Hiroki Kamemoto

Hiroki Kamemoto was born in the rural Zakoji village of Iida, Nagano, Japan on August 24, 1990.[1][2] He has always been a fan of soccer and took lessons as a child.[2] But because he was the only boy from his school there, he joined his elementary school's baseball club.[3] The first CDs Kamemoto ever bought were SMAP's "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" and Naotarō Moriyama's "Sakura".[2] However, he then fell in love with the rock bands Glay and L'Arc-en-Ciel, and realized he wanted to play music over soccer.[2] He started playing guitar in his first year of high school after seeing bands like Glay on television.[4] Kamemoto bought an electric guitar from a Yahoo! Auction for about 8,000 yen, but did not have enough money for an amplifier, and so played without one.[2][5] He and a friend who was also just starting an instrument formed a band, and he became more and more engrossed in music.[2]

Kamemoto attended Matsukawa High School, where he was president of the student council and a member of the soccer club.[6][7] In 2007, a fellow student whom Kamemoto worked with at the same part-time job became the bassist for Glim Spanky, a band formed and fronted by their underclassman Remi Matsuo.[8] In November, the bassist assumed it was difficult for Matsuo to sing and play all of the guitar by herself, and recruited Kamemoto into the band without her permission.[7][8] However, Matsuo found that Kamemoto was not only committed to the band, but was also able to immediately understand and provide the guitar parts she wanted for songs.[7] They then began writing their own material and started focusing on the band full time.[8][9] Kamemoto noted that Matsuo's parents and their acquaintances were all writing original songs, so it only felt natural for them to do so as well.[8] On days off from school, they would practice from 8:00 in the morning, until 1:00 am at night.[2][4] By 2009, Kamemoto was attending Aichi Gakuin University in Nagoya, but traveled back to Nagano once a week for band activities.[4] When the younger Matsuo enrolled in Nihon University's College of Art, Kamemoto transferred to the economics department of the closer Dokkyo University so the two could continue the band in Tokyo.[10] Kamemoto explained that he had looked for musicians to form another band with in Nagoya, but could not find anyone good. Because he knew Matsuo was a good vocalist, he was confident they would be successful and said he had no hesitation transferring and moving to Tokyo.[11] His parents told him he could go to Tokyo and play music during his four years of college, but that he must get a normal job after graduating. However, Kamemoto never had any intention of getting a company job and figured he just had to produce results in music within those four years.[12]

Kamemoto and Matsuo resumed Glim Spanky activities as a duo in April 2010, utilizing support musicians.[4] Matsuo stated that their first four years playing live houses in Tokyo were difficult, but because they were particular about their sound, stage presence, costumes and artwork, she was confident that the music industry would not leave behind a band with such a complete package.[2] Glim Spanky had their first release in December 2013 when Space Shower Music released the mini-album Music Freak nationwide.[13] In June 2014 the band released their second mini-album and their major label debut, Shōsō, via EMI R (now known as Virgin Records).[14] They have since released six full-length studio albums, with 2017's Bizarre Carnival being their highest-charting to date.

Kamemoto provided guitar to the theme songs of the 2020 anime film Earwig and the Witch.[15] For the film's 2022 album Āya to Majo Songbook 13 Lime Avenue, which is credited to the fictional band "Earwig", Kamemoto played on every track and Glim Spanky contributed the songs "The House in Lime Avenue" and "A Black Cat".[16] Kamemoto was asked to produce and co-arrange Crispy Camera Club's 2022 song "Natsu no Nukegara". He is a featured artist playing lead guitar on the track and appears in its music video.[17][18]

Kamemoto has also provided several songs to other recording artists, where he is credited as the arranger and co-credited for the music together with Matsuo as Glim Spanky. Such as 2019's "Lady May", which they gave to the idol group Momoiro Clover Z and which features Kamemoto on guitar,[19] "From the Seeds", a song that Mone Kamishiraishi sang as the opening theme for the 2020 second season of the 7 Seeds anime and also features guitar by Kamemoto,[20][21] and "Kagami yo Kagami", a song they provided to the virtual singer KAF.[22]

