[Rockin' On Japan] Vol. 371, September 2010 - Group Interview
Long time, no see.. (・.・;)
I don't know if this has been translated before, but I thought I'd post it anyway because I found it really interesting and wanted to share.
Thank you to diru915 for the scans! You can find them over here.
Enjoy!
Rockin' On Japan
September 2010
---You may be a bit wary as to why Rockin' On Japan suddenly asked you for an interview. (laughs)
Ruki: No, not at all. (laughs)
---We found it shocking that a band like the GazettE doesn't just try to be heretical as a visual-kei artist, but is also one of the most successful bands in the genre. What do you think of your position in the scene?
Ruki: We're definitley seen as visual-kei. It was probably different before, but I think it's kind of impossible to call us that now just based on our appearance. We work in the visual-kei scence so we don't really notice it ourselves, but I guess visual-kei is a little different to what it used to be. To people who aren't familiar with the scene, they would think that the artists don't care about the music anymore. I want to get rid of that image. Because in the past, people never really thought of visual-kei as men wearing makeup. The artists were original and androgynous, but still manly. So everyone thought they still played music properly. A normal band would produce many different styles of songs. That's the image we have in the visual-kei scene, but I don't think we're seen like that anymore. Now it's like "Oh, you're still doing visual-kei". (laughs)
Aoi: What kind of image do you have of visual-kei? Is it of something cruel?
Uruha: We actually want to know how people who aren't familiar with it see it. Is it a genre that's gone out of fashion?
---No, nothing like that. I feel the energy in your performances and events. But I also feel like it's in a rut and like it's too exclusive at times. But the few bands I've seen have been strangely interesting.
Uruha: I guess it's true that it's exclusive; we don't get everyone to dance together like other genres.
Ruki: That's why there's some people who've stuck with visual-kei and some people who just lose interest half-way. But if visual-kei artists started thinking that visual-kei wasn't cool anymore, I think that would stop. Honestly, there are now less bands who think like that because of the media, so I kind of want to start promoting that again. Like feeling out of place or really extreme in the JPop scene. I want that for both music and visuals.
---So you're actively protecting where visual-kei should stand in the music scene?
Ruki: We're not really protecting it; we just think that that kind of visual-kei was really cool and something we'd like to still see done now. The visual-kei we grew up with was really shocking and there's definitely a part of us that was attracted to it. What was cool was cool because they had confidence. Like, they just used what they had as it was. And they were like "This is uncool? You've got to be kidding me." (laughs)
---When you were still an indies band, what kind of image did you aim for when you started activites as the GazettE?
Uruha: I think there was a little bit of traditional Japaneseness in our image at first. Even for promotional photos.
Reita: Yeah, we avoided using English.
Ruki: There wasn't really anyone else like us in the visual-kei scence at the time. I guess we weren't very "visual-kei". Like, we were visual-kei, but a little off the mark. I guess more strong visual-kei with a bit of punk style.
Uruha: Because everyone was doing so many different things. If we'd done something ordinary, we wouldn't have stood out.
---What's the main reason you formed with these members?
Ruki: We were similar. And we took our own pictures and other bands' pictures and cut and pasted them together. Like "this band would be so cool". (laughs)
Uruha: We'd take out the vocalist of another band and be like "It'd be so cool if I could be in his place". (laughs)
Ruki: Like, those two from that band are really cool, or that guy from that one is cool. Even so, we didn't know how everyone would fit together not having met or having done anything together. I think we just met and chose these members carefully.
Reita: And so many bands were disbanding and starting up again so we didn't want to be another one of those bands. We wanted to be a band that would be around for a long time.
Ruki: When we formed the GazettE, we all made a promise for it to be our last band.
---Were you very ambitious back then?
Uruha: I think our ambition grew when we started to become successful.
Ruki: There were a lot of bands that were more mature than us. There were so many bands who had a certain concept they stuck to, and we were different. We used to spring weird surprises on the audience during events, things like that. We saw how far other bands went and thought we had to do more than them.
---How were you thought of back then?
Ruki: I don't think we were thought of back then.
Aoi: Don't you think we would have been thought of as a dirty band?
All: (laughs)
Aoi: All visual-kei artists are pretty, right? There were a lot of artists like that, especially back then. I think we had a pretty unclean image. We were always covered in sweat. (laughs) Because we played sport when we did lives.
Kai: And our clothes were messy as well.
Reita: They were pretty shabby.
Kai: The young kids who are doing visual-kei now have amazing costumes. Like someone made them for them. We just went to a second hand clothes store and made our own. Like, just sewed stuff together.
