Q023:
Buddhist ideas and imagery seem to guide the philosophy of AMT. For instance, the track 'Psycho Buddha' off New Geocentric Worlds, and the use of terms like Aum, Mu and zen in the other albums and track titles. Are you particular strong Buddhist believer or is it a natural product of your Japanese heritage? Masaki Batoh was also heavily into religious energy in his music, for instance Ghost's Temple Stone album recorded at different temples. Have AMT ever attempted to use such energy or tap into the 'sound' of temples and holy places directly? You once wrote music for 100 Shingon Buddhists. Do you plan anymore religious compositions? Do you use many Buddhist musical motifs in the AMT sound that the western audience might not be aware of? I know you use many traditional instruments. Is this purely for sound and texture or is there any religious significance in their use?
There seems to me to be a very crucial dynamic to the music that revolves around the Buddhist principles of Yin and Yang. Your music seems at first chaotic, dense and super-sensory. But I remember when I saw you play live that after awhile I was overcome by a sense of calm and greater tranquility, as if the noise had gone to the extreme which was the same as silence but opposite. At the peak of chaos and freakout is tranquility. Do you think a Yin/Yang idea of opposite exists in the music you play? Do you ever play the music deliberately to achieve this kind of harmony?
A023:
Firstly, I am not a follower of Buddhism. I have no beliefs that connect me to any organised religion. The only thing I believe in is the cosmic principle. Of course, as a clue to that principle and also as an element of philosophy I do partly believe in things like the "cycle of reincarnation" and the "four ways of being born and eight divides" (which is one branch of yin-yang). When I was a kid, I grew up in Nara and that environment gave me a love of looking at Buddhist statues and designing and drawing my own versions. And also, since I was born in Japan I suppose that there is some deep subconscious part of me that still carries around a Buddhist value system. The AMT track titles have absolutely no meaning. At most, they're kind of parodies or jokes. For me, song titles are nothing more than a convenient label.
I don't see how just by recording at temples you can bring a religious energy into the music. You talk about tapping into the energy at temples and other holy places, but for a non-believer like me, just where would such "holy places" exist? If someone was genuinely interested in that kind of energy then they should become a priest. Music, particuarly rock, has no need of meaningless imposed values like religion or magic. The very fact that someone tries to apply them to music is evidence enough to me that that person is not to be trusted. "My" music may indeed have come through my hands, but as I pointed out before it is sounds from the cosmos that I tune into. It is not something that I have created, nor is it self-expression. Religion was originally an attempt to explain the cosmic principle, so for me who is a believer in the cosmic principle itself, all religions are totally useless. They are no more than a record of priests and holy men of the past.
I have indeed composed a piece of music for 100 Shingon priests, but I only accepted it as a piece of paying work - there was no religious or devotional meaning to it for me. And so, there is no way that I would plan to do any more religious composing. The only reason I use ethnic instruments is because of their tonal palettes. When I attempt to reproduce the cosmic sounds I hear, the greatest problem is the tonal colour. So I am constantly trying out new instruments and trying to come up with my own new methods of playing them.
During our performances, especially live performances, there is certainly a sense in which we aim to arrive at a region of tranquility beyond chaos. Always uppermost in our minds is the necessity to atune ourselves to the particular vibration of that particular time, that particular space, and that particular audience. Once we've done that then sounds rain down on me from the cosmos like a swarm of shooting stars. If I keep up reproducing them moment by moment then the sound gradually moves towards chaos. But once we go beyond that, we encounter a silence and tranquility as if light and time had melted together. We don't deliberately search for this area, it's as if the music guides us there.
As for your question about prayer, none of us ever pray. Prayer is the same as waiting, and we prefer to throw ourselves into the midst of things, rather than wait. Besides, as the saying goes, things will only ever be the way they were meant to be. And as someone else once said, there'll be no one to pick up your body once you're dead.