Music, manga, singing, songwriting, guitar playing...Portland native Rebecca Hollcraft (aka Becca) is a full multi-media package. A musician since childhood, she found a friend and eventual a collaborator in Grammy nominated songwriter Merideth Brooks after Brooks heard a tape of Becca singing at age 13. A handful of years later and Becca found herself signed to Sony Music Japan in 2008.
From there music from her debut album Alive! was featured in several TV shows, as well as two anime series in Japan, both Ultraviolet: Code 044 and Kuroshitsuji. More recently she played at the 2009 Otakon in Baltimore, alongside Kanon Wakeshima, Mell and Naomi Tamura.
I had the chance to fire a few question over to Becca before her appearance at Otakon. Que up her MySpace page and read the results, and more, after the jump!
It sounds like you were really drawn to music at an early age. Did you grow up in a musical household?
My dad's side of the family was very musical theatre inclined, and they used to sing to me when I was really little, so I think that I got me first influences from them.
Now, your bio sort of passingly mentions that Meredith Brooks is a family friend. Not everyone can say that they've got a direct line to a Grammy nominated songwriter and producer! Can you talk a bit more about your relationship with her and how the two of you started working together?
I originally met her when I was 13. I met her back in Protalen Oragon and she's from Corvallis, so she was back home and we met. She said if I ever had a demo that I should send it to her. I decided that I wanted to do a demo and I went into a recording studio and recorded two original songs and two covers songs and we sent it to her. she ended up liking it. When I was 14 I would fly from Portland to LA, I'd record in LA, come back home for high-school then go about there...eventually I just moved out there. It's been very interesting to say the least.
You and Meredith write most of your songs together. How closely do the two of you work together?
She has a home studio, so when we write we write there. We're very close, we love collaborating with each other. We have the same creative vision, so that's a good thing.
What kind of influences do you have (aside from Meredith, of course) in the music world?
I'm definitely influenced by female rock musicians. Joan Jett, I love Heart, Cyndi Lauper, other people like Aerosmith. A lot of really cool performers inspire me.
I find it interesting that your really became a hit in Japan, even though you were located in America. Why Japan? How did that come about?
I've always wanted to go over to Japan. I was told that I'd do well in the Japanese market because I kind of remind them of a Japanese girl. (laughs) It just worked out that way. I think that may be what attracted Sony to me, my fashion sense and things like that. It's been really great so far. I think I fit pretty well with the Japanese market and I've been having a really great time.
I see that you've got a new song specifically about Shibuya, and that you sing a few lines in Japanese. Do you have any future plans to write more about Japan, even to sing entirely in Japanese?
I would love to sing an entire song in Japanese that I wrote. That would be a really great thing. I hope to be fluent in Japanese one of these days. So yeah, definitely in the future I would love to do something like that.
Have you been able to spend much time in Japan? Have any favorite hang-outs?
Yeah, the Harajuku area is awesome. I've been all around Japan, I've been there five times so far. One time I spent three weeks there and I got to travel to Sendai and Sapporo and all these amazing cities. It's been great. I'm going over this summer again to play Water-Aid and do some other things. Very exciting things coming up in the next couple of months!
You've done some work writing your own comics. When did your interest in comics start?
I would say, it was around when I was 18 actually. When I went to Japan and I really wanted to immerse myself in the culture, so I went to a comic book store and asked them what manga were big in Japan at the time and I got Death Note and all these things. It really inspired me to write my own comic and be a part of that world. It's a very...interesting world. (laughs)
Do you have any favorite comics/comic artists?
I really love Death Note. I love Nana, Fruits Basket is really cute...I'm getting more and more into it as time goes on.
You have a short manga-like story in your album. Ever think of releasing your own Becca-chan manga series?
(laughs) Yes! That would be amazing. (laughs) I have so many stories I want to share with the world comic style. I'm really hoping that in the future that I'l be able to have a complete series. That would be amazing.
I know your music has been used in a couple anime series. Are there any anime shows you watch?
Yeah! I'm watching one right now called Blood and it has a little plus sign at the end, not to be confused with al the other blood ones out there. I think that one's really interesting so I'm pretty hooked on that right now.
I see that Akira from UVERworld did a bunch of guitar work on your album. Did you get much time to meet and work together with him?
We didn't get much time to work together. It's hard when you're in Japan and LA. A lot of it was basically just over the Internet sending things. He's very very talented so I was pretty lucky for that.
Any plans for a joint tour with UVERworld? ^__^
Yeah, that'd be pretty cool...happy smile for sure! (laughs) Maybe, sure, why not?
You've got Otakon coming up very soon. Do you have anything special planed for the con?
Just to come here and make the most of it, I really didn't have any plans. I didn't plan a costume, I didn't even think about it. Now that I'm here I feel a little embarrassed because I didn't dress up enough. I really didn't know what to expect so I just wanted to feel it out.
Have you ever gone to anime cons before?
No, this is my first one. I'd definitely go to another one if I had someone to go with.
Do you have any idea what to expect from the audience.
I really don't. I have no idea what to expect. I hope that the like my music. They seem to be really avid music fans as well so hopefully they'll be rocking out.
Are there any characters from anime, manga, video games or anywhere else that you would ever consider cosplaying (dressing up) as?
Maybe Ultra Violet Code 44? Well 44 is her name. I would do her.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to talk with us Becca! Also, a huge thanks to Ryu for helping to make this interview possible.
|
2 comments
