ASIA CONNECTION Mixtape #2 – Takamiya Eitetsu (part of Little Big Bee)

We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time! Nice to meet you all!
All: Yes! Nice to meet you too!

We would like to ask you so many things, but we have to start with the beginning. How did you venture into music?
T: I was born and raised in Tokyo. As a little boy, I just loved listening to music. I started collecting LPs when I was in elementary school. When I turned twelve (late ‘70s – early ‘80s), the disco boom in Japan was in full swing and “Saturday Night Fever” (1977) got released at that time. This musical background allowed me to discover dance music and fusion genres like jazz-funk.

How did your parents play a role in nurturing your musical interest?
T: My parents were members of an opera ensemble called “Geumgangsan.” They would call my mother “the pretty singer from Joseon.” Their friends and co-workers would often come to our home, so I had the opportunity to witness their performances.

Is there a record that sparked your interest in disco music?
T: I would have to say “I Am” by Earth, Wind & Fire was a defining record for me. The famous track “Boogie Wonderland” is on that album. When I heard the song, I thought, “Eureka!” The band incorporated Kalimba sounds that create a great, primitive vibe. Most of my friends were listening to rock music such as The Beatles, the Rolling Stones or Deep Purple, but I wasn’t really into that.

The fact that you were only twelve back then is quite impressive!
T: [laughs] My older cousin was able to sneak me into disco clubs, even though these places were for adults only. It was shocking to see people smoke and dance to disco music. [laughs] My hometown is Tachikawa and the city had a U.S. Air Force base, so American music and culture was very present. I loved it.

G: There were plenty of ballrooms that would only run until 10 at night. They were completely empty after that, so he would rent those spaces from midnight on, and throw his own parties. He printed flyers and handed them out all over town. The parties were all about music and dancing.

T: Tokyo’s club scene began to thrive around the late ‘80s. I think I was nineteen around that time. Music genres like house, hip-hop, rock and afro began to play throughout Tokyo’s clubs. By the way, Tachikawa is not located in the center of Tokyo. It takes about an hour by subway. However, more people than we expected showed up at our events.

That’s really amazing, because there was no internet back then. It mustn’t have been easy to promote a party all over town.
T: Yes, that’s true. We relied a lot on word of mouth to spread information. [laughs] My younger sibling is a famous designer and used to be a member of a band called Reggae Disco Rockers. They helped us a lot with the flyers at that time. She used to work for BOA, but now works for AKB48. Anyways, people were in need of new parties in town and it seemed like everybody shared our parties with their friends, and so on.

So, you organized and played at your own parties?
T: That’s right. My brothers, friends and I were all part of the lineup. The parties went from midnight to 6 a.m., and were held once a month. We’ve had about 90 parties in 7-8 years. When we finally moved to the center of Tokyo, I was playing 6 days a week. This was from 1991 to 1994. This was the beginning of my DJ career.

Six days a week? What a schedule. How were the parties on weekdays? Did a lot of partygoers show up?
T: Yes, of course. The party scene was booming back then. You know, today’s scene is not what it was. We have a lot of other fun activities now like social media.

What kind of people would come to these parties?
T: There were a lot of trendy people such as designers, musicians, photographers and people from other creative fields. You know, listening to music in a club is different from doing so at home.

Do you think Tokyo’s scene was influenced by Paradise Garage, Larry Laven and Studio 54?
T: True. Take Club Gold in Japan for example. DJ Nori was a resident DJ for Club Gold. People used to rent abandoned warehouses to throw their parties. People were more interested in those kinds of parties back then.

You mentioned in a previous interview that the internet and social media distract people’s interest from clubbing in Japan. This is not really the case here in Korea. Through the internet, people get to discover other genres of music, aside from K-pop. People are encouraged to go clubbing.
T: That’s nice!

J: However, the 2000s scene in Seoul was way cooler though. People would listen and dance to soulful house or real Detroit techno at venues like MWG and MIA.

G: I agree. Much more house music was played back then. The scene has dramatically changed since the arrival of big clubs in Gangnam.

I’m assuming you’re talking about a time when “뿅뿅이,” which stands for a kind of EDM, started gaining popularity…
J: Most people in Korea fail to understand the definition of house music. They think EDM equals house music. I recently had a weird encounter. A person came up to me and said, “Can you please play some house music?” while I was actually playing house and deep house. For most people, EDM is the overall umbrella term, covering all styles of dance music. [laughs]

G: One of the DJs on the DJ survival show ‘Headliner’ said, “House music is boring. That’s why I dislike it.” I wonder how many people actually know the roots of music they listen to and where styles develop.

