Thanks guys!
Here's the full interview if you fancy a read:
Where did the idea for the project come from? Where you looking for a subject to write music about, or did Shenmue just inspire you to create something?
For a long time it's been an ambition of mine to create, compose and produce my own concept album, since a young age I have been a big fan of The Who, listening to Pete Townshend's rock opera's Tommy and Quadrophenia. Later on down the line I also discovered other 1970s progressive rock groups such as Pink Floyd and Rush, with their concept LP's The Wall and 2112 which really inspired and motivated me. When I was around 14, I had an idea for a Shenmue based project 'Shenmue The Musical' but considering my musical ability at the time and the theme itself just seemed tedious and cheesy, I quickly canned the project. One night earlier this year, I had a brainstorm telling myself that I need to create a concept album. Initially I was going to conceive my own fictional made up story, but however being a huge fan of Shenmue and all the excitement of Shenmue III becoming a reality, I gathered it would be a great idea to take the subject matter from the first game and write songs based on most of the essential and important cutscenes in the game and Shenmue: The Movie.
When did you first play Shenmue 1&2? / what's your history with the game? (If your email address is 1994, you can't have been very old when it first came out...) Did you love it instantly?My parents bought me a Sega Dreamcast console for my 9th birthday, a friend of mine recommend Shenmue. I got a copy for Christmas and I fell in love with it instantly. At the time I never discovered a game like it, I was in total awe with the in-depth virtual reality, it was like a second life in Japan to me. Since the first day I played it, I've been obsessed ever since then.
What is it you love about the game? What makes it so special?I find the storyline quite mesmerising, a young man on his quest to avenge his fathers death would make an awesome movie, but to have it in a playable form and virtually live his life is really quite special too. As I mentioned before I love how in-depth it is and the attention to detail. There is so many extras, mini-games and side missions. Like going to the You Arcade to play some 80s Yu Suzuki classics, or purchase some cassette tapes from the Tomato Convenience Store to have a listen to. I found it amazing how you can interact with all the characters, he has friends and there is also a romantic side to the story with Nozomi, which was a great inspiration to write a love song ballad about. You also have a job driving a forklift and you can ride a motorcycle, it's so action packed with all the free battles and QTE sequences too. In my opinion, I never really found a dull moment in the game. I know a lot of people would argue with me regarding that debate though. Shenmue also got me interested in Japanese culture and martial art films, a couple of years ago I wrote a song called 'Flight To Tokyo' which was based on a dream I had about having a romantic holiday over there.
I love the games, but I can see why they flopped — long periods without action, you have to get a menial job, you have to be home on time. What would you say to people who think the game is boring? Do you find any of it boring?I suppose the forklift job at the harbour does drag on a bit, although it is exciting and impactive on the days you run into thugs while working and you have to fight them. The forklift races were always a gas too! It was more Shenmue II I had an issue with, I f**king loathed airing out those books at the Man Mo Temple after awhile! Carrying the crates with Delin use to grind my gears also, the voice acting was bloody horrendous! I suppose some of Ryo and Ren's sneak in invasion to the Yellow Head Building got a little bit repetitive at times as well, on that note crossing the wooden planks to meet Yuanda Zhu at the Ghost Hall Building was a frustration and a half at times.
Why is it the sort of game that you can write something like a whole album about? Would there be any other games that could inspire you to do this?Well initially my intention was to write just a 20 minute progressive rock opera movement, based on the story in a nutshell. Though after writing all of the lyrics and then I started putting the music to it, I realised it was actually going to be the length of a 50 minute LP. As Shenmue is so epic anyway, it would have been impossible to cram the story of the first game all into a 20 minute composition. Any other games would possibly be something like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, though I can't really see that happening at this moment in time.
