Video clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p64BM9JhdBQ
(embedding disabled by uploader)
A pretty short video clip requested by @satanya1666 I believe this is the premium corner before the main NicoViju show? Eh, sorry but I have no idea who the other band is m(><)m I haven’t been keeping up with Vkei for a number of years now......
Hoshino (the host) started this telling the members who appeared in NicoViju for the first time to introduce themselves. In other words, the three members in the middle, besides yo-ka and Shoya from Diaura. I hope I got their names right...
The (new) members started introducing themselves anti-clockwise
Question: April is ending, seasons are changing, are there anything you want to try doing this spring? Anything you want to overcome.
Hoshino: Face the camera and tell us. If you don’t want to talk about that (the above question), it’s fine to just have a random conversation
yo-ka: Let’s start off with the 3 guys who appeared in this show for the first time
Kuro(? the one with black hair): I normally travel around by car a lot. When it gets warmer, I would like to ride my bicycle or walk around with my bike and get healthier
Hoshino: I see, so you would like to go around in your bike. So you have a bike?
Kuro: I don’t
Hoshino: then you start by buying one
Kuro: well recently crossbikes and roadbikes are popular
Hoshino: Yeah like the ones in Yowamushi Pedal (anime/manga)
Kuro: So I thought I’ll buy one and cycle in the city [he mentioned oshanti? ochanti? no idea what that is]
Hoshino: I believe that might be expensive. But since you have wonderful senpais around you...
yo-ka: the lemon one right [Rei no? Leno? again i have no idea…]
Hoshino: as long as it can be cycled ne
Kuro: Yes, yo-ka-san will buy that for me
yo-ka: Okay, that one
Moving on…
Akane (?purple hair): let’s see…
Hoshino: The position you are sitting is kind of weird…
Akane: Something I want to overcome…hay fever
Hoshino: I see…it would be good if that is something you can control
Akane: I was thinking of searching up what hay fever is first, and then think of a way to battle it
Hoshino: so you know the problem is hay fever
Akane: Yes. Probably.
Hoshino: So you will go to a doctor….
Akane: Yes, a doctor, get a patch
Hoshino: and find out…So is hay fever a serious trouble for you during the season?
Akane: Yeah…it will be trickling down
Hoshino: trickling down? Your running nose? that is quite a problem for a visual kei artist ne
Kuro: During the lives and all
Hoshino: Your nose runs even during lives?
Akane: Yeah. Everyone might think I’m dripping sweat, but it’s might be my nose
Hoshino: Since you said it out, other people might think that way from now. So you will be trying to overcome that this spring. Moving on, Hana-san (?)
Hana (red hair): For some reason, last year I received a lot of English conversation books…
Hoshino: English conversation books…why?
Hana: I wonder…last year’s birthday, our bassist gave me a book on English words that can’t be used in daily conversation. So I thought I’ll study this year
Hoshino: Study the books with words that can be used?
Hana: Doesn’t matter I guess. As long as I can study english. And then I’d like to go overseas
Hoshino: Ah yeah, there are many fans waiting overseas ne. So since you already have the books, please say something in English, since there are fans watching this from overseas.
Hana: By the way!
Hoshino: By the way…so what does that mean?
Hana: Like…the middle of a road? [not really lol]
Hoshino: I see. by the way!
Hana: I’m not sure lol
Hoshino: I see…so you will be learning english here and there. Next, yo-ka-san
yo-ka: I often get asked this question and I’ll have different answers. The easiest one that can be done is….I often go eat yakiniku and I will often barbecue different meats. This year, I thought I will barbecue vegetables as well.
Hoshino: What!? [strong hints of sarcasm] You are going to challenge that? You just announced that to the camera, are you sure?
yo-ka: I used to cook bell peppers…this year I thought I’ll cook spring onions
Hoshino: You’re gonna cook spring onions?
yo-ka: Yep spring onions…and maybe even cabbages
Hoshino: Even cabbages…I’m starting to get goosebumps here
yo-ka: So yes, I will barbecue cabbages
Hoshino: Okay you announced that ne. So definitely do that challenge, like maybe put that on your blog or something but please do that!
yo-ka: Yes, I’ll go, “I’m gonna bbq you bastard!”
Hoshino: I am so looking forward to this I can’t wait. thank you for announcing your shocking challenge. Alright shoya-san
Shoya: On the contrary…
Hoshino: On the contrary? …I’m getting scared
Shoya: Recently I’m a little tired of yakiniku. I’ve been in Diaura for 5 years now. When I think of meat, I’ll go *uweh puke*
Hoshino: Because everyone likes meat so you often join them for yakiniku
Shoya: Kalbi (marinated ribs) are really oily so I’ll go *puke sound* and I end up only wanting to eat vegetables...so on the contrary this spring I’ll eat more meat.
