are many options and opportunities out there for them.
Is there any upcoming news you can share with your fans that you will be working on after the tour? Perhaps more acting?
It is the 20th anniversary, so we are going to release an anime song cover album. It could be songs from Naruto, City Hunter, Evangelion… and of course, more music is coming out… There is going to be another Japanese film that we shot during the pandemic that is set for next year in January. I don’t know. I have been doing a solo career for so long so it might be cool to make a band or something. I’d be playing the guitar. I like singing but my roots are the guitar. So it would be like me just playing the guitar without having to think about the lyrics. That’s true happiness. So might be cool to make a band or something in the future.
There’s a lot more at the link, and I didn’t copy and paste the entire answers for the questions that I decided to feature in this post so definitely check the link at the top of the post if you’re interested in more.
An anime song cover album is kinda interesting in theory I guess… I like anime. Whether its interesting will depend on the anime songs he decides to cover. As great as the song is, a Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis cover #500 isn’t really that interesting. That song is constantly covered. Stick to anime released in the last 5 years maybe. And I wouldn’t say he experiments enough with his music. His sound has been incredibly stale for a decade now. The last part about a new band is very exciting… But, I guess it will ultimately depend on the people he partners with and whether the music doesn’t sound like his solo career currently does. He’s probably going to surround himself with a bunch of foreigners and release English speaking mall music.