On one perfect Florida night on March 22nd, the band Kaonashi got to open for the amazing Kim Dracula, who put on an amazing show, along with Hanabie, who had the audience jumping up and down with excitement. However, the focus here is the opening band. These guys have been together since 2012 and they are heavily influenced by all different genres and sounds. The way the band works together to create a unique sound and the dynamic these guys have are untouched. These guys were nice enough to sit down with AntiHero Magazine to discuss new music, the story behind the music, and upcoming projects that the band has coming up.
“If you look at a painting and you feel unsettled or uncomfortable, that artist did the right thing. That’s where we’re at.” – Pao
Scottie: All right. I am Scottie with Antihero Magazine. I’m here with Kaonashi, who just played a killer set at the House of Blues in Orlando. Before we get started, just go ahead and introduce yourself, say your role in the band.
Peter Rono: My name is Peter Rono, and I sing in Kaonashi.
Alex: My name is Alex, and I play saxophone in Kaonashi.
Pao: My name is Pao, and I play drums
Alex: I don’t play saxophone. I play guitar. I was lying.
Pao: Oh, sorry.
Scottie: Oh? You had me fooled. [laughter]
Scottie: The first thing I think that is most important, you guys just released a single on the 27th of February. The one thing that I want to know is, where do the characters take in these new songs? I know that you spoke about Taylor and Morgan and, who was it, Jamie?
Peter: Yes.
Scottie: Well, there was one more, right?
Peter: Casey, yes.
Scottie: Casey. I know that each of the albums have had them looking in on each other. I know that you guys are really inspired by Coheed and Cambria. Great band. I know that’s where the concept was born. How do the characters evolve in the new music?
Peter: I feel like they evolve in the sense of, we’re giving more light on their background. It’s not so much where they’re going, it’s where they came from. ‘You know what I mean? I think giving them context of why, answering those kinds of questions, just makes the past releases make more sense.
Pao: There’s a lot of reprisal stuff in the music that correlates with the characters. If you think about the song Taylor, that was Jamie meeting Taylor on the bus for the first time. Now we get to reintroduce Taylor as a character on this full record. It just puts a new perspective onto all the characters.
Scottie: Cool.
Pao: The whole thing was, there’s a point to the reason why we laid it out this way. We gave you the what, which is typically in tragedies, especially across media and stuff, you only get the what and you’ll never get the why. It’s like crazy stuff happens. We gave everyone the what, like what happened, but we never told you why. Now, we’re finally telling you why.
Scottie: Oh. It’s just another piece, essentially?
Pao: It’s the final piece.
Alex: We’re going to explain the– each of the records is the past record. There’s one called Dear Lemon House, and that one’s about the senior year for the characters. Then there’s The 3 Faces Of Beauty, and that’s junior year for the characters. Then, the Second Chance At Forever is sophomore year. This upcoming record is going to be Taylor’s freshman year at Lemon House.
Scottie: Oh, cool. All right, team.
Alex: We’re working in reverse order. Anything you hear that’s a reprisal is like a flash-forward story.
Peter: Rather than a flashback. Yes, right? It’s like this is where, instead of it, the idea, textually, it’s not a reprisal, it’s very technically. This is the first but yada yada yada. You get it.
Scottie: Yes. Absolutely. Listening to the newest single, it seems to me that you guys have taken a little bit musically of each album and crammed it together to find the best version of yourselves. Would you guys say that’s the case? If so, how was the writing process compared to the previous?
Pao: Bro, you nailed that on the head like a hammer striking that fucking nail. We all collectively feel that this is all elements of everything we’ve ever done, from the start. Before I was even in it, start to finish. It’s also more…
Scottie: Yes, I remember how much you worked to get in the band.
Pao: Oh, I worked real hard to get in this fucking band. It’s easier. From Native to now, everything, there’s a bit of everything in the record. There’s still even newer stuff that we’re unveiling. That’s crazy. That’s awesome that you heard that in just two tracks or one track because the next track you’re going to hear is not at all like the last track.
Alex: Even a good bit of why it feels that way is we’ve had the plan for this T.A.Y.L.O.R freshman release since we did the Dear Lemon House release. There’s a lot of riffs and songs and styles and stuff that we wrote forever ago, and then we were like, “That’s going on the T.A.Y.L.O.R record.” It is an amalgamation of all the past years of our life.
Peter: Yes, and we plan for it. It’s not just happenstance. The way we write and stuff, though, is happenstance. We have ideas and goals, but we really just write on the spot a lot. It’s been like that since Why Did You Do It? There’ll be some stuff that’s pre-written before we go to the studio– shout out to Evan for dealing with us– but we will write a lot just at the studio. For example, Humiliation Ritual. Literally, there was no song. There’s no demo. Literally, me and Alex, just like I looked at Alex through the window-
Alex: Through the window, yes.
