Kai Kurosawa, in full

0:58hi everyone happy happy Sunday welcome to Unwritten rules of the road um today we have a very special guest um and friend Kai Cala thank you so much for joining us today yes thank you for having me Tash this is super exciting Kai and I go way back so um I originally met Kai when he was playing with Collide um I believe back then you were playing War guitar still I don't think you were playing Kubo yes so you were playing War guitar um with Kai uh with uh with Collide um is that one of the ones in the background that you have or are they both kuo okay actually um my

1:42War guitar is in Japan right now with a student of mine I basically pretty much gave it to him he I he always wanted a 12 string War guitar and since I wasn't playing it as much and I wanted to have you know the instrument to have a good home and somewhere that it will be played and appreciate it more than just sort of you know just be like a reminder of what I've done so I yeah I gifted it to him maybe about five years ago and it's it's at a nice home yeah he's always been super gracious and you know fed me food

2:18even when I wasn't like you know deserving it or something and yeah it's so yeah it went to a nice place oh that's awesome that's really awesome um yeah I never actually experienced an instrument like that before um especially well live and that was amazing to watch you playing it um and you know fast forward we ended up um playing together in both Alice underground and Alice and this time around with Kubo um yes and so that is what we're seeing actually in the background is Kubo actually no Kubo is is oh no that's not right yeah in the background this is something else too

2:56yeah I these are well this violin one is sort of of my travel instrument in case I have to do like transits and stuff because yeah it's just easier cuz it actually fits in a guitar case and usually if I travel with Kubo Kubo yeah it's kubo's um but yes so but Kubo the debut of Kubo was actually with you guys you know like I it was just finished maybe a month before we started or it was finished during when we were rehearsing for like the anime EXP and stuff and so yeah like the first show like I done with Kubo like ever or the

3:35first people I ever played Kubo with with you guys actually oh that's so cool I love that yeah yeah yeah we have we have some history there we do actually yeah we do yeah it's really fun going back and watching some of those you know clips that I just you know took like on my cell phone and stuff and yeah yeah it's good stuff that's awesome I I know I think I believe you started on the base correct well well started piano yeah oh right piano trumpet trumbone little bit of guitar and then I started playing bass Parts on a guitar and I ended up

4:15enjoying that a lot more than playing guitar and so so that's yeah and that that's how I started playing bass from there I was 15 when that started actually so what was your actual first live music experience like playing um what what instrument and what and what were you playing H you mean as a not like a school curriculum but as like like what I wanted to do MH it was probably electric Bas I think I had my first show on electric base I think when I was 16 might have been 17 somewhere around there yeah so that was just you know like covers like some some Aussie

5:01and some some Japanese pop rock and whatever mixtures but yes that was probably the first show show that I I could think back to that was actually my choice instead of you know the education systems that's really cool wait was this in Japan yes it was yeah I was I grew up in Japan from 4 to 18 so anything that happened in between there besides uh before starting to play electric base like you know play I play piano for maybe even some of the school singing competitions and stuff so I I was you know I was okay playing piano actually but it wasn't you know choice

5:42se yeah well that's interesting um like you mentioned sort of like what you wanted to do and choice and I think that's interesting that you are you play such a unique instrument um like kind of like what can you walk us through like what made you kind of I guess go towards that instrument like you were like called to that I'm sure but like was was there like a certain thing that made you go like you know I want to kind of like think outside the box and and try something completely yeah when I played bass I when I started playing bass I really liked the tone of

6:21it like the rounder warmer sound and I'm pretty sure like the low pitch I was still not hearing it very well but I like the sound of it basically but since I come from a piano background I was used to playing you know like the Basse par chords and Melody and all that so I would take my four string base and I would take like you know like a piano score like over the rainbow and actually figure out how to play all the parts Like A reduced version of Over the Rainbow but like as a solo base player and I I was doing this from like maybe

6:58two or three months into playing regular bass and so basically I was doing what I'm doing right now except with a more reduced implied way but now I can actually play everything that I want to play if that makes sense you know it does it does yeah that's very cool it's like you wanted to actually be able to encapsulate kind of an orchestra in your hands pretty much yeah yeah I wanted to literally play what I wanted to and I guess just the first step from getting like a six string base I ended up getting the war guitar around the year in the year 2000 you know around

7:46time and and I first didn't play very good but you know of course I I had to like relearn from scratch completely and everything which was great and then 2010 or so I met Michael Tobias who Kubo and I was interested at the time already that I wanted 15 strings and have like three regions instead of two if you think about like the war guar or the Chapman Stick which is of course the original mrit Chapman invented the Chapman Stick in 1969 and about like Laurel Canyon and stuff and his instrument was more designed I think for two parts of course that's up to the

8:27player but you know that's sort of the and I wanted to have an instrument that was more basically the basic idea to be tailored to playing three parts and so I went with 15 strings and four outputs and all that kind of stuff yeah that's amazing I know we've we've had this discussion before that and you mentioned needing to relearn how to play or learn how to play um you have a very impressive practice regimen and I I I wanted to ask you you um how how much do you practice every day um now I know you I I know what your practice was like

9:06before right I would say it probably still averages out to six hours I think that's that's probably pretty accurate that's not in some days are longer or sometimes shorter of course and I've believe it or not I have been making more effort to practice less just to just to enjoy a little bit more I think like since I switched how I play and I it might sound kind of weird to people who don't know how I play but I actually kind of almost invented a little bit of ways to use my fingers cuz there was I don't think anybody doing what I'm doing right now so lots of

9:51trial and era that's why I think that's part of why the average of 6 hours maybe been more continued for a long time and this is something that I actually didn't realize until my friend in college mentioned cuz I was just thinking about it from you know being out of school or being a you know like a professional musician or something and then one time I was talking to him he goes well you've been doing that since you were in school and so I went actually that's true so there's like this chunk of six years or maybe even seven because I I took one year to do opt optional optional

10:28practical training for those who know what that is so I did like I I I realized there was like you know extra seven years that I should have added to the average of practicing you know six hours a day or at least something like that you know yeah and it's still something I enjoy and it's it's it's pretty much needed I feel like just to keep the skills going and also sometimes be creative and just have fun and prep if I have a gig I don't you know I not to practice more than 4 hours because you know you got to have something left for the gig

11:05right it's true yeah in terms of your your practice regimen um do you do you have like a certain like pattern that you follow when you practice or is it like kind of creative as you go along like are there skills are there like different exercises that you create or how do you approach it or example these days I'm actually working on my Visa status right now so that takes a lot of time and you know computer and you know just like terrible so these days specifically I've been sticking to more basic things just so because I have very limited time to practice or or I I should right some

11:48days I cheating I you know practice more than I should be but I I have like a simple exercises that I try to hit every day just to keep me in shape so that is pretty intent CH but that will probably only last for about a month while I do all the paperwork and usually I'm a little more organic in terms of what I want to do and stuff in terms of how I want to practice how I want to work on something or I'll switch something in in a hand just to be like as I mentioned since it's a new technique I'm not sure if it was working

12:22or if it's a better way to do it so I'll switch things up a little bit and sometimes that takes a week two weeks maybe been a month to really find out if that worked or not because I do a lot of Independence things so when you do a lot of Independence things combining that with what whatever else you're doing makes it like really harder sometimes you know so I try to be organic about it and also you know the day of soci days or the days of social media right so I try to do the social media post stuff and I try to be creative with that in

12:57terms of you know what how to present and stuff like that so that is sort of part of my practice regimen too which is kind of cool because I'll come up with maybe a groove or I'll take something from a social post and I think oh that's a pretty cool Groove and I'll try to figure out how to do that and then I might have like two hours to figure it out and you know make the 30 second social post put it on Instagram kind of stuff and that's that's been actually a nice practice too just to expand further you know like um how to make things

13:28sound close close to what I saw and stuffff you know I think that sounds like a very inspiring approach too because it gives you a very specific you know Paradigm where you're like okay I you know I need to come up with something um and in this time frame too so in this time frame right it gives you a little bit of structure to to figure that out yeah for sure and I'm sure you you know that if when you don't set a time frame and you do a project or something whether be a social post you know booking a tour or working on an album releasing a track at

14:05some point you just have to have that time frame say okay we're stopping this right now and we're just going to go on tour with these dates or we're going to release this music because otherwise we're just going to be you know making it perfect forever so we're just going to you know do the thing and get it out there you know it's so true absolutely I think it's you know like you were saying you can definitely get stuck with things going endlessly unless you kind of like reel it in and you're like okay no I have to let it go I have to just kind of

14:33put it out there so yeah you know the Letting Go part right I think the Letting Go part is a very important lesson to learn when you're trying to be creative and doing new things and probably you know useful thing just for life in general too I guess not that I know much about life but I I think you know some things Kai okay thank you Jos well I wanted to ask you actually because I I I I personally love to practice um I I was wondering like how do you approach a mistake so like you know if I'm if I'm working on a certain

