[EN] VVS Concert Pamphlet
Our VVS are top class NOISE.
JESSE
The vibes devoted to concerts has not changed
I feel as if this past year, was a time where we garnered even more respect towards each other. We’ve each been gratefully, busy with individual work and hence have lesser time to gather as 6, but that’s the very reason why we’ve talked more and become even closer than before. We’re maturing into adults since everyone is levelling up and more aware, but I want to retain that hunger we have towards concerts, and still be free without being too stylish (laughs). The vibes we devote towards concerts have not changed since the beginning. We’ll continue to challenge ourselves and bring energy. We will bring everything for our performance again this time, so please experience our concerts while giving us loud cheers at such a large Dome venue.
TAIGA
We will definitely, surpass the previous tour
Although it feels arrogant to think “wouldn’t this be better?”, we still convey those thoughts to the staff honestly and have an open discussion. We started being proactive about that just about a year ago. “ABARERO” is precisely the thing that came to fruition because we had the chance to self-assert for the first time. From there, all of us grew from experiencing a dome concert, which allowed us to achieve the concrete results of hitting 10 million views on “Kokkara” and further riding that wave… I think we’ve gained a lot of confidence over this year. We’ll go into the tour with these vibes. We’re going to surpass last time, so please look forward to it.
HOKUTO
Challenge aggressively, enjoying ourselves
I feel that it was a good thing that we treated “Kansei no Housoku in DOME” as a “regular” concert, as an addition to the arena tour, without placing too much emphasis on it being our “first dome concert”. It might’ve been emotional if we let it being a “first” be front and centre, but these commemorative moments only happen once, so I wanted to avoid getting cornered with “what will we use next time?!”. And now this year, we’re able to stand on the dome stage again. Based on our previous strategy, I feel like we can be at the starting line with us ready at the next level; all of us can take on the challenge aggressively, and more importantly, enjoy ourselves. Those are the vibes we’re pumped with.
YUGO
We’re on a roll, it’s starting
Right now, I don’t feel the excitement of “it’s a dome tour!” at all; we recorded the album, filmed the MV, and now the concerts are next… I feel more, “it’s the usual flow, it’s starting again”. It’s like, my excitement and vibes are slowly building up. But unlike last time, it’s our first to plan it as a dome tour from the beginning, so I think we’ll have new discoveries. I want cherish the sensibilities that emerge from that. Also, I’ll be turning 30 during the tour. I’m grateful to challenge such a big tour on this milestone. But just as I’ve been doing, I want to be the same age as Shintarou mentally and carry on forth (laughs).
SHINTARO
All of us are giving our everything, and no one is yielding
To this day, back when our group was formed, I still clearly remember being unable to keep the show running in a venue that held a couple hundred. Then we slowly had the opportunities to perform in larger venues, and when I saw footage of the last dome concert, I thought “ah, we’re doing it right” and keenly felt our growth as a group. Aside from the skilling-up of each member, I felt that it was possible because of our cohesiveness as 6. That quality is created exactly because we are giving it all and not yielding to anyone. Yes, I think that “not yielding to anyone” is very important to SixTONES. We’ll have these vibes to tackle the dome tour!
JURI
Just the usual, without anything special
Personally, I have the perception that a first dome tour, in a sense, needs to be done by the books, that the usual boxes need to be ticked. For example, adding songs from our Junior days is almost ritualistic. But on the other hand, anything goes for the second time onwards (laughs). We should be able to put a different spin on things to last time, and we want to. Whether our techniques and mentality have grown as a group, is something for the audience, and not us, to determine. My vibes are to not do anything special, and just do the usual (laughs). I want to surpass what we did last time, and I feel like we’ll be able to, so I think you’ll certainly be able to feel our “change”.
PLAYBACK
All about SixTONES’ present and what’s to come.
Onto a dome tour.
About fabricating a new “kokkara [from here on]” for the 6.
