Matt Kaufman: Musical background?

Aaron Ackerson: I've written music since I was 16. I mainly play keyboard, but I can also play guitar and violin a little. I also played some of the percussion on my CD. I majored in music at Columbia College, studying composition. I've done several remixes, including one of the worldbeat artist Atman for his remix album, India Club & Lounge.


MK: How long have you been making music and writing songs? 
What instruments do you play?

AA: I've been writing music since I was about 16. My main instrument is the keyboard, but I can also play guitar and violin to a limited degree. I also played some of the percussion instruments on my CD, though I do not claim to be a percussionist.


MK: Who are some of your musicial influences? 

AA: One of my big influences is Beck. His bizarre, stream-of-consciousness, often humorous lyrics have had an effect on my writing. Also, the image that he put forth for the Midnite Vultures album was at least part of what inspired my Sexiest Man on Earth concept. 

Moby has also been an inspiration, in the way that he jumps between various musical genres. On Everything Is Wrong album, you'd have one song that's a new-agey instrumental, one that's techno, one that's punk rock. It almost sounds like every song on the album is by a different artist, but at the same time it's pretty cohesive as an album. I was going for that same kind of eclectic cohesiveness on my CD.


MK: How long did it take you to record your CD? Did you do
it all yourself? What equipment did you use etc?

AA: It took a little over a year for me to make my CD. All the songs are my own, most of which I had already written while I was in college. I had other musicians perform on many of the tracks, but most of what you hear is stuff that I played, sang, or sequenced. I recorded almost everything at home on ProTools and I did all the mixing. Afterwards, I got it mastered at a professional studio. Also, I got some remixers, including a fairly well known IDM/hip-hop/industrial artist called Cex, to do three remixes as bonus tracks.


MK: How long have you been interested in Japan?  Why?

AA: Why Japan? I really can't say. If you count Japanese cartoons and video games, I've been interested in Japan since I was a child. In the early 90s, Dave Barry wrote a book called Dave Barry Does Japan, which was basically a chronicle of his family's Japanese vacation. The content of the book was decidedly pretty lightweight, but I found it fascinating and I read it multiple times, fantasizing about what it would be like to actually go some day. In my high school and college years, I got more and more into Japanese console RPGs and cartoons. It was also during my college years my ever-growing interest in all things Japanese expanded to include an intense attraction to Japanese women.

Eventually, all this fascination with Japan grew to the point where I knew that I would not be content with just wondering what it would be like to live here, so I started learning Japanese and I successfully applied to the JET Program through which I was able to get work here as an English "teacher."

Though there are some things I don't like about living and working in Japan, such as the apprehension and condescension that I am treated with on an almost daily basis, moving here was one of the most positively life-changing decisions I've ever made. It has given me a new perspective on Japan, the U.S., myself, and the world, a perspective that I never could have had if I had continued living in my own country. While nothing is set in stone, I could see myself living here indefinitely. 


MK: How did you put the your band together in Japan? Was it
difficult finding musicians/singers etc?

AA: Luckily, during my first several months here, I made the acquaintance of some musicians who I was able to assemble into a band. Knowing some Japanese made it a lot easier to find people. I would also imagine that gaijin factor has helped me at least a little bit.


MK: Who is Space Cat?

AA: In "The Artichoke Song," I refer to myself as "Spacecat." This is a reference to my internet nickname, which I got from an old Saturday morning cartoon series called SpaceCats, which was made by Paul Fusco, the same guy behind ALF. It was only on for one year, and it apparently never got much of a following, but I loved it. It was one of those rare kids' shows that didn't underestimate the intelligence of its audience. And it had Charles Nelson Reilly in a memorable role.


MK: What is your obsession with Canada?

AA: I like to poke fun at Canada because since the American and Canadian cultures are so similar, being an American and making jokes about Canada is a tongue-in-cheek way of pointing out the futility of always thinking of things in terms of "us" and "them." Also, my lyrical references to Canada neither paint the country in a necessarily positive or a negative light.  I just put it there in the middle of a surreal pseudo-narrative that people can project their own expectations onto. The reactions to my lyrics that I've gotten from Canadians have ranged from being offended to feeling honored. If anything though, I mean it as a tribute.


