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Listen Here: Sei Nakauchi Pelletier Interview
Craig Garber:
Hey everybody, this is Craig Garber. Welcome to Everyone Loves Guitar. We got a great guest today, great fantastic band out of Montreal, Canada with Sei Nakauchi Pelletier. And he’s with a band called, he’s leader pretty much of the band called Teke Teke. Awesome music, quick shout out and a thank you to Grant Paval for hooking us up. Quickly, Sei’s a founding member, band leader and lead guitarist of the Japanese-Canadian band Teke Teke. He’s a primary songwriter along with lead singer, Maya Kuroki. And when he’s not making music, he’s extremely talented. As you’ll, if you listen to his music, you’ll hear, he works as a film and television composer and it’s easy to see why he’s so successful at that. The band’s based out of Montreal and musically, the band dips their toes in psychedelic rock, Prague and Eleki, which is a type, which I’m sure I screwed that pronunciation up, but it’s a type of surf rock that’s native to Japan. It’s very fun, melodic and exciting and it originated in the 60s. Six other members in the band besides say including rhythm guitar vocalist bass horn player flute and keyboards The band’s released three eps and two studio l albums including their latest album called hagata Maya sings in japanese and even though you don’t understand the lyrics. I mean unless you speak japanese There is absolutely no problem feeling the vibes and the emotion of music and I would really encourage you to check out their videos And their music because it’s very unique It’s very exciting and they just put out a great vibe and these guys are all a one like musicians They’re extremely talented and really tight. So that being said say thanks so much for your time. I appreciate you coming on the show
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Hello Craig, hello everybody, thank you for having me.
Craig Garber:
Oh my pleasure man. So let’s get into this. Once the band got together, what were some of the challenges early on as far as like getting gigs and building a following?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Hmm Yeah, I Can’t really think of any big challenges because the thing is we started out as a tribute to this guitarist Takeshi Terauchi Japanese guitarist and I Mean we had no big expectations or anything. We we just wanted to play that one show. It was an idea that I had to to play his music. And I mean, I can tell you more about the story later, maybe. But so basically it was all about that one show, that first show, you know, to start with and then and then playing that show with these musicians. you know, for the first time and playing his music in a different way, also more modern, I guess, and kind of like with a bit of a punk edge to it. It’s almost like a new sound was born out of that. And then we got really excited and we wanted to pursue this. And then there was a second show and a third show. And eventually, you know, we played less of his music and started writing our own. So I can’t really think of any challenges because we just, we didn’t look into the future so much. We were really just making little baby steps
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and just really excited about, you know, playing that music and being together, this, you know, particular group of people. And so I would say the first… real challenge was probably like, you know, everybody else in the world when COVID
Craig Garber:
UGH
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
hit. But then again, I mean, you know, a lot of people had it so much worse than us,
Craig Garber:
Sure.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and even just other bands because we didn’t have any like big tours or anything canceled or but COVID was a bit of a challenge because we had an album in the can and You know, we were super excited about it and eager to release it but somehow we made it happen and we released it during the pandemic and you know signed a deal with a record label and anyway, so I mean And also when we started, we had, because we’ve been in other projects and bands and we’ve been around in the local scene, we had like connections locally, at least to start, you know, like promoters or… venue owner is a studio engineer. So, you know, if we wanted to record, we had access to studio and new people. If we wanted to put a show together, we knew who to talk to and so on and so forth. So, I feel more like we were really lucky with a lot of how things happen with the band, you know?
Craig Garber:
seems like, you know, when you said we didn’t look into the future so much in it, when you start organically like that, I think there’s probably a lot less, you don’t have that pressure on you. And it probably allowed you to be yourselves and be free a little bit, I would imagine.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Absolutely, yeah.
Craig Garber:
That’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And
Craig Garber:
cool.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I usually, yeah, I use that word a lot with Ticket Organic. Everything seems to happen very organically with this band and I think that’s why, yeah, it felt very special from the beginning, like just everything was just flowing and like I said, no big expectations and you just go with the flow and then things happened and… in weird, cool ways, you know, like serendipitous and like,
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah, just the people we met too and the team that we got together to help out with this band and yeah, everything happened like organically, like you said.
Craig Garber:
I think throughout my life, I’ve noticed when you allow when you’re open to that, that’s when things sort of go your way. But when you’re so like, willful, I mean, you have to be driven and you have to pursue whatever you’re trying to do. But when you’re so like obsessed with getting to a certain place at a certain time, in my experience, personally, doesn’t work as much as when you are open to like, Hey, let me see, I like what I’m doing. Let me see where it goes. kind of a thing. And so
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
that’s great, man. I’m glad it worked out like that for you.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Thank you.
Craig Garber:
I really enjoy this, your music. And unfortunately, I don’t think it’s really well known here in the States. And we talked about a little bit before we, uh, turn the cameras on. The first exposure I had to a leaky was the band Seatbelts, which I know they came around in the nineties and the leaky’s originated much earlier. But for people listening, if you have kids or if you’re into Japanese cartoons, there was a cartoon my sons used to watch called cowboy bebop and this band seatbelts they produced and they created a lot of great music for that cartoon series. And I was wondering is, is Aliki still popular in Japan and how did you personally get turned onto that style?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, Eleki is probably not as popular now as it was, I mean, the first time it appeared in Japan in the 60s. But well, basically Eleki means electric guitar.
Craig Garber:
Oh, okay.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, Eleki stands for electric guitar. And it’s because of, you know, when the ventures, the surf rock band ventures from the US. played their first tour or show in Japan. The whole country went crazy and all of a sudden, it went from… um rockabilly and the teenagers dancing in the streets to like oh let’s put a band together and have like three electric guitars and just play instrumentals and so and so the uh guitar industry had to like you know that that’s when all the um you know the fake moss rights and
Craig Garber:
mass-fights
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
the fake
Craig Garber:
it.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
uh fenders and all the different guitars they had to make them and produce them for that big electric guitar boom that was happening Which was the Eleki and a bunch of bands And so yeah, I don’t think it’s as popular now However, I think electric guitar is still very popular in Japan. It always has been like In I think I don’t know, I was watching an interview recently. I don’t remember who it was, or maybe I just don’t wanna mention it.
Craig Garber:
hahahaha
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
But they were talking about that, how in Japan, they were comparing the top 10 songs in America right now. There was only one song with an electric guitar in it, in the arrangement. Whereas in Japan, you still take a top 10, you take the top 10 songs and you have like an electric guitar or a solo at some point in all
Craig Garber:
All
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
of
Craig Garber:
of
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
those
Craig Garber:
them?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
songs, all of them, yeah.
Craig Garber:
Wow, that’s fantastic.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
So it’s like, it stays in and the person that was saying that was saying that it’s, well. His thought was that it’s probably because of the traditional instruments in Japan, the traditional, especially the shamisen, which is like a Japanese banjo. It’s like it’s three strings and it’s fretless. And so it kind of sounds like it sounds kind of distorted. It’s pretty like. that there’s no sustain whatsoever. And that’s the instrument that really influenced the playing of Takeshi Terauchi, who I mentioned earlier,
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and his style. And then, you know, that really captured, like for me as a guitarist, I don’t really think of myself as a guitarist per se. I just, I like music. I like ideas. I like, you know, songs and so I was never like oh guitarists oh handrix whatever I clapped I don’t know until I heard the music of Takeshi Terabuchi and
Craig Garber:
Interesting.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
but yeah I’m maybe uh
Craig Garber:
No, you’re good, man.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah we’re
Craig Garber:
It’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
good
Craig Garber:
perfect. Yeah, yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
so yeah Eleki And in the music of Seatbelts, you can hear that influence for sure.