Morimoto: We successfully completed last year’s arena tour “Kansei no Housoku” tour, plus the additional dome shows in Osaka and Tokyo, but do you remember how you felt after it was all finished?
Jesse: I suppose I felt relieved that we managed to complete it.
Kyomoto: It felt good!
Kouchi: Yeah. Personally, being able to take everything we’ve done so far in an arena and conclude at a big venue felt like a “culmination” of sorts, and I do feel like we did everything we could.
Tanaka: It didn’t matter that it was a dome concert, I simply felt the usual loneliness that comes with the end of a tour. It might’ve been more heartfelt if it was our first and last dome concert, but I wilfully thought that “we’ll do it again”, so.
Morimoto: I know, we thought “I look forward to next time”. All of us were facing forwards.
All: Yeah.
Tanaka: The audience were permitted to cheer out loud from the first day right? I’m pretty certain.
Morimoto: Yes. I won’t forget the thunderous cheers when the (ending) medley started on that first day.
Jesse: It was electrifying!
Matsumura: Also, the cheers blew up when we went on stage in the opening, but since the first song “Overture -VOICE-” begins without any instrumentals, so for a moment, there’s this space where the lingering cheers mix with the silence… That choked me up a fair bit.
Jesse: Since we grew used to not hearing cheers since our debut, that staging direction was effective, and just like the title “Kansei no Housoku”. [T/N: A wordplay on “the law of inertia”. “Cheering” is also kansei in Japanese]
Matsumura: You’re right, it totally paid off! Thank you very much!
Morimoto: If I remember correctly, we had discussions with the mindset of “let’s assume fans can cheer out loud, but we’ll also consider the situation where they can’t”. Since we didn’t receive the final decision until the actual day of the concert.
Tanaka: Back with “Feel da CITY” (the last last tour), they could cheer at a regular speaking volume with a mask and face shield…
Kyomoto: That’s why we included songs that used the hands, like “S.I.X” and “NEW WORLD”. I remember adding more of those sorts of songs.
Matsumura: Ahh~! You’re right. And finally, this year, we can plan and expect that cheering is allowed.
Morimoto: Looking back on our previous dome concert, I’m glad that we were able to create a space that allowed even the people at the very top and very side to have fun. We were worried and asked the staff “were the people at the top okay?”. The staff actually went to different parts of the venue during the show, and would tell us “the upper stands are cheering too”. I was happy to hear that.
Tanaka: Now, the title for this tour is “VVS”. The process of getting the tour title “VVS” from the album title “THE VIBES”…
Matsumura: It’ll be a long one.
Tanaka: Long but the contents are thin. Long and thin (laughs).
All: (laughs)
Matsumura: Wellll~ We dwelled on it! The 6 of us spent our days off and had group calls going on and on… there was such a night…
Morimoto: And not just one night too.
Jesse: We even talked for 4 hours once.
Matsumura: Jesse even joined in because “we need to decide on the title”, even though he was away for his stage play and had to sleep early.
Kouchi: Even when we were in the car going from job to job, the ones awake would be saying “not this, not that” on the group chat. All the members were present, but we didn’t want to wake the ones who were asleep.
Jesse: Without talking.
Tanaka: Well, to talk about why we were so desperate…
Kyomoto: Because, it was already past the deadline (laughs). It was already past the date that we were told to submit our own suggestion for the tour title, so we had to use any scrap of time that we had to talk over it.
Tanaka: But it wasn’t as if we did nothing before the deadline, it’s simply that we couldn’t make up our minds! First, we started with using the album name “THE VIBES” or not. There’s a month between the album release and the start of the tour, so we thought, “a completely different name could work too right?”.
Kouchi: Yeah.
Matsumura: For example, we also thought about choosing a title that reflected the concert staging and structure. We really put out a lot of suggestions, from short to long titles.
