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RUSIKA was one of the six performances to take the stage at Anime Vegas over Labor Day weekend. They were welcomed by an excited and responsive crowd that cheered the whole way through the performance. It was a hit with fans, who made sure to get their drumsticks signed when they and others went to meet the band just outside the theater after the show. Never mind some of the technical difficulties; fire alarms, broken guitar straps and, yes, a too tight to wear costume tops.
The morning after the concert, JrockRevolution.com took the chance to sit down with the band for an interview packed with fun, grand experiences, and even some profound insights.
Could you all introduce yourselves and what you play in RUSIKA?
Alfred: I’m Alfred and I play the drums for RUSIKA.
Natz: I’m Natz, I’m the vocalist and guitarist of RUSIKA.
Ilán: I’m Ilán, and I carry all of the heavy bass equipment.
Natz, you say you like performing at anime conventions. Which was the last convention RUSIKA performed?
Natz: Before this, which one was it?
Ilán: Was it Anime Expo? PMX?
Natz: Oh, no no no no. Fanime. It was an acoustic show. It was really good, too. It was really fun. There were some nice people, and even though it was an acoustic set, the anime kids liked the show.
Do any of you have a favorite anime, manga, or video game?
Ilán: This is terrible, I don’t play any video games.
Alfred: I like everything Square Enix. The last video game I played was Kingdom Hearts 4 or 3. Dirge of Cerberus was pretty awesome. Favorite anime I have to say is Berserk and GTO will always be my all time favorite.
Natz: I play Wii Fit [mimicks game motions], and simulation games. Japanese strategy games.
Have you all been to Las Vegas before?
Ilán: First time.
Alfred: First time.
Ilán: When I picked up Alfred the first thing I said was "I’ve never been to Vegas before. Which way is Vegas?" So we were in the car, and we were like, "Oh, lets just go this way," and then we were going the opposite direction, and we checked Google maps, and we’re like, oh, we have to go THAT way. So finally we got on the freeway and Alfred’s like, "Wake me up when you find the ‘Welcome to Las Vegas sign.’ I was like, I don’t know, maybe we’re in Vegas already and we passed it. We actually had trouble getting down here. I think we’re the only people from L.A. that don’t know where Vegas is.
How do you like Vegas so far?
Alfred: It reminds me of my hometown in Arizona is all I can say. But, a lot tackier. Way tacky. The signs are crazy. My brain hurts whenever I see it.
Ilán: I think it’s strange that everyone out here talks to you. You can be in the elevator and people are like, "Yeah, I lost $20 last night." You know, some of these people look like they will not be friendly but they are the ones who are genuinely friendly, and the ones who look friendly are just pretending to be friendly, and they’re not friendly.
Natz: They try to be friendly?
Ilán: No, they’re just pretending to be friendly for their job. "Sir, hi, how are you doing today!", but I feel they are thinking "I could care less! What the hell do you want!" However, the people who look like they couldn’t care less are usually the ones who do! But, they really don’t. They just hide it better. Vegas is one big ‘oppo-same’ [‘opposite/same’ as in a paradox]!
Besides your adventure getting here, has anything else exciting happened to you?
Natz: Last’s night’s show was very exciting.
Alfred: An old guy called us stupid in the parking lot.
Ilán: Oh yeah, that’s right. I’m motivated by the color lavender. And my favorite number is 4, so I only like 4 string basses, and I set all my amplifier stuff to four. The gain is four, the volume is four, and the setting knob is four. And my bass dials are always knobs set to four. I don’t even know what some knobs do but as long as they’re set to four, I’m OK.
Do you have four basses?
Ilán: No, I have eight. Double. And, I just yelled out "LAVENDER!" and he turned around and said, "Stupid." So I was like, "Well, stupid is as stupid does." [Mimmicking Forest Gump] And he just walked away.
RUSIKA included, there were six performances yesterday. Did you get to see any of the other bands perform? Who?
