Interviewed by Dot Smith
[DISCLAIMER: This transcription was edited for clarity and readability.]
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Q: I am Dot Smith with KJHK 90.7, and today, I’m here with Kishi Bashi. Would you mind introducing yourself, what you do, and telling us a little bit of your history as an artist?
A: Yeah, my name’s Kishi Bashi, my real name is Kaoru Ishibashi, and I’ve been doing my solo project since 2012. I play violin, [and] I’m a singer-songwriter.
Q: Your new album, Kantos, is such a tonal departure from pretty much everything you’ve worked on as a solo artist. How did you approach writing these songs compared to your other albums?
A: Yeah, every single album is like– I try to change [it] up a little bit because I think one thing I like to do is to be excited and inspired, and so… In particular, I was doing a lot. My last album, Omoiyari, my documentary work, was about a lot of social justice issues and like minority identity and I’ve been talking about it for like 5 years, so I wanted to do something different coming out of the pandemic and y’know, I just wanted to showcase something of a different kind of genre that I’m also particularly excited about.
Q: I know that you’ve [also] mentioned that A.I. and the humanity of music are things that are really important to you and you mentioned Omoiyari is also about a cause that is super important to you. How do you find these ideas that are close to you and find a way to make them into music?
A: I can start by saying that A.I. is kind of like a fresh thing that’s been on the minds of creatives recently and a lot of people are threatened by it but for me, I kind of like to focus on seeing or hearing the humanity in music and art and a lot of what A.I. lacks is that kind of humanity. It’s kind of like a way to encourage people to not feel so bummed out by a pretty dramatic future that might be presented to us where A.I. can do a lot of things that seemingly can be done by humans but it’s– lacking that personal touch and I think that’s what a lot of my music is and I feel like there’s a lot of value in that. And valuing connecting with an artist as opposed to just a machine.
Q: On the topic of connecting with artists, I know that you did this thing about 6 or 7 years ago called “Operation: Clam Chowdah” and I’d love to ask you about experiences like that that have helped you develop as an artist?
A: I like meeting people and, so– for people who don’t know, Operation Platinum Chowder is like– I was one flight away from getting platinum status on Delta and so I flew up to Boston to get clam chowder on like– December 30th so I could get that platinum status. But– I wanted to- I like meeting people and also I don’t like to gatekeep myself but I don’t do too many V.I.P. meet-and-greets because it is pretty intensive when I’m on tour but I also want to be available to people who have legitimate questions and stuff like that about– and so anyways, I was like anyone who wants to show up can show up and whoever gets there first, I’ll buy them clam chowder. I think it’s the kind of thing where if you make an effort to come and meet me, then yeah, I’m totally happy to talk to you, or even on the street. I feel like I’m just another person just like anybody else.
Q: That theme of connecting with people is something that I, personally, see a lot in your music and you’ve spoken about getting influence from travel and talking to people. With [Kantos] specifically, you mentioned having a bit of Greek influence, particularly with the Icarus myth. Could you tell us a little bit about that?
A: I mean, y’know, obviously– (laughs) so my wife and I went to– we ended up in Greece like twice in a year. The first time was like a vacation so I was reading Circe, the book by [Madeline Miller]. It’s so beautifully written and it’s the perspective of like– a minor character in Greek mythology, a female, but she’s like a witch. And a witch in the sense that she’s like a healer and has a connection with nature and I think it retells this whole like– male driven, ego driven mythologies that a lot of things have, like Odysseus and these people are just relentless in their pursuit of glory and I feel like that’s the kind of thing where we’re traveling around Greece and going to Crete and Knossos and like– imagining the legend of the minotaur and like Icarus and Daedalus’ like– birth– was quite inspiring. And my wife is also a philosopher, so she was giving me a whole lesson on like– Greek philosophy and how it evolved. It was really moving to kind of know the origins of European philosophy, like how it was kind of created around this mythology.
Q: Speaking of philosophy, I know another inspiration for Kantos was Immanuel Kant. You seem to [be able to] find these inspirations for your music that aren’t [necessarily] artists, and I wanted to ask what other media outside of music inspires you?