As part of Glim Spanky, Kamemoto collaborated with Tomoyasu Hotei on the song "Savage Sun", which they co-composed and co-performed for his 2020 album Soul to Soul,[23] and worked with Kamishiraishi again on covers of "Aozora" by The Blue Hearts and "Ikareta Baby" by Fishmans for her 2021 album Ano Uta -2-.[24] Also in 2021, they provided the song "Mikansei na Drama" to the band DISH, which Kamemoto arranged and provided guitar to.[25] Kamemoto co-arranged and played guitar on "Candy Moon" for Maki Nomiya's 2022 album New Beautiful.[26]

Since 2017, Kamemoto and Glim Spanky have appeared numerous times on the NHK television show The Covers, where recording artists discuss songs and perform covers.[27] Kamemoto and Matsuo have made three guest acting appearances in the TV Asahi show Keishichō Sōsa Ichikachō, for which they contributed several theme songs. They appeared in episode six of 2017's second season as passersby, in the sixth episode of 2018's season three as street musicians, and in episode 16 of 2020's fourth season as different street performers.[6][28][29] Kamemoto appears in the music video for Keisuke Kuwata's 2022 song "Nagisa Hotel".[30]

Kamemoto started playing guitar because of Glay, then moved on to Nirvana, Guns N' Roses, Oasis, Jimi Hendrix and Cream.[31] He has studied the guitar playing of Glay's Hisashi, as well as Joe Bonamassa.[32] Kamemoto said he started listening to Western music of the 1960s and 1970s because Matsuo insisted he listen to it everyday.[1] When approaching a song, Kamemoto said he thinks about the tone and "touch" very carefully, and tries to match the image of the song.[4] He makes a clear distinction in his guitar playing when there is singing and when there is not. When there are vocals, he emphasizes the layering of notes and the depth of the sound. When there is not, he plays the melody freely, as if his guitar were the vocalist.[4] Kamemoto said he usually utilizes vibrato in his solos or extends notes.[32]

Matsuo is the principal songwriter of Glim Spanky's lyrics and music, but when she only has a guitar riff, chord progression or drum phrase before working with Kamemoto to turn it into a song, then both get credited for the music as Glim Spanky.[33] Kamemoto is, however, frequently credited with a song's arrangement. "I am influenced by Remi", "I believe that she has a one-of-a-kind view of the world" and put a lot of effort into the arrangements in order to interpret the original songs she creates and make them sound like Glim Spanky.[1] In arranging songs, the guitarist believes that the chorus is the most important part, followed by the intro.[17]

Kamemoto has around 25 guitars.[5] In 2016, his main guitar for both recording and live performances was a goldtop 2015 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. In addition to liking its appearance, he said its mini-humbuckers give it a nuanced sound unlike any other guitar.[2] In 2023, his favorites were reportedly a black Les Paul Custom and a semi-acoustic Gibson ES-345.[5] Both have whammy bars, which are uncommon on Gibson guitars.[5] In an interview about Walking on Fire (2020), Kamemoto said he mainly used a Marshall Super Lead Model 1959 amplifier for recording, and occasionally a Fender Deluxe Reverb.[34] He wanted a Marshall Super Lead because of its use by Hendrix and Jimmy Page, but found it too loud, so he took tubes out to use it as a 50-watt amp. However, he still found it loud and therefore uses a smaller version for live performances.[35] He also uses his roadie's Shinos 50-watt amp.[35]

As of 2020, Kamemoto had two guitar pedalboards. The smaller vertical one has a volume pedal, a wah pedal, an EarthQuaker Swiss Things, an Electro-Harmonix Nano POG, and EarthQuaker's Bit Commander and Tentacle pedals.[35] The larger horizontal one is organized into two halves; one has a Providence PEC-2 with a KarDian overdrive, a Manlay Sound M-200, a Manlay Sound Ronno Bender, an EarthQuaker Black Ash and a MXR EQ, while the other has a Free the Tone with an Arion phaser, a Lunar Echo for strong delay, a Malekko for soft delay and an EarthQuaker Levitation for reverb.[35] For arranging songs, he uses a Korg nanoKey2 MIDI keyboard, which is compact for use on the go.[2]

• Hiroki Kamemoto on Twitter
• Hiroki Kamemoto on Instagram