Tanaka: Then, after cutting it all down, we ultimately began brainstorming cool 3-letter words (laughs). (Opens his chat history) “VVS” did come up in the early stages too. See, from this “VI is 6 right? How about VIP?”, there’s a whole list of other short words, and “VVS” which indicates a diamond’s clarity; if anything, the idea came up before the deadline (laughs). But then we went VVS → CCS → … and went more and more off topic…
Morimoto: Ahh, that’s bad (laughs).
Tanaka: After meandering to “LLC47”, someone brought us back on track to “VVS”. It’s Kouchi!
All: That’s good (laughs).
Matsumura: But then whether it’d be read as ‘V-V-S’ or ‘vibes’ set us off again… we were undecided until the very end.
Tanaka: Man, we took the long way round.
Jesse: By the way, what did you feel when you first heard that “we’re doing a 4-dome tour in 2024”?
Morimoto: For me, I felt “ah… is that so!”. I was calm since we went to Tokyo and Osaka last time. I think it’s nice and SixTONES-like to not go into a dome tour straight on from the beginning. If we went in “bam!” from the get go, both we and the fans would’ve probably braced ourselves. Since we cushioned it with 2 domes being an addition [to the arena tour], when I got told “it’s a 4-dome tour next”, I felt like I was able to reply “okay~”.
Tanaka: When the dome tour was decided, we were of course happy about it, but rather than feeling “Yay! It’s a dome tour!”, it was more “good, we’re leveling-up as planned”.
Morimoto: I know. (While gently rocking his fist) “Yes yes yes, going smoothly”.
Jesse: I get the feeling that we are climbing the ladder step by step. Instead of flying to the top in one swoop.
Matsumura: It’s like, the dome shows that we experienced as additional performances functioned as a nice introduction for us. I feel like we very gradually accustomed ourselves to a dome venue.
Tanaka: Actually, we have a long-term plan for our concerts. Based purely on our desires, we have a vision of where we want to be in the next 3 years. What the best path is to reach that, what we need to accomplish this year to do so… Those sort of things. Well, there are definitely things that don’t go to plan, but we have an ideal course that we’ve mapped out.
Kouchi: The dome shows were an addition to the arena tour last time, so deciding how to arrange the arena setlist [for dome] was our assignment, but this time we’re planning things for a dome-scale concert from the beginning. This really makes a big difference. Personally, there isn’t much difference attitude-wise because it’s bigger, but how I allocate my stamina and pacing varies greatly. As expected, it’s a difficult thing to take in the energy of 50,000 people and reciprocate it.
Kyomoto: But you know, we say it’s difficult, but it’s going to be another beast of a thing this time (laughs). Just by the stage set, it makes you wonder if it’s okay to be so extravagant for a first time.
Matsumura: Yeah. Because we challenged an approach that we haven’t done before for concerts.
Kouchi: It goes without saying that it’s a setup that we haven’t done before, but not many of our senpais have either.
Jesse: This will really fire things up! I look forward to it~
Kyomoto: Yeah, it’s going to be quite a challenge. That’s why although there may be differing opinions, it can’t be helped. In the end, we have to give it a go. The setlist too, for example, we have unit songs and solo songs, but there probably isn’t enough time to do all of them. We experimented different combinations, but… the possibility of not doing either was definitely on the cards. In that case, there will be people who feel unsatisfied and think “eh~ we don’t get to see this pair in a concert”, and on the other hand, there would be people who think “I was looking forward to the solo stages”. Try as I may, it’s difficult to completely satisfy every member of the audience.
Kouchi: That’s very true.
Kyomoto: So in the end, when we thought about what will make the fans the happiest, we thought that “doing what we want to” would make them the happiest. We have to believe in that. We make our final decisions with the fans in mind, so I hope they can accept that.
Tanaka: Yeah. The setlist isn’t finalised yet, but to be honest, the beginning and ending sections are basically done, and we’re in the midst of testing out its viability. We say that “our ideas don’t get approved easily” every year (laughs), but on that note, we’ve had more chances to realistically talk about “this is possible, this is not possible” this time. Because we started discussions earlier.