Ruki: We did just put random clothes together. Like clothes from 100yen shops. That makes me so sad. (laughs)
---To sum up, you did what you wanted to do and played all the kinds of music you wanted to play. It sounds like you had a lot of self-confidence. But your album NIL was a turning point for you. You aimed for a more polished sound, the messages in your lyrics became clearer, you even incorporated English in your lyrics, and you took on the title "Dai Nippon Itan Geisha". What caused this?
Ruki: Well, we entered our current agency just before we did our DISORDER tour and I guess we just noticed our flaw of not thinking about anything properly. (laughs) Just that made us think that we wouldn't be able to go any higher. When we entered the agency, we did a tour with another band. The amount of people we worked with suddenly grew really quickly so we thought that we should start taking being a band more seriously. So even for events, we'd finalise the setlist the day before, things like that. We'd always just think of it on the day before then. And we'd had no experience with roadies, so we didn't know how other bands did it. That was also the case with our songs; like, the intro and the verse would be different. And the song would change again when you got to the bridge. I think we liked that kind of change. Also, we didn't know why were we popular or why we had so many new staff members so we ended up changing a lot. We didn't think about what kinds of songs the fans would like to hear but what kind of songs would make us feel cool, or what kind of band we'd have to be to have more confidence.
---You went in a direction that allowed you to show off a sound suitable for where you were at the time with confidence. So even though you entered a professional agency, you just kept changing instead of focusing on how to sell more music.
Ruki: Hahahaha
---Musically, the heart of the group became quite progressive.
Ruki: That's why we just did things not really caring if we became popular or not. We didn't do things we knew would be popular but instead gained popularity by doing things that weren't ever popular.
---Even so, something that was never popular will start to become popular if you do it for long enough.
Ruki: And when we did, I guess we went back to the where we were before. We did a lot more daring things when we were first starting out. I'm just noticing this now, though.
Uruha: To be honest, we were worried. We thought that the fans who weren't used to such unrefined rock would be like "what is this?" if we suddenly did something like that. But they liked it. Because it looked like we were enjoying ourselves.
Ruki: We were like "we don't care how big the venue is, we're doing this kind of music". I guess that kind of shock was fun. Like, we thought it was interesting that we were releasing the kinds of songs we were when the top 3 songs on the charts were totally different.
Aoi: Basically, it wasn't fun to do anything ordinary. Out of the artists on the Oricon charts or the Top 10, we didn't think we were the best or had any popularity. We didn't expose anything other than the band's core, and we weren't always on TV or anything. But that actually made us want to release something that wasn't there in the current music scene. We couldn't stand bands that looked pretty but had boring music. We thought it was best to do what we wanted to do.
---That's why not being concsious of what was popular was so successful for you. Without knowing why, you stood where you were because of the things you did and were just like "Ok, we're going to try this next time". You can't help but be amused at that, and that was successful.
Ruki: That's right.
Reita: I guess if you ask us if we enjoy making music like we do, we definitely do enjoy it. (laughs)
Uruha: It's kind of reassuring that we can compete with a lot of different types of songs. Even if we have a lot of room to move, to some degree, we really believe in the songs and performances we do and I believe that any song will sound really good if you see that. So we're comforted by that when we write songs.
---There are 3 songs on your new single, but it sounds like you deliberately incorporated all the styles you've already done to kind of sort through them all. There was less of a feeling like you're doing whatever you like.
Ruki: Yeah, that's why we released a single called BEFORE I DECAY after DIM. We started talking about changing from that point onwards. I guess our eyes opened up to it all. We were thinking that we should take control of things again. Like start over again. Maybe there's a way to put everything we've fostered into some kind of form. We're becoming less eccentric. (laugh) Our direction is still unclear, but it's becoming clearer with every song we complete.
---That's why it feels like you've taken a step forward with this single. Up until now, you've had confidence creating songs within the visual-kei scene and felt like you could naturally prove that your music was cool because you were in that scene. This time, you're more actively displaying what you believe to be cool.
Ruki: That's right.
---The GazettE would definitely be seen as something special. You have good sales because of your musicianship, but you're intent on making good music in the visual-kei scene.
Ruki: But it depends on what you classify as visual-kei. It's a strange genre. (laugh) Like, it's even strange when we think of it. So it would seem stranger to people who aren't familiar with it. Because they would see it all differently.
---I think the fact that you convey the GazettE's mucisianship, asethetics and entertainment value directly to the audience is also important factor. It seems like the GazettE is fighting a lonely battle in the current scene. But you do it because you yourself believe in it, that kind of thing.
Ruki: Yeah.. that's right. (laughs)
Aoi: Basically, we never learned about what other people do.
Reita: This genre isn't really out there, so artists simply don't have power because of that. I think there are some people who want the genre to be exclusive, but I don't think that really matters, and you'd understand that if you go to a visual-kei live. They're very powerful and you don't have to change yourself to have fun; that kind of thing doesn't matter. Because I think we put on shows that everyone can enjoy. I'd like everyone to come to one of our lives.
