Translated from the book "Watashi mo Visual Kei Datta Goro" , 2006.05.05
Original Text: Tetsushi Ishikawa.
The Legend of the Unheard of "Debut of a Visual Kei Band on Avex"!
Ishikawa: Anyway, we're moving on to the legend of the "Debut of a Visual Kei Band on Avex" now. I really wonder what you thought about making your debut on a label that didn't really sign rock bands. Though I'm sure it was interesting to those on the outside, as a sort of "Oh, that must have been a painful decision for them" form of curiosity.
yasu: No, really, we were nervous about it too. We were conflicted, saying "Is this really okay?" while telling ourselves, "But it looks like they have the money..." something like that.
In the midst of the exploding popularity of ELT, Ayumi Hamasaki, Nanase Aizawa and others, they had set themselves up as a label that was going to take over the world with their "complete new type" approach. So, since you were making your debut with them as "the visual kei band Janne Da Arc", you really came to the surface.
Heeheehee. That's true...
But, it must have been absolutely dreadful, too, right?
It was terrible, at that time. Though I can say that even now; we do still have hang-ups.
Dahaha. No matter what new band it is, even before debut they'll always have hang-ups somewhere to begin with.
No, this might not be true of everyone in all bands, but there's always somewhere that will make them sober up. We have a lot of passion about the band, but actually thinking about things relating to a debut was pretty sobering.
Was that due to Avex? Or, is it just a personal thing that happens when you have a major debut, regardless of which label you sign to?
I think it's the same no matter where you go, like you tell yourselves, "But, we already released an indies CD, isn't that enough?" (Laughs.) It was just way too real.
By saying it was "too real", you mean that it was like your major debut set out the remaining years of your life. (Bitter laugh) Like an old man's last days at home.
Since we did take things on so simply, though we didn't really know for sure, it was on everyone's lips but no one was able to say it. We had this idea that it was just two years, like "Even though we made our debut, they won't renew our contract after the two years are up." (Laughs.) We were thinking, after two years, if we as a band still make people think, "They're kind of tacky, aren't they?" no one will listen to us.
What's with that conviction that you've "lost" already, huh?
Ahaha. No, it wasn't that, but it was there somewhat.
Since Janne made their debut in May of 1999, certainly, the visual kei boom had completely ended. As far as the market was concerned, anyway.
That's why we gave it all we had, though. We weren't afraid of that. It was like, "If we just do it, if we keep with it, then we're okay." We just did what we did, with unbridled spirit.
Though you had become aware of where exactly you stood, on the other hand, you still looked at things rather skeptically, after all.
Ah, well...(Bitter laugh) But, we did think, "Let's do what we can," though.
That honesty and straightforwardness is what people talked about, seeing you as "good guys", huh...
But, when we were making our debut, we were the absolute worst at interviews and stuff like that, seriously. It really upset us, so we called out the people at Avex about it. They would tell us, "But, if you do this interview, then the people who read it will buy your CD!" and we'd say something like, "You're just saying that because you thought it'll happen that way." Heeheehee.
What in the world were you saying, then?
Though we'd ask them things like, "We've chosen this song for our debut single [18], so please tell us what you think", they'd just say stuff like "Oh, no, whatever works," or "Whatever you want to do is fine with us." (Laughs.) We said things really halfheartedly, like "We didn't say anything about this one specifically, but the staff said to do it," or "I've rewritten these lyrics over and over again, but I still don't think they're that good".
That surely became a sort of promotion tactic for you, did it not?
Didn't it though? But, new bands know that people try them out just by looking at their profiles, right? So, really, we just answered questions however we felt like answering them.
Even though you were just saying whatever worked at the time, what you did say was still the absolute truth, so there was something amusing about it.
Right, right. (Chuckles.)
