Droid-ON

Chiptography: I met you for the first time last year at Square Sounds Tokyo 2018 and you opened the entire festival. I really enjoyed your performance. I was fascinated to hear that you are from Brazil and now you live in Tokyo. 

Droid-ON: It's the Toyko border. It's Saitama, a province north of Tokyo. It's very close to Tokyo.

Chiptography: Where in Brazil are you from? 

Droid-ON: Well, I'm from a small city called Uberaba. It's in the Minas Gerais state but I did not grow up there. My parents already lived in Brasília which is the capital of Brazil, so it's schizophrenic stuff when people ask where I'm from. Sometimes I say Brasília 'cause I grew up there and it's where I was made. My whole person, what I do, began there. So that's it. Brasília. I'm going to stick with it. 

Chiptography: What was life like growing up there? 

Droid-ON: Although it's the capital of Brazil, it's not that big of a city. It's a very beautiful city, very calm. We have huge grass fields and wide roads to drive a car. The public transportation sucks so you have to have a car. It's a very nice place to grow up where you can develop yourself. You can do whatever you want 'cause there's space and a kind of liberty. Sometimes Brasília can get a little bit boring 'cause it's not like New York or even São Paulo.

Chiptography: Is that creatively or more professionally speaking?

Droid-ON: Both. If you work with publicity stuff like editing, audio, or video for commercials, there are not many companies there. It's a state city. There are a lot of public jobs. 

Chiptography: Did you go to college there?

Droid-ON: Yes, I graduated with a degree in psychology. It's a hard profession. It's almost as hard as a musician which was the first thing that I started to do in Brasília. My first job was with music. I was 17 years old and I already loved heavy metal music, grunge, Nirvana, all that stuff. I got a job with a rehearsal studio and I was so proud. I thought, My God, I'm 17 and working with music. 

Chiptography: Was that more like checking artists in and making sure the studio was clean and that type of role? 

Droid-ON: Yes, like receiving the bands, accommodating them, showing them how the amplifier works, adjusting the mic so people can sing. You do all the maintenance of the equipment and you take care of it. It was not a recording studio which is something more professional. I got to learn how the sound table works, how to mix and how to get it to sound good. Is the music coming out good or is it bad? Can I hear the keytar? Voice? Sometimes the drums can get too loud in a small place so all these details are cool to know. And then it was my first experience with some kind of job and responsibility. In that time I was playing guitar and I had so many bands, I can't even remember. We had cover bands playing Rage Against the Machine. I also had a Deftones cover band and it was fun. It was not hard at all. I just go out with friends and play some music and drink some beer. Get together, it was a fun time. 

Chiptography: This was before college, correct?

Droid-ON: Yes! I finished high school when I was 18 so I was still choosing what I was going to do, which profession to follow and I said, you know what, I'm going to stick with music for some time before I go to college. I delayed college for almost three years. 

Chiptography: You were having a lot of fun!

Droid-ON: Yes 'cause the demand was increasing. I was working in the rehearsal studio and everybody wants to call you to play in a band. So at that time, I was in like five bands. Some bands were ending so I would get into another band. Some bands I would just play a few shows and that was it. But there were a few bands that I stayed on. There was a heavy metal band, Quadrum inspired by Meshuggah. It's like a meth metal, complex metal band. I was proud of being in it because everyone was older than me in the band. It was a nice experience for me to learn how to properly tune your guitar and play some riffs and being professional at gigs and so everything kind of started there. There was another band which was the most professional one but I did not play the guitar. I was playing the drums. I became a drummer randomly 'cause it was my best friends band called Nancy. It was a very common name. It was a bad choice. He called me and said, "Dred," cause I used to have dreadlocks....

Chiptography: So that was your nickname, Dred? 

Droid-ON: Yes, even here in Japan, the nickname came with me. It's a cozy name with close friends. People used to call me it in bands because it was appealing to them. They would say, "He has Bob Marley hair but he plays heavy music. That's kind of cool, no?"

Chiptography: You can just walk up and down the stage and flip your hair around and people will come for that. 

Droid-ON: The girls go wild. So there was this band, Nancy, which was the important one with my best friend, Jon Paulo. He lives in New York now. The band was important because we tried to go out on the newspapers, doing TV shows and some interviews. And that's when I visited New York, your city. We managed to go to South by Southwest  in Austin, TX. It's a big place, the whole city. It's prepared for the festival. All the parks in the city are accommodated to give food and music in a nice open place but if you want to see a famous act you have to be stuck in a box and it's kind of annoying. Sometimes you get in the line and it's over, it's sold out and crowded and nobody can get in. That was our experience touring outside of Brazil.

Chiptography:  So you were playing drums in this band this genre was it closer to rock or metal?

Droid-ON: It was an indie-rock band but it was a kind of experimental. That's why he called me to be the drummer because he was experimenting on me. I didn’t know how to play it. In the beginning it came out strange but it's so fun that you want to keep practicing. It was hard 'cause you have to keep the tempo of the BPM. In electronic music, you don't have to worry. You just set up whatever you're playing and the sync is automatic. When you play live drums, my god, I am the machine. I was kind of sloppy. I was playing with Nancy for like ten years. 

Chiptography: Was this after college? 

Droid-ON: I was in the band before I went to college and I decided that music was a hard place to be if you want to get a stable income and the rehearsal studio didn't pay a lot. It was a part-time job. In 2001, I got into psychology school. 

Chiptography: Why did you choose psychology? 

Droid-ON: I think I got used to living with deranged people in the music universe. Lots of guys who come to play music, sometimes they do it because they have a difficult background. I learned that. 

Chiptography: I think that's true for most creatives. There's a lot of trying to develop a coping mechanism for dealing with your own internal demons. I don't have to explain psychology to you but I find it a very fascinating profession. 

Droid-ON: Sometimes you're parents are going through a divorce, somebody in your family died and you don't have the support that you need and music can be there for you either if you're just listening to some artist that you like, looking at visual art, or playing it which is I think the most therapeutic way to go through your feelings. 

Chiptography: I was dealing with a lot of depression in my teen years. I had a guitar and I learned all the Cranberries songs. 

Droid-ON: Oh my god, that's good. 