Craig Garber:
Totally.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Plus jazz and big band music and all that stuff. It’s a great anime for sure.
Craig Garber:
But I
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Cowboy
Craig Garber:
hear that
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Bebop.
Craig Garber:
in your music. That’s why I was so turned on by it. You know, you got jazz, you got the psychedelic and
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Mmm.
Craig Garber:
just you got the groove. The groove is
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh,
Craig Garber:
always
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
thank you.
Craig Garber:
there, man. And it’s,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
The
Craig Garber:
you
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
groove,
Craig Garber:
know,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah.
Craig Garber:
like, I don’t know how you could listen to your, you know, you guys seem to be like, you know, everybody’s moping around the bar and then you come in and everybody’s dancing five minutes later. I don’t know how you couldn’t get up and like groove on that, you know? It’s just so,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh, thank
Craig Garber:
it’s very
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
you.
Craig Garber:
uplifting, very positive, you know? And it, and the enthusiasm of the musicians, of you guys, really comes through clear on that. So
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh, thank
Craig Garber:
that’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
you.
Craig Garber:
what
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I
Craig Garber:
term,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
like
Craig Garber:
that’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
that
Craig Garber:
what
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
you
Craig Garber:
term means.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
say it’s positive because we like to think that
Craig Garber:
extremely.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it is, yeah, and
Craig Garber:
Yeah,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
hopeful and that’s
Craig Garber:
very
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
the
Craig Garber:
much.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
energy that we put in it and that we’re hoping people are getting too.
Craig Garber:
Well that’s why I thought it was so cool because you could feel that. I didn’t understand a word Maya’s saying, but I mean I didn’t have to because I like, you know, and even the sad or the melancholy songs, they felt great, you know, like good, sad and melancholy music feels, you know. Side
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh, thank
Craig Garber:
note,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
you. Yeah.
Craig Garber:
I’ve had over 900 guests on the show. The number one, sometimes I say what’s your favorite place you’ve traveled? Literally, number one answer is Japan.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
Yeah, everybody’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah, I hear
Craig Garber:
like.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
that a lot too, yeah.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, I haven’t made it over there.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I
Craig Garber:
I’d
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
mean,
Craig Garber:
love to check it out sometime.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah, you have to, absolutely, yeah.
Craig Garber:
So you guys are all extremely proficient. I mean, that was another thing that I was really impressed with. Your, you know, the talent level of all of you is very high. And you can tell that, you know, you guys are bringing, you know, your work ethic and what you’re doing is super important to you. You know, your performance is important,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Thank you.
Craig Garber:
but you’re welcome. But creating arrangements for seven players. yourself, horns, keyboards, flute, and so on is a lot of work. So I was curious, for you, what’s the most important aspect of arranging that allows you to put this whole thing into one very smooth, tight, coordinated unit?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And it’s a great question. And, um, you know, we have discussions about that too, even like our own, um, songwriting process and creative process. Uh, it’s, it’s a work in progress. And I think it’s probably. uh the first time for everybody in the band to have like a project with seven people like that and this kind of instrumentation so we’re kind of like all just learning as we go and uh but i think um ultimately you know from the first album to the second um it really evolved a lot and we had to put a lot of thoughts into how, you know, to craft songs as a seven-piece band. And I think probably to answer your question precisely, it would be, I think everybody now is able to visualize the music as a whole and not think too much, not, not… to be too self-focused or too instrument-focused and think
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
of the big picture as a whole. And so now as opposed to like maybe the first album on Shirishi was really like a lot of overall like playing at the same time and the trombone is, you know, he’ll worry about his own part and then I’ll worry about mine and this and that. But now it’s like… we worry about everybody’s parts
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and we’re trying to find ways with the second album we thought okay we you know we need to know how um we have to leave a space for whenever the trombone will take the lead or if you know it’s really important to know when not to play maybe even
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
more so than just than playing um And so we did, we worked on that a lot. The other thing too, is that for the first album, I brought a lot of the music and the songs already kind of figured out or. Or put together, you know, whereas this and then we kind of deconstructed the music and put the pieces back together. That’s what I always say. And then, and then the second album, I knew. uh it wasn’t worth you know um going through uh well not the pain but the journey of like
Craig Garber:
But it’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
putting
Craig Garber:
pain.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
a whole
Craig Garber:
I mean, it’s energy, man. And
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah
Craig Garber:
it takes, yeah, it’s,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
well
Craig Garber:
yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
i mean for me it’s just i tend personally to like uh get really excited about an idea and then i just follow the flow and for me it’s like okay i have to this song will be done by the end of the day you know
Craig Garber:
Right.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
But then when I bring it to other people for them to be able to connect with it and find their place in the song, I have to open up and say like, well, we can do whatever with this. It’s not figured out. It’s not a final version. not until everybody has contributed and found their place in it. And so that was the big lesson for me going into the second album. Yeah.
Craig Garber:
Right.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And the end result is always for me like, wow, I never would have gone
Craig Garber:
That’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
there
Craig Garber:
cool.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
on my own.
Craig Garber:
Right.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Absolutely not.
Craig Garber:
What props to you for being so open-minded and allowing that to happen? It’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
But
Craig Garber:
interesting
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah.
Craig Garber:
because you said, you know, we really had to work hard between the first and the second record. And it’s interesting, people don’t realize, you know, in any creative endeavor, I think the smoother and cleaner things are, people like, people have this impression of whether it’s art, music, writing, man, you just, you just crank that stuff out when it’s totally the opposite. It’s like, no, it’s blood, sweat and tears and agonizing over everything. But people don’t
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
understand. I don’t think the, the work behind how you just, how that thing comes out like magic, it’s not, you know, it’s not random potluck.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, yeah, I would agree with that.
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
The only difference is that we love it.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, right.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
We love
Craig Garber:
Well, that
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
the
Craig Garber:
comes
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
pain.
Craig Garber:
through.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, we love, I mean, we love the process
Craig Garber:
The
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
too.
Craig Garber:
process,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Even
Craig Garber:
yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
if it’s hard, it’s, you know, when you’re with the right group of people and there’s respect and at the end of the day, when you’re out of the studio, you go have dinner and you all relax and you know, when you can do that, it’s… It’s all good. We love it.
Craig Garber:
That’s awesome, man.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
Well, that comes through in the music.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Thank you.
Craig Garber:
Let me let me talk about some of my favorite techie tracks
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh yeah.
Craig Garber:
and the new album, Higata on Shirushi from 2021.
Craig Garber:
So you got a song there called Barbara and it’s such a cool surf track and it really rocks. And to me again, boom, you put the needle down on that thing. Everybody’s up dancing. Who’s not dead anyway. Right. And all of you are grooving and the flute is the flute playing. I don’t it. That is so cool how the flute got, you know, It’s sort of like guides you on those passages where it’s prominent. What’s the backstory to that track?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh my god, it’s so funny. It started with just a story, something that happened to Hidetaka, well, rhythm guitarist, guitarist in Teke-Teke. He just in Montreal, he was taking the subway and he got out at a station and this old, um, old man just, uh, went to him and, and said, Barbara. Barbara, it’s you, Barbara, Barbara.
