interviews

Yasutoshi Yoshida of Goverment Alpha

Noise is just noise. Except Yasutoshi brings it to a whole different level: still heart-shaking and ear-piercing but also varied and rhythmic and always unexpected. There's white noise, ambient noise, harsh noise, power noise, extreme noise and there's Government Alpha, NOISE with capital letters.

Strange name you release your works with... Which Government is Government Alpha?

I've always tried to use abstract names for my projects and tracks. What I make is Noise and Noise is abstract, I think, it gives individual impressions to each individual listener. Strange names might help people's imagination when they listen to the sound, too. The Government Alpha comes from Jean Luc Godard's Alphaville, one of my favorite movies ever..

I feel the noise you release is kinda palpable, as if you could touch the mere substance of it with your fingers. How do you achieve such 'completeness' ??

For GovtAlpha recordings, I'll just record sounds made by pedals and junk etc. the good old noisy way on a 4 track cassette recorder. I'll then overdub one or two times on this material. The good old 4 track cassette recorder is a must item for me for GovtAlpha.

It's kinda funny you still use a cassette recorder for your noise... What's so special about tape?

I use a hard disk recorder for S.Isabella material, which is quite convenient for editing and collage and I’m used to more ‘modern’ techniques like computers so on for my other projects. For GovtAlpha what I need is sheer dynamics so my 4 track does the job. I tried other methods but I’m never satisfied and always come back to tape.

I always wonder why such talented people as you aren't more famous. Any ideas about this?

I've no idea if I'm talented or not. I've always made the sounds I wanted to make and wanted to hear and that's about it. If you'd like to be famous, you'd need something else: the ability to sell yourself. You'd need to spread your music around, to send your card to everyone, etc. I have no time for that.

What do you mean by having no time? Is it because you make so much music? Because of your day job?

It means I want to use my time for my own pleasure. I don't want to be such a thing as a salesman. At the moment, I play in 4 bands (I play 3-5 live shows a month recently!) and I often go & see my friends play live. I also have a job Monday to Friday -part time job, though. No time left for much else as you see.

4 bands? WOW! Which ones?

Barom One, Mecha-dote-chin, Monster DVD and Government Alpha. Sometimes I play as a guest/session musician for my friends. And I just started a new band (no name yet) with MSBR.

Talking about famous: what's your definition of being famous? Is it selling a lot of records like Britney does or being known all over the world by a few people?

As far as the noise-only scene is concerned I think I’m already famous because you see: I’m interviewed here like a rock star. More seriously, I think being famous for most people is just selling a lot of records. Since I’m not interested in disposable music I have no idea of who exactly is on Top 10 and have no idea of who is exactly famous in that sense. Well, I still made a cover of Britney’s ‘toxic’. So maybe she’s famous, even for me.

And about talent : who do you feel is the most talented Japanese artist? Noise artist in general?

KK.Null. I really respect him. He’s surprising me all the time. In general, I think all artists making noise music must be talented for their noise to be good so it’s quite impossible for me to answer your question.

And about influences: do you think such an extreme music as yours can be influenced by other music? What influences would you say you have?

I listened to a lot of metal when I was a teenager. Then I discovered Einsturzende Neuebauten and they opened my eyes to experimental/industrial music. I started to make my own kind of experimental music and I gave a friend a demo tape: he said "this is noise music" and gave me the names of famous (not meaning they sell a lot of records though) artists like Whitehouse, Nurse With Wound, SPK –that’s how I got into noise.

I remember I really loved your more rhythm-oriented material (such as your release on Tabula Rasa, Glacial Specimen), how do you feel about 'beats' in noise music in general? In your noise music?

I like to mix beat/rhythm/groove on some noise tracks. Spices them and gives them lots of different flavours. I also like technoise a lot so I guess if I was into rhythm programming and spending time in front of a sequencer, I could make beat-only tracks. That’s simply not my style. I like live/improvised recordings best.

Do you feel you belong to 'japanoise'? is there such a thing as a musical genre defined by the place it comes from?

I admit Japanoise is a word I hear but I don’t see it as a genre per se. I think Govt.Alpha is extreme harsh noise. Japanoise can be a useful word though, like if someone asked me about my noise style, I could say "it's japanoise". I’m not sure where it comes from. We must be called like that by non-Japanese, cause I never hear Japanese noisicians use that word.