Hoshino: Ehhh? Ahh, this has become really complicated. One is gonna barbecue meat the other is…this is really complicated…Right now I’m in panic state I might collapse. what should I do? I wonder if I can do this…but putting myself together, let’s look forward to the main show. Thank you for your announcements~
[VidTranslations] Diaura in Tokimeki VisuNight [2014.12.02]
I’m getting a number of video translations requests so I’m working slowly through them... ._. Unfortunately I don’t have time to do subs since the videos are pretty long and I’m working on a lot of non-Jrock stuff... However if you want to make subs for them, feel free to use my translation as a base, or if you need my help in editing/proofreading subs, feel free to send me a file. Those I can do way faster ^_^;;a
Here is a request from @satanya1666
Note that I tend to mash up/summarize translations. They do not necessarily follow the audio perfectly. Also they are pretty rough translations since I don’t translate them closely line by line ><
[ ] <--- my random notes/comments
[They didn’t do much special self-introductions so I’m gonna skip translating that ^^a;;;]
[I’m going straight into the questions and answers section:]
Question from fan: In Triangle’s lyrics booklet, it wrote: Lyrics, Initial Writing [Not too sure on this one] -by yo-ka, Song Composition by Kei. What is the difference?
Answer:
yo-ka: It is exactly as written. The initial writing [senbitsu? let me know if you know the term used] basically refers to the melody. Writing the melody is my job. I’m usually the one who writes the melody and lyrics. And the song that is attached to the melody is written by Kei-san.
Hoshino [Host]: In other words, first, yo-ka-san thinks of the melody and then (Kei) puts it into a certain form…
yo-ka: No, Kei-san’s song comes first. Usually, writing a song means composing the melody and the song arrangements at the same time, but within Diaura, it is a little different. In regards to writing songs, the two of us work together.
Hoshino: Wait a minute, for the first time this show is actually starting to sound like a real music program!! Until now we barely talked about music! That was really fun!! But yeah, we don’t talk a lot about music here.
Hoshino: Alright, Tatsuya-san, please try talking to the viewers.
Tatsuya: Alright….eh really? I’m supposed to ask them something? Well then, to the viewers right now, please comment on where you are from. Example, from (…)prefecture etc etc!
Hoshino: Here it comes! So Tatsuya-san, if you find a place that you are curious out…or like you want to go to this place or something.
Tatsuya: Ah I see…Urm, I wonder if there is anyone from Okinawa?
Hoshino: Hmm? you’re telling them?
yo-ka: California! lol
[...and from many other countries and places all over the world. and Singapore as well :DDD]
Hoshino: How about Shoya-san, ask something too.
Shoya: I guess something music-related then. Among all the songs in Triangle, which song has the best bass lines?
Shoya: well right now the screen is completely blank lol.
Hoshino: So which song do you personally put in the most effort for the bass?
Shoya: I guess ID and Area. Those are reflected in the comments as well.
Hoshino: How about Kei-san, make a comment?
Kei: We did a performance at Asakasa Blitz the other day. I’m wondering who went and how they felt.
[I’m gonna skip to the next segment…]
Tokimeki-Resume (SHOW)!
[Here is what was written: (starting from the top left box—>top right—>bottom left—>bottom right—>rightmost box) The screen is kinda small so I can’t really see all the words clearly...]
Favorite motto
yo-ka: Everyday is dictatorship
Kei: Things will work out
Shoya: No meddling with our betters [dictionary translation…because how do I translate idioms? xD]
Tatsuya: Gratitude of calling out to me [another idiom, please hear Tatsuya’s explanation later on]
Special skills or qualifications
yo-ka: [I really can’t see the words…]
Kei: I can do mirror writing
Shoya: I don’t grow much body hair
Tatsuya: level 1 in Information Processing, level 2 in Bookkeeping
Story/Things I’m proud of
yo-ka: I’ve been on the news
Kei: I ran from Tokyo to Fukuoka
Shoya: I can do touch typing
Tatsuya: I can do the crawl, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. [swimming]
Revealing a secret
yo-ka: My height dropped
Kei: I don’t like sweet things
Shoya: My pinky toe nail is really tiny
Tatsuya: I said I don’t usually watch TV but recently as soon as I get home I switch on the TV
Recent thing you enjoyed
yo-ka: I went to an outlet mall for the first time
Kei: [I can’t see the words…]
Shoya: Kouhai band Grieva’s live
Tatsuya: [can’t see the words clearly, probably along the lines of fishing with Shoya]
Hoshino: This is amazing. First of all, Tatsuya-san, I can’t read your motto!
Tatsuya: It’s pronounced as 'Ichigon Houon’
Hoshino: Kei-san, do you understand the meaning?