Craig Garber:
Oh my God.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And kept saying that and Hide was just like, whoa, what’s going on? Who’s Barbara? And yeah, so basically
Craig Garber:
That’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
when he
Craig Garber:
wild,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
told me
Craig Garber:
man.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
that story, I just, I thought it was so funny. And I started thinking about, I don’t know, just the energy of that situation
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
inspired the music. And but it used to be a lot slower. It’s funny because we have like demos of, you know, when we were working on the songs and it was much slower and you could feel the sort of shuffle, shuffly rhythm to the song. And when we went into the studio, I remember we recorded that one. that song pretty late at night. And I remember feeling pretty, everybody was kind of like edgy. And I thought, you know what? I think maybe it was the engineer, Seth, at the time. Um, he said, you should play that song like way faster. Like right now, no click. And so we just, we just found like, uh, a tempo I clicked to start with and just went into it. And that’s the version that’s on the album. So it’s way faster and more energetic. And
Craig Garber:
Oh such a cool track.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
then Maya wrote lyrics based on the story, on Hidetaka’s story, but then
Craig Garber:
Oh
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
kind of like tweaked it and gave it more depth, I guess. So yeah, that’s the
Craig Garber:
That’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
story
Craig Garber:
very cool,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
of
Craig Garber:
really interesting
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
behind
Craig Garber:
how
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Bhabara.
Craig Garber:
that comes. That’s really cool. All right, I hope I don’t butcher this. Tekagami.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I think I got me a year.
Craig Garber:
of tekagami. Yeah, it seems like in Japanese, the accent is on a different like here, you know, in English, the accent’s generally on the second syllable. It seems like a lot of the words in Japan, the accents on the last syllable. I have to try to keep that in mind.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, an E are A. And
Craig Garber:
Yeah,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
so,
Craig Garber:
yeah,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
tekagami.
Craig Garber:
okay, okay. Yeah
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
An I are E.
Craig Garber:
Um, so take a gami really beautiful song, a very peaceful and, and I found it was, you know, quite cinematic towards the end. I could see that in a movie track. Tell me about that. The backstory. What’s the meaning of that track?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, Takagami means hand mirror.
Craig Garber:
Okay.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And while the music was meant to be kind of a it’s a it’s a bit like, like Japanese ballads from the seventies are like pop and type of music where, you know, you the music was really melodic and sometimes even kind of like joyful and everything, but the lyrics were quite dramatic and sometimes very dark, you know, or could talk about really heavy duty issues.
Craig Garber:
Uh huh.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And, uh, well, the lyrics are pretty crazy to what Maya wrote. It’s kind of like she, she sings from the perspective of, uh, of a shadow of, of this woman who’s kind of, uh, watching her own dead body.
Craig Garber:
Oh, that’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And,
Craig Garber:
heavy,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
uh,
Craig Garber:
man.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah. And it’s, uh, but it’s about the unconscious and, and also rebirth. And so it’s kind of like dark, but again, kind of positive
Craig Garber:
Positive,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
or
Craig Garber:
yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
about a new start. And the music, yeah, very much influenced by 70s Japanese ballads. You know, with the choruses where the drums, there’s no rhythm. It becomes really kind of like an orchestral in a way, or like in the rock instrumentation. And then the ending, yeah, the kind of like cinematic, for me, in any of the songs, like, I always think of the music as very visual and
Craig Garber:
Like a soundtrack.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
like a soundtrack, yeah. And an album, for me, is always kind of like a soundtrack with different chapters and yeah.
Craig Garber:
Is that because it’s a natural thing for you because you do a lot of licensing? So you almost can’t help,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I think
Craig Garber:
how could
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it
Craig Garber:
you
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
is.
Craig Garber:
not create something and all, it’s like too split, you have to think of the moving picture behind it almost, I could see that.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, and
Craig Garber:
Totally
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
everybody
Craig Garber:
get that.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
in this band is really like, you know, we talk about films a lot and just, and the way we talk about the music is almost kind of like a director would, you know, like, it’s
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
putting the pieces together. It’s like working on a song, it’s like editing a movie
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and all of that, so,
Craig Garber:
I love that song,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah.
Craig Garber:
it’s really beautiful.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Thank you so much.
Craig Garber:
Alright, and off the new album, Hagata. Man, I hope to God I’m not gonna butcher this. Setagaya Koya?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh yeah, perfect.
Craig Garber:
don’t expect that again let me just tell you that
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
You’re
Craig Garber:
but thank
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
doing great.
Craig Garber:
you that track is awesome really cool surf music you got old-school funk in there and I just like it was such a fun track it was so much fun to listen at and I read an article online at Maya’s lyrics are about interesting about the loneliness she felt as a child even though she grew up in a supposedly sort of like upscale And that song is so creative because you have so many different styles in there and so many different movements. And I don’t even know if you could answer this, but when, when you sit down and you create a song like that, how do so like, how does so many different ideas come to you for the same track? I mean, it’s, I’m not like blowing smoke up your butt, but it’s pretty brilliant to, to be
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Ah
Craig Garber:
able
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
man,
Craig Garber:
to think
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
thank
Craig Garber:
of
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
you
Craig Garber:
that
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
so much.
Craig Garber:
and then to be able to actually make that work.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it’s funny, you know, you work on songs for a certain period of time and then you record them and then after a while you can’t stand those songs. You have to stay away from them
Craig Garber:
Yeah,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
for a while. And then
Craig Garber:
I know that.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
once you listen back, you try to remember like how it all came together. And and to me, it’s still kind of a mystery. I’m like, whoa, how? you know, not to brag or like
Craig Garber:
No,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
sound
Craig Garber:
it’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
pretentious
Craig Garber:
a fan- it’s…
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
or anything.
Craig Garber:
it’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I’m just
Craig Garber:
tremendous.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
saying like really it’s a, it is a mystery and, um, and I think about that stuff a lot just in general, like in, in creation and
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
you know, making things, uh, but for this song, well, first of all, the intro, you know, if we get more technical, The kind of, well the intro that’s kind of like a lot of people here kind of like almost like a shaft like a Japanese shaft
Craig Garber:
It’s just funky, it
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
soundtrack
Craig Garber:
was, yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
this for me Was influenced a lot by a Japanese composer who did a lot of film soundtracks He did a lot of music for the Kurosawa movies Yajimbo is a
Craig Garber:
Oh
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
great
Craig Garber:
yeah!
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
one. Yeah, the music of that film. And then there’s this one film called Kill. It’s a samurai movie. The film isn’t that great, really. It’s not a Kurosawa movie. But the soundtrack is just amazing. It’s almost like he’s almost like Morikone with the Japanese influences and
Craig Garber:
That’s what’s it called kill?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Kill.
Craig Garber:
K-I-L-L.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
So
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it’s
Craig Garber:
if I
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
from
Craig Garber:
wanna check out the soundtrack,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
65
Craig Garber:
okay. So
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and
Craig Garber:
I
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Masaru
Craig Garber:
just.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Sato is the name of the composer. If you type Masaru Sato, kill 1965, you’ll find it. It’s it’s amazing. It’s brilliant.
Craig Garber:
M-A-S-A-R-U, S-A-T-O.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
M-A-S-A-R-U-S-A-T-O. Yeah.