15:12run on the piano um and I I hit a mistake like I have my Approach with working through it but like what is how do you work with that yeah right well if it's Jazz you know just play it twice and call it Jazz right so that's that's how you do the thing well how do I work through a mistake I so you're talking in terms of practicing right like not just like okay so in terms of practicing I really like to practice things slow and there are times where I get away from it but in general like like these days when I'm actually practicing you know like my

15:49scale or accent exercises I'll have the metronome at like 32 so I just practice stuff as slow as I can basically and that really shows me things that I missed or things that I wasn't understanding correctly you know sometimes you think there's these you know like like you said if it's a run you think there's you know this starting point this ending point and then some parts for some reason seem harder or seem you know like they're coming at you but then when you slow them down you realize no no they're all almost like equally the same and you just got to take your time with it and

16:27so that's kind of how I approach like practicing or or correcting mistakes it's usually just going slow and once I can do it slow most things I can just actually play play fast so bam yeah I think that's actually you know kind of a a life thing as well if if you take things slow right like a little step at a time um you eventually figure it out that it's kind of like the same as as other things you do right so wow wow I just learned something right there you taught yourself Kai oh wow yeah well sometimes you know I do that to myself okay and maybe I should stop

17:09doing that to myself all the time so we have h a question um thank you so much um everyone for joining us and um we have a question from Sean uh Robert all good good to see you on here um sea is asking who inspired you to start playing the bass or just music in general let's go for music in general so my mom played piano you know kind of like a hobbyist thing you know and so in a way it was it was inspiring in a way it was like you know you're going to sit here and you're going to do the thing you know so it was

17:48a combination of both but I did really enjoy listening to my mom play piano and sing I mean what what kid doesn't right so that was pretty cool and my mom's sister she was actually a very good singer as well so I think those first really started me be like oh this is pretty neat this is kind of cool right and then I think when I really started into like music like sort of as an identity you know sometimes kids you're you're in high school or whatever you're like I know this cool band right something like that it was probably around the time I was listening to like

18:23Bon Joby or rocket if anybody knows rocket from back in the day the Swedish band and so yeah that's was kind of started inspiring me to be like oh you know what this seems really cool and I I thought it was really fun playing those Basse Parts actually so that's how that's how it's that's how it started and then I heard some jazz and other things too which was really cool and I also was lucky enough to go check out some classic classical concerts like my dad would take me to like you know like um touring Orchestra or even like a local Orchestra not like a big city you

19:00know but like an okay Orchestra and stuff and going to listen to those were were pretty neat not just because I was actually kind of into the music but also that meant like you know the time I was at the concert I didn't have to study so I just yes the inspiration was to get away from yes I mean that's a solid inspiration it is it is you know and but they got me though you know because I ended up still wanting to be like I should practice practice which is almost like studying right so it in the end in the end they win they did well you just had to figure

19:36out the thing that you wanted to study so yes yes exactly so this is a question from Scott um he's asking do you find that you reach moments of a meditative mindset when you are practicing totally I mean just like playing in general so I think I say this in in a way that hopefully it's not very mumbo jumbo but I used to do a lot more yoga when I was in college I did a lot of hath yoga to the point it was kind of taking over my practice time and stuff like that's all I kind of wanted to do for a little bit and I

20:14think I learned a lot of it lot from it which was great like feeling you know your body or energy flow or meditation what whatever people get out of it I think I got similar things and then one day I realized you know what am I doing like I'm I should be actually practicing instrument this is what I'm here to do you know this is like sort of my responsibility so I went back and I started practicing my instrument again and I realized I got a lot of the same effects that I did get from practicing ha yoga actually practicing or playing music and and from there on I but I

20:52probably wouldn't have recognized that I got similar effects if I never really tried to practice yoga that much you know you know so so yeah definitely there's a lot of meditative did I say that correctly correctly Med meditative meditative there we know exactly what you mean yes I know I know meditative meditative aspects to playing an instrument to to you know um playing a show practice everything yeah you you do experience that you know and I'm I'm sure you know you and Scott and everybody has experienced something like that you know in the process oh yeah I I find actually it's I feel like you it's like you do find that

21:39flow state in not just you know practicing but in performing as well like I feel like everything just kind of comes together I guess in a way so yeah yeah for sure and I I do have those moments sometimes you know when I'm practicing and I'm at the end of the day and I just started something new right and it's like I'm just going to do this for like 10 minutes but then I fall into like a weird state of just you know kind of being a crazy cuz I can't do it but I'll just like keep doing the thing I can't do for like an hour and be like

22:11this is really not productive I should stop but you can because you're like I'm still gonna do this so I've had those unhealthy like states where I just kind of fall into things too but yeah I think I'm getting a little better at you know not doing that and being a little more productive and stuff and I actually also I I'll add that I I like to swim that's my exercise it's good you know for your body but your hands and everything as well and that can be pretty medit D damn it I can't say it again what was it meditative meditative yes yes meditative

22:45as well because you know you're really focusing a lot on your breathing and I used to be a competitive swimmer so I'm actually good for an average Joe so but you know you're really focusing on your Technique your breathing and everything and even so it's I have like two aspects almost like what that that I enjoy in terms of um meditation kind of stuff I guess yes yes I think it's I mean I think like having some kind of a warm-up that's like outside of your instrument like in and that gets you in your body is is pretty vital like it really does help everything so whatever that thing

23:20happens to be so yeah totally yeah yeah yeah sometimes for me it'll be like cleaning the floor you know that just like yeah well when you're touring are are like are are you able to keep up with your swimming or are you able to like are there different things that you you do in general I I try to keep up with my swimming even if I'm on the road but but it doesn't happen as often so it's it's rare when I'm on the road I definitely get out of swimming shape when I'm on the road you know and I I I get more into like walking shape because I have

23:57to like carry my everything and you know all that kind of stuff because I I I do tour with people here and there but in general I would say 70 or 80% maybe even of you know me touring is a lot of Solo solo stuff so you know I got to carry all my stuff and so that that does become somewhat of a a workout I think cuz you know I I have you know I'm carrying everything that I need and sometimes people pick up my bag and they can't pick it up you know because it's like super heav or something yeah yeah well um what I mean

24:34going back to touring um like you were mentioning that you do mostly solo touring um are you are you touring a lot in Japan or are there other places that you're going to uh in a couple of weeks I'll be going to Mexico to Zano for those who need to know that's where at the end of Shashank Redemption where you know Morgan Freeman and uh what was his name Tim no anyway at the at the end where they meet so that's that's more like a Guitar Festival thing and yes I do tour in Japan I go to Europe as well well UK and Europe and yeah a lot of that is solo

25:14stuff like you know like going to teach it at a seminar and then also play solo shows or something but yeah this one coming up in a couple of weeks it's just like a Guitar Festival and it's it's amazing it's really really cool actually that's awesome I can't wait to hear about it yeah yeah it's nice but my favorite is definitely playing with people you know like especially with just a drummer my favorite thing to do is play with my drummer keg in Japan I call him my drummer even though you know we're like however many miles or kilometers AP part and we only see each

25:46other like maybe once or twice a year at the most maybe once and then we do you know just handful of shows we'll do clinics and shows at schools and regular venues will get like you know your regular content stuff or your socials and stuff but yeah touring with him is great cuz we we have a really great Dynamic I think we're we've been doing this Duo stuff for for quite some time now actually maybe maybe even like 15 14 years something like that so and we're super comfortable with each other in terms of like like he would probably be like the only person that I be

26:24comfortable touring with and if somebody's like well you're sleeping in a room with k like every night I'll be like yeah that's no problem you know we could we could we will most most definitely get rest you know it's so yeah he's he's a great touring partner actually yeah it makes a huge difference when it feels like family um yeah totally yeah it's I mean most of music right like as you know when you're touring most of it is non-musical you know it's so oh yeah get being able to get along besides music is might be might be even more important than the music part right it's a huge part I mean

27:05I I feel like the whole thing with live music is to connect with other people you know on on some level and um yeah so that's that's a huge part of it and well um you know I wanted to ask you is in terms of touring in the different places that you have do you notice a difference um in the in the music community from country to Country yeah for sure I mean it's it is it's definitely different in of course country to country or um setting to setting you know like if it's at a school or if it's like at a like a stick

27:43seminar which I which I teach at as well or or if it's you know like a Guitar Festival you know all that stuff even in the same country definitely they all change you know if if I'm hanging out with like musicians who like rock more or or you know jazz musici or something so yeah that's it's it's all very different in in every country for sure you know yeah yeah i' I've noticed that myself it's just but I mean always it's like Universal like when you play a show no matter where you go it's like you play for people that enjoy music and love it yeah so yeah I'm often impressed

28:22um to be honest with people who go out and listen to live music like they're they know know that you know being in the same air you know having the sound come through air to you is so different than anything else you know I mean of course you could check out stuff on CD or you know YouTube or whatever but there's nothing like you know being in the same air and it's it's pretty special and I yeah I'm always super impressed with people who who go do that is you know a lot you know yeah yeah absolutely um Sean is actually asking um when you're touring

