Mikoto Band
Oswalda Shutte
Orange County's Mikoto just released their new album, We Are The Architects, the followup to their 2005 self-titled album. The band's vocalist Ray Harkins spoke with our own Sarah El-Hamzawi about the recording of the album and what the band has been up to.
It seems like people are really interested in how bands create and act in the studio and how that whole process goes. Bands can be either really secretive and not let anyone know what they are doing, or they do it the complete opposite and let fans be a fly on the wall and see everything. For me personally, I have nothing to hide, and we wanted to let people in and see just how hard the process can be. Hardcore has never been about building barriers, but rather breaking them down. We want to let people know that they can do the exact things we are. Being so open about our writing and recording is also a way to hopefully inspire some people.
Yeah we did. We basically had an entire record written and although we have been talking to labels, we were in a weird position because a lot of us work in the music industry and it was as if people were afraid to approach us because they thought we could take care of ourselves or that we just knew too much. Finally, we just decided to take it in our own hands so we started asking people we knew, our parents, and we went in there ourselves and recorded a record. The record should have definitely cost us more than it did, but we were just relying on a lot of people we knew to pull us some favours in the studio.
There were definitely times where it seemed hard. Up until three or four months ago we thought we would be putting out the album entirely on our own, but then we got a lot of interest from Torque Records. With the way that the music industry operates these days, it was just so much easier to get our music out to a wider audience with a label. Regardless, we were just creating this record for ourselves and then if we were going to release it ourselves we would want to keep it as cheap as possible and try and get help from as many people as possible.
Beau from Saosin produced your new album, and you guys seem to be quite happy with the outcome. Were you ever concerned that someone with a musical background so different than yours might have a different stylistic direction?
Me personally, I love working with him. I know there were times where our guitarist Matt had some difficulty doing vocals with him just because they had a difference of styles. There was a point where I was a bit concerned, but overall Beau does such an incredible job. Beau records in a very relaxed atmosphere and he is never trying to motivate you or push you to the point where it breaks you down. Beau definitely has a bright future in the musical production world, and I was real happy with him.
Both of the songs you have released online seem to convey a sense of optimism during times of strife. Is this a recurrent idea throughout your album? What kind of experiences inspired your writing?
There are a lot of hardcore and punk bands that stick to a theme of being really angry and pessimistic about all the shit going on in our world. Why do you think it is important to show kids that there is hope, and that maybe they can do something about it?
Facial Similarity: Now, I have mild facial agnosia so I'm really bad at recognizing the differences in faces, but so many other people have said that they do look very alike so I don't think I'm just seeing things here
Mikoto-sama's denial: Mikoto-sama has actually denied these rumors in an instagram post where he tagged a post with "I'm not Uehara Daishi" [私は上原大史ではなく] "I am Mikoto-sama" [命様だ], see below for evidence
While it's a mild and tame rumor that isn't shocking, my main point of bringing this here is that I'm wondering what Mikoto-sama has to gain from hiding his identity (if he is)? The result of some weird NDA? Other than keeping the bandoman magic alive or or trying to keep ZIGZAG's authenticity (as a Shintoist religion rock band?), I don't see a point in not talking about it, other than maybe he's worried that ZIGZAG will be seen as a lolecksdee alter-ego band for his lord-type caricature when it's actually his main project and he's just moonlighting for WANDS.
Oh, I see! So Mikoto-sama was Sasaki, and appears to also have been Daisuke, but there's no solid link between those two identities and Daishi. Daishi might be a fake name because Daisuke's name is very similar to Daishi (Haihara Daisuke and Uehara Daishi), but that isn't confirmed.
If they are merely relatives, that would make this a less complex situation. They would obviously be two different people and maybe Mikoto-sama wouldn't want to be nepotistic towards Daishi, or maybe vice versa by mentioning/promoting him.
As the person who belatedly brought this to the foreign limelight and who as also spent a ridiculous amount of time listening to Ray C, Otoiroha, and ジグザグ, I'll see if I can clarify some of your points.
I find them pretty much identical if you put them side by side with Otoiroha pics. The distance from the chin to the lower-lip, jawline, etc. He's put on a little more weight (healthy btw) since Otoiroha (which is why he might appear differently.) I had a good comparison image in my initial status write-up, but it appears to be broken right now. If you want something more definitive, his left lateral incisor tooth is identical (and the rest of his teeth.):
Trying to piece together what I wrote before, it is rumored in the time between Otoiroha and Zigzag that he was scouted by Daikō Nagato (former Being Group CEO and musician) for his indies-era voice. He's credited on a ZARD tribute album and participated in some music festival in 2018 prior to being inducted into WANDS (also from Being Group.)
Also attesting to this, since I've posted a large chunk of Zig Zag's earlier live-limited discography on YT, I'm able to view analytics and comments... There was an absolute flurry of viewership + comments in February indirectly mentioning WANDS which confused tf outta me. Comments ranging from older women who were 90's gya having rekindled interest in vk to how good his vocals are in Zig Zag. Other videos have comments stating how handsome he is and how he should stick with WANDS, etc.
Also attesting to this, since I've posted a large chunk of Zig Zag's earlier live-limited discography on YT, I'm able to view analytics and comments... There was an absolute flurry of viewership + comments in February directly mentioning WANDS which confused tf outta me. Comments ranging from older women who were 90's gya having rekindled interest in vk to how good his vocals are in Zig Zag. Other videos have comments stating how handsome he is and how he should stick with WANDS, etc.
Thank you so much for your hard work! This is the answer I needed and was looking for, it's thorough, well-researched, and passionate. So he really is doing this because he doesn't want ZIGZAG to be seen a novelty/alter-ego/poser indie band to something more mainstream like WANDS... It's great that ZIGZAG's getting more attention from this rumour but unfortunate that some of it rides merely on WANDS' success/popularity and not the talent of ZIGZAG itself.
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the GazettE [ ガゼット - Gazetto ] is a visual kei rock band of formed in Kanagawa in 2002. The band consists of five members: Aoi [ rhythmic guitarist ], Reita [ bassist ], Ruki [ vocalist ], Kai [ drummer ] and Uruha [ guitarist ]. + here
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Meet Greed Culture, a new hardcore band from Southern California. The quartet formed in 2022 and features vocalist Dave Rodriguez, formerly of '00s band Scars of Tomorrow, and guitarist Martin Diaz, who was a member of Mikoto and recently has been playing shows in Beyond Repair, aka the original Throwdown lineup.