 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines. We are broadcasting live from the beautiful Think Tech Hawaii TV studio in the Pioneer Plaza in downtown Honolulu. This show is based on my book which is also titled Beyond the Lines and it's about creating a superior culture of excellence, leadership, and finding greatness. Today's special guest is Alex Kawakami. Alex is an extremely talented musician who is part of the very successful Manoa DNA band and also has a thriving solo career and today we are going beyond the music. Hey Alex. How's it going? Man, I've known this guy for 25, 25 years now. Probably because... We just see you in a different setting. Well, you know, I enjoyed training you in tennis in private lessons. I wasn't the easiest student, but you know, he did a good job. You had a great forehand. I did. I don't know about nowadays. My shoulder is a little sore. Now, I know that you went to Punahou, but tell me about how your Punahou school experience was. Well, it was amazing. You know, I went from kindergarten all the way through my senior year and of course Punahou gives you so many opportunities, the experience, the people you meet, you know, the coaches, the teachers. Although at the time I really appreciated everything about it. Looking back now past high school and you know, going into college and going into the real world, I really appreciated what I learned from all my teachers and coaches and just going through that culture was a tremendous experience for me. And then what college did you end up going to, Alex? I ended up going to the University of Colorado at Boulder for one year. It was very cold. I had a little trouble academics wise, but I decided to come home back to the University of Hawaii because there was a few music opportunities here that I wanted to pursue and I was having trouble getting into some of the music stuff up there. So I just wanted to come back mostly for music actually. So how, talking about music, how did you first get interested in music? Well, music from as far as I can remember, I don't know if I remember this or it's because my dad has told this story a lot is when I was around two years old, I had a toy ukulele and my dad, of course, played music through his whole life as well. And he had a band and they would be playing multiple times a week. So I would watch them play or be at the rehearsals and I would have my ukulele and just, you know, not playing anything. But from then on, I can remember it was my passion, you know, through two years old until now. From ukulele, singing, writing, guitar, everything. And you have an amazing family. I know your mom and dad very well and your brother, Nick. Can you tell everybody about your family? Yeah. My mom and dad, my grandparents, they're amazing people. They work hard, but they have good hearts. You know, that's the biggest thing I took from growing up and watching my parents. And my brother and I, he's three years older, but you know, everybody, they have stories about their siblings, especially brothers, you know, fighting and getting into scuffles and yelling at each other and getting into trouble. But for me and my brother, we were really close, you know, growing up. And even now we're very close. So and I think that just is a testament to how my parents raised me. Yeah. And your family has been growing in recent years. Yes. You know, I got married in 2015 and my brother got married last year. So in that case, my parents doubled their kids and now they have two daughters. And of course, about four months ago, our family grew more. And Sarah, my wife and I had our first grandson, our son, and my parents have their first grandson. So it's been a wild few years, man, for the Kalakami family. Well, your son, Alika, is like the cutest, cutest little baby. Yeah. He's, you know, they. So a funny story is through the pregnancy, everybody said the mom becomes a mom when she becomes pregnant. And I understood that and that happened completely for Sarah. She became a mom immediately. They say, you become a dad when you first hold your kid. And I said, I can't wait for that moment. And so in the hospital, I was like, you know, ready, ready to become a dad. And I held my kid and I looked at him and I'm like, well, he's he's kind of a weird color. Kind of looks like an alien. My wife is asking me, well, who does it look like? I'm like, I don't know right now. But so that moment I was kind of like, well, well, he's my son. That's good. But, you know, right after that, when we're holding him and feeding him and changing him, it was changed my life completely. It was it's amazing. So far, four and a half months into it, it's been amazing. Well, I'm very proud and happy for you, Alex. Thank you. Now, let's talk about Manoa DNA. OK, you guys are hugely popular, hugely successful. How did it all begin? Well, it started, you know, naturally, as a family, we played music together. Whether it's at barbecues or family events, people would ask us to play. So we would play and we had no rehearsal, just jam session. And when I moved back from Colorado, I was actually moving back to pursue a solo career because I was playing, practicing a lot in Colorado and I wanted to come home and play music. And the summer I came back, one of my dad's friends opened a restaurant called E&O Trading Company in Ward. And he had