Philly act Kaonashi have been grinding in the heavy underground for a long time. Originally formed in 2012, the band quickly gained popularity in the metalcore scene but before long, the trio began incorporating various elements of progressive metal and chaotic, 2000s-style mathcore into their sound. Now, 13 years later, Kaonashi have just released their latest album, I Want to Go Home, which concludes a story the band began telling years ago.
Decibel spoke with Kaonashi vocalist Peter Rono about I Want to Go Home, growing as a songwriter and the pressures of fan expectations. I Want to Go Home is out now.
You just put out a new record called I Want to Go Home. Is this thematically connected to your other records?
Yes, it absolutely is. It’s the fourth installment of our story about a ficitonal high school character that goes to a ficitnoal high school. This is the fourth and final installment of the Lemon House saga. The first one was in 2021, that was the debut LP on Equal Vision. Then it was the 2024 EP called The Three Faces of Beauty, then another 2024 EP called A Second Chance at Forever, and this is the fourth and final installment.
Do you feel in some ways then that this is the end of an era?
Absolutely. It feels like the end of an era—it’s the completion of something we’ve been working on for nine years. Everything we’ve done since 2016 has been focused on this story: the merch, the music, the music videos, the tour flyers, promo pictures, everything. This is completion.
These concepts and stories are things you’ve been working on since Kaonashi became a band with a bit of attention behind you, right?
It’s what took us to the next level. It’s what took us from junior to professional, amateur to professional. There is some anxiety behind it because it’s all I’ve focused on for so long, but there’s also excitement, because I saw the finish line from the start and I’m so glad I saw it through. I’m actually at the finish line.
You guys have put out a lot of music in a short time. What is the process of making these albums and EPs? Do you write while you’re on tour and let those songs evolve on the road, or do you write when you’re home and buckle down to get things done?
It’s kind of writing as we go along in the studio. We take old parts, we make them into new parts, but it’s mostly just dedicating studio time, going in and writing songs. This record, I Want to Go Home, is the only time we did pre-produciton. We went up, we wrote, we left and came back. That was a change on this album; everything before this album, we just went in and threw things at the wall and saw what stuck. I grew as a songwriter with this album because it was actually laid out [instead of] just writing things with no timeline.
The fact that this is the last installment, there are a lot of facts I had already set in stone that I had to refer back to. The completion of the story called for more prepared songwriting.
In some ways, watching from the outside, Kaonashi has slowly become a more progressive band over time, the songs have gotten more complicated musically and thematically. It’s a natural point to come to where you feel the need to increase how seriously you take it.
It got more serious. We’ve just grown as performers, as writers. I never planned on being this storyteller. I never wanted to be an author, but we’re writing a story. There’s characters, there’s events, there’s places and things. I can’t contradict myself so that just naturally came with it.
Kaonashi is a hodge podge of different genres. You started as a metalcore band, now there’s a lot of progressive metal and emo in there. Do you think being a band that’s hard to pidgeonhole has helped you or held you back at times?
I think it’s been helpful. To say hold back is very pessimistic; I don’t think it’s held us back. Anyone that wasn’t going to like it wouldn’t like it any more if we were simple. They were going to hate it regardless; it’s separated the real from the fake in a way. If you like us, you’ll accept us for who we are and we’re just eclectic people, we just take from a lot of places. I think it’s helped because it’s attracted the right audience to us.
When I see people talk about the band in person or online, people feel very connected to the music and to the stories. It seems like it’s landing with the audience it’s looking for.
It took years of refinement. We put it out for the whole world, half of the world said “no” and two percent of the world said “yes.” I feel like that process only comes from milling and touring over and over again, finding those people.
Would you say that extensive touring and doing shows with bands like Protest the Hero has affected the way you approach writing or doing things?
It absolutely has. Before, it was me just trying to beg the world: “Please listen to me. Please look in my direction, I make music and I promise it’s good enough for you listen to,” and now we truly have an audience.
I can’t lie, I write music for myself. None of it is contrived, but I have that in mind, the fact that there’s a kid in Scotland who has every record or a kid in Fort Wayne, who has a tattoo. These things are on my mind whereas that wasn’t even the case in the beginning. It’s inevitable I feel like, to have those things affect your writing. I just try to keep it as close to the source as I can.
The post Interview: Kaonashi Talk Touring, Songwriting and New Album, <i>I Want to Go Home</i> appeared first on Decibel Magazine.