Alfred: Parts of ALSDEAD and Satsuki. I just didn’t want to stand on the side too much ’cause I always thought it’s tacky when other musicians are on the side and are like, "Hey guys! It’s me again!" I was ninja about it.
Natz: How was their performance?
Alfred: It was good. I have my opinions about things, but everyone has their own different approach [to performances]. I’m sure they do it differently in Japan. It was good.
Ilán: I went to the crowd and saw Momoi, Satsuki, and ALSDEAD. I told the sound guy that Momoi’s broom was way too loud.
Alfred: Broom?
Suddenly, out of nowhere, she had a broom and was playing it like a guitar.
Ilán: She lost a few strings, too. I was like, "Wow." And that neck is so long… and I saw Satsuki, and his pants were vinyl or leather or something; my heart went out to him, because I knew the things that are kept in leather pants are very warm. We were really hot up there, not good hot, but "HOT". It was really hot, we should have asked for a fan, so I had to run around to get a breeze. And then ALSDEAD were really cool. I think I must have changed one of the settings on the bass amp, because I kept running back to it and I saw ALSDEAD’s bassist keep running back to it. So we both probably had the same issues.
Did you by any chance make any new musical friends? As in the earlier performing bands, like akai SKY or Makenai?
Alfred: He [Jinra of akai SKY] borrowed my pedals.
Ilán: You tossed his [Jinra’s] sticks.
Alfred: Yeah, his drum bag was in the set, and I thought it was the venue’s, so I raided it and used it without knowing and then I started throwing everything out into the crowd. I was like, Okay, this is on the house, it’s like candy! But in the signing session all these kids came up with drum sticks and I was like, "Can I have those back? I’ll give you mine, I swear." And then he [Jinra] was like, "Nah, it’s cool. You threw it, they caught it, it’s theirs…" Good guys, good guys.
Ilán: And girl! [Referring to akai SKY’s Bassist, Umi]
There were some technical difficulties during your performance which you recovered from brilliantly.
Natz: Like what [situation]?
Like the faulty guitar strap.
Natz: Oh, yeah yeah. We’re so used to that.
Ilán: Every show I play with this guy [Natz] he does that. I said, "Natz, buy another strap." When is your birthday party? I will buy you another strap. We were in rehearsal, he did it, and I’m anal retentive about my instrument, and I just see his guitar swing towards the floor.. but he always catches it and my heart always skips a measure. And THEN he says, [Natz impression] "Oh! My guitar strap broke." And then we continue playing… just waiting for it to fall again.
What goes through your minds whenever something like that happens, since it seems to be a normal occurrence?
Ilán: We should all answer this, ’cause I want to know what’s going through your minds. That’s a good question. You go first, Natz.
Natz: I don’t know. There’s always something on stage.
Ilán: So that’s the first thing that goes through your mind, not "Oh, s—-"
Alfred: You’re just like, ‘I’m used to this, it’s part of the show, lalalalala?’
Natz: "Oh, it’s broken, ok." [This is what goes through Natz’s mind]
Ilán: What goes through your mind [Alfred]?
Alfred: I don’t really have technical difficulties, but if I see him [Natz] mess up, I just keep repeating the beat and jam with the other guy. Try to make eye contact and be like, hey, it’s me and you, let’s go. That’s about it.