29:03what is your travel sleep regimen do you have some kind of a a sleep regimen or a regimen in general when you're on tour um well I if I if have jet lag it's just I mean I'm I'm I'm in the boat of like just give up so I just I'll just rest whenever I can like some people are like you know I'm going to beat jet lag and this and that I was like you know what it doesn't happen just get rest when you can that's cuz that that's really just my my Approach just like rest up because you need rest no matter what

29:39time of the day it is and you know if you're lucky you'll adjust early and sometimes you won't and also I do actually enjoy having you know um cheers compai with people afterwards you know like having a beer and talking or you know several beers but or wine or whatever ever it is I enjoy that a lot and so people sometimes get the wrong impression that I want to do that until the morning but usually I'm like after like I don't know maybe close to midnight sometimes even before maybe if I'm like maybe if everybody's like come on stay then I'll maybe stay until like 1 or 1:30 but I'm

30:17usually like good night I'm GNA go to sleep I definitely I definitely you know just say tell everybody good night and I go get my rest because yeah there there's no way I I'm I'm not getting my so yeah sleep is vital it's like you have to pace yourself it's like a marathon you know and you know you have to play a show the next day or day after you know yeah you know when we were probably much younger we could like just Sprint the thing right but yeah we we we know enough that we need to like rest and you know bring a good show the next

30:52day you know I mean because you never know how you feel right during tour some days I remember I felt super far away from my instrument I had like I wasn't sure if I was playing it or not like like out of the blue right I was like burned out or something and you know the least I can do is make sure that I'm getting some rest that I'm prepped to do the best I can that day you know yeah absolutely yeah do you um cook your own food or do you um just kind of explore the different foods when you for from when you go

31:29if I am in one location oh well if I have the option of going to like a venue from the same location I'll I will book a Airbnb actually I do actually enjoy cooking and I actually one of my favorite things to do is actually go to grocery stores when I'm on tour it's just so fun checking out like the local stuff and I've had tour members like just look at me you know be like oh this is so boring or they probably thought I was really weird right I'm just like at groceries cuz I have like two hours to kill I'm just like at the grocery store

32:03but yeah I just I like I like doing that and I like you know cooking and I feel I feel better even even in La if I have a gig most the times I'll actually cook my food and take it with me if I have a studio gig I'll actually take my food and I mean cook my food and take it with me so I would say like 90 to 95% of the food I eat I actually cook myself and I've been doing that since College actually I just feel feel better that way I think but um yeah and I try to keep not try but in general I think I

32:38keep my cooking skills almost on the download because I've had experiences when people found out for some reason I I ended up cooking for like five days or and then there was one time the guy was like oh I'm going to invite my daughter because it's her birthday I was like what I mean it's a little much you know I think you're you're being a little uh you know little much there buddy you know yeah it is one of those things you do you keep on the download until people find out and then it is what it is but yeah yes exactly yeah but I mean I I

33:09like cooking and I like you know I like dinner parties and stuff hav done done one in a bit but yeah it's it's nice it's it's you know it's another thing it's I consider cooking and doing music almost the same thing so I would I wouldn't declare this but my own Prejudice I don't know if that's the correct word I I almost feel like musicians can't who can cook is not musicians there I said it there you heard it folks I know that's not true but I mean that's how that's how similar I feel music and cooking is everybody I know uh oh yeah yeah we lost

33:55the listeners bye everyone all right um oh this is awesome from Vic uh Vic Bon is asking a question for you um they're half Japanese on on your mom's side uh what is your favorite Japanese food I'm actually a vegetarian so most things I cook has to be sort of like a Kai Fusion I guess one of I like to ja H specifically like an ingredient I like to cook with beroch I think berock root is great goo so like kimp goo or something I think is is fantastic uh I do enjoy eating like a Japanese style pasta some like for example I'll do something

34:50like with you know three mushrooms like sh shimi and EDI and maybe put some like be Leaf some shiso on that thing maybe some niy at the end so yeah just kind of like Japanese Fus and stuff I do enjoy I think we might have to request some recipes at some point from you that's right well we'll just set up a dinner party you know and go that sounds awesome yeah yeah I I I like to cook as well um I always bring my slow cooker and rice cooker on the road um yeah yes kind of requisite yep yeah yeah and I I I remember didn't you make a mean

35:31guacamole as well I do yeah right I feel like we've done some you know uh dinner parties together and yeah you cook yeah you you cook a lot and yeah so yes I love to cook as well yeah yeah yes um well another question actually for you is um like um do you set up your own shows or do you work with people um in terms of like setting up your your live live performances I do set up my own shows I say 80% maybe um maybe even 90 I'm not sure but it's but if if I go to like um Europe to teach then the seminar

36:16organizer is usually kind enough to set up you know shows here and there and stuff so that definitely you know credit goes to him for setting those things up but yeah in general like I I do do my own thing which I'm sure you do as well you know so and it is a skill on its own and it's it it could be quite terrible at times because it's probably like the least favorite part of what I do yeah know but you know it's a valuable skill to have right it's it's it's very important and I think it's also important to acknowledge the people who if somebody books something for you

36:53or if they do the leg work for them you know you should really give them the the credit right i' I feel like I come across people who sometimes don't like they'll be like oh I played you know and you know I played here I did a show and you know the and I don't know I just I it just rubs me the wrong way when somebody can just be like oh yeah because this organizer did this and and therefore like he just lined up you know like five shows for me and it was great you know it doesn't really take that much to just

37:26you know be grateful for something like that yeah no absolutely I think that when you've had the experience of knowing how much work that goes into it it really gives you an appreciation it's like I tell people like everybody at some point should either wait tables or work a telephone line um you know like you should work like a support or you know know how to book your own shows CU When you when you know like what goes into it you're like wow this is this is a lot so my gratitude and respect for those that put it together totally and among the same lines of thinking I think

38:04a lot of musicians should experience what it's like working stage crew you know like behind the scenes stuff which I was lucky enough to do and yeah that stuff like super important you know you you learn better to Comm like as if when you are on stage it makes you better communication with the house you know the the stage crew the video crew what whatever people it is you know and yeah you you definitely start realizing important things you know and you know sometimes there are people I guess that I I had some funny experiences where I was working stage crew and somebody was like you know this

38:40was in my college days but was complaining about the monitors and I never forget this was the best line the the sound guy Ed he just looks at the guy that was complaining about the it was a bass player that was complaining about his monitor he just looks at him and he goes you're probably just hearing the wrong notes that the guitar player is playing and I was like wow that's great it's funny I'll have to remember that one yeah yeah totally yeah no but it's it's true because um you know like your your stage crew the people running your sound you know the people who are running the

39:22venues like these are all people behind the scenes that make it all possible so yeah definitely people to be treated well yeah exactly you know I mean it doesn't take much just like even at the end of the night being like thank you for the sound crew or you know thank you to this or just even thanking the venue itself sometimes but you know just going one step further and being like thank you sound crew or thank you you know bartenders or whatever you know that's always always good yeah absolutely yeah I think it's you know I I like you were saying it goes back to like um really

39:56having an understanding of how those moving Parts work um it's interesting cuz sometimes I've had people in the audience that tell me that I need to turn my vocals up and um they don't really understand like I don't have control over that um right right well you know not not everyone you know it's like if you have no idea like there's actual like you know a sound person behind you know that's actually probably much further away right that's actually controlling all of that um and you don't understand that like you wouldn't know like oh that's actually not the singer that controls the volume you know yeah for

40:30sure that is so funny so they're probably just like in the audience trying to get your attention be like hey you I know I know I'm like I'm giving her all she's got I promise right yeah yeah so um I I kind of joke about the fact that the sound person is like you know your seventh band member your third band member however big your band is but they are like a crucial band member for sure oh yeah I would I would go as far saying the merch person is like also a band member you know oh true yes yes very true yeah so you mentioned um that you're

41:07going to be in Mexico um do you have any other um like uh shows performances that are coming up yeah just like some local stuff in La I'm playing at the Japan Foundation Los Angeles next week and I was going to do that as a solo thing but I decided to get my friend Daniel Rosen boom trumpet player who actually uses effects like pedals live really well um so seemingless which is super cool um but yeah we're going to do a Duo show instead of solo cuz it's like a underwater castle like kind of a Japanese duu Joel for those who understand that theme and I thought hey

41:48you know what instead of just like doing a solo show like duo will probably be way better in terms of like interpretation of the art pieces or the installation and stuff so that is happening as well and my Visa status since I have to renew that the summer I am not really planning much right now cuz I just got to get that approved first so hopefully I'm thinking that once that gets approved I will be doing some traveling in September and October we'll see but but yeah I think most likely I'm going to try to just you know play it by year be flexible but not book

42:25anything at least I I think I won't book anything in May at least for now maybe a bit more you know yeah yeah hope no nobody from the immigration is listening to this are no I am not working during that time okay well technically you are you still yes yes yes um I know that like you know like you were mentioning like even you know when you're not performing you're still working on your social medias you're still working on pieces you know um it's a lifestyle huh it is it absolutely is it's funny because like I think for myself I think you know I mean I can be very hard on myself where