~~~
I don't know if this has been translated before, but I thought I'd post it anyway because I found it really interesting and wanted to share.
Thank you to diru915 for the scans! You can find them over here.
Enjoy!
Rockin' On Japan
September 2010
---You may be a bit wary as to why Rockin' On Japan suddenly asked you for an interview. (laughs)
Ruki: No, not at all. (laughs)
---We found it shocking that a band like the GazettE doesn't just try to be heretical as a visual-kei artist, but is also one of the most successful bands in the genre. What do you think of your position in the scene?
Ruki: We're definitley seen as visual-kei. It was probably different before, but I think it's kind of impossible to call us that now just based on our appearance. We work in the visual-kei scence so we don't really notice it ourselves, but I guess visual-kei is a little different to what it used to be. To people who aren't familiar with the scene, they would think that the artists don't care about the music anymore. I want to get rid of that image. Because in the past, people never really thought of visual-kei as men wearing makeup. The artists were original and androgynous, but still manly. So everyone thought they still played music properly. A normal band would produce many different styles of songs. That's the image we have in the visual-kei scene, but I don't think we're seen like that anymore. Now it's like "Oh, you're still doing visual-kei". (laughs)
Aoi: What kind of image do you have of visual-kei? Is it of something cruel?
Uruha: We actually want to know how people who aren't familiar with it see it. Is it a genre that's gone out of fashion?
---No, nothing like that. I feel the energy in your performances and events. But I also feel like it's in a rut and like it's too exclusive at times. But the few bands I've seen have been strangely interesting.
Uruha: I guess it's true that it's exclusive; we don't get everyone to dance together like other genres.
Ruki: That's why there's some people who've stuck with visual-kei and some people who just lose interest half-way. But if visual-kei artists started thinking that visual-kei wasn't cool anymore, I think that would stop. Honestly, there are now less bands who think like that because of the media, so I kind of want to start promoting that again. Like feeling out of place or really extreme in the JPop scene. I want that for both music and visuals.
---So you're actively protecting where visual-kei should stand in the music scene?
Ruki: We're not really protecting it; we just think that that kind of visual-kei was really cool and something we'd like to still see done now. The visual-kei we grew up with was really shocking and there's definitely a part of us that was attracted to it. What was cool was cool because they had confidence. Like, they just used what they had as it was. And they were like "This is uncool? You've got to be kidding me." (laughs)
---When you were still an indies band, what kind of image did you aim for when you started activites as the GazettE?
Uruha: I think there was a little bit of traditional Japaneseness in our image at first. Even for promotional photos.
Reita: Yeah, we avoided using English.
Ruki: There wasn't really anyone else like us in the visual-kei scence at the time. I guess we weren't very "visual-kei". Like, we were visual-kei, but a little off the mark. I guess more strong visual-kei with a bit of punk style.
Uruha: Because everyone was doing so many different things. If we'd done something ordinary, we wouldn't have stood out.
---What's the main reason you formed with these members?
Ruki: We were similar. And we took our own pictures and other bands' pictures and cut and pasted them together. Like "this band would be so cool". (laughs)
Uruha: We'd take out the vocalist of another band and be like "It'd be so cool if I could be in his place". (laughs)
Ruki: Like, those two from that band are really cool, or that guy from that one is cool. Even so, we didn't know how everyone would fit together not having met or having done anything together. I think we just met and chose these members carefully.
Reita: And so many bands were disbanding and starting up again so we didn't want to be another one of those bands. We wanted to be a band that would be around for a long time.
Ruki: When we formed the GazettE, we all made a promise for it to be our last band.
---Were you very ambitious back then?
Uruha: I think our ambition grew when we started to become successful.
Ruki: There were a lot of bands that were more mature than us. There were so many bands who had a certain concept they stuck to, and we were different. We used to spring weird surprises on the audience during events, things like that. We saw how far other bands went and thought we had to do more than them.
---How were you thought of back then?
Ruki: I don't think we were thought of back then.
Aoi: Don't you think we would have been thought of as a dirty band?
All: (laughs)
Aoi: All visual-kei artists are pretty, right? There were a lot of artists like that, especially back then. I think we had a pretty unclean image. We were always covered in sweat. (laughs) Because we played sport when we did lives.
Kai: And our clothes were messy as well.
Reita: They were pretty shabby.
Kai: The young kids who are doing visual-kei now have amazing costumes. Like someone made them for them. We just went to a second hand clothes store and made our own. Like, just sewed stuff together.
Ruki: We did just put random clothes together. Like clothes from 100yen shops. That makes me so sad. (laughs)
---To sum up, you did what you wanted to do and played all the kinds of music you wanted to play. It sounds like you had a lot of self-confidence. But your album NIL was a turning point for you. You aimed for a more polished sound, the messages in your lyrics became clearer, you even incorporated English in your lyrics, and you took on the title "Dai Nippon Itan Geisha". What caused this?