Ilán: For me first it’s "OH, s—-!" Then second it’s – maybe I shouldn’t say this – I saw a live recently where the guitarist was experiencing technical difficulties on stage. To me, if you’re just starting out, it’s understandable to panic because you are still learning and growing. That band was pro at a really big venue. It was very clear to us, the audience, that there was something wrong with the guitar. If it had been me – actually, I’ve done this. At SacAnime, 2007, I was bouncing around and the wireless receiver fell off so I ran to the mic and mouthed the bass part. If I’d been that guy, I would’ve played air guitar or something because in the end, no one knows what’s happening on stage until you let them know. Bands project their energy into the crowd. If we’re annoyed or upset by anything, it’s really crazy…. You’re standing before a ton of people you don’t know and all of a sudden their faces are wearing the expression of your thoughts. I noticed that if I lose a little bit of energy, I start to see the crowd get tired, so I have to keep it at 110%. It’s important that we are anal about our sound and how everything goes, but our main job is not to show our frustrations during our performance on stage. If people want to really listen and critique things, they’ll buy a CD. We are entertainers at that point [on stage] and that’s just the most important thing. Those fans give us their time, I mean they give us their money too, but their time is more valuable. They take an hour out of their life and devote a portion of their revolution around the sun to us. Any type of bad thoughts have to wait until AFTER the show. We can’t even THINK negative thoughts because you immediately see it on their faces and then they walk away from our Live unsatisfied. It’s like getting a frog in a can of Diet Pepsi.
Natz: No, no, it’s entertainment. So, we should entertain the accident.
Ilán: When that [Natz’s guitar strap] happened, we [Ilán and Alfred] actually yelled to each other and said, "Let’s do something!" Right?
Alfred: Yeah.
Ilán: And you [Natz] were gone! And then the con staff tripped the fire alarm! [This happened right before their act started.] They got mad at me because some wardrobe girl behind the curtain said, "You should play along to the siren or something," so I started playing the bass with the fire alarm, and then the guy thought that was the song… so they ignored the urgency of the ACTUAL alarm for a minute. Then the fire or the police dude came in and he’s like, "Oh oh oh, it’s YOUR fault!" He really thought the alarm sound was part of the show. So these guys were looking around for someone’s butt to fry.
You have an event in L.A. called "Oto-Genic" which includes many local Jrock bands from Southern California. Why the name "Oto-Genic?"
Natz: Oto means "sound" [in Japanese] Then I took the word "photogenic", and made it oto-genic for catchy sound.
Alfred: You clever son-of-a-gun…
Natz: Also, otogenic means something generated in your ear, in medical terms.
Ilán: So RUSIKA is the cause of my tinitus! [tinitus = constant ringing in one’s ear]
Natz: It can be anything in your ear, anything generated in your ear is oto-genic.
How do you choose the bands that perform at Oto-genic?
Natz: The first featured my friends’ bands. We played with Lemon Drop Kick, Dig Jelly, Vaeidos and they are very close bands. The second one my friend Monica has a band, and her friend had one…
It was during Nisei week, Japanese-American festival. So I invited a traditional Japanese Minyo Group.
Ilán: I used to be a part of Matsutoyo Kai [The Traditional Band] which was very famous in Japan for playing Min’yo. I played with them for a couple of years, producing an EP and a PV. We played in Japan and the U.S.A like RUSIKA does so I asked Natz to invite them. Unfortunately, traffic was really bad that day, because of Nisei Week. All of the streets were blocked. We had all of these people stuck in the outskirts of Downtown L.A. saying "How do we get in?" Afterwards people were like, all the traffic’s gone, lets go have a beer. The were so many people I had to buy beer for later [to apologize for the inconvenience]. Many cute girls came along so it was OK to buy more beers. I was so broke after.
Many local bands, no matter what they do, they want to play Oto-genic. It will be a more "no-boundaries" show: Japanese music, American music, game music…I’m going to invite a musician who writes music for video games.
Was it your initial goal to hold this event every month or every couple of months?
Natz: Yes, every month, I’m going to keep it going.
Ilán: Where is this event held?
Natz: The event is held at Matsumoto’s Second Street Jazz.
Ilán: And what day of the week is it held?
Natz: Sunday.
Ilán: Around what time?
Natz: [chuckles] Around 7, it starts from 7:30.
Ilán: Can I have the latitude and longitude for the building?
[laughter]
Natz: It’s all ages. If I have the chance, I want to hold the event at some Sunset venues.