asked my dad, hey, do you and your sons want to play every week? And so my dad asked us. And, you know, of course, an 18 year old, 19 year old. I was like, oh, yeah, you know, a weekly gig. You got to usually work for that. But all right, let's do it. And so my dad put us through boot camp, literally music boot camp. It was about a month or two before our first time playing there. And he would put us through hours every day of rehearsing, putting together a song list, because he told us if we're going to do this, we're going to do it right. We're not going to have a backyard jam session. We're going to have songs that we learn and rehearse. And that was the beginning of Manoa DNA. We didn't have a band name. Really? Yeah. We when we got the gig, we had to think about what are we going to be the Kawakami Ohana, the Kawakami boys? What is it? And my mom throughout the name Manoa DNA. And it's because we grew up in Manoa Valley. My grandparents were in Manoa Valley too. So we from my dad's young age also. And DNA, although we're all family, so it works. It also stands for dad because the band is my dad and my brother, Nick. So dad, Nick and Alex. And to this day, my mom takes credit for everything we do because if she wasn't there, we wouldn't have the name Manoa DNA. Of course, your mom, Carla, she's like the glue that keeps all of you guys together. Totally. And she takes also credit for my brother and my vocal talents. Yeah. She said when we were born, we took all of her talents. That's why she can't sing anymore. I don't know if she can sing before, but that's her story. Now, you guys are hugely, obviously popular in Hawaii, but also big time in Japan. Why are you guys so popular in Japan? You know, that was another thing just like the trading company gig. We're very fortunate to have an opportunity to play in Japan. And, you know, from the beginning, we were always about if there's an opportunity, you take, you grasp it and you have to make the best of it. And we are fortunate to go up with Hawaii Tourism Japan in 2016, which led to a bunch of more performances with them. And what I think people gravitated to was not only our music, but because we're a family and we make it a point to really connect with the people, our fans there. And from the beginning, you know, after our performances, even to this day, we go out after and hang with the fans in the clubs or the wherever we're playing. And we have drinks with them. We cheers them. Nice. They know that about us. So they know it's comfortable for them to come up to us and to talk with us, to give us gifts. And it's gotten to a point. A funny story is that in 2014, I think it was, we decided to get a group of people of our friends in Hawaii to come on tour with us in Japan. It was about, I think it was about 18 of us. And we went through Tokyo and we ended up, the end of it was in Sapporo. And what we did there was it was in a ballroom. And so there's tables of about 10. And we placed one of our friends from Hawaii at each table, only one, surrounded by nine other Japanese fans. Our friends did not speak Japanese. They, the Japanese people, spoke broken English. OK. So it was a little awkward in the beginning. But once we started playing music, the drinks started flowing, the food started coming in. By the end of the performance, it was a huge party. And everybody was so happy because it wasn't about the different cultures, but they came together. And to me, it was the music that brought everybody together. And afterwards, we were in one of our friends' rooms, drinking and partying after at about 11 or 12. And slowly we saw some of the Japanese fans peek their head because they could hear us. And by the end of the night, we had everybody together again, in this small hotel room, just drinking, partying. And I think that's what people connect to with us. And it's so much fun for us as well. And so we're so fortunate to have that following in Japan. And Alex, you perform a lot with Henry Capone. I mean, he's a living local legend here. He is. How did you first connect with him? Well, back in the 90s, my dad used to play with Cecilio and then used to play with Cecilio and Capone when they did their back in the day concerts. So I knew him a little bit. I knew of him and I met him a few times. I wouldn't say he was a friend. But I moved to Los Angeles in 2014 to pursue music. And it was in 2016 that I was writing music. I was pitching music to TV shows. I was trying to record an album. I was producing music. And it was at a point where I was hitting a lot of walls and there was a lot of no's and a lot of failures, which I had expected. I didn't expect that many. And I'm always about the attitude, if someone doesn't like it or you fail, then you just get back up and do it better. Otherwise, it's a wasted opportunity. But it was at a point where I was ready to say, I'm going to do something else because I cannot handle this anymore. I want to just move home. I want to work somewhere and just live a simple life. And it was around that exact time that Henry's manager, his wife, contacted me and said, hey, Henry's going to be in San Luis Obispo. Do you want to come and play? And I said, sure, when? I said, Wednesday. And it was Monday. And I was like, OK. I said, yeah, I'll definitely open when people are coming in. I'll play. I said, oh, no, we already