43:07I think I'm not working and then I look back on it and I'm like no actually I did this this and this and I I did this um and so you kind of forget that there's all these different stages of creation you know like just because you're not on a stage yeah totally and I I think from a few years ago once my techniques started settling in I and I still fail at this here and there but I I was trying to have like a day where I didn't practice or didn't touch my instrument you know cuz I feel like that it's nice to just have a a refresh

43:42perspective sometimes and yeah so that's that's also part of my my work or practice regimen now is to not practice well yeah it's which is actually kind of hard it's to the practice of nothing right yeah or just just practice of trying to do something else a little bit you know like like some days you know uh instead of cooking like I'll be like you know what today I'm just going to go buy food because I should change it up a little bit you know yeah because otherwise I'll just like you know cook all the time and some days you know and sometimes you end up cooking not very

44:22good because for whatever reason you're not feel like cooking that day but but you do it just because it's the thing you do and and that's not great for you know a lot of things so you know it's just nice to switch it up right yeah yeah absolutely I think it's important to ask yourself the question um daily like is this something that I actually really truly want to do is this really in line with what I want to do because sometimes I I feel like we can easily go through the motions like humans are naturally creatures of habit you know so I think you know ask you know tuning

44:55into yourself and going like okay is this really in line with what I want to do yeah yeah that's that's uh yeah that's a hard um it seems it seems simple well maybe it is a little bit simple but yeah it's something that's it's there and it's like a lifelong practice of of you know dealing with that I think in terms of how how you approach things or how you approach what you're doing and I guess like maybe we're lucky that we're doing something we can easily say yes this is what I want to do you know and some days you could show it better than others and

45:34those those are you know those are kind of interesting when you're doing something that you like and obviously want to do but thinking like you know what today I sound i s i I just sound like ass this is just terrible there are those days right oh there are there are definitely those days you're like what am I doing who am I yeah yeah yeah and you're just like oh this is terrible you know and yeah and it just like bleeds into you know your food prep or you know your driving or whatever and yeah so yeah I think that's like at that point you have to just kind

46:10of put on the brakes and you have to be like okay well how do I feed the well you know how do I throw things into myself that you know kind of shift gears and give me like a different fresh perspective on whatever it is right yeah yeah for sure yeah yeah it's yeah sometimes it's it's difficult to do that for sure but yeah it's just like switching it up somehow yeah yeah I find that you know for me um like for instance if I if I'm working on a song um and I get stuck you know like where I'm like oh I just don't know where to

46:44take this song um I'll draw like I'll draw for a little bit and I find that it just kind of like switches my brain a bit and it helps me um kind of relax and also it's just kind of fun and it's not necessarily something I'll share with anyone but just you know getting to sketch for a second kind of like I think switches things up yeah yeah that's pretty neat actually in terms of that I think what I've been doing recently that's been new is I've been kind of enjoying um du lingo and I think that's kind of cool because it's it's you know just like

47:18doing something that is is pretty new and you know just it m makes me think about oh what what would be easier because I teach a little bit too like I actually do my online school and stuff where people can subscribe and take lessons or do you know oneon-one or the seminar stuff or whatever it is and I feel like it does help me put into perspective about learning new things or just the process of it or you know instead of just doing how I always done it's just nice to get a yeah something new that way too so yeah and for you it's drawing and I guess for me like

47:58once in a while doing dual lingo well I do it every day of course but it's just cuz I got my 105 day streak so like I said it's pretty new but oh that's good but yeah it is new but it's it's something you know it's nice to just do that and be like okay oh you know what something pops into my head be like oh you know what maybe when I do this I'll try it this way or that way or when I teach or when I present something I'll do it this way or that way you know so what language are you diving

48:24into on du lingo espan oh nice yes I have I have I have that as well okay yeah I mean I could fake it in a restaurant when I'm in Mexico that's so people think I'm I'm okay but so every time I go to every time I go to the Festival I think I get a little bit better but this time around I was like you know what it's actually it's actually uh it might be fun to actually you know kind of learn it just just cuz cuz my uh it was a recommendation from my partner actually she was like dualing was pretty cool and you know it's it's

48:59like the systems nice and everything and so I just kind of started and I was like oh this is this is pretty neat you know so so yeah I was committed to try to get better a little bit before I go back and now I'm at the point where it's starting to get you know really difficult to the point again where I don't feel like I can speak at all which is true but you know every day little by little got to do the thing mhh it actually does add up it's a good it's a good little app it does it does actually work with really

49:26well yes yeah yes I do like knowing um at least a little bit at least trying to learn a little bit um when I visit other countries because I feel like it makes such a huge difference you know in connecting to people and understanding the culture a little bit better so I think that's awesome that you're going to get to have that under your belt when you go to Mexico yeah I think I'll have it a a little bit more you know in terms of just like you know just like the simple thing I could probably like have a few more uh conversations or whatever

49:57yeah but yeah that'll be nice and I could probably talk to the bartenders a little more you know I'm like the only guy with 12 strings and I'm probably like the only asan there usually when I play at the festival so I I guess it's easy to remember who I am but yeah they usually give us drink you know the festival usually gives us drink tickets but I don't even use them I just show up and be like you know who I am hello hello oh it's me yes give me my wine give me my beer you know so actually question about um do you have like a a favorite memorable

50:41show um or any favorite stories from from any of your shows wow that wow you oh God like okay let's try to be a little more specific here let I'm just like cuz like there'll be like recency bias or who I'm talking to bias or like know well with us it's easy to mention the Anime Expo show cuz that wases that was amazing that was amazing like because in a way that was like dream come true because I was working with friends and we we worked a lot right we we rehearsed we were super solid we we were all super thoughtful and we had you

51:22know very serious musicians with us um is that snobby to no right it's okay like I we had like we had n nerdy serious musicians we had like good players you know and it was that was just awesome um and you know some people were just hire guns but they were like super nice you know I already work really well together and you know we we we were like playing like Jpop or you know J big band or whatever it was right we played because we had like a Cabo bbop shop uh show which was more like you know Jazz and all this other like

51:57Kano Yoko stuff and then we had like the code gas thing which was like a lot of Jrock Jpop and some like film score stuff and yeah just like really working on that and I've always you know kind of wanted to play like Jrock or J-pop on like you know my instrument with like a serious production with you know dancers and projections and you know friends and all that and so that that was like a dream come true I think and like just playing like some of the cowboy bbop stuff was like you know it's so iconic that music right and who would who wouldn't you know enjoy playing that

52:33like at a serious show right so so that was like yeah that was super cool so that definitely is is is a is a nice one that I remember and more recently the show I played with keg almost two years ago at this point but we we did a Duo show at this place called drum garage and I thought we really played really nice that day we actually recorded the whole show and there might have been one song that was unusable but other than that everything was was great like I actually have a lot of it released on not not a lot I have a

53:07few of it released on my YouTube and most of it released on my personal website where people can can check it out and stuff you know so those those were a lot of fun I did do a show when I turned 33 which was 12 years ago at this point I did a birthday show that was like the only birthday show I've ever done but that was really fun you know at the time like yeah so you know there's there's stuff I guess I still remember my first show ever with the bass um but yeah yeah I don't know that's about it I guess so yeah there's

53:46some it's like it's kind of like a highlight reel when you ask that question where it's like oh there's this moment and then there's this moment you know yeah yeah it's kind of it's kind of hard uh to oh I I would also like to mention because of the such a unique instrument that I played there was one show in 200 19 I think I played at stick Knight so Mr EMT Chapman he passed away but so there was this thing called stick Knight so which was bunch of stick players and myself which was kind of crazy because Chapman Stick It is an instrument but

54:23it's it's also a a brand if you will you know and so usually when it's stick night everybody kind of plays the Chatman stick and I was super lucky to be able to play at that show shouts to Jean and Robin and of course EMT Mr EMT Chapman but yeah that was super cool like being able to play for the guy who invented something right and and he really seemed to enjoy it like I was it was maybe like the only show I was like actually nervous in like forever and I think I guess that didn't show in my playing but it showed when I was

55:01speaking cuz I was you know like you know the inventor of an instrument is just sitting there and you're lucky enough to play for the guy and so I was like kept kept on like thanking him and everything and he was nice enough to be like oh no I'm just like you know an audience member today and I'm like but you're M and so so that was that was super cool you know to to be a to to be able to have something like that is super cool and now that I'm you know thinking about that just you know just the fact that having this amazing instrument you know

55:34is that alone is just crazy I know that's just not like one specific show that's almost like all of it but I think because it is such a rare in instrument it is one of a kind Kubo is one of a kind and having somebody like Michael and Daniel Tobias make it for me was just still crazy like to this day when I think about it you know I'm just I I feel like you know I I should I should try to just do good when I think about these things you know yeah yeah absolutely I don't know it's kind of it's interesting because um well we were

56:10talking about Anime Expo and then you were talking about um you know getting to play those shows um I I it's interesting when you put pressure on yourself or you know you feel the nervousness and you're like oh it kind of elevates the experience in a way um where it can create that nervous energy um you know and it's like a matter I guess of figuring out how to navigate how to navigate that you know yeah totally well for me for the Anime Expo I was just you know I was just a band member so I was just having fun you for you you were more in a leading role and

