Introduction Sugarhill Downtown Orchestra is a four-piece ska band with plenty of soul. Fresh off the release of their 10-song mini-album, Fruits of the Music, Tsunx2 (guitar, voice, scratch) took some time out with keikaku.net for one of our most fun interviews to date. back to features		Sugarhill Downtown Orchestra Your new album was just released on September 7th. How has it been received by your fans? Oiiisssu!!! Mo-iccho Oiiisssu!!! This time there've been various reactions, but they say there's an 80s influence in it. I guess it looks like that on the jacket too. YEAH!!! Your new video "Hoshikuzu no Stage" is an instrumental song. Was there any reason you chose a song without vocals? Because it's interesting. Just that. A lot of great musicians do cool instrumental covers of songs that have lyrics. I wanted to express that sort of enjoyable feeling. It's cool, like a hip-hop record's b-side. YEAH!!! Your lyrics are a quirky mix of English and Japanese. Is there any special reason that you write your lyrics in both languages? Probably because the sound is cool. But not just that. YEAH!!! S.D.O.'s music blends elements of ska, funk, soul and hip-hop. What groups have inspired you to create such a unique sound? '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s & more, great musicians who transcend eras. And, DJ's who have made great mix tapes. YEAH!!! The bass guitar on your records is incredibly deep and heavy. Who would win in a battle between S.D.O.'s Kotch and Parliament-Funkadelic's Bootsy Collins? Matt from Operation Ivy wins. Pete from Crimpshrine wins. Haruomi Hosono wins. Chuck Rainey wins. YEAH!!! Can you please tell us about the musical equipment your members use? Please explain your choices. Fender. Without hooking it directly to the amp I play hard enough to break the strings. It makes an awesome rude sound. YEAH!!! How did the members of S.D.O. originally meet? We met at a local festival. YEAH!!! Guitarist TSUNx2 has been in many popular indie bands (Fruity, Twinkle, Boys Now). Has this helped S.D.O. establish itself as a band, or is it difficult to escape the legacy of your previous bands? I think Fruity is like the great Japanese band Happy End. YEAH!!! What is your opinion of the rock music scene in Japan now? Is it difficult to find like-minded bands to perform with? Compared with the past, everyone in today's scene seems similar and sort of boring. There are few bands that make me excited. YEAH!!! If you could perform with any band in the world, with whom would you perform? YMO. YEAH!!! What other bands in Japan would you recommend to someone unfamiliar with Japanese music? YMO. YEAH!!! Fruity toured America in the 1990's. Have you considered touring abroad, perhaps in Europe or America? I haven't thought about it. The 1997 tour was fun. No matter the city, we would always get stopped by the cops. Maybe it's because we had a giant sticker stuck on the car's back window that said "FRUITY ON THE LOOSE." (laughs) We were performing a song with the same name. During the tour I bought a load of records and musical equipment. TEXACO and TARGET are awesome shops, and IHOP is another... and so is Denny's, which we went to the most (laughs). YEAH!!! If you were superheroes, would you rather have the ability to fly or the ability to teleport? I want to use a time machine to go all over the world and see awesome bands from the past. That would definitely be fun. YEAH!!! Once again, thank you very much! DOMO-DOMO!!! SDO is planning a 2nd FULL ALBUM for next year. ARIGATO !!! GENKI GA DERU TV !!! Interview conducted 2005.09.25 [translation: Bob and James]. Keikaku would like to thank SDO's Tsunx2 and Emeraldisc for taking some time out for this interview. - Bob Vielma
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