The magical and quirky Mr Sakitumi is back with this new EP – Sweet & Sour 2. I had a quick catch up with him to hear about his project and the aims for this music:
BCTC: What was your musical direction for this EP?
MR S: What a pleasure to be interviewed by the one and only BCTC 😉 [My Music] continues the the concept started by sweet & sour vol.1 and furthers the idea that this is a series of releases. I’m still going for contrasts here; contrast to my usual style and contrast between 2 listening journeys of the same musical idea.
BCTC: What do you think playing most of the instruments yourself in your compositions gives your music that a full band doesn’t?
MR S: Being in many bands  (I’m sure you have an idea how many!) I am part of the whole sound. Bands usually tend towards a democracy and a trust in each other’s musical ideas and abilities.Within that setup, I have creative freedom to just focus on, usually, 1 instrument at a time (with phfat and jeremy loops I switch between drums and bass).
Getting to produce my own music gives me a different kind of creative freedom. I’m fortunate to be a multi-instrumentalist, so I can be all the roles here. What I enjoy about this is being able to play each instrument with my ideas on other instruments already in mind. It’s just a simpler process, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t 😉 Sometimes I do imagine my tracks in a band setup…in the end, I suppose it’s just a convenience thing.
BCTC: How harsh of a critic are you on your own playing? Is it mostly fun or do you sit up all night until you get it right?
MR S: Modern technology has eased the recording process for me, so it really is mostly fun sketching ideas and recording different instruments. Sometimes I’m recording with other artists and try to do a full take, from start to finish, as flawlessly as possible.
I enjoy that challenge, it keeps my playing sharpened. When it comes to my own stuff, I really just hit record and play around, jamming and improvising. Then I review all the bits I’ve played, choose the best parts and manipulate them into the track.
BCTC: What would you like your audience to consider when watching a Mr Sakitumi gig?
MR S: That the Grrrl equally rocks the show on stage. What she adds with visuals is 50% of the show.
BCTC: Where do you get your wacky music video ideas from?
MR S: Haha! Alot of the times the grrrl and I just throw visual ideas around, sometimes jokingly, sometimes more serious. She really is the visual identity creator in our setup.
BCTC: Will there be a video for your latest release?
MR S: Before heading out to Europe, we did a fun video shoot ourselves. Mr & grrrl (sour) feat. the grrrl [just happened] one day, while playing around vocally.
It was styled by our friend (the amazingly fun Crystal Birch, assisted by Jade Ayla Rea & Louise Steytler), who gave us some wild and colorful outfits to wear. The grrrl setup her camera and we just had fun, doing whatever movements came to mind. It was so much fun, that the footage was used to make the music video, edited and visually effected by the grrrl as well. The grrrl even kicks a verse 😉 This is officially our first music video with us in it.