Kei: Eh well…Isn’t it something good?
Hoshino: So what does it mean?
Tatsuya: It basically means not forgetting the gratitude of someone calling out/reaching out to you.
Hoshino: I see. It is a really good expression. So like how the viewers are commenting their feelings for the Asakasa Blitz show, their words are really important to you.
Tatsuya: Yes, so it’s like gratitude for everything that was given to me
Hoshino: I see. So you remember all the words spoken to you, among your skills and qualifications, you have a level 1 in information processing, so you are probably really good at processing information…write something everyone, he will process all that information!
Tatsuya: Yeah, I remember all the words that went past. [and he went on to ‘replying’ all the comments that went past]
Hoshino: Moving on…to Kei-san’s motto: Things will work out.
Kei: Even when you think things have gone bad, somehow it will work out on its own. Usually things will be okay.
Hoshino: And also your special ability is amazing. You can do mirror writing! Please write something!
Kei: Do you have two pens?
Hoshino: Ah? You write both at the same time?! What kind of words?
Kei: If I know the kanji, I can write it.
Tatsuya: Eh that sounds really difficult
Shoya: Why not just write ‘mirror’ [kagami - 鏡]
Kei: …how do you write the kanji for ‘kagami’? [LOL!]
Hoshino: I see. Since you don’t know the kanji for that…write something in the comments! Ah they wrote ‘kagami’ in the comments. So try writing ‘kagami’
yo-ka: But this is really amazing…
Tatsuya: Ohh! But the kanji is not right lol
Kei: Ah in that case I will write ‘dictatorship’ [dokusai - 独裁]
[That’s pretty amazing o.o Though it’s funny how he can’t write the kanji for mirror xD]
Kei: I thought this was something anyone can do. So in middle school I’ll write like that on the blackboard
yo-ka: In elementary school, I could only write mirror words. [really?] and I remember my teacher slamming the chalk on my table. I couldn’t write normal hiragana. They were all mirror images.
Hoshino: The teacher would have to use a mirror to read your words.
yo-ka: Yeah like this.
Hoshino: let’s look at yo-ka-san’s details. Your recent exciting moment. You went to an outlet mall for the first time! You’ve never been there before?
yo-ka: I haven’t. A while back, I had to go back home for something. My friend invited me to go to the outlet with him and so I did. It felt like a dream country. The place was basically a country.
Hoshino: Really. So i guess you went to a rather large mall.
yo-ka: But my friend said it was a rather small one.
Hoshino: It was small, but it felt like a country to you.
yo-ka: Yes. It felt like Disneyland to me.
Hoshino: Which part of it was fun?
yo-ka: Nah, it wasn’t that fun
Hoshino: What are you saying?
yo-ka: The shops were interesting. It felt like a merry place, like I’m not in Japan.
Hoshino: Because things were cheap there so you get all excited and all.
yo-ka: But we didn’t buy anything. The three of us who went.
Hoshino: How about food?
yo-ka: Food…we ate takoyaki
[skipped to Shoya’s part]
Hoshino: Shoya-san…your feminine traits are pretty high…First of all, your ‘skills’, you don’t grow much hair.
Shoya: Yeah, it might be hard to see but I really don’t have much hair…
Hoshino: Ah you don’t do any shaving or treatments
Shoya: I don’t.
Hoshino: What’s more, your ‘secret’. It says that you have a very tiny pinky toe nail. It really sounds like you are a girl.
Shoya: But really, I only have this little.
Hoshino: If you are not careful you might lose it lol.
Hoshino: Let’s see what else…Ah! I found another amazing thing about Tatsuya. Something you are proud of. You can swim the crawl, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly!
Tatsuya: Ah that’s right. Recently I got hooked on pools. On the day before the live at Akasaka Blitz, I went to the pool and did a lot of breaststroke. I like swimming breaststroke, and I swam so much that now my bones kind of hurt.
Tatsuya: I talked with yo-chan and it seems he swam when he was little as well
Hoshino: So the two of you went together?
[and then I don’t understand what yo-ka said]
Hoshino: Which stroke are you best at?
yo-ka: I’m best at the crawl
Hoshino: Ah, crawl. And [tatsuya] you are best at breaststroke. How about Shoya-san?
Shoya: I took swimming lessons before as well. I learnt up to butterfly too.
Hoshino: Ohh, the three of you can do a medley then!
yo-ka: The butterfly stroke is pretty high level. I couldn’t do the butterfly.
Hoshino: Did you just start swimming?
Tatsuya: Ah no, I learnt swimming when I was young
Hoshino: You were the only one not participating in this. Kei-san do you swim?
Kei: Eh if it’s diving I can do it…I’ve never learnt swimming…so I just go straight like that.