56:43everything so I'm sure there was like you know way more things on your mind which was which was kind of cool for me because I was just like I'm going to sit back here and just going to enjoy myself I you know I had all the going to laugh at TSH right like seriously like like if if uh oh Scott's Computer is falling off over there ah funny he it you know and and I you know we had the music memorized we had rehearse so all I had to do was like enjoy and if something went wrong I kind of wasn't responsible unless it was like my thing went wrong

57:13you know when you and obviously when you're when you're at the show if something goes wrong it's not your fault per se but you know you TSH as a leading role would probably have to like deal with it or you know there's all these things more mine is supposed to me just in back like well for that particular show um I had to learn a song in Japanese and I only had a few days to do it was like Pages five pages of Japanese lyrics I remember and you were you were such a good teacher you were so patient with me I just I remember your coaching and I

57:47was like okay Kai I'm like need your coaching here I I tried well I think I helped it very little bit like you and SAS you know you know like was just Sasha like was just like I think like every time you sat down like when you were doing makeup or something it was just to of you like going over the song and you know you just do what you got to do but you you know it was like with the best attitude too though cuz you two were just like having fun with it it was like constant over and over and I don't know maybe usually when you know

58:17somebody's like doing the same thing over and over like everybody else might get irritated but there was it was like it was like good energy even when you know we were hearing the same thing over and over and I I didn't mind it at all it was actually it was a pretty good experience and usually you know hearing the same thing over and over would drive me crazy so the moral of the story kids is have fun with it right just have a good attitude about it just present good and then like everybody else will feel it you know even somebody like me absolutely um okay speaking of of

58:56um if you were to um have a chance to talk to your younger self when you're first starting out um like do you feel like you would have any words of wisdom like yeah yeah I feel like it I don't know if it's much but words well words wisdom I I do have a thought about that which is there were all these things that I've did as a kid whether it be you know the education system or or my mom or my dad I've always thought that actually doing or learning piano was super valuable and I think that applies to even people maybe who don't do music or won't do

59:43music and it could be even you know like a sports or something too but just like learning how to learn I think is important so if I have to tell my younger self like about doing schoolwork or doing piano or you know uh learning to swim whatever it is or doing a sports like the most important thing you can do through that process is to learn how to learn and there and then you could probably teach yourself other things too uh later in life and of course it's nice when you have somebody else you can share with or maybe even a good teacher or something but I think you could you

1:00:22realize that once you know how to learn something a lot of the times you you might not need a teacher you know yeah yeah it's sort of like you become your own your own teacher in that way once you unlock that yeah and you know and it obviously I'm not saying that's the only way and I I do think that it is very important to to important now I can't even say important I think it's important to have a teacher but you know yeah it's it's um but that being said yeah learning how to learn is is important yeah well you mentioned um that you you are able like

1:01:04on your website it's is this the happy UHS happy. plug plug yes that people can find you and um contact you um if they want to study with you yeah totally like if or even if somebody just has a question or or something I'm I'm pretty I think I I I you know I'm I'm not overwhelmed yet with you know all the emails or whatever you know like I you know I think I try to be personable as much as I can like some people have asked me like you know maybe even like um instrument question that I could have answered or like technique question that I could have

1:01:43answered just with an email but sometimes I'll just like a shoot a short video and be like hey this is how you do something or you know it's awesome yeah I think that's much better and I've had experiences where I would do that and somebody would just like buy my you know band camp catalog like and you know I feel like that that kind of stuff is really nice and good and you know that's that's the kind of thing I want to be around so I try to try to get what I can and then sometimes you know people get back what they can I guess and it's yeah

1:02:15so but anyway yes happy sat Auto is yeah if you reach out or if you don't you know I I'll still be you know having content your way no matter what yes yes yeah um are you are you going to be putting out any um albums in the in the near future um yes I'll probably do something with my Trio in Los Angeles the so my friend Dan plays trumpet and Andrew plays drums and we were G to we had this scheduled to do like um I I I had a loose schedule how to do it and then the the gigs I had had in February and March

1:02:57got cancelled because this one venue decided not to have uh live music so so that kind of threw a monkey wrench in there I was like oh man now like I gotta now we got to figure out like reschedule again you know um so yeah and since I I'm I'm doing more computer work like you know paperwork and stuff right now it's been on the back burner to try to figure that out but I'll I'll I'll definitely will do that and I will probably do that more in a live setting I definitely like even for recording music uh even if it's at a studio I I usually prefer the you know

1:03:34playing live stuff i' I've always preferred it that way actually which is you know very very much like a jazz musician approach I suppose it makes a difference it really does like when you're when you're doing things um like all together and you're playing live together and you're feeding off of each other versus just layering on top which is still very cool you're like you're having your own individual experience but there is something too actually playing all at the same time that's very special I think yeah yeah it's nice you know and just being in the same room and even if there's like a little bleed on the mics or whatever

1:04:11like I think it's you know it's fine I actually kind of prefer prefer that kind of style and yeah it's kind of nice you know um just you know mistakes I mean if there's some like really bad ones I'll go back and fix it but in general like whatever mistakes are in there it's usually good enough to just have like you know the the human element in there or something you know yeah I do love that I do love when you're like oh I I can hear like the the fingers going across like a a board like that scratch you know you can hear that um or the

1:04:44breath like I just love little subtleties like that where it does feel very human yeah totally totally and you know now now in these social media age you know throw up a few cameras and you know you can use it your social posts and all that and you know support the companies that support you you know all that kind of stuff which is I think important you know yeah absolutely yeah um do you have any advice to give to guitarists or musicians interested in learning touch style instruments oh I do think as somebody who went back and learned from scratch depending on how much time you want to spend on it

1:05:30this is this is me nice way of saying how how serious you are is is almost like learn from scratch I if if you really want to do it meaning like so I'm I'm right-hand dominant naturally but I kind of ended up becoming a left-hand dominant which now I'm sort of like ambidextrous is at this point but I started playing like a war guitar or you know playing bass or whatever in a in a way that was basically extension of playing regular Bas W tapping or something and that really that to me to my ears to my ears and eyes to my self that didn't really

1:06:13seem like it was something to bring out the instrument or the technique fully so I completely learned from scratch and I decided I'm going to actually just learn as a left-hand dominant person so that actually really changed my perspective a lot even about the world actually people you know have these experiences from whatever things but for me like this big change came over in in the form of three years of really trying to switch my dominant hand and one day that actually kind of changed my perspective a lot even almost like how I saw the world which might sound like some with jumbo but it

1:06:55actually did and but yeah if you want to just have a quick integration of touch style into your playing then I think a good thing to approach is practice something super slow uh you could do things where you practice rhythms even without your instrument you know like independent rhythms in each hand that actually always helps and learn how to hear the different parts I think is also like the important part too I think if you can hear the parts not always but a lot of times if you can hear some hear the parts you could probably you have a better chance of playing it than than

1:07:34not you know which I think sometimes is something we forget especially if you're taking on a new Endeavor like a new technique you know I I want to go back to what you mentioned about how it changed your perspective of the world um like how would you say your perspective was shifted if you can pinpoint that if you can even put it into words oh I remember the day that I thought I I changed like I was walking back from school it could have been like midnight or could have been 2: a.m. you know back then I would practice in the practice rooms until midnight or 2: a.m. which

1:08:10was the time it closed basically and I was just walking back and this is I think it was about three years of playing the war guitar at that point but yeah I was just walking and I thought wow the world looks different that's just like like I thought that and then I like I thought the colors looked different and there was some like you know I was in Boston just uh walking and there was some like plastic on the street and I was like that's really pretty like like or like the color I well yeah it was like Vivid it was super Vivid for some reason and I went whoa

1:08:51what's going on here you know so that was like the first day that I I I realized that I I kind of saw things differently and I don't know I might have been already seeing it differently for you know a year up to that point or maybe maybe a month I don't know or maybe two or three days you know it's it's maybe like the first time you drink and you don't know you're drunk so you get over the you drunk you know I was like I didn't realize I didn't realize I was seeing things differently but but yeah that's kind of that was like the first thing

1:09:22for sure that that I saw the world differently yeah and U yeah I guess like you know just using this side and you know um getting your brain working a little differently or something does does does change you know you so yeah that's that's sort of the loose term yeah that's sort of the loose term and you know to get into like more specific things I think those would be more like personal perspectives or personal stuff but yeah at least in terms of realization I'm pretty comfortable sharing that story at least yeah no that's very very cool and it makes sense that you know you are

1:09:59accessing a different part of your brain um also perhaps like maybe having to pay a little more attention to things if it's not your dominant hand so you're actually having to be a little bit more purposeful and I think present right with each action so totally yeah like I think I think from three years I started playing I mean you know compared to now I couldn't play at all but you know back then like three years I was starting to play like okay I guess and you know it was it was about the time that I was starting to get somewhat better at Independence a little bit or at least