Kouchi: Yeah. I think our knowledge from last time helps too.
Tanaka: We’ve started to ask more concrete questions this year, like “is this okay venue-wise?”, “is this weight load okay?”, “is it feasible wiring-wise?”. Otherwise, there will come times where it’s not doable. We propose the general idea, and listen to the reason about why it’s not feasible, and try to find a way to solve it… This year, we’re learning.
Morimoto: We’re fine tuning all the small details too, asking them to redraw the set design multiple times as well.
Kouchi: I feel like negotiations are a “battle” of sorts. About how much we can get them to accept.
Jesse: Like an auction.
Kouchi: Auction?
Jesse: Like, toeing that fine line and winning the item that you wanted…
Kouchi: Ah, that’s what you mean (laughs). Yeah, instead of letting it end with “it’s not possible”, I want to try my luck.
Matsumura: Listening to the member’s thoughts like this, it makes me think that all of your ideas don’t get old. There’s none of that “(acquiescing) well, then, we’ll go with that”, nor just copy and paste what we’ve done before. There’s actual interest to create something new, something good.
Jesse: But well, it will fire things up!
All: That’s all you’ve been saying so far (laughs).
Morimoto: By the way, in the last tour’s concert pamphlet, we talked about Kouchi trying to make egg dishes from the raw eggs from catering at each venue…
Kouchi: Ah!!
Matsumura: You didn’t do it did you?!
All: Oi, come on Kouchi~!
Kouchi: (laughs) I wonder why I didn’t. Maybe there weren’t any raw eggs…
Tanaka: You simply forgot. But seriously, we didn’t have the time to play like that (laughs).
All: (laughs)
Kouchi: Yeah. We had meetings about the dome concert when we were backstage at the arena venues.
Kyomoto: Ah, yeah…
Tanaka: It’s clear, the reason why we have no time to mess around in our dressing rooms like before. We now have hair and makeup artists, and trainers who work with us, so we alternate getting our makeup done and receiving massages…
Jesse: Aah, and our eating times don’t align because of that too. The time we spend together as 6 backstage is actually little!
Tanaka: Then, when the 6 of us are together, we have to have meetings with the staff. That’s why he didn’t cook any eggs!
Matsumura: In that case, let’s ask them to schedule an earlier start for this tour so we can eat together as 6 before going into soundcheck.
Tanaka: Ahh, that’s good. I mean, isn’t it late this year? The starting time.
Jesse: Because there aren’t any afternoon shows (when it’s the dome).
Morimoto: Shall we get him to make egg dishes then?
Tanaka: We’ll get there at 10am.
Kyomoto: So early!
Jesse: We’ll get Kouchi to make something in the morning at every location. The dome itself is like an egg, so I’m counting on you for 4 dishes at the 4 locations. And that, will seriously fire us up!
All: …
Tanaka: You tried to use that for everything but it didn’t work well (laughs).
Kouchi: What do you think will be the trend for this tour?
Morimoto: It has to be the puzzle game this time right? [T/N: I’m certain they’re referring to Suika Game]
All: Yup!
Kyomoto: Don’t you want to connect it to the TV and watch it together?
Tanaka: No, let’s have a battle and see who can get to ‘that’ the fastest.
Matsumura: That’s interesting! Then, the winner can get to eat Kouchi’s egg dish…
Tanaka: I’ll get Kouchi to cook while I’m playing the game.
Kouchi: I don’t get to participate? (laughs)
Jesse: You’re playing the egg game alone!
Kyomoto: What about the tour merchandise? We put in a lot of effort this time too. Thinking about things like avoiding the same colour themes as last time.
Matsumura: It’s actually a first for us to have towels right?
Jesse: We’ve had blankets before, but not a concert towel since we’ve debuted. That’s why I recommend the towel~ The penlight is great too though!
Matsumura: It’s not even a “pen” light anymore (laughs). The bottle-shaped one from last time caused a stir, but this time too…
Jesse: It’s even more shocking right? I’m looking forward to everyone’s response. In regards to the goods, they’re always things that we want to wear and use ourselves.