Craig Garber:
Okay, cool, thanks. Yeah, that sounds like something I need to listen to.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
But you know that intro was meant to be for another song I think it was meant to be for Gotoku Lemon and somehow I think we wanted to go right into the music with Gotoku Lemon so we decided to take that intro out and but I really loved it and I wanted to do something with it so I don’t know how it happened but somehow with Setagaya Koya we had another like we had a few other parts for this song and it just so happened it was in the same key or something and then I thought well let’s do that let’s
Craig Garber:
Let me
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
put
Craig Garber:
try
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
those
Craig Garber:
that.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
two together it’s really you know it’ll give that kind of like surprising effect you know like you said different styles but somehow
Craig Garber:
Dude, that
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
again
Craig Garber:
was a home
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it
Craig Garber:
run.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
like kind of like a movie again you know the editing can be can go one way it can be smooth or it can be telling a different story and feel like it’s a bit jumpy or whatever but yeah
Craig Garber:
That’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
so
Craig Garber:
a
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
that’s
Craig Garber:
great,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
uh
Craig Garber:
really cool track.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
thank you
Craig Garber:
Um, Yoroi Izanmai.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
I’m sure I’ve screwed that up.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yurei Zanmai, yeah that’s…
Craig Garber:
Yeah. I’ll let you say it. I’m going to let you say all the Japanese words.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yurei Zanmae. Yeah, that’s a weird one. That’s a… yeah.
Craig Garber:
So I read that your initial demo wound up being the final track for that song. And again, to me, this is another like creative home run because you have, you have a series of things going on that just build and build and build to a great climax. Like you got the percussion early on, then you got the horns building. Then you do this like fuzz guitar thing, which is like very cool, but that pushes even
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Mm.
Craig Garber:
harder. And then what I thought was really cool and it was totally unexpected. fades out to like complete silence. And again, this is another track I can see placed in a license and placed into a movie, but tell me about that track because it was like very exciting.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, the demo version is not what you hear on the album. I think what happened is that it’s probably the only one song that kept the exact same form and structure as the
Craig Garber:
Okay.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
demo version. I don’t know exactly why it happened. Sometimes it’s just like that. It’s like, I guess everybody was down with, you know, how the demo,
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
how it was structured and everything. So we ended up just playing it. Also, I must mention that this track wasn’t, it was just a demo that I had made that… I didn’t know it was going to be a Tike song. I
Craig Garber:
Oh,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
just
Craig Garber:
interesting.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
had it, but I was really curious. I was like, you know, this could be interesting with the instrumentation that’s available with Tike Tike. And it always starts like that for me. It’s almost like, it’s a fantasy. It’s like, wow, you know, I have the great chance and opportunity to… to do this with these people and to have a flute and I mean, Yuki plays the flute and traditional Japanese flutes, but also keyboard and Taishokoto and a bunch of other instruments. And when I say she can play them, she can really play them like, I’ll just sing her something and she’ll play it right away on any of those instruments. It’s
Craig Garber:
That’s awesome.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
so when you have access to that,
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it’s pretty crazy. Like it’s, it’s just, you know, you get the response right away and you know how it’s going to sound like. And it’s very exciting. And so I just thought, well, let’s, let’s do this. Let’s try that song. And everybody just jumped in. And then in terms of the trombone and flute arrangements and the things they’re doing, they, they kind of, well, we all figured these things out together. And same thing with the fuzz guitar. And I think that’s, we kept that stuff for the last minute in the studio. we experimented a lot with like pedals and effects and working with the engineer or producer Daniel Schlett so yeah that song came together kind of pretty quickly actually
Craig Garber:
That’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah
Craig Garber:
amazing. You must be pretty prolific to have so many songs like at the ready and like, Oh, I didn’t even write this for this, but let me try it. So you must be writing all
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
But
Craig Garber:
the
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
you
Craig Garber:
time.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
know, it’s not like I have a bunch of demos and I’ll go pick one up and say, usually I’ll just go from nothing from scratch and maybe I’ll have a concept of a song or like Barbara, a story triggered an
Craig Garber:
Right.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
idea and then I’ll just follow it. But I have a bunch of little parts, little ideas that I keep on my phone in case, you know, when I have time I go back and listen. Sometimes
Craig Garber:
Sure.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I push and try to bring them to the next level.
Craig Garber:
That’s awesome. What pedal did you use for that fuzz? Because that sound probably pretty cool. And I think you had like maybe a little echo on there maybe.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
Or delay, echo or
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I
Craig Garber:
delay.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
kind of always keep sort of a very short slapback that’s
Craig Garber:
Mm-hmm.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
always on,
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I believe, but very subtle. Like you can only notice it if it’s off really like a tiny bit. But once it’s on, it’s not like, oh, you know, it’s not that obvious. But I like to have it. It’s just a little more gives it a little more. It sounds wider.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, totally.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and yeah and then for the fuzz I believe we used an old vintage um mxr blue box
Craig Garber:
Oh, okay, cool.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
but I also use it’s either that or a creepy fingers figure eight pedal the creepy fingers it’s a company uh ran by
Craig Garber:
I’ve
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
a
Craig Garber:
never
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
member
Craig Garber:
heard of them.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
of fumanchu the
Craig Garber:
Oh
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
band
Craig Garber:
yeah,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Fumanshu.
Craig Garber:
what’s his name? Bob, it’s Bob Bouches, right? Yeah, isn’t it?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
You
Craig Garber:
I think
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
know,
Craig Garber:
it’s Bob.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, I know the band. Dude, I don’t know if you can see. You see that picture up there? That’s a Nebula.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh, yeah,
Craig Garber:
That’s a Nebula
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I’ve seen
Craig Garber:
album
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
that before.
Craig Garber:
cover. Yeah, and
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Right,
Craig Garber:
I know those
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah.
Craig Garber:
guys are closely related or some of those
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
have,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
so they
Craig Garber:
yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
make a lot of interesting fuzz pedals that
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I like. And this one, the figure eight is based on, I don’t know, I’m not, I don’t know that stuff so well, but on the chip or whatever, that Os Mutantes we’re using, you know, a very
Craig Garber:
Okay.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
kind of nasal
Craig Garber:
It sounded fantastic.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
kind of
Craig Garber:
I’m going
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
fuzz.
Craig Garber:
to check that. I’m going to look online and see that pedal. It sounded because I don’t I’m not a big pedal guy, but I that sound was it was pretty cool. It was a little different. It wasn’t a typical
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Cool,
Craig Garber:
conventional fuzz.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
thank you.
Craig Garber:
Yeah. I dug that man. Yeah. I think that’s Bob. Actually, it’s either the Bob Bouches. I think the guitar player, it may be him or the bassist, but I know I’ve seen, you know, I think on social media, once in a blue moon, you see a little thing
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
about that. Yeah, I know Fumanchi.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, yeah.
Craig Garber:
Actually, my older son was a big Fumanchi fan. Funny enough. Tell me the top three musical experiences you’ve had and what made them so much fun.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
or
Craig Garber:
I know,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
getting
Craig Garber:
tough question.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
into the deep questions, top three musical experiences. I mean, I remember a bunch, but if I go back as far as like, I can remember just playing the first show, or like, I mean, for me, it was just like in a school gym, but… It was my first time playing through a sound system with a mixing board and the PA and all that. And when you hear your guitar amp mic’d and that big sound, and also it was pretty much empty, so… The room was empty, so… Just that big sound and the drums and for me it really like, oh my God. You know, it stayed with me.
Craig Garber:
That’s awesome. Was this
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I think…
Craig Garber:
in Canada or back in, in Japan?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
It was in Canada. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause you know, just so you know, I was born in Japan, but I grew up in Canada, in Montreal, in Quebec.
Craig Garber:
Okay.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, yeah. And then I went back to Japan a bunch of times, but then I have family there and everything, but yeah. So that’s probably one of the, but top three. I mean, I still think of Ticketika’s first few shows, or like even for me, it’s still, every time we play, it makes me very, very happy. Because I’ve done a lot of touring and shows with other projects, but they weren’t my project. It was more like I was a hired gun. But I mean, I remember playing with this band in Serbia. I don’t know if you know Exit Festival. It’s
Craig Garber:
No,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
in Novi Sad.