Chiptography: It helped to express feelings of loneliness or sadness and I wouldn't say that it made me happier or made those things go away but it was definitely something that I could do to help me cope with it. I think music taps into a part of my brain and it's hard to verbalize what it does. I don't play music anymore. When I started going to concerts, I was able to tap into those internal spots. At chiptune shows, sometimes I'll just stop and something will hit me. It will strike an emotional tone where I'll either feel incredibly elated and joyous or I'll feel incredibly emotional and sad. Music is one of those interesting artistic phenomena that can really move people. And to speak to the psychology of it, it puts the musician in control of all those sounds. 

Droid-ON: Sometimes, yes, you pay more attention to it. You know that when you're listening to something that it will make you emotional. They even have some music scales that make you more emotional. They use it in movies. Like the Avengers, sometimes that music tone makes you like, "Oh my god, that is so sad." Just for a brief moment. 

Chiptography: Of even think about the movie, Psycho, in the shower scene. If you put it on mute, it's not as scary. 

Droid-ON: It's laughable, "Oh my god, that girl."

Chiptography: But with that music and the jarring tones that they use I start to sweat because the music was so dramatic and scary. But back to psychology, did you finish your degree there and then start working in that field?

Droid-ON: I finished my degree in 2007. I got delayed 'cause I changed my university. I started going to one that was closer to home. I did an internship while I was at the university in some cool places, like government places such as the ministry of education. 

Chiptography: And that was working with people? 

Droid-ON: It was a different kind of psychology. At first, it was in the training field. It's almost like human resources where you accommodate people to their new job. You try to see where the person fits better. You train them to use a new tool like a new computer operating system. It was for a brief time. Then I went to the Ministry of Justice where I was rating the television content of Brazil. Everything that was broadcast, it has to go through the rating system. You have to watch TV all day and you have to describe it, point by point, typing what happens on the computer. It was cool at first. I got to watch TV shows and Brazilian novellas and get paid for it. Sometimes we would rate games also. It was a cool job for adolescent people. That's why they pay so little. It was worse than the rehearsal studio. It was cool for a year or so but I want to work with clinical psychology. I worked in a friend's clinic. She used to work in a poorer section of Brasília so it was hard to pay for the maintenance of it. It was kind of harsh. I was only there for a few months. There is this fight between doctors from orthodox medicine and psychology. Which is easier? To have a doctor to give you some medication or going to a psychologist to stay there for months and talk about yourself? It's a deeper work with the person. While this was happening, the bands were still going on. I was playing with Nancy a lot. Again, I came to a crossroads and again I had to choose. Am I going to keep searching for an actual psychology job or should I pursue the musical path and stay focused on the band and try to make it happen. I said I'm going to leave the psychology there. I already have the certificate. It was cool for some time because we got to play a lot. After playing a few gigs in São Paulo the international tour happened. We were invited to play at SXSW and we decided to go through the east coast of the US. We played in Washington DC, New York, and Pennsylvania. 

Chiptography: So at this point, you're a professional musician. This is your main source of income. 

Droid-ON: The salary wouldn't pay for everybody in the band. There were 6 members. We would play for promotion so we can put ourselves out there but we had a lot of fun more than anything else. We lost a lot of money there. We were a small band going to another country. People didn’t know us. All the traveling expenses added up like... we bought a drum set there. 

Chiptography: Oh wow! 

Droid-ON: It was so much fun because we learned how to play for nobody like when we went to Pennsylvania. There was nobody at all. The venue owner would give us free beer. That kind of small stuff was nice. So we drove all the way to Washington D.C. and then took a plane to Austin, TX. It was amazing to watch the acts and to play there with Bad Brains. They had these big, famous bands and also very small bands. It was an honor. The US is such a nice place for music. At the time I was already listening to some VGM stuff at home and when I went to SXSW festival I managed to see an act from a guy called Adventure. He's very old school, like 2008/2009. He is from Baltimore I think and he got to play at the festival. I thought, "Oh my god, this is so amazing." He played video game music with a computer and a keyboard.

Chiptography: Was this your first experience with chiptune?

Droid-ON: Watching a live act, yes. In 2008 I was in on 8-bit Collective. It was so cool 'cause people would listen to it and say, "Oh, that's cool." or "Oh, that's shit."

Chiptography: Did you start your project of Droid-ON at this point?

Droid-ON: Kind of. At the end of 2008 when I was listening to some video game music, I started searching for people who would play video game music by any means. First I found The Advantage which has members from Hella, an instrumental band. Then I start searching for ways to make music with the video game sound. I got the cheapest and lightest sequencer to work on my computer. When I started using it I did some stuff and I thought, "That's cool. I think I'm going to post it." I was already doing just music in my life. I put aside psychology. It was a way to do something alone at all times, anytime I want. 

Chiptography: You didn't rely on five other bandmates to come together. You could pick it up and drop it off and do it whenever the creative spark came. 

Droid-ON: Exactly. I could dedicate myself fully anytime at home. I could increase the amount of material I have. I can post it online. At the time, we had Myspace. The internet was very receptive to that kind of thing. The 8bitcollective is where I met many artists like Ralp from Spain. I think he was the one that I listened to and I thought to myself, "This is something I want to make." They weren't the usual kind of songs with a beginning, start and end. It was all messed up, sounds everywhere and new kinds of layers. When I searched Google for video game music, Nullsleep was the first that appeared with tutorials for trackers. And then it was my first experience with FamiTracker. It was the first video game music sequencer that I got into. It was free and very small, like 1 megabyte of size. You don't need any installation so it was very welcoming for me. I didn't have a very good computer at home. It was a computer made of spare parts that my brother helped me to build. It was very limited. Chiptune was the perfect way to get into electronic music. I thought to myself, I can download this free software and I can make music. Putting myself out there online brought me some good things like I met some good friends. The first guy I saw was Pulselooper. He sent me a mail, saying "Oh, you also make chipmusic." He told me that he loved my songs and he wanted to do something together. 

Chiptography: As in a performance? 

Droid-ON: We had no idea. Anything. 

Chiptography: Was he close to you in Brazil? 

Droid-ON: He lived in São Paulo which by plane it's one hour and a half. It's kind of far away. I said, ok, let's keep in touch and see if anything comes up. And then he suggested that I release my songs. They were all splattered around in 8bitcollective. He suggested that I release them with the Mexican label. It was called 56KBPS Records from Chema Padilla. Pulselooper told me he already had released his first gameboy album there and then I was, "Oh my god, really?" He hooked us up. Chema is a very nice guy. He offered to make my first album cover. I suggested to make an album cover like some works from M.C. Escher.

