[Facebook] 2015/03/18

Original Post
Translation credits: alicerainbows
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It's Show.

First of all, thank you very much for our first live on 3.15. Having been in Alice Nine for 10 years, when the thought that I wanted to be in this band forever came to me, what I felt was that I was lacking in my abilities. As far as my abilities allowed, we were able to get some results, and having been blessed with great staff members and a great work environment, I was in a very blissful environment where I was able to pursue music by merely doing things the "usual" way. But to the extent that I don't take the risks and fight for myself, I thought I wouldn't be able to see any remarkable improvements hereon.

So around last year, I started to think that I should create a place on the outside, with no stability or guarantees, where I had to fight as if my life depended on it.
So I spoke about that with the members, and we all agreed, we decided that in order to improve ourselves as individuals, we would also be fighting outside of the band.

And to me, that place is DIAWOLF.

At first I thought I would do this alone.
DIAWOLF takes its name from DIRE WOLF = an ancient wolf,
and it felt to me like a person who was looking for a place to die after having giving everything they had in them.

So, what is giving everything you've got...?
When I thought about the kind of music I wanted to do that I wouldn't regret even if it killed me, my standards were "The music I wanted to do when I was a teen".
During a time where I had no dreams or hopes, I had come across LUNA SEA, and learnt just how amazing bands were, and when I was throwing out random ideas, like "I think with my current skill, I can do the music that I liked in high school, like KORN and Prodigy and NIN", Tora listened to what I had to say.

I had said it as if it were a joke and asked him "Wanna do this project with me?" and his immediate reply was OK. I was happy.
So because that's how this came about, it's going to be different from Alice Nine, and it has to be different from Alice Nine.
I'm sure there will be people who enjoy it,
and people who will be disappointed.
But in order to protect things and places that are important to me,
I couldn't just stand there and do nothing.
I hope that you will see with your own eyes just what kind of music DIAWOLF will make.

Please look forward to it.

[Salinwika] clubALICE VOL. 20

Alice9 Channel Grand Finale



Starting in 2009, the Nico Nico live boradcasts of “Alice9 Channel” came to an end, after its five year run, on the 9/17. On this episode, to thank Tora for being the MC of the show, a home-made beef bowl was made for him. On this episode, Tora, Hiroto and Nao were on the show.

And two weeks later, on 9/29, it was time for the final episode of “Super Alice9 Channel”, a part of the Official Alice Nine Channel on Nico Nico, to end. The grand finale of this program, which ran for five years, featured all five members.

The screen was flooded with comments from the users lamenting the end of the show, comments thanking the members and comments still expressing disbelief over the end of the show.

The members watched footage from previous shows. They swore that they would bring back the show again one day and that the users will be seeing them again. The show closed with Nao, in his never-faltering attitude, doing a weird rap: “Alice9 Channel! It’s a show we don’t wanna end, yo! Yeah!!”.

After that, the members returned to the dressing room, holding back the tears. They gave a deep bow to the show staff, saying “Thank you! We’ll definitely be back soon, so let’s work together again!”.

The five of them never used to talk much when the show first started. Then somewhere along they way, the show started to heat up, and so naturally, the members began talking more.

According to the staff, they had wanted to bring the show alive and make it more active. Just as the staff had wanted, the members naturally came out of their shells, and began to show us all their emotions. As the show continued on, the five of them learnt what “entertainment” was, and it’s not mistake that they are more diverse in their expressions. They expressed this on the show: “Because of this show, we don’t feel embarrassed when we make public appearances now”. The show was invaluable in teaching them skills outside of music and live concerts.

And also something the staff had mentioned at a later date was something the staff, who had worked on the show constantly for five years, wanted to tell Tora, who took on the role of the MC: “Ever since we met him, we knew that we could leave in show in his hands. We were sure that he would make the show fun. We believed in him… Even though it pains us to say this (laughs)”.

There’s no mistaking that it was a fateful meeting, that the unbreakable relationship built on trust would never be severed, and that during these five years, they have all been growing.

This is certainly not the end, but “Chapter One” of Alice9 Channel finished on this day.

Please wait until that day where we can see the jungle backdrop once again.



Message from Members


Shou: Looking back, it further confirmed the fact that we can created many memories together. It’s not like it’s all going to be over now, and it’s not like we’re going to stop here, there are still many things that we can and want to do, so taking the things we built together with you over the last ten years as a foundation, we hope to aim for even greater things. We don’t feel like stopping yet either. We plan to bring you guys even more enjoyable things so that you guys can have even more fun, so just wait for those days to come. Thank you for everything.

Hiroto: Looking back on all these years, I felt that the fanclub has really evolved. It seriously was all great fun. I think that we’re here today because of the history that we built up with the fanclub. To all those that have supported us, thank you. “club ALICE” will be closing shop for a while, but I hope you guys will join again when we open it back up!!

Tora: Thank you for everything. We did plenty of things, but thank you so much for being there with us! “club ALICE” will be ending, but we hope to create a new place in which we can interact with each other again. The members are also thinking about even more fun events, so please come and see us then too! This was Tora.

Saga: I hope that you guys can be there with us, even if we’re in a new environment. We’re a band that only exists because of the fans. I really think so. We’re Alice Nine, because you guys are there. I hope we can keep on creating more memories together.


Nao: It’s been about ten years since we’ve been walking together with “club ALICE”. It was really fun. These last ten years are our treasure. But now, we’ll be going on a new voyage. So I want you guys to come on this new voyage with us too. I really, really think of you all as my treasures. Let’s keep on making these fond memories together!



Full credits: mokkoriness

[FACEBOOK] Shou, 2014/09/04

Original Post


Facebook.
I thought it can be a good substitute for a blog but I am not sure as I have nothing to post about. (laugh)

Recently every day, I have been doing some preparation for (our) future environment, while absorbing many things.
Things that I would not be able to see if I did not come to a halt. That is what I think.
Sceneries, feelings, that you overlook while you constantly run while looking ahead. I want to use this timing to reaffirm those things.

I have been reading letters received from 23.8 and also the office**, and through reading them I can personally feel the uneasiness that we indeed have caused by our announcement.
As the talk about this withdrawal had been going on since spring, the title 「NEVER ENDING UNIVERSE」 was decided to convey that 「this atmosphere created by Alice Nine and everyone who has supported us, will never end」, and (hopefully) ease the feeling we cause even just a little.

With that vow in my heart, I shall refine myself as we head toward a new beginning.






Translation credits: voxetale

[Facebook Hiroto] 2004-2014.0823

Original Entry
==

2004-2014.0823






there are many, many feelings I would like to convey but,

tonight, this sound, the sound of this spirit will ring from Conifer Forest!!!

and by the sound ringing from this body and spirit in which the past 10 years have been embedded, let’s have the best musical performance!!!!!!

the happiest strongest best night!!!!!!

Looking forward to it!!!!!!

Those who can't come too, your loudest, send your loudest voice, and your feelings till it can reach here !!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure those emotions, when filled with determination, will be able to reach (us).

Depending on you all!!!!!!!

You don't need those worries, just us, ringing our sounds here!!!!!!!





Translation credits: alicerainbows

[Salinwika] [ROCK AND READ Vol. 47] Shou Interview

-Previously while envisioning “the same flavor as always,” according to those whom passed through the same doors as you, there were more times when you weren’t aware of such miscalculations and before that you didn’t seek to change.*  From the start you talked about the most conflicting parts at once, but doing so while being able to laugh, doesn’t it mean those many years of conflicts are starting to clear up?

Shou: I think so as well. Something I’m able to say from my position… I probably wasn’t trusted as much by the members once before. But of course you won’t be able to hear such words from everyone.
-It’s not something that can be overlooked.

Shou: How do you say it… Well, I’m adding the main melody to songs more and more. But I noticed that even if I don’t, we’ll still continue on a good path, since members who compose songs will often add the melodies themselves. But it’s not a bad thing, since they do it unconsciously. It’s not like they have negative attitudes or criticizing words for me, and they’ll simply say things like “you came up with a good melody.” But creating songs is really personal, it’s where your true feelings emerge. That’s why for a period of time, when members added in the melodies or made more long songs in the interludes, I lost a bit of confidence. It’s not that I was completely useless, but it felt like I wasn’t trusted to do everything.

-Seems like you’ve been thinking about this too much.

Shou: When we initially formed, our stance was that we wanted to hear the vocals more than each instrument. Even when we made mixes and such, the song turned strangely so loud that you couldn’t really hear the drums. When the songs received such special treatment, for me personally it was like “crap”. [laugh]

-Hey, don’t put yourself down like that. [laugh] Actually, self-asserting your own instrumental part, I think that happens even if everyone has confidence in each.