Ruki: Well, we entered our current agency just before we did our DISORDER tour and I guess we just noticed our flaw of not thinking about anything properly. (laughs) Just that made us think that we wouldn't be able to go any higher. When we entered the agency, we did a tour with another band. The amount of people we worked with suddenly grew really quickly so we thought that we should start taking being a band more seriously. So even for events, we'd finalise the setlist the day before, things like that. We'd always just think of it on the day before then. And we'd had no experience with roadies, so we didn't know how other bands did it. That was also the case with our songs; like, the intro and the verse would be different. And the song would change again when you got to the bridge. I think we liked that kind of change. Also, we didn't know why were we popular or why we had so many new staff members so we ended up changing a lot. We didn't think about what kinds of songs the fans would like to hear but what kind of songs would make us feel cool, or what kind of band we'd have to be to have more confidence.
---You went in a direction that allowed you to show off a sound suitable for where you were at the time with confidence. So even though you entered a professional agency, you just kept changing instead of focusing on how to sell more music.
Ruki: Hahahaha
---Musically, the heart of the group became quite progressive.
Ruki: That's why we just did things not really caring if we became popular or not. We didn't do things we knew would be popular but instead gained popularity by doing things that weren't ever popular.
---Even so, something that was never popular will start to become popular if you do it for long enough.
Ruki: And when we did, I guess we went back to the where we were before. We did a lot more daring things when we were first starting out. I'm just noticing this now, though.
Uruha: To be honest, we were worried. We thought that the fans who weren't used to such unrefined rock would be like "what is this?" if we suddenly did something like that. But they liked it. Because it looked like we were enjoying ourselves.
Ruki: We were like "we don't care how big the venue is, we're doing this kind of music". I guess that kind of shock was fun. Like, we thought it was interesting that we were releasing the kinds of songs we were when the top 3 songs on the charts were totally different.
Aoi: Basically, it wasn't fun to do anything ordinary. Out of the artists on the Oricon charts or the Top 10, we didn't think we were the best or had any popularity. We didn't expose anything other than the band's core, and we weren't always on TV or anything. But that actually made us want to release something that wasn't there in the current music scene. We couldn't stand bands that looked pretty but had boring music. We thought it was best to do what we wanted to do.
---That's why not being concsious of what was popular was so successful for you. Without knowing why, you stood where you were because of the things you did and were just like "Ok, we're going to try this next time". You can't help but be amused at that, and that was successful.
Ruki: That's right.
Reita: I guess if you ask us if we enjoy making music like we do, we definitely do enjoy it. (laughs)
Uruha: It's kind of reassuring that we can compete with a lot of different types of songs. Even if we have a lot of room to move, to some degree, we really believe in the songs and performances we do and I believe that any song will sound really good if you see that. So we're comforted by that when we write songs.
---There are 3 songs on your new single, but it sounds like you deliberately incorporated all the styles you've already done to kind of sort through them all. There was less of a feeling like you're doing whatever you like.
Ruki: Yeah, that's why we released a single called BEFORE I DECAY after DIM. We started talking about changing from that point onwards. I guess our eyes opened up to it all. We were thinking that we should take control of things again. Like start over again. Maybe there's a way to put everything we've fostered into some kind of form. We're becoming less eccentric. (laugh) Our direction is still unclear, but it's becoming clearer with every song we complete.
---That's why it feels like you've taken a step forward with this single. Up until now, you've had confidence creating songs within the visual-kei scene and felt like you could naturally prove that your music was cool because you were in that scene. This time, you're more actively displaying what you believe to be cool.
Ruki: That's right.
---The GazettE would definitely be seen as something special. You have good sales because of your musicianship, but you're intent on making good music in the visual-kei scene.
Ruki: But it depends on what you classify as visual-kei. It's a strange genre. (laugh) Like, it's even strange when we think of it. So it would seem stranger to people who aren't familiar with it. Because they would see it all differently.
---I think the fact that you convey the GazettE's mucisianship, asethetics and entertainment value directly to the audience is also important factor. It seems like the GazettE is fighting a lonely battle in the current scene. But you do it because you yourself believe in it, that kind of thing.
Ruki: Yeah.. that's right. (laughs)
Aoi: Basically, we never learned about what other people do.
Reita: This genre isn't really out there, so artists simply don't have power because of that. I think there are some people who want the genre to be exclusive, but I don't think that really matters, and you'd understand that if you go to a visual-kei live. They're very powerful and you don't have to change yourself to have fun; that kind of thing doesn't matter. Because I think we put on shows that everyone can enjoy. I'd like everyone to come to one of our lives.
~~~