Craig Garber:
actually I’ve had
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
some guys on
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it’s
Craig Garber:
this show
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
a
Craig Garber:
share
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
huge
Craig Garber:
that with
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
festival
Craig Garber:
me, yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
in a fortress in a big castle. And yeah, that could make it into my top three for sure. Yeah. Did
Craig Garber:
Okay,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I
Craig Garber:
very cool.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
just mention three
Craig Garber:
Yep,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
musical
Craig Garber:
you said
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
experiences?
Craig Garber:
that Tech
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Think
Craig Garber:
A
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I
Craig Garber:
Tech
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
did.
Craig Garber:
A’s first shows, the first show with the PA Sound System in Canada, and then in Serbia the exit festival.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
But I would say also if I can just mention one more,
Craig Garber:
Yeah, of course.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
because I have two brothers, I’m in the middle. My younger brother is a viola player, he plays in orchestras. He’s in Toronto, but he played in the New York Phil for many years. And he played
Craig Garber:
Dude, you
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
a…
Craig Garber:
must be, you look great because to have, you’re in the middle and you’re older than him, you must be older than you look. You look fantastic, man.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh, thank
Craig Garber:
If your
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
you.
Craig Garber:
brother’s in the Philharmonic in New York, he wasn’t in there when he was 12, I know that. Ha ha ha.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
No, but he did start the violin when he was six.
Craig Garber:
Oh,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And…
Craig Garber:
so he’s like a prodigy, like a child prodigy almost.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I like to think so.
Craig Garber:
That’s awesome.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And when he played, he played a concerto for viola by William Walton. I think it was maybe some kind of contest or something, but when I saw him play that, I mean, I cried the whole time and
Craig Garber:
Aw man.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it was absolutely beautiful, mind blowing.
Craig Garber:
That’s really…
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And yeah, very,
Craig Garber:
Does he
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
very
Craig Garber:
have
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
emotional.
Craig Garber:
any recorded music?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I believe he does. Yeah. I mean, with the New York Phil, probably Toronto Symphony. I
Craig Garber:
What’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
have to check.
Craig Garber:
your brother’s name? Give him a shout out in case people want to check him out.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, Remy Nakauchi Peltier.
Craig Garber:
R-A-I-M-I?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
R-E-M-I.
Craig Garber:
Remy, okay.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Remy
Craig Garber:
Awesome.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Nacotchi Peltier,
Craig Garber:
Nkauchi
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah.
Craig Garber:
Peletier, awesome. Thank you. That’s nice, man, that’s a good story. I like to hear that.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Thank you.
Craig Garber:
Did your parents get you into music? Like what did they do professionally for work? Did they, were they
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
musicians
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
so,
Craig Garber:
or?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah, definitely the music everything comes from my parents for sure like my dad was Cinematographer photographer
Craig Garber:
Oh wow.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Filmmaker cameraman he passed when I was 13
Craig Garber:
Oh I’m so sorry man,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
that’s terrible,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
no, thank
Craig Garber:
I’m
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
you
Craig Garber:
really sorry.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah So but everything so, you know Everything from movies, music, it all came from my dad. Like the rock and roll, some of the Japanese music too, because my dad obviously… So my dad was French-Canadian.
Craig Garber:
Okay.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
So I’m half French-Canadian, half Japanese. My mother is Japanese, and she’s still very much alive and healthy.
Craig Garber:
Awesome.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And they met in Japan.
Craig Garber:
That’s cool.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
So my dad was big on, he spoke Japanese, English, French. He was big on all the British bands, British invasions, obviously in all 60s, 70s. But also a lot of the music from Japan of the same era. And then my mother was also into that and liked the rock and roll, but was also very much into classical music and opera and all that. So, yeah,
Craig Garber:
So you had a really
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
for sure.
Craig Garber:
well-rounded, incredibly well-rounded musical household actually.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, absolutely.
Craig Garber:
That’s great.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And I still have a lot of their records.
Craig Garber:
Oh, that’s cool, man.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Great records, yeah.
Craig Garber:
Do you ever hear the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, of course.
Craig Garber:
So I’m a big fan of his, and I think
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
it’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
me
Craig Garber:
so
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
too.
Craig Garber:
cool because he’s always like got like he’s always got a scene in his book in a jazz club.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
And you can just feel the guys like you just know the guy is a big so much of a jazz fan and he’s so I mean, I and I don’t know. He’s the only Japanese writer I’m familiar with. But, you know, he’s got certain things like spaghetti. boiled eggs. I mean, he’s such a brilliant, he’s so brilliant that guy. I don’t know how he gets 500 pages of like taking you on this journey and it’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
fricking mind blowing, you know? But I love these references. And I always, when I’m reading a book, I try to envision what a jazz club might look like, you know, listen to Miles Davis in a modern day jazz club or something like that. It must
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Right,
Craig Garber:
be kind
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
right.
Craig Garber:
of, that kind of, it’s just a good, he’s such a good writer. visuals, it’s come pretty easily.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, I agree. I’m a big fan too.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, he’s awesome. Say, was there ever any specific moment that was pivotal in your decision to pursue music or did you just sort of, was it almost like the family business? It was like a natural thing.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Hmm. Yeah. It was a natural thing. It was actually a survival thing, basically. Yeah, I just mentioned the death of my dad. When I was just 13, I was just starting on the guitar, actually. And I would say that’s basically what saved me going through the dark times.
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, absolutely. That’s when something switched in my mind because up until then, I was more into sports and physical stuff, physical activities. But it’s amazing that I got my hands on an instrument around that time. So it really kept me grounded. gave me something to really focus on, something that I could do on my own every day.
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And yeah, I’m glad I had that, yeah, that way
Craig Garber:
Process
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
to go
Craig Garber:
your
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
on
Craig Garber:
grief,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and everything. Yeah,
Craig Garber:
yeah
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah,
Craig Garber:
man. Music’s such
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
process
Craig Garber:
a,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
everything actually.
Craig Garber:
yeah, yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
Well I’m sorry again about your dad, I really am.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
No worries, thank you.
Craig Garber:
Um, you do a lot of licensing. What, what do you like best about that? And man, your music is so perfect. I mean, I have never, I don’t know what I haven’t listened to the music you’ve created in licensing, but your takei is so, I mean, I could see how you’re successful at licensing, man. But, uh, what do you like about that best and what’s the most challenging aspect of licensing for you?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
See, that’s something, again, it’s something that happened naturally, transitioning from like playing with bands and I used to have a project that was instrumental and very much influenced by film music and that’s how I got my first few gigs. At first it was more like syncs, they would use the music from that band and then at some point I was approached to… to score a, you know, like, I think it might’ve been a documentary at first and then a fiction and slowly, like,
Craig Garber:
That’s a big
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and to
Craig Garber:
pro,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
me.
Craig Garber:
it’s not an easy to score documentaries your first time out, man. That’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
not easy,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
the
Craig Garber:
good
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
challenges
Craig Garber:
for you.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
for me at first were more like technical and what to use, what DAW to use. So you know, you start, you do what you can, you start with what you have and then slowly you get more… familiar with the right equipment and all that. But I think the core thing, you know, how to, for me, the most important and probably the most interesting aspect of scoring is the communication part and communicating with the director. Because I’m really kind of like… It’s very rare that they’re just gonna say, you can do whatever you want.
Craig Garber:
Oh, you get notes up to
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Just
Craig Garber:
wazoo.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
give me,
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
you know, of course, and I wanna work, it’s a collaboration, and that’s what
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I’m into. And I wanna, of course, bring in my ideas and hopefully some kind of signature. But I’m, you know, it’s a service I’m doing. I’m there to… to try to understand what the story is and how the director wants to tell it and you know, how he or she wants the whole thing to come out. And that’s what I like, I think, yeah.