Shou: Mhm. You really want to emphasis that band-like, rock-like feeling and that’s one way to do it. However… rather than not having faith in me, I think it’s more accurate that I’m not being relied on. The part that I sing is only one part of the music we create, and originally there wasn’t any intention to stress its importance. Nevertheless I think it’s natural. Now when I listen objectively, I have thoughts like “it doesn’t have to make this band sell.”

-That’s kinda masochistic, over thinking things like that. [laugh] As for me, Shou is the one within the performance team who makes me think, “There’s absolutely no problem if he’s responsible for the melody and capturing a world view in his lyrics.”

Shou: Surely that may be true. But…speaking my true feeling, since this is “ROCK AND READ” I’ll say it [laugh], personally I don’t have that much confidence in myself. But after lives we’ll often watch a recording of that day’s performance and have a review meeting, and for about the past 1-2 years I haven’t been becoming undone as much during lives. That’s why on the contrary, I can feel like I’m more confident than before. I’m also trying to write songs on my own and improve others’ demos saying things like, “I think the melody will sound better if you do it like this.” Since I’ve been more proactive like that, recently everyone arranges songs that once again are “originated from vocals.” With that I’ve realized, “Aah, so it’s like that huh.” [laugh] That’s why at least now compared to before, I’ve gained confidence.

-Of course it’s not like other members were conspiring something together, they each have different ways of thinking.*  That’s why instead of Shou yourself, it’s not wrong to focus on building a strong relationship of trust more than the music aspects when trying to progressively create something.

Shou: Yes, I think so too. Even if it’s like that…I also really think we’re a band that’s been grasping for a solution for a long time. [laugh] But I think our current feelings are close to those we had around the time of our first album [Zekkishoku]. Well, we’ve probably surpassed our various complexes and battles.  At the time of “9” we also continued like that, but we outgrew our complex of being treated like an idol-band and other conflicts we’ve been grappling with. On top of that we were able to have confidence in ourselves, and experiencing reality objectively, I think we’ve gained the ability to broaden such experiences.

-The band’s probably had thoughts like, ”We’re not idols. Don’t treat us so lightly!” and fought against these unwavering perceptions. In addition, up until [GEMINI] and [“9”] you’ve created with Okano-san, I think it was quite like wearing armor into battle after not wearing anything before.

Shou: Aah, that’s true.

-Rather than strengthening what you guys had in the beginning, you’ve become more like a cyborg that’s incorporated new kinds of weaponry. And as a result, isn’t it like gaining a new muscle [strength]?

Shou: Right. That’s why those two times have been like training our muscles, creating a new plaster. [laugh] And I think it’s great we did that. But at the same time there are also characteristics of what we did in our teens; that’s the nature of being human after all. Within our music activities, we don’t have thoughts like, “We want to do it like this, so we’ll continue doing it.” I’m venturing to say this bluntly, but didn’t several songs from [GEMINI] have the persuasive power of bands like Matenrou Opera more than ourselves?

-You’re saying it to that extent! But it’s definitely an easy to understand comparison. [laugh]

Shou: In the end, they’re the only ones who have that kind of persuasive power, people who enter that kind of world with the philosophy, “We won’t do anything but this!” I too want to hear the songs they’re able to make.

-In other words, improving upon the things you don’t have, you can’t escape the fact that “this time Alice Nine challenged heavy metal.”

Shou: Exactly. Actually, even if there are members who have metal rock foundations, there are also members who like alternative music. Even though everyone’s interests are scattered like that, when the five of us come together it comes out naturally.  It becomes really melodious… I’m exaggerating a bit, but it’s like everyone happily doing rock. That’s why it’s like the public image of Alice Nine’s music. We tried to negate that image in the past, but it’s part of the band’s essence after all. In the end, I feel that we tried to fight that essence.

-Several times in the past, I remember hearing you talk about similar conflicts. Still, when you guys didn’t know who you really were, saying “let’s be dazzling like flowers,” being able to say that your essence hasn’t changed after experiencing so much, I think it’s different based on your perspective.

Shou: Yes. For the band doing all kinds of different tunes, since there are members who want to try various things, I think it’s good to do things with such a change of mind. It’s ok if we don’t stick to a particular genre. But whatever we do, it doesn’t change our essence. Eventually, since we gradually changed while always thinking the same things, what we said countless times in the past came about.

-I see. Of course this isn’t a criticism so please don’t misunderstand. But using this example since it’s the easiest to understand, it’s quite noticeable that Tora’s songs lean towards heavy metal. Still, using these songs for this band, they aren’t really representative of metal and don’t stick to the theory of metal. If everyone tries to grapple with this on top of understanding it, you’re not borrowing a style, but using it as a means to an end.

Shou: Actually Tora’s the only one who spent his teens listening to metal. Even Nao didn’t think the day would come when he would play two bass drums. [laugh] Hiroto as well, even though he doesn’t dislike metal, he says things like “it’s the sound farthest away from me.” Saga is very academic so he’ll objectively analyze “what is metal”, but may not actually be able to do it. Metal is also a genre that’s far from me. In the beginning during my teens, I liked singing in lower keys, which came from UK rock’s languid moods. I didn’t go through metal at all. Honestly I didn’t really mesh with people who gave the feeling, “Let’s do stuff like Halloween!” But on the other hand, I’ll occasionally feel envious of people who chose a different path from us.

-In this band’s case, the degree to which you like or hate something varies from person to person. In regards to metal, you each have a different feel for it. For instance the music that Shou likes, there aren’t other members who like it for exactly the same reasons. It may lead to some fragility for the band, but it’ll lead you to interesting places as well.

Shou: Right. I think it’ll become a strength for us now. After all we have confidence in each other. No matter what style of songs we do, I’m confidence that our core is unwavering. Whatever genre songs we decide to do, it may not be done that way completely, but in the end it still becomes our music. I think that’s perfectly fine. Of course we may have to give hints, “Is it metal or perhaps electronic?” in explaining our music afterwards, but we’re definitely not thinking, “Isn’t metal something new for us?” The feeling of “no matter what kind of songs we do, we’re still ourselves,” I think we’ve already turned this into our strengths. Everyone’s starting to understand what responsibilities each of us should to carry for Alice Nine.

-Regarding your true essence, what it really is, no matter what it’s the same. In other words, you’re not thinking, “In this world since we want to aim for this position, let’s do it with this direction in mind,” but more simply “let’s do fun things like it’s forbidden.” That’s why you guys make songs now with feelings similar to when you made your first album.

Shou: That’s right. We’ve finally returned to that place. After struggling so long we’ve finally arrived.

-Changing the topic, you’ve also reached the point of “If I sing, any song will sound like Alice Nine.”

Shou: Well if you can’t say that, it’s truly bad! (laugh) That’s what I’ve always thought. I also often think, “I’m already older than the age when Luna Sea members made that album.” [laugh] Even though I don’t want to think about that, I still do.  Take [Himitsu], the coupling song of [Daybreak], for example.  The song is something completely different from what anyone imagined I would sing, but when I try singing, it becomes Alice Nine. Saga said this to me. Those words made me so happy!

-Listening to that song for the first time, before you could hear the vocals, there’s probably no one who would realize that it’s Alice Nine. But when you hear Shou’s voice, there’s no doubt it’s Alice Nine.

Shou: Mhm, I think it’s become like that now.

-There’s no need to be modest. Rather, you’re allowed to say, “if it’s me singing, you’ll understand.”

Shou: Hahaha! I might say stuff like that when I’m a bit drunk. [laugh]

-Although we’re in the middle of an interview, but why don’t we have some wine? [laugh]

Shou: No no, if I’m drunk I’ll really only say things that can’t be published. [laugh]

-This is a bit of a digression, but what are you like when drunk?

Shou: Members will say- scary. [laugh] Normally I respect the harmony of my surroundings, but when I’m drunk that’s not the case. [laugh] But people will often tell me things like, “when you drink it’s interesting.” That’s the case in my previous interview. It’s probably true that “I’m actually a guy that holds darkness inside.”

-Eeh. I said something like, “Don’t you turn the bad desires of people who aren’t bad into your motivation?” At that time Shou said, “I’m actually darker than everyone thinks.” [laugh]

Shou: Right right [laugh]. Since then I’ve been thinking often, “Exactly what kind of person am I?”….Actually after that happened, my grandmother passed away. Just before she died around 4 o’clock at dawn, she called me suddenly saying, “You really are a kind child.” After about 15 minutes, I received a phone call from my mother letting me know that she just passed away… After such an incident, I’ve been thinking shouldn’t I live as a kind-hearted person? Even though I definitely have dark parts to my personality [laugh], after my grandmother decided that I’m a “kind child,” I felt that I had to live life like that. Of course for humans, I think everyone has his or her own darkness. I’m aware of that. Even though it wasn’t until such a troubled time that I was told, “You’re a good person,” I’ve really been thinking, “Exactly what kind of person am I?” But my mentality has changed after such an incident. I really have to live as a kind person. Well without mistake, I do have that aspect so I shouldn’t deny it.

