Takahiro “Tone” Nakamine
Guitarist/Singer/Believer/Author/Skater
– Why did you start Christian Heavy Metal in Japan?
Because I was crazy enough to do it.
“Tone” is a nickname derived from initial letters of his name. But when he speaks in English he often calls himself “Tak” for easier pronunciation.
Originally he wanted to be a lawyer. But he fell in love with a certain girl so hard and that was when he faced all the problems and contradictions in Japanese society. As a result he became mentally sick, and he started playing music for a therapy purpose.
His music was somewhat “spiritual” since the beginning. For example he was jokingly calling himself “a wandering savior”. (That would become a song called “The Wandering Savior” in Victory In Christ album.)
However in early 2008, he found Faith in Christ and decided to dedicate his music to Jesus.
In April 2009 he, together with Marie, was baptized at a Japanese church in Dallas Texas, when the band was on tour. Since then, his Faith has been solid even though he is considered “useless” in Japanese society.
According to him, he is a “STAND” user. (If you know the manga “Jojo”) His STAND is called “Royal Road” and it appears on the album cover of “Overture”. He says it’s a STAND that conveys love to people.
He is a heavy metal guitarist and he loves heavy metal deep down in his heart. But in his real life he loves listening to New Wave, US Indie, Britpop or anything new and exciting.
Also because he was a 90’s kid, he loves Alternative Rock and Hip Hop to a certain degree.
As a guitar player his all time hero is Eddie Van Halen. He admits he is one of the million Eddie Van Halen clones all over the world. He adores Eddie Van Halen but he is trying to learn from his creativity, not just trying to copy him.
Because of the strong message in the music, he had no choice but to sing for himself. But he didn’t want to sing lead in the first place.
His biggest influence as a singer is Brett Anderson from Suede. He says he is in no way a heavy metal singer.
He originally wanted to play in a quartet and play energetic hard rock. But in reality he is doing double duty as a singer and a guitarist and playing this preachy “Christian Rock”. That fact always annoyed him but in time he realized that the frontman is Jesus and not him. Also as he fell in love with Blues music he found meanings in his double duty style.
Tak has always been looking for the greatest Rockn’Roll. His belief is that Christian Rock is the best and final form of Rockn’Roll. But when he found out about Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rockn’Roll, he knew that Christian Rock was the START and the GOAL for Rockn’Roll.
He always lamented over how there was no other Christian Metal Artists in Japan. But when he read the books by Shusaku Endo, he felt Heavy Metal essence in his novels. Since then, he respects Shusaku Endo very much as a forerunner of Japanese Christian Heavy Metal.
About Christian Music and Worship Music, Tak says he loves it when it’s played with a genuine soul, no matter how much the players are skilled.
One of his interests other than music is Skateboarding. He fell in love with skateboarding when he played a skatepark concert in USA in 2012. After that he started skateboarding and not only he wrote a skateboarding song “Born To Ride” but also made a music video 2 years later showing his skate footage. However after that, he has not been able to find much time to skate and has not really progressed.
Here is a list of Tak’s favorite bands/artists.
Van Halen, Judas Priest, Peter Green (early Fleetwood Mac),
Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix,
Yumi Arai (Yuming), Sachiko Kumagai, bloodthirsty butchers, Earthshaker,
+/-{plus/minus}, Suede, XTC, Switchfoot, Living Colour,
Demon Hunter, Smashing Pumpkins,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Claude Debussy, Sister Rosetta Tharpe
The guitars he is playing:
Bacchus BLP-STD-FM “Cat Paul”
Bacchus Duke Standard “Chocolat”
STR LJ-2 “Rabid Cat”
Hamer Vector Korina
Epiphone Flying V Korina (2006-2013)
Musicman Axis-EX (2003-2015)
Jackson Soloist (1998-2002)
Jackson Randy Rhoads MIJ1990 (Mostly for photo shooting)
Headway HD-35TH acoustic