A: I mean obviously the philosophy is inspiring— from my wife— ‘cause she’s so brilliant and, y’know, Kantos is kind of attributed to her because a lot of it is– it’s a play on words. Because I was thinking about incantation, and also the Hyperion Cantos is a sci-fi book that we read together and so it’s kind of a play on words. And y’know, Immanuel Kant was one of the great enlightenment philosophers. He did like– his motto was “reason above everything else” and it’s questionable if that’s like– if that should be a virtue, y’know? Because I’m more of like a– humanist and I believe that our human connections are extremely important and that we can derive great life through a mixture of different philosophies. But going back to your question– Yeah, I like literature, I like movies, I like manga, y’know, I spend a lot of time on my phone, y’know, there’s a lot of different places I pull inspiration from. But I like to keep myself open to different things and I also like to think of things musically– not just musically, but conceptually– too and I think that’s why I like to– if I have the opportunity to conceptually bring songs together, I’ll do it. It makes sense to me.
Q: You mentioned manga and I know that the Lilliputian Chop music video, you helped to direct..? Or was that Icarus IV?
A: Yeah, so Icarus IV, I did– and I hired a couple artists to do that, but– [Lilliputian Chop], we hired a studio, I wrote it with them, we hired a studio in Japan, in Tokyo, that was using– y’know– that works in manga, in anime, and so it was kind of like– I love animation and it’s something that I just have fun being a part of. So we spent pretty much our entire music video budget on that one.
Q: And on the topic of music videos, with Icarus IV particularly, you have experience being a director as well as a musician. How would you say the creative processes differ?
A: I would say that they’re completely different. But I do think visually, so I have real strong associations of– I’m not necessarily attached to an idea behind my music, I could have a director come up with something completely different, working with a director, but I have a strong gut about what I think works visual[ly[ with music. Like, I went to film scoring school, like learning how to score for film, so I have real strong opinions of like: “that’s great, this is working, this is not.” whereas like– a lot of musicians probably aren’t as opinionated as me and that’s why I like to– delve in film too, y’know. ‘Cause I have an opinion about it.
Q: And with film, being in school for film scoring, has that [influenced] the way you see music as an art form?
A: Yeah, when I was at Berklee College of Music in Boston, I pretty much focused on composition– film scoring is composition, but it’s mostly more like pop styles, it’s not like pure composition, which can be extremely atonal and conceptual. Film scoring’s literally like— it’s about serving the film, so it’s a lot about just losing attachment to your music because directors will basically reject like– 70% of your ideas. But— I mean, I know a lot about music now, because I’m educated about it. I think I’ve got a good head on my shoulders about what’s at the core of what makes music good and [gets] people connecting with it, or driving emotion, so like– if it’s too technical, I can be like “oh this is losing people,” [if] it’s just unimportant complexity or showing off technically, like who cares? Musicians might care, but will it help drive emotion? No. But does it have to drive emotion every single time? No. So I think it’s like– finding a balance between what inspires you and what you think people will like– and that’s a dance that I have to play.
(13:43)
Q: And with the process that went into creating Kantos, I know there’s a lot of different genres and experimentation, was that dance you mentioned a big part in creating [the album]?
A: That’s what I’m doing all the time when I make an album, basically. Well, first of all, I’m a solo artist and most of my albums do pretty well, so I don’t have a– I just know that if I follow my gut and I’m really excited about it, then my record label won’t drop me and I’ll be able to make another one. So I’m lucky in that, but I trust my instincts. If I’m inspired by it, then I’m hoping that other people will be also excited about it.
Q: In your live performances, you have a lot of energy and have a really big stage presence. You’ve had experiences before going solo where you were in bands, but did you come into being a solo artist with those skills of stage performance, or was that something you had to learn along the way?
A: It’s something I developed over the years. I always liked performing, I don’t think I would have gone into music if I didn’t know that I liked being on stage, playing violin or producing something to entertain people. But developing my style or– I’m trying to think. I’ve always liked to entertain, but it’s taken me playing with lots of different people to figure out what works for me and my show. My show is pretty dynamic, a bit fresh, trying to do different things every tour. I like to have a little arc to my show, and these are things that I’ve figured out from having played with other people and just touring for so long. Like knowing what works, what keeps people coming back, what keeps people buying tickets. Which is pretty much the most important thing, for me.
Q: Speaking of live performances and people coming back, you’ve worked with a lot of live orchestras and ensembles. Is it a challenge to have to [acclimate] to the inner workings of the different ensembles?
A: Playing with an orchestra is completely different than playing in a band because it’s– first of all, it’s cathartic, ‘cause it’s such a beautiful sound coming from behind you and you’re singing– but if you’re too loud, it distracts the violinists, and the violinists don’t want to hear your music, they don’t want to hear you necessarily, they want to make sure that they’re playing beautifully and so you have to have this minimal volume so you can hear yourself and hear the orchestra but [also] making sure it’s nice and loud out there in the audience. It’s really stressful, honestly, to pull it off, but when you pull it off, it’s like this amazing sound that [is] really different than playing in a band or just having a drummer behind you keeping a beat. Having an orchestra behind you with a pulse of that like– 70 different instruments behind you– is like no other experience.
