Insights into Inkakai’s Music Creation Process and Upcoming Projects
London, United Kingdom
Check out Drown here: https://youtu.be/LKPrzdnoiLk
Inkakai is a masked sextet of professional musicians, songwriters, and producers hailing from Los Angeles, Osaka, Helsinki, and other cities around the world. Their music is a blend of imperial, sharply dynamic alternative rock with nu-metal and electronic music influences.
They have previously worked with Max Martin, Steve Vai, and Lordi. Inkakai has also featured in movies such as Priest of Evil (2010) and Jade Warrior (2006), released one of Finland’s most played songs of 2010 (‘Halo’), and won the Best Nordic Song award in NRJ Radio Awards 2007 (‘Fate’ feat Ana Johnsson). They have released two albums, Burns Inside (2006) and The Dark Side (2011) as Bleak and Fireal, respectively, with HMC/Warner Music Finland, and are currently preparing their third album, Unlite.
Inkakai’s trademark black and red color scheme symbolizes their name 陰火会 (shadow, fire, society) that originates from Japanese legends. Inka is one of the onibi ghost lights – spirits born from corpses that have become fire.
In this interview, Inkakai discusses their inspirations, music creation process, and future plans.
What inspired you to make music?
Jan Hammer, The Prodigy, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Tool, Deftones, U2, Linkin Park, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, and The Police are just a few of the musical artists who have influenced us. We all had specific instances when we seen or heard one of the artists we looked up to perform, and were so moved by it that we “had to” begin creating music ourselves. Since then, we have been traveling down that road and exploring new things we’ve found along the years.
How would you describe your sound?
Imperial – sharply dynamic alternative rock with nu-metal and electronic music influences. At the core of the songs are the melodies and chords but they get a decent amount of grunge guitar treatment and spiced with some 80-90s synths, sometimes with retro computer vibes – namely those of Commodore Amiga 500. It’s a blend of all the things we’ve loved to hear ourselves as listeners.
What are your plans for future/upcoming releases?
We plan to release more music, singles at the very least, but some plans are best kept secret at this point. We shall see when the time comes. We are patient.
What has been your proudest moment as a musician so far?
We’ve been really happy how some songs have turned out and grateful to have been able to work with professionals such as Max Martin, Steve Vai, and Tim Palmer. Those will be proud moments to look back on and as music those moments will live forever captured in time.
How do you plan to keep your fans engaged?
Well, we don’t really think about such things. Our long-time fans know how we are like and have gotten used to us being quiet for longer periods of time – so they don’t expect engagement from our part. We’ve never been that active in social media and as time passes we’ve become even less so. Currently, we don’t do tours either, which is a bit sad but we’re working on that. Hopefully that changes soon. But overall, we don’t need to make noise to validate ourselves. Those who know us, know us, and that’s enough.
What other genres of music do you enjoy listening to?
Jazz, classical, ambient, game music, movie soundtracks.
What Is Your Music Creation Process Like?
Usually, the creation process starts with the singer-songwriter recording the song in his studio with all the instruments. After that, other band members join in with their ideas and interpretations. While the rhythm guitars remain from the original recording, the lead guitars and other spices usually come afterwards. It varies how many iterations it goes through before becoming finished but usually everything just clicks when you know the song is done.
Are there any other musical projects you are currently involved in?
We have several other projects, some more well known than others, but as we keep things masked and more anonymous in Inkakai, we aren’t always visibly associated with every project. But one worth mentioning could be Xenon Lights, a side project with our long time producer friend and mentor Tomi Malm. While Inkakai’s roots go all the way back to 1997, the Xenon Lights duo has been around writing and producing since 2004.
Tell us about your upcoming releases and provide further details about them.
We have few singles planned but haven’t yet locked any dates. There’s some heavier stuff, some lighter stuff and everything in between. It’s best to keep these things a bit of a surprise.
We’re currently making our third album Unlite but haven’t set any deadlines for releasing it. The album process started in 2012 but as we went on our seven year break the very same year, the writing and pre-producing process has been on a break as well. And even after our comeback in 2019, we’ve decided to give it some time. We decided not to think about albums but instead music in general. So far we’ve been releasing singles and that’s worked fine for us. That might change, or maybe not. There isn’t exactly any pressing need to change things. No need to fix that which isn’t broken.
Inkakai’s focus on creating purposeful music extends beyond their art, as evidenced by their comments on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The band believes that the world’s focus should be on helping Ukraine and ending Russia’s illegal attacks, and preventing Russia from repeating its history of evil. They also speak to the connection between mental health, social media, drug use, hate speech, and cyberbullying, urging people to recognize behavioral patterns and build strong foundations in all aspects of their lives.
Inkakai encourages individuals to be true to their spirits, accept change, and never give up despite the frequently sad state of the world since they think that every adversity is an opportunity for progress. Their words and music serve as a ray of hope in these trying times.
Meet Leti on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inkakai
Spotify: Inkakai on Spotify
Inkakai on Spotify
EN 
IT