Tanaka: You’re right, I seriously use them day to day. I wear the t-shirt to rehearsals and bought extras for myself when we released bath salts. We are gifted one of each item, but I buy at least 2 more of them with my own money.
All: Same!
Kouchi: The boxed tissues from last time too, they were perfect for the car. And for this year, I want to use the ziplock bags normally. I think I’m going to buy tons again! (laughs)
Morimoto: The tissues were the ones where a message from us shows up after you use up the whole box right? We’ve hidden a message somewhere in the goods this time too…
Matsumura: You don’t need to say anymore!
Kouchi: (laughs) Now lastly, let’s each give a message to the fans who are reading this after “the last show”.
Jesse: Umm, just like the title “VVS” says, I think it was a concert that was flowing with vibes.
All: You don’t need to pretend that the tour’s already over though? (laughs)
Jesse: And also, it was a concert where the songs you’re used to listening to had some changes…
Tanaka: You don’t have to force yourself to speak in past tense (laughs).
Jesse: No, it’ll definitely become true so I’m going to speak like it’s already finished! It really was a great concert. Come again okay. Thank you very much!
Morimoto: If you listen to the album while reminiscing about the concert, it should become a CD that reminds you of good memories. I think reading this pamphlet alone should bring back memories…, there are lots of ways to enjoy it, even after the last show.
Kouchi: For concerts, there are people who get tickets and people who can’t get tickets, but gratefully, I think there are people who buy the merchandise even if they can’t attend. In that case, we wholeheartedly design the merch so that they alone can make people want to go to a SixTONES’ concert. I hope our thoughts will be conveyed and that they’ll continue to support us. The people who can attend our concerts, please promote just how fun it was to everyone (laughs). Right now, all of us are busy with our solo work and the 6 of us come together around once a week. Amongst that, although it sounds like lip service, I think music is the thing that brings SixTONES together, and my belief that SixTONES exists because of the concerts that the fans attend is growing stronger.
Matsumura: There’s the fact that we designed the concert so that it’s fuelled by us and the audience’s vibes, and with that in mind, our energy is bubbling right now. I’m sure it’ll show on stage and we’re in preparations so that you can think, “it really was a concert that the title claims to be” afterwards… Detailed observations like “this was X” and “that song was Y” is great too, but a general “it was just amazing!” is important too, and I hope they can bring that back with them.
Tanaka: The concert goes for around 2 and a half hours, but we spend hundreds of times more into producing it, so I can assure you that it’ll be something good. But that being said, I don’t want to be patronising (laughs), I just want the attendees to enjoy those 2 and a half hours. And just like Kouchi said, there will always be “people who can’t attend”. This time especially, there are only 4 venues and there are bound to be people who can’t travel the long distance… But, consider the tour like a festival period and I hope you can have fun together in that period. We’ll post a lot on social media too during the concerts. In a larger sense and not limited to the venue, I want to perform so that everyone can have fun!
Kyomoto: It’ll be a tour that’s loaded with different challenges. In a good way, there are things that I can’t imagine, so there might be things that I think “it would’ve been better if we did it like that” when I get to see it. But, that’s what a live show is, so we’ll rework what we can… I hope it’ll become a better concert, show after show, iteration after iteration. Thank you for watching over SixTONES’ growth.
Morimoto: Let’s grow together. Forever.
Jesse: Everyone’s vibes was the best today as well!!
[ KANSEI NO HOUSOKU : HIGHLIGHT ]
Jesse’s Highlight
“Suisei no Sora”
During “Suisei no Sora” at the dome concert, I vividly remember become overcome with emotion and crying. I think it was the first day at Tokyo Dome; there’s a part where I face Juri and right at that moment, Juri’s eyes were different to usual and watery, so when I saw that I thought, “ah, I’m done for” (laughs). Everything that I held back till that moment spilled over… The lyrics too, all these emotions welled up in one go.
