Moonstarr interview with Minoru Wakasugi of P-Vine Magazine (Japan)

P-vine: First off all, could you tell us what your name, moonstarr, stands for? Moon is your last name, but why moon + star(r)?

Moonstarr: In high school, my friends and I use to dj at house parties and school dances. We played everything from hip hop to dancehall to early drum‘n’bass! The “star” seemed to fit as a name when we played the dancehall records (like the saying ‘starrRRrrr!’ in dancehall culture OR like saying ‘StaRRrrr!’ when a dope tune dropped). The second R was added because I was, and still am, a HUGE fan of Gangstarr!!! So Moonstarr was a highschool name that just stuck. PIus like how it has outerspace references! 

P-vine: As far as we know, your first single is "Hexed" but what had you been doing before that? How did you get into this kind of music scene in the first place?

Moonstarr: I’ve been buying records since I was 13 (1989) and eventually got into djing after I saved up enough money from babysitting!. DJing was fun but I wanted to dig deeper into the music and figure out how it was made. So around 1993, I bought my first sampler (a Korg DSS-1) and started sampling jazz records that I signed out from the library! It wasn’t until 1997 that my music was good enough to come out. My first record was the ‘Hexed’ EP on Paul E. Lopes' wha?naut records, based in Toronto. 

P-vine: What kinds of music were you listening to growing up? How did you first got interested in making music yourself?

Moonstarr: I grew up in the 80’s listening to my older sisters’ new wave and more popular music at the time (David Bowie, Michael Jackson and other 80s pop ish). As I got older, I started listening to community radio. Stations like CKLN 88.1 FM turned me on to more underground forms of music like house, techno, and jazz, but hip hop was the biggest musical influence on me when growing up. I was thugged out for a good portion of my youth! 

P-vine: We heard that Dupont Street really exists in Toronto, it describes kind of a "cultural melting spot." Maybe you could tell us more on what the street is like? 

Moonstarr: Dupont Street does exist, but the reason I called my album ‘Dupont’ was because of the subway station (a public transit train stop)! The street itself is pretty unattractive because of all the car traffic along it. Yet the station is amazing! It has a futuristic design with big glass bubbles as the entrances. That the station is located at an intersection within an older neighbourhood makes it seem out of place. It’s crazy!  Two examples of beautiful streets in Toronto are Bloor and St.Clair, which are just one block south and north of Dupont. Within these two blocks are large pockets of Korean, Italian and Portuguese communities, as well as West Indian, typical Canadian, and other cultures. You experience this while riding the subway and seeing the cultural diversity of riders and/or walking around and checking out all the different types of restaurants. 

P-vine: Do you think your music reflects your national/cultural identity? What aspects of your music do you believe reflects your cultural background & where you're from (Toronto, Canada)?

Moonstarr: I think that my music does represent my cultural identity. However not all Canadians have the same view of my country as me! Just listen to another "great Canadian musician" Stompin Tom Conners and you'll see what I’m talkin about.  To me, Toronto is represented in my music as fast frantic beats, strong hip hop roots and the big cultural mash up! 

P-vine: What was your first reaction when Compost asked you to give "Greed" for their release? What do you think about Compost as a label?

Moonstarr: I was really surprised and excited! Compost is a huge label and a great success! It sets an example of what can be achieved on an independent level. Major labels must be afraid all around! I'm really impressed with Michael Reinboth and what he has attained with the label. And I'm thankful to be labelmates with talented musicians like Rainer Truby, Joseph Malik, Salvador Group, and all of the other Compost label roster! 

P-vine: I think that the track "Greed" kind of has this UK Garage / 2-Step feel to it, but would you agree with that?

Moonstarr: I'd like to think it has a more calypso, dancehall feel but that could be said about UKG and 2-step, so you’re right! 

P-vine: Also, you music seems to have this electronica/IDM thing going on at the same time, but is that something you got influenced from? 

Moonstarr: For sure, techno, house, ambient, and avant-garde electronic craziness like Morton Subotnick and Sun Ra all influence me! 

P-vine: Do you have any connection with the artists like Manitoba or Akufen, who are well-received in Germany, which is pretty much know for its love for electronica/IDM?

Moonstarr: I know of them but don't know them personally. They are products of Canada's crazy cities. Manitoba is from Dundas, Ontario where you can find a lot of beer drinking hooligans and good old ‘cakers’ (average Canadians). Akufen is from Montreal where it's one step closer to Paris and people from Toronto can go nuts! 

P-vine: How are the music scenes in Canada, such as electronica/IDM, Hip Hop, House and Techno? Are they well established?

Moonstarr: The scenes are very well established and the talent within them is amazing. Hip hop crews from Toronto like Roam and Da Grassroots, and techno DJs like Dave Cooper of Roundtable Music have impressive skills. However, the music industry does not support these scenes or its artists. The industry still has a 70's rock mentality mixed with U.S. pop envy! It's hard for smaller independent Canadian artists to get ahead in their own country. 

P-vine: Your music is very hard to define - it's kind of beyond any genre. Why do you think your music is like that; very indefinable and versatile? Also, what part/side of your music do you think sounds very much like "you"?

Moonstarr: The diversity of my music is purely because of where I spent most of my time growing up and my influences here in Toronto. Every day is a new day, and you’re always bumping into new people on the subway, eating different types of food, experiencing different types of art, hearing a new language, or meeting someone from a place that you never really learned about in school! The parts of my music that represent me best are the deep chords and crazy beats! I've got a passion for weird tonalities and complex rhythms. 

P-vine: How often do you play live?

Moonstarr: As much as possible! It's a way I can share my music directly with a listener and view firsthand what the reaction is like! It's a way I can preview the latest music and rock the dancefloors with my own stuff! 

P-vine: Could you tell us what is the next full-length going to be like?

It's going to be in the same indefinable style, but all new. I'll guarantee surprises, more humor, and beats that make you either nod your head / shake your rump and/or say what the f*$k? at the same time! 

P-vine: What are you going for (musically and maybe conceptually) with your label, PTR?

Moonstarr: P.T.R stands for Public Transit Recordings, and a goal is to raise awareness to issues that plague our communities. Cars are a huge problem in North America, choking the air with pollutants, causing people to be insular, and creating urban sprawl that makes the city ugly and badly designed. So we are big Public Transit advocates. At the same time, Public Transit Recordings is becoming a strong outlet for independent artists, both locally and internationally. The concept behind the label is to get artists together like gettting on a subway, and all travel towards a common goal instead of driving alone in the game and getting stuck in traffic! 

P-vine: What kind of (music / art / cultural) scene are you interested in right now?

Moonstarr: Animation on film by artists like Norman McLaren, and older film culture like surrealist flicks by Maya Daren. Mad beats by artists Da One Away or Natures Plan! Or anything on 7-Heads records outta NYC. 

P-vine: Lastly, what do you think of when you hear the word "Japan"? Do you like any Japanese musicians?

Moonstarr: When I hear ‘Japan’, I think that you guys are living in the future (12 hours into the future) and also that you’re very very far away!!!!!! DJ KRUSH is my favorite Japanese beat slicer! 

P-vine: Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you!