Interpretation and additional questions by Dan Gear.
|
"I had reached a certain point where I realized that I was myself: I Am Mine."
Keiichi "Mandog" Miyashita ascends. |
 Beginning in 2000, guitarist Keiichi "Mandog" Miyashita started playing in an around Tokyo in a band that bore his nickname. Now, eight years later, he's worked with Acid Mothers Temple's Makoto Kawabata, Guru Guru's Mani Neumeier, Zeni Geva's Tabata Mitsuru, and countless others. He recently had a beer with us near his home base in West Tokyo. (KM: Keiichi Miyashita / JR: Jrawk / DG: Dan Gear)
JR: Where did the name "Mandog" come from? KM: Mandog is a comic character from a 70s manga called "Violence Jack." JR: Mandog's work has been described as "instant composing," as opposed to free form improvisation. What's the difference? KM: The difference is that we're trying to create a complete song through improvisation, rather than simply playing together. It's not just interaction: we're trying to create a finished piece, on the spot. JR: You have a jazz background, and rock came later. Mandog's first few efforts were composed by you ahead of time, but were you interested in improv before Mandog started improvising? KM: Yes. Modern jazz, of course, has a strong improv base. I really admire Kenny Burrell, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins. For guitarists, Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt. Drums, Philly Joe Jones. JR: When did you start Mandog? KM: Mandog is actually my nickname, but I started Mandog as a band in 2000. At first, I came in with songs, but we started improvising little by little. Also, we were constantly changing members, but the lineup stabilized somewhat in 2004, although the last lineup was only together a year or so. JR: Were the personnel changes the result of conflicts, or did you change that often because you were experimenting with the band's sound? KM: I wanted to change the sound, basically. Like I said, we stabilized for awhile, but stopped last year. I'm focused on Wabo Chao now. (NOTE: Wabo Chao is a three piece featuring Keiichi, Tabata, and Masataka Fujikake.)  JR: Why the change? KM: We simply broke up. After that, Tabata asked me to start playing, and we hooked up with Fujikake a little later. It's not a continuation of Mandog, it's a new band. JR: Will Mandog play again? KM: I don't know! (laughs) JR: How did you meet Damo Suzuki? KM: In 2000, I emailed him. He responded, and we started ping-ponging email to each other. One day, he called from Germany and asked me to play guitar on his US tour! I said, of course! We met face to face for the first time in Los Angeles in 2002. JR: How does Damo Suzuki's Network work? When I saw you last year, the show was one long piece, but it seemed very tight, almost composed. KM: Nothing's decided before we play at all. When the Network tours, he gets a new band for each country. DG: Why did he choose you for the American tour, instead of an American guitarist? KM: We had been mailing each other for a while, and we had the same feeling about music. I think he just wanted to work together. I was the only other Japanese person on the tour, and there were some communication problems as a result. But it worked out in the end. JR: What about Godman? How did that come about? MK: Godman is Kawabata Makoto, Tabata Mitsuru, Higashi Hiroshi (all from Acid Mothers Temple) and me. They just invited me along, and Kawabata switched the name from "Mandog" to "Godman." Acid Mothers Temple is very loud, and Mandog is very spacey, trancey, so it was a good fit. We only played together five times. JR: You mentioned trance: Kawabata Makoto places a great deal of emphasis on the existence of cosmic sound, natural sound, and that he is simply a conduit, more than a creator. KM: Our approaches are very different! (laughs) But I admire Kawabata's work. He has a real vitality, real charisma. He's a brilliant guy. I'm not so brilliant! (laughs) JR: You had a very traditional musical upbringing, whereas Makoto was more self taught. KM: I was into jazz in High School, before that I was into film soundtracks and anime. In Elementary school, I took lessons, learning Bach, Mozart. Kawabata's very different, but we had enough mutual respect that there weren't any problems. JR: What about Drugon (with Guru Guru's Mani Neumeier)? KM: Mani came to Japan in 2004. We were on the same label (Captain Trip Records,) and Mani asked me to play with him on the tour. The band was me, Mani, and (Mandog bassist) Takayuki Eno. We chose the name due to an appreciation of, uh, chemicals! (laughs) JR: You work with improv constantly. Do you ever feel the urge to go back to more structured work? KM: No, not really. Coincidence is the most important thing for me, because there's a greater chance of reaching a peak. But sometimes I make mistakes! (laughs)  DG: So how would you define mistake in this context?KM: I want to make the song through improvisation, but sometimes it turns out differently that I imagined, or has no focus, no groove. Sloppy. JR: Transcendentalism was central to a lot of the free jazz musicians that you're shown an affinity with. Have you ever had a transcendental experience while playing or composing? KM: Yes, definitely. Albert Ayler, Charlie Parker, Coltrane, they were big influences. I knew what they were trying to do, but their technique was way above what I was capable of. It was a goal throughout my teens and