-Your kind aspects. There aren’t any falsehoods there, probably.

Shou: Right. Moreover, among those who are close to me, I think my grandmother was the most important person. But this probably has nothing to do with the topic of our interview.

-Nah, this is actually better, getting you to talk about such personal feelings. Being a kind person, it doesn’t mean to shut out your dark parts, but to be honest with yourself. At least this is your case.

Shou: That’s right. Somehow within myself the feeling of “doing something for someone,”…even now thoughts like “Why am I doing music?” run through my head…If you ask that for others in the same profession, it’s probably like trying to pick a fight, but for me it’s become my best motivation. Of course I do it for the fans, but before that, I seriously consider what it means for the members. As friends, as human beings, I really love them. I think they’re all talented and love music more than me. In my case, I’m quite messed up in that regard. Rather than simply loving music, it’s more of a voice fetish or mix fetish. [laugh] That’s why I’m not the type to extensively look into music.

-Like the criteria for your taste in looks is the collarbone or something. [laugh]

Shou: Right right. Such as, “I like the way this person takes in breaths!” [laugh] For music, it’s like the work of Chris Lord-Alge (mixer and producer).  It’s a very specific taste, a slightly strange way of treating music. In comparison, I feel other members of Alice Nine are more interested in music completely. What I want to say is, regarding those darling close friends of mine, I don’t want their talents to go to waste, I want to remove the obstacles that are hindering everyone from progressing. I want everyone to bring into the world only works that they desire to create- I want to help do that. That’s become the biggest motivation for me now. Creating songs by myself… honestly, it’s because I don’t want Saga to make singles unreasonably anymore.

-Whether Saga is really doing this unreasonably or not, from the standpoint of being able to song-write while unaware of that, he can still create interesting works. You’re probably thinking about all this right?

Shou: Yes. Well if he can create songs that just happen to turn into singles, I think that’s wonderful. He’s basically the type who can amazingly just read the atmosphere. On the other hand I’m the vocalist and completely skip over stuff like music theory, since I predominantly focus on the melody. These songs often become  just like singles. They’re considered to be worldly, single-like. If I can bring songs to our band meetings even if they aren’t used in the end, other members, especially Saga-kun, will feel more at ease. That’s why I’m trying to create songs and bring in more demos. I might be glossing over my words too much though. But doing things like that, wanting to be a kinder person and having to live for other people, I’ve been really thinking about these things in a new light.

-Going back to what we were talking about in the beginning, for Shou-san it’s “I want to love.”

Shou: Eeh, this talk’s topic has really returned to the beginning. [laugh]

-But thinking about it actually, you’re really blessed. Since you’re doing a band while being surrounded by people you want to love.

Shou: You’re right, I’m really fortunate.

-That thought occurred to me all of a sudden. You write songs for the sake of everyone’s happiness. In the past perhaps other members carefully considered how they shouldn’t rely on you too much, but recently they’ve once again been naturally making music with the feeling “the song is the origin.” I think they also want to make you happy as well.

Shou:…Those feelings, it’s like reciprocally throwing something towards each other. Like playing catch-ball. For instance recently, not the sound mixing parts, but for the artworks and music videos, I’ve being doing almost everything. It’s not that they’re making me do everything, but probably that they trust me doing it. For instance I’ll say things like, “If you do it like this Tora would look much cooler,” and consider the visual aspects of not only myself. I have confidence in these matters more than other aspects. Other members will also be able to trust me after perceiving such things. I’m also trying to be like this for those essential areas within our music.

-At the same time members will also give you opinions that are like from a producer’s viewpoint.

Shou: Right. Definitely with [Daybreak], Tora brought it to me saying, “Shou doesn’t normally use this singing key, but I think it’ll sound really great!” But I thought, “That’s HIGH!” [laugh] Although we brought it down half a key, what matters isn’t about how high I should sing it, but throwing ideas around like catch-ball.

-That’s wonderful. It’s really about loving one another isn’t it? [laugh]

Shou: Hahahah! That’s true…

-It’s not about only feeling love within the members, there are probably also times when you have negative feelings and fight. But hearing you talk now, I think you guys have a really great relationship.
Shou: Right. Well even so, I can’t say if it’ll turn into hatred someday. [laugh] For example, if I ruin the song another member makes, it could really happen.

-Certainly. Just now you were talking about working on the artwork and music videos, was this something that started from [Daybreak]?

Shou: Although it varies quite a bit, I’ve basically been doing this since when we first formed. This time, our 2nd single [SHADOWPLAY] after changing record companies, so far I’ve been doing the work that’s usually been left to experts. Without the so-called “art director”, I’ve been trusted to make all the judgments. So to speak, the plan was “I’ll thoroughly do everything.” Of course for the PV we got supervision from some directors. Although you could see the parts that I devoted myself to, we also had discussions like “Shouldn’t we do it like this?” that went much deeper than before.

-That’s a really healthy way of approaching things. It may be rare to hear this coming from the mouth of a musician, but only those intimately concerned would know how you really want to convey your music. If a third party comes in without understanding your situation, you would get a lot of different results.

Shou: Exactly. It doesn’t mean anything if I just attach some cool design from somewhere. I need to make artwork and music videos simply from our sounds. Well, saying this in turn, for [Daybreak] we went along the lines of what the director from our record company thought of. With the artwork as well, the company used designers that they recommended to complete the work. In a sense,  “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” Although it may be bold of me to say this, but speaking frankly, we also undeniably give the impression that “we’re still naïve.” I was in the track club once. My personal best for the 100 meters dash was 10.9 seconds.  Running that fast, those who ran around 12 seconds speed seemed to have stopped. That’s what it’s like for me. It may be rude to say, but I feel like I’m always running ahead.

-Of course that’s not saying you were dissatisfied with [Daybreak]’s artwork, but before changing companies you guys were probably looking forward to how things would be managed.

Shou: Exactly. That’s why I’m glad it turned out like this. Our director definitely helped partner us with all kinds of artists. For instance the designers even worked with groups like EXILE. Aiming with such a plan in mind, we became really interested in how things would turn out. Of course talking about going “so fast it seemed to stop” I’m not referring to the level of design. Naturally, it’s about going so far that I can’t even catch up to myself. However, for instance there are different ways to interpret Visual Kei. From childhood listening to it and doing a band only from there, that’s based on your own individual experiences.  That’s why in order to create a band, shouldn’t it fit your own skills? On that note, I actually did the artwork for [SHADOWPLAY] myself. Even I think it may have been a shrewd way of doing things, but it’s like we took the promo photos and other visual work along with [Daybreak], if you’re comparing the two. When I do things, it turns out like this.

-I don’t think it’s shrewd. It’s simply a manifestation of approaching the artwork with a serious “do-or-die” mindset. The point is, “the quality is beyond my ability of course, but it still seems like I don’t know things regarding the band.”

Shou: Right. [laugh] Things like who the influential leaders were, seems like I didn’t know from the beginning. Of course, I understand everything. Meaning we still do things alright, since releasing CDs is under our responsibilities.

-Right now (this interview was conducted in the middle of March) you’re just about to launch your third single right?

Shou: Ah, by chance yesterday we had a meeting about the PV. We talked about “bringing this idea properly to life, it may have to look a musical.” On the same day, Saga-kun unexpectedly Tweeted about musicals. It made me quite happy, realizing that my feelings were communicated. I don’t think anyone will think of musicals listening to the song itself. It’s not necessarily that kind of song. But in spite of that, I was shocked that Saga shared the same vision as me. It seemed as if our consciousness were linked.

-That song hasn’t been completed and it’s not like we’ve heard everything, but was there a reason for choosing [Daybreak] as your first among your three consecutive single releases?

Shou: Actually, we had to decide whether to release that song or [SHADOWPLAY] first. If we choose the latter, it’s certainly in line with the expectations of those who listened to [GEMINI] and [“9”]. From the start we made [SHADOWPLAY] using metal rock methods in mind. To the end, we used Alice Nine’s foundation of melody as the axis point along with a metal approach. That’s why the mix doesn’t sound completely like metal, and those who truly love metal will say, “this is completely different!” Well, it’s Alice Nine’s nature to create music that makes people happy. That meaning is also implied. It’s not a song that represents change, so we thought that it’d be better releasing [Daybreak] first.

-Those two albums do tackle a rather metal-style. It seems that you’d probably use that method this time as well.

Shou: I think so too. [SHADOWPLAY] came from the experiences of those two albums.

-It’s interesting that [Daybreak] came from Tora-san, who usually makes a lot of metal songs.