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Yasutoshi Yoshida of Goverment Alpha Noise is just noise. Except Yasutoshi brings it to a whole different level: still heart-shaking and ear-piercing but also varied and rhythmic and always unexpected. There's white noise, ambient noise, harsh noise, power noise, extreme noise and there's Government Alpha, NOISE with capital letters. Strange name you release your works with... Which Government is Government Alpha? I've always tried to use abstract names for my projects and tracks. What I make is Noise and Noise is abstract, I think, it gives individual impressions to each individual listener. Strange names might help people's imagination when they listen to the sound, too. The Government Alpha comes from Jean Luc Godard's Alphaville, one of my favorite movies ever.. I feel the noise you release is kinda palpable, as if you could touch the mere substance of it with your fingers. How do you achieve such 'completeness' ?? For GovtAlpha recordings, I'll just record sounds made by pedals and junk etc. the good old noisy way on a 4 track cassette recorder. I'll then overdub one or two times on this material. The good old 4 track cassette recorder is a must item for me for GovtAlpha. It's kinda funny you still use a cassette recorder for your noise... What's so special about tape? I use a hard disk recorder for S.Isabella material, which is quite convenient for editing and collage and I’m used to more ‘modern’ techniques like computers so on for my other projects. For GovtAlpha what I need is sheer dynamics so my 4 track does the job. I tried other methods but I’m never satisfied and always come back to tape. I always wonder why such talented people as you aren't more famous. Any ideas about this? I've no idea if I'm talented or not. I've always made the sounds I wanted to make and wanted to hear and that's about it. If you'd like to be famous, you'd need something else: the ability to sell yourself. You'd need to spread your music around, to send your card to everyone, etc. I have no time for that. What do you mean by having no time? Is it because you make so much music? Because of your day job? It means I want to use my time for my own pleasure. I don't want to be such a thing as a salesman. At the moment, I play in 4 bands (I play 3-5 live shows a month recently!) and I often go & see my friends play live. I also have a job Monday to Friday -part time job, though. No time left for much else as you see. 4 bands? WOW! Which ones? Barom One, Mecha-dote-chin, Monster DVD and Government Alpha. Sometimes I play as a guest/session musician for my friends. And I just started a new band (no name yet) with MSBR. Talking about famous: what's your definition of being famous? Is it selling a lot of records like Britney does or being known all over the world by a few people? As far as the noise-only scene is concerned I think I’m already famous because you see: I’m interviewed here like a rock star. More seriously, I think being famous for most people is just selling a lot of records. Since I’m not interested in disposable music I have no idea of who exactly is on Top 10 and have no idea of who is exactly famous in that sense. Well, I still made a cover of Britney’s ‘toxic’. So maybe she’s famous, even for me. And about talent : who do you feel is the most talented Japanese artist? Noise artist in general? KK.Null. I really respect him. He’s surprising me all the time. In general, I think all artists making noise music must be talented for their noise to be good so it’s quite impossible for me to answer your question. And about influences: do you think such an extreme music as yours can be influenced by other music? What influences would you say you have? I listened to a lot of metal when I was a teenager. Then I discovered Einsturzende Neuebauten and they opened my eyes to experimental/industrial music. I started to make my own kind of experimental music and I gave a friend a demo tape: he said "this is noise music" and gave me the names of famous (not meaning they sell a lot of records though) artists like Whitehouse, Nurse With Wound, SPK –that’s how I got into noise. I remember I really loved your more rhythm-oriented material (such as your release on Tabula Rasa, Glacial Specimen), how do you feel about 'beats' in noise music in general? In your noise music? I like to mix beat/rhythm/groove on some noise tracks. Spices them and gives them lots of different flavours. I also like technoise a lot so I guess if I was into rhythm programming and spending time in front of a sequencer, I could make beat-only tracks. That’s simply not my style. I like live/improvised recordings best. Do you feel you belong to 'japanoise'? is there such a thing as a musical genre defined by the place it comes from? I admit Japanoise is a word I hear but I don’t see it as a genre per se. I think Govt.Alpha is extreme harsh noise. Japanoise can be a useful word though, like if someone asked me about my noise style, I could say "it's japanoise". I’m not sure where it comes from. We must be called like that by non-Japanese, cause I never hear Japanese noisicians use that word.