Peter: -and we just had an idea, and then we just went for it. We did it once. It was too short, so we just did it again. That’s it. It was one take. That’s it. There’s no song.
Peter: There’s no song. There’s no riff. We’re just like, “Let’s just jam.” The drums and vocals are all one take. The guitars had to be quad-tracked and stuff, but the drums and vocals in that song are just one take because it was just the most solid one take.
Alex: Yes.
Peter: It was literally like there’s no demo. There’s no song. We just wrote then. When we’re recording is when we’re writing most of the time, which is– it’s bad, but–There are some bands that have this model of how they work where they’re like, “Let’s write 25 songs and then pick 12. We’re not that kind of band. We form our songs around what needs to be on the record at that time.
Alex: I like to compare it to clothing where you can just get something off an H&M rack and 20 other people are wearing it. That’s a lot of other bands, but that’s not us. We’re like custom-made clothes from a weird cloth that’s cut a specific way. I don’t write songs and just throw them out. It’s like I write those lyrics the night before for that song. They don’t exist in any other context but this one song. It doesn’t make sense in anything about Kaonashi.
Pao: One thing about– Kaonashi has literally zero b-sides.
Alex: We’ve never thrown a song away.
Alex: We have literally never thrown away. Ever. If a song is being thrown away, it’s really just being saved for a later record. We’re like, “Oh, this still needs some work. It could use some stuff. Let’s work on it as we progress.”
Scottie: One interesting thing that I think is awesome with you guys is you guys make music that focuses on things that people can relate to while also telling a story through the music, through the lyrics. What do you think the most challenging aspect is to creating a concept, to follow that concept, but also continuously making music and lyrics that people can relate to?
Alex: I’m good. You go for it
Peter: I’m not going to lie. I feel like I don’t really have a challenge with that. It’s more so the challenge of explaining how I feel. I can write a story all day. ‘You know what I mean?
Scottie: Yes.
Peter: It’s rooted in reality. It’s not hard for me to think about reality. I’m sure you’re just saying how I feel on paper. It’s like what I’m putting on that paper needs to be the most concise. Is that the word?
Alex: Yes.
Peter: Just the clearest thing. That’s why I just straight say, always in the bathroom, always in the kitchen. Something that anyone can relate to. Trying to make something that anyone can understand, I feel like that’s the challenge. As far as making a story, I feel like it just comes naturally. I’ve been doing it for almost 10 years now. It’s the only way I know how to write.
Pao: The story, I don’t think, is the hard part. I think it’s being understood. We’re just 100% being ourselves. That’s easy. That’s all we ever want. I think it would be, I don’t know, harder to– I don’t know. ‘You know what I’m trying to say?
Peter: Yes.
Pao: It’s like every song is telling a story of some sort. We’re just being a little bit more deliberate about when and where we’re using it.
Peter: Like Exit 2, that was before the concert. That was 2016. That’s a story of someone going home on the train, and there was this party that was going on. I was writing stories even before we had a concept. It’s just being understood, trying to make it digestible and literal, and just basically writing a novel.
Alex: There’s enough weird sci-fi space opera concept records. We want something that’s more literal. We draw a lot of inspiration from Drug Church. A lot of that dude’s lyricism is just like he’s just talking. It inspires me a lot.
Peter: Yes, absolutely.
Alex: I feel like a lot of us, not even a lot of us, as if there’s a lot, all of us, the band, we didn’t have– I don’t know. It’s hard for us to talk– I can’t talk about space. I can only talk about the shit I lived through. That just came naturally to us. Realizing we’re all from different backgrounds, and we all have similar things that we’ve experienced. The story is an amalgamation of things that have happened to all of us. Peter, honestly, is just really good about how to spell it out and making the lyrics really mean something
Scottie: Yes, for sure. Peter, I was watching you in another interview. Obviously, your vocal delivery is vastly different than anything you hear in the industry. The quote that you gave was, “I scream because I’m mad.” Is your vocal delivery representative of the character’s feeling a lot of the time? They’re screaming because they’re angry. They’re trying to make a point, not just make– as you called it one time, you hated monster noises. How did you even teach yourself to do that type of vocal delivery? It’s fucking awesome.
Peter: Thank you. Honestly, it’s so vague. I just remember someone somewhere in 2009 was like, “The way you scream is like talk like Marge Simpson towards the roof of your mouth. I don’t know why I was like, “Oh yes, I’m going to do that. I just did. I just loved these high pitched vocalists, The Number Twelve Looks Like You and the Blood Brothers. I just went for what I liked. I was just trying to imitate what I liked. Then that’s gone. I don’t know. I started getting into more hardcore and stuff like that that was very expressive. I was like, “Oh, this guy isn’t screaming to sound crazy. He’s screaming because he’s mad about something.” I’m mad about something. That’s where the style came from, was just expressing myself. There’s entertainment, and then there’s expression.
