An interview with Tomo From RHEDORIC

JROCK NEWS was lucky enough to interview Tomo from RHEDORIC at the in-store signing, greet and meet event held at Cure Magazine Store, XENON in Los Angeles. For readers who are new to RHEDORIC, the high energy rock band consists of members, Yuji (ex-Carat) on Vocals, Guitarist Tomo (ex-Deflina Ma’riage), Guitarist Yuuske Suga, (ex-12012) and Bassist Shigure (support bassist of Kamijo).

The band was started by Yusuke Suga in January 2012 and the group marked its debut on August 5, 2011. On October 14, 2015, RHEDORIC joined Universal Music Japan, releasing the second press version of the bands first full album Jiggy. It has also been announced that Naruka (ex. Carat) has officially joined as the new drummer. Special thanks to Japan Culture Creation Inc. who made it possible for this interview to happen.

Please introduce yourself and the meaning behind the concept of your band for our new visitors.
Hey everyone my name is Tomo from the band RHEDORIC. I am the leader and guitarist of the band. Our bands concept is to be the “one and only” style of music, which cannot be categorized into specific genres.

The music you create really has an attitude, which to me feels like a signature that only RHEDORIC can bring. How would you describe this signature sound of yours?
Thank you. That is very true and it’s great that people can hear that from listening. Well, it could be the guitars that could be loud but clear at the same time, the deep bass-line that supports the roots of our music, and the rhythms that are very upbeat to create the moods. Another point that creates our sound is that we calculate our mix and blending of our sounds very precisely. Then the addition of the unison for an example, the symphonic melodies, piano, and electro. Combining all this, at the final stage, the kick of its attitude pushes out probably.

How does your creative processes generally look like when composing new music?
That’ll probably depend on who wrote the song. For example, when I write a song (demo), I take it to the band and we all create the first look together by building it up. If Yusuke Suga makes the song, each band member will arrange only their part of the songs. Those two ways are probably how we compose new materials.

Which artist or band has been the most influential to you as an individual, throughout your entire career?
It’s a secret [Laughs].

RHEDORIC has recently re-released the album Jiggy, could you tell us about the concept and ideas behind this release?
Simply, the only thing we all had in mind was to make and release our first music. After we released the album, many fans and people around us asked us to release the album in a different way again. This was because our first press had been sold out and became unavailable to purchase after they sellout.

Which is your favorite track from this album and why?
Guilty. It’s the lead song of the album and I personally think that this song has all the good parts of RHEDORIC within it. It’s very meloncholic, but on the other very upbeat. I think that’s what I like about it [Laughs].

Do you have any future plans you would like to tell us about?
We’ll be releasing our new mini-album Garyou Tensei on December 23. I don’t know if I can say… oh what the heck! It’ll be released digitally in Japan as well as the States and all around the world at the same time! I think we’ll do something in LA again… maybe with all the members? Stay tuned.

Are there any songs you particularly like to play during lives? Why?
I like to play our song WAKE UP, STAND UP and Possibility. When we play this song at every show, all the audience there has the best face on them!

For the budding musicians on our website, do you have any advice for them?
To set and keep a precise goal and to strongly believe in it. Also, do not lie to yourself. Keep your imagination, expression, and accomplishment by action. Other than that, you must keep loving me [Laughs].

Would you like to leave a message for our readers out there?
Thank you for your time for the interview and the readers reading this interview.

We will move forward with strength so I would love for everyone to keep the pace with us and follow along. If you haven’t heard RHEDORIC’s sound yet, it would be great if you can take your time to listen, even the digest or sample clips available on our sites. Surely we will not make you guys regret.

and… I love you all!