Toshi Kasai is a Japanense record producer, engineer, mixer and musician. He is most well known for his strong vocal production work with

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

and metal groups such as his long standing relationship with The

Melvins Melvins (sometimes The Melvins) are an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. Initially, they performed as a trio but later also sometimes appeare ...

and his work with Tool. In addition to his recorded production work, Toshi was a member of the band Big Business and Nate Mendel's band Lieutenant. He is also a member of Altamont, The Dale Crover Band. In 2019, he opened for

and Redd Kross under his own name, playing Moog Synthesizer to oscilloscope and projections.

Biography

Hilbish Design released a pedal of Toshi's design called the T-Fuzz, the pedal, like the other pedal designs of the manufacturer, features artwork by Mackie Osborne. He also has his own project called Plan D, this project is similar to a drum-triggered synthesizer set with Dale Crover and Troy Zeigler (one show) where he opened for

Lite in 2011. This set was cited as an inspiration behind the Plan D project. On March 12, 2020 Joyful Noise Recordings announced the release of his project: Plan D. It was received with favorable coverage from outlets such as Rolling Stone and others:

"From his LA studio, Toshi created a complex drum-triggering system which is the catalyst for Plan D. He then spent the last several years luring drummers into his Sound of Sirens studio, letting them go nuts behind the kit. Meanwhile, Toshi has been behind the board, capturing the signal from each drum hit, and sending that signal to a variety of analog synthesizers. The result is some of the craziest sounding prog-like instrumental music you're likely to ever hear."

included on the project are drummers: *

Dale Crover Dale Crover (born October 23, 1967) is an American rock musician. Crover is best known as the drummer for Melvins and has also been the drummer for Men of Porn, Shrinebuilder, Crystal Fairy and, for a brief time, Nirvana. He is also guitarist an ...

(

, Redd Kross, Nirvana, Hew Time) * Coady Willis ( Big Business,

, The Murder City Devils, Hew Time) * Clem Burke ( Blondie,

Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British pop duo consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. They were both previously in The Tourists, a band which broke up in 1980. The duo released their first studio album, '' In the Garden'', in 1981 to little succ ...

) * Matt Cameron (

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...

, Soundgarden) * Joe Plummer ( Mister Heavenly, Cold War Kids, The Shins, Hew Time) *Paul Christensen ( Qui, hepa.Titus) *Troy Zeigler ( Serj Tankian,

Juliette Lewis Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress and alternative rock singer. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark themes. Lewis became an "it girl" of American cinema in the early 1990s, ...

, Buckethead) * Ches Smith ( Secret Chiefs 3, Marc Ribot,

Mary Halvorson Mary Halvorson (born October 16, 1980) is an American avant-garde jazz composer and guitarist from Brookline, Massachusetts. Among her many collaborations, she has: led a trio with and Ches Smith, and a quintet with the addition of Jon Irabago ...

) *Matt Chamberlain (

Fiona Apple Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five albums from 1996 to 2020, which have all reached the top 20 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Apple has received numerous awards an ...

, Bob Dylan, Bill Frisell) *Danny Frankel (

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

, Kamikaze Ground Crew, Urban Verbs, Bo Diddley) * Gregg Bissonette (

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

David Lee Roth David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer. Best known for his wild, energetic stage persona, he was the original lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen across three stints, from 1974 to 1985, in 1996 and again fro ...

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop, classical a ...

) *Pej Mon (Satyasena, Secret Chiefs 3, Girth) *Mindee Jorgensen (Dale Crover Band, Dangerously Sleazy, ModPods) * Dave Lombardo ( Mr Bungle, Misfits, Suicidal Tendencies) * John Tempesta ( The Cult, White Zombie,

Testament A testament is a document that the author has sworn to be true. In law it usually means last will and testament. Testament or The Testament can also refer to: Books * ''Testament'' (comic book), a 2005 comic book * ''Testament'', a thriller nov ...

) * Stephen Perkins ( Jane's Addiction, Porno For Pyros, Infectious Grooves) *Kyle Stevenson ( HELMET, Big Collapse) *Angela Lese (Jax Hollow, Raelyn Nelson Band)

Selected production work

Toshi Kasai has worked with the following musicians and groups. *

* Jello Biafra * Helmet * Nate Mendel (of

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

) * Matt Cameron of Soundgarden /

Production engineering and mixing work

Band member

* Big Business: Guitar, Keyboards, Backing vocals * Altamont: Guitar, Piano, Organ *Lieutenant (with Nate Mendel): Guitar, Keyboard * The Dale Crover Band: Keys, Banjo, Ukulele, Vocals *Plan D

References

Interviews and External links

website, Interview , Toshi Kasai "I don't need to be shy"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasai, toshi Living people People from Los Angeles Japanese record producers Year of birth missing (living people)