Taiga’s Highlight
“Amazing!!!!!!”
“Amazing!!!!!!” at the dome. During discussions, I proposed to add “Amazing!!!!!!” after “VOICE” (the first song), and I thought it’d be a great start if we could share this with the fans since it’s an exhilarating transition. But since it had been a while for us to perform it, it was a gamble in a sense, so when the venue erupted and accepted it, the rest of it was simply fun!
Hokuto’s Highlight
“Figure” & “Telephone”
This was memorable and a corner we had fun planning. All of the songs are remixed, it’s like “that rap part is cool, we want to use it here”, and if I had to give an example, something free like mixing the rap in the verse with the rap in the interlude. Instead of having Juri sing his rap part alone for “Telephone”, we had Jesse give it a go too. It’s like we’ve created a [another] way of fun that’s unique to concerts.
Yugo’s Highlight
“Outrageous”
If I had to put it simply, it was a number where I gave it everything I got. I shook my head, danced and got so excited at the very end that I almost got vertigo, it was a heated moment. All of us were sweating and exhausted, almost to the point that we had no more sweat to sweat out; that’s how much body and soul we put into the performance. But that sort of unity and achievement is something distinctive of concerts and it’s the best! It truly feels like we used all our vibes to connect it to this tour!
Shintaro’s Highlight
“Drive”
“Drive” that we performed at the domes was very memorable. Just like the title, it’s perfect for a drive; a sense of unity with the whole venue formed within that relaxed atmosphere and each of our strong points shone through as a performance. There are lots of different vehicles that can be used to go around the “gaishu” [outer perimeter of the standing zone] of the venue, but choosing a car, and on top of that, “a jeep driven by a member” is a very SixTONES-like choice.
Juri’s Highlight
“Toyko Dome Opening”
Our opening stage for Tokyo Dome was memorable”. We appear out of giant mouths when it’s pitch black for both for the arenas and Kyocera Dome since there’s no outside light coming in, but it was still a little bright at Tokyo Dome and that freaked me out! I mean, I could see the entirety of the venue more than I expected, and I even felt like I made eye contact; it almost made me laugh. There’s still much so light in evenings in late April (laughs). But now that’s something I’ve learnt.
VVS Begins from “Kokkara”
RELAY
All about this moment in SixTONES’ music
2+2+2. The music of the 6, ringing anew.
Jesse Yugo Kochi ✕ Blue Days
YUGO ━━━
Overall, we took a bold stance for the album. I think we’ve added an extra layer of modernity to the artist approach we’ve aimed for since debut. Personally, I like “TOP SECRET”. I can imagine it being so cool with a dance. And “Bang Bang Bangin’” is interesting too. It has an Indian-like tune, and actually, we’ve had this song for quite a while. We wanted to record this one day and was able to do so this time.
There aren’t many so-called “idol” songs, but I’m glad that we decided to take a more aggressive stance. It simply turned out like this when we included the songs we wanted to do; it’s an album that filled with the present, current SixTONES.
“Blue Days” is in a Japanese rap style that I like. When the staff suggested “how about something in this genre?”, I answered immediately with “I love it!”, and Jesse too responded with “it’s nice, and something that I’d probably only sing with Kouchi”. After listening to many demo tracks, I chose “Blue Days” while Jesse picked “Blue Days” and 1 other track, and when we asked Taiga after he listened to them, his suggestion “wouldn’t this be better if it’s the 2 of you?” became the deciding factor. It’s refreshing and yet a little ennui, but the chorus is grand which I think fits the 2 of us when we’re together.
JESSE ━━━
There are a lot of rock songs coming from the ‘vibes’ theme. Songs like “Hito Hito Hito” and “Kokkara” are gradually becoming recognised as SixTONES’ style, so we’re also conscious of that. The lead track “Anthem” is the perfect example. These songs are both motivational, and can be sung with a large group.
