Firstly, I would like to quickly announce, Chopstick Records has a new release coming and it’s super exciting.
The band I’m stoked to work with now is GUIDING.
I can’t speak about music technicality as I’m not a musician, but I can recognise the energy, and this one can rip the rooftops off.
I love to see bands like GUIDING come along and bring that fresh, angry attitude to the hardcore scene. The guys play sort of old school, but also very unique style, taken the best from both worlds of classic Japanese hardcore and 'youth crew' influences.
I’ll be writing about the release itself soon, I just want to introduce the band first.
Here’s a mini interview with Isao, please read, check them out, check their music and keep your eyes on our page.
Isao: We originally met at a live house and were in different bands. Since each other’s bands ended their activities, we started doing an old school style band called Distance together, and with KM and me remaining, we wanted to do a slightly different style from Distance, and it developed into GUIDING.
2 Are you involved in any other music projects apart from GUIDING?
Isao: KM was doing Silent Green, Dead Souls and now he’s doing a one-man noise called GNOSIS. He also runs WEBZINE, One Voice Zine. I was in a band called ASIANBEAUTYMURDER. Right now I’m playing guitar in a melodic hardcore project called UNFOLD, and recently in Another Step.
3 How would you define your style and what are your biggest influences when writing the music?
Isao: In a nutshell, we are a youth crew. But in terms of songs, I personally believe that no matter what genre or style they are, they should be catchy, and I try to write songs that are like that. So I think I’m influenced by all catchy music regardless of genres.
4 Would you have any good/funny story to share about making/recording these albums?
Isao: The songs are all made at my house, but the vocals are recorded at the rehearsal studio. We didn’t have a place to rehearse, so we rehearsed in the bathroom, which is the most soundproof room in the house. We also released a cassette via Extinction Burst in the US, and since we’re not a band that performed live, I never thought that such a story would come.
5 What are your plans for the band? Where do you foresee yourselves in the near future?
Isao: GUIDING is currently not a band, but a two-people project between KM and myself, but if players get together, it may become a band to perform live.