1:10:32like getting some moments in the practice room where I'm like this is amazing I got my Independence and on stage you're like no you don't got it you know but like even doing that you know like working on like feeling different things playing different things at the same time I think that was also a big part of it and trying to do that you know by switching your dominant hand and stuff so yeah I actually had a uh I took a percussion class and um the teacher actually gave us the advice so that we would strengthen our non-dominant hand he was like try brushing your teeth with

1:11:09that hand just for starters just brush your teeth with that hand and I was like oh this is hard yeah yeah yeah I mean like I I could um you know just eating with your left hand that's kind of fun too you know it it it feels you know different I could I I'm definitely better at eating with my my right but you know I'm I could eat with my left hand no problem you know and it's it's like a it's like a bit of a different experience you know you realize um how how differently you feel your fingers or how differently you feel your muscles and you know there these

1:11:44are both of your hands but you you feel them differently and stuff and yeah yeah I I think like eating with your with your you know non-dominant hand once in a while could be could be a fun experience especially if you're like what you know if you feel like maybe you're eating too fast that'll definitely slow you down you know this is true I know what I'm doing tonight I'm like huh okay let's try this yeah exactly yeah and also it helps when you know you you're at a large table and you know everybody like you're at the furthest left end and if you have

1:12:18the option of being like Oh I'm not going to use my right and bump into the person next to me I'm just going to eat with my left it makes that that much easier too you know this is true yeah this is true so do you have like a like a particular um approach when it comes to your composition like writing um do you have like a certain way or or would you say it changes with from song to song it changes from song to song but in general I just I'll just play it that's like pretty um that's pretty Universal with with my stuff like I'll just play it and

1:12:56then if I remember it the next day I try to write it down mhm because if you know and and if I like it the next day I'll write it down because if not like i' I've had stuff where I thought was great and then I didn't write it down the next day and I just completely forgot you know there that that has happened a few occasions but in general yeah if I write it down the next day I'm good and sometimes I do have an idea what I want to do and so I'll shift things towards that a little bit but not much you know like

1:13:31like I for example I have this tune called Nine Lives which the whole thing's in nine like different nines and but um so I was playing it but then I realized it was a lot of nines and I was like oh let's put everything in nine you know so I had to like shift a few things later on to be like oh this this this one has like you know one beat extra or you know one B two less so I'll shift it around so it actually all fits in nine like I I will do something like that if I have a clear idea that I want to do

1:14:04that and if it still sounds okay but yeah I don't go and you know be like I'm going to write in 15 I won't do that you know yeah I mean if there is a a section in a song that is 15 then you know so be it but you know yeah I won't uh do that kind of thing intentionally yeah not intentionally no no I I I went through that phase uh at an earlier age and at some point to me I thought it was kind of lame so I I stopped doing that at an early age you know that was just my preference you

1:14:41know I'm not saying you are I'm just saying you know I mean or The Listener or whoever you know I'm not saying people who do it are lame I'm just saying for me is you know and you know you you know the last thing you don't you want to do is you don't want to be thinking that you're lame you know it's true yeah it's true yeah kind of have to just let it all come out as it comes out yeah and then you make your creative decisions and you know whatever is more comfortable for you to present to other people is what you should do I

1:15:14think I um I was toying around with this piano riff for about a year and I didn't know what to do with it and it it was in 13 and it ended up being one of the first early Alice songs oh um yeah but I was stuck with it I was like it's like I don't know what what to do with this and I don't know where to go with it and it's just this weird riff that's just stuck in my head it was one of those that I had to live with um not intentional but eventually like came out and then you know I I loved what the

1:15:46guys like figured out around it you know I think that's what helped me was like the collaborative process that kind of helped flush things out you know totally yeah yeah I mean I like I I love that part too like when I write something oh this is also adding like often when I write something I do have an idea who's going to play it so a lot of the things that I wrote for my Duo got monk with a question mark like got monk like got milk kind of you know that one I usually have an idea that keg is going to be playing it so I'll have these ideas of

1:16:19what he's going to play but often like he'll do something else or you know once we learn the thing I'm like okay now we know what the end goal is so let's just you know be creative let's just switch it up from show to show cuz him and I play more heavier music but there's a lot of improvisation as well so even when we're playing the head like the melody he'll you know be be creative and do something and that'll like you know make me play different or that'll have us like talk about it differently later on or that'll inspire a different composition later on you know when you

1:16:51so yeah all that um collaboration or feedback with people The Human Experience part right that's that's the best part right because otherwise it's just we're just like someone in a closet that you have lots of gear wait a minute that's me I have I'm in a but you know you have to do the interaction right or not have to but it's better to do that right it's so true I I I agree I mean I when I first started playing it was um piano and um it took me a little bit um going from the classical world into playing you know more modern music going like oh this is what it's like to

1:17:30jam with people and collaborate like it was it was a shift you know totally yeah I I I feel like a lot of classical um upbringing people you know really good like re can read anything right away right and they're just like play and then when it come comes time to jam or even you know jam on like a few cords or something not just like a free thing or whatever they're just like how do you know what to play or whatever you just kind of know what you play and see if it sounds good with the person and you hear or you interact or it is a different

1:18:04very different mindset right in terms of U yeah all that and some people become amazing at it like my friend Dan who's a TR the trumpet player I keep mentioning he's I would say he's like classically trained and brought up and stuff but his his main thing right now is like you know just like super creative Jazz like interaction and things and you know once you just kind of experience it there's there's like no going back you know well actually I wanted to ask you um like when you're when you're jamming um do you hear the melody before you play it or is it something that just

1:18:45itself uh for for like you mean the improvisations and stuff yeah uh it depends I know this is this is terrible but some days like nothing's coming out so I'll just like play something hoping that something comes out which is probably the wrong approach but yeah in general I I have like somewhat of an idea um but yes uh I think one of the reasons I mentioned the at least the duo gig from earlier that I did with keg that was a memorable show was cuz everything was like flowing nicely and we were really feeding off of each other and because of of how he did

1:19:25something I I would play something different and it had this very nice like or organic you know thing and I think this is something like maybe Jazz play musicians talk more about but you know it was just like taking chanes not knowing if we'll come back from it or not but we try to develop those things in the moment and they would go good you know and some of the tunes I think some there some of the tunes we played that day was like near perfect performance you know like if we never played that tune again which which we still do but I would have probably still been happy

1:20:05because it was like a near perfect performance from both of us which which was you know which is which is rare right yeah it's special when that happens when you're like we're in the pocket together this is amazing yeah exactly so I feel like that could happen with improvisation too and and a lot of the times it happens when it when it's perfect is is when or when it's really great is when you're just not even planning it you're kind of hearing it as it develops it's almost like as an audience member you know I think I think that's what I realized about some jazz

1:20:41music some jazz musicians I really enjoy I feel like are the best players but they're also the best audience members at the same time because they're just like playing and reacting as an audience member M to what they're playing which is kind of weird I guess but yeah no it makes total sense yeah no I I feel like it's like it's almost like you have to take sort of this Eagle Eye perspective where it's like you're listening at the same time you know like you're reacting and you're listening all at the same time so yeah yeah totally yeah just yeah and that's the TR oh actually uh maybe I know this

1:21:18is something uh from earlier but somebody asked about um little advice on starting t style or you know like the tapping thing having like what you said like that Eagle Eye or for me like having a little bit separation from your instrument being a little away trying to be like a audience member always always helps actually because otherwise you know you're just like and it's so much difficult when you're just doing that and just being you know one step behind of what you're doing in either direction front or back you know helps as well yeah absolutely Scott Scott is actually reminding us that he has had the

1:21:57privilege of jamming with you as well um which I have witnessed we us to make stuff from zero actually yeah I love it I love it we had a residency actually where we were um it was like every Sunday we were doing like a a a residency and um I actually still have those videos with you and Scott um I'll have to share with you they're awesome yeah yeah they are they are yeah exactly that yeah those were fun you know because what did we play 3 hours or just two I don't know I think it was three hours it was three hours yeah right so like you know once in a while

1:22:33so you know for you to rest your voice or just to switch it up we would just like come up with an instrumental jam and that was pretty cool actually yeah usually I'm not like super into doing that but you know like I was like pretty comfortable with that because I think well first of all I think because it was just nice playing with friends and I'm I'm kind of a shy guy actually so it's it's really hard for me to just like jam with somebody because like I feel weird about it but it definitely didn't feel weird with Scott and Steve and and I

1:23:05think uh was Matas there too sometimes I guess I can't remember but yeah like just doing that or even Tex was there maybe a few times like just doing that was like super comfortable actually I was like oh yeah let's just do it you know yeah it was the company is important too you know it is it makes a huge difference like I'm the same I'm very I'm naturally very shy and having a musical conversation is totally different it's it's it's even deeper I think than a verbal conversation right and so yeah like feeling that sense of safety and comfort where you're like okay I can actually just like just let

1:23:41go and let whatever come out you know yeah totally yeah exactly yeah that's pretty that's pretty and you know that's hard and some people are just good at that too you know some people are just like let Jam bro and I'm like yeah bro I'm not Jam but you know some people have that skill they can just you know like jam with anybody or or anything and I think that's a personality thing I'm pretty I'm pretty sure I'm not completely sure of course you know yeah I I will say so I I I went to musicians Institute and um that was one of the places I went um and um so they

