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Guitar World
Guitar World
Entertainment
Andrew Daly

“Before toe, my guitar was always distorted. The concept was to make music with cleaner tones”: Guitarist behind influential Japanese post-rock outfit toe, Yama made his career with cheap guitars – and barely any pedals

INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA - AUGUST 02: Yamazaki Hirokazu of TOE performs at the Incheon Pentaport Music Festival 2024 on August 02, 2024 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Justin Shin/Getty Images).

We seldom hear from them outside of their music, so the inner workings of Japanese post-meets-math-rock outfit toe are a bit of a mystery. And main guitarist Yama does us no favors when asked to choose a key moment from their latest album Now I See the Light.

“I’m not sure I really have one!” he tells Guitar World. But he’s not being deliberately evasive. “This might sound odd,” he explains, “but I’ve never really thought of myself as a guitarist.

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