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.

From the formation of skillkills to taking on various production work

Takano: How did skillkills itself start?

GuruConnect: My brother is the drummer, and he came to Tokyo and we decided to work together. The other members were all weird guys that we met at various live houses and wanted to work together. They were really weird guys. We are still weird now, but we hit it off. We were playing under different band names, but we weren’t getting anywhere. I felt like there was nothing I could do about it, so I started writing my own songs. Until then, we would all go into the studio together and bicker and fight. I didn’t like that, so I stopped practicing. It was like, “Let’s go for a walk” (haha).

Celeina: But that’s where the inspiration for music comes from.

GuruConnect: I wanted to get out of that, so I changed my style to making all the demos by myself, and we changed the name of the band to “skillkills” and made a fresh start.

Celeina: GuruConnect, you are also involved in various types of production work. What was it that got you started in this field?

GuruConnect: Around the time before the Corona disaster, Gotch of ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION and I were approached to produce an album by Aiha Higure, and that was my first time. I tried it, and I was hooked, and that was the first time I had ever been asked to produce an album. You started to be asked to work with them?

Celeina: Do you find that your own music is also influenced by your production work?

GuruConnect: It really broadens my horizons.

Takano: Now, I asked GuruConnect to choose a song that he would like everyone to listen to together on the radio at this time. What song would it be?

GuruConnect: I would like to ask you to play a song that I wrote with a rapper named Campanella called “Bell.

Relationship with Ondo, a Sake Warimizu Heating and Music Event

Takano: It was “Bell” at Campanella & GuruConnect. It’s so cool. The intro has a great impact. Was it used in the Apple commercial song?

GuruConnect: Yes, it was featured.

Takano: How did you write it?

GuruConnect: I asked Campanella to do it as part of a monthly series of features with various rappers. He is a rapper I like a lot, and I thought he was really good at rapping on this song. I was duped. I sent him the beat, and when he rapped back, I thought it was badass.

Takano: The fact that this is an Apple commercial is also great.

Celeina: GuruConnect, what culture are you interested in right now outside of your work?

GuruConnect: I’m working on a sake event. Often at events, there are musicians and the restaurant is catering the event by itself in the background. I thought it would be a good idea to do the opposite. An event where there are restaurants, restaurants, restaurants, and only I am a musician among them. I am involved in “Ondo” because I think that if the position of music is placed a little further back, it will expand in a different way.

Takano: Do you like to drink?

GuruConnect: Yes, I do. I drink all kinds of things. For “Ondo,” I lowered the alcohol content of the sake a bit, watered it down, let it sit, let it soak in, and then heated it up. That way it doesn’t get too sticky.

Celeina: I’ve never had it.

GuruConnect: I’ve seen it with shochu, but I’ve never heard of it with sake. I’m not a sake drinker, but I just drink it (laughs).So it’s an event where people can enjoy themselves with music for a long time.

Takano: I see. Sake is pretty strong.

Celeina: It’s recommended for people like me who get drunk easily.

GuruConnect: It’s a very gentle and warm sake, so it feels gentle on the stomach. It’s like a hot spring.

Celeina: That makes me feel kind (haha). You should check it out.”FIST BUMP” is a circle of friends connected by GooTouch, and we ask you to introduce us to your friends.

GuruConnect: I would like to introduce Tomo Maeda of the famous restaurant “sakeria Sakebozu” in Tomigaya, with whom we are working on the sake event “Ondo” that I mentioned earlier.

Takano: Was it through an event that you got to know each other?　How did you get to know each other?

GuruConnect: We used to hang out together. It’s a really great place, and the food and drinks are great, but it’s an avant-garde combination.

Takano: If you were to describe Mr.Maeda in one word, what would it be?

GuruConnect: Stoic and long beard.

Takano: More of a beard (haha). Colorful. I’m looking forward to it. Thank you very much. Tomorrow I will connect you to Tomo Maeda of “sakeria Sakebozu”.

Celeina: “FIST BUMP” We are pleased to have GuruConnect here today. Thank you very much.

GuruConnect: Thank you very much.

GRAND MARQUEE

J-WAVE (81.3FM) Mon-Thu 16:00 – 18:50
Navigator: Shinya Takano, Celeina Ann

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