Really Busy People: Tosh Murase

by | Sep 30, 2015 | Downtown Living

I first met Tosh Murase while working for Freefall Presentations – an artist management company then based on Long Island – in 2005. Tosh had been previously affiliated with Freefall and its sister company, Mayhem Records, and had come back into the Freefall fold for some temporary projects. At that time, Tosh was in the process of moving to England to take over a 150-plus year old pub that had belonged to a relative of his wife Sarah.

A decade since then, The Wheatsheaf Inn is not only still up and running in Shropshire, but is doing very well. Besides running that establishment with Sarah, Tosh is the drummer of an on-the-rise U.K.-based band called Babajack.

Furthermore, he is a family man. In turn, Tosh seemed like an ideal candidate for a “Really Busy People” column.

tosh1

Having been born in Japan, growing up in New York and moving to England about a decade ago, when someone asks where you’re from, how do you usually answer?

Tosh Murase: You can take a dude out of New York, but you can’t ever take the New York out of him. I generally tell people I’m from New York but been living in England for awhile.

However if the person is trying to ask “which version of Asian are you?” – as in, “no, WHERE do you originate from?” or “where are your parents from?” — then I say I’m either from Iroquois, Navajo or Hawai’ian nation.

As the story goes, you moved to England to take over a family pub, but you worked in the music business before that. Does your music business past at all connect to your work with The Wheatsheaf Inn England?

T: Not particularly, but I think growing up in New York, where you get used to understanding broken English accents – mixed with Italian, Polish, Chinese, Greek, Croatian, Spanish, etc. — has helped the most, as you would not believe how much they mangle the English language here. Especially in the midlands U.K.; Robert Plant, Ozzy/Black Sabbath, Rob Halford, and Duran Duran are all from the midlands, each with different accents.

The rest is fairly normal stuff like being adaptable to various situations and the mundane day to day, dotting i’s and crossing t’s stuff.

Was there a book, a movie or a person in particular who influenced you to pursue a unique career path?

T: I wouldn’t call what I’ve done a career, nor a path. Maybe Bruce Lee’s “be like water” quote fits best.

How did you wind up joining Babajack?

T: Babajack were looking to go from an acoustic duo to a full band for their new record Running Man in 2013. I had just finished recording an EP with a previous project with their producer Adam Fuest at his studio, located deep in the middle of the Welsh mountains. [Editor’s Note: Adam has worked on prominent albums by Big Audio Dynamite, Yaz, Babyshambles, and Mott The Hoople.] We got introduced, had a few rehearsals, recorded the album, next thing I knew we were on a plane to play a festival in Germany, and I have been with them ever since.

I heard that Babajack has collaborated with Pete Brown [of Cream fame] on its upcoming album. How did that originate?

T: This is still a work in progress at the moment as we’re just releasing a live album on October 10th. Pete had heard a live recording of us on BBC Radio 2 from the Blues Week gig we did at the Royal Albert Hall in London, liked what we did and called us. The power of national radio, eh? Very much looking forward to working with this legend. Pete is featured in Ginger Baker’s highly-amusing documentary that I finally got to watch the other day.

How does playing in a band in New York compare to playing in one in England? Or are band dynamics pretty much the same everywhere you go?

T: People are people, and musicians are very much musicians wherever you might go. It’s all about managing goals and expectations against time and musical inspirations, abilities and personalities of a very different mix of people. Easier said than done, but I love when the “magic stuff” happens.

What was the biggest challenge for you in taking over a pub?

T: Not getting high off your own supply. We get some rather tasty cask ales. In reality, though, I drink much less now that I run a pub as I don’t drink while I work.

Do you feel that there are any misconceptions with owning a bar?

T: Yes, the same silly misconception as when you’re in a touring band — that we make money. (laughs)

tosh

Do you have any goals for The Wheatsheaf Inn? Would you ever hope to open a second location?

T: The pub has been going since 1851, so basically to keep it unchanged as much as possible as that in itself would be quite an achievement I think. We are, after all, a traditional English countryside pub run by a Japanese-American from New York.

Bartenders are notoriously good with names and faces. Do you have any tricks to memorizing things of that nature?

T: I once read that Russell Simmons repeats the person’s name in conversation as much as possible whenever you meet. Well, that doesn’t quite work for me – as I’m just a drummer — I may just add the person on Facebook to put the name, face and their dodgy timeline posts together to help.

Also, time management is a skill that great bar managers ought to have, given everything that’s going on simultaneously. Are there any tools or apps you rely on to stay on-task and productive in your work life?

T: My life revolves around Google: Calendar, Gmail, Notes, Contacts, Maps, Drive. All hail Google.

When you’re not busy with the pub, the band or family life, what do you like to do with yourself?

T: Pub, family and band sums up my life, but I do love surfing YouTube to check out music and cooking shows when I get a chance.

If anything, what do you miss most about New York?

T: The ability to get excellent quality bagels, pizza, sushi, falafels at any hour of the day.

Is there something from England that you wish New Yorkers got to experience? Something within the lifestyle that is entirely unique to where you live?

T: Living in the countryside, especially this time of year, all the free and tasty food growing along the hedgerows like damsons, sloe and blackberries, cob nuts, walnuts, plums, mushrooms, etc., makes up for having to smell manure on the fields most of the time.

Finally, Tosh, any last words for the kids?

T: Question everything but be nice to mommy. And eat kosher salami.

 

-by Darren Paltrowitz

Tags:
Spring At The Seaport

Spring At The Seaport

There's something for everyone happening this Spring at The Seaport! All text courtesy of The Seaport. All images by...

Glow Up

Glow Up

SHINE ON The PAC's translucent marble walls will light up from the inside at night. Photography by Luxigon. The...

Downtown Magazine