Why GuruConnect, the musician behind skillkills, can keep writing avant-garde songs

Shocking first time to see a live performance. Throwing a super ball to the drums to make a sound.

Takano (MC): I think we should start with a fashion check of GuruConnect, don’t you? He is so fashionable today.

Celeina (MC): What kind of pattern is this?

GuruConnect: There were dozens of similar sweaters. The same kind as yesterday (laughs).

Celeina: Yesterday, Mr.Takayama’s fashion was colorful, and GuruConnect’s knitwear is also very colorful. It’s wonderful.

Takano: It looks like a collage of various carpets. The knitwear in the archive photo is similar.

GuruConnect: That’s right. I have a lot of them.

Takano: If you are interested, please check the photos.

Celeina: GuruConnect, I would like to ask you many questions, but first of all, how did you get started in music and why did you choose to play the bass guitar?

GuruConnect: As is often the case, I simply couldn’t play the guitar at all because of the pain in my fingers. I thought if I had four strings, I could do it.

Celeina: Bass guitar has thicker strings.

GuruConnect: But my friend told me that I could play only one of the four strings.

Takano: I see. I often have trouble holding down the F string.

GuruConnect: Exactly. That’s why I became a bass player.

Takano: First of all, you were active in your hometown, right?

GuruConnect: Until you graduated from high school.

Takano: At that time, you were in Yamaguchi Prefecture, right? What was the atmosphere like at the live houses?

GuruConnect: It was in Hofu City. It was like a live bar, where copy bands could play, and people from overseas would come. Avant-garde people used to come there. It was a place where avant-garde people used to come.

Takano: What kind of genre is it?

GuruConnect: At first, when I was in junior high school, I went to see an overseas artist because he was coming. There is a super ball, right? You know, the bouncy ones sold at street stalls? There was a live performance where they would throw a bunch of them at the drums, and sometimes they would make a sound when they hit the drums. I was wondering what it was.

Takano: Was that your first live experience?

GuruConnect: GuruConnect: Yes, it was. After that, a Korean saxophonist came and played the same sound for about two hours with circular breathing.

Takano: The same sound all the time?

GuruConnect: Yes, with a saxophone. I have no idea what was so good about it, but the impact was shocking.

Celeina: Interesting. After graduating from high school, you came to Tokyo. What kind of places did you absorb music in Tokyo?

GuruConnect: There were no subs at the time, so I went to rental shops and used record stores, and spent my part-time job money looking for music.

Takano: GuruConnect, you are the bassist of skillkills, and skillkills is really cool. They are very cool. They are dope and have a groove that transcends the framework of BPM. Is this bass guitar influenced by your experiences in Yamaguchi Prefecture?

GuruConnect: There may be a little bit of that. I didn’t have a lot of information, so I’m still working with that in mind. I think it is more interesting to do something different from others by not studying too much and including misunderstandings, or by trying hard but keeping the feeling of being a little off.

Takano: Without being bound by Western music theory.

GuruConnect: Nowadays, you can research anything. I am very conscious of not digging too deep so that I can do it naturally.

Celeina: So that’s where your originality comes from.

GuruConnect: Yes, that’s right.