have an opening band. So do you want to just jump up with him on stage during his concert? And I said, OK, why not? I said, what song do you want to sing? And I blurted out Sunflower because I love that song. And she said, OK. And Henry said, yeah, OK, we'll practice it at Soundcheck. I had never played Sunflower before in my whole life. So I don't know why I said it, but it came out. And I went down there. I practiced it. Went down there. We Soundchecked. And immediately when we Soundchecked, we knew something special was there. Both of us did. Everybody who was there for Soundchecked knew something was special. And then when we performed it, there was a silence. So I'm getting chicken skin right now. There was a silence over the room that was just a special moment that changed my music career forever. And it was just by chance. It was all about seizing that opportunity. And from then on, that opened the door to the songs of C&K Tour, the album. That was the whole premise moving forward for them as well. And so for me and Henry to connect there, I don't know what it was. It was just something happened. And from then on, it literally changed my path in life in that moment. It's magical. It was crazy. So Alex, how has he helped you personally since then? Well, personally, he's showed me what it means to be a true professional. With any career, you're going to meet people who are sharks. Especially in LA, I met a lot of those kind of people. But you don't expect to meet someone like Henry, who's a legend here, who can act however he wants and no one will say anything. You don't expect him to be so giving and so generous and so open about helping someone. And he took me under his wing. He brought me to different gigs he did. He introduced me to some of his clients. Brings me to the outer islands for concerts. And he's really helping me pave that path. And he's using his connections to do it, which is unbelievable to me. I tell everybody, I'm just waiting for him to yell at me or go behind my back. Because I'm like, this is so weird. Like, why is he doing this? But he's never. That's just not his style. And him and his family and his whole team, amazing. Amazing people. They're a class act. And he's a classy guy. Completely, yeah. And Alex, I want to ask, I don't know about this. But have you ever screwed up on stage before? Well, yes. Yes. There are many stories of that. But actually, one of the funny stories is, so it was earlier this year. And I was with Henry in the songs of C&K. We were playing on Maui. And we had a sold out auditorium of a couple thousand people. And I always get nervous before I start the song Sailing, because that's one of the most famous songs. And the iconic part is the harmonica. And I do that part. And that's the only part I get nervous for ever in playing music is that part. And that was right when we were announcing that we were having a kid. And so before I left to go to Maui, my wife says, you're having a kid. Make him proud. You know how to do the solo. You can play everything. Make him proud. Think of him when you're playing and you'll be fine. So right before, I picked up my harmonica and I thought in my head, Henry's telling his story. And I thought in my head, I'm the man. I can do this. What am I worried about? I've played this a hundred times. I'm having a kid. I'd better show him confidence. It's like, I got this. Everybody's going to love it. Ready to go? Henry looks at me, gives me the nod. I'm like, I'm ready. I got this. I start the song. And I picked up the wrong key harmonica. And so I started. And he starts playing. And it's a train wreck. It's the last song of the concert. So I started. I start busting out laughing. And I stop. And I say, wait, wait, hold on. I totally screwed that up, everybody. And it was like the universe was knocking me down, saying, yeah, you want to get confident yet? Not good. I got a little pig. And I started it. And what's funny about that is Henry, everybody was laughing. And I started laughing like, what is going on here? And if you've seen the first why I'm bank commercials that have been out, they feature me working with Henry a lot. And I think at the end of the commercial, it shows us in that auditorium, it has a silhouette of me, but showing everybody else. And they're smiling and nodding their head at me. And it's a really special moment. But really, they're laughing at me because I messed up. And so it created such a good moment for everybody. And it worked out in the end. But it's one of those things that you can't get too cocky in what you're doing. And I got knocked down a peg. And I'll remember that for the rest of my life. Well, Alex, that's funny. I'm glad that you shared that. And Alex, we're going to take a quick break. But when we come back, we're going to continue going beyond the music. You got it. You are watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii with my special guest, Alex Kawakami. We will be back in 60 seconds. Aloha. I'm Wendy Lo. And I'm coming to you every other Tuesday at 2 o'clock live from Think Tech Hawaii. And on our show, we talk about taking your health back. And what does that mean? It means mind, body, and soul. Anything you can do that makes your body healthier and happier is what we're going to be talking about, whether it's spiritual health, mental health, fascia health, beautiful smile health, whatever it means. Let's take healthy back. Aloha. Hey, Aloha. My name is Andrew Lanning. I'm the host of Security Matters Hawaii, airing every Wednesday here on Think Tech Hawaii live from the studios. I'll bring you guests. I'll bring you information about the things in security that matter to keeping you safe, your co-workers safe, your family safe, to keep our community safe. We want to teach you about those things in our industry that may be a little outside of your experience. So please join me, because Security Matters. Aloha. