Journalists approach Shutoku Mukai warily. As the leading personality of cult group Number Girl, Mukai cultivated an aura of negative charisma. Onstage, he was all contorted painful energy, round geeky glasses slipping down his nose as he spat out lyrics and drew harsh, ranting chords from his guitar. In interviews, he was often terse, distant and generally ill at ease.
Yet sitting comfortably in the small basement studio of Matsuri, his new indie label, Mukai is clearly more relaxed in his own skin. Dressed neatly in jeans, T-shirt and clean white sneakers, he has the calm air of a satisfied craftsman rather than the frenetic nerviness of a survivor from yet another late-night recording session.
He has just finished recording the second album of his new group, Zazen Boys, and the detritus of long days in the studio is still apparent. Empty cigarette packs and junk-food packaging jostle for room with piles of cords and guitar picks. The walls are bare except for a pre-9/11 poster of the New York skyline that sits directly above the mixing deck.