twenties, but when I was 30, it started to come from me naturally. I didn't need external goals, because I had reached a certain point where I realized that I was myself: I Am Mine. I stopped imitating and started being myself. JR: Are there other types of music that you don't work with, but admire? What about pop songs? KM: Yes, I'm actually influenced by experimental stuff like that: techno, etc. All these influences come in as a big mix. So far as more mainstream stuff...for example, I like Hall And Oates! AOR. I was a child in 1983, when the radio and MTV were full of bands like Hall And Oates, AOR, it was constant. It's a nostalgic thing, I still listen to it occasionally now. I don't really pay attention to modern pop, I'm a lot more interested in traditional musics: Japanese, African, Asian. I've been into field recordings a lot as well: I love pygmy music, ethnic music, the sounds of old cultures. There's a strong sympathy with what I'm trying to do. JR: The jazz you grew up with was a direct product of a repressive society. Do you feel that Japanese society can create a similarly repressive situation? KM: Yes, I feel it all the time. I make my music to go against the social situation that exists every day. It's an ongoing thing: I don't necessarily see progress all the time, but it's a way of always reaching higher and higher. JR: What is your goal with Wabo Chao? KM: I'm trying to discover a new form, a new style, and we're searching for it together. I'm a Japanese man: I'm trying to create a sound, or music, from a Japanese identity. Or maybe I should say Japanese rock music: when I was younger, I didn't really think of the distinction. It was all rock music. But as I got older, I started to become aware of my place in the musical world as a Japanese musician, and now I'm focusing on the parts of that that can make my music unique. JR: Many Japanese musicians have said that they weren't really influenced by Japanese rock: their influences were Western. KM: I listened to some domestic rock music as a kid, but as I got older, I started to drift towards traditional Japanese music. The musicians, of course, use non Western instruments: shamisen, koto, things like that. I didn't really listen to what is now being considered the "classic" Japanese rock: Les Rallizes Dénudés, etc. I left Japan for the first time in 2000, and when I went to the US and Europe, I saw Japan from the perspective of an outsider. That was the catalyst for my drive to define myself as a Japanese musician. I'm looking for my roots, where my DNA comes from. That fed into my interest in traditional Asian musics. JR: I've had a lot of Japanese musicians tell me that musicians here want to be foreign, and how frustrating that is for people trying to create a uniquely Japanese musical identity. KM: Yes, there's way too much of that. If you look at other musical cultures, they get a large part of their identity from their country's culture: AC/DC is a definitive Australian rock band, they spring naturally from Australian culture. If Japanese musicians simply imitate the West, they're simply not going to be capable of creating anything original. Can, Kraftwerk, Guru Guru, they're definitely German. America and England have strong identities, but when other, smaller countries join in, they add their own, natural coloring to the music. That's what makes it valid. What is unique to their culture is also what makes the music worthy. It's their spirit. That's what I want to do with my work. JR: Do you ever feel the urge to create music with other instruments? You have a guitar base, but what about other modes of musical expression? KM: It's definitely an intriguing idea. Ten years ago I experimented with synthesizer, but it was so bad! (laughs) Guitar is my instrument, that's where I feel the connection. JR: So what's next? Where do you want to go, musically? KM: Just like anyone else, I'm constantly changing and growing, and I want the music I make to reflect that process. I also want my music to reflect my culture as a Japanese man. I don't want to regress: I want to constantly move forward. Time is always passing, even right this moment, so the only thing I can really do is look forward. JR: Do you ever worry about overreaching? Letting the head take over the heart? KM: I don't want my music to become overly conceptual. I'm most comfortable with keeping it simple, trancelike, the most direct way to connect with an audience. I do that for myself as well as for them. Also, in a venue, there's a separation between audience and performer, and I'm trying to break through that barrier. Some performances, the musician is pushing an idea on a crowd, I don't really care for that. I want it to be less one sided. JR: Any new releases? KM: Five days ago, Wabo Chao recorded. We did it all analog, open reel to reel. I think it came out very well, very interesting sounds. We're looking for a label to put it out. It's different from the previous CD: that was recorded last year, and there's been quite a gap between the two recordings. We've progressed a lot in that time. It's more focused, spiritual. JR: One more question: would you compare yourself to anyone, a musician? KM: No. Everyone is a separate individual. Even if people are working in similar ways, they're still individuals, so there's nothing to be gained by comparison. I feel an affinity with a lot of people, musicians, but that's not really a comparison. |