INTERVIEW:Â HONE YOUR SENSE
Pulp Magazine 2015
Heavy and catchy is generally a winning formula with heavy music, but unlike most of their peers, Tokyoâs HONE YOUR SENSE infuses their combination of deathcore and melodic death metal with a generous helping of shuffle parts that are hard to get out of your head. Having graced the stage of holy grail metal festival Wacken Open Air in Germany, and supported Canadian heavy hitters Cancer Bats in their homeland, itâs due time for an international introduction.
FORMATION AND EARLY DAYS
HONE YOUR SENSE was formed in 2006 at a part-time job, when Satoshi Matsushima (bass) spotted Kenta Baba (guitar) reading a metal magazine. Upon learning that he was a guitarist, the two, plus the drummer at the time, began jamming in the studio for fun.
Before the advent of Japanese social networking giant, Mixi, fans exchanged information on the different message boards of their favorite band. The pair found second guitarist, Kosuke Matsuzaki online, who joined the lineup as HONE YOUR SENSEâs second guitarist a year later.
2011 saw the unfortunate departure of the bandâs original vocalist, but opportune timing allowed the position to be filled a year later by Toru Bara, Kosukeâs good friend and former cover band-mate from way back, whose previous band had broken up. This was once described by Satoshi in a previous interview as what he felt was the bandâs true start. Why?
SATOSHI: I honestly think heâs a great frontman. He has a good presence and aura. It felt like, âAh!! This is it! Heâs the one!!â the first time we invited him to join us in the studio. Heâs like the icon of the band. Also, we didnât really have a leader-type figure so it affected our mentality a lot.
KENTA: After all, I had a lot of experience and agree that it would be good to have a leader type presence. The bandâs aura totally changed thanks to big brother, no⌠father hereâŚ
HONE YOUR SENSEâs newest and youngest member, Takuya âPicassoâ Nakata (drums), was recommended to them by former support drummer (and current Crystal Lake support) Gaku Tauraâs friend. Though officially announced in October of last year, he was already filling in for the shows Gaku couldnât play at.
EVOLUTION OF SOUND
Upon comparison of the bandâs initial demos and EP with more recent offerings, they appear to have gone from a very deathcore and death metal approach to one with more melody injected into it.
KENTA: This wasnât an intentional thing, though. We never set out to purposely make a melodic death record. It was more of us (Kosuke and I) just writing songs that we liked, and if someone said, âOh, this is cool!â weâd try it out.
Kosuke is adamant the composition process itself is unaffected by lineup changes as the main songwriters have remained constant throughout. But with Baraâs prodding that âthis story is so undramatic you probably canât use itâ, he adds that their âprevious drummerâs departure led us to recruit a good vocalist and drummer, whose skills allowed us to expand our musical range.â
A strength most characteristic of HONE YOUR SENSE is the ability to write songs that are catchy and easy to listen to, while simultaneously retaining the pure, brutal and riff-heavy essence of metal music.
KOSUKE: I donât think everything can be packed in a single song. With a 12-track album, you can probably appreciate the extent of what we cover, but in my opinion, you wonât get the whole picture if you only pick up or check out one song on its own.
BARA: Yeah, thatâs why there are deathcore-influenced, catchy, melodic death metal, and shuffle songs. So if you listen to the album as a whole, youâll get a sense of various things mixed together⌠which is what we were aiming for. So I believe those two donât purposely go in with the mindset of âletâs make songs like what we already have!â I think our unique style has been successfully reflected in the album because we try and mix things up.
KOSUKE: Because itâs the same person doing vocals, even though thereâs a mishmash of styles, thereâs still something keeping it consistent.
BARA: With stuff like vocal inputs and live performances, everyone emphasizes the crowd pleasers and audience engagement. We have a lot of patterns catered to a live audience, in order to convey things like, this the violent part, this is the melodeath part, jump up and down⌠I think we do songs uncharacteristic of a metal band. Thatâs probably because each member is open minded and the type that would go, âthatâs interesting!â, rather than âthatâs a bit different, maybe we shouldnât do itâŚâ
KENTA: Weâve never gone into the studio to write songs together. Kosuke and I compose and record the guitar and drums, vocals are recorded over, then Satoshi and Picasso learn to play them by copying the demos.
When asked to pick a single song that defined their sound, all members agreed that the fourth track off their album, Absolute Senses, Â âThis Chaotic World Is Overâ was the closest thing to an all-in-one that included the greatest variety of styles â from deathcore and shuffle, to rock ânâ roll, melodeath and even a guitar solo. Satoshi named âLast Man Standingâ a close second â where the shuffle parts in an otherwise typically metal song let the bandâs uniqueness come through.
INFLUENCES
Pantera clearly held the vote when it came to naming their individual influences.
KENTA: The hard rock band Extreme, because I like Nuno Bettencourt. Iâm heavily influenced by them.
KOSUKE: Older Megadeth (imitates guitar sound), from the first to fourth album. I like their guitar work.
SATOSHI: Pantera and Korn.
PICASSO: Pantera, Machine Head, I guess.
KENTA: Lots of Pantera, eh?
SATOSHI: Rhythmic PanteraâŚ
BARA: I like them a lot, too.
KENTA: I donât listen to Pantera at all. I think theyâre cool, but Iâm just not influenced by them in any way.
As a band rooted in traditional metal, but appeared on an even ratio of metal and hardcore/metalcore lineups, I wondered if they preferred the former over the latter.
