As
OTOKAGE made its way through the Gibus on the 8th and 9th of April, they managed to make some time for JaME and chatted with us. The band talked about why it was created, their worldwide tour and the concept of “wabi-sab.i”
To start with, can you please introduce yourselves?
Lee: I am the singer,
Lee
Onimaru: (in English) My name is
Onimaru, the guitarist. (gestures to the person next to him) This is
Kohinata, he plays the drums.
HITT: I am the bassist, I am
HITT.
Can you tell us how OTOKAGE was created?
Onimaru & Lee: We went to a hidden village of ninjas in another dimension. Our very, very nasty enemies arrived in our village. We wanted to be friends with them in this dimension to save and protect our village from corruption.
How did you meet each other?
Lee: It was I who found them when I decided to create a band for eradicating evil from the village.
How would you describe your music?
Lee : I create music with the art of ninjas.
What could you say concerning the theme of your songs?
Lee: I want to express the spirit of Japanese culture, the Japanese “wabi-sabi” (an attractive and spiritual concept of Buddhist Zen inspiration).
Who is in charge of the lyrics and of the music?
Onimaru:
Lee writes the lyrics and all of us write the music.
What is your favourite song by OTOKAGE?
Lee:
Hyakunen Yozakura Ninpocho.
Onimaruasura.
Kohinata: I like the latest song,
Otokage Kuji.
HITT:
Ninpo Ranbu no Jutsu.
As long as you are together, what is your aim for the future?
Onimaru: We want to gather together as many people as possible from around the word to protect our village.
What have you done to reach this objective?
Onimaru: We have created an
official MySpace page and an online shopping site. We are also at the moment on a worldwide tour; we are returning from the United States and going to Amsterdam, Stuttgart and lastly Nancy.
What are your plans for your next tours? Are you hoping to go on another worldwide tour?
Onimaru: First, we are going to do a live in Tokyo. Then, we will see, but we hope of course to do a new worldwide tour.
How did you get the opportunity to be part of the Festival Emergenza?
Onimaru: I met the producer of the Emergenza Festival in Japan. I said to him that I would like to do a European tour. He showed a lot of enthusiasm and he suggested to us that as long as we were here we should take part in the festival.
Who created your costumes?
Onimaru: Each of us thought of and designed our own costumes. We appreciate the work of the designer who has taken some care with them. We have tried to think of costumes with a ninja theme, in keeping with the spirit of
OTOKAGE.
What do you think of the concerts in America and in France?
Onimaru: The Americans are very active, enthusiastic and literally wild at concerts. That is not the case in France.
And the Japanese audience?
Lee: The Japanese audience is timid and follow the choreography, while the Western audience appropriates the music more freely. It depends,
OTOKAGE's fans naturally have hotter blood.
Do you know of a lot of the Japanese groups coming to do an international concert?
Lee: Yes, in particular, the band
GARI whom I am friends with.
Can you explain the significance of your tattoos?
Lee: It’s a traditional Japanese tattoo composed of cherry blossoms, and of a rabbit inspired by a classical Japanese print.
HITT: It's a tattoo regarding my
solo career, which is characteristic of my stage name - the pistol for detonation and the blue wings for decoration.
JaME would like to thank the band OTOKAGE and its staff for this interview.
