Q: How did you get so passionate about music? There was a time when you stopped playing wasn’t there?
RK: At first I thought, it’s just music you know. It’s something that sounds nice, that’s pretty and nice to listen to. Then I met Jordyn--an old baby sitter who started my musical journey. And it felt like, playing music was so much more than what people made it out to be, you know. Or maybe I’m just a little crazy but--when I play it’s like I’m not myself anymore. I’m not some shy boy who comes off as abrasive, that’s bad with words and bad at talking to people. It felt like for once I could connect to people and they got me. It felt like everything I couldn’t say or didn’t know how to was at the tips of my fingers. And then I just--played you know.
-pause-
When Jordyn died, it felt like the music died with him for a while. And, it was the weirdest thing, my mom and I aren’t close, which is fine. She’s’ a really busy and important lady, but she took time off and spent it with me. Spent it trying to get me to go back into the noise, as she called it, started randomly banging my drums when I was around. She tried--and I didn’t feel lonely anymore. I felt like I had a sea of people waiting for me to get back out there, to keep playing. It felt like for the first time, my mom got me, and if she could get me, everyone could--even if I couldn’t express what I had to say in words directly. And since then it felt like, if I can’t play music, I can’t speak.
Ryan Katsumoto.