• YAGO – Vocals and Guitar• MITSUKO - Guitar• FUSA - Drums • TAE - Bass“I love GiToGiTo HuSTLeR! They rock hard! They’ve been on the scene before there was a scene. And they are sexy!” said Darius Young. He was one of about one hundred lucky people who came to experience the music of GiToGiTo HuSTLeR live. Darius was very right. The entire show was JAMMIN’! There was not a moment when one of them was not banging their head, dancing across the stage while playing, or getting close to the edge so that they could be near the crowd. They smiled during the whole concert while working up a sweat and not missing one string, one drum beat or one lyric. Animefood had a chance to interview GiToGiTo HuSTLeR after their performance at the Beat Kitchen located at 2100 W. Belmont, in Chicago September 19, 2007. We sat on the floor of a private party room upstairs and talked casually. They were all dressed in red with black rocker boots. Masa my interpreter/co-interviewer and I were not sure what to expect from this band of girls who rocked so hard on stage. We took out our recorders, our papers, pens, smiled and said, “We are ready to begin”. By the end of the interview, they had us grinning and laughing so much that I wasn’t sure if we were just old friends catching up or if I actually worked for a magazine and had a job to do. Not only were they adorable, the manager was just like them… lively and amazing. The first thing Masa wanted to know? What was the funniest thing they have experienced in America so far? All of them at once chimed in together, “Speaking English!” We laughed and asked them to elaborate. “Bacon we say ‘back on’ and for curry rice they think we say ‘carry out’!” They laughed and YAGO told us a story. “Every time we ordered something to drink, something different came out. When we order Blue Ribbon beer, Blue Moon or Red Bull is brought to us.” They all fell out in laughter and chatted among themselves remembering those moments. “Where did you want to go when you came to America?” YAGO laughs and then says seriously, “I want to go to Seattle to see the Chocolate Factory. You know, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?” Masa laughs and I ask, “It is a real place?” Then they laugh. “It is real!” FUSA says “I want to see Ichiro Suzuki from the Seattle Mariners baseball team!” TAE chimes in, “I want to see wrestling!” She flexed her arms like a wrestler and made a mean face. MITSUKO’s eyes brightened… “Disneyland! But we also wanted to go to White Castle. We went there to eat and got a scratch off card with our order. We won! We won thirty free White Castle burgers. So we are going back to White Castle before we leave here to rise to the challenge.” GiTo GiTo HuSTLeR originally was GiToGiTo Hunter in 1995 when they first formed. GiTo GiTo in Japanese means a greasy, fat person, and Hunter was to… well… hunt them. So GiToGiTo Hunter meant, hunting greasy people. The manager told Masa and me that one day she went on stage and accidentally announced them as GiToGiTo HuSTLeR… For some reason, the name stuck with everyone. They changed their name to GiTo GiTo HuSTLeR. I asked them about their inspirations for wanting to start a band. “We were not really inspired too much music-wise by Americans, but… Americans always drink on stage!” TAE imitates drinking. YAGO speaks right after her, “In Japan, you rehearse, get dressed, perform on stage then go out to drink. In America it is more natural. We love the U.S.!”With all the drinking going on, we wanted to know if they write on tour. The two sisters, YAGO and FUSA say together “Noooooooo tiiiiiiiiiiime!” YAGO continues, “All we do is drink and eat… the main part is eating!”What exactly inspired them to play rock music? YAGO says her parents. “My Parents listened to the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and The Go-Go’s… Joan Jet is cool-solid, and since we are girls, we wanted to put that girl-part in our music. So our music has some pop and girlishness like The Go-Go’s.”We shift on the floor and the waiters bring them up some food. They look at the food and shout in a singsong voice, “Moooore Po-ta-toes! We always have potatoes with everything in America!” So I ask them, “What is the difference between being a girl band in Japan versus the U.S.?“In America they say we are so cute and there are so many different age listeners and musicians. In Japan the listeners are mostly teens and twenties. And the popular musicians are really young.” YAGO says with a smile. “But we love music so if it is good we are happy.”“Do the guys in Japan really like your shows?” MITSUKO laughs. “Not really at all! But it doesn’t matter. We hope we can inspire girls to play in a band too.” I raise my hand. “Ok I am ready!” So what do they value most? “Fuuuuuuuun and laaaaughing.” They sing. MITSUKO smiles and says, “When we die, we want to die in a way where people laugh at it. In a way that is so crazy that people laugh and say, ‘Oh my God how does someone die like that?’”The anime they watch? TAE and FUSA both say, “Doreman!” MITSUKO: “Dragon Ball Z!” YAGO? “Gundam!” How about Manga? “Osamu Testuka!” they all shout.“We have something to say to you readers of Animefood! Thaaaaank you Animefood! EAT A LOT and MUCH ROCK AND ROLL! Wooooooooo!”
Thanks to Gito Gito Hustler! check out their website: |
