State-X/New Forms komt er al heel snel aan. Op 15 en 16 december is het weer feest voor je x-perimentele zintuigen. We geven je alvast een voorproefje hoe x-traordinary het festival gaat worden. Dat doen we door een aantal artiesten/acts te belichten die daar gaan optreden. Als tweede in de reeks stellen wij Takaakira"Taka"Goto, gitarist van Mono, aan je voor: Give a short describtion of your band/act. What kind of music do you make and why have you ever chosen for this? “We are MONO, an instrumental 4-piece band from Tokyo. We want to create emotional and cinematic music.” What if you weren't making music, you were... ”Making films.” Have you ever heard about the State-X/New Forms festival? Do you like anything about the line-up this year? ”Yes. We are simply very excited to be able to play right after Sonic Youth on the same stage.” State-X/New Forms stands for X-Plore, X-Plain and X- Pect. What's X-Plore, X-Plain and X-Pect to you? ”To believe that music can change our life, our value of life.” Are you planning to do something special at this festival or is every gig the same and of course special? ”The festival is going to be our last night of this MONO 6-weeks long Europe tour and it’s going to be our last live show in 2006 as well. So we’d like to make the night a nice celebration.“ What was the weirdest gig ever? On what do you waste most time before, during or after a gig? ”In Rome, when we entered into the highlight of the first song, the entire houses electricity was dropped and cut out completely. Sudden silence and darkness made us all unusually excited. In Providence in the US, a murder happened across the street of the club during the set. When we started the last song, the police officers rushed into the club with the guns shouting move! We had to stop the show and cancel the rest. When we are on the road, everything is a sort of routine work; drive-sound check-meal-gig- sleeping. It goes on forever. Usually nothing special happens.” Do you have special needs or habits before a gig? What do you like to do best after a gig? ”I can’t think of anything. After a gig, we are all so exhausted. We just want to go straight to bed to fall asleep.” Being a musician...How does that influences your eating or sleeping pattern? ”We spend about six months touring, a lot of travelling. Often I wonder where I am when I wake up in the morning. Language is different from country to country. So is food. Although it’s a routine life, everyday is different and fresh.“ If you were someone else for a day, who would you be? And why? ”President Bush. I’d stop the wars.” Can music have influences on politics and why? ”I believe music can convey the most important sympathy among people, even though it cannot change the politics directly or practically cannot stop the wars. As a musician myself who is in the position to be able to express my view and opinion in public, I would like to say that war is senseless. I’m Japanese and have lived in Hiroshima, the city the first atomic bomb was dropped and still suffering the radiation contamination. So I hope I can tell my message by introducing some stories of Hiroshima. As you know, I have made the music inspired by Hiroshima, too. I would never want to fight with my friends or our fans who live in different countries, different cultures of different languages. Whatever the reasons are, we must not repeat any war. I strongly believe so.” Finally, what more do you need to say? ”We are looking forward to seeing you soon!”