Who is your favourite character in Shenmue? Favourite moment? Other things you really like?Good question! I'll be obvious and say Ryo Hazuki, the hero and the protagonist. Though I also really like Ren in Shenmue II, he's a really cool character and so is Gui Zhang. Nozomi is one of my favourites as well, she would be my ideal quintessential girlfriend if I was to meet someone like her in real life hahaha! In fact considering they are animated, I find the majority of the female characters are pretty sultry! I am sure a lot of the fellow Shenmue fan geek's would agree with me on that one. Spoiler alert here for those who haven't played Shenmue II, but I think my favourite moment in the game would be the rooftop fight at the Yellow Head Building, when Lan Di arrives in the helicopter and Don Niu is defeated by Ryo, however I absolutely hated fighting Don Niu, I found that free battle an uber-pain in the backside. It seemed to take forever to beat him, but that cutscene at the end of it makes up for it with all the panoramic views. It is so intense, when I first experienced that part in the game, I actually thought Ryo was going to have his showdown with Lan Di there and then. The scene after Ryo rescues Nozomi from The Mad Angels in the first game cuts close though, when they are riding on the motorcycle together, I think I got goosebumps when I first saw that scene! Other things I really like would be too much to talk about, though however a few honourable mentions would be the forklift races, playing darts, gambling and talking to the drunken man at night time on Dobuita Street, the dialogue with him I found hilarious. I also enjoyed phoning friends and of course Nozomi, the more you would ring her on the telephone, the more articulate their conversations would get, you could really sense her love and devotion for Ryo.
What are your musical influences? What artists have influenced the album in particular, and why are they a good fit for Shenmue? (My Destiny in particular reminds me of the Manic Street Preachers...)Predominately The Who, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Jeff Buckley, Meat Loaf, Guns N' Roses, Thin Lizzy, Pink Floyd, Journey and of course Manic Street Preachers. It sounds pretentious I know but I very much tried to channel their musicality and fusion all their styles in these songs, there is some obvious elements and similar chord progressions of Stairway To Heaven in 'The Death of a Sensei' I was definitely trying to capture that vibe. A song like 'An Amulet of Acquiesce' (Ryo and Nozomi's love ballad) was massively influenced by 'Two Out of Three Ain't Bad' by Meat Loaf and 'Faithfully' by Journey, which some people might notice as the melodies are pretty relevant and the overall atmosphere musically. With the instrumentation writing methods, I was mostly heading down the prog rock route, experimenting with irregular time signatures, chord extensions, polyphonic textures, arpeggios, dual guitar harmony parts and all the sort of key essential things you'd expect in prog rock music. As I mentioned before about Shenmue being so epic, I thought writing the compositions in a prog rock style would be a good fit, I couldn't really imagine for a theme like Shenmue being in standard and basic pop/rock songs. 'My Destiny' was indeed inspired by Manic Street Preachers, with a soupçon of Rush and Thin Lizzy (With the dual lead guitar harmonies) Ryo's departure song 'Goodbye Yokosuka' was also inspired by the Manics and 'The Rain Song' by Led Zeppelin, I was really going for that bitter sweet melancholic kinda sound.
If Shenmue was a band or an album, who/what would it be?That is hard to allocate, I would say Asian Kung-Fu Generation as they are from Yokohama, Japan and they have some good songs. They are kind of like a Japanese version of the Foo Fighters in my opinion.
Did you contribute to the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter? What are your hopes for the game? Can it recapture the magic?Being a typical musician, unfortunately I had financial issues at the time and I couldn't really afford to donate to the Kickstarter campaign although as much as I wanted to. I'll surely make up for it though once the game is released. I'm hoping it will have the same magic as the first two games, as we all know it's been over a decade and judging by the beta prototype footage they have given us so far , it is going to differ a lot in graphics and possibly gameplay I reckon. I imagine it will have a slightly different feel, I have high hopes some of the classic characters will return, I know there has been a lot of conspiracy theories and fan-fiction about it over the years on the fan forums.
What other games are your favourites? Do you love them as much as Shenmue?I also love the Grand Theft Auto games, Crazy Taxi, Splinter Cell and Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. Nothing compares to Shenmue though, that is my most favourite video game of all time. I had to pay homage to it with this rock opera.