The whole world reacted differently in the lockdown, some of us were determined to shelter away and catch up on Netflix while stress-eating and watching the news for daily updates, others decided to learn a skill or up their culinary arts. For celebrated and talented LA musician Kazuki Tokaji, it was a chance to grow as a musician and build up a skillset that has led him to come out the other side of this pandemic with a vengeance.
Growing up in Japan and moving to the sunny shores of Los Angeles at the age of 7, Mr. Tokaji is no stranger to changing tides and rolling with the changes as they present themselves. An avid music fan from the very beginning, he has developed a keen and unique perspective on the realm of auditory excellence with a range of different and eclectic styles and sounds that have been developing consistently throughout his life.
His rise to prominence manifested itself with the completion of his education at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood where he was able to collaborate and jam with headliners Steve Vai and Marty Friedman to name a few. With a fever pitch edging him from genre to genre, he was able to develop a keen ear and sense of distinction between his Japanese roots and westernized growth quite effectively, allowing him to stand alone from his competitors from the very beginning.
Then, 2020 happened. A period of time that will be remembered by everyone for a long time to come. Kazuki Tokaji however, was not to be deterred by the lack of opportunity to tour and hone his craft in front of a crowd. Instead, he found himself at a crossroads that many creative found themselves in during that year, grow or shrink – he chose correctly.
In an inspiring turn of events, he worked on an aspect of his creative career that he felt needed some adjustment, his songwriting, spending a majority of the time working tirelessly to get the rhythms right and to ensure that this facet of his creative flow is now a powerhouse aspect to his entire work ethic.
Artists like Kazuki Tokaji took the lockdown as a means of disciplining an artform, of working to build up a skillset that has great foundational value. A grand test was cast on the young artist, and he’s come out swinging, his latest single ‘Entropic’ seems to showcase that the lockdown was not wasted, it seems his meteoric rise is only just beginning.
Follow Kazuki Tokaji at kazukitokaji.com or connect via IG @kazukiguitar
