LeetStreet Boys: Avatars of Otaku Music

LeetStreet Boys describe themselves as an “anime otaku band” but they are much more than that. They are avatars of otaku culture. Thrown into the spotlight by their breakthrough hit, “Yuri The Only One,” this band, consisting of elves and dragons, is a mix of fun adventures and entertaining music. In this article we interviewed Matt, the singer, songwriter and co-founder of LeetStreet Boys,  about the members, the music and the adventures of LSB! Pictures in this article were taken from their performance at Another Anime Convention 2011 and we have their videos “Yuri The Only One” and “She’s So Kawaii” available to see below.

LeetStreet Boys is a “multimedia” band: a mix of fantasy characters with real musicians behind it. It’s like The Gorillaz meets The Monkeys. How did this project first come together? Why did you choose to create a band like this? What were some of the fun challenges you had in bringing all this together?
It started with trying to make a music video for “Yuri The Only One.” There was only Ryan and I working on the music at that time. I realized that 1) most people don’t necessarily associate anime with two white guys in their mid-20s. And 2) with animation, we could do whatever we imagined and not be constrained by the real world… Why not perform for a concert full of girls at a fantasy prep school? Why not have a dragon in the band? Heck, why not a meteor hit with cherry blossoms flying everywhere? It was definitely a lot of fun! The biggest challenge is really getting the animated videos done at all! They take months to produce, and can be quite stressful. Telling a story with 3-4 minutes of animation isn’t easy.

How would you categorize your music? What are the inspirations behind LSB?
I would categorize our music as “otaku” music. We’re reaching out to anime fans the same way Christian music is for evangelicals, or gangster rap started in the inner city. Anime conventions are booming with creativity and growing larger all the time. The biggest inspiration is really our experiences as otaku. Everything from falling in love with a hot cosplay babe, playing Guitar Hero until our eyeballs bleed, staying out all night at an anime convention, or even watching hentai and hooking up with a transvestite. Lots of Pocky and glomping!

How do your live shows differ from your recordings? What can fans expect when they see you live?
Well, there is no metrosexual elf, no pink haired lesbian, and no dragon playing the drums… yet. Otherwise, fans can expect a big crowd and high energy, on-stage fun with cosplayers, and singing along to “Yuri The Only One.”

You just released a new single recently called “She’s So Kawaii.” Tell us about this single. How did the video come to be?
We selected “She’s So Kawaii” as the first single off our new album Otaku Hearts and hired a team of animators to produce the music video. The song started out as a list of “kawaii” things, and became a song about a crush on an over-the-top otaku girl. Our webcomic writer wrote the story for the new music video. It was intentionally a lot like “Yuri The Only One” with the otaku couple that falls in love at the end and performance scenes with the band in an iconic anime-inspired setting. In the end, we got to work with some very talented new artists.

Do you think that the merge of animation and music is the way of the future? Do you think otakus experience music differently than “muggles” or other nerds?
We’re certainly not the first to combine music with animation. It’s something we definitely hope to do more of and we have some ideas about larger-scale projects we hope to do eventually. If you took all the otaku all over the world, it’s a huge audience that the music industry doesn’t understand or appreciate. We’re definitely proud to be otaku and unafraid to wear it on our sleeve.

As an animated band, what adventures do the LeetStreet Boys encounter? Who are their nemesis?
Their adventures are well-documented on our webcomic at www.leetstreetboys.com. We have over 200 strips. Their rival is a fictitious visual kei band called The Explozion Prophesy. We love visual kei music and the elaborate fashion, though many of the costumes look so dark and sinister. It’s not much of a stretch to imagine visual kei musicians as boss monsters in something like Castlevania!

Are you planning to tour in the near future? What new projects do you have coming up?
We just did a handful of shows this summer that went extremely well, and we’re now booking for 2012. If you want to see LeetStreet Boys perform at a particular anime convention, please contact the event organizers on their website forums or by email. Getting a lot of interest from fans can make a big difference… We’re expecting to have a new online game out soon, but we’re still catching our breath from this extremely slow music video production.

*********

You can read the amazing adventures of The LeetStreet Boys, including finding their music, at www.leetstreetboys.com. Pictures by Sammy Pipeline.