RUSIKA has a new release in the works and had a contest for fans to design the cover art. How did you come to the idea of having fans participate?
Ilán: Laziness. [Joking]
[Laughter]
Natz: No no no. We like interacting with the fans, and I want to interact off the stage, too. The contest is a good way to connect to fans and potential fans, so that was the idea. Ilán: Like "paradox", laziness. [Joking, again]
Natz: Not laziness!
Ilán: Right, right…[Still joking]
The songs "Jinsei no Tabibito" and "Futari" are not on the CD Hope Through Loneliness, but they are found on RUSIKA’s MySpace. Can fans look forward to them being on the upcoming release?
Natz: Oh yeah, this [hands us CD; Life-Long Journey for Oto-genic that includes the above songs].
Ilán: That was a fast release!
[laughter]
Alfred: Psst [to Natz]! I didn’t get a CD!
Natz: Really? Wow. Wow. But I sent you the mp3’s! All the mp3’s! I didn’t have to give you the CD.
Alfred: I want a copy, okay? I want a signature, too. [Smiles]
Natz: The contest is for the jacket of this CD.
How do you decide which songs make it on to an EP? Do you make specific songs and say, "OK, we’re going to work on these," or do you write a whole bunch and then see which ones qualify?
Natz: I made 10, 20 songs, and we never record them. The first two songs, "Miracle is Calling Me" and "Sunny Day Despair" were already recorded, so I decided to put them on this EP. The next song, ["Futari"] when I planned to make a CD, there was only me in RUSIKA, so I wanted to make a song about, I don’t know…
Ilán: Hope through loneliness, perhaps?
Natz: Yeah, similar to that. Or some kind of dark songs to express my…my…
Your desire for bandmates?
Natz: Yeah. Futari means "two people" so I wished I had more band members.
Alfred: [whispers] Awesome song, by the way.
Natz: And then "Jinsei No Tabibito" is suffering, or hardness of life, but still not giving up, still going on the journey of life. I really like those two songs, the melody and the theme, so I put them on the EP.
Do you ever feel like some songs you create work better live than recorded or work better recorded instead of live?
Natz: Yeah, that happens a lot. That happens so many times. "Jinsei No Tabibito" I recorded three times. The first one’s only single vocals and not dramatic, so I talked to the recording engineer, and I wanted a second vocal, or Asian flute, and we arranged, arranged, arranged. It’s very difficult to put live energy into the recording.
As a band, what brought RUSIKA together?
Ilán: We met a long time ago. Where did we meet exactly?
Natz: I don’t know…it was in a studio….
Ilán: OH YEAH!
Natz: My bassist didn’t come, so I asked him to play, on that day. He did a great job! Ilán: I knew something was happening, and that old Iranian guy was there. He played drums.
Natz: No, no, he was… Armenian…
Ilán: Yeah, this guy was hilarious. He was 60 something, had this shirt on that said "Keep on truckin’" or something, this major bald spot, and I was playing bass and he was like "YEAAAAAAAAH!"
Natz: I didn’t have a bassist or a drummer, so it was good they could play. Then I asked [Ilán] to play. He did a great job.
Ilán: I looked like I was crazy because I was looking at his [Natz’s] fingers the whole time trying to make out what chords he was playing. You know Natz INVENTS chords! I was like, "What chord is that?" [Natz impression]"I don’t know." [regular Ilán voice] "Neither do I!" His hand is gripping the whole thing, he’s just holding the guitar, but it’s a chord. It sounds good.
Natz: I like his playing and he likes my music.
Ilán: Then we played SacAnime. That was the first show we played together.
Natz: Yeah, 2006.
Ilán: That was fast movement.
Natz: And we covered L’arc en Ciel songs.
Ilán: Oh yeah! We covered Blurry Eyes and that hard one, with the bass, what was it? Stay Away! I had to sing, and the bass was crazy, and then we had to do the melody…we had to rehearse that in the hotel.
Natz: At 2 am.
