Takeshi Hosomi (ELLEGARDEN) Interview in US (2006)

"Thank you so much guy, america has been so great, and we are having a fantastic time here, really, thank you so much!" Takeshi said, waving--and it wasn't the usual rehearsed, typical lead singer chater. It was honest, from the heart, and off the cuff. Takeshi comes off as the nicest guy in j-rock, onstage and off. The whole band came out afterward and spent the whole night chatting with fans, with a 6am flight to new york looming, Nice!

Less than an hour after bringing the house down for the first time in north america at SXSW 2006, and with a new CD just out and a nine-city tour on the horizon, Ellegarden's Takeshi Hosomi found a not-too-noisy corner of Austin's Japanese-occupied Brush Square Park and talked about marriage, money, and why TV sucks with purple SKY's Go Wells:

Go Wells: So this is your first gig in america; how are you enjoying it?
Takeshi Hosomi: You know, we are now making kinda big sales back in japan, and we're well known. All the tickets of our shows are sold out...

GW: What kind of venues are you playing? AX, Blitz?
Takeshi Hosomi: ...and Zepp.

GW: And you're selling out (those places)? Nice!
Takeshi Hosomi: But,uh, we're getting used to it. Like, being "Famous". So we needed something new to us, so that's why we decided to come to the US. And it's totally new, you know? Nobody knows us --- it's great!

GW: Well you were really good up there, and some great songd! Do you write most of the songs, or .. ?
Takeshi Hosomi: 98%, maybe.

GW: And all the lyrics are you?
Takeshi Hosomi: Yeah, most of them.

GW: That song about your girlfriend (Supernova) -- your ex-girlfriend -- that one's pretty good ... what;s the story behind that one?
Takeshi Hosomi: (laughter) Will it be in the magazine?
GW: (laughter) Yeah, probably.
Takeshi Hosomi: (laughter)  Well hopefully my ex-girlfriend won't read it ...
GW: Well, it's and English-only magazine, so... actually, before we get to that, your english is really good!
Takeshi Hosomi: Thank you very much.
GW: ...why?! (laughter) 
Takeshi Hosomi: (laughter)  I used to live with an English-speaking girlfriend. She was from Israel.
GW: Ooh, nice.
Takeshi Hosomi: This is long ago, like ten years ago. And after that i went to college and majored in English.
GW: What college did you go to?
Takeshi Hosomi: Kanda University.
GW: I used to work in Kand.
Takeshi Hosomi: Really!?
GW: Yeah. [~Brief chatting about Kand~] So anyway, back to that girlfriend...
Takeshi Hosomi: I had been seeing a girl for about six years, and i was about to marry her, but, um, I started my band, you know, it was a really big change for me, to be an artist. I used to be a salaryman.
GW: A salaryman!?!!
Takeshi Hosomi: Yeah. It was a big change, and you know, many girl came (along) ...
GW: Well, there's a lot of girls if you're playing to a sold out Blitz.
Takeshi Hosomi: And i cheated once.
GW: Ah, and she found out.
Takeshi Hosomi: And after we broke up i (figured) out that she was the one to marry.
GW: She was the one and you lost her.
Takeshi Hosomi: Well, that's how i felt when i was writing that song. Now i'm totally diffrerent!
GW: Yeah, you can't complain now!
Takeshi Hosomi:(laughter) 

GW: Wow, so you were a salaryman!
Takeshi Hosomi: Yeah!
GW: So what did you do?
Takeshi Hosomi: I was a computer engineer, and i worked in Oakland.
GW: California?
Takeshi Hosomi: California, yeah. It was really short, like three months. And after that i, you know, went back to japan with english speaking co-workers, and we worked together for about .. two, three years? That experience improved my english skills very much.
GW: Yeah, you speak really well.
Takeshi Hosomi: Thank you. Istill dont understant the, you know, TV programs. They speak funny things...

GW: You'll get used to it. What are you thoughts about america in general?
Takeshi Hosomi: Ah, i had a certain type of prejudice before i come here, but it's my second day here and i found out all the people here are so nice. Like super nice. Japanese people are supposed to be the most polite people i  the universe but it could be wrong
GW: I dunno, i think japanese are more polite...
Takeshi Hosomi: Well japanese pretend to be nice but...
GW: AH, but in rality...
Takeshi Hosomi: They're not, yeah. (laughter) 
GW: (laughter)  That might be true!
TH: But here i founf many..you know, of course there can be bad guys but (mostly) the people are really good.