Now, let’s move on to another topic. Can you tell us more about your work as a producer?
T: I started out with an Akai S950 sampler and a MPC60 drum machine in 1990. I actually bought them for my band performances at first. The stages we used to perform on were not big enough for a real drum set.

Were Plaza and Jinguji, the other members, also involved since the beginning?
T: Yes. The three of us formed a team.

Then, how did you come up with the name ‘Little Big Bee?’
T: We didn’t have a name at first. If I remember correctly, it was around ‘92-93 that a label contacted us to record an album. After we told our producer we didn’t have a band name, he came up with ‘Little Big Bee.’ [laughs]

That’s funny. Did you like the name?
T: We didn’t really care. I don’t even remember the meaning of it. [laughs] We made good music. That’s what counts.

Let’s talk about your first album then.
T: We released a track called “Sunshine” that was released on a compilation album in 1993. We used a sample from “Love Is Everywhere” by Pharaoh Sanders. I wanted to send out some positive vibes to my buddies who were hustling. Back then, house music labels were hard to find. But we got support from established names in the industry.

That’s when you decided to start your own label?!
T: That’s right. I founded Flower Records in 1995. I was practically all by myself.

We already know the amazing story behind the name “Little Big Bee.” [laughs] What about Flower Records?
T: Same story! [laughs] Someone who worked as a producer for a broadcasting company suggested the name. I’m not good at coming up with names. [laughs]

J: I guess you were more preoccupied with drinking, weren’t you?

L, G: True! [laughter]

Ok, now we’re talking about the mid-1990s. Was this the time when Shibuya-kei emerged?
T: Shibuya-kei actually started around 1990, so it was already popular.

G: I recognized it for the first time when I was in New York in 1992. Compilations like Sushi 3003 and 3004 were popular releases back then.

T: To be honest, I don’t like the term ‘Shibuya-kei.’ It makes people think that all music coming from Shibuya belongs to this genre, but that’s actually not true.

G: The same goes for the term ‘EDM.’ It confuses people. I guess people who don’t live in Shibuya use that term more often.

Do you think Shibuya-kei is different from house music?
T: Yes, I think Shibuya-kei doesn’t fall under the term of house music. Neither does the music from Flower Records. I’m worried that people might think that the only house music from Shibuya is Shibuya-kei.
G: In Korea, music by DJ Kawasaki or Dash Dance was commonly referred to as ‘J-House.’ What’s interesting is that Japanese people never used this term. [laughs] We should rethink terms like ‘French house’ and ‘Italo disco.’ [laughs]

Like a restaurant in Italy doesn’t refer to itself as an “Italian restaurant,” right? [laughs] But let’s talk about Flower Records again. How did it evolve over the years?
T: The emergence of hip-hop music led us to support musicians like Naked Dance.

J: You discovered many talented musicians and some of them even moved on to bigger labels.

G: True. Jazztronik was one of them.

T: My goal was to introduce good music and good artists. If they wanted to leave the label, they were free to do so. Jazztronik was one of them. I never intended to earn big money. I wasn’t interested in the commercial side of running a label. If one of my artists wants to move on to a bigger label and earn more money, I’m fine with that.

Have you ever performed in Korea when you were running the label?
T: Unfortunately, no. I started coming to Korea after the year 2000. Gunho probably remembers my first visit!

G: He came for a collaboration project called “Compilation Electronica.” I remember he was so thrilled when someone said to him, “Oh, you’re Korean?” He wrote “Route 88” on the 88 Olympic Expressway.

T: Nice! You remember it better than I do!

We need more time to talk next time! [laughs] Can you describe your experience here in Korea?
T: I played at the ‘Hi Seoul Festival.’ You’ve probably heard of the World DJ Festival, which is initiated by ‘Hi Seoul Festival’ although now, they’re held independently.

G: We also played for the openings of clubs Tool and Circle in 2003-04.

How did the Korean scene differ from the Japanese scene back then?
T: There was a big difference at that time. Most clubbers had no idea about our music, but danced anyways. Korean DJs also used to play dance music that we played in the early nineties in Japan.

G: The funny thing was that some fans kept following us, so they tagged along for parties and dinners at times. [laughs] This wasn’t the case in Japan. Fukutomi, who we used to play with, was so surprised because he had never experienced this fanaticism before.

The Korean scene is still young and way behind the Japanese one. What are your thoughts on the current house scene in Japan compared to its beginnings?
T: It’s similar to Korea. Most people, especially the younger generation, prefer EDM over house or deep house music. The glorious days of house music in Japan are over.

What a shame. So you have your own bar, right?!
T: Can I talk about this during the interview? [laughs] I’ve been running a place called Ball in Shibuya for 19 years now. It’s a small space, even smaller than this one here (Disco Surf), but it has a really nice sound system. Everyone who’s reading this interview, you’re welcome to visit Ball anytime!