Shou: Definitely. In the beginning this song actually had a funky vibe. The reason the song’s atmosphere changed so much later was largely due to Hirade-san (producer). We don’t want to say such boastful words like, “we did everything with our own merits.” [laugh]

-We were talking about [Himitsu] before and how Shou’s voice makes it something that’s Alice Nine. Isn’t it also true for this song?

Shou: I think so too. That’s why here as well Hirade-san stepped in to help arrange. Gradually, he’s also heavily influencing the sounds that each member is obsessed with. Hiroto’s guitar somehow stands out too much, to the point that it’s a bit laughable. [laugh] Together with things like that, he’s brought Alice Nine to places we haven’t gone before. He’s carrying more such responsibilities. Hirade-san also does the mixes himself, which I think is something that’s extremely important for producers to handle.

-Because that doesn’t result in different interpretations right?

Shou: Right. Talking to us, Hirade-san completely understands the sounds that we envision. In that regards, there’s no middlemen to complicate things. [laugh] There’s less filtering. I think that’s definitely a plus.

-Well, I don’t think Shou’s vocals have changed that much here. But your lyrics really give a straightforward, honest impression. The extent of putting words you want to say from your heart into the lyrics, I feel it wasn’t really there in the past.

Shou: That’s exactly right. It’s something I’m starting now after always considering before, “what kind of single does everyone want to hear?” However… our talk’s going in a loop since this isn’t what we were talking about just now, but trying to scrape off the extraneous parts, my mentality’s definitely becoming “we don’t need to wear armor to battle anymore.” Furthermore, I already know how to write lyrics to make the song sound cool. What kinds of words to compose, I knew that this single would become something cool.  That’s why I could write without feeling pressured.

-So while writing the contents of the lyrics, you didn’t have problems regarding your mentality or things directly connected to you?

Shou: Right. I felt it was fine just using my own words. [laugh]

-You won’t have any problems with that. Compared with Saga’s autobiographical [Hello, World], I think this can also be put into its own modest category. [laugh]

Shou: That definitely was like Saga-kun’s “one-man documentary.” [laugh]

 -Thinking about it now, starting from that song, perhaps Saga’s already been asking Shou, “Isn’t it better to just spit out words honestly?”

Shou: Ah…if that was the case I would like Saga-kun even more, but he probably hasn’t thought about it to that extent. [laugh]

 -Hahaha! For [Daybreak], overall the lyrics weren’t particularly shocking, but every turn was filled with parts that made you gasp. The band seemed to be standing on the edge of a cliff, it suggested a feeling close to giving up, but more than anything it gave the deep impression of “because burdens can become wings.” The title itself means “the breaking of dawn.” Normally it’s suitable for a new starting point, and recklessly you would want only expressions of hope. But you also sing how in this case those hopes are actually burdens.

Shou: That’s exactly what I wanted to sing. If it weren’t for these 8 years, I definitely wouldn’t be able to sing with my true feelings like that. I really think those lyrics are a projection of myself right now. Since I express myself too straightforwardly I use English parts as well, but singing that is just “I want to give people happiness*.” Is that desire an essence of myself or perhaps fate… I’ve been thinking along those lines. It’s actually aggregated in the English lines. More than whispering sweet words, I want to strongly express “I want to give you happiness” through my singing. Oddly, I don’t care if I turn into an annoying guy like that.

-Even as you continue the band from here on, do you feel your lyrics are becoming “only what’s unknown in this world”?

 Shou: Day after day I feel that way. Meaning there are still many things to discover. Even saying things like this now, probably in another year I’ll think, “so that’s what I said in the past..” [laugh] Really, living up until now, as if I’m underwater and trying with all my might to break through the surface, I can’t get a sense of how far I’ve progressed. But even if that’s the case, isn’t it because I’m still living right now? What should I do then? While thinking about this and that, it’s clear that I’m not in a state of zero. For instance even though I don’t know how far I’ve advanced, I know that something has certainly progressed. I want to believe that there are still a lot of things I don’t know about in this world. There’s no mistake those are my personal feelings.

-For instance, I think that when it’s hard for the band to see concrete changes in your surroundings, as they say “only time can tell”. But during such a time, something’s definitely changed as long as you swim with all your might.

Shou: Right. Or rather I want to believe in that. But not in a light tone like, “let’s believe it!” What I strongly want to say is “don’t throw this world away like that!”

-It’s not so much “we may think nothing’s changed, but we’ve definitely progressed” but more like “things we’ve done like that, they’ve probably changed right?”

Shou: Yes. For us, it’s not that we’re living idly and waiting around. Even if we can’t see our final destination, we’ll still face somewhere unknown and continue on.

-From our current talk’s topics, I’m assuming the message of “I want to give you happiness” is not just towards listeners, but other members as well.

Shou: Of course they’re included. In addition, people like the involved staff and my family are also included. According to the results we deliver, I think there are people who are changed, who are given happiness because of us. That’s why the band continues on like this.

-And so for those people, the feeling of anticipation for Alice Nine becomes a burden as well as wings.

Shou: Ah, that’s right. I accept the presence of burdens. Originally I had the thought, “Those who aren’t burdened with anything, won’t they fly to higher places?” Regarding the fan’s encouragements, if they don’t feel anything they may become indifferent. If I wanted to respond to their support even just a little, I’ll feel pressure as well. But I want to bring everyone to higher places, and in the end that pressure becomes wings for us. That’s what we feel. We want to bring everyone to new heights. We want to show everyone an even better world. Although I often say these things, they’re my true feelings, and the lyrics I wrote for this song, I believe they’ll fill up the empty spaces of our time until now.


T/N: *The literal translation of the phrase he uses is not “I want to give you happiness” but “I want to make you happy.” But the English connotation of “I want to make you happy” suggests the speaker may be surrendering into the receiver’s desires instead of simply giving them something. Also the “happy” he uses isn’t just a “I feel good” feeling but a “blessed” feeling. To me there’s an important distinction so just wanted to point this out.


Credits: hellotime-being

[Salinwika] WINK-UP! 2014-05

-The theme of your photoshoot is “The Little Prince”?

Hiroto: This time the editorial department proposed it and when I heard what it was, to be honest I was like, “SERIOUSLY?!” [laugh]. Because when you think of “The Little Prince,” you imagine someone wearing a white or blue outfit, a rather fluffy and cute image. But when the stylist showed me the selected outfits, they were all black and rather chic so I thought, “Huh? Not what I imagined…” The clothes had a dark tone in order to express the solitude and sadness the Prince most likely harbors within his heart, the venturing light from darkness; I didn’t object to doing a photoshoot with such an atmosphere.

-It’s like a story that teaches you, “What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

Hiroto: It’s a more fantasy-like story I think. Solitude is also probably part of story.

-When do you experience solitude?

Hiroto: Moments like creating songs or playing guitar. Since I pursue it so intensely, it ends up turning into isolation. Presenting the results at lives and in our music, even though it transmits out to everyone like that, until I reach that point it’s really lonely. As one boy, since I’m always in the music industry, I really feel out of sorts living a normal cycle with friends. During such times, I feel really isolated. A really constrained feeling.

-Either way, even though artists don’t have that kind of normal life, you’ve always been living like that.

Hiroto: Even though I dislike loneliness and I easily succumb to it, I’ll give my best, because beyond the loneliness there’s a place that’s waiting to open up to me. I think there are many artists like that.

-While dating, when do you feel lonely?

Hiroto: My outlook on dating probably changed a bit. Even if the other person fools around, even then I think I’ll be accepting. I’ll probably still believe in the future we have. On the other hand, I may feel a bit depressed. But I don’t think I’m the type who’s able to cheat, since I tend to face everything with only serious feelings.

-What does solitude mean to you?

 Hiroto: It’s like a trial that I have to go through to meet that welcoming place someday.


_____________


Translator's Notes: I don’t know if I captured it clearly, but he’s basically saying that even though he feels lonely making music/practicing by himself, he does it so in the end he can show everyone his music and perform at lives. At least that’s how I perceived it.. 





Translation credits: hellotime-being

[Ameblog Saga] 2014/04/29 (2)

fukushima


I thought of taking the train alone to kitakata
and eat some kitakata ramen but„

the store i like
usually sold out their ramen by 3pm so i gave up.
I thought of going to grandpa’s house
but he most probably has sleep since 6pm so I gave up. (laugh)
there is a place called Inawashiro about 5 minutes away from the station though.
I’m popular with the cute grannies in my family.

to those who are travelling here from other places**,
if you have time to spare, do go from Aizukawamatsu to Kitakata and eat some ramen

however the number of train is frighteningly few so if you don’t research how to get there and back properly, it will be quite troublesome. (laugh)

———

Translators Notes:  ** he’s somewhat referring to those fans who follow them through the tour






Translation credits: voxetale

[Ameblog Saga] 2014/05/01

dive

My hometown’s live,
It was so hot that on-stage and even back-stage the humidity was dangerous! *laugh*

Diving into the drums
The drums collapsed and my body hurt..
It was really bad.