At that time, you wouldn't have thought that anyone who knew anything about rock music was employed at Avex. They were the type of company that said, "If we put you on TV enough, you'll become a hit", so they got practical results that way. Until that point, the necessity of a rock band that was notoriously bad at interviews wasn't known yet; at the same time, everyone was careful, because they were thinking, "How are they being perceived?" But, while you were pursuing things as a so-called visual kei band, you were also aware of your own "aesthetic", and through that and your work, your sound, and your promotion videos, it was as if you were saying, "We want to hear your opinions, whether you're a record company or a promotion office!" By the way, Janne has a history of being a band who really gave it their best shot, and worked their way through the famously gruesome "Avex System".
Mmm.....yeah. That's because we told ourselves over and over again, every time, "If we're professionals, this is how we do things." So, even if they bossed us around, or told us that things were impossible to do, we just told ourselves over and over again, "This is what it means to be a professional." (Defeated laugh.) Soon, the feeling of wanting to be on a major label forever got to be strong for us, that aspect of it became much clearer to us. I think we were all feeling something like, "Ah...this week's sales are down again..." or "Man, you can really see the beginning of the end now...." Ahahaha.
Dahaha. It's awful, then, to see your song make it on the Oricon chart when you're in such a depressed mood about it.
Well, that was because seeing that still didn't mean that we had sold anything, to us. We didn't have the conviction or self-confidence to be able to say, "We can sell this."
But, at the beginning, they really put their powers of publicity behind you, didn't they? The other day, I was looking through the promotional package for your debut single, and they had this amazing booklet where they said, "The late visual kei's last big work!" It crossed my mind that if Avex had put this together, then they'd be selling the albums and everything too". It was normal.
Oh, we didn't think that at all, though. We didn't feel like they were really putting themselves behind us in a big way, even though in actuality they were. Or rather, it took us two years to feel as if they were. (Chuckles.)
What an awful affirmation, the feeling like "They supported us more last year, didn't they?"
Right, right. It was like, "What happened?"
Ah, Gradually, Happiness
When you were just starting out, it seems like you had a few things you released that they didn't approve of.
It was horrible, it really was. Even releasing things and releasing things, they never told us any of it was "good". Moreover, not even the people at Avex gave any of it a thought, not even to say, "Well, let's try this out and see where it goes." Then, for some reason, because we had no self-confidence either, we couldn't say "Go." They didn't even have us do anything to bring us together as a band.
So, they didn't even let you try and record the songs you had as a demo for the time being?
That's right. They just took the songs that we had written, and had a planning meeting once a week where they dismissed all of them, over and over again. We weren't where we are now.
That's really harsh! It might have been because Avex had a thought process based on results, and the songs you were writing didn't fit with the songs that they felt were typical of "hit songs".
Ah, not yet anyway...that's still a mystery. (Laughs cruelly.) I wondered what it was they had out for us, but they never even said "this here" in relation to our songs. They never said, "If you do this song this way, then it's okay." But, I guess they were just being vague about it.
Eh? On the other hand, even though they were fundamentally vague, no matter how many times you practiced, thinking "If we do it this way, it's okay, right?", it still turned out to be completely unproductive. If all I heard at the end of that was "This is different", I would have probably killed someone.
Heeheehee. We said, "I don't know what you mean" all the time. (Laughs pensively.)
You really put up with a lot, really you did.
Didn't we? But, it was just because we thought, "It's because we're professionals now." Ahaha.
It was quite a failing to not have any friends who had been able to get a contract then, wasn't it?
Ha ha...well, I guess it was. The thing that surprised me most in that first year was that we did our debut single, "RED ZONE"...and then, normally, you should have the second single [19] written by then, right? But, they found a polyp on my throat, so I was hospitalized on May 10th of that year. So, it had to be released in September, because I couldn't sing for three months in the event that I had to go in for surgery.
Wow...just hearing what you've been saying to this point, it seems like a horrible omen or something.