Chiptography: M.C. Escher has a strong tie to psychology, twisting reality and perception. 

Droid-ON: He works with different forms that are there but also not there making it some kind of surrealism. It bends your mind sometimes. Chema made this drawing of pixelated artwork from M.C. Escher, the one with the birds came together. Introspective Bitdance was my first release. I was so happy.

From Introspective Dance EP (2009) 56kbps

Chiptography: At this point, are you still playing with Nancy? 

Droid-ON: Just for a little while. Right after the International tour with Nancy I came back and I wanted to do more. Pulselooper contacted me and everything started to happen a little bit fast 'cause we managed to play together in São Paulo in a chip music festival. It was promoted by a bank there, Itau Bank. It was Pulselooper, Subway Sonicbeat, and our VJ Escaphandro. We got together for a nice fancy festival with a backstage. We could ask for anything we wanted. I did not hold back. "So can I have a drum on stage." and they said "Yeah, no problem. What else?" "Do you have coffee in the backstage?" Again, "No problem. What else?" It was our first gig. Imagine how spoiled we are today. We got encouraged from it. When we got together, we started to talk about making a collective netlabel for us in Brazil. That's when Chippanze was born, playing with the words chimpanzee. It was the name that we thought, oh chiptune, chimpanzee, Brazil, monkeys...  Chippanze- perfect!

Chiptography: What's involved with running a music label?  

Droid-ON: The best thing is to discover new music. We try to release Brazilian acts and chiptune projects but there aren't so many. It was just us for a long while and the best thing to do was to put ourselves out there in the internet and we would get in contact with other artists like Ralp for example. I sent him an email and I said, "Man I love you. You're a genius. Do you want to release something with us?" It was like like that, my first experience managing the label. We set up for him to be very free with what he wants to do so he could feel comfortable and give us anything he wanted. If you want to make the album the cover, you can make it. If you want us to make it, we can make it. We don't have anything more to offer besides promotion and posting online. But it was good. Most of chiptune labels are like that I think.

Chiptography: Which album did he release under your label?

Droid-ON: He released Turboümbra in 2009. It was a very good starting point. We were more complex music, techno, IDM, strange music. Not the conventional chiptune stuff which is all good. I like it but we wanted to do something a bit different. 

Chiptography: More experimental? 

Droid-ON: We tried to make something of our own with our own identity. At the time, I was doing some part time jobs with music also. I would set up the stage for people to play. 

Chiptography: It's very interesting that you were in the music profession of setting up gigs and rehearsal space and you thought that it wouldn't be a viable income so you went and got a degree in psychology and then ended up coming back to music and it started working.

Droid-ON: That was kind of almost like a yoyo. It goes back and forth all the time. At the same time, my friend from psychology, from the university, invited me to go with him to São Paulo to study at a master's degree for Jungian psychology. It was my main field in psychology. He invited me to São Paulo to be his roommate. I thought about it and my friends from the label were also living there. I thought to myself, ok that could be good. I will study and come back to psychology. With a master degree it's easier to get a stable job.

Chiptography: It feels like the universe was bringing you to São Paulo for school but also for your music passion. 

Droid-ON: The two forces of life from psychology and music would be crashing together. I didn't know how the music part was going to play out. Then I got there and there was every kind of people calling us to play. It was the opposite from what I was thinking about doing the master degree. I went to this event called Campus Party where it's a get together of geeks and nerds and people who love technology. It's huge in Brazil. People would camp there. It was like the Woodstock of technology. I managed to do a chip music workshop there.

Chiptography: That's one way of getting more people exposed to it and you never know who's going to be that kid who's like, "Whoa this is blowing my mind" and they're the next chipstar. 

Droid-ON: That was the main thing. You can do this on a shitty computer at your home. I got lucky that some event coordinators from other events were there. It happens that the non-profit called SESC was there. They were hunting people to fill their schedule for what will happen in the year. I got lucky and they called me to make more workshops. After this point, people started calling from everywhere. There was a full schedule to play music and do workshops with a nice income. That was the point when I realized I came to do the master's degree and I'm getting money from music. 

Chiptography: Were you doing your masters at the same time of all this touring and workshops? 

Droid-ON: Yes, for a while. It didn't take too long for me to get out of the masters. I couldn't manage both. It was too much study material and too much travel. Again, I had to choose but it was a harsh choice because the master's degree was important. It was a long term thing but I couldn't lose the momentum that was happening.

Chiptography: I really respect the fact that you were able to to brave about the fact that you were going to dedicate yourself to your music because that's an incredibly scary proposition.. A master's in psychology is stable, safe, and prestigious. You were able to see that this is really coming together.

Poster design by Rafael Nascimento / escaphandro.net / chippanze.net

Droid-ON: That's kind of like it. It made it easier to stop studying 'cause I was doing this master's degree in chip music. Being a teacher and learning more about the systems, doing workshops with LSDJ for gameboy and for famitracker was exciting 'cause you can see the results of people, young people to old people, people with disabilities, girls, boys. For the next two years or I was basically working with the company that provide the workshops. Besides that, we made a Brazilian chip music festival called Nullbits. It was a brief existence, just two editions. It was amazing 'cause the first one we did we got to play with Minusbaby from New York City. He was going on a trip to Brazil to meet with some friends and we got in contact with him and asked him to play with us. There weren't many people to invite so it was the three of us, the VJ and we ended up inviting some people from the workshops. MTV from Brazil went there.

Chiptography: Wow! 

Matéria do Scrap MTV sobre a Nullbits, festa de chipmusic organizada pelos selos Chippanze e Orbe, com participação de Okiru e Minusbaby.

Droid-ON: I was a very nice run in São Paulo. I lived there for about four years. The sponsors were the main provider of my income and they told me that I couldn't play with them for a while 'cause we were starting to have an employee relationship. I could not monopolize what they were giving. I was trying to do workshops in other places, play with other kinds of people, other genres. It was a hard task. I saw that my money was running low so I came back to my parent's house in Brasília. I kept the contacts that I made, the relationships, the influences. I would go back to São Paulo to give more workshops but the frequency decreased and I was trying to make something in my hometown. I can save some money with the fewer workshops that I have and I can try to do what I was doing in São Paulo in Brasilia.

