On this site and in interviews you have made it clear many times that you enjoy listening to mainstream music such as Andrew WK and Garbage. It seems to me you would be bored listening to guitar instrumentals. You have said you enjoy seeing people use guitars in new and interesting ways...

So how come you continue to play music in a style which is somewhat old fashioned and you probably wouldnt listen to yourself? Why not get rid of the shredding aspects and get some vocals and start a band which plays the sort of music that you yourself would enjoy listening to?

GREAT QUESTION!!!Actually I am making extremely mainstream music in Japan right now with Aikawa Nanase, I love it! Pop tunes, rock, ballads, dance remixes, the whole lot. At the same time, I have no intention of ignoring the fans who have supported me over 5 solo albums, so I will continue to do those too. As far as the solo music being old fashioned, it may be in some aspects, but I like to believe that it has evolved in quite a modern way. Guitarwise, I also like to think that it's quite different from the usual whammy bar shredfests that for some reason keep getting compared to me. Thanx for the Q.