Interviewed by Dot Smith<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[DISCLAIMER: This transcription was edited for clarity and readability.]<\/b><\/p>\n
***<\/b><\/p>\n
Q: I am Dot Smith with KJHK 90.7, and today, I\u2019m here with Kishi Bashi. Would you mind introducing yourself, what you do, and telling us a little bit of your history as an artist?<\/b><\/p>\n
A: Yeah, my name\u2019s Kishi Bashi, my real name is Kaoru Ishibashi, and I\u2019ve been doing my solo project since 2012. I play violin, [and] I\u2019m a singer-songwriter.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: Your new album, <\/b>Kantos<\/i><\/b>, is such a tonal departure from pretty much everything you\u2019ve worked on as a solo artist. How did you approach writing these songs compared to your other albums?<\/b><\/p>\n A: Yeah, every single album is like\u2013 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\u2026 In particular, I was doing a lot. My last album, <\/span>Omoiyari<\/span><\/i>, my documentary work, was about a lot of social justice issues and like minority identity and I\u2019ve been talking about it for like 5 years, so I wanted to do something different coming out of the pandemic and y\u2019know, I just wanted to showcase something of a different kind of genre that I\u2019m also particularly excited about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: I know that you\u2019ve [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?<\/b><\/p>\n A: I can start by saying that A.I. is kind of like a fresh thing that\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s\u2013 lacking that personal touch and I think that\u2019s what a lot of my music is and I feel like there\u2019s a lot of value in that. And valuing connecting with an artist as opposed to just a machine.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: On the topic of connecting with artists, I know that you did this thing about 6 or 7 years ago called \u201cOperation: Clam Chowdah\u201d and I\u2019d love to ask you about experiences like that that have helped you develop as an artist?<\/b><\/p>\n A: I like meeting people and, so\u2013 for people who don\u2019t know, Operation Platinum Chowder is like\u2013 I was one flight away from getting platinum status on Delta and so I flew up to Boston to get clam chowder on like\u2013 December 30th so I could get that platinum status. But\u2013 I wanted to- I like meeting people and also I don\u2019t like to gatekeep myself but I don\u2019t do too many V.I.P. meet-and-greets because it is pretty intensive when I\u2019m on tour but I also want to be available to people who have legitimate questions and stuff like that about\u2013 and so anyways, I was like anyone who wants to show up can show up and whoever gets there first, I\u2019ll buy them clam chowder. I think it\u2019s the kind of thing where if you make an effort to come and meet me, then yeah, I\u2019m totally happy to talk to you, or even on the street. I feel like I\u2019m just another person just like anybody else.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: That theme of connecting with people is something that I, personally, see a lot in your music and you\u2019ve spoken about getting influence from travel and talking to people. With [<\/b>Kantos<\/i><\/b>] specifically, you mentioned having a bit of Greek influence, particularly with the Icarus myth. Could you tell us a little bit about that?<\/b><\/p>\n A: I mean, y\u2019know, obviously\u2013 (laughs) so my wife and I went to\u2013 we ended up in Greece like twice in a year. The first time was like a vacation so I was reading <\/span>Circe<\/span><\/i>, the book by [Madeline Miller]. It\u2019s so beautifully written and it\u2019s the perspective of like\u2013 a minor character in Greek mythology, a female, but she\u2019s like a witch. And a witch in the sense that she\u2019s like a healer and has a connection with nature and I think it retells this whole like\u2013 male driven, ego driven mythologies that a lot of things have, like <\/span>Odysseus<\/span><\/i> and these people are just relentless in their pursuit of glory and I feel like that\u2019s the kind of thing where we\u2019re traveling around Greece and going to Crete and Knossos and like\u2013 imagining the legend of the minotaur and like Icarus and Daedalus\u2019 like\u2013 birth\u2013 was quite inspiring. And my wife is also a philosopher, so she was giving me a whole lesson on like\u2013 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: Speaking of philosophy, I know another inspiration for <\/b>Kantos <\/i><\/b>was Immanuel Kant. You seem to [be able to] find these inspirations for your music that aren\u2019t [necessarily] artists, and I wanted to ask what other media outside of music inspires you?<\/b><\/p>\n A: I mean obviously the philosophy is inspiring\u2014 from my wife\u2014 \u2018cause she\u2019s so brilliant and, y\u2019know, <\/span>Kantos<\/span><\/i> is kind of attributed to her because a lot of it is\u2013 it\u2019s a play on words. Because I was thinking about incantation, and also the <\/span>Hyperion Cantos<\/span><\/i> is a sci-fi book that we read together and so it\u2019s kind of a play on words. And y\u2019know, Immanuel Kant was one of the great enlightenment philosophers. He did like\u2013 his motto was \u201creason above everything else\u201d and it\u2019s questionable if that\u2019s like\u2013 if that should be a virtue, y\u2019know? Because I\u2019m more of like a\u2013 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\u2013 Yeah, I like literature, I like movies, I like manga, y\u2019know, I spend a lot of time on my phone, y\u2019know, there\u2019s 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\u2013 not just musically, but conceptually\u2013 too and I think that\u2019s why I like to\u2013 if I have the opportunity to conceptually bring songs together, I\u2019ll do it. It makes sense to me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: You mentioned manga and I know that the Lilliputian Chop music video, you helped to direct..? Or was that Icarus IV?