Chiptography: It must have been kind of scary.

Droid-ON: Oh yes, it was. Moving out is always hard and sometimes scary 'cause you don't know what can happen. It's going to change everything again but I was in a safe place 'cause there was my parents and my friends. 

Chiptography: That's really nice that you came back to a very supportive community. 

Droid-ON: Yes, that helped a lot 'cause they wanted to help. I worked again in the music field setting up stages, helping carry amplifiers, that kind of stuff too. I got into the craft beer business too. It was a business of a friend of mine. We would make this automated kegerators where they have a refrigerator with two kinds of beer. You use an RFID card so you can put money on it. You would tap into the sensor and your credit will appear. When you start pouring your beer it would count like a gas pump. So you would pay exactly what you consumed. 

Chiptography: That's really cool because sometimes I don't want a full beer. Sometimes I want half or a quarter or sometimes I just want a taste. Where would you install these? In restaurants or bars? 

Droid-ON: Mostly bars, sometimes at craft beer stores. We would put it outside and we would exchange the beers so there was always a new beer. 

Chiptography: Are you allowed to walk around with beer outside? 

Droid-ON: In Brazil, yes. It's like Japan, you can drink whatever you want. I tried to do the hard work of building the refrigerator, installing the systems and doing maintenance at the bars. We called the system, BrewMe. It's kind of hard to manage craft beer 'cause it's not stable as like regular beer from a can or a bottle. When you take beer that is made from different providers they can get a little messy during transport. It can get lots of foam on it. Our system didn't charge for the foam. It would only charge for the liquid. The maintenance rate was too high. Sometimes the refrigerator would forget to kick the lights on so the refrigerator would stay all night turned down. So when you turn it on again, the beer is bad. We lost lots of beer in the process. 

Chiptography: It's a really cool concept. I think the logistics sounded difficult. How long did you guys work with BrewMe? 

Droid-ON: It lasted about almost two years. It was a good run. At the time I was already planning to come to Japan. 

Chiptography: Tell me about that. I know that involves some backstory with you meeting your wife and falling in love so start from the beginning. 

Droid-ON: I met Mika, my wife, in São Paulo when I moved there in 2010.  She was born in Brazil but she was living in Japan with her sisters. She had a snowboarding accident and had to come back to her family in Brazil to have surgery. She was friends with my third-degree cousin and I met her at his house. We got together after I insisted a lot and we started dating. It was so important in this part of my life where I was getting to know a new city, new friends and it's nice to have someone by your side. 

Chiptography: You had to do a bit a courting. 

Droid-ON: Yes, it was a good training for me. 

Dred and Mika.

Chiptography: Is there a big Japanese population in Brazil? 

Droid-ON: Yes! The biggest Japanese migration is in Brazil. In the past there was a famous ship that was full of Japanese people. The second country with the biggest Japanese descent is your country.  The United States. So we are first in that. Sorry. 

Chiptography: No! Hey! That is absolutely fascinating.

Droid-ON: We traveled together for the gigs. She helped me a lot. There was a time when the workshops and the gigs were running low. I was starting to have a bad time and we separated when I was planning to go back to Brasília and she went back to Japan. We eventually got together again in 2015. She was visiting her parents and her friends in São Paulo and I was going there for workshops and gigs. She called me and said she had some gifts. I was like, "Ou, Japanese candies and snacks!" I think it's a beautiful story. I have no shame telling that. I had my bad time figuring out what to do and in the meantime, she was living in Japan and I was in Brasília. When we went back to our homes we started dating online. That was the way that we kept contact. 

Chiptography: That speaks so strongly about the connection that you two have. When things are changing in your life, of course, it's difficult to maintain those relationships and sometimes you have to lose something to understand the true value. I think you're very lucky that you got a second chance. 

Droid-ON: Me too. It was supposed to happen in a way I think. I was lucky. She always helped me with everything that I wanted to do with music. She loves to dance also. I think she's a person that understands me a lot. 

Chiptography: That's hard to find. 

Droid-ON: I realized that. So we got married on her next visit. 

Chiptography: Wow! That was it. You knew. 

Droid-ON: After our hiatus, I realized that she is the girl. Things in Brazil were not that stable for me to stay there. There was the beer business that was going sideways and there were some gigs here and there but not much. We decided to live here, in Japan. 

Chiptography: You came to Japan about a year ago, yes? That was very soon before Squaresounds. 

Droid-ON: I got the Square Sounds invitation right after I arrived here. 

Chiptography: That seems to me a very good sign that you made the right move. You're being recognized on an international stage. 

Droid-ON performing at Square Sounds Tokyo 2018 with visuals by lazerbeat.

Droid-ON: That's how I felt. It's the new Blip Festival in terms of world presentation. People see it as the place where you can find all the established artists as well as new artists and it was such an honor that James (Cheapshot) called me. I always see myself as not a chiptune artist. I’m more of a chip music artists in that I use my gear which is always portable video games to make my electronic music which can be techno, electro, noise... 

Chiptography: I feel that chip music has such a big umbrella that it does support all sorts of different sounds and methods of making them. It is not a genre. It's like saying guitar music is a genre. Guitar music could be classical, heavy metal, rock, or jazz. There are so many different sounds that an instrument can make so from my point of view, chip music is just the way of producing sound, using computer chips, technology and video game consoles or a type of sound inspired from video games.

Droid-ON: Yes, that's how I feel and how my friends at Chippanze label feels. That's why we keep calling it chip music. 

Chiptography: Not chiptune. 

Droid-ON: When you say chiptune I think in my view that people will put you in a box that you have to play hard, bang your head and dance a lot on stage, which is totally ok but sometimes it can be a rule for younger musicians.. I think they don't need to feel that they have to do this when playing with a Gameboy which is more appealing to do when you're playing a live gig. If you bang your head and make jumps, people will dance with you which is nice but sometimes you want to play some melancholic music, some noisy stuff, brainy stuff, foggy sounds and people have to understand that they can be different. Mostly for newcomers, it makes a difference. It's great nowadays that there is a range of artists. Chippanze tries to distance ourselves from the happy-chip stuff a bit and show a darker side of the diversity. Some introspective music can happen with Gameboys. I want everyone to feel comfortable even though at Chippanze we have releases that are happy-chip music, my first release and some albums that I made on FamiTracker, they have more of a 8-bit video game vibe. Some music is even happy. 