1:24:17had like these different workshops um like I I went there for keyboards um and so the first time I was in the blue Blues like Workshop um and it was my you know I I was very new to jamming you know with Blues which is it's very simple right very simple cord structure and all of that and I was at least three or four bars ahead of everybody else because I was so nervous I've done that I've done that I was like why does it sound so yeah yeah but I mean they were all new to me and I was new to it so yeah I've

1:24:53done that before and also I've done I've done that plus I've like you know flipped where the the down beats are and I was like I thought the ups were the Downs oh terrible terrible it's kind of like what I've heard about deep sea diving where sometimes you can't tell up from down when you're in the thick of it you know probably yeah yeah I mean I'm I I as I mentioned I'm I'm a I'm a swimmer that's my exercise but I'm I'm I'm such a pool swimmer that anything else is so foreign to me you know like like I'm actually like kind of kind of scared cuz you know

1:25:27like swimming or water is serious business you know so yeah I'm I'm I'm really terrible unless I'm like swimming in the pool so yeah so is there anything um in terms of um I don't know like wisdom's Inspirations um advice um that you would give to um a musician starting out now like in this in this modern era like in this time oh yeah right um well trial and error is always good and working on working on music or talking to musician or trying to talk to a company or something I always just kind of default it back to like it's it's almost like you know

1:26:22trying to ask somebody out for a date you you know it's just like you just got to do the thing and sometimes it doesn't go well and sometimes it does and you get better at it and uh yeah yeah I think that's that's that's important to know and also I think uh since I mentioned like companies and stuff I think being able to work with companies is very important you know endorsements as people call it but it's actually like the players endorsing the company instead of the other way around right but so I just like to usually say like being an artist with a company that kind of stuff is of course

1:26:59very important but it's not about like you know if you're if you're a starting musician especially you're like oh you know maybe I'll get really good and these companies will give me free you know but it's which is cool but it's it's you know ju uh and you might learn this or might might not on the way but it's it's not about the free you know it's about like the human relation that you have with these people behind these products and stuff you know which I think often gets lost even even as a pretty accomplished player sometimes you know I think I think those things tend to get lost so

1:27:38yeah I think if you have you know if you have a guitar bass keyboard whatever you enjoy or a microphone you know drums whatever it is that you enjoy and you want to start you know uh like one of your dreams is to get like this the best instrument of your dreams and you might you know you think it'll be pretty cool to get it for free because you're a great player or something and I think those are all good things great things that would happen but I think those are things that come with having a good human relationship just like having a good bandmates it's it's I think all

1:28:16those are are super similar if not same you know so yeah just just um always remember that part and you know just uh yeah just just say hi to people like at Nam show or something you know if you if you get to go to them I'm sure it to begin with of course but yeah saying hi few years in a row goes a long way know yeah no absolutely I mean well going back to what you were saying about being okay with rejection I think that is that is huge because I feel like so many so many times people will stop themselves from saying that high because

1:28:57of that fear of rejection right totally yeah totally and it's yeah and sometimes you might have to you know trick yourself or hypnotize yourself a little bit being like especially if you're a performer you know and like you know like we said like we're more of a shy person or something but you know you have that performer switch that you can flip like after a while doing this you know and I feel like it's just it's like a useful skill to have but yeah just even being able to to switch that on and off a little bit just even with the human interaction part or

1:29:33something you know and eventually you you'll find more people that you're comfortable with interacting you know even like on company levels and stuff and you know they might think you're a little weird or whatever but you have like a good conversation with them and they they understand who you are and and you know that kind of stuff you know so like the not being afraid of or being afraid of rejection but still being able to be like you know I'm just gonna flip on the performer switch and it is what it is you know yeah no absolutely I think you know it helps too if you

1:30:05remember that there's other people out there that probably feel the exact same way um you know like that maybe the people that you want to say hi to might also be shy so that kind of helps that totally yeah I mean like I've had experiences where people are like oh we went to this show and nobody said hi to me and I was like huh well I understand that but I guess you could have said hi you know it's true it's very true and it's I feel like it's it's easier for me as a musician or in a musician mode to do that like I don't think I'm I'm very

1:30:47good at it in a everyday basis but as a music mode I think I I do under understand that you know a little bit yeah yeah I think you know as well it's like um well something that you you mentioned is uh the the the importance of your instrument um whatever your instrument happens to be right yeah um but you know having having an awareness of what is it that I really love about this instrument and like going for it right yeah yeah exactly and also this might be like this is definitely a personal ity thing for me but I remember when I got my first few

1:31:27custom instruments they were far from perfect you know they they were pretty rough and and I was I remember playing those and thinking you know what maybe one day I'll have my instrument you know like seriously like that's how I thought I didn't make a big fuss about all the you know imperfections or you know the the things that were wrong with the instrument I I I felt lucky that I had people around me that helped me make it playable and through that actually through that I actually end up meing M meeting Michael Tobias by chance and you know fast forward however many years it's kind of crazy to think and it

1:32:15maybe it took longer than most people like things to take you know for me I guess it took like I don't know like 17 years to get my perfect instrum but in hindsight that's I don't think that's that long of a time I mean it's kind of a long time but it's really not that long of a time and yeah like yeah it's crazy so wait a minute I gotta grab Kubo it's right here so I got I gotta show oh yes yes please please a minute yeah I do remember I remember when oh there's kuo oh so beautiful yeah it is huh it's it's it's nice to touch to as well like

1:33:03the yeah the feeling of it is quite incredible Y what is the wood made of Kai love of course excuse me I'm sorry I stand question is that this interview is over it's okay all right no I'm kidding it's Tasmanian Blackwood oh is the body and then the fingerboard is Rose of the mountain and that's the natural color of it actually that's amazing yeah and then the neck is Maple in Purple Heart wow so yeah this is yeah Michael and Daniel Tobias made this thing for me and yeah it's it's been a yeah it's it's uh still pretty unreal or it's pretty special still you know to to have this thing

1:34:07yeah yeah how did you how did you I guess I have many questions but like how did you start the conversation or did you even know where to begin when it came to like wanting this instrument or envisioning the instrument I had an idea what I wanted after a few years um of playing some other instruments and but I I thought you know nobody's going to build it which which is kind of kind of true you know and somehow Ry so there was this guy named Arty at The Amp shop Base Exchange in La at the and he was the first one who was like you know what Michael Tobias if he

1:34:49built you an instrument it'll be like the most amazing thing like ever and you know cuz cuz he he's so good and I was like and I knew who Michael Tobias was cuz i' I've actually played some of his bases before and you know he's really well respected and has amazing instruments or builds amazing instruments so I thought well there's no way you know somebody somebody that you know amazing is going to make me an instrument not just because you know not because he's like you know he doesn't care about people or anything it's it's just because like I it never really been occurred to me you know but yeah so

1:35:23somehow he thought it would be cool and I think it he was the first one that kind of mentioned it to Michael to make me an instrument and when we had the conversation I I played one of his bases just like how I play like a six string bass just and I guess maybe that was sort of enough to kind of convince him that I can actually play and and he was like how well how many strings you want and this and that I was like yeah 15 and he's like okay wait he just did he just say okay cuz I think Michael is the type

1:35:58of person that somebody's like I want a seven string Basse and he'll be like no you need a five string you know so I was totally not expecting him to say okay to a 15 string and but he did yeah and so I had an idea of of the tuning and and yeah I I waited you know a little bit of a chunk of years too for for it to be made but that was no problem with me I was just you know I was just practicing so I was like I'll just get better while I'm waiting you know well what is the what is the uh Vic

1:36:33was asking um what is the tuning process and what what are the tunings so the base in the middle um should I grab well no it'll be a whole another thing should I grab it I should I yeah show tell Talk Amongst yourselves everyone thank you all so much for for joining us this is so fun so okay here we go so Al also you know a nice thing about this instrument is like I said I'm shy so at a show I can totally do this and nobody knows who's playing you know oh where did Kai go I don't know I know so these low five

1:37:10strings is the base part so the lowest is in terms of gauge of 148 so that is actually these are LaBella strings and Eric from LA made custom strings for me so these are their white nylon except he had to make the 148 custom for me the tuning so the low B on the regular base is right here the second lowest one so the 148 is actually tuned to a FP so from F be a d force is my base portion so it's like a you know really low base basically and then I have four strings over here GCF uh what yes gcfb flat all en forces

1:38:00well so I play a lot of more chords over here and play base with one hand in my right hand by the way this is actually kind of how I figured later on realized I was still rightand dominant because I'm actually playing two parts in one hand instead of this one you know and and then this side is tuned from a c up to a d all in force as well so a regular e on a guitar would be like about the third fret and this one just tuned to an C why it's a c is because like when I first got my War guitar that was the

1:38:32tuning that I was in and I just kind of stuck with it um and so to this day I I've been doing that so yeah it's a CP to a d enforce as well and it has can I show this yes yeah oh four outputs wow wow yeah and I just hit my instrument in the back there but anyway yeah four outputs uh has simple control just three volumes and a mono switch so this thing is actually passive and it but it does have a GK pickup that's the fourth output to do sound modeling speaking of which right here that's my uh sound modeling or guitar synth that I use and