MUSE’s Matthew often dives into Dom’s drum set,
And Dom always looked happy,
So I thought diving towards the drummer would surely make him happy..
I thought there’s no such entry as “things you shouldn’t miscalculate” in the dictionary of rock..
Sliding across the stage on my knees,
Rather than looking cool, I injured my knees and only remembered pain..

As an apology,
I gave Nao a ticket to dive into my amps during a concert  (u_u)

No, but Nao seemed somewhat happy like Dom was… crap or was that a miscalculation?




Translation credits: hellotime-being

[Salinwika][2013.06] ROCK&READ Vol. 48

“The spirit of destroying what we’ve already accomplished and trying new things. That’s the true spirit of rock.”

-I have a simple question first. Do you often read through other members’ interviews?

S: I read them occasionally. While thinking “Oh right, they’re appearing in this month’s issue,” I’ll go to the bookstore and get the issue.

-Speaking of which, what did you think of Shou’s recent interview?

S: Actually I haven’t read it yet. However, I heard he spoke his true feelings. During band interviews I think to myself, “It’s ok if I don’t say anything here,” so I won’t say much. I’ll also have thoughts such as, “This part definitely won’t appear in the article,” so as expected I’ll only say those things here. [laugh] If I consolidate my thoughts here, they’ll be better transmitted to everyone. Of course we always speak with true intentions in mind, but when there’s 5 of us together, we try to speak from the band’s point of view to respect that unified spirit. It’s a bit different from individual interviews.

-After transferring companies, you’ve released a single for 3 consecutive months. This current time is crucial to you guys.

S: Right. But in fact, I think we’re in a really good state right now. Things such as our band unity as well. At one point I think we were all over the place. Surprisingly, it was really something when we made GEMINI. Compared to that time, we revived our unity like a band should. We were able to recover the things that we originally possessed. It’s similar to the atmosphere when we made VANDALIZE. Thoughts such as “Let’s do something different from before” and “We can’t just stay like this,” we experienced a crisis of sorts. With those thoughts in mind, we solidified our existence as a band.

-You mean if you can’t advance as one unit you can’t overcome barriers?

S: That sort of feeling, yes.
-Even if there’s no particular reason, there will be times when you feel subtle distances within the members, even if the band continues for years.

S: I think that’s natural. Approaching our 10 years, each one of us is coming to grow as an artist. Naturally as a band our responsibilities are divided into 5 parts, but individual members will stand out on their own. So…it’s not like we want to do solo activities separately, but rather our individual egos shine out strongly, and each one of us produces our own thoughts and sounds. I think that compared to each individual section, there are specific areas that shine out clearly.

-So you mean during the process of making music, there’s a temporary feeling of being disjointed?

S: Putting it simply, within the band our separate motivations all tie together in the end. Speaking for myself though, after creating GEMINI I’ve crashed a bit.

-Because it’s something you’ve put your all in and exhausted yourself?

S: I think that’s half of it. The disconnected feeling when making that album, wasn’t it a bit discouraging…it was that sort of time. Because of that, making “9” was a type of rehab for me.

-Rehab?

S: Yeah, actually we didn’t have thoughts like, “what kind of work do we want to make” at that time. We had to continue pushing the limits of how our band exists, “whatever it is we must make something.” It didn’t feel strongly like doing work (like a job), but more of a “if we don’t try our hand in it we should just stop!” With that in mind we made “9”.

-So you mean “9” was created to recover your health?

S: Exactly. GEMINI was really tiring in many ways [laugh]. I wonder why?

—For the Alice Nine of that time, it was certainly an album that pushed to guys to your limits.

S: Yes. But I don’t think that’s the only reason. Examining the album, I realized there are many songs that I created.　For instance, even with Hiroto’s songs I had a hand in it. Honestly, I don’t particularly like that. It’s rather boring. At that time, we couldn’t produce many songs, but with such results we were satisfied.

-Within yourself, even for things that don’t have definite proof, pointing out the sweet spots from an objective point of view and giving criticisms without reservations…you want people who can give you those things right?

S: Exactly. To that extent, recently Shou-kun’s been really fussy about the melody and Hiroto’s not believing in my slump, telling me “I want you to do it like this and that.” Somehow everyone’s been saying these annoying things! [laugh] Buut anyway, it’s fun, doing stuff like this is a good thing. It’s definitely better than people not saying anything.

-Somehow I don’t know if you’re talking about things that make you glad or angry [laugh].

S: Ahaha! But these are words that can be said after having various experiences together. I think it’s better that they say these annoying things.  [laugh]

-You like paying attention to these details, I wonder why.

S: Yes. I think it’s bad if we’re not being fussy over how we function as a band. If our band separates and I have to do it by myself…it may not be as troublesome [laugh], and I would be able to create music just as I planned. However, without everyone’s bothersome opinions, things wouldn’t make sense within myself in regards to the band.

-It’s boring to create things only as planned. At the same time, saying things like, “I’ll leave it up to you” also gives you a bad feeling.

S: Aah, there’s that as well. In actuality those things are also said. That’s probably what I wish for myself, but it’s not good in regards to the final results. Even though we have all kinds of expectations when making songs… people will say to members, “Alice Nine makes rock music like the good old days, right?”

-There are all kinds of interpretations.

S: Well, these words are complimenting us, but I think we’re more of a band that makes you think, “Aah, so they can create that kind of atmosphere?”  Even though we’re perceived as a band that always make that kind of music, it’s not really what we want. Taking that tiny chance, “I want to something different”…actually we only say those things. To the extent that K-pop artists use their advertising power, “Aa if we use all 4 of us we would become more popular.” [laugh] When we think about things that are “frustrating, but cool,” there are lots in this generation. If you think about it in that manner, you encounter lots of chances everyday. Changing the topic, recently, the desire to create rock music after listening to rock has declined. Instead, I want to try making rock after experiencing all kinds of other things. Music is like this- after being stimulated by words, movies, etc. you’ll feel motivated to start. You won’t feel tied down to all the things within yourself.

—If you make rock while listening to rock, perhaps you’ll translate something that you felt was cool with your own words.

S: Right. But for me, even though I love Gundam, as the director said, “Making robot anime after watching robot anime isn’t very interesting.” I don’t remember the exact quote since it’s fairly old. But anyway it’s something like that. It’s hard for me to explain properly, but according to the director, Gundam wasn’t created with the idea of making a robot anime. He used the good qualities of stories unrelated to robots, live-action movies, etc…

-And so after coalescing all those ideas, Gundam was born?

S: Yes. The meaning is along the lines of that. And right now I completely understand his stance.

-I see. In the end, you were influenced and stimulated by all kinds of things, and as a method of reducing your music to its origins, it’s probably something that will endure for many years.

S: That might be true. Before we definitely created rock music after only listening to rock. We used reasons like, “We need music like this for lives” to make songs. But after thinking about it, we’ve started creating completely different music…as expected we weren’t sure if fans would accept such songs.

-It’s alright surely. “Hello, World” addresses that.

S: Ahh, perhaps. [laugh] For instance, we’ve gotten conflicting responses to Daybreak’s coupling song, Himitsu. Although there were people who thought it was a great song, we also heard, “Is it really necessary for Alice Nine to make such songs?” But still, even with SHADOWPLAY people thought, “Isn’t this metal? Does Alice Nine really need double bass drums?”　Even for songs that aren’t particularly out of the ordinary, people will say all kinds of things. If we do songs that are generally “like Alice Nine”…In any case it doesn’t matter what kind of music we make. It’s not like we’re trying to deceive fans, but I think it was implied. If we always say “it sounds like…”, will it really turn out like that in the end? Actually we’ve probably always done things like that.

-It’s not necessary to tie yourself up by thinking self-consciously “it sounds like…”

S: That’s why I don’t think that deep into it. Even if you don’t give it much thought, it’ll turn out fine. Although other members might still be giving it a lot of thought.

-In actuality, you probably didn’t want people to think the song “sounds like” anything, but it still shows, even if you try to hide it temporarily.

S: Right. We don’t lightly consider things like the directionality. Of course we think about the entire picture.

-Referring to the previously mentioned Himitsu, the conflicting opinions you received was also fun wasn’t it?

S: That’s right.

-You guys probably predicted such opinions to arise.

S: We definitely did. Every time, we look forward to those comments appearing somewhere. Of course we’re glad to hear praises and someone saying, “It was a great song!” but it’s also boring. Personally, I think our band likes those conflicting opinions. We’re a band that’s constantly evolving. But as we change, aren’t we a band that’s always trying to make listeners understand us? I think artists like that are great. U2 and Radiohead, even Japanese bands. Anyone can just continue changing, but those who leave behind a perfect product and survive, those people are highly respected. But those who continue to change are also really brave. For instance, destroying what you’ve succeeded in and making something new. I think leaving behind what you’ve already created is amazing; that’s what rock music is all about.