Craig Garber:
It’s so important that you just said that people realize when they’re doing that, that you’re in the service business. It’s not about creating the music you want, it’s about creating the music that being you within the parameters of what somebody else needs.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, finding that spot where you can both meet and
Craig Garber:
Right.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
be creative and hopefully do something great together.
Craig Garber:
Definitely. Hey, let’s talk about gear for a little bit.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
About what?
Craig Garber:
It was
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
About beer?
Craig Garber:
about gear. Beer. No, I’m
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Gear.
Craig Garber:
a whiskey guy myself. We could talk about beer if you want.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
No, no, no gear. Yeah
Craig Garber:
It’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
gear
Craig Garber:
funny, man. I was I was out with someone the other night. A buddy of mine was in town and we went out to smoke a cigar and he got a beer. And I couldn’t I can’t even think of the last time I drank a beer. It’s probably when I was like 12 or something like that. I’ve never been a.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Wow.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, I’ve always been a spirits guy not really
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh.
Craig Garber:
a beer drinker and I’ve had Japanese whiskey. It’s quite good
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
So, let me ask you this talk about what’s your go-to guitar right now and what other two guitars would round out your top three?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
go to guitar right now and you know always has been as far as TKTK is concerned that’s the my late 70s Univox high flyer phase 3 in white made
Craig Garber:
That’s a
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
in
Craig Garber:
beautiful
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Japan
Craig Garber:
guitar. That’s a
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah
Craig Garber:
beautiful
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I think so too
Craig Garber:
guitar, man.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
somehow this one it’s not a Univox logo on it, it’s written Unicore, it’s very strange, I’ve never
Craig Garber:
That is
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
seen
Craig Garber:
strange.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
any other like that but I bought it for very cheap from a friend here and I think I got it refreaded But other than that, I mean, for me, I’ve had other guitars too. And at some point you’re like, oh, maybe I should try something else. Or like, you know, maybe I should have something that’s a little more high end or whatever, and I just keep going back to this one. I just like the sound. I like it’s not that
Craig Garber:
I’m
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
easy
Craig Garber:
shocked
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
to
Craig Garber:
that’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
play.
Craig Garber:
that
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
It’s
Craig Garber:
it’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah.
Craig Garber:
a Univox.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh, yeah.
Craig Garber:
It’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
the only
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I don’t
Craig Garber:
Univox
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
know.
Craig Garber:
I’ve seen is there was this blues artist and he I can’t think of his name right now, but he there’s a lot of videos of him and he has an old Univox looks like a Les Paul basically,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Okay,
Craig Garber:
but I didn’t
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah.
Craig Garber:
even know you I’m not familiar with Univox outside of that. So I was I’m, I’m shocked to hear that’s a Univox. I thought it was some, some sort of off or like a fender, you know, like a Japanese fender or something.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Nope, it’s a Japanese imitation of the Maastrite guitars basically, from the late 70s.
Craig Garber:
I love you. The tone on that when you’re playing clean or I mean, it’s so it’s nice, man. That’s a very clean guitar sound you get out of that
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Thank
Craig Garber:
thing.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
you.
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
It’s weird. This one is, it has no sustain whatsoever. But I like that because I play it kind of like, well, like Terauchi would kind of closer to the bridge, you know, and it gives it a percussive kind of sound. It’s
Craig Garber:
Yeah, you get the high end for sure.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
kind of like like a shamisen actually the instrument I was talking about earlier
Craig Garber:
Okay.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and so it’s really like twangy and percussive and yeah I like that and then I use another one when I need a little more sustain and that one is uh… I use it a little more now. It’s a real, well, it’s a Maastrite, but from the Kurokumo factory in Japan, the only company or factory that had the permission to make Maastrite guitars, like, you know, with the Maastrite logo and everything, like, you know, Maastrite approved.
Craig Garber:
Right. That’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And
Craig Garber:
cool.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
so which You know, not to brag about Japan or whatever, but for me,
Craig Garber:
No, they make some great
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and
Craig Garber:
guitars.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it’s debated online too, if you go on forums and stuff like that. A lot of times the ones that, you know, the, the come out from that factory are actually, you know, it’s a matter of taste, but for me, I like them better than the Californian ones. Sorry.
Craig Garber:
No, no, dude, I had a, I don’t have it now, but I had a, like a mid nineties strat I paid like $700 for it and it was awesome. And the only reason I got rid of it is I just wasn’t playing it like, cause I’m not really a strat guy. I’m more of
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
a humbucker guy, but it was like an amazing guitar and it was, and the, and the only reason I kept that strat down there that I have is because it had an ebony neck and I’m such a huge fan of that. That’s the only, I mean, you know, and I’m not a guy that keeps stuff around if I’m not playing. But
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh yeah.
Craig Garber:
those Japanese guitars are, I mean, I think everybody pretty much knows the Japanese guitars from the mid 90s or even the mid early 2000s. They’re phenomenal
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Hmm
Craig Garber:
guitars. I think everybody pretty much knows that. Um, what amp are you typically playing through in the studio? Because your mixes are so freaking clean there. I mean, even when you’re playing with distortion, I mean, it’s just so very well mixed. And I was just curious of
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh
Craig Garber:
what amp
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
wow.
Craig Garber:
you’re putting that out of.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
It’s cool, we’re getting very specific about
Craig Garber:
Yeah, well,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
gear.
Craig Garber:
I listened
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
It’s
Craig Garber:
to
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
cool,
Craig Garber:
your whole
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I
Craig Garber:
catalog.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
like that.
Craig Garber:
I told you, man. And I was like, wow, this shit is so clean. How the hell, you
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
This
Craig Garber:
know.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
makes me feel like I’m a musician,
Craig Garber:
You
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
like
Craig Garber:
are.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
a real guitarist. Thank you.
Craig Garber:
You’re a real guitarist.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I mean, the mix, yeah, the amp in the studio for this album for Higata, I used the same amp the whole time and it was an amp that the studio had. It was that big. It was
Craig Garber:
Okay.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
a Valco Rex tube amp from the 50s.
Craig Garber:
Wow.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
believe and they had a bunch of amps and what I usually use Fender amps like I have a small champ that I like a lot and I have a bandmaster that works really well for me so I was kind of looking for the same kind of tone or a vibe and but that one it was just really very warm and super light too. I’ve been looking for one since then I can’t find it
Craig Garber:
Like a, well you can find them but there’s so much money man, like they make them now but
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, well,
Craig Garber:
it’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
surprisingly
Craig Garber:
like three or four
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
this
Craig Garber:
grand
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
one…
Craig Garber:
for like
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
a 15
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah.
Craig Garber:
watt, you know, little
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
box, which sounds great but man it’s got four grand to drop on it.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, I know. But for studio, that one was great. Perfect.
Craig Garber:
This sounded phenomenal.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, he did. I got the other guitarist used maybe two or three different ones. I know he used an MPEG like a reverb rocket or something or a jet like a vintage one. And maybe a Fender Deluxe vintage also. But yeah.