With that, we finished our last indies tour on April 27. Since I had told them that I'd be writing the song and recording it beginning on May 5, I began work writing on the 28th—I had to finish everything, up until recording the vocals. I thought I was going to die, I was sleeping all the time. But, including the coupled songs on the single, I still had two more songs to go. Even though I had to go to the hospital no later than 10 in the morning on the 10th, since I had just finished recording at 8, the people at the hospital were really pissed, and so was I. To finally have some success, and then have to have surgery on the 11th...and then when the day came for me to be checked out of the hospital, they told me, "That song...it's no good." "Who said that?" "A few people." "You've got to be kidding!" It went something like that. (Infuriated laugh.) So, when I tried asking them, "What should we do for our next single?" they just said, "Hmm, I wonder...".
...yeah?
Amazing, isn't it? (Insightful smile.) They just told me, "So write another one." So, I wrote, even though I really was still recovering and had no time for it, and just said, "How about this one for now?" So, I kept writing, and being told it wasn't good, and writing, and being told that wasn't good, and writing, and being told that wasn't good either, over and over again. Even though we had decided on "Lunatic Gate" for our next single, they still didn't have anything good to say about that one, either. And then, we started our month-long nationwide tour with "Break Out! Matsuri" starting on August 1...
Hold on a minute. Before, you said that participating in the Break Out! Event was something that, before your debut, you tried your best to completely get out of...but this means that nothing came of that at all?
Yep. So, because of that, we had to put out a single before August 1. It wasn't nearly enough time, right, like that. Anyway, I had only decided on what I wanted the intro to be, on "Lunatic Gate". It had no melody at all, then. I tried asking myself, "What should I do with the melody?" "yasu, write it" "Huh?" It went something like that. So, the A melody, B melody, and chorus were in entirely different keys, as if I had been doing something really fantastic with it. (Bitter Laugh) I got really attached to it...even now, I think of it as something close to miraculous.
You're too humble. But, it did become popular quickly, didn't it, even on a major label.
No, no, it really wasn't that popular at all. As far as money was concerned, anyway.
You just thought so because you took it too lightly, thinking, "We're gonna be over after two years".
That's true...it was a really depressing two years, wasn't it! (Sober smile)
The Big Solution, Janne Da Arc's New "Recognition" in Their Third Year
It was a truly sad fate for Janne Da Arc...so, what in the world changed, to bring all of you to a more positive outlook?
What changed to make us look at things more positively...I suppose it would have been our chance meeting with Hajime Okano. [20] He agreed to become our producer from our third album [21] forward.
When you say your third album, the impending problem was that it was beyond the terms of your contract...(Laughs)
That's right, it was around the time that the sales of our work totally plummeted.
Bahahaha. How proper, being so realistic. But, that was because you had finally managed to come across what makes being in a band fun and what makes writing music interesting.
That's right. Of course, we had put everything into what we were doing and producing until that point, but we started to get to where we had parts of our work where we could look at it and say, "Is this okay?" and feel like that suited us. So, we were able to work with Okano-san, and through that we were also able to begin working with the other staff members—that's what it was that turned things around. Until that point, the new staff at Avex weren't seeing anything eye-to-eye with us at all, right? So it always turned into them saying, "Well, that's not really..." and then we would just say to ourselves, "If that's the case, then it's the band being pathetic that's the problem."
Even though it was a really irrational way to think about things, you never noticed, because you never had anyone from the outside of the situation to tell you, "No, it's not" while you were telling yourselves that you couldn't do anything about it because that's what being a professional musician was, right?
Right, right, it was like, "What, really?!" (Laughs). That's what it was, of course it was.
So, even saying that Janne Da Arc's 3rd album "GAIA" was your real start, that's not really an exaggeration, is it.