We try to think about how to communicate our intentions, how we want to validate our mutual feelings.

-Doing things with such a progressive attitude, even though you didn’t want to experience the feelings you had after making GEMINI, you felt them twice.

S: Right, if we experience that one more time… we might even break up [laugh].

-I’m confident it won’t happen if you’re able to laugh while saying that.

S: Actually our previous company president told us from the beginning, “You guys need to work on your communication.” At that time we thought, “Is that so?” and half-heartedly believed him, but now looking back his words were pretty accurate. This problem showed up in our music as well. I think it’s our weakest area.

-Do you carry on with the thought of “We’ll continue with the five of us forever”?

S: Or how should I put it, the feeling of “If it’s not the five of us we won’t do it” perhaps wasn’t felt so strongly, at least initially. For now, after seeing the band come together, being able to rile up listeners fairly well, being able to sell CDs, being able to contract with a record company…having encountered such good fortune, we never had the reason to discuss serious topics like that. In the past we carried on without such questions in mind. After being asked, “Will you really not continue if it’s not the five of you?” I really don’t know how to properly answer. Don’t we often get told in interviews, “you can’t make music unless it’s with your current members”? I don’t really know. We still don’t know, so we don’t have an answer! I think it’s because we’re only at our 9th year. But as we continue we’ll definitely begin to understand. Lately as we listen and examine our past sounds, the results have become like that. Honestly, we have confidence that the music we make now is better than what we made before. However, to what extent we’ve improved, since we don’t know how many years we’ll continue looking back, it might just be a tiny improvement. That’s why we’re aware that we’re in the middle of a process that includes many ups and downs.

-Things don’t always happen in a convenient order that you want. If you communicate your intentions in the beginning you won’t experience such things, but particularly for this band if you started gaining momentum before that, no one would be able to grow so much during the process.

S: Right. As we stopped to look back, we began to understand things more and more.

-But “we don’t know if we will continue as the 5 of us” is a really courageous thing to say.

S: Perhaps. Interestingly, when we listen to other bands, we get it! Thought such as “we can only do this with the five of us”. We understand it from a fan’s perspective. But for ourselves…so far we haven’t seen such objections. When we hear people saying “I love this band” we want to believe that, and we’re honestly happy. In the end we can’t say things like that lightly.

-In the previous issue with Shou, he said that he’s accepted his complex of not having a strong musical background.

S: I also think that’s true. Vocalists tend to be troubled by that.

-And he said, “If I don’t do well [writing songs] I’ll just be a nuisance to other members.” Those words actually came from “I don’t want Saga-kun to make singles unreasonably anymore.” Like he wants you to only make things that you really want to make.

S: Aah, there’s certainly times when I’ve felt that way. Singles are definitely something that you don’t get to make the way you want. Nonetheless, if music that come from major recording companies don’t sell well, making singles wouldn’t have any meaning right? During our indie days we thought that simply making cool songs and proclaiming, “How’s that!” was great. But understanding and making major music, it’s something that must be transmitted to people. Since I have these thoughts floating around in my brain, making singles is quite troublesome.

-Well…saying this without fearing it’ll be misunderstood, sometimes you may feel uneasy leaving it to other members and think to yourself, “If I don’t make it, it’ll be bad.”

S: There are times when I think “It’s not suppose to go that direction,” and “Didn’t we already do this before?” when I listen to their demos. The biggest thing is, “Didn’t another band already do something like this?” Since I really hate that, I end up making the songs.

-Even now you may still have a bit of those thoughts, but your song writing responsibilities have been mostly reduced. What do you think of that?

S: Well, everyone has really contributed all kinds of opinions. For instance with [shooting star], we were able to break away from what we usually do. Along those lines, we didn’t feel uneasy or worried like before. If we can destroy barriers and create genre-less, alternative music, no matter what the plan is we’ll be able to handle it. After that… when we try making new sounds, we won’t fall apart. Similarly, Shou dislikes it if we don’t do things like that. I often get that feeling so I completely understand. However, if we go at it without reservedly thinking things through, we’ll also be able to break down these barriers. We won’t dwell on “who made what song.” But from the bottom of my heart, I want to be someone who provides guidance [leadership]. For the members as well as the fans.

-You’ve personally had lots of ups and downs, and you’ve seen other members hit low points. From here on after, for example, you’ll be able to predict when Shou is experiencing his own inner conflicts won’t you?

S: Right. He’s been dealing with some things himself. However, it’s not really about how many more songs I’ve been contributing compared to others, but that I must communicate my thoughts to the members. This is my message in regards to music: Beyond the fans, I’ve got to face the band even more. In other words I have to treat the band the same as I treat fans. When members tell me it’s good after listening to my song, fans will experience a similar feeling. They’ll be able to grasp it from the same perspective. The band members are my first listeners. On the other side are the fans.

-That’s because there are no dishonesty with music. There’s no such thing as lowering hurdles for fans.

S: Right. I think many bands easily fall into that trap. If you give up doing what you like, no one will be satisfied in the end. These things do happen. I’ve concluded that you have to tackle these problems with all you’ve got. That’s why making singles is hard! The more you notice how hard it is, the more difficult it becomes. I think bands like U2 and Radiohead are amazing exactly for that reason. They’re so highly respected, because they push new boundaries with not only their albums, but their singles as well. Naturally there are pros and cons for doing it this way, but isn’t that why they survive? That’s the scope of things. Of course for us it’s a different perspective, but nonetheless I still think they’re amazing.

-If you say it like that, the process of creating these series of singles, even when you confront those difficulties there’s still a lot to learn.

S: Right, within these 3 singles…the title of [Daybreak] isn’t something that’s catchy on purpose, but the song really is something that resembles the breaking of dawn. Again this time the mood is different from when we made “9”. The atmosphere within the band… somehow mixes feelings of an impeding crisis with positivity, in a good way. Both sides are present now. It’s necessary to be hungry and to have no hesitation in destroying certain things. Of course these are also things that you experience during the difficulties of creating singles.

-For example, what kind of parts?

S: For instance, during meetings when we choose which songs to make into singles and I naturally bring songs that are pop and commercial. That’s totally bad. If I don’t use the same awareness as making albums, no one else will agree on the things I really think are cool. However, since they’re singles, isn’t it meaningless if we don’t evoke some empathetic response? That’s definitely the hard part. We were troubled over these issues while creating songs such as [shooting star].  But in other words, we still haven’t found a solution.

-If it’s a good song you’ll use it as a single. It’s probably fine to do it so simply. But in regards to how it became a single, you don’t do it without feelings of dissatisfaction.

S: That won’t go away. Actually that’s why I continue to be troubled even now. [laugh] When I make easy to understand songs that says, “I’m trying to make a single,” everyone immediately exposes me. Even now! I wonder how in the world I made songs like [RAINBOWS]. [laugh] Although it became a single, we continue to play it at lives…songs like that become singles. I’m not talking about stuff like the type of lyrics it has. What our band finds valuable are songs that gradually hold great meaning.

-But it seems like you don’t know what kind of song is representative of you.

S: Exactly. That’s why it’s difficult. [laugh]

-So now, the concept of the next album is beginning to be like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

S: Of course. Personally, I think it’s like redoing [GEMINI]. I don’t mean making a long song again, but making something conceptual… For “9” it was like a rehabilitation that didn’t have a concept for once. That’s why this time we want to exceed [GEMINI] while doing an extension of it.

-Digesting your experiences after [GEMINI], your blood and sweat…in addition you want to make something that exceeds that work.

S: Yes. With the same motivations and facing the same goal, we want to progress while breaking and destroying various barriers…if we can make an album like that, it will probably be the best one so far. With that in mind, it’ll be good if you can experience the entire album like how you experience [shooting star]. Although I don’t know if that’ll be a good or bad album. [laugh] Probably beyond that, I think it’ll be something that will remain for a long time.

-Nevertheless, it’ll be something that the Alice Nine up until now was not able to make. At the same time this year, you’ve reached your 9th year of formation. I think to some extent that has influenced your self-consciousness.

S: Nah, I’m not the type that pays attention to what anniversary it is. [laugh] Of course it’s a big thing for the band and it fires us up, [laugh] but rather, it’s like we’re celebrating every year as an anniversary. So it doesn’t feel that different. Well of course we should celebrate our 10th year, but after that point we won’t have a chance until our 20th year.

-Although words like “20th year” casually fly out from your mouth, isn’t it because you’ve experienced so many ups and downs these past 9 years? After hearing you talk today and reaching this point, from here on the future seems pretty clear.