Craig Garber:
It was really cool because I watched some videos of you guys and you guys are, you know, your play is very, you know, you’re, you’re really synced well together. You know, I mean, you’d think you guys been around like 15, 20 years because you just, you know, you do your thing. He does his thing and it’s like, it really works
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh,
Craig Garber:
extremely.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
thank you, wow.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, it works really well where I was really enjoying
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
it.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I love that his playing is very different from mine. And he brings in, you know, we kind of joke about it and say that he’s the kind of the chaos provider,
Craig Garber:
Haha
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
or like he brings in a lot of the noise
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
aspects and very experimental stuff that I’m always really impressed. Like, oh my God, how do you come up with that stuff? It’s crazy. And then my playing is a little more, I don’t know, I don’t want to say focused, but like,
Craig Garber:
Deliberate.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
are like clearer but like you know it’s really like you said it they complement each other the playing it’s really Yeah, I like that. And some people could hear differently and say, oh, well, he’s actually a little bit behind or sloppy or whatever, but I think it works for us.
Craig Garber:
Oh, it works phenomenal. Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And also, I like when it’s not exactly, it has to be a bit… Yeah, just not exactly super tight or it has to be a bit loose and he brings in a lot of that looseness
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
that makes it very warm to me. And yeah.
Craig Garber:
I agree. It’s interesting, you mentioned forums earlier, you see on forums people like criticizing Jimmy Page all the time. He was sloppy. I wish to God I was as sloppy as Jimmy Page. Let me tell ya. You know, I mean, like how do you, I don’t even understand how you criticize Jimmy Page. You know, but I mean, anyway, that’s why I don’t stay on forums a lot. Do you have a worst gig ever story?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
gig. Probably. I dream about that a lot. I have dreams where gigs go so wrong and…
Craig Garber:
Dude, you gotta write a song about that now.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, I mean,
Craig Garber:
That’d be a good song.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it feels very real all the time. But where’s gig? I don’t know. The only. The one time I can think of is was actually a ticket show early. Like maybe a year after we started or a year and a half. I don’t know. It was in Toronto and. I don’t want to say there was a lot at stake, but some, there was an A&R guy who came, flew to Toronto to see us play and we were discussing with labels and also some agents or people were there to see us. And it’s, I think it’s probably, it was probably the worst tic-a-tic-a show we’ve
Craig Garber:
Oh my God.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
ever done. Yeah, just
Craig Garber:
What
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
a lot
Craig Garber:
happened?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
of technical stuff that happened. I just remember we had this MPC that we were using to trigger samples and we had an intro to the show that didn’t work and then I just remember Maya going on stage and knocking my guitar stand and my guitar just went pow you know just as I was I had to take it and then some cable got disconnected on the bass at some point anyways
Craig Garber:
Ugh.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and the lighting was i just remember the lighting being so chaotic and i couldn’t i couldn’t see myself see uh what i was playing and everything it was it was really uh pretty bad
Craig Garber:
Sounds stressful.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah uh but we you know we played through it and sometimes it’s for us we think it’s really bad and sometimes it isn’t.
Craig Garber:
Alright.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I think it was probably still kind of okay for the audience.
Craig Garber:
Did the record execs approach you after the show or?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
We had breakfast the next day. Yeah.
Craig Garber:
Dude, there
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And
Craig Garber:
you
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I
Craig Garber:
go.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
don’t think it affected any of the talks. It didn’t go through for other reasons. I don’t think it was to show it really. But yeah.
Craig Garber:
That’s awesome.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
But, you know, you learn from those situations for sure. And, you know, you take it and you move on.
Craig Garber:
for sure man. Hey, tell me your top three Desert Island discs. Just for right now, you know, because that changes all the time obviously.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Right now, yeah. Desert island. Well, there’s always this one record. It’s from the 70s. It’s a Japanese singer. Her name is Nakajima Miyuki. And the album is Aishiteru to Ip… Eh? Aishiteru to Ipte kure? Yeah. Aishiteru to itte kure That’s the album title from Nakajima Miyuki I have it on record, it’s my parents And one of the first, you know, besides maybe some Morikone soundtracks and the Beatles and the Stones maybe the first music I heard And it’s really beautiful And the production is actually very… the quality of the production, the taste, the vibe, it’s very, very good.
Craig Garber:
Amazing how some records are like that, like you listen to it 20, 30, 40, 50 years later and it’s like, man, this holds up. If it was released today, it would be a hit as well.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, yeah.
Craig Garber:
It’s really amazing when you consider that so much time has passed.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, and also, I mean, there’s so much for me in that album that’s attached to it, like just memories and all that So that for sure is always one I keep in mind um, I would probably bring like Monks dream Thelonious monk quartet Yeah, I like Thelonious Monk. And I’m huge on hip hop, you know? I listen to a lot of rap music and beats and… I love Yacine Bay and I would probably bring Blackstar’s latest album No Fear of Time from Yacine Bay and Talib Kweli and Madlib, Madlib produced. Maybe I would bring those three and I’d have a good time on that island.
Craig Garber:
Hahaha, very cool. Tell me, say, best decision you ever made.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
decision I’ve ever made that’s a hell of a question eh?
Craig Garber:
I know. It’s tough.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
My god I mean, I would say to keep at it, you know, when I just started the like, playing an instrument and it was the best decision to, to keep living, you know, to, to keep at it and try to go through those darker days and, and yeah. I mean,
Craig Garber:
Very cool.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I’ve made other good decisions in my life, I think. Made a lot of bad ones, but
Craig Garber:
Oh yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it if it’s to take me here where I am today, it’s I’m good with all that.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, that’s what we were talking about before. Yeah, right. It’s what’s going on right now that got
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Mm-hmm.
Craig Garber:
you here. Do you have any hobbies outside of music?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Hobbies. I like to think that there may be more than hobbies. I don’t think like, or maybe it’s just me trying to convince myself that because I’m curious about a lot of things, I like to try things. I like to stay physically active.
Craig Garber:
What do you do?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Well, I do see I like boxing. I do. I don’t fight. I do boxing training. I
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
love it. I I’m kind of addicted to it.
Craig Garber:
So you must
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
It’s
Craig Garber:
be
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
just.
Craig Garber:
like cardio like super, your cardio
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I mean,
Craig Garber:
must be awesome. That’s
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I do
Craig Garber:
so
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
what I
Craig Garber:
tough.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
can. It’s so tough yet,
Craig Garber:
Oh
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
but
Craig Garber:
my God.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I come out of those training feeling like, wow, it’s just, and then my body hurts the next day, like all over, but I don’t know, there was always something about boxing and I think it might come from my dad because I remember there was a lot of boxing movies or documentaries, which I still love. to this day. But I’m no way like, it’s, you know, I’m really not a I’m a peaceful guy. I don’t like confrontations. I use my head. I, you know, I really see it as more of an individual thing or like your own fight that you have inside and And really, like I said, it’s not fighting for me. It’s more about the training and staying healthy. And for me, I just chose boxing. And also, it’s not so much about the physical part. It is, of course, but it’s very psychological. It’s more in your brain and how, you know, you can apply a lot of the stuff you learn from boxing into your everyday life or how you want to approach, you know, a show or. you know, performing or how you’re going to respond to an email, all of that
Craig Garber:
Oh, like
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
stuff.
Craig Garber:
the discipline and self-control.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
The discipline and yeah,
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah.
Craig Garber:
My wife does that, actually. She does boxing like once a week and she’s always like, why don’t you come
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Oh,
Craig Garber:
with me?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
nice.
Craig Garber:
I’m like, because I don’t, I can’t do that.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, it’s hard.