That's right. Until that point, the actual work on albums was really difficult on us. Though we put out our first album [22] in March of 2000, the recording on it had actually started right after the New Year, in January. It was really scattered...we were doing work between three different studios. We had songs where I was recording the vocals over just raw bass and drums. So, when I was putting the chorus in, there were times when I didn't know what the next chord was supposed to be. "If I sing in the 7th...no, the 9th, then it should be okay, right?", something like that. We hadn't put the keyboard in, either, and all we had put in with the guitar were the power chords, all like jya~n, right, so it was like, "Will this chorus work with the rest of it?" (Chuckles.) Since I was doing one of kiyo's songs, I'd call kiyo up at around 3 in the morning, while he was in a different studio at the time, thinking, "I'm a bit nervous about this, so I'll ask him about it!" I'd say, "I'm trying out this melody
with this, do you think it will work?" and then he'd say, "No, it's not right. I'll be over in a while." And then kiyo would show up, and say, "This part is a half-step higher". And then I'd say, "Oh, really!!" (Collapses into laughter.)
I suppose it's because we never did anything like this before we were professional, but at that time we never really were able to get together as a full band very often at all. So, I think the songs we did then were in even higher keys than the ones we did before, to the point where I ask myself, "Can I really sing these live?" Ahahaha.
Gyahaha. Even though you were in a band, you were recording something like a solo singer.
So, we said, "The first album was like this, so let's do the second album right," but even though we released it on February 28, 2001, we had our Budokan show on January 3...so I didn't even start writing the songs for it until after that was over. (Laughs.)
In consideration of your first album, you really weren't able to revive the wonder of it, huh?
If you look at it in the sense of "This is professional", that's true, right? We thought, "Is it really?"
We keep dancing around that one phrase.
No, it was just that it still was a real shock to us. It was about the middle of January when, even though we hadn't really completed any of our songs, and were still saying, "What should we do?" that we decided to go through with recording for the time being. So, even though they told us they were planning the release at the end of February, we were thinking to ourselves, "That doesn't mean they'll actually do it." Then, one day, you and I were coming back from somewhere, and it was like, "Hey, look at the tagline on that billboard...Janne Da Arc Second Album, 2.28 Release! [23]" "Eh?! So, that means they do intend on releasing it after all!" (Laughs loudly.) Even though we had only finished one song, at that time.
Byahahahaha.
It was amazing, it really was. So, even though they were asking us for magazine articles and things like that to introduce them to all of our songs, we hadn't decided on any of them yet. Due to that, it became so that we had to make it, suddenly enough, for our interviewer to not have to listen to the album. So, even when they asked us, "What kind of album is it?" it'd be like, "Well...it should turn out well...I think..." They were really pushy, like "Well...I do intend to make an article out of this somehow." (Laughs.)
You're so funny, Janne Da Arc.
Ahahaha. Still, even though there were times when we looked at interviews as being really horrible, the truth was we were still looking at ourselves as hopeless, too. For example, our lyrics had been written in our indies period, so it was really dodgy. They used nothing but really simple language, nothing but a code of symbolism without limits. (Laughs.) But, being guys, we thought, "The lyrics, huh...but this atmosphere...that's what makes it work, right?"
On the other hand, there's something amazing about not caring to that extent, when it's so essential to have lyrics expressing a specific kind of view when you're in the world of visual kei.
So, that's why at the end of things, our members had no interest in lyrics at all. Ahaha.
Heeheehee.
From the time we decided to make our major debut, I was really bothered by those lyrics. But, I was thinking, "What?" (Bitter laugh.) So, even though I rewrote and corrected the lyrics ten times over, I didn't know what I actually should do with them. Lyrics, they do express something that's inside of me somewhere, don't they? So, they were my first time facing myself as a human being...like saying, "How do you feel about this part of yourself?"
So, what would yasu, having discovered himself in that sort of baptism, consider a Janne Da Arc-like literary style to be?
I wonder what it would be...as you'd expect, I certainly think that the lyrics I wrote at the very beginning and the ones I write now are very different. For example, even though I write the same kind of love song, there's a deep humanity in them, now. I definitely don't write mushy songs, and to take it to the utmost extreme, it's like, "Women, whaa?" (Laughs brightly.)