S: I also have the same thoughts. Some time ago we were talking about Mucc’s Tatsuro-san, but that band’s already passed their 15th year mark haven’t they? I think it would be great to continue like that. Of course all kinds of things happened within those 15 years, but seeing how great those guys look now, isn’t that the most important thing? Namely, what is it that allows them to have such a long process? We also want to do that, such as going around Asia, continuing to face new challenges, and always giving off a fresh feeling. If we can come close to that ideal, it would be quite reassuring.

-Conversely, you want something to tie yourselves to the next generation right? Like leaving behind your own mark.

S: Right. Recently, there are many cool young Visual Kei bands! Although they debuted after us, we’ll be going forward with these bands.

-There are many times when your eyes are directed to the next generation. It will be rough for the health of your band so you’ll need to extract all kinds of information from your sources.

S: That’s what I think too. Certainly the health of Alice Nine is a bit rough. Of course we don’t know whether we have a perfect condition or not at this current time.  However, compared to before it’s definitely better, and our communication has improved slightly. [laugh] Even if it’s a little, certainly it’s something that we would have welcomed before. Of course this happens with everything. But we’ll continue to improve our communications from here on, since it’s possible anyone will fall into a slump. We’re humans after all. I’m not saying that it’s not scary at all, but it’s not something to be entirely afraid of. Our relationships are become more and more like a family, and we’ve come to understand our mutual flaws. However, we’ve had discussions about separating from the band before. These are life talks that everyone goes through. But after having such talks, our mutual understandings have also deepened.  Thinking about it now, in the past we’ve always regarded such mutual feelings as only something that we “plan to understand”.

-If you only talk about music, you won’t come to understand these relationships.

S: Yes. We’ve come to develop relations similar to comrades that experience pain and joy together. With all this time that’s already passed, I don’t want to see us using excuses such as “we have different goals” and falling apart. [laugh] Rather, if the time comes for our band to end, I want it to be because we mutually dislike each other. Nonetheless, if there’s such a moment like that someday, I completely do not think about it right now.




Translation credits: hellotime-being

[2014.04] Wink Up -Shou-

The 13^th week’s theme is “Fantasy.” Shou completed a photo shoot with the motif “Alice in Wonderland.”

-This time you did a shoot with the theme “A Mad Tea-Party,” a scene from Alice in Wonderland, right?

Shou: That’s right. With Laduree cakes carelessly placed on tables, it’s “a tea-party that doesn’t stop until time runs out.” I wanted to produce that kind of madness. The costume was also prepared with that theme in mind. Personally I really enjoy those kinds of situations, so much that I even got excited during the shoot! Because I love cakes and things like that. Last year during my birthday with the fan club, we served guests their favorite teas and desserts. We also invited Dasoku (a Nico Nico artist) to perform while I poured everyone tea, and afterwards I did a duet with him. I love café au lait, so I enjoy going to cafes even by myself. But I don’t like things that only have a sweet side. Isn’t it better if you add a little bit of bitterness? Sweet things are cute but rather tacky. Adding some darkness and madness in the mix would make things much more alluring. For this photo shoot, I wanted to show the charm of cakes messily scattered around instead of prettily lined up. This feeling is also part of Alice Nine’s foundation.

—I see. Is the “Alice” of Alice Nine from “Alice in Wonderland”?

Shou: The “Alice” is also part of “Alice in Wonderland,” but I originally took it from Mayumi Nagano’s “Shonen Arisu*.” Like creating a vivid fantasy, you can experience the extraordinary by adding a touch of madness to the basis of ordinary things.

—But in contrast you also create something great, don’t you?

Shou: Yes, yes. You can make curry more delicious by using a little sugar. Adding brown sugar to mapo-tofu also increases the umami taste!

— So you cook!

Shou: Mhm. Just well enough!

—In other words, you don’t like things that are only sweet- girls as well?

Shou: Ahhhh yes yes [laugh]. Compared to girls who are always sweet, I prefer those who are sometimes aloof. Guys are weak in that regards. We’re rather simple beings, aren’t we. [laugh]

T/N: From what I can gather, it’s a short literary work written in 1989 about a boy who goes to his school garden at night and enters some fantastical world. Something about creating moon and stars, friendship/brotherhood, youth, and an ultramarine-colored world.

Credits: hellotime-being

[Preview] [2014.05] Sound Designer Interview -TAKUMI x Hiroto-

The guitarist Takumi is hosting a series of extensive talks about composing and recording music called “TakuTaku Talk.” This month’s guest appearance is guitarist Hiroto from the popular Alice Nine, a band that fuses dance music and post rock sounds. From topics such as what triggered his start of playing guitar to his obsession with creating music, this interview between two guitar-lovers is a must read!

Takumi: Hiroto and I got along pretty well in the past, didn’t we?

Hiroto: About 4-5 years ago, Takumi-san went to Sugizo-san’s live to ask for his support. Afterwards Takumi called out to me, “Hey I’m eating dinner with Sugizo-san, want to join?”

Takumi: That’s right! That dinner turned into a guitarist meeting.

Hiroto: After I started playing guitar, Sugizo-san represented all that I aspired to be, so I was thrilled to meet him. Even now, I still can’t believe that I got the chance to drink with him. [laugh]

Takumi: At any rate, you seem to really love playing the guitar. Even on Twitter (@alice9_hiroto), you’re constantly tweeting about guitars and effects.

Hiroto: But it wasn’t until about 2 years ago that I realized, “Ah, I actually love the guitar.”

Takumi: I see. Did something trigger that?

Hiroto: It was a guitarist meeting. Seeing all the guitarists’ extraordinary burning love for the guitar, I thought
“Fuck, I want to play the guitar! I must play!!” [laugh]


Credits: hellotime-being

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Creditos: azshannar, wolfpaws, chifunii

[2007-05] Arena37C Special Vol 32

☆ Who likes trips?

Shou: It's Hiroto-kun, by far!

Hiroto: I don't like trips, I like travelling.

Shou: What's the difference between trips and travelling?

Hiroto: To me, I think that a trip is where you go out, having decided upon a plan, travelling is something where you just go out without having a plan.

Shou: Sometimes at around five in the morning I get mail from Hiroto-kun, he writes things like "I'm in a river right now", I get worried, like "Are you OK?!" (laughs)

Nao: You'd surely get surprised at that.

Shou: I have experienced that recently, though.

Hiroto: When I go out travelling, I can come to understand the things that I didn't understand before in my everyday life, so I like it. I don't like going out on a schedule, so I like going out on a whim and without deciding on anything, like "Which direction should I go?"

Shou: Like "I'll go north" ?

Hiroto: Yeah. I don't go out and decide where my destination will be, while having the sensation of being on a journey, I discover a variety of things while I'm travelling, I think that that is the wonder of travelling.

Shou: I feel like Nao-san is the exact opposite of Hiroto-san, he plans out every detail before going out.

Nao: If I didn't plan anything and went travelling, I'd end up in Akihabara before I'd know it. That is my travel (laughs)

Tora: Lately I've started to travel outside of the Kantou region. I've also been on a school trip to Australia, and if I say that I go back to my parents' place, it's in Shizuoka.

Nao: Is Shizuoka in the Kantou region?

Shou: It's in the Toukai region.

Tora: Well, they're not really that close. Since alicenine. began I've been able to go to many regions, I feel like I finally know about Japan.

Hiroto: At the beginning we had driven around on tour, it felt more like a journey.

Tora: It was a journey~

Nao: The drivers were Hiroto-kun and I, and we went around while the other members looked at the maps for us, it was quite a dangerous drive.

Shou: We made a mistake between the road to the San-In region and the road to the San-yo region.

Tora: It was an extreme detour.

Nao: That reminds me, during the time when no one had gotten their license yet, there was a person who almost missed the live.

Shou: Simply, it was me (laughs)

Nao: When I slightly began to think how things would turn out, I wonder how we came to enter the company with that live we did.

Shou: But before that, I went to the Saitama live by train.

Hiroto: I caught the train while holding my guitar, carrying my outfit and pulling around a rack.

Shou: There has been a time where Hiroto-kun, tired from not being able to sleep because he had to do his part-time job, brought all his equipment to Shibuya and looked like he was going to collapse.

Nao: That spectacle is surely like the theme we have today, because of the people who like to travel.

Shou: When I went home from that live, it was during rush hour.

Hiroto: That was a battle!



☆ Memories from school trips

Tora: I went to Australia for a school trip. It was my first time going overseas, but the entire town was just full of Japanese people. There were lots of interesting things, but they are all things that I kind of can't say ...... (laughs). But the food was disgusting. The meat was tough, I couldn't bite it. There also wasn't any meals(1). wherever we went, we were always served meat, we ate meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The sea was beautiful, but I thought that I didn't want to go overseas anymore. As expected, the meals in Japan are delicious, I think that perhaps Japanese people are used to only Japanese meals.