GW: Yeah. So how did the band form? And how long ago?
Takeshi Hosomi: Seven years ago. We started releasing CDs in japan about...four years ago. In 2002 or 2001?
GW: You were playing little clubs then?
Takeshi Hosomi: Yeah, yeah, we started with four persons in the audience.
GW: What was the first club?
Takeshi Hosomi: In Shibuya..um..nect to Cyclone..uh..Yaneura! Yaneura. And i had a fight with the booking manager.
GW: Over money? The line-up?
Takeshi Hosomi: Over the position. We were (scheduled to be) first to play, but we were from Chiba, our friends were from Chiba, and we (were to) start playing at 5:30. Sh*t, you know, nobody can come.

GW: Your first gig was in Shibuya? Not Chiba?
Takeshi Hosomi: First gig was in Chiba, but just some annual party, not like, um...
GW: Not some official live house.
TH: Yeah.

GW: And how did the band form, did you put an ad in the paper, were you friends in high school...?
Takeshi Hosomi: Uh, we memt up in a small club in Chiba. All of us were playing in diffrerent bands. All of those bands broke up around the same time.
GW: Convenient!
Takeshi Hosomi: Then our guitarist (Shinichi Ubukata) started to, you know, find the person who he wants to play with, and i was chosen by him. "Could you please sing in my band", o something like that. I said "yeah". But i was still a computer engineer; I didn't mean to be a pro.
GW: Right, it just kinda happended.
Takeshi Hosomi: It just...yeah. I just wanted to have fun, sing songs...

GW: So when the time came... you quit your jobas a computer engineer.. what was that like? That's a scary step, isn't it?
Takeshi Hosomi: Definitely. I used to be a computer engineer. Earned a lot.
GW: So you had money saved up..
Takeshi Hosomi: No! (laughter) but, um, one small production (company) offered us, you know, (to) sign (us), and my income would be, um, "jibun no ichi?"
GW: Ugh! That's math, I'm no good with numbers! jibun..um..
Takeshi Hosomi: One...tenth? But uh, i just wanted to sing. I dont care about the money. I don't care about my name. Maybe i don't care about my future.

GW: Wow, what do your parents think about you being a singer?
Takeshi Hosomi: Ahhhhh...at first, well, you know, they didn't understand you know... to be a singer .. recently, i'm kind of famous back in japan, so my parent are happy with that.
GW: You're on TV and stuff like that.
Takeshi Hosomi: Yeah, but i hate the media...
GW: WHY DO YOU HATE THE MEDIA!?!!! (laughter)
Takeshi Hosomi: (laughter) You know, TV su*ks!
GW: Because thehy don't tell the truth, or they change the truth, or..?
Takeshi Hosomi: It's hard to say, but, well, outside the camera, people are doing totally different things. Once they put the camera on them...
GW: Everything changes.
Takeshi Hosomi: Yeah. So that kind of thing is sh*t to me.
GW: It's fake
Takeshi Hosomi: Yeah.

GW: So what are your favorite bands --we were talking about weezer before...
Takeshi Hosomi: Weezer, Blink182...recently, Copeland... Jack's Mannequin.. but like, Weezer is a god to me. Rivers Cuomo..
GW: But you play a Gibson.. doesn't Rivers play Fenders?
Takeshi Hosomi: I was poor. It's a used one. But i keep using it, and i will keep using it.

GW: How long have you been playing?
Takeshi Hosomi: When i was a junior high school student, so maybe...
GW: Uh-oh, math again!!!
Takeshi Hosomi:...20 years ago? I'm now 33.
GW: You're 33 now!? No sh*t! I thought you were like 24 or 25! Awesome. So the whole band is 30-ish?
Takeshi Hosomi: Something like that, yeah.
GW: Wow! I'm shocked!
Takeshi Hosomi: So we are..slow starters. We just started playing to have fun, but.. things happen.
GW: It's never too late.
Takeshi Hosomi: It's never too late.

Source: SXSW's Magazine