We should have asked about your friendship earlier on, but what brought you all together?
J: We first met at the Jarasum International Jazz Festival. We were all part of the lineup, but didn’t know each other back then. It was awkward at first, but he called me and we ended up drinking together. The festival hadn’t even started. [laughs] He suddenly stood up and went on stage. The first track was ‘Let’s Start The Dance’ by Hamilton Bohannon. I was so impressed. You know, people usually sit down, relax, talk and drink wine at this festival. But the whole crowd was on their feet. Unforgettable.

T: I invited Jinwook and Jinu* after that to our tenth anniversary party of Flower Records at Club Yellow in Tokyo.
*Jinu: Bassist for the band Rollercoaster

G: We got a lot of hugs from girls that night! [laughs]

J: Almost every DJ from Japan showed up and played at the party. Every one of them played 15-20 minutes, because there were just so many DJs! It was really cool.

T: Yellow is a legendary club in Japan, but it closed down.

Basically, three people with the same taste in music found each other…
G: Not really.

J: I like NY garage, disco, soul and funk music. For me, there’s more than just house music. I was considering making the move to New York, but the scene is losing its character there. So I decided to move to the U.K., even though my dream was to go to New York. While I was staying in the U.K., I had the opportunity to meet many artists from New York who often would go to Japan. In the end, I moved to Japan without any knowledge of the country or its culture.

T: I remember when he arrived in Japan. He was so motivated and eager to learn.

J: I was a bit confused. I wanted to study music, but there was so much to discover and experience. I didn’t have a serious plan.

T: We just hung out a lot and I took him to some record shops. I encouraged him to buy cheap vinyls. The expensive ones are the famous ones. Cheap vinyl is a DJ’s secret weapon.

J: True. In fact, I couldn’t really understand why he was recommending those vinyls at that time. [laughs]

(We listened to many records during the interview. We asked Jinwook to play one of the records he bought back then. He picked ‘Love Is The Message’ by MFSB.)

J: This track has a very famous baseline used in disco and house music. At first, it was a bit awkward to listen to, because it was too slow for me. But whenever I played it, people would go crazy all the time. I really didn’t expect that. So I tried playing it as a closing track, but it made people want to party even more. How unexpected! [laughs]

Can you pick a track that is special to you?
T: I really like ‘Scuba’ and ‘Calypso Blues’ of the ‘Waterman’ album, because Scuba is the name of my other bar. I made it while jamming around. I picked major 7th chords on the keyboard, and Jinguji and Plaza then added their own touches. The track was made in a day. 김반장 from the band Windy City featured on the track ‘Calypso Blues.’ The music was also used for a TV commercial featuring Jessica Alba.

You’ve been DJing for decades. How do you look back on it?
T: The schedule was a bit too hectic at times. But I’ve always tried to spread positive energy. You know, underground artists are not the type to earn big money, receive a lot of attention and perform in mainstream venues. I really want to encourage and send positive energy to those people.

G: I was one of those people. When we first met, he was much older than me. But he was still full of energy and had a real passion for music. Making and promoting house music wasn’t easy for me here, but he really motivated me to keep going. I finally released my very first house music album called ‘The House’ by Romantic Couch in Korea. I’ve been making commercial, OST and pop music now, but he’s always been active in the house music industry. That’s just awesome.

We’re almost reaching the end of our interview, but before we let you go, we’d like to know more about your future plans. Can you tell us more about that?
T: I would like to go back to where I started: DJing. I’ll be more involved with that. I’ll never do it for the purpose of money only though. It might seem ambiguous, but I’m only interested in making music that I like.

You are a true pioneer. Do you have any advice for beginners?
T: Not really. Just do whatever you like. There are so many types of music that you can explore. Just come to one of my parties! [laughs]

How would you like to be remembered?
T: As “Remember, there used to be someone who made this kind of music!” I would really like to thank Golmokgil for this interview. Even though I have nothing to promote, I do appreciate that you invited me as your guest. Before coming here, I was a little worried that I had nothing to talk about.

No worries! Thank you so much for accepting this interview! We’ve been covering the scene here and meeting local artists up until now. Japan has such a unique history and even if Japan is not far away, we haven’t been able to cover the scene yet. This was a great introduction.
T: I’m Korean Japanese and I haven’t been able to enter Korea for a long time. Now that I have acquired Korean nationality, I can come whenever I want. Today is also my first day in Korea after obtaining my Korean nationality. It’s an important day for me.

Let’s hope we meet again soon. Thank you as well as Jinwook and Gunho!