tami, the vocalist of TAMIW and owner of the music studio “Hidden Place” and a pet memorial park at a temple in Sakai, Osaka, conducts a series of discussions with the theme “Music and Work, Occasionally Buddhist Rituals.” For the third installment, her guest is Masafumi Goto of ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION.
The conversation with Goto began with stories from his salaryman days and delved into the topics of “happiness” and “companionship” in the context of making music. Their dialogue expanded further to discuss Goto’s plans for running a studio for young musicians. Throughout, Goto shared his sentiments that have been consistent since “NANO-MUGEN FES.”
INDEX
Goto: I Thought a Conventional Job Could be a Bridge to the Music Dream
tami: The theme of this series is “music and work,” but you used to work as an office worker, didn’t you?
Goto: Yes, I was an office worker. I started playing in a band in college, but we didn’t get many customers while I was in school. But even after graduation, the band was the only thing I wanted to do, and I wondered what to do. I was called by the university’s employment office and asked, “Goto-san, what are you going to do? (laughs).
tami: I was in trouble (laughs).
Goto: They asked me, “What are you interested in? I said, “Music,” but he said, “I don’t have a job in music. What’s your next interest?” I said, “Fine arts,” and it just so happened that there was a job at an art publishing company, and I got it. I worked as a salesman, traveling to bookstores, stationery stores, art museums, and so on.
Born in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1976, Goto is the vocalist and guitarist of ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION. He is the editor-in-chief of THE FUTURE TIMES, a newspaper that considers the new era and future society. Presides over the independent label “only in dreams.
tami: You continued the band while working as a company employee, right?
Goto: Yes. That was almost the reason I got a job. I thought it would be easier to play in a band if I got a job. I didn’t have to worry about money, and I thought it would be easier to play music if I had fixed working hours and holidays. I thought it would be tough if I had to do it while working part-time.
At the time, I thought I would try working for a few years until I could make a decision. At that time, we did not have the option of making and distributing our own music, so we decided to give up if we could not get a label to find us after trying for a while. If we hadn’t gotten an indie release, we would have gone back to our hometown.