Ah, if you put it nicely, it's like anti-feminism, and if you say it simply, it's like female discrimination.
Ahahaha! If I have my own words, then it's like "all right, let's do it". The monsters did turn out to be monsters, though...but, the things I wrote were horrible. Shallow, even. (Laughs despite himself.)
Hahaha. I wonder, around when did that change?
As you'd expect, it'd be when we started working with Okano-san. Out of nowhere, he just said to me, "Your lyric writing....0 points." Up until that point, of course, depending on the person, what I had been told had been entirely different, as far as lyrics were concerned. For example, the director at Avex really liked resolute lines, stuff like I can't make the woman in my dreams exist. (Bitter laugh.) The producers we had worked with before Okano-san would tell me, "Anything your mind comes up with is fine!" or "If you've got anything that just comes to you, go with it!" Heehee.
Wahaha. Of course, only hearing meaningless things like that so far, you must have thought it was a good thing for Okano-san to give you a sort of revival in every way possible beginning with your 3rd album.
It really was. Until we came across Okano-san, whatever song we did, it was always "Okay, go record it" or "Go practice it in this studio". We couldn't bring together our arrangements or anything at all. But, since Okano-san had come along, we wrote the song, practiced it, and recorded it after deciding, "Let's record this one." (Laughs cheerfully.)
Well, it's natural that you'd do it that way.
Yes, yes! So, when we first started working with Okano-san, we were like, "Is this okay to do it this way?" (Chuckles.) Really, we had really just fallen into playing, right? So, not one of Janne Da Arc's members were the kind of people to be brimming with self-confidence.
So, it was due to that that no one really got excited when "Gekkouka" became a huge hit. You weren't used to praise, and not used to happiness, either.
You think so?
We were calm, no doubt about it. Hahaha.
As far as Janne's specialty is concerned, it's clear if you can go to one of your larger shows; that is, first of all, that the number of people attending your shows and becoming big fans as a result keeps going up. Also, in terms of the ratio of men to women in the audience, there are a lot of men. However, the so-called music boys are still in attendance, as well. Even if you think of it in terms of being a rock band that's outside of visual kei, those three points really stand out.
That's true, our dedicated fans didn't really go down in number at all. So, around the time we released "GAIA", it was like "Wow, the number of guys here has really gone up."
At the same time, already, visual kei had really started to lose its appeal.
Yeah, it really started to get to be a real pain in the ass...
Wahahaha. Perhaps it's that your status as an idol to those band boys seeking out uniqueness was set to continue, or that, before you knew it, Janne had just become the envy of all of us...and so, to me, you had been able to make such a huge impact.
That's a good thing, isn't it?
Of course, of course. Around that time, it became really easy to see, since the so-called "band moms" also started showing up in increasingly large numbers.
As for that, well, of course I knew that around the release of our 3rd and 4th albums, the same people weren't following us around to all of our shows anymore. So, I thought, "Maybe this is a new era for us?", and thinking that way made me very happy. Until our second album especially, there really was no meaning in asking what kind of people your fans are, to me...and of course, it's really difficult to get new blood to come to your shows, right? At that time especially, as a visual kei band, we didn't really have that as a selling point, nor did we have the exposure. Since this change happened in the midst of all of that, I was unbelievably happy.
Even so, it was a surprise to see your fourth album, "ANOTHER STORY", as a concept album. [24] In 2003, when singles were the main mode of release in the music culture, to choose something that called back to a time when those kinds of albums were huge...that was surprising.
Heeheehee. Well, I actually didn't have anything I really wanted to do, then. That was all I could think of, really.
In Western rock, that sort of "artistic masterwork" was present everywhere from about the end of the 1960's until the mid-1970s, but in Japan it remained something of a pronounced style just for the visual kei movement, as far as having actual concept albums goes.