Ilán: That was horrible. We decided the day of the show that we would play those, and these are not easy bass parts. But the show went really, really good. It was awesome. The production here was better, but the energy and the response was like the same level as yesterday.
So how did you become part of the band, Alfred?
Alfred: I moved here from Arizona to hook up with another band, but that fell through. My roommate knew Natz and there was a gig that he was going to do with Anti-Feminism, and he needed a drummer. My roommate referred me, and I was like, I don’t know, ’cause I kinda dreaded bands ’cause they’re all flakes, I was like "I hate bands, I don’t want to be in a band!" but I played with him and rehearsed and it was my first time performing, EVER, in general, so I was scared. It was the Knitting Factory and I was like, I don’t think I’m ready. I want to go home. And the band [Anti-Feminism], Kenzi’s a pretty well known guy, and a pretty good drummer too, so I didn’t want to choke, but it was great.
Natz: Yeah, it was a great show. You did great!
Alfred: We even went to San Fran afterwards for the other show, and the bassist bailed on us [not Ilán at the time], and we were like The White Stripes.
Natz: And then your drums got stolen, so he was unable to play unless the venue has drums.
Alfred: Someone broke into my car.
Natz: In gated parking.
Alfred: That was like $3000 worth of gear, man.
Natz: Yeah, it’s hard. Especially in this bad economy.
Since RUSIKA formed and you began performing in the U.S., have you noticed an increase in Jrock fans?
Ilán: Hell yeah.
Natz: I went to Jrock Revolution first. After that, we have a big show like that, I think the number of people increased.
Ilán: We can only see the first couple of rows of people because of the lights shining in our faces.
Alfred: I think the festival made fans realize it’s possible they can see all these Jrock bands, and not just on YouTube saying "I hope to see them someday!" They know it’s possible, it can happen. And it was great, it was in L.A. so it was good for RUSIKA, there’s a lot of L.A. fans, so Oto-genic is what people needed.
Ilán: There are way more fans than bands, and I don’t see this changing. There’s no one who’s organizing the U.S. Jrock movement. It like magma spewing out from the earth. Don’t get me wrong, Vegas is cool, Sacramento is cool, but to start we need one city to drive this movement and its quickly becoming L.A. When other Japanese bands come to the U.S. , they can do shows at the Whisky and other famous places and promote it to their label. They can easily say to management "Let’s do a tour." and because its Hollywood, they’ll get the funding. Hyde played The House of Blues Sunset and Anaheim. Hollywood has many famous places to play. We need to get bigger Japanese bands over here to join forces with the local L.A bands. Jrock will not succeed here without indie bands like RUSIKA, and we need the major Japanese artists promote our movement overseas. We need each other.
Natz: That’s why I’m doing Oto-genic.
Ilán: We have shows and the line is always out the door… even in Downtown L.A. and they STILL cosplay! It’s impressive how they dress up. I don’t even like to wear underwear! They’re die-hard fans, and they’re there until 3 in the morning.
Natz: I think when the audience size becomes 300-400, it’s time to play a larger venue, but it’s expensive, so I’d have to invite bigger bands in the future.
In general, have you noticed people becoming less aware of the language barrier between Japanese and English?
Natz: I think in Los Angeles, because they’re listening to Japanese songs all day long. I wish there would be more organized Japanese classes in high school…
Alfred: The better area schools have it, even in Arizona.
Natz: They have more chance to get the ability to understand Japanese.
Natz, what do you miss most about Japan?
Natz: Fashion. I have to import, I mean ask my parents, to send clothes.
Alfred: Are they your stylists?
Natz: Oh, the Japanese hair stylists are much better.
Alfred: As we saw last night. I did one spritz and was like, okay, I’m over it. The Japanese bands they’ve got pretty good looking hair. I take pride in doing my own hair.
Ilán: The Visual guys look flammable, I am always worried when they get close to the lights.
Natz, what do you like most about the U.S.?