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My special guest today is Alex Kawakami, who is part of the very successful Manoa DNA band and also has a thriving solo career. And today, we are going beyond the music. Alex, let's talk about that solo career that you have. Do you write your own music? Yeah. I've been writing music since high school. I just started getting into it. I didn't really train or anything for it. But over the years, I've learned from a lot of people. And I've learned how to write from my own experiences and emotions. When I started, I didn't want to write from personal experience. But yeah, now I write all my music. I have writing partners and producing partners that I work with. And we're coming up with some new stuff this year, too, or this coming year. Yeah. And I love your new CD, Rise and Shine. And I really like the songs Fireknife, Home. I won't wait. Tell me about that. Well, like I said, all of those are personal experiences. Fireknife, actually, I wrote with my friend Eric Burdan in LA. We wanted to write a beach party song. And so we wrote about a girl spinning like a fire knife to bring it all back to Hawaii. Home is a very special song because I travel a lot for music. And fortunately, I get to travel with my family. And I get to travel with my wife a lot. And so although I'm away from home a lot, it never felt like I was away from home because I was always with the people I love. And that's why I wrote that song. And I won't wait was a personal experience of a friend who is in a relationship that we all knew shouldn't be in that relationship. And be strong. And don't wait for that part of it to come around. You're your own person. Yeah. No, and you have two solo CDs. Yes. Yeah. One was done in 2012. It was my first experience when I went to Japan. And then this one was most recent, One Rise and Shine. And then how can viewers contact you, Alex, if they want to hire you to perform at some function? The easiest way is either my website, AlexKawakami.com, even Instagram and Facebook, all at AlexKawakami. I checked, but the team checks it all. So if you want to contact me, contact me. Great. Alex, let's talk about your incredible Ilani Incorporated Company. And first of all, I want to thank you and your parents because you guys sponsor me. And look at your shirt. Yeah, we make it look good, right? And you guys have incredible styles. I mean, I love the variety. And it's not just one style, but there's so many different types of clothing. I mean, how did it all begin? Well, the company started in 1953. My grandparents founded the company the same year my dad was born. So they're crazy. I don't know how they did that. But from 1953 until now, we celebrated a 65th year this year. And we started with Aloha shirts because that's what was booming in the market at the time. We went over to more women stuff in the 70s, 80s. And now it's a good mix. And I think one of the reasons that has been successful and we've been able to survive for 65 years is because we've been able to adapt and we've changed. We haven't been stuck in our ways. And that's what's been a theme from when I joined in 2016 is we're not staying in one place. We're not forgetting what our history is about. But we're also moving forward and expanding based on the values that Yolani has. Yeah, and your parents, Lloyd and Carla, I mean, really doing a fantastic job running the business. And then you and Sarah are helping them as well. So what are the roles that you guys all play? Well, of course, my mom and dad are boss. That's number one. If they're watching, I haven't forgot that. But to their credit, Sarah and I came out. And Sarah has been great in merchandising our stuff and giving new ideas with our designer, Grace. And really what I have to give my parents credit because they're open to change. And Yolani as a garment manufacturer has done it the same way for 65 years. We've developed different styles, prints, material. But moving forward, the markets changed so much. And so there has to be a lot of change. Just social media is a huge change for us and having our own retail store and how to promote it. And so us expanding into retail and also expanding in the Yolani Center, which is going to feature music, arts, we have purveyed donut stops, snack-addicted beef jerky, koloha ukulele, all made in Hawaii, it takes the values that my grandparents had about supporting the culture here in Hawaii, supporting the creative arts in Hawaii. And we're bringing it back. I think it's slowly been lost to people trying to always go overseas to make things. But we have so much talent in Hawaii for everything that we feel like Yolani is moving in that direction. We have to bring it back. We're still all made in Hawaii. So we want to support everybody else