THC: There is more live music and less sampling on your second album Stereotype A than on Viva La Woman!, the first album. Is this the future of Cibo Matto's sound?
MH: I don't know what the future will be like. So far, we are enjoying this style. I think in the future we would love to have horns and other real instruments, become more Funkadelic-style.
THC: You have a track on the recently released Handsome Boy Modeling School compilation. On that song, "Metaphysical," you're singing with Mike D from the Beastie Boys. How important are side projects like this to you as an artist?
MH: That song was an amazing experience, I enjoyed it a lot. Yuka does stuff also, playing with amazing jazz musicians, and Sean [Lennon, bassist and Honda's boyfriend] does his thing. These projects are like big presents for us I think, they refresh our minds. Then when we get together, we launch something new from all our experiences.
THC: How much of a connection do you maintain with music in Japan?
MH: Unfortunately I don't have much time to check on it, but I have friends like the Boredoms and Buffalo Daughter, so when I see them I always ask "what's going on in Japan?" and they give me some DJ songs, and I say "wow." It's interesting, Japan is pretty ahead. I'm not talking about mainstream music, I'm talking about the underground, that's the bomb there, it's awesome.
THC: What do you think about the college music scene in America?
MH: We just played at some college in Texas, and at the end the audience just got up and jumped with us to "Birthday Cake" [off Viva La Woman!], which had never happened to us before in live touring. I feel college kids are more open minded, that they have more capacity for crazy music. Also, it's great that America has so much college radio. I grew up in Japan, they don't have that, it's about the mainstream. College radio always finds out the new music that plays, that's the source of American music for the future.
THC: Do you wish you could spend more time in New York?
MH: I do wish we could spend more time there. I guess next year we will have more time to settle down in the city, make music for the next album, write more songs and do more experimental stuff. That's what we miss a lot. Sean is a solo artist, Timo [the drummer] has his own stuff too. I feel like Cibo Matto unites us all. We take our time to do our individual things, then we'll play together again. But it's very important for us to be in NYC, to do our individual work, I think we need that time.