Meet Ryonaka Mura

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ryonaka Mura and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a session drummer, I play all types of music from jazz to country to hard rock to Brazilian music, etc. Growing up in Tokyo I was able to see a lot of famous artists and musicians from around the globe perform and it really shaped who I am. In my highschooI days I would have rehearsals with my high school jazz band, then would go to my metal band rehearsal straight to my singer songwriter gig. I never tried to say to any type of music that people offered me to play. I was so curious what other genres of music sounded like and how people played them. I wanted to learn ALL styles of music so I can have those skills as colors in my palette and have more options on ways of expressing this complicated thing called human emotion. I always try to get influenced form whatever is out there and have an open mind to it. When Randy Brecker (famous jazz fusion trumpet player) came to my college and talked about Michael Brecker he mentioned that, “He (MIchael) was such an interesting person and wrote interesting music because he was never trying to be interesting, but rather he was always interested.” I still keep that to heart today. I’m always trying to stay musically/intellectually curious. When you hear my drum playing, hopefully you would hear a combination of a variety of musical genres carefully put together like a delicate dish, suiting the music that I’m playing for. I always try to play what I think the music/song needs but also add my spice to it. If I’m playing pop country music, I might add a little middle eastern fill or lick for a hot second to spice up the feel a little bit without disturbing the original essence. It took a long time for me really figure out which ones work together and which ones don’t. I had so many people tell me that my feel wasn’t right or my parts weren’t appropriate for the song. But in these situations, I always tried to figure out why it sounded wrong or not appropriate. I would listen and communicate with the other musicians so I can try to learn and get it right. Instead of trying to push myself forward so much, I learned to stay back and always have a student mentality. The more I was interested, the more my playing became interesting.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Since I skateboard as well, I would definitely take them to Venice Beach (Dog Town) to where it all began. Although some parts are trashy, I think its still a good reflection of Los Angeles. Theres beautiful beaches and a nice skatepark with smooth concrete, but two streets in and you could see a homeless guy going nuts on drugs. At night, I’d definitely take them to a jam session thats happening. Usually the one at the Federal in North Hollywood on Tuesdays is really good. So many famous musicians come there to jam. I get to see the musicians I saw on youtube while I was growing up for free! After a couple drinks at the jam session I might take my guest to a local taco truck in the valley, and maybe go up Mulholland Drive or Griffith Park for a nice night view of the city. I would pretty much repeat this for the next couple days maybe going on a hike on one of the many hiking trails or visit the gorgeous museums like the Getty or LACMA. I think Korea Town is a very unique and interesting place with all the authentic Korean food options as well as a huge Korean spa which might be the only one in the U.S. Its crazy how the largest Korean diaspora is in the United States and the Los Angeles has the biggest Korean population out of that. Korea Town really feels like a mini version of Korea. Along with other neighborhoods like Little Tokyo or Thai Town and Little Ethiopia, Los Angeles is such a diverse city with so many different types of people from all over the globe, making it such an interesting city and impossible to fully get around in just a week.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to shoutout my parents and brother who have been so supportive all throughout my life! But also my two good friends Sam Ramirez and Luke Nilan, both really talented musicians/producers who’ve worked on notable albums and scores. Shoutout to my bands Local Strangers, Lanigan, and Blind Mirror!

Instagram: ryonaka.mura