Chiptography: Now that you've been in Japan for about a year, are you still working on music full time? 

Droid-ON: Right now, I'm mostly studying the Japanese language 'cause it can help to get a better job. You have more broad options to work like using English and Japanese for example. I've been doing some part-time jobs, trying some stuff that I completely failed.

Chiptography: What types of industries? 

Droid-ON: I tried factory stuff. I'm not as strong as I thought. I would like to do it but it's very labor-intensive. I tried to load some stuff in construction where you do the light part but it's also, my God, it's very hard. I'm playing some gigs, fortunately. I met some Japanese people that play here in underground parties of electronic music, not chiptune which is kind of cool. 

Droid-ON’s desk in his home.

Chiptography: It sounds like it's a similar time in your life when you had to recreate yourself and you're right in the middle of it. It seems a little unnerving in that you're trying to figure it out all over again but, when I think about it, you've been here before. You did this when you moved to São Paulo. You did this when you moved back to Brasília and now you have a stronger foundation in that you have a steady relationship with Mika and you're established in the music scene so it's exciting to talk to you at this juncture.

Droid-ON: As you said, it's kind of a brutal change that I kind of got used to. 

Chiptography: I feel like you're not scared to jump into the deep end anymore. 

Droid-ON: After you do it the first time and then the second time, you kind of know how it feels and you can get a little more comfortable. Take your pace and learn new things. Here it's the most intense change 'cause obviously it’s another country. 

Chiptography: I’m excited to see what unfolds in your next chapter living here in Japan. 

Listen to Droid-ON’s music on Bandcamp and Soundcloud.

Follow Droid-ON on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Photos by Chiptography © 2020.

scythe

Chiptography: Tell me about your first chiptune experience and what drew you into the scene? How old were you?

あなたをチップチューンシーンに引き込んだ最初の体験について教えてください。当時何歳でしたか？

scythe: Although I knew there is a genre of chiptune from before, SST2016 was undoubtedly the trigger for entering the scene in earnest. I was 21 years old and I lived in the shrine in Tokyo in order to become a Shinto priest. At that time, I happened to get a day off on Sunday for the first time in four years of Tokyo (in the shrine where I was, students were basically not allowed to take a holiday on Saturdays and Sundays). And the day was DAY2 of SST2016 by chance. As Uraboroshi, yukkerom, and Tobokegao invited me, I decided to go to there. I saw KUNIO (and SUPERSTARS), Mega Ran, NNNNNNNNNN, TORIENA, etc. at there and experienced chiptune on a big stage. They all looked shining and I felt chiptune was so cool. It changed my world. Then I made chiptune within that day, and played it at OPEN MIC at Post-party. York, CheapBeats boss, listened to the track and called out to me. Then my chiptune life started.

その前からそういう音楽がある事は知ってはいましたが本格的にシーンに入るきっかけになったのは間違いなくSST2016ですね。当時は21歳で神主になるために東京の神社に住み込みで実習しながら大学に通ってたんですけど、4年間いてたまたま初めて日曜日に休みが取れたんですよね(僕のいた神社では学生は土日に休みを取る事は基本的に許されてなかったんです)。それでその日が偶然SSTの2日目だったので、その少し前からネット上で交流のあったとぼさん(@to6okegao),ウラさん(@uraboroshi),ゆっけさん(@yukkerom)の誘いもあって行ってみることにしたんです。そこでKUNIO(とSUPERSTARS)、Megaran、NNNNNNNNNN、TORIENAなどを見て、初めて大きい箱でチップチューンを浴びる体験をしました。ステージに上がるアーティストはみんな輝いて見えたし「ああ、チップチューンってめちゃめちゃかっこいいな～」と思いました。文字通り世界が変わったんです。それで翌日の後夜祭のオープンマイクでその日の内に完成させた曲をかけて、それがきっかけでレーベルのボス、ヨーキに声を掛けてもらったのが今の自分へのきっかけだと思います。

Chiptography: How did you learn to make chiptune in just one day? What device did you make your first tune on and what software did you use? What was the name of the first track you played at that open mic in 2016?

わずか1日でチップチューンの作り方をどのように学びましたか？ 最初にチューニングしたのはどのデバイスで、どのソフトウェアを使用しましたか？ 2016年にオープンマイクでプレイした最初のトラックの名前は何でしたか？

scythe: Since I was interested in making chiptunes, I already knew some of the unique techniques. I played “Shiden-Issen (紫電一閃)” made with DMG-CPU1.5.sf2. At that time, I didn't think about playing on the real machine.

チップチューンを作る前から興味はあったので、チップチューン独特の技法は既にいくつか知っていました。その時はDMG-CPU1.5.sf2を使った紫電一閃という曲をプレイしました。当時は実機で演奏することは考えてなかったですね。

Chiptography: What instrument did you play when you first started making Chiptune and do you still have it?

チップチューンを作るのに最初に使った楽器は何ですか？まだそれを持ってますか？

scythe: When I first made chiptune, I used Magical 8bit Plug, DMG-CPU1.5.sf2, and Famitracker. In terms of instruments, DMG is my first. Now I use 2xGBC mainly. Of course, I have past instruments, but I have transplanted parts to other GAME BOY, so it is not in perfect condition.

本格的に活動する前はMagical 8bit PlugやDMG-CPU1.5.sf2、Famitracker等を使っていました。最初の楽器という意味ではDMGが最初です。今はGBC2台をメインで使ってます けどね。もちろん今でも過去に使っていた機材は保管してます。でも他のゲームボーイにパーツを移植したりしているので完全な状態ではないですね。

Chiptography: The first time I photographed you was at Square Sounds Tokyo 2018. It’s very impressive that you were first introduced to chipmusic only 2 years prior. How did it feel to perform on the same stage that inspired you?

最初にあなたを撮影したのはSST2018の時でした。たった2年前にチップチューンを始めたというのはとても印象的です。彼らと同じステージでライブをしてどう感じましたか？

scythe: Yes. It was my first time to perform on such a big stage, and I was very happy because it was my wish.

そうですね。あんなに大きなステージで演奏する事は初めてだったし、SSTのステージに立つのは夢だったので本当に嬉しかったです。

scythe performing live at Square Sounds Tokyo 2018.

Square Sounds Tokyo 2018でのscytheのライブ。

Chiptography: What’s the story behind your artist name?