SATOSHI: No, we donât really have a preference. Thatâs why weâll play with all types of genres â whether itâs to metal fans or loud rock kids.
BARA: We want all sorts of people to listen to us, so we play all kinds of shows.
KOSUKE: Although we like bands like Megadeth, Pantera, and Extreme, we also like other kinds of music. There are a lot of metal musicians who only listen to metal but weâre not really that type.
BARA: I like BâZ, and sing their songs a lot at after-parties. I like hip hop and RnB as well. I played the taiko drums in elementary school.
KENTA: Really? This is the first Iâve heard of this!
PICASSO: Bara likes anime songs, too.
KENTA: We all like anime, itâs really extensive. I like games too⌠Anything, really.
KOSUKE: The influence of video game music is definitely recognizable in the songs I write. Melodically, I like the instrumentals on game soundtracks, so thatâs probably something that comes through.
FROM LIVE HOUSES TO WACKEN
Unlike the resounding, âPanteraâ to the question about influences, everyoneâs answers and reasons varied when it came to their favorite songs to play live.
BARA: âLast Man Standingâ is a lot of fun for me.
KENTA: âBusterâ.
KOSUKE: I also like âBusterâ, or âRay Of Lightâ⌠because theyâre fairly easy. [all laugh]
KENTA: I like the hype songs like âLast Manâ but theyâre kinda hard to play! âBusterâ is hard but easy to bang your head to.
KOSUKE: Thatâs why⌠You know how âBusterâ has that tricky part? Thereâs none of that on âRay Of Lightâ so my favorite song to play live is probably âRay Of Lightâ.
BARA: You know, if I was a reader, Iâd be like, âwhy is Hone Your Sense this kind of band (that says stuff like, âI like it because itâs easyâ)?â [all laugh]
SATOSHI: Mine is âWe Aim To Be The Sameâ.
BARA: I also considered that one. The combination of the vocals on it, plus everyone singing, âWE AIM TO BE THE SAME!â back at me is a great feeling.
PICASSO: The most fun for me is definitely âLast Man Standingâ. There are lots of drum breaks, and the drum parts are really hard, butâŚ
KOSUKE: What a cool guy, he enjoys playing hard songs.
PICASSO: âŚthe tempo isnât that fast, and the fusion in it is unusual. I also like Black Lotus because of the way it gradually takes hold of the crowdâs attention, they really watch closely.
This is met with a resounding âWHOOOAAAAAA!!!â
KENTA: Black Lotus is one Iâm not fond of playing at all, because itâs very difficult.
PICASSO: I donât particularly like it because itâs hard, but the way the song gets everyone pumped up at shows makes it worth playing.
One of their claims to fame is having won Japanâs 2012 Metal Battle to represent their country at the worldâs biggest metal festival, Wacken Open Air in Germany.
KOSUKE: We definitely learned a lot, but more than anything else, it was thrilling and we had so much fun. It was the best.
SATOSHI: I was really in awe that it was really happening â we were playing Wacken. âWe definitely canât stop nowâ, I thought. It was insane and we want nothing but to play again!
BARA: I woke up tired and hungover from drinking too much the night before. On my way from the tent to the toilet, it was only morning but there were people drinking and making a racket. From afar, I saw Satoshi and a German womanâŚ
SATOSHI: I think she was Russian, or somewhere around thereâŚ
BARA: ⌠and while sleeping, he was licking her boob with a pierced nipple, like this. [all laugh]
KENTA: Satoshi is probably the one who had the most fun there.
SATOSHI: Rock n roll, man!!!
KENTA: Satoshi was definitely the most ârock ân rollerâ. During the festival, he was hardly ever around. The few times youâd run into him it was like spotting a burglar, he was having way too much fun. Youâd bump into a drunk Satoshi and heâd like, âthanks for your hard work!â, or like, âoh, thereâs a moshpit over there now!â and heâd be dashing off somewhere again.
SATOSHI: Other than on stage, I used all my energy as part of the audience, too.
KOSUKE: Right, we each went to watch the bands we wanted to see.
KENTA: We were all over the place.
BARA: Since we could go backstage, we were able to talk to and meet many artists, like members of Unearth and Suicide Silence, including Mitch! It was three months before he passed away. he was having a beer and I got to take a photo with him!
KOSUKE: In general, we got to talk to heaps of our favorite bands.
âŚAND BEYOND!
Individually, each memberâs aspirations do not differ too much, with the general consensus being a shared dream to âbecome a band that tours all over the worldâ â naming America, Europe (particularly Germany), Asia (âWeâve only been to Taiwan, so we want to go to other places too), Â and (for Satoshi) âsomewhere there are many party girlsâ, as well as to âplay shows every dayâ as a full time musician in large places and festivals. In line with plans for a new album (currently writing) set for release next winter, there were mentions of wanting to âput out a release every year, and even write a tenth albumâ.
SATOSHI: It took us about 6 years to release the first album. I want to seriously write music more, and have it distributed not only in Japan but overseas too. Iâd like for HONE YOUR SENSE to become a band that goes about our musical activities more earnestly.
KENTA: We want to go to the Philippines, too.
KOSUKE: Weâll do our best to be able to go there, so listen to our music! Please check out our releases, come to our shows. Weâll be waiting!
BARA: If you have any interest in Japanâs metal scene, feel free to come along!