But, there were also people who didn't go that far as to seriously throw themselves into making one, right? I don't know if you'd call it "serious" for the people who actually made them.
However, yasu, you wrote a storybook of the same title to go along with the album, as well. [25] Then, you went so far as to make sure they were released on the same day, so you did put yourself into it after all.
Yeah. I thought that if I did that, though, it'd get expensive (Laughs loudly). Eh, but since Avex could also do publishing, I got endorsed for that through them, too. Hm.
When I first heard that Janne was putting out a concept album, I thought, "Ah, of course, they're a visual kei band, so they'd go that way..." but when I actually heard it, I said to myself, "This is entirely different from the visual kei aesthetic!"
"It's like an anime!" Ahahaha.
That's my coming out, right there. (Chuckles.) I heard later that when you were younger, you were an anime fanatic [26] as well as really into video games, and had aspirations to become a manga artist...so I accepted it; that "ANOTHER STORY", with that view of the world...was a lot like a role-playing game. By that, then, the storybook became something of a "walkthrough". Though it didn't embrace the aesthetics of darkness and shadow, I understood that it was just another aspect to visual kei...the charming part of it.
Yeah...I don't know if you can say I did well, but it did turn out to be a strong work for me, in that I thought, "If they listen to this album, and read this book, then I'll be very happy."
So, for the first time, your world view and the expression of them in Janne Da Arc came together, and that's when you turned toward the furious release rush of 2003 where you released six singles and one album. [27] Though you had success in becoming a true part of the music culture at that time, the good thing that happened for the embodiment of Janne Da Arc's style of rock and roll was that you changed as a band from thinking, "Whenever this ends for us, that's fine" to the more positive outlook of "We'd like to keep doing this for a long time".
That's true. Surely, though, it was because we met Okano-san...we were able to learn a lot of things from him, and we truly noticed "Hey, we like music!" while we were associating with him. Since we had that, we started thinking, "What if we were able to keep doing this forever...?"
With that, great success followed in 2005, with "Gekkouka" becoming a huge hit...looking back on it, you could say that became a wonderful chain of reasoning for you, in that case.
Ahaha. But, I think that we just happened to come in at a time where we were able to ride on the fact that other people's sales were continuing to drop. It certainly wasn't because we had spread our influences. (Bitter laugh.)
Here it comes, that hardcore overly self-conscious affliction of yours.
Heeheeheehee. In our case, to be honest, I don't think there were very many people who even glanced at us, to begin with. (Laughs cheerfully.) The other members understood this very well, too. We were calm, no doubt about it. Ahaha.
Visual kei...it's become an embarrassing scene to be a part of, hasn't it?
We've already talked at length about your beginnings to this point, but in the midst of looking at yourselves at your peak, making it to the tenth year since your formation, you've been open about the fact that you're a visual kei band. There's something charming about seeing that rebellious spirit of yours alive and well. It's as if your charisma was considerably late in finally showing up, or something.
Ahaha. But, I wonder what it is about "visual kei" that makes people hate to say they are so much?
Outside of personal necessity, people are oversensitive to the term; in that L'arc dislikes it, and it's not common anymore, either.
As for us, we just think, "Well, it's not that important, so it's fine." Though I suppose, on the other hand we would consider it a victory if we could make society aware of the fact that it's actually pretty cool.
Since the fundamental approach of visual kei is "in our view of the world, there is not one shred of relaxation", doesn't it seem that it's a life where you can't be anything but closed off emotionally? With that meaning in mind, I think the existence of Janne Da Arc as a very emotionally open band as opposed to closed off is really quite groundbreaking. I don't see the aloofness of a visual kei band at all. Though, that could be due to that you're signed with Avex, but you still approach things lightly, as far as being a visual kei band is concerned. (Laughs.)