アーティスト名の由来について教えてください。

scythe: scythe is a handle that I have used for more than 10 years. I took it from my last name (Kamada=鎌田, 鎌＝scythe). I have been using it for a long time, so it has become established as another name for myself.

scytheはもう10年以上使っているハンドルネームです。苗字から取ったんですけど (鎌田、鎌＝scythe)、ずいぶん長く使っているのでもう一つの名前として自分の中でも 定着してますね。

Chiptography: Oh! So a scythe is a direct translation of your real last name, Kamada. That’s pretty cool because although Japanese people would have known, I don’t know that English speaking people would make that connection. Did you use this as a nick-name in the last 10 years or did you use it to create other music before chiptune?

ああ、scytheは鎌田からの直訳だったんですね！日本人なら分かるかもしれないけど英語圏 の人にはその関係性は分からないですね。いいと思います。10年以上あなたのニックネームとして、もしくはチップチューン以前の名義として使っていましたか？

scythe: Haha, Good point. I've been using this name since I started the internet. So the name before make chiptune is scythe too.

確かにそれはそうかも笑。インターネットを使い始めた頃からずっとこの名前です。だからチップチューンをやる前の名義もずっとscytheのままです。

Chiptography: How do your family, friends, and co-workers perceive what you do?

家族や友人、同僚はあなたのしている事を知っていますか？

scythe: Yes. I think my parents always support me because they let me do what I want to do. Most of my friends are also active in music (not chiptune), so they know about my activities. co-workers are the same. The president and section manager have my albums.

うん、みんな知ってますね。家族も基本的にやりたい事はやらせてくれる方なので応援 してくれてると思います。基本的に付き合いのある友人は大体チップチューンではないけど何かしら音楽をやっている人が多いので認知はされてます。同僚に関してもみんな僕の事は知ってますね。社長、課長に至っては僕のCD買ってるし笑。

Chiptography: Tell me about your family and where you grew up.

家族の事、あなたが育った場所について教えてください。

scythe: I was born in Sapporo. I grew up there until entering university. My father is also a Shinto priest and my mother was a kindergarten teacher. And I have an older sister. When I was a junior high school student, I listened to my sister's CD until I started looking for music to listen to. There are many Shinto priests in my family, and almost all of the Shinto priests that have Kamada surnames in Hokkaido are relatives. So many lol. So Shinto shrines have always been involved in my life. In a way, it was a natural flow for me to become a priest.

札幌で生まれて、 大学に入るまではそこで育ちました。 私の父も神主であり、母は幼稚園の先生をしていました。あとは3つ上の姉がいます。 僕が中学生だったとき、聞く音楽を自分で探し始めるまでは姉のCDを聴いてました。 私の一族には多くの神主がいて、北海道で鎌田の姓を持っている神主のほとんどは親戚です。本当に多いです笑。 なので、神社はいつも私の人生に関わっています。ある意味、僕が神主になるのは自然な流れでした。

Chiptography: Both your father and grandfather were priests. How far back is the genealogy?　

お父さんとお祖父さんが神主という事ですが、その系譜はどこまで遡りますか？

scythe: I, father, grandfather, grandfather's father.

僕と、父親、おじいちゃん、ひいおじいちゃん。

Chiptography: Four generations! Wow!

四世代！ すごい！

scythe: Since Hokkaido has been pioneering for 150 years, it's about 4 generations. This year is just 150.

北海道が開拓から150年しか経っていないので、たぶん約4世代です。今年でちょうど150年なんですよ。

Chiptography: Just this year? So big celebrations! Did your father want you to work at his shrine in Sapporo?

ちょうど今年？とてもめでたいですね！お父さんはあなたに札幌の神社で働いて欲しいと思っていましたか？

scythe: Yes. Eventually, I'm going to go there. In two or three or 4 years. It's not yet decided. My grandfather also has a shrine so I go to the festival every year. I went to play as a kid, but now I'm helping as a priest.

はい。 最終的に僕もそこに行くと思います。2年か3年、もしくは4年で。まだ決まってないけど。祖父も神社を持っているのでそこのお祭りには毎年行ってます。子供の頃は遊びに行ってたけど今は神主として手伝いにいっていますね。

Chiptography: Outside of chiptune, what are your interests and passions?

チップチューン以外では何に興味がありますか？

scythe: Well... I love eating delicious food. I often cook dishes that I want to eat myself. There seems to be a lot of fun to “make something”, whether it ’s things, music, or cooking.

なんですかね…。美味しい物を食べる事は大好きです。食べたいものがあれば自分で作る事も多いです。物にせよ音楽、料理にせよ「何かを作る」ことに楽しみを見出す事が多いようです。

Chiptography: Food is a passion of mine as well! I also cook a lot at home and prefer it to going to a restaurant. I agree that it feels satisfying to make a meal yourself. There is something to putting the ingredients together and seeing the dish form. I love sitting down to eat when I plate something beautifully.

料理を食べるのは私も大好きです！私も外食より自分でご飯を作る方が多いですね。自分の為に料理をする事で満たされる事には同意します。材料を盛り付けた皿を見ると心に来るものがあります。自分のプレートの上に美しい食事が乗っている時、食卓につくのが大好きです。

scythe: Nice! It’s okay, I’m not really good at arranging food, but I know it.

いいですね、僕は盛り付けは上手くないけどめっちゃわかります。

Chiptography: What is your favorite dish to cook and why?

好きな料理は何ですか？その理由は？

scythe: I like Curry, Spaghetti Napolitan, Omu-hayashi (Hashed Beef and Omelette), Dandan noodles, and so on. Hm, When I answer that, It’s difficult question… I like foods that kids would like, haha.

カレー、ナポリタン、オムハヤシとかですかね。理由って言われると難しいけど…子供が好きそうな物は大体好きだと思います笑。

scythe’s mineral collection. The top two minerals are fluorite. The middle three minerals are blue amber, opal and pyrite. The bottom two minerals are amber (normal) and blue amber. His favorite mineral is blue amber because it glows in different colors when held in different light sources (sunlight, ultraviolet, artificial).

scytheの鉱物コレクション。上段が蛍石、中段は左から琥珀、オパール、パイライトです。下段は左が琥珀、右がブルーアンバー(青い琥珀)。ブルーアンバーは紫外線に当たると青色に蛍光する特別な琥珀で、scytheのお気に入りです。

scythe: Other than that, I like collecting minerals but I'm not so enthusiastic right now because there is no mineral shop near my town. When I was in Tokyo, many mineral shows were held, so I often went there. I also went to the mineral shops in Shinjuku and Harajuku. I feel the romance that nature creates that beautiful stones over a long period of time. I especially like amber, opals and citrines that look like sunsets.