who's creating good things here in Hawaii. That's what the Yolani Center is all about. Yeah, I totally agree with you. It's such a great feel there. And you've achieved a lot of success in music. And you can see a successful company in your grandparents and your parents' business with Yolani. How do you define success, Alex? Well, success, I think everybody has a different opinion at what success is. Some people think it's making a lot of money or winning awards. Those are all different ways of succeeding. But to me, and this is something I learned in LA, was to me, success is in how you prepared for what you're doing. And if you've done everything possible leading up to whatever it is, a deadline or a project ending, you've done everything in your power and you've done it to your best, then to me, it doesn't matter how it ends up. And with tennis, with music, with Yolani, it's how you prepare. So like I was saying in the beginning, I was a tough student for him because I hated practicing. And that's how I always was growing up. I didn't like practicing, but he made it fun. So I always practice. And with music, it's the same way where I feel better about what I've done if I'm prepared for it. And so to me, succeeding is how hard you work towards it. Whether you succeeded or not, that's a good. But if you feel good about it, to me, then I've succeeded. Yeah, enjoy the journey and try stuff. Yeah, and if you fail, one of the songs of my album is called In Your Life. And it's a song literally about that, is you're going to fall and hit your head and get smacked in the face all the time, no matter how careful you are. So why not just go out, fall in your face, and experience it, and then learn from that, and take it into wherever else you want to go. Yeah, no, I totally agree. And Alex, you know, every successful person, they experience challenges in their life. What's been a big challenge or an obstacle that you had to overcome? Well, there's been a lot of obstacles. And one of the ones that I really always go back to is when I was in Los Angeles, and my wife was there with me, which was amazing. If I was alone, I don't know if I would have survived there. But one of the challenges was, what I just said is you take chances, and I'm always positive, I'm a happy person, I always try and be positive to everybody I talk to, even if I fail, and that's been my theme forever. And in LA, it was so difficult to keep that positivity alive. And I would be going to TV placement stations, places where they want to place your songs on TV movies. And I'd be so proud of what I did, and they would say, no, it's not ready. This isn't good enough for us to come back later and happen over and over again. And like I said, of course, I'd prepare, and I would work at it, and I would be proud of it. After a point, though, it became too hard. And so that was the biggest challenge, was to push through that barrier. And part of it was having my wife, having a good support system, having my family, knowing that they're there. That was one huge part of it. And the other part was just pushing through it, and knowing that it's gonna eventually get better. And that's when Henry came into my life. And I'm a firm believer that you just keep going. But that was huge for me. It was difficult. It was the first time I really felt like quitting. Wow. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you didn't quit. I know. Me too. Wow. So you were down in the dumps, and then Henry saved you? Yes. Yeah, definitely. I credit a lot of what has been happening over the last two, three years to Henry, and also my dad and my brother for sticking with music. It was just at a point where I wanted to quit. I wanted to do something else, because I couldn't handle it. And I ended up pushing through, and these guys came through. Great. Now, Alex, before we wrap up, I wanna know one more thing. Yes. What are you hoping to aspire to achieve in your future? Well, there's a lot happening. This past year was a huge year for me, with music, Iolani, and family-wise. And one of the things I really want to achieve, and I think this really is because of my parents, is just to raise a good son and to create an environment around him that is fun, it's helpful, it's encouraging, because that's what I had. And being a dad for four months, I can see how hard it's gonna be. Because you don't know. I don't know what he's gonna be like. I don't know what I'm gonna be like when he's older. But to support him, and to also balance having a son, having a family, as well as trying to develop more with Iolani and music, that balance is what I'm hoping to achieve. I'm terrible at it now. So I'm hoping it's one day that I'll be like, yeah, I'm good at balancing myself, but now I'm terrible, I'm terrible at it, man. So bad. Well, Alex, I'm very proud of you. And you're a man of great character, and you're very likable. I wanna thank you so much for taking time to be on the lines today. Appreciate it. And I know all of Hawaii is proud of you. Oh, thank you. That means a lot. Thank you, Alex. Appreciate it. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit my website, RustyKamori.com, and my book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all Costco stores in Hawaii. I hope that my book and TV show inspires you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.