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Thomas Litchenstein
Songwriter, singer, pianist - the sound behind "Dance Dance Revolution, DrumMania, Silent Hill and Guitar Freaks.
Biography
Thomas Howard Lichtenstein:
Born in the 1960s in the back of a Cadillac.
Parents were flower children age but not flower children. More like nerd children.
Hung out with all the famous rock stars of the 70's:
Janis Joplin
Jimmy Hendrix
Jim Morrison
The Who
Jackson Browne
Then he woke up and realized it was all a dream. He wandered off to L.A. in the 80's where he spent months on the beach in SantaMonica contemplating his navel. He attended a now defunct music school at the same time as Michael Jackson. Got vocal coaching from the same coaches as Stevie Wonder, but that didn't seem to help.
Took a few dance and acting classes and went to a few auditions where he got so nervous he threw up - this did not help with the audition process.
Formed a band with fellow defunct school mates and started playing at biker bars and yuppy bars around Los Angeles county.
Had a lot of beer spilled on him.
Witnessed several interesting bar fights while trying to play his Roland D-50 and Yamaha DX-7 keyboards and sing at the same time.
An agent offered the band a 3 month gig in Kyoto, Japan and promised they would live in a "mansion" while they stayed in Japan.
Went to Japan and discovered that the local meaning of the word mansion is "tiny apartment".
Cramped quarters led to personality clashes and band broke up with much acrimony at the end of the 3 months.
Blew all his money on beer and snacks.
Returned to Japan several times to learn karate and Japanese language.
Huh?
Met Megumi in Osaka and was smitten.
Married in the U.S. in 1995 but went to Japan to have a wedding party.
Never returned to the US, but some part of him feels sad about that.
Started co-writing songs and singing for Konami games (DDR, DrumMania, GuitarFreaks) and also became the announcer for the games.
Favorite part is trying to crack up the guys in the sound booth with weird voices and cultural references they can't understand...
Continued playing piano and singing in hotel lounges every night for years and years.
Worst experience: Had to perform Billy Joel's "Honesty" 5 times in one night. Finally changed the arrangement to a 40's swing version because he was sick of it. That was actually kinda cool...