Nao: Although it's unfortunate, because of a job relocation, I couldn't go on my school trip in junior school. On my middle school trip, it felt like the first time I had stayed overnight somewhere, so I was excited. The place I went to .... had deer so I think it was Nara. It's a peninsula with lots of seagulls.

Shou: A peninsula? Nara doesn't have any ocean!

Nao: Ah ...... Then it wasn't Nara. I wonder where we went ...... Someone please tell me the name of a peninsula with lots of seagulls. In the afternoon we played with the deer, at night we were all smiles as we engaged in a pillow fight. At that time, I couldn't sleep if I wasn't using my pillow or my own pyjamas, so I brought them along with me. If the pillow wasn't firm then I couldn't use it, and besides I had decided on the height of the pillows.

Shou: In middle school?

Hiroto: You're like an old man.

Nao: I was the only one who brought pyjamas, so the female students came to see us, they were all smiling.

Shou: Didn't they come for an entirely different reason.

Nao: Doki(2)~

Shou: For a school excursion I went to Okinawa, but my friends in the same group as me all had one subject of conversation in common, idol groups. I wasn't the type of person that was completely absorbed in idol groups, and for some reason when I tried blending in with them, we ended up going to the school where the idol attended during our free time. So then we went to that school and threw Okinawan sweets at it, then one of my friends was caught by a guard, and our teacher found out and yelled at us until midnight.

Hiroto: For my school excursion in middle school, it was my first time going to Kyoto and Nara, Kyoto wasn't that great, but since then I have started commuting to the current Kyoto. The streets were really nice, when I arrived at walked around a little I thought "Ah, this place is cool!". I did go to Nara earlier, but at the Nara Park I ate a deer rice cookie.

Tora: Ah, I've also eaten that.

Hiroto: Did it not hurt your stomach?

Tora: It was disgusting, but I was ok.

Hiroto: Everyone tried eating it and was like "What kind of a flavour is this?", there was one guy who's stomach hurt after eating them so we had to stop that activity (laughs). But the flavourlessness of it was disgusting.

Tora: It has a grass-like flavour.

Hiroto: It looked like a normal rice cracker based on its appearance, but it tasted like weeds.

Shou: It's feed for deer, so it can't be helped.

Hiroto: When I see such animals, I want to grab its tail and wrap it around it's neck.

Shou: That's unpleasant (laughs)

Hiroto: When I tried to grab on to a deer's neck it started to get violent, it used it's rear legs and it seriously kicked me. It hurt quite a bit. It was like an anime, it kicked me so fast that I could see the residual image of it kicking me. That's why I have a really strong memory of being kicked by a dear when I think of school trips. When the deer kicked me the girls laughed at me, I got into a bad mood and went back to the inn.

Shou: It was your own fault.

Hiroto: But apart from that, Kyoto was good. At first we had decided on a plan but the entire plan changed, I only went to the places I wanted to go to. Each group had a taxi reserved for them, but we talked to the driver and they took us to many places. Even now I often go to the place I went to during that time.

Saga: I also went to Kyoto and Nara. When you go on a school trip, don't you also have someone as a cameraman? Those kinds of photos are shown as a slideshow in front of all students during the farewell of the seniors. We thought that we should photograph everyone for that kind of photo, my friends and I just followed the cameraman around the whole time, and in the end the photos shown were mostly just me and my friends. So at the farewell assembly when those photos were showing, when the juniors said to us "You guys were really insistent", we burst into laughter.

Shou: Burst into laughter?

Nao: Laughing at an inappropriate time?

Saga: I have a memory of a surprised teacher saying to us "Explain yourselves" in front of about six hundred students, and falsely apologizing while laughing, like "We're sorry".



☆ Memories from a trip

Tora: When I was young I would often go with my family to a hot spring in Hakone, but one day they didn't bring be along at all. When I asked "Why?", my parents said "When you go into a hot spring, ●● starts to rise". At first when they said that expression to me, something completely different came to mind (laughs). When I understood what that meant I was quite shocked. Since then, my parents came to dislike hot springs themselves, and we ended up not going to them anymore. That's too bad.

Nao: I don't know anything. Although I have heard that phrase, I didn't know what it was about.

Tora: That's because it's a phrase from the Edo period(3), right? That's too difficult for children to understand.

Nao: Going to Mt. Fuji highlands with my friends was fun. Rather than the trip itself, riding the vehicles was fun. Yeah ...... a trip. I don't really have memories of going on any. I also never left the Kantou region. I don't really like travelling itself. Rather, I'm a guy who likes to smell out the scent of computers (laughs)

Hiroto: Do computers have a smell?

Nao: They do (laughs)

Shou: I had a chilling meeting with my father before I worked part-time, the place he had taken me to was Nagano's Kiyosato plateau. When I was a child, in my memories he was giving me a repetitive speech as he took me to Kiyosato, it was fun. That's why I like plateaus and grasslands. We stayed at a cottage, there were lots of pasture land, and they had deathly delicious soft serve ice cream, the place had a really nice image. The summers there are also cool, so it would be the best going when it's hot over there.

Hiroto: My father likes the ocean, so when we go on family vacations it's always to the ocean. When I was five years old, I went to Hawaii as a part of a company trip with my father, when I was splashing around in my life ring the life ring went flying, I couldn't swim and I couldn't get any footing, it felt like I was going to die. At that time a nearby couple gave me their assistance and saved me, but since then that kind of thing has happened to me three times. When I was in junior school we went on a family trip to 99 Beach, the same kind of thing happened and the life ring went flying and I was drowning, when I thought "Is my life going to end as a fourth year student in junior school?", a nearby couple saved me.

Shou: You haven't learned (laughs)

Hiroto: In my first year at middle school I had learned how to swim a little, so I swam normally. Before I realized it there were large waves, just as I thought I couldn't move my feet I started drowning, that time, an elderly person saved me. That's why when we talk about family vacations, I only have memories of drowning (laughs)

Nao: It's like Momotarou(4).

Shou: Recently at Hawaii, that happened as well, didn't it.

Hiroto: Ah, that's right. I just seem like a guy who goes out and drowns.

Tora: When we were in Hawaii I went bodyboarding, I also got carried out in the waves, I seriously thought I was going to die.

Hiroto: It really feels like a life crisis.

Tora: It did feel like that. I couldn't see the beach, even though I went looking around there was no one.

Hiroto: I was still close to the shore, but Tora-shi was carried further away by the waves, he became smaller and smaller.

Tora: Trying to maintain composure turned into desperately trying to paddle back, but I didn't go forward at all. That was really frightening.

Hiroto: When I had returned a little closer to the beach, Saga-kun was standing on a rock and said "Crap, Tora-shi was carried away".

Saga: But the lifesavers had a really relaxed face on, didn't the also turn to each other and say "He'll be ok".

Tora: Even though it seemed like I was going to die.

Saga: They were like "Ha ha ha", they laughed (laughs). I couldn't see the two of them and was worried about them.

Hiroto: The place where Saga-kun was at was also quite far from the beach.

Saga: When I thought about going back, Hiroto-kun was there alone.

Tora: I was helped by the coral reef. There was a part sticking out that I could use as a foothold to some degree, and using that I somehow made it back alive.

Saga: When I was a junior school student I went on a family vacation to a hot spring, when I went into a mixed bath(5) a woman screamed, I was shocked. Even though I thought that since I was a child she'd still forgive me, but she said it was unacceptable.

Hiroto: Maybe your face showed that you had an ulterior motive?

Saga: No, it wasn't like that at all. Even so, she had a really disgusted face on, I was shocked. Perhaps I had a considerably perverted face on.



☆ A place you want to go to from hereafter

Tora: I want to go to Egypt. I really like "Indiana Jones", so I'd like to go and search for treasure one day.

Nao: I would like to visit my old school in Hokkaido. If I were to give you a reason as to why, it's because I still haven't received my certificate of graduation! At that time of the graduation ceremony, I had an exam, later when I went to go get my certificate the principal said to me "Having red hair is no good".

Shou: I would like to go to England. Although I think this is what posers do, I like punk fashion. Also, I would like to try going to Angkor Wat and such to learn about cultural heritage. As a start, I would like to do something like Hiroto-kun does and go somewhere on a whim.

Hiroto: If I had a holiday for a month, I would like to move around from place to place in Europe. I like World Heritage Sites and historic ruins, so I would like to try and go seeing those. I record the TV program called "World Heritage", but even the video tape is full of nothing but the good from the TV's sponsors, I liked that show (laughs)

Saga: I don't really have any places on Earth that I would like to go to. I like Gundam, so I would like to go on a trip to outer space. I'd like to wear a mobile suit and fly in outer space.





1 Traditional Japanese meals, with rice + side dishes
2 The equivalent to "thud" of a heart
3 1603 - 1868
4 An old story of how there was a young boy floating down the river in a peach
5 A bath for both genders