Looking back, I see that we have more of these inspirational numbers that encourage us to move forward. I think the hardships that we experienced from corona played a part, but that’s also why we are able to sing multiple genres. However, be it an album or a single, we want to include one song that has that SixTONES-like darkness. I hope the fans can look forward to that too.
In relation to my unit song “Blue Days” with Kouchi, I thought, “this song, it’s Kouchi-like”. He’s always loved this sort of music (laughs). The rap part and the melody line in the chorus is clean but also melancholic; can I call it “sunset-esque”? The MV also has an orangey colour. Red and yellow make orange, and it also fits the image that we both had. It’s our first time to work together officially for a song, but I think it’s come together well and showcases an atmosphere that’s unique to us. When I look back at my past unit songs, I think I might be the one who’s had the chance to challenge the most varied genres.
Taiga Kyomoto Shintaro Morimoto ✕ Kibou no Uta
TAIGA ━━━
There are a lot of rock sounds in this new album, so as a rock lover like me, I had a great time recording them. Timing-wise, some of it overlapped with rehearsals for “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”, but it went smoothly since they were genres that I was familiar with. We included more rock sounds in anticipation of the concert, with the idea of making full use of the live band. My favourites are probably “Something from Nothing”, “Alright” and “Kimi ga Inai”. They’re all band tracks (laughs).
My unit song “Kibou no Uta” has exactly that same flavour, that band sound. I replied yes immediately when the staff suggested this song to me. It’s a different approach to all the other unit songs I’ve done so far, and it suits our pairing this time. I’ve said this before, but I really love Shintarou’s voice, so when I first listened to this song, I could imagine it with his singing and it almost scared me how well it matched. I need to work hard to be at Shintarou’s level. With that in mind, I did lots of practise beforehand and am confident about the final product.
Up till now, typically, I’ve sung with a sticky style, like how I’ve done in “Theatre”. But I sealed that away for this song and concentrated on “conveying my words directly”. I hope it reaches the fans.
SHINTARO ━━━
On the whole, we were intentional about “reviving SixTONES’ rock sound” in this album. We’re confident that we do rock songs well, like “ST” and “Rollin’”; it’s been a while so we created this to reinforce that. It’s different to when we recorded “ST” and that’s the key for this album… I say that but my favourite song is “Bang Bang Bangin’”, it’s not a rock one (laughs). Actually, we’ve all liked this song for a long time and searched for the timing to include it. It leaves a strong impression and will definitely hype thing up, so I’m already looking forward to performing it in the concerts.
For me, I think it’s one of SixTONES’ merits that we treat music purely without making any unnecessary calculations. That becomes even clearer from this album. Me and Kyomo’s unit song “Kibou no Uta” too, it was chosen with the simplest reason of “we both like it so let’s choose this”.
The moment I first listened to it, Kyomo’s voice rang through my head, and to be honest, I went into recording while thinking “he’ll be okay, but what about me?”. Lyric-wise, I like the part after “♪time has passed and your dreams have changed, how is it?”. The “I’m living in the present” feeling is very me.
HOKUTO MATSUMURA JURI TANAKA ✕ Super Boy
JURI ━━━
We consecutively had a concept at the forefront for our second album “CITY” and third album “Koe”, but it feels like we’ve put that aside for this time. The word “vibes” as a title is very sensorial, so there was a freeness and we selected songs based on what we liked, without any limitations. It’s almost as if we avoided to consider things like “does it match the theme?” or “how does it balance with the others?”. To give an extreme example, “VIBES” would’ve worked if they were all EDM songs, or it would’ve worked with all hip-hop songs… In that way, I think I’ve had the most fun so far to work on this album. Out of the tracks, I like “Only Holy” and its stylishness.
