Devil's Interview With Hemoptysis' Masaki Murashita

If you're a blogger you've surely crossed paths with Hemoptysis. If you are a frequent reader of blogs you've seen Hemoptysis pimped out. And rightfully so. Today is the release date for the first full length release Misanthropic Slaughter and in an effort to avoid the "The album releases today go buy it" lazy ass post, I have something a little more special in store. I sent over a batch of questions to Masaki, the frontman and ringleader of the band, and he graciously returned them to me in time to make the release announcement a bit more special. So without further ado here is the conversation with Hemoptysis' Masaki Murashita after the jump.



Thanks Masaki, for doing this interview and congratulations on the release of the album. Let’s get started.

1.The debut full length album ‘Misanthropic Slaughter’ release date is just around the corner. Are you excited or relieved or both?

Masaki: Both. I’m very excited and relieved. It was a lot of work for us and took us 2 years to complete since we recorded the EP. It was the first dream for us to have Ryan Greene record, engineer and produce our full-length album. This is what we can be proud of rest of our lives. We are all very happy to have this record in our hands.

2.Hemoptysis has a unique blend of death and thrash metal. From what influences do you draw from? Who were your heroes growing up?

Masaki: I grew up listening to Megadeth, Old Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, Iron Maiden and many other bands. My core influence is from those bands. All of us have different backgrounds. Dave Mustaine was the reason why I started playing Metal. He is my lifetime hero. I’m more from old school thrash. Travis and Ryan are death Metal guys and Sunao listens to everything, mainly non-metal music. So blending of our different elements creates our unique music.

3.What would you consider to be the overall theme of Misanthropic Slaughter to be? In terms of the lyrical content.

Masaki: Travis and I both wrote lyrics and it is mainly about the pain and anger from our daily life. This anger can make you hate everything. Sometimes you want to just kill anyone and anything because of this anonymous hate, but instead, we made this CD!

4.How did Hemoptysis come into existence?

Masaki: Our drummer Travis and I met through a mutual friend back in early 2007 and started jamming together and after a short while we started the band. I was already friends with our bassist Sunao before we formed Hemoptysis. He was jamming with us once in while, and officially joined us as our bassist in February 2008. We had several lead guitarist change and ended up having Ryan Miller, who played solos on Misanthropic Slaughter. Ryan Miller also plays in a band called Excessive Bleeding. When Travis and I started, we weren’t as serious as we are now, and it was just a dream to have a record and play shows out side of Arizona.

5.How would you compare the metal scene in the States to the metal scene in Japan?

Masaki: I actually went to Japan to visit my family last November and had a chance to see a band in Tokyo. I was very surprised by the fact that there is a good scene going on. The pit was insane and those fans are very loyal and supporting the scene. I hope the US Metal scene will become bigger and bigger. We have so many great bands in the U.S. and it is extremely important to have people’s support otherwise, fans can’t see the bands and bands can’t tour and record new music. We both have to work together.

6.What do you think of Marty Friedman turning Japanese and getting involved in the whole J pop thing?

Masaki: He is doing what he loves and I think it’s great for him. I recently met him and I was shocked how fluent his Japanese is. It is funny. Even my Dad in Japan knows him seeing him on TV though he didn’t know his legacy with Megadeth. Believe it or not, a lot of J-pop songs have Metal elements. You rarely hear Metal shredding solos on pop songs in North America, but it’s everywhere over there. As a musician and guitarist, I totally understand and respect what he is doing over there.

7.I have to ask this question because I’ve see your promos on so many sites. How difficult is it not only being the band leader but also promoter, publicist, and manager as well?

Masaki: I work at least 14 hours a day and it is definitely not easy. However, this is your career and you are the one making it happen, not your manager, promoter, publicist, and so on. Don’t rely on somebody else. Especially in this messed up industry, the chance of finding someone who knows what they are doing is slim to none. I’m fortunate to have a team together, but even then, this is my career and at least I can say I tried and did everything I could do later in my life. When you regret, it’s too late.

8.Any leads on getting signed to a label yet? If so can you disclose and if not what has been the reasons given by the labels?

Masaki: We will be making an exciting announcement soon. You should interview A&R guys and ask them about the last 5 bands they signed. Ask them what kind of deal they signed, the reason why they signed them, and what they see for those bands in the next 10 years. I think it’s a great opportunity for consumers to know the people the bands have to deal with.

9.How long have you been playing music for?
Masaki: I picked up the guitar first time when I was 8. I was in a kid's band for a couple of years and that was it for a while. I picked it up again when I was 16 and ever since then, I’ve keep running.

10.What kind of gear do you use?

Masaki: I use Jackson Guitars, Krank Amps, Providence Cables, Pedals, and Straps, EMG Pickups, Morley Pedals, InTune Guitar Picks, SIT Strings, Maxon Pedals, Peterson Tuners, TC Electronics G-System, Coffin Case, and Mono Case.

11.What is the status on a tour or live shows in support of Misanthropic Slaughter?

Masaki: We are working really hard to book tours. Being an independent band, it is not easy to tour having no tour support, but we do what we can and we hope to see you all soon. You can check our tour dates at www.reverbnation.com/hemoptysis .

12.If you could tour with any bands who would they be?

Masaki: Megadeth, Carcass, Slayer, Exodus…. Too many to name!

13.Any last words or promotions you want to give the readers out there?

Masaki: Thank you for your support! Our debut full length album “Misanthropic Slaughter” is out now, so please purchase it and support us if you liked our music. It is available at www.misanthropicslaughter.com . Also, please don’t forget to follow us on facebook at www.facebook.com/hemoptysis . We hope to see you on the road soon!

Thanks again for taking the time to do this and hopefully I’ll see you guys up here in Northern California.

Masaki: Thank you!

So there you have it. Some great answers to those questions. and you heard the man. Go pick up a copy and support this great band. I wonder if the new update will be that Hemoptysis finally got signed to somebody. Guess we'll have to wait for that and I'll pass it on when whatever the news is breaks. In the meantime here is the video for Shadow of Death off of Misanthropic Slaughter.



One last thing. If you want to own the guitar that Masaki used in the filming of this video, email him at contact@hemoptysismetal.com for more information.