Recently in town for the PUMA L.I.F.T Racer L.I.F.T OFF event and street performance along Orchard Road, Marco, Chosa, Aki and Indy from CUBE were able to squeeze in some time into their energy packed schedule to sit us down for a nice and friendly chat. Jump to read on.

plussixfive: Describe CUBE in 10 words or less.

Indy: Action, passion, art, fun, freestyle, love, music, dance, enjoy, football

plussixfive: Besides the Puma L.I.F.T event what other events are you guys be involved in?

Indy: We have a lot of events in Japan; we perform wherever we are invited to, around the world or in Japan. We are very excited to be brought here to Singapore and we are looking forward to make it big in Singapore and get people excited. We would definitely like to come back.

Aki: We have a lot of projects going on in Japan but we’ll be back to do something again.

plussixfive: I’ve seen a couple of clips of your street performances on YouTube.

Aki: Yeah, that was probably when we were performing during the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany 2006.

plussixfive: What is the general reaction of the crowd whenever you guys are performing?

Indy: He’s (Aki) got a loud voice, so people can hear him from far far away.

Aki: I would want to hear their voices, so I’ll scream, “I want to hear your voices, I want to hear your voices!” Some people would be screaming and some people dancing, some people watching really carefully you know. I think people should do whatever they want to do.

plussixfive: Do you guys prefer doing street performances or performing for events?

Aki: It doesn’t matter where we are; I mean if there are people we’d be more then happy to perform.

Indy: It really doesn’t matter where we perform as long as there are people watching us and at the same time we’re really close to the people so we can feed off each other, feed off their energy. We’ll get more excited and we’ll get them excited, a never ending cycle.

plussixfive: Do you guys try to come up with your own new moves? And where do you get your inspiration from?

Indy: Usually we will come up with our own new moves and sometimes we imitate what other people are doing but we try not to, we always try to create our own style.

Marco: I get inspired and come up with a new trick while I’m watching TV or just walking around. Not doing anything particularly special, like when I’m in the bathroom or taking a shower.

plussixfive: Do you guys draw more inspiration from music or watching other footballers?

Indy: Not so much from watching other footballers. For myself, I get my inspiration from watching other performers, other artists ranging from musicians to buskers, even street performers. Many different inspirations.

Aki: For me it’s music. I’m the music guy and I’m watching their moves and I hear that rhythm in them and I use it to make music. That’s the whole idea, for me.

plussixfive: I’m sure you guys are good enough to be professional football players, has it ever crossed your mind to go pro?

Indy: I’m sure we have all thought of becoming professional football players.

Marco: I’m currently playing soccer at a higher level but I’ve actually been signed for three soccer club before but things didn’t work out with the teams, for various reasons; from the club’s manager to the team going bankrupt.

plussixfive: So personally, do you get more satisfaction from performing with CUBE?

Marco: I’m currently doing both (performing with CUBE and playing soccer at a high level) and I enjoy both and take both very seriously.

Indy: And this applies to all of us too. I play soccer too and I take it seriously when I play.

plussixfive: Now let’s talk about your freestyle ball lifting performances. When you guys perform, what are the most important factors for you guys? Is it the shoes or the surface or …?

Aki: Style would be the most important, the ball of course and how we present ourselves to the audience.

Indy: If we had to pick out just one element that would be difficult. We take very seriously how we present ourselves to the world, we take shoes seriously and clothes. When we pick and choose (items) we give a lot of thought.

Aki: If we don’t like it, we won’t want to wear it.

plussixfive: That leads me to my next question. What do you guys think of the Puma L.I.F.T Racer that your guys are wearing?

Aki: I love the colour!

Indy: It’s very comfortable to wear with many different colours for you to enjoy and match the shoes with clothes. And it’s very comfortable for walking and I’m sure even for jogging. Ohh yeah, and it’s very light! And it looks great. Even though in Singapore it’s so hot, you can get air flowing through, so that’s very good.

plussixfive: So for how long will you guys be doing this (CUBE) for?

Aki: Haha, that’s a good question.

Marco: Till I Die! 90 years old maybe?

Indy: I think people will be drawn to a bunch of 90 year olds kicking a ball around. Trying to make people happy and make themselves happy you know. As long as our bodies can give off that confidence and that energy, that’s what it’s all about.

plussixfive: How did you guys meet up and form CUBE?

Aki: He’s the one that started it. (Pointing to Marco) He’s the one that brought freestyle football to Japan. And then we met.

Indy: I started performing freestyle football in Europe. I thought it was good, but I knew that I could make it better. And that’s when I decided to bring it back to Japan. When I brought it back, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. From the start, I knew that it was going to be big.

Aki: Because he was the only one. With the style and the music.

Indy: There are a lot of other people doing freestyle football in the world, but without music.

Marco: I had this vision of bringing together freestyle football and music.

plussixfive: Thanks guys and big ups on pursuing a profession that you really love (music and football) and keep pushing the boundaries of freestyle football as well as music. We hope to see you back in Singapore real soon.