Royz Subaru Rock and Read 047 (English Translation)
Magazine: Rock&Read 047
Release Date: April 2013
Type of Interview: Personal Interview
Translator & Photos: VerwelktesGedicht for Royz-yade
Note: Subaru did talk about his rebellious youth already at lives held in his hometown but for everyone who couldn’t go to those lives… here you can finally read an interview about it! If you’re a Subaru fan then I really recommend this interview! But also for Royz fans in general because it gives a deeper understanding of Subaru’s lyrics and also gives you some insight about Subaru joining Royz.
Please also note that this interview is from 2013, so a couple of things weren’t known that well back then, for example facts about his twin brother. Have fun!
And if you really want to translate it into another language based on this, please post a link to this original English translation. Thank you!
– Subaru-san, you were born and raised in the Kansai-region?
Yes. I was born in Nara. The house of my mother’s family is still in Nara. After that I lived in Osaka but only until I was 1 or 2 years old, so I don’t have any memory about this but when I was in High School I lived in Osaka again for a bit. We moved to Katsura, Kyoto, but because it was just a regular housing area, there were so many mansions.
– Like a place made only for living and nothing else?
I wouldn’t go so far to say that but… No, now that I think about it it was like that (bitter laugh)
– Is your memory not clear about that?
No (laughs), I have photos, so I remember what it was like. There is a photo… Ah, I have a twin brother.
– Really!?
Yes. We’re identical twins, so our face is also pretty much the same. There’s still a picture at my parents’ house on which we’re quite young, holding an insect box and the stuff we need to catch them. It makes me think: “There were also times when we were cute like that…” (laughs) When we were young we were always together. We had a bunk bed but we used to sleep together in the bottom bunk (laughs)
– Subaru-san, you are the older brother?
Yes. I have my younger twin and an older sister as well as father and mother. That’s our family.
– I wonder what it was like to go to the same school as twins.
We went to elementary and middle school together. Many people compared us to each other.
– Sorry, I’m comparing you now… Who of you was better in studying?
It was me. My brother hated studying. I didn’t think it’s interesting but I somehow did it. I also went to a Juku [=tutoring school almost every pupil in Japan goes to for further study]. Before I could enter college I started my band but my brother really gave his best for the entrance exams for college.
– How about sports?
That was also me. I love sports. When I was a child I wanted to become a baseball player. Together with my brother we went to the entry test of the baseball “little league” where people are aiming at becoming professional baseball players. Unfortunately both of us failed (laughs).
– So, you were good at studying and sports and were also popular in school?
You may call it “popular” – or you call it “loud” (bitter laugh). I think I was sticking out. I’m someone sticking out by nature [note: what he might mean is him being a half, so it’s literally by nature]. Also, we moved to Shiga in the end of my 6th year of elementary school [about 12 years old]. For the three years in middle school I played soccer. For our school festival I was in a band. It wasn’t anything official but it was the first concert in my life. We played BUMP OF A CHICKEN’s “planetarium” but back then I played the drums.
– Not even guitar? (laughs)
It was impossible for me to play the guitar (laughs). My girlfriend from that time played the drums, so I wanted to play it too! I decided it right away and really begged my parents a lot. I got drum lessons on an electrical drum set. Without understanding anything. (laughs)
– You didn’t listen to Visual Kei songs back then yet?
I did. I started being interested in it in my 1st year of middle school [about 13 years old]. Chakuutafuru [note: a site where you could download songs] was popular back then and I thought I want to get to know songs other people don’t know and searched for it and it made me think: „This is SO cool!“ But when I showed it to my friends they said: “They should stop wearing all that make up.” I thought it would be nice if a person close to me would like it too, so I showed it to my brother but he disliked it (bitter laugh). That was a shock for me. I didn’t tell my parents. I bought magazines but I hid them. But even though I hid it from my friends I did like it and listen to it all the time. At that time I was a light-hearted, fun child but after that I entered my teenage rebellion and all that fell apart all of a sudden. Even my parents are telling me “We’re so glad you are over that.”.