In regard to the source material that goes into a CD and things like that, I always think that "this work isn't just ours"--because the team at Avex as well as Janne Da Arc's team creates it together. So, if Avex comes to us and says, "Hey, give up the visual kei like stuff for a while," we of course have CD jackets and PVs that are very "normal". But, we put up with that, because as far as live shows go, that's what belongs to the band. If they were to tell us, "Your makeup's too thick" or "Look more normal" in regard to lives, we wouldn't feel as if we had to listen to a word they said. On the other hand, there are times when we'll think, "We should do more, huh?" If that's the case, then we come out with our personalities a little distorted in comparison. (Laughs.)
As I'd expect, that's a good way to look at it, in terms of "visual kei". Coincidentally, I wonder if you are aware of the more recent, younger visual kei bands?
I don't know much about them, not at all. I am somewhat familiar with a few of them, but I think that they're good, absolutely. But, if you don't compare their work with how they're presenting it, then that's what you see, right? Lately, there have been a lot of bands that have just had this feeling of being a rehash of Dir en grey coming around, though I don't really know anything specifically about them. It'd be good if that kind of thing stopped, don't you think? Even if you say that whatever they want to do doesn't really matter that much, as far as the Japanese hard-rock scene goes, I think that the music is of a much higher level, fundamentally, than the way they play it or do performances on stage...so if they just make it into a question of keeping just that level of visuals in their work just like the young people are into right now and already going around wearing, then I think for sure it'd be embarrassing to be on the visual kei scene.
But, that's just because that's what Janne has put into practice, as something you've held yourselves.
Eh, but it's hard for me to say, in our case, because as far as our appearance goes, we've always thought of it as either "not bad" or "not good enough" (Bitter laugh). But, there are a lot of "cool" kids among the younger generations, too, right?
That's just because among Japanese today, the younger you are, it's not really about youth, but about attractiveness. Young people's limbs are longer, they're taller, their faces are smaller...almost as if there aren't nearly as many unattractive people around anymore. Like "Since you're so blessed, let's put this to some practical use," or something.
Also, there are a lot of vocalists these days who say things like, "What if I were to stop singing in this style?", right? When it gets to that point where they're imitating it so much that even their breath is visual-kei like, temporarily. Eh, but since Ken Hirai gets imitated too, there may be a paper-thin difference between "This has something special" and "This can be imitated". However, there's a very marked difference between "this is the one and only" and "laughable amateurism".
So, for example, an imitation of Ken Hirai can become something not like "Ken Hirai", but when visual kei is imitated, it's not an imitation of a specific person, rather, it becomes more atmospheric—a larger imitation of "visual kei people"...well, other than Ryuichi Kawamura, anyway. (Chuckles.) However, I get the feeling that by going along with this, we're missing the real evidence of the original artist's originality.
Yeah. I do tend to think that it would have been nice if they would have somehow done more, though.
By the way, does Janne Da Arc want to continue on for another ten-odd years?
"Ten-odd years", huh...? Yeah...of course, I absolutely want to keep it up until the tenth anniversary of our major debut, but this year is the tenth year since our formation.
But, Janne is a band that has absolutely no reason to disband. You have no reason to part ways, no worries about money, and not one of you is the type to say, "I want to see myself at center stage!"
That's true...(Bitter smile)
When I contacted you to be part of this book, yasu, you told me, "I don't have anything interesting to talk about, like the people in "Part 1"!" Of course, YOSHIKI, SUGIZO, and Kirito have had their share of ups and downs too, in a dramatic way...
Well of course, they all have such strong characters, right?!
Though that is true, since you have your own story of that stirring in your blood that lead you to fight on this path, Janne Da Arc is interesting, too. Even though the era in which you were experiencing it was different for sure, that time for you was one where you were doused in human desire, a desire you positively dripped with.
If you were to say that Janne Da Arc was there in the middle of that maelstrom, I get the feeling we'd be there secretly as bystanders. Hahaha.
[Introduction//Interview Part 1//Author's Notes]