それ以外だったら、最近は買える店が近くにないのもあってそこまで熱心ではないけど鉱物を集めてます。東京にいた頃はミネラルショー(鉱物の即売会)が定期的に開催されていたのでよく行ってました。後は新宿や原宿の鉱物屋にもよく行ってましたね。自然が長い時間をかけてあの美しい石を作り上げる事にロマンを感じます。琥珀やオパール、シトリンみたいな夕焼け色をした物が特に好きです。

Chiptography: We call mineral collecting “rock” collecting although I like the way it translates to “minerals” here because the word “rock” doesn’t sound beautiful. Do you keep your minerals displayed in your home so you can enjoy them? Do you have a favorite mineral in your personal collection?

鉱物を集めるのは石(＝ロック)収集と呼びますが、石という言葉は美しく聞こえないため、ここでは鉱物(ミネラル)と言い換えるのがいいでしょう。鉱物観察を楽しむ為に家にしまっておくのですか？ またあなたのコレクションの中でお気に入りの鉱物は何ですか？

scythe: Yeah, basically it is housed. My favorite is blue amber. A special amber that reflects blue when exposed to ultraviolet light. It looks like a sunset sky depending on the angle.

そうですね、基本的には家にしまってあります。一番好きなのはブルーアンバーですね。紫外線に当たると青色に反射する特別な琥珀です。角度によって本当に夕焼け空の様に見えるんです。

Chiptography: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

小さい頃なりたかったものは何ですか？

scythe: From the time when I was a child, there were so many shrines nearby that I could see my future. When I was in elementary school, there was a time when I wanted to be a carpenter (a shrine specialist carpenter) rather than a shrine lord. I've always loved crafting since a long time ago.

これも小さい頃から神社が近くにありすぎてなんとなく自分の将来が見えちゃってましたね。小学生の頃は神主よりも宮大工(神社専門の大工)になりたいと思ってた時期がありました。昔からやっぱり工作とか好きでしたね。

Chiptography: I never had the opportunity to speak to a Shinto Priest before! What does a shrine lord do and what other types of jobs are possible at a shrine?

今まで神主と話す機会はありませんでした！ 神主は神社で何をしていますか？

scythe: I bet. We clean up shrine, make shinsen (food for god), pray for peace and security of the nation, perform a purification ceremony, and so on. And recently I often write goshuin (red stamps).

でしょうね。普段は神社の掃除とか神饌を作ったり、国の平和を祈る祭事や祈祷をしたりしてます。最近は御朱印とかも結構書きますね。

Chiptography: How did you become a Shinto priest? What do you do every day?

どうやって神主になりましたか？毎日何をしていますか？

scythe: In order to become a priest, there are two ways to complete or receive training in two universities in Japan, but after graduating from a university in Tokyo for four years, I obtained a qualification and then worked at a shrine in Tomakomai. As the time of New Year and annual festivals approaches, we are busy with preparations, but during peacetime, we pray at shrines, write red stamps, and go to visits when building houses.

神主になるにあたって日本に2カ所ある大学を修了するか研修を受ける方法があるんですけど、僕は東京の大学に4年通って資格を取得した後で、苫小牧の神社に奉職しました。正月や例大祭の時期が近づくにつれて準備に追われ忙しくなりますが、平時には神社で祈願をしたり、御朱印を書いたり、後は家を建てる際のお祓い等に出向いたりしてます。

Chiptography: I imagine it’s fulfilling to have a career that you’ve seen a path for since childhood. Were there any challenges with getting into school? How long were you in school?

子供の頃から見てきた職業に就くことにはやりがいを感じると思います。入学するのは大変でしたか？またどれくらいの期間学校にいて、授業のやりがい等はありましたか？

scythe: I don't think there was any difficulty in school life. Rather, training at the shrine was more difficult… I worked at a shrine at noon and went to university at night, so I went university about 3 hours a day for 4-6 days a week. In fact, I was not a very serious student, especially after being inspired by chiptune lol. I often went out of class and went to Akihabara to buy parts for modding, and most events are basically from the evening so I skipped classes.

学生生活自体はそこまで大変じゃなかったと思います。むしろ神社での実習の方が大変でしたね…日中神社で働いて夜に大学行って、大体1日3～4時間で週に4～6日とかでしたね。　今思うとそんなに真面目な学生ではなかったです、特にチップチューンを始めてからは笑。よく授業を抜け出して秋葉原に改造用の部品を買いに行ったし、大体のイベントは夕方からだから学校もそれなりにサボってました。

Chiptography: Do you live close to the shrine? Do you live with family, friends or by yourself? What is your home like?

神社の近くに住んでるんですか？家族や友人と暮らしてる？それとも一人暮らし？家はどんな感じですか？

scythe: Ya, within 10 minutes walking distance from work. I’m living alone. But I often meet yukkerom and ryota because they live in the neighborhood. We go to the gym together every week. I live in a one room of the apartment. It doesn’t have any special features...Oh, I hang illustrations that are drawn by Illustrators I like on the wall.

うん、神社から歩いて10分かからない所で一人暮らししています。でもyukkeromとりょーたが近所に住んでるのでよく会いますね、毎週3人でジムに行くので。アパートの一室に住んでます。特に特徴があるわけではないけど…あ、部屋に好きな イラストレーターの絵が貼ってあったりします。

Chiptography: What are the names of the illustrators that made the illustrations on your wall?

壁のイラストを描いたイラストレーターの名前は何ですか？

scythe: Eri Kitamura (@hoshieri7), Narume (@narumeNKR), Sacha (@sch_39), HAKURO (@Ha96), masuno (@masnodon), Pecota Pechka (@PPechka)…

北村英理(@hoshieri7)、なるめ(@narumeNKR)、左茶(@sch_39)、HAKURO(@Ha96)、鱒野(@masnodon), ぺこたぺちか(@PPechka)…

Chiptography: There was one in particular that made album artwork for you, yes?