Natz: I’m living in Los Angeles, in California. I like the easygoing attitude. Everyone loves music, so it’s great to perform.
Alfred: It is awesome.
Natz: Japanese music is new, so we are kind of unique.
In your last interview with us Natz, you said you had a panic attack during your first show and had a shaky voice and hands. Alfred, your first performance was at the Knitting Factory, which in itself is scary, and you were all nervous and afraid. So, Ilán, what about your first big performance?
Ilán: Oh, um, you know, it’s really funny. I just remember thinking, I hope I can see the girls. [Laughter] I was in a band in high school, and we played at the Whisky. At that time I was obsessed with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. My mom wouldn’t let me get a tattoo, so I had to keep drawing the symbol in every day with a Sharpie. The first show I played in some tight underwear and the bass covered it so it looked like there were no clothes. And I see these pictures, and I was trying to see the girls, and I couldn’t so I was disappointed, but that was all I cared about.
Natz: Did you become nervous?
Ilán: No, I was just frustrated!
[laughter]
Natz: NO GIRLS?! No girls, what?!
Ilán: We rehearse the songs so much that when its time to do the show it’s just muscle memory. At that point, if I would be nervous, it would only be about yanking the plug out of my amp from moving too much. I used to craft these insanely difficult bass lines that really belonged on a recording only, and I would go and execute them flawlessly at lives and people didn’t even notice them. So I learned later that no one’s really listening like that. No one cares.
How about now? How do you all feel before, during, and after a show?
Natz: I do become super nervous before a show. Last night I was walking around.
Alfred: I used to get nervous, but now I don’t anymore. I see it as, my mom passed away a month ago, and I perform in dedication to her. You see me doing crazy stuff out there, I’m doing it for her. It’s easy, but I just want everything to be dedication, so I perform hard now.
Ilán: The honorable Ronnie James Dio, once said something like ‘Music is work. It’s like everybody sees us up there having fun, they think we just go up there and rock out. But for me before the show, I feel like I’m going into an office. You put your suit on, button up, and you’ve got to go on.’ I know the fans are there to get a piece of me, so I feel like I’m a vendor of fun. If the product isn’t there to give them, I fail as a provider. It’s like work, you just have to make sure you don’t let them down. I’m perfectly happy jamming in my studio. Alone. On stage, its not for me, its for them.
As artists, what do you want most for the fans to take away from the live performance? How do you want them to feel afterwards?
Alfred: Drained, like me.
Natz: I want them to be super happy with the performance. I want them to think they’re happier.
Alfred: Such a happy guy, aren’t you?
Ilán: I want them to want learn to play instruments and start a new ‘Jrock’ inspired genre of American music. I want to feel like I am helping to start something new. Oh, [Story] I have these very expensive rechargeable batteries, and some girl just snatched them from me on stage when I was reaching to the crowd! So I had to ask the fans, "Please return these batteries." I couldn’t believe it, it was the best thing. One by one, batteries started coming back to the stage. It was crazy, these are like $30, 2500mAH AA batteries. As I ran around the stage, this girl kept poking my butt with something, and I thought, okay, I shouldn’t go over THERE again, and she kept looking at me, I was like, what the? I could see IT WAS MY BATTERY! I went over there and gave her a kiss on the cheek, and thought, "You saved me seven dollars!" I was so impressed. I saw her after the show and was like, "You gave me my battery back!" That was really nice.
When people listen to your music, through the CD or MySpace, is there any particular feeling you want them to feel, without the element of the live performance, just through the music?
Natz: I think they should use their imagination. If they understand the Japanese lyrics, they’re abstact and meaningful. For people who don’t understand Japanese, they need to imagine the theme of the song, like you’re reading a poem.
Alfred: Some titles usually give that away.
Natz: Right, I give a theme or direction, but they can expand on it.
Alfred: Music is a universal language.
Natz: Yes, definitely.
