Translated from Ameba Music, 2006.01.12
Do you all know about the blog that is still holding first place in the Ameblog Music rankings, "Kiyo's Bath"? This is the continuation of our last installment, where we introduced the owner of "Kiyo's Bath", the keyboardist of the well-known band Janne da Arc. In the latter part of this long interview, relieving kiyo of his daily updating, we will get a peek of his inner nature (?), and, investigate further about Janne da Arc's anticipated new single. When we were covering this event, the mood was very busy, as he was taking several phone calls--this is kiyo-san, after all--but in spite of this, we heard that he had a lot of fun talking with us.
A: By the way, even when you're writing for "Kiyo's Bath", your style of casual narration has appeared. For example, "Is it okay for me to talk about this?" and things like that. I don't think you intend to be cool in your style of writing, but, is it a Janne da Arc-style way of telling stories, too?
kiyo: That's true, isn't it. Every member of the band has their own way of doing things. Our band kind of gives off the impression of being cool, don't they? When we read fan letters or something like that, there's the feeling like "Maybe they don't want us to be cool..."
A: Being too cool is a bad thing?
kiyo: It's comforting when there's a degree of closeness between the members and the people who come to our concerts. Even if they're fans of us in the way that they want our merchandise like children do, even if we're absolutely perfect, we're not the only band they listen to. Absolutely, the human part of us is essential, I think. We're not seen as absolutely great everywhere we go. Because of that, the casual style of the comments that people post on my blog don't worry me at all. Since I know I can say whatever's on my mind, it makes it so I can be casual as well.
A: Even so, every time you write, you really think about what you're doing. It's wonderful.
kiyo: It's just so happened that even though I can be very serious, my blog is a place that I can confide various things to.
A: You've found acceptance in your blog?
kiyo: That's right. If I go into a little fit of anger, and then I think, "I can rant about it online!" it gives me a sense of gratification. Therefore, I've been looking into pulling up everything from the past, too.
A: When you're writing on a blog, it's great to be able to exaggerate things like humans are prone to do, isn't it?
kiyo: Certainly! (Laughs) Even if you don't think about it that way, that's the result.
A: However, kiyo-san, you're essentially the quiet type, aren't you?
kiyo: As a standard, that's absolutely true. However, at my core, I'm actually a very dark person...(Laughs) Aaah, that makes me a hypocrite, doesn't it...(Laughs) But, even exposing my hypocrisy now, inside of myself, I'm in too deep for my own good. It seems that the "boom" has passed. There's a lot more than that, but I think if you understand that sentence, it's good enough for right now.
A: Just a small glimpse of the mood you're in when you talk about profound matters.
kiyo: Yeah, that's it. (Laughs) It's appeared, hasn't it. (Laughs)
A: Right now, on "Kiyo's Bath", stories about your family, and childhood, take up a large percentage of your topics, don't they?
kiyo: I guess that's the passing fad in my own mind right now. When I remember a small piece of something, that somehow makes a connection to "playing" or something like that. It's really not an "online notebook". I don't have to write in it with my crappy handwriting. The things I wrote about yesterday, as I thought, have my impressions from yesterday. But even though I don't use my crappy handwriting to take it down, I'm writing an entry for this day or that day.
A: Your various hobbies have come into play too, haven't they? Even the things that would cause people to call you an "astronomy nerd".
kiyo: I've discovered that the reason for that is not that I have "the soul of a three-year-old", it's that I have long-lasting memories of when I was a kid, and the understanding that comes along with them.
A: So, you've been trying to dig deeper and deeper into yourself, you mean. Even so, don't you find that you've made the hurdles you must clear even higher, because of your rapid pace in updating?
kiyo: As a matter of fact, at this point in time, I have the feeling that my face has become pale. There are 365 days of memories, aren't there...(Laughs) It's also made it so that I have no choice in paying more attention to what goes on in my daily life, every day, because I always have to be thinking of what I'm going to say.
A: Unwillingly, though, sometimes you've written things that are too sincere, right?
kiyo: From time to time. Certainly, it's a challenge to myself to see if I can really take things this far.
A: On the other hand, when you think about it in looser terms, have you ever considered doing collaboration with someone?
kiyo: Speaking honestly, I do when I have occasion to question my own physical strength. (Laughs) Of course, I've been told everyone would think it would be fun for me to pass the "baton" now and then. But, nevertheless, even though I've tried to erase the dirty part of me, it seems to keep showing up. In the darkness of "Destination" and in the brighter environment of "Furimukeba..."
A: So, shall we go on now to a discussion about music? You have a new single, and we've listened to the song that you wrote, "Destination". It's a harder song, though...
kiyo: In the beginning, we discussed doing a tie-in with a game. At the time when we were putting it together initially, there was something that wasn't quite right about it. After that, we rearranged it for use with a game. We knew that it was a fighter jet flight simulator, though.
