God of Shamisen is a band from Santa Cruz, Calif., led by a master of the Shamisen, a fretless Japanese lute. The band involves elements spanning a multitude of genres, including progressive rock, metal, and funk.

NEWS:

God of Shamisen has a song featured in the new a rock climbing / bouldering documentary DVD. Check out the Big in Japan Tour DVD from DrTopo.com!

Our full-length album, Dragon String Attack, was recently completed!! We are currently looking for label and distrbution offers. Our CD should be available sometime in 2008! For release date announcements, please sign up on our email list, to the right.

BUY OUR BRAND NEW 7" VINYL RECORD SINGLE!

Side A: “The Science Fiction of Ray Bradbury Attack”
Side B: “Strange Relationship Attack”

Extremely limited edition of 500

$10 including shipping to USA or Canada

$13 including shipping internationally (to all other countries)

OLDER NEWS

DECEMBER '07

Mixing on our first full-length album, Dragon String Attack, is almost done!
Additionally, a 7" single will be available in early 2008!

OCTOBER '07

As a gift to our fans we've posted "Final Fantasy Attack" online. This is the studio version of our cover medley of Final Fantasy 1 music. You can listen to the track and download an MP3 here!

We are doing the final mixing of our album, Dragon String Attack. Then we will be talking to labels, finishing our live DVD, and preparing a 5.1 surround mix of the album as well. Expect the album in early 2008 - seriously. :)

JUNE '07

Thanks to everyone who saw us at Fanime Con! It was a lot of fun! We hope to do it again next year!

MAY '07

GOD OF SHAMISEN will be performing at this year's FANIME CON Japanese animation convention in San Jose, California, on Sunday, May 27.

The full band performs Sunday, May 7 ~ 1:30 pm
San Jose Convention Center, Room J

Kevin will be also giving brief traditional Tsugaru-Shamisen demonstrations at the con’s Stage Zero at the following times:
       Saturday @ 5pm
       Sunday @ 4:30pm

We will also have a table in the Artist Colony, for the entire weekend, where we will be selling NEW T-SHIRTS and exclusive CDs!

FEB '07

Studio album work steadily progresses, as guitarist Karl Schnaitter officially joins the band! God of Shamisen bandmember Mark Thornton will be touring in March with Secret Chiefs 3, while Kevin & Lee will be on tour with Estradasphere throughout April.

The God of Shamisen album completion is tentatively set for May, with a summer release. The album features God of Shamisen as well as a variety of guest musicians, including Masahiro Nitta (shamisen), Takemi Hirohara (shamisen), Deepak Ram (bansuri), Trey Spruance (guitar), Adam Stacey (clavinet), Mark Sowlakis (clarinet), Dale Ockerman (organ), Nat Shuirman (bass), Dave McCoy (bass), Tom McLaughlin (contrabass), and Rick Walker (a variety of percussion).

We've received numerous requests for MP3s to be posted for download on our website. These are coming soon!! In the meantime you can listen to demos on our myspace page.

DEC '06

G.o.S. shamisen player and bandleader Kevin Kmetz is proud to announce a visit in January by MASAHIRO NITTA, a famous Tsugaru Shamisen player from Sopporo, Japan. This two-time national shamisen champion is a perfect match for Kevin's fusion of styles. We are preparing to record Masahiro Nitta as one of the many guest musicians for the upcoming God of Shamisen album!

Kevin Kmetz, Masahiro Nitta and Mike Penny will be performing the following shows:

Jan. 11 - San Francisco CA @ Japanese Cultural and Community Center
Jan. 12 - Santa Cruz CA @ Cayuga Vault
Jan. 14 - Claremont CA @ Folk Music Center, 722 Yale Ave
Jan. 15 - Altadena CA @ Coffee Gallery
Jan. 20 - Los Angeles CA @ Taiko Center of Los Angeles

NOV '06

G.o.S. are currently and officially on hiatus as we finish our first album, The album is tentatively titled Dragon String Attack and set for completion in March 2007. The album will include new versions of our current studio songs and feature a variety of surprise guest musicians we cannot yet reveal!

Read more about the band and its bandmembers on the new Bio page.

Kevin Kmetz is currently on tour with a Romanian-Gypsy-Flamenco band, the Fishtank Ensemble.

AUG '06

This past spring, G.o.S. bandleader Kevin Kmetz won 2nd Place at the annual National Tsugaru Shamisen Tournament held every May in Kanagi, Japan. Check out more info plus video clips and photos here!

NOV '05

G.o.S. went on their “Northwest Attack” Tour in October 2005.

Take a look at our awesome Tour Journal video!
QuickTime or Windows Media or Flash (via YouTube)