SECTION 1
SHUUSEI [BIRTH]

4. Drum Zanmai no Koukousei Jidai
[High School Days Completely Absorbed in Drumming]

I don't want to lose! That was the only thing making me continue to play piano. If there was a piano where I was, I'd practice, no matter if it was night, noon, or morning.

I didn't continue this because I started liking piano. But though I really hated it, I came to realize the joy that was there in playing. At that time, it was like I began to realize that playing a musical instrument could be fun.

Because my father played the trumpet, I was familiar with brass instruments. Basically, the fingering (how to move your fingers) is mostly done the same for all of them. If I played trumpet, then I could play other brass instruments as well. Because my fingers had been disciplined on piano, it was easy to move them. With this, I became able to play all brass instruments.

At that time, my senpai at the high school came to my junior high. In our music room someone had put together a drumset, and he suddenly sat down and started playing it without warning.

It was cool. The drums were really cool.

That senpai was a troublemaker, and from the beginning he had always been cool. But to me, he was the first person I knew who played an instrument and was still cool.

At that time, it was a shock. Drums are played with a lot of force and pounding. Was there really an instrument that was so violent?!

I was really attracted by that, and I began to think that I would like to try and learn the drums too.

Because I had a good relationship with my senpai's senpai, I decided to ask him.

"What year did he start so that he could get this good?" I asked.

He said, "He's only been playing for a year. There are two guys at his high school who are better than him."

I was astonished that it could only take a year to become so good.

I got someone who went to the same high school as my senpai to teach me drums, and was much better than my senpai and on a completely different level. Those were days when I was completely absorbed in drumming. I did nothing but drum.

The drums are an indispensable instrument to any band. Drums, guitar, bass…it was the first time that I was touched by these instruments that made up a band.

However, I didn't have any idea about what a band was. I was just in love with the drums.

And also, at that time, I didn't think the idea of a band was all that interesting.

Because the senpai that taught me the drums was a junior in high school, he graduated a year after I entered high school. After that, I played by myself. With my teacher gone, my motivation began dropping.

I began to seek motivation in other things. In doing that, I first became aware of something called a "studio."

There was a worn-out drum set there. There, when I was being taught, I met some guys who played guitar. They began performing in the studio next-door.

"Ah, so is this what a band is?"

The music that I heard coming from next door was really horrific and terrible.

Though I thought it was horrible, I had been playing in a gifted and talented music program since I was a young child. However, the guys who were in the band next door were mostly guys who had started learning instruments when they were in junior high or high school. They didn't have anyone to teach them, so they were self-taught. Honestly, they sucked. They really did.

"What the heck are they doing? Is a band really such a shitty group of people?"

At 16 or 17, I viewed people who were in bands as really stupid.