Craig Garber:
My knees
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I don’t know
Craig Garber:
are
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
for
Craig Garber:
pretty
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
how long
Craig Garber:
shot.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I’ll be able to do it. I wish I had started way earlier, like a lot of things in my life. But yeah, boxing, skateboarding, obviously, I mean, because I skated when I was younger and stopped for a long time. And obviously I want to I don’t want to break. you know, my wrist or
Craig Garber:
Yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
a leg or something. So I know my limits, but it’s still nice to just, for me, all of that stuff, I see art in it. I see poetry in it. I see, that’s how I approach it. And I like watching it too, but I like participating in it. Sometimes I like playing baseball too. All of that good stuff. And it’s really for my, it’s, it’s for the physical aspect, but really for the mind too. I truly believe
Craig Garber:
gonna
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
that, you know,
Craig Garber:
clears your head up man I mean
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah.
Craig Garber:
it keeps you from being a mental patient you know and it
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, and my
Craig Garber:
and
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
mom
Craig Garber:
it just
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
is really
Craig Garber:
feels
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
big on
Craig Garber:
good
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
that
Craig Garber:
when you
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
stuff. And
Craig Garber:
your mom
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah,
Craig Garber:
is awesome
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah. So
Craig Garber:
I
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah,
Craig Garber:
think
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and
Craig Garber:
any
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
then,
Craig Garber:
kind of fitness is good, man.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
yeah, absolutely. And then of course, books, films, you know, visual art, all of that good stuff to keep my mind stimulated and to stay curious about stuff, you know.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, I think curiosity is a very valuable asset if it’s inherent in you. I think it’ll take you far.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Hmm
Craig Garber:
Here’s an interesting one. Toughest decision you ever had to make.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
ooooh Oh my god. Man, I don’t know if I can find an answer to that.
Craig Garber:
That’s okay.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Toughest decision. Can I skip that one?
Craig Garber:
Yeah, of course, man.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Sorry.
Craig Garber:
No. Most fun thing you’ve ever done.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I’m a simple guy. I have fun doing simple things. I have two kids. I have, it’s always fun to just, I have fun just watching them be who they are. But, you know, just right now, anytime we’re on tour with the band. playing shows. I’m really in a very extremely happy place. Yeah, I love traveling with these people, with these friends, and I love being in the studio with them. I love having dinner with them. So like, yeah,
Craig Garber:
That’s nice,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I
Craig Garber:
really nice. Happy for you, man.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Thank you.
Craig Garber:
Tell me, you’re young, I don’t even know if this is relevant. I’ll shorten the time frame. Tell me the biggest change
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Not that
Craig Garber:
in your
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
young.
Craig Garber:
person, what’s that, you’re not that old either. Ha ha ha. Biggest change in your personality over the last, let’s say seven to 10 years, and was that change, has that change been intentional or is it just a natural part of aging?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I think there might be a bit of both. Well, I mean, you know, obviously you, 10 years, seven years, that’s a lot. A lot can happen. Yeah, I think at a certain point in your life, you want to focus on, on just, yeah, I think we talked about that, or maybe it was written in your bio, but, um, you know, we’re, we’re all like a work in progress and, uh, you’re trying to be the best version of, of yourself and, uh, all that kind of stuff, you know, it’s, it might sound a little cliche or, or cheesy or whatever, but,
Craig Garber:
Not
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
um,
Craig Garber:
at all.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it’s pretty. to me it’s like that’s what it is and um and so yeah i think i might be a better virgin than i was back then but it’s um i’m not gonna hold it against me like it’s it is what it is you grow and hopefully you become a better person and But the thing is, I think about it every day.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, well, I think if you’re clearly a driven guy, and I think you have to think about that every day if you’re driven, because those two things are congruent. You know, you’re
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
pushed, people who are driven aren’t like, well, I’m driven at work, but I’m really lazy in the rest of my life. That doesn’t you know, how you do one thing is generally how you do everything. You know,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
so that makes total sense.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
And in a way it does happen kind of naturally too. It’s almost like to me throughout my life, I could only go that far into whatever. Like there’s always kind of a voice or a calling that kind of like brings me back to I think. Those kind of things, they happen because of just the situations, the things you go through in life. Um, you know, the things that you went through, I know, you know, you have no choice to reflect and maybe a lot of people will have it easier or, you know, and they won’t be forced to reflect about. you know, mortality, spirituality and all that stuff.
Craig Garber:
Right.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I had to do that very early in my
Craig Garber:
Yeah,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
life.
Craig Garber:
with the loss of your dad, yeah.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah, so.
Craig Garber:
I was gonna say you’re a pretty spiritual guy, right?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Absolutely, yeah.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, yeah,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I like
Craig Garber:
you could
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
to
Craig Garber:
tell.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
think so, yeah.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, you could definitely tell. I think that as I’ve gotten older, I’m definitely much more attracted to and just seem to get along. It’s a very organic thing. I wind up connecting more with more spirituality, but that’s probably because I’ve become. much more spiritual over the last five, seven years myself.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah.
Craig Garber:
You know, so I think it’s just, you know, you know, it’s like, if you like music, you’ll connect with a musician, you know, if you’re so. Yeah, but I agree with you on all the things you just said, man. Hey, any final words of wisdom for wrap up?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Final words of wisdom.
Craig Garber:
Hahaha
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I mean, you know, we were talking about curiosity. I would say like, when you can stay curious throughout your life, I mean, that will solve a lot of problems, I think. Or like, it just means you have to open up and learn more and take the time to get to know things. And more knowledge is just more, you know. That’s how it goes. That’s, so I would say, yeah, to be curious and stay curious and open-minded.
Craig Garber:
Yeah, man, I think you’re a wise man. Hey, let me tell people where to find you guys and what you got going
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Okay.
Craig Garber:
on. So the band is techaytechay and you could find them online at techaytechayband. That’s T-E-K-E-T-E-K-E band.com. If you do a Google search for them and you want to get more information, make sure you put techaytechayband because techaytechay is a like kind of a very. It’s a ghost story, but it’s like
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yeah,
Craig Garber:
a fable
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it’s like an
Craig Garber:
or…
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
urban legend and they made a bunch of horror movies with it
Craig Garber:
Right.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and so you have to add the word band
Craig Garber:
Yeah,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
after tikka
Craig Garber:
so
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
tikka.
Craig Garber:
add the word band. Uh, these guys will be out doing a West coast tour in October. They’re going to LA, Seattle, Portland in September, middle of the month on the 15th, I think they’ll be in New York city and then there’ll be upstate New York. And you can find out all their touring schedule on their website. Again, it’s tech a tech a band.com and also, uh, follow the band on Instagram and on Facebook and potentially tick tock to be determined. Anything else you’d like to promote say? Anything I missed?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I want to promote peace.
Craig Garber:
Peace,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I want to promote
Craig Garber:
world
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
peace
Craig Garber:
peace.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and kindness
Craig Garber:
World,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
and compassion. Let’s
Craig Garber:
right
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
do
Craig Garber:
on
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
it
Craig Garber:
man.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
everybody. Know
Craig Garber:
I
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
what
Craig Garber:
agree
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
I mean?
Craig Garber:
with you there. Kindness and compassion, I’m gonna write that down because that’s the nice thing to put in my mind as we end this interview. Hey man, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate everything
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Thank
Craig Garber:
and
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
you
Craig Garber:
I wish
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
so
Craig Garber:
you
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
much,
Craig Garber:
guys the
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Craig.
Craig Garber:
best of luck and I hope we get to connect one time if you’re down in Florida. Hang
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier:
Yes.
Craig Garber:
on a second, I’m just gonna wrap this up. Everybody, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this, please share it on your social media channels. We appreciate your support. Thanks very much to say in a couchy Pelletier and the members of tech a tech a for all the great work they’re doing and for spending time with us and most important, remember that happiness is a choice. So choose wisely, be nice, have fun and go play your tar and I’ll see you next time. Peace out everybody. I’m out.