Masashi Kobayashi


Photo: Serge Rajevic (KRUG)

Masashi Kobayashi was born in tokyo, Japan in 1976 as a young and talented bass player. There is something about young Japanese boys and the bass -- at some point, one must desire to play the other. Why bass? To this day, no one has been able to answer this question, but the fact remains, that throughout history the boys of Japan and the electric bass have had a special relationship.

Masa came to the US in 1976, but he soon discovered that America was not the bassist's paradise that all Japanese boys dream of from birth. Masa was cool (unlike other Asians, all Japanese are cool in the USA) but he didn't get any checks from Bellevue, he didn't have a backup plan, and he didn't go to school with hipsters. Without any of these things, he was forced to play with freaks in dumpster dives in order to play at all, which might be the only connection between him and the rest of the band, at least in the beginning. Said Masa, "Family! Where is my family?" Covering his little face with his little blanket, he went to sleep hoping that tomorrow would be a better day.

One night, in 2001, Masa was playing in a smoky bar in Seattle, Washington, when a strange-looking man with an entirely different kind of accent approached him about touring in california with Kutlur Shock. Life had already been cruel to this boy, but what was to come would put his past troubles to shame. His world of freaks and dumpster dives was replaced with a world of kultur shock. The world that the strange man had invited Masa to join had even more strange men and women, more countries and continents, more accents, and more dumpster dives than the world he had just left. The sickest thing is, Masa seems to like it.

Don't be fooled by his boyish appearance, quiet charm, and Asian Wisdom. He is sick. How else would you explain that this apparent mismatch is in fact a perfect fit. We never thought before that there was any connection between odd-metered rythms and Zen philosophy -- and today we still don't. Either Kultur Shock is more sophisticated than it appears, or Zen just isn't what it used to be.

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