A: The fighter jet simulator game was one that tickled the soul of a boy within, right? Kiyo-san, you love those kinds of games too, don't you?
kiyo: Not to that extent, really, just to the point that I thought the sounds of the names, like "stealth" and "phantom" were really cool. However, I had played a previous version of a game like this, and thought, "Ah, I want to have this feeling that I had when I played that game" when I polished the song. Absolutely, it has to have the feeling of "speed", does it not?
A: But, it's not the speed created by a barrage of bass drums, is it?
kiyo: That's right. I'm the type who doesn't really like ballads very much. I love hard songs. Within myself, I envisioned a tempo like "dokodokodokodokodoko". But, even though we play a lot of ballads in performance, I still enjoy myself. Because of that ability to do both hard songs and ballads, I feel like we can achieve a good balance with our music.
A: When it comes to keyboard distortions, you're the type to take it a little more slowly, aren't you?
kiyo: Certainly, I'm the best at doing things like ensembles to ballads. But, when I have to survive keeping up fast tempos on my keyboard, it...stirs up meaning for me. As a test. If I look at it that way, it's even more fun.
A: I see. This is the kind of song where that kiyo-san, preparing for battle, can go in rather aggressively.
kiyo: I thought I wanted to make a song with more keyboard in it, but how it turned out with my liking it was that it was a song more suited to the sound of the guitar.
A: As a result, you were able to use the techniques of all the members just like you wanted to?
kiyo: It surely is a blessed environment to work in. Everyone has their times where they just want to bury their head in their hands at the keyboard. However, being able to work closely, without restrictions, is ideal. Truly, I think things really are good in the band.
A: "Destination", in the context of the past and future of Janne da Arc, has this become the song that gives the feeling of that closeness?
kiyo: Yeah. It's similar to the slope we had during our indies period. In those days, it was the era of thinking that everything's great if you just have the spirit inside of you.
A: However, now, a mixed-up sound is okay.
kiyo: It is. The image is that the sound from our past is okay, too.
A: Do you record each member's part separately?
kiyo: That's right. It's basically done in pieces.
A: What about the editing work?
kiyo: We do it with every part, but we try not to do it too much. Because I'm the type of person who loves bass, when I listen to a song, I single out the bass. Leaving it to the person who's playing, it's better if I don't say anything. For example, the person who plays guitar tells me how the keyboard balance is from where he's standing. But, because we all know what we like, we can say what's on our minds without being worried about it.
A: Still, kiyo-san, you don't want to be seen as "the idiot at the keyboard" but as a strong sound-maker. Putting it that way, there's a lot of chances for the bassist and the keyboard distortion, isn't there? Truly, it's "The people who want to be in control." (Laughs)
kiyo: Ah. (Laughs) When you put it that way, maybe so.
A: Also, there's one more song, "Furimukeba...".
kiyo: The music for that song was written by ka-yu, with the lyrics by yasu. We appeared in the film "HIRAKATA", for which that was the ending theme. Three years ago, because the school is our Alma Mater, we had a chat with them. We got a letter from one of the students that said, "Even though you're not in high school anymore, please come and play a live for us." Then, the discussion with the school really made progress, and we had our live there.
A: Was it strange?
kiyo: Yes, it was. It felt like a school function, because our guests were all students. "What kind of live is this" was my only worry. Because we did it in the gymnasium, in order to arrange everything, it looked like even the staff was in a constant bustle of activity. With that impression, they were filming. And then, around the time that we were talking about the live, the reason we did it was because the actors wanted to use it in their movie.
A: Wasn't the theme of that song the "graduation" from the school itself?
kiyo: It's not clear, but you can say that, can't you, because there's plenty of seasonal imagery like "cherry blossoms". Every one of the members really likes this song. We thought, we want to release it quickly, before the graduations of the second-year students. So, we recorded it for the HIRAKATA DVD.
A: You didn't say anything about it at the live?
kiyo: No, not a thing. This version of "Furimukeba..." is different from the HIRAKATA theme version. We added some strings in, and we fixed up the way it's sung a little bit. In those ways, it's a new song.
A: The strings in the beginning are really beautiful.
kiyo: Absolutely, they're wonderful. But, in that case, it's not my hand at work (Laughs). But, they gave me proper respect for putting together the ensemble. The phrases, and things like that...it's a sample of something splendid, those opening strings. But if I put it that way, someone might get mad. So, genuinely, they're absolutely fantastic.
A: So, now you decided to couple "Furimukeba..." with the darkness of "Destination"...
kiyo: That's how it is, and in that way it's rather like Janne da Arc.
A: Such as getting us all riled up, and then forcing us to cry... (Laughs)
kiyo: Oh yes. (Laughs) But, lately, we all can't wait to hear everyone's impressions on it.
A: We'll be looking forward to it. Thank you for today, and from now on, please continue with your blog.
[part 1]