If you had to describe your bandmates as a color, which color would it be and why?
Ilán: I had better be lavender.
Alfred: Stupid! [Mimicking earlier discussed events]
Ilán: Stupid is as stupid does.
Natz: [to Ilán] Blue.
Ilán: Why blue? [Displeased]
Natz: Okay, then Red. Passion.
Ilán: Okay, I’ll buy that.
Natz: I pick pink for Alfred, ’cause girls always shout at him. [mimics being on stage] "Hey, I’m Natz!" [Silence]. Alfred removes his shirt [girly scream].
Alfred: Pink, okay…I think Ilán is, not trying to be in favor of him, but he’s lavender, seriously. You wear lavender stuff a lot too, but I see him on stage and you’re twirling around with the bass and jumping around. I think Natz would probably be white, because he has a lot of energy.
Ilán: I was gonna say that.
Alfred: Right? Don’t steal my answers. I don’t know. I look at Natz as a teacher, he taught me a lot because I didn’t know much about how things work for performing lives, so I learned a lot from him. He’s a good teacher. Thank you, sir.
Natz: You’re welcome.
Ilán: I won’t say Natz is white, I’ll say he’s black. RUSIKA songs and Natz’s character have a certain darkness to them. I didn’t realize that until we’d been playing a couple of years together.Alfred, I was going to also say pink, because his iPod cover, and because we’re always talking about girls…
Alfred: Pink it is.
Why do think you all work well together as a band?
Ilán: Good question.
Natz: I don’t know… I look like glam rock, Alfred looks like visual kei, and Ilán looks like he’s out of the 70s, and the audience thinks, What kind of music do they play? [laughter] But when we play music it sounds great and we really unite.
Alfred: I like it because Natz does goofy stuff and it makes me laugh. And if I look at Ilán I get energy, because he’s doing jumping jacks!
Ilán: I think we play well together because the songs are difficult. I play with a lot of different people and a lot of jazz also, and you’d think jazz is difficult but not really because you always know where you are going. With Natz’s songs, he’ll throw in chords out of the blue and it keeps you on your toes. The songs are complicated, and we play well together because when we get in the room, it’s very intense and we have to focus. We are thinking about what’s what, where is this going, and when we’ve got all the mechanics down we have to think about how to make it sound good as a song. Within two or three hours’ time, there’s no room for arguing or bickering because our brains are fried. And then we have to remember our parts for the next rehearsal…When you have something to focus on and it’s that big, there’s no room for B.S. We’re lucky we get along. Everybody is very agreeable and we compromise.
Alfred: I like the dynamics of the three piece band, also. Before we performed AX, I was really hyped up on Muse, ’cause that’s like the only three piece band I love… Three piece is really good dynamics.
Ilán: I think that’s the future makeup of the Rock Band.
Alfred: Yeah, it’s equal in a way.
Ilán: It forces each musician to have their act together. When you have this wall of guitar sound, and the crash cymbals going, it’s draining for the audience’s ears after a while. Live music is loud, and it’s annoying after a while. Without dynamics and quiet, feels awful.
Alfred: It gets stale if it’s just straight, straight, straight.
Ilán: Wall of sound.
Alfred: Yeah. Everything starts to sound the same.
Please share a message from RUSIKA for our readers.
Natz: Thank you for reading the interview. Thank you for listening to our shows if you’ve come. We have a big dream to tour all over the world, so please wait for us to tour your town.
Ilán: Don’t live for pleasure. Make life your treasure.
Alfred: I just want to thank everyone for giving their time, reading, and supporting RUSIKA, and Natz, or me, whichever works. I’m really grateful ’cause I know I’m not that great of a fan when it comes to music, ’cause I’m always broke, so thank you!
If you would like to know more about RUSIKA’s performance at Anime Vegas, read the concert review here.
LINKS
RUSIKA MySpace: www.myspace.com/rusika
Photography courtesy of RUSIKA and Antonia Lam