Q: With live orchestras and other live shows, you’re about to go on what you’ve called your own Eras Tour. Would you mind talking a little bit about that?
A: I got the idea from my friends, Guster. They’re doing their own eras tour and they’re this– it’s super funny. I think it’s the idea that, and I’ve done a show like this before, I just did ten years, and I’m up to twelve years now, but it’s kind of interesting to go back and do songs from these different like– [eras] in order– that’s like the story that I’m telling. So the show’s gonna be basically little pockets of this and that and [I’ll] talk about what’s happening and maybe have little slideshows that kind of show people where I was at. I think it’s just something fun and different to do. I like to really challenge myself to kind of switch it up every tour so people aren’t just coming back and seeing the same thing again.
Q: How is it, going back to your roots as a solo artist?
A: I mean, honestly, I still play solo often, and I still play the songs from 151a a lot because they’re [still] really popular, so to me it hasn’t really changed, necessarily. It’s been a long time, but I’m trying to stay relevant to myself.
Q: About staying relevant to yourself– something you’ve done since the beginning of your solo career is looping, and I’d love to hear about how you started incorporating that into your performances.
A: I was originally inspired by Reggie Watts, who’s like this comedian/singer/songwriter who’s also a looper and then Andrew Bird was great too. He was probably the first one I saw with a violin and doing that kind of thing and I think it started initially because I didn’t want to lose money any more as a band going out there. When I started my solo project, I had this motto of “don’t lose money on tour” and so I was like “who can I hire?” Nobody. So the first person I hired was myself and I would just go out and do solo shows. Basically, the challenge was: how can I entertain people for a whole show just by myself? I kind of developed a lot of different ideas and textures I could do with my violin, and then some banter and some storytelling. I can go for an hour, usually, by myself. Mix in a little guitar, stuff like that. I’m actually doing that in Europe. I’m going in June, a few solo shows up there, so I have to figure out again how I can entertain somebody for 75 minutes by myself with my loop pedals.
Q: You seem to have a pretty good relationship with radio, especially pretty early in your solo career. Did that, doing live shows and interviews for/with radio, ever help you develop or see things differently?
A: Yeah, I usually try and do it when I can, so I appreciate people who are out there promoting indie music. I’m totally happy to talk about it. In the beginning, you really do almost everything you can and KEXP is great, I think I’ve done it about three or four times in various different settings. But, y’know, when a station like that, [one] who promotes you to a huge audience– it’s like a reciprocal relationship. They promote and then you go and do something for them as an appreciative gesture. So I totally appreciate it, radio stations. I do what I can, make myself available.
Q: Is there any advice you’ve [received] in the past that’s really stuck with you or is something you’d tell people who want to do what you do?
A: There’s tons of stuff, but one thing is: if you do anything for a long period of time, like several years, if you stay at your music for several years and you do it for your love of the craft, the love of the art, then eventually you’ll be skilled at it. And at that point, you’re just waiting around for an opportunity to appear. So just be true to yourself and stay at it and once you have the skillset, you’ll be ready to take advantage of any opportunity. For me, hedging all your emotional bets on one big break is not really a realistic– it’s not a great thing to do. It’s just doing this and doing that and doing this and doing that. Then ten people will come from this promotion, ten people will come from here because they saw you on this, then ten people will come from here, and then eventually you have a hundred people at your show. And then you have the beginning of a career. I think that’s where– just putting yourself out there as much as possible and not thinking that one thing will really blow you up is really kind of a great way [to go about it]. And then something’ll give you a huge boost, but ultimately it’s just about consistency and connecting with your listeners.
Q: On the Kantos vinyl, there’s a lot of kamon and you asked which one your audience liked best. Which one do you like best?
A: I always liked the Icarus one, I thought it was beautiful. It’s got the feathers around– so the kamon are all family crests, they’re made up by JLB… Yeah, that was always my favorite one, I think.
Q: If there’s anything at all you’d like to say or just put out into the world, feel free to do so here.
A: I’m playing with the Chicago Philharmonic in April with the symphony, that’s the last symphony one for this year, or for this spring, and then… yeah. Big tour in May and then who knows what’s next? More things happening, y’know?
Alright, thank you so much! I have been Dot Smith with KJHK 90.7, and this has been a conversation with Kishi Bashi.
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A big thank you to Kishi Bashi for doing this interview, as well as Shil K. Patel at Tiger Bomb for making this happen!