Alex: Thinking about if you’re stuck in a fire or something like that, you’re going to be screaming. You’re not going to be doing the typical metalcore vocalist like-
Scottie: Oh, yes.
Peter: “Help me. I’m stuck right now.” ‘You know what I mean? Like–
Scottie: No.
Peter: “I’m on fire.
Alex: Exactly, you’re just going to fucking scream.
Pao: I wouldn’t.
[laughter]
Alex: We just try to steer away from all that shit.
Pao: I’m burning to death.
Alex: Yes, exactly
Pao: Oh, I’m fucking scared right now.
[laughter]
Peter: That’s not what it would sound like. I’d scream like– If I’m saying, “Shut the fuck up,” I’m going to scream the way I would if I was mad at somebody.
Scottie: I did hear some gutturals in the set, though. They do come out when you feel they’re necessary. I did hear those gutturals.
Peter: a little bit of Spice Icons, Foul Carnage, but–
Peter: Yes, that’s what I did. Yes.
[laughter]
Peter: Yes. The majority of it is like that expressive scream. That’s another thing. Just like getting older and just making music for so long, felt like doing something different. It’s always changing. I never thought I would be like, oh, do lows or something like that. I was just like it just calls for it. I feel like the music just fits it, ‘you know?
Alex: Yes. A lot of our favorite bands, people fucking hate their vocals. Coheed and Cambria is our favorite band. Everybody hates them. At the drive-in, everybody fucking hates them. It’s like brothers. Yes, so like the fact that people are jarred or steered away by that kind of stuff, that means that we’re doing something right. There’s something unique and fun about us that people don’t understand, and that’s fun.
Pao: What’s that quote? Art isn’t supposed to please you, it’s supposed to change your perspective?
Peter: Yes.
Alex: Yes.
Pao: Force your perspective. Whatever it is. If you look at a painting and you’re like– you feel unsettled or uncomfortable or something, it evokes something out of you, that artist did the right thing. If you look at a painting and it’s like poof. No. Nothing comes from it. They didn’t achieve what an artist is supposed to do. That’s where we’re at.
Scottie: I just want to say you guys are making this easy. I’ve only got to ask four questions.
Pao: Oh, yes. We’re talkers
Scottie: I love it.
Alex: I’m just saying, this is why the story became a thing, is because we just drive in the van, and we bullshit and talk for hours-
Pao: Hours.
Alex: -every day. Literally.
Scottie: The one thing I also– I did a lot of research. I love you guys, been a fan for a long time. When I was doing some research, did the writing process for the upcoming album, did it change somewhat? I remember, correct me if I’m wrong, Peter, but you had said like, Sometimes they tend to make the music because you mentioned that you’re not a drummer, you’re not a guitarist. You’re like, “Make the music that these guys like, and then I’ll deliver my vocals how I like.” Is it still that same– I know you mentioned there was a little more collaborative efforts coming soon, but–
Peter: Yes, it was especially collaborative with this release, more so than any other time, just because the story is so important with this release. It was bound to happen. Our lives are invested into this story. I feel like I’ve just grown as a storyteller. We all have. It just made sense. Wish I did it sooner.
Pao: Musically, Peter likes– yes, it’s still the same vibe. This time we had to,–we want to take a different approach every time we record. Me and Alex– Alex mostly- come up with the riffs, come up with the songs, build the songs. Peter does not want to even hear a demo. He wants to hear the finalized instrumentals.
Peter: Final, yes.
Pao: Then he’s like, “I’ll start writing.” That’s still how it always is. Even, sometimes, like, “Peter, what do you think should be here?” or–
Alex: With this record, it was a little bit different because the story’s already developed. We had a lot of key elements that we needed to hit. It was like trying to lay out what order they should be hit and when we should hit these different things. Shout out to Evan Sammons, our engineer. He’s just a fucking big brain.
Pao: Dude, Mega Mind.
Alex: Dude, Mega Mind.
Pao: That movie Mega Mind is about Evan Sammons.
Peter: [laughs]
Pao: I’ve never seen it, but I’m just assuming it’s about Evan Sammons.
Alex: He helped us lay everything out.
Pao: This time, though, more so, it’s like been like yes. Peter has some riff ideas. Obviously, Peter’s not playing guitar, but ideas everywhere from everyone. Yes.
Scottie: Sweet. Great. [laughs] Yes, so we’ve discussed the new album. Honestly, to end things off, I just want to focus on how you guys have enjoyed the tour. I know that when you guys posted on Facebook about this, you were like, “Whoa, this is wild.” You didn’t expect it, didn’t see it coming. How did it come about, and how has it been thus far?