1:39:18uh yeah so that's the thing oh yeah and then this thing is to help mute the strings oh wait a minute I think my camera let me let me switch the battery oh yeah while Ka is doing that um thank you all so much for for joining us today this has been such a a lovely a lovely chat with everyone um if yall have any more questions um please feel free to drop them in the chat um yeah we are um enjoying the uh I'm back the tour of the yes of the Kubo yes there he is yes does It Go Out Of Tune easily or does it

1:40:06kind of keep its tuning like how often do you have to tune I think it's about it's about average like I think it it it stays in tune pretty good um yeah yeah for having 15 strings it stays in tune pretty nicely and uh yeah yeah it's it's it's pretty okay speak speaking up tuning I I I was just remembering this one time when we were auditioning singers for the Anime Expo show yes and TAA the the guy that ended up singing the the show with us showed up and I think he was like half a step down or something from where where we were

1:40:43rehearsing it and you know Scott realized that right away when he started sinking and and then and we were just like well f it so like we all just like tuned down like half step and I think it took me like you know a lot longer than Scott to do it because I was like all nervous cuz like some some of the thinner strings if you loosen the thick strings first then the thinner strings will pop so I had to like go evenly like lower and stuff but anyway but yeah that that that still worked out pretty good and you know I think it it stayed in tune really nicely

1:41:15and yeah it stays in stays INE pretty good actually yeah yeah that's it's it's always interesting to me because um like you know with with strained instrument that's it's always it's especially with guitar some guitars have a tendency to like you know you have to tune it like all the time so um with an instrument that sizable 15 strings it's like I was wondering about that so yeah it's good like I usually for the most part I I'll tune like maybe you know at the beginning of a set and usually it'll it'll be okay yeah yeah I won't have to so far I think I usually don't have to T tune

1:41:56during a set or anything yeah I'm seeing these beautiful petals behind you um are these all for for the Kubo yes yes they are exactly so this one is the one I have maybe for the longest time that's just the delay pedal D dd20 I've been using that for like 25 years or something yeah it's so funny because when I was talking to the artist rep in Japan shouts kazm morisan he you know when he saw my old dd20 and since it's been on the road with me so much there's all these bumps and bruises around it and he looked at it he's like yes that's

1:42:36how a touring musician pedals look like and he was like so yeah he was so into it it was so funny it was great and yeah but yeah these are you know this is a nordstrand nordstrand audio preamp base preamp it sounds great I've been that's like the only preamp I've been for gosh I don't know like 8 years or something at this point like some something like that yeah and one of my H favorite companies to work with that been amazing with me is quilter they're a amp Pedal company and that this is one of their things called the direct amp which is great for um it doesn't push

1:43:19air it basically like is a cab Sim and simulator and stuff and you can send it directly to the house and you'll get your guitar or Bass tone and stuff really nicely actually yeah so got some reeverb and yeah all that stuff but yeah I I have pedals because I like to layer different sounds when I play and make make every output sound different so often like when I play at a show and if especially if it's a duo with my drummer and if it's just like two people and the sound person's never heard us or heard me sometimes I've I've had people straight up ask me if I was playing you

1:44:04know like backing tracks or something I was like no we're we're playing everything or I'm playing everything you know yeah yes yes yes I I I think that's a really huge part of of um what your expression is is the sound you know it is it is the sound so I know that there's been a lot of thought and craft that's gone into that so yeah yeah yeah and I usually end up with something I like and I you know um sometimes I'll change things like like this guitar synth that's that's I've been using that for about a year and before then I was using a sound model or a different thing

1:44:43a a still roll in product this is a boss and I was using the roll in VV 99 for like like 17 years is 16 seniors or something like that yeah yeah like and so I I don't I'm not always like new or New Gear guy or anything it's just like I I like what I like like like you know like I said like the dd20 it's like 25 years old and there's definitely more newer you know Hi-Fi sounding things but it's there you know there's like a a charm to some of that old gear that's kind of you know ends up being part of

1:45:16your your sound a little bit and playing like something like Kubo which is great is like you know I can layer different sound and some things could be like super crispy and whatever and then some some some some other stuff could be a little more retro sounding or something you know and then like something like this like the quilter direct damp just super clean or you know you can really drive it if you wanted to but it's it's got just like super nice amazing clean sound and you're just layer these different things on top of each other you know yeah I think it helps too um

1:45:52like you you've mentioned that you have like a travel travel gear like things that you travel with so like having that all set up so you have more control over what your sound ends up sounding like as you're traveling yeah I basically like Trav like my sort of My Philosophy or sort of my uh thought is I usually just use everything um even in the studio that I travel with unless I can tra if I can't travel with it like there's a good chance I don't actually use it like um yeah like this you know this this is actually a reeverb pedal and it sounds

1:46:29great but that's what I use it every live show this is a new neighbor it's a quilter product as well reeverb and it's like a reeverb that I just think sounds great and I'll use it for live shows and everything and so yeah when I have a show this part most of part of this this rack behind me comes with me I and then you know I just pack it individually and I don't have a pedal board because when I travel I have to carry everything usually so just having an extra pedal board makes it like way too heavy for me to even carry so so I usually have the

1:47:02time when I get to a gig to set up stuff and often people are like yo bro you need a pedal board you know it's like that happens yes people always have their opinions but yeah you know what you like yes exactly and sometimes it's with necessity and stuff too oh you know about what was really cool recently is if I can get out of the way a little bit oh yeah so this thing back here is a is a base amp that's also a quilter that's v803 and it's actually not that big if you you know it's a so yeah it's it's actually not that

1:47:42big so I can actually carry that amp with me when I travel I I just put it in the gig bag with me so that's that's been super cool actually I've never actually traveled with an amp before so wherever I went to I was able to just like plug it into the cab and stuff that they had at the venue so that's awesome yeah that's pretty neat yeah just like you know not having a car often when I travel even you know when I travel with keg often we don't have a car we we've done stuff where we had a car but often it's not so yeah just just having that

1:48:15ease of just like throwing it in your gig bag and being able to carry it is is super cool actually you yeah well speaking of live shows you mentioned a performance in La next week is this a public performance can anybody go or okay you have to rsbp on Japan Foundation LA's website if you look for Japan Foundation La I believe it's it's th what's what's Thursday next week what that I know I'm like I've lost track all the time I don't I don't even know what theth this Thursday so it is the 20th yes yes so the 20th so if you go to their website it's still I think on the

1:49:02the the front of their page and if anybody is in La want to come check it out come check out Kubo in person and and you know all the pedos or whatever and and listen to Dan listen to Dan just play some beautiful trumpet with some amazing effects and stuff and uh I might even more my kimono we'll find out you know o yes but yeah if you if you go to their website there should be somewhere where you can just send your email address and your your name and and yeah otherwise I'm not exactly sure if they will deny you entry but you know it's just it's

1:49:36easy enough to yeah to do that so yeah I'll be playing some completely improvised stuff with Dan and also play some more Japanese thingies and whatever else I'll probably talk more about Kubo how it works if you would like to get um closer breakdown of it I could do that and of uh often if somebody wants to try uh Kubo after my show I actually let people do that so so if you want to put put on uh I have a special strap for Kubo so you could like put this double should shoulder strap on uh put Kubo on you know take a take a

1:50:13selfie and all that you know I can help you especially with the angle of the selfie because you know otherwise you know Kubo might hide you so you gotta know I'm like I might need to I might need to come by so yeah yes oh well um if anybody has any more questions feel free to drop them in the chat um oh and um Kai all the places that people can find you um besides happy sad yes so Instagram if you search for me just Kai Kurosawa is probably the easiest on Facebook it's K kurasawa and uh on YouTube it's YouTube Kai Kurosawa I think most places yeah and

1:51:01I'm probably the only guy Japanese with a nose ring two nose rings with a 15 base so I think it wouldn't be too hard to find if you uh if you see my profile picture there's probably not too many kosa out there as well well Kai thank you so much for for sharing your amazing wisdom and perspective and and taking the time to chat with us yeah well thank you for having me yeah it's it's nice to uh to do this kind of thing once in a while yeah yeah absolutely it's been such a joy I'm so inspired I feel like um now I just want to go practice and figure out

1:51:44a new instrument right yeah I definitely wanted I was like what what would it be like I don't think I tried on the Kubo when we were doing the show together so no yeah I guess yeah it's funny like the people I play with the most end up not trying it because you know it's always there right it's true it's true yeah so yeah we'll have to do that sometime and I hope uh hope people enjoyed this and of course you know hope you hope you got your comments and feedbacks and stuff and if you you if um you still haven't please drop those comments and and uh

1:52:18yeah yes yes well thank you all so much for um for taking the time to chat with all of us and um next week we're going to be doing um an ALICE stream um with the tea time to follow um but we'll be back with Unwritten rules of the road um the following week uh with another special guest so thank you Kai happy