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n A: Yeah, so <\/span>Icarus IV<\/span><\/i>, I did\u2013 and I hired a couple artists to do that, but\u2013 [Lilliputian Chop], we hired a studio, I wrote it with them, we hired a studio in Japan, in Tokyo, that was using\u2013 y\u2019know\u2013 that works in manga, in anime, and so it was kind of like\u2013 I love animation and it\u2019s something that I just have fun being a part of. So we spent pretty much our entire music video budget on that one.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: And on the topic of music videos, with <\/b>Icarus IV <\/i><\/b>particularly, you have experience being a director as well as a musician. How would you say the creative processes differ?<\/b><\/p>\n A: I would say that they\u2019re completely different. But I do think visually, so I have real strong associations of\u2013 I\u2019m 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 <\/span>gut<\/span><\/i> 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: \u201cthat\u2019s great, this is working, this is not.\u201d whereas like\u2013 a lot of musicians probably aren\u2019t as opinionated as me and that\u2019s why I like to\u2013 delve in film too, y\u2019know. \u2018Cause I have an opinion about it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: And with film, being in school for film scoring, has that [influenced] the way you see music as an art form?<\/b><\/p>\n A: Yeah, when I was at Berklee College of Music in Boston, I pretty much focused on composition\u2013 film scoring is composition, but it\u2019s mostly more like pop styles, it\u2019s not like pure composition, which can be extremely atonal and conceptual. Film scoring\u2019s literally like\u2014 it\u2019s about serving the film, so it\u2019s a lot about just losing attachment to your music because directors will basically reject like\u2013 70% of your ideas. But\u2014 I mean, I know a lot about music now, because I\u2019m educated about it. I think I\u2019ve got a good head on my shoulders about what\u2019s at the core of what makes music good and [gets] people connecting with it, or driving emotion, so like\u2013 if it\u2019s too technical, I can be like \u201coh this is losing people,\u201d [if] it\u2019s 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\u2019s like\u2013 finding a balance between what inspires you and what you think people will like\u2013 and that\u2019s a dance that I have to play.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n (13:43)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: And with the process that went into creating <\/b>Kantos<\/i><\/b>, I know there\u2019s a lot of different genres and experimentation, was that dance you mentioned a big part in creating [the album]?<\/b><\/p>\n A: That\u2019s what I\u2019m doing all the time when I make an album, basically. Well, first of all, I\u2019m a solo artist and most of my albums do pretty well, so I don\u2019t have a\u2013 I just know that if I follow my gut and I\u2019m really excited about it, then my record label won\u2019t drop me and I\u2019ll be able to make another one. So I\u2019m lucky in that, but I trust my instincts. If I\u2019m inspired by it, then I\u2019m hoping that other people will be also excited about it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: In your live performances, you have a lot of energy and have a really big stage presence. You\u2019ve 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?<\/b><\/p>\n A: It\u2019s something I developed over the years. I always liked performing, I don\u2019t think I would have gone into music if I didn\u2019t know that I liked being on stage, playing violin or producing something to entertain people. But developing my style or\u2013 I\u2019m trying to think. I\u2019ve always liked to entertain, but it\u2019s 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\u2019ve 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.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: Speaking of live performances and people coming back, you\u2019ve 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?<\/b><\/p>\n A: Playing with an orchestra is completely different than playing in a band because it\u2019s\u2013 first of all, it\u2019s cathartic, \u2018cause it\u2019s such a beautiful sound coming from behind you and you\u2019re singing\u2013 but if you\u2019re too loud, it distracts the violinists, and the violinists don\u2019t want to hear your music, they don\u2019t want to hear you necessarily, they want to make sure that they\u2019re 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\u2019s nice and loud out there in the audience. It\u2019s really stressful, honestly, to pull it off, but when you pull it off, it\u2019s 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\u2013 70 different instruments behind you\u2013 is like no other experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: With live orchestras and other live shows, you\u2019re about to go on what you\u2019ve called your own Eras Tour. Would you mind talking a little bit about that?