Peter: Dude, you got it?
Pao: Yes. Kim is a supporter of Kaonashi.
Pao: Shout out, Kim.
Peter: Shout out, Kim. I love them. They’re awesome.
Alex: Shout out the whole crew.
Pao: Kim specifically. Very first day, we hit it off with them really well.
Peter: Yes. They personally asked us to be on their tour, so just shout out to them. It came out of the blue. It was just like Kim Dracula tour. It’s like, “Yes, sure.” I don’t know anything about him, but I’ll do it. I know Crystal Lake and Hanabie. I just knew that it was going to be–
Scottie: This is a killer lineup.
Peter: Oh, it’s turnt.
Scottie: It’s insane.
Peter: Insane lineup.
Alex: All the shows have been awesome. It’s the most people that we’ve played to consistently night after night.
Pao: This is our second actual big room House of Blues ever.
Peter: Ever.
Alex: Ever, so thank you, Kim.
Peter: Yes.
Pao: Huge.
Peter: Very grateful to Kim for giving us the opportunity.
Pao: No, it’s not often in the industry that you have people fighting in your corner and Kim was from across the world.
Peter: A stranger.
Pao: I appreciate that.
Peter: A stranger from Tasmania, Australia was like, “I want this band. If you don’t, not happening.” I was like, “That’s insane.”
Alex: That’s how this happened and it’s been amazing. The crew is awesome. Every band is awesome. Everyone’s great musicians. It’s so dope and it’s weird because like typically, we’re the weird band. It feels like we’re at home. Everyone’s the weird band.
Scottie: Definitely.
Alex: We can be as weird as we want and not feel weird.
Scottie: Definitely.
Pao: We probably still won’t be the weirdest. We can get as weird as we want. We aren’t the weirdest. It’s amazing. Very crazy. This is our first Live Nation tour, like any sort of thing. We’ve always just done things our way.
Peter: It was really just because of Kim. We’re really just grateful to Kim for hooking us up in this.
Scottie: Yes. You guys did an amazing set. In some ways, I think you even sound better than the albums.
Pao: That’s what I want to thank you.
Alex: The live show should always be a little different from the record and I like that.
Scottie: I won’t hold you guys because I know you got other cities to get to, but I know that before we actually started this interview, I heard you talking to some fans, mentioning that you do have some things in the future. We know about the new record. Can you tell us any more that we haven’t said on the new record?
Peter: There is a new record coming out in a few months. We do have a headliner tour. When is this coming out? When is this interview coming?
Scottie: Probably like a week.
Peter: Okay, so we do have an album coming. We do have a headliner coming. Can’t tell you just now, but it is coming in a few months. Be prepared to look. Socials, Spotify, whatever it is, it will start popping up real soon.
Alex: New songs, new music videos, new tours to support that, all coming.
Pao: You said it’s going to be in a week?
Peter: Let’s see if I can do this. Yes, yes. Our next song’s coming out April 10th.
Scottie: Sweet. Maybe Antihero can do a review with the new album as well.
Alex: That would be cool.
Scottie: Yes, I’m a supporter of Kaonashi, too. I appreciate the time. I just want to end this on a fun one that relates to you guys, best Coheed album?
Alex: Oh. This is a good one for us. It’s a good one for us. My vote is in Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3. Peter. Oh, you want me to go first?
Peter: I’ll go, No World for Tomorrow.
Scottie: You don’t hear people say that one too much.
Peter: That’s what I’m saying. This is a big debate in the band.
Pao: When I first joined Kaonashi, that was like the answer. We’re like, “Oh, you like Coheed? What’s your favorite album?” Alex was like, “Did you just say Coheed?” We came over, and I was like, “So what’s your favorite album, Big Bolt?” We both literally, one after another, “What’s your favorite album?” I was like, “Second Stage.” Alex was like, “Close. It’s In Keeping Secrets.”
Alex: Close. [laughs]
Peter: Alex was like, “Yo, watch this. Peter, what’s your favorite album?” I was like, “No World for Tomorrow,” me and Alex were like, “Boo.” It’s still a great record.
Pao: There are no bad Coheed records.
Alex: I learned about Coheed from my brothers. When they just started, like the Coheed shit, like my brothers went to the Second Stage tours. That just like has that core.
Pao: I ain’t going to hold you, Vaxxess 2-
All: Vaxxess 2.
Pao: -fucking grabbed me so hard.
Alex: Wagner.
Pao: I know all the records are amazing, but goddamn, lately Vaxxess 2 just–
Peter: Downtime? We got to go. I’m sorry, we have to go.
Pao: Oh, yes.
[laughter]
Peter: Thank you so much for having us.
Scottie: Yes. Thank you, guys.