The unit song “Super Boy” with Hokuto began with the staff mentioning that “the two of you have an image of talking all the time”, resulting in that arrangement. Songs with a relaxed beat and relaxed rapping don’t reach the top of the trends, but regardless of the period, that sort of arrangement is always there on the sideline, so we deliberately gave it a go. In reality too, we went into the recording booth and worked as if we were chatting, but it was hard to grasp the beat when we were so relaxed (laughs), and as a result, we ended up with a completely different line distribution to what the composer wrote initially. When we perform it at concerts, we might think “now, what do we do?” (laughs).
HOKUTO ━━━
In our previous albums, we’ve definitely worked on keeping things balanced. We’ve chosen songs based on “we like this one, but overall we should use that one”, and even after picking them, we would make adjustments like “let’s make this one more upbeat since it’ll be more balanced”. But this time, we didn’t worry about that and simply created with thoughts of “this one is better” and “let’s keep it like this since further arrangements will spoil its character”. As a result, I feel like we stayed true to ourselves and produced a nice album.
“Something from Nothing” was memorable. We’ve had it on the backburner for a while and it’s always been a great song, but it just didn’t fit in just quite right. It probably had something to do with our age and the group’s condition, but it fit perfectly this time and I feel like it was waiting all along for this album. SixTONES’ have finally caught up to this song.
The lyrics for me and Juri’s unit song “Super Boy” were basically written from a free talk between the two of us. We talked for tens of minutes to topics like “heroic episodes back in the day”, and that became the backbone of the lyrics, so it’s become something unique. It’s a hardcore song towards a very specific audience, so while people may think “what the?!”, I hope they can also think “it’s not bad”. Because to me, it’s also a song that brings me back to nostalgic times.
OUR VVS
Are always connected to the music.
Are always connected to the mind.
Let’s get pumped up!!!!!!
SixTONES ⇢ ALL FANS
Jesse ⇢ ALL FANS
I want to be a tarento that doesn’t embarrass the fans. That’s been on my mind lately.
As a person, as a lifestyle, or anything else really, I hope there’s an aspect that they can respect. I imagine my relationship with the fans as a tug-of-war. We seek and pull for each other, a relationship where we’re close emotionally. It’s very much “I miss you! Come see me!”, and I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.
Taiga ⇢ ALL FANS
Be it concerts, musicals or music, I believe that it doesn’t end as self-satisfaction and results in reality because of the fans presence and because they understand.
For example, even when I’m nervous the day before a show, it calms me down when I think that the fans are looking forward to it. It gives me courage. I grow more thankful of that, year after year.
From here on, I wish from the bottom of my heart to be an idol that gives everyone peace of mind.
Hokuto ⇢ ALL FANS
They aren’t friends or family, they can’t be changed by anyone else. That’s what fans are to me.
When I read their fan letters and comments on social media, I have this sensation that I don’t feel from anything else. If that relationship is severed, a part of me will be shut down, so continue grasping onto that rope that connects us, I want to let out everything I’ve got at concerts. In regards to the fans, I want to always bring everything to the table.
Yugo ⇢ ALL FANS
When I’m on stage, I’m able to muster up more energy than I could imagine when I see the smiles of the fans in front of me. That’s why I always think I’m able to work hard.
For the people who can attend this time, please, come along with high vibes. Unfortunately, there are many who aren’t able to come, and when I hear that, it spurs me to work harder so we can perform at an even bigger venue.
Your presence always becomes fuel for us.
Shintaro ⇢ ALL FANS
Through “DREAM BOYS” last year, I was able to truly experience the existence of my fans.
It’s the same for concerts, but we’re only able to physically witness your presence at these “live” shows. So I hope that we can continue to make shared memories together forever.
What we can do is to convey our thoughts through the music we love. I want to say everything with actions over words.
Juri ⇢ ALL FANS
A lot has happened since, but I don’t think the relationship between me and the fans have changed since the establishment of SixTONES. My feelings of gratitude towards the fans, desire to make them happy and have a fun time have grown stronger over the years, but at times like concerts, I’m my usual self and our connection is there, it’s a relationship that no other can get in-between. I am certain of that. That belief is the one thing that has never changed.
Through VVS, we’re spreading top class NOISE.