<\/b><\/p>\n A: I got the idea from my friends, Guster. They\u2019re doing their own eras tour and they\u2019re this\u2013 it\u2019s super funny. I think it\u2019s the idea that, and I\u2019ve done a show like this before, I just did ten years, and I\u2019m up to twelve years now, but it\u2019s kind of interesting to go back and do songs from these different like\u2013 [eras] in order\u2013 that\u2019s like the story that I\u2019m telling. So the show\u2019s gonna be basically little pockets of this and that and [I\u2019ll] talk about what\u2019s happening and maybe have little slideshows that kind of show people where I was at. I think it\u2019s just something fun and different to do. I like to really challenge myself to kind of switch it up every tour so people aren\u2019t just coming back and seeing the same thing again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: How is it, going back to your roots as a solo artist?<\/b><\/p>\n A: I mean, honestly, I still play solo often, and I still play the songs from 151a a <\/span>lot<\/span><\/i> because they\u2019re [still] really popular, so to me it hasn\u2019t really changed, necessarily. It\u2019s been a long time, but I\u2019m trying to stay relevant to myself.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: About staying relevant to yourself\u2013 something you\u2019ve done since the beginning of your solo career is looping, and I\u2019d love to hear about how you started incorporating that into your performances.<\/b><\/p>\n A: I was originally inspired by Reggie Watts, who\u2019s like this comedian\/singer\/songwriter who\u2019s 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\u2019t want to lose money any more as a band going out there. When I started my solo project, I had this motto of \u201cdon\u2019t lose money on tour\u201d and so I was like \u201cwho can I hire?\u201d 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\u2019m actually doing that in Europe. I’m going in June, a few solo shows up there, so I have to figure out <\/span>again<\/span><\/i> how I can entertain somebody for 75 minutes by myself with my loop pedals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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?<\/b><\/p>\n A: Yeah, I usually try and do it when I can, so I appreciate people who are out there promoting indie music. I\u2019m totally happy to talk about it. In the beginning, you really do almost everything you can and KEXP is great, I think I\u2019ve done it about three or four times in various different settings. But, y\u2019know, when a station like that, [one] who promotes you to a huge audience\u2013 it\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: Is there any advice you\u2019ve [received] in the past that\u2019s really stuck with you or is something you\u2019d tell people who want to do what you do?<\/b><\/p>\n A: There\u2019s 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\u2019ll be skilled at it. And at that point, you\u2019re 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\u2019ll be ready to take advantage of any opportunity. For me, hedging all your emotional bets on one big break is not really a realistic\u2013 it\u2019s not a great thing to do. It\u2019s 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\u2019s where\u2013 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\u2019ll give you a huge boost, but ultimately it\u2019s just about consistency and connecting with your listeners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: On the <\/b>Kantos <\/i><\/b>vinyl, there\u2019s a lot of kamon and you asked which one your audience liked best. Which one do <\/b>you <\/i><\/b>like best?<\/b><\/p>\n A: I always liked the <\/span>Icarus <\/span><\/i>one, I thought it was beautiful. It\u2019s got the feathers around\u2013 so the kamon are all family crests, they\u2019re made up by JLB\u2026 Yeah, that was always my favorite one, I think.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: If there\u2019s anything at all you\u2019d like to say or just put out into the world, feel free to do so here.<\/b><\/p>\n A: I\u2019m playing with the Chicago Philharmonic in April with the symphony, that\u2019s the last symphony one for this year, or for this spring, and then\u2026 yeah. Big tour in May and then who knows what\u2019s next? More things happening, y\u2019know?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Alright, thank you so much! I have been Dot Smith with KJHK 90.7, and this has been a conversation with Kishi Bashi.<\/b><\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n A big thank you to Kishi Bashi for doing this interview, as well as Shil K. Patel at Tiger Bomb for making this happen!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Interviewed by Dot Smith [DISCLAIMER: This transcription was edited for clarity and readability.] *** Q: I am Dot Smith with KJHK 90.7, and today, I\u2019m 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\u2019s Kishi Bashi, my real name is Kaoru Ishibashi, and I\u2019ve been doing my solo project since 2012. I play violin, [and] I\u2019m a singer-songwriter. 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