Many of you might have spent much time and effort practicing a traditional instrument like a guitar or piano (we remember primary school fourth year trying to play that bloody “Mary had a little lamb” tune on a xylophone). But have you ever thought of a Game Boy as a musical instrument? Better yet, as a live event tool? Or marrying rock music and the doyen of handhelds? Well, Ai from Japan and Ale from Spain have. They are Pepino.

: Let us start with the name. How did Pepino come?

ALE: Pepino has a nice ring to it. And by the way, it means cucumber in Spanish.

: I see. What can you tell us about the Game Boy musicians/bands scene in Japan/Fukuoka?

ALE: There are monthly events in overall Japan and the number of performers in clubs has quite increased. Someone from Fukuoka is invited to every foreign music festival of the kind.

: What regular events are there? How is the recognition of Pepino in the global scene?

ALE: At the moment there are no regular events. I think people who are into this “world” know Pepino quite well in Japan and overseas too. We had full house concerts in Spain, where we had started the band in March, 2005. We played at a festival in New York, toured in Sweden. The live performances with the funny dance and the singing that is rare in Game Boy music have been received well.

: Perhaps this is what interests everybody the most. It interests us definitely. Why Game Boy?

ALE: Game Boy is by nature portable and I like its unique analogue sound. We do not use music from games but make our own with the internal synthesizer. We enjoy the music itself, and do not think of it as game BGM.

: How many do you use at the concerts? What preparations (tuning etc.) do you need before live events?

ALE: We use up to 3 Game Boys for programmed music and live performance. We do not need tuning, but we adjust the tone and scale to suit the songs.

: Do both of you compose the songs?

ALE: I discuss them with Ai, but mainly I do.

: And now about games. What (kind of) games do you play? What is your hardware of choice?

ALE: I play mainly RPG, adventure and trading card games. Every now and then I play action games, odd puzzles and unconventional games like Made in Wario. My rules: no 3D, no optical media (CD, DVD). I like portable consoles. I still play with GBC or GBA more often than with DS.

: What do you think of the current state of the game industry? Is there something you are not happy about?

ALE: I think the game industry is too big to keep up with. Not happy about…the loading time of UMD. And RPG games are too long on average.

: Let us continue with music games. What music/rhythm games do you play?

ALE: I like “Pop’n Music Animation Melody” for GBC the best, because of its great analogue sound. Other than that, I play with “Rhythm Tengoku” for GBA, and “Daigasso! Band Brothers DX” for the DS.

: What do you think of Guitar Hero and Rock Band?

ALE: I have seen those games only on pictures. They seemed to me only imitations of an old Konami game. Guitar Freaks seems more comfortable to play.

: Have you thought about making a game? If yes, what kind of game would it be? What hardware?

ALE: The hardware I would like very much to program on is Game Boy Color or MSX2. But to be more up-to-date, a game for iPhone/iPod Touch browser application (Javascript) is the likely candidate. What kind of game would I like to make the most?  It is a simple RPG with a subtle combat system or a simulation game. Of course, I would compose the music.

: That goes without saying.

Thanks a lot for the interview. Rock on Pepino!