MK: You're the only person in the history of music to rhyme
"artichoke" with "baroque" and "Cherry Coke" Give me some
background on how you wrote the song...

AA: The story of "The Artichoke Song" is probably not as interesting as the song itself, but here it goes: In my second year or so of college, I composed a keyboard fugue for a counterpoint class, a section of which later became the song's music. Later, I got the idea to combine the baroque-style piano music with old school hip-hop beats, and the lyrics are mostly non-sequitur rhymes sprinkled with obscure allusions to various geeky preoccupations such as internet culture, video games, and science fiction.


MK: Matthew McCoughaughey was recently chosen People
Magazine's Sexiest Man on Earth for 2005. Are you worried
about the competition?

AA: If I'm not mistaken, the People Magazine's yearly feature is actually called "The Sexiest Man Alive." In fact, for a while I was actually planning on titling my album "The Sexiest Man Alive," until one day I saw an advertisement proclaiming Vin Diesel to be People's Sexiest Man Alive. I decided then to change the title to lose the People Magazine associations.

I meant the whole concept as a tongue-in-cheek joke. I'm skinny, awkward dork, and at the time I had never had much luck with the ladies. So to refer to myself with a semi-straight face as The Sexiest Man on Earth, and have this album cover where these girls are fawning over me was intentionally ridiculous. Googleing my own name however, I have found that not everyone realizes that I don't take myself that seriously. I've seen posts on internet forums where people have been like, "What? This guy thinks he's sexy?!" and they're totally missing the point. But on the other hand, I'm glad that my music has actually made enough of an impression on them for them to take the time to write those comments, rather than just getting bored and forgetting about it.

But anyway, to answer your question, I feel no competition from Matthew McCoughnahoughnawhatshisname. I don't put much stock in People Magazine's ability to determine who is sexy.  I mean, ever year they say a different guy is the sexiest. What does that tell you? Did last year's guy lose his sexiness? Or did this year's guy get that much more sexy? They're just being wishy-washy. Besides, I'm clearly the sexiest.


MK: What's it like performing live in Japan?

AA: The whole concept of a "Live House" where YOU have to pay THEM when you have a gig was something I had some difficulty accepting. But I've found that once you've made some connections, you can start to get some better gigs.

One time I played at an outdoor festival in Japan where I had one of the coolest experiences I've ever had playing live. This festival had many different kinds of music including some more traditional stuff, so the people who came were all different ages. During my performance, an elderly man came on stage, perhaps wanting to get closer to my female backup singer, and danced there throughout my set. That is easily easily one of the highlights of my musical career.


MK: Any new projects you're working on?

AA: I've been writing and recording several new songs for a new album. So far it's shaping up to be a bit of a concept album about Japan, but it might take a different direction after I've written more songs. Unlike my last album where I had already written most of the material before I started recording, this one will be all new material. I don't want it to be a collection of leftovers that weren't good enough for my first album. I'm not the most prolific writer, so it's kind of a slow process, but hopefully the next album will be done some time in the next year or so. 


MK: A few words about Dr. Demento...

AA: I've been a fan of the Doctor for a long time. His radio show is refreshing in that presents artists who have a humorous or quirky approach which is all too often missing from mainstream music. I love Nine Inch Nails an Eminem as much as the next guy, but I think all the seriousness in popular music needs to be balanced out with more stuff thats just unashamedly silly.

When I finally finished my album, I wasted no time in sending it to Dr. Demento, but I wasn't really counting on it getting played. Later, he actually wrote back to me and said it was one of the best albums he'd received that year and he appreciated both the more "demented" songs and the classical-influenced instrumental pieces. He ended up playing three of my songs on his show, some on multiple occasions. It was a pretty unbelievable feeling hearing my music played on nationally syndicated radio. 


MK: Feel free to add anything else...

AA: I urge everyone to do all they can to Keep God out of Canada.