特にアルバムのアートワークを作った人がいますね？

scythe: Exactly! Eri Kitamura made artwork of “Nighty Night Stories”, and Narume made “Mirage Diary” art too.

そうです！えりさんにはNighty Night Storiesの、なるめさんにはMirage Diaryのアートをそれぞれ描いてもらいました。

Chiptography: Your Gameboys also have illustrations on them. Where these also created by the same illustrators?

ゲームボーイにもイラストが描いてありますが、 これらも同じイラストレーターによるものですか？

scythe: That’s right. They were drawn by Eri kitamura and HAKURO.

そうです。これはえりさんとHAKUROさんに描いてもらいました。

Chiptography: You showed me an alarm clock you made out of a Gameboy. This is very cool. What inspired you to make this? Do you make any other items?

ゲームボーイで作った目覚まし時計を見せてくれました。 これはとてもクールです。 これを作るきっかけは何ですか？ 他に何か作っていますか？

scythe: Thank you. While I was modding Game Boys, I had a surplus shell so I thought it could be used for something. At the same time, an official Game Boy-type alarm clock appeared, but I liked analog clocks and thought about making it.

ありがとう。ゲームボーイを改造する中でどうしてもシェルが余ってしまうので何かに使えないかなと思って。ちょうど同時期に公式でゲームボーイ型の目覚まし時計が出てたんですけど、アナログ時計の方が好きだし作ってみようかなと思ったんです。

Chiptography: Where do you see yourself in 20 years?

20年後には何をしていると思いますか？

scythe: In terms of work, I think I'm back at the Shinto shrine in Sapporo. I'd like to get married before that, but lol. Because I haven’t had a girlfriend for a long time... When it comes to chiptune, I would like to continue in some way. Now we are preparing to make a chiptune using a Sufami chip. Recently, I have been making LSDJ commentary videos, holding a chiptune competition, and creating a site that archives the waveform memory of Game Boy titles. I don't have the skills to host a real event, so I would like to help and increase the number of people who start a new chiptune.

仕事面では札幌の実家の神社に戻っているとは思います。それまでに結婚とかしてればいいですけどね笑。長く彼女もいないので… チップチューンに関していえば、是非何かしらの形で続けていきたいと思っています。今はスーファミのチップを使ったチップチューンを作るために準備しているところです。最近はLSDj解説動画の作成、チップチューンコンペの開催、ゲームボーイタイトルの波形メモリをアーカイブするサイトの作成などをしてきました。リアルでのイベントを主催する技量はないのでそういう面で新たにチップチューンを始める人を増やしたいし助けになりたいと考えています。

Chiptography: What is the name of the website that archives waveform memory of Gameboy titles?

Gameboyタイトルの波形メモリをアーカイブするWebサイトの名前は何ですか？

scythe: GB waveform archives. But I'm busy now and can't update the site.

今は忙しくて更新出来ていませんが…

Chiptography: Do people from around the world use your site?

世界中の人々があなたのサイトを使用していますか？

Scythe: I don't know.

うーん、どうでしょう。

(scythe went into the data analytics for his website to view where users are located.)

(scytheはユーザーの所在を調べる為にウェブサイトのデータ解析に行きました)

Chiptography: (Reading from the analytics) Japan, US, France, Ecuador, South Korea, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Brazil! Beautiful!

(解析を読み）日本、アメリカ、フランス、エクアドル、韓国、ベルギー、カナダ、デンマーク、ブラジル！すばらしいです！

Scythe: It was more than I thought.

思っていた以上に見てくれてましたね。

Chiptography: What are the biggest life-changing elements you walk away with, having been involved in the scene and it's people.

シーンとその人に関わってきた中で、人生を変える最大の要素は何ですか？

scythe: It's difficult. In my case, I think it was a live performance's impact. I think it's more important to see with your eyes than with words, listen with sound, and feel with your body. Although I'm not good at speaking myself, I always want to be able to convey something with expressions that are not words. And all that is left is to make good friends.

難しいですね。僕の場合はやっぱりライブでの衝撃だったと思います。言葉よりも目で見て、音で聴いて、体で感じる事が大事なんだと思います。僕自身喋るのが得意ではないのもありますが、言葉ではない表現で何かを伝えられるようになりたいとは常に思っています。後はいい友人を見つける事ですかね。

Chiptography: I totally agree. For me, the live shows bring such an incredible amount of joy and I am often also left speechless. That is why I make photographs. I am moved by the live performances and I want to make images that capture my experience in a subjective way. I want to show the beauty and excitement that I see during those live performances. You are a very creative person who experiences the world deeply with all 5 senses: sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch. When you are performing or attending a live performance, all of these senses are stimulated. I think you and I are very similar in this regard.

全くその通りです。私にとっては、ライブは大きな歓びを与えてくれるし時々言葉を失う事もあります。それが私が写真を撮る理由です。ライブパフォーマンスに感動し、それを主観的に捉えた写真を撮りたいです。自分の見たライブの華やかさや興奮を見せたいです。あなたは五感全てで世界を深く感じ取るとても創造的な人です。演者としてライブにいる時、また観客としてライブを見ている時の両方でこれらの感覚が刺激されています。その点では私とあなたはとてもよく似ていると思います。

scythe: That's right at all.

全くその通りです。

Chiptography: Have you traveled outside of Japan?

国外に旅行したことはありますか？

scythe: Not yet. I want to perform abroad someday and want to meet more chiptuners!

まだないですね。 いつか海外でライブをしたいし、もっとチップチューナーに会いたいです！

Chiptography: where would you go?

どこに行きたい？

scythe: Square Sounds Melbourne. First I have to get my own passport… There are many festivals around the world.

スクエアサウンズメルボルンかな。まずパスポート取らなきゃダメですね。世界には多くのフェスティバルがあります。

Chiptography: There is a lot going on in Europe also! Get that passport and meet me there.

多くはヨーロッパでも開催されています。パスポートを取ってそこで会いましょう。

scythe: Nice. I want long vacation.. Going abroad takes many time.

いいですね。長期休暇が欲しいです…海外旅行は時間がかかるので。

Chiptography: I understand. My wish is to photograph you performing abroad one day.

わかります。いつかあなたが海外でライブする写真を取りたいですね。

scythe: Thank you! I wish it come true.

ありがとうございます！そうなるといいですね。

Listen to scythe’s music on Bandcamp and Soundcloud.

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Photos by Chiptography © 2019.