Tatsuya: Straight for 25 meters
Hoshino: And then the ‘what you are proud of’ section. Yo-ka-san you appeared on the news?
yo-ka: Yeah, it happened during my school days. Well there was this…I guess a competition? And my team won first place in the nationals. And there was a public commendation. However even though I was a team mate, I was not informed of it. At that time I didn’t realize it. I did not realize that I wasn’t informed of a public commendation for something I had won.
Hoshino: Why?
yo-ka: Well I just spaced out.
Hoshino: You weren’t listening back then
yo-ka: Just the other day, my parents told me. “You were on the news. The fact that you weren’t present at the public commendation became a news topic. And it seemed that everyone in school held a protest”. So apparently I was on the news, but I had no clue about it. I only knew about this after becoming an adult
Hoshino: and what’s more just recently?
yo-ka: Yeah, after they showed me the news article.
Hoshino: and you were on it
yo-ka: I was. I was surprised. I didn’t know such a thing happened around me.
Hoshino: What kind of competition was that?
yo-ka: It was a speaking kind of competition. I went to Tokyo for the competition and won.
Hoshino: And it was a team competition?
yo-ka: Yeah. Around 4 per team. Like a band.
Tatsuya: So it’s like 4 versus 4?
yo-ka: yeah. like a debate. Something like that happened, but I wasn’t recognized for it. But I am glad that people covered up for me.
[skipping ahead, after the song]
[Hoshino asks Shoya to say the comments that viewers wrote and he did]
[Hoshino read a letter from a fan, in summary, the fan is celebrating his/her birthday that day and hope to hear some words of congrats from them. yo-ka did a farce on how he wasn’t gonna do that for an individual but he did anyway xD]
[the next segment is about the photos they took]
[first photo]
yo-ka: This one is mine. There is a fanclub activity in Diaura called GuminTou[?Tou as in photography?]. In the series, there was one called yo-ka-sanpo Takao-version [? I’m guessing a photobook]. [Takao is the name of a mountain]
Hoshino: So this was a recent event?
yo-ka: That’s right. but it was around the end of summer. It would be kind of lonely to climb the mountain alone, so I took a junior band, Gossip’s vocalist Saku along.
Hoshino: Can you show us the picture again? What scene was this?
yo-ka: This…I was looking out to the city of Hachioji…and Saku was sort of interrupting…
Hoshino: So who took the photo?
yo-ka: It was taken by a staff member from Ains.
Hoshino: And so this photo is not in the photobook.
yo-ka: yeah since Saku photobombed.
Hoshino: So he often does that? quite a mischievous one lol
yo-ka: yeah he is
Hoshino: You guys are on good terms then
yo-ka: yep. Anyway we are in the middle of producing the photobook.
Hoshino: So no one has yet to see the photos of Takao-san.
yo-ka: Yeah, even though this photo shown was taken at the end of summer, the ones we are distributing to every one is gonna be a winter version.
Hoshino: And so one of the photos that is not in the book is shown here. So what kind of photos are going to be in the photobook?
yo-ka: like the ones where I was eating dango.
Hoshino: Was climbing Takao-san fun?
yo-ka: It was! The cable car was amazing. It was really steep.
Hoshino: In other words, you didn’t really climb. You took the cable car. Which one was more fun? The outlet mall or Takao-san?
yo-ka: Takao-san!
Hoshino: Even though you said the outlet mall was like a different country…
yo-ka: well since I am a country boy, mountains are great. Next I’d like to go to Fuji-san.
Hoshino: that is a difficult one all of a sudden
[second photo]
Kei: This one is mine. This is hookah. This was taken in a shop.
Hoshino: A hookah lounge
Kei: I have a small one like that at home as well, but that was the one in the shop. I didn’t release this picture anywhere…It might seem as if I am putting on airs so I didn’t
[skipping some lines]
Hoshino: What flavor was that?
Kei: There are various. I had melon. There is the watermelon flavor as well. There are different flavors and you can mix them together.
Hoshino: Do you have a recommended mix?
Kei: Personally I like pineapple…and there is a Cola flavor.
Hoshino: So no one knows that Kei-san likes hookah
Kei: Ah they do. It’s just that I don’t tell people that I go to hookah lounges.
Hoshino: I don’t really get the difference but moving on, one last photo!
[last photo was from Shoya]
Shoya: Recently I got hooked on fishing black bass, so I went to a dam in Chiba. Around 2 to 3 hours car ride.
Hoshino: What do you fish?
Shoya: Black bass. Tatsuya went with me the other day.
Tatsuya: I did! It was really fun.
Hoshino: Ah, come to think of it, I didn’t read it out just now but you wrote in the ‘resume’ that you were excited about going to a fishing shop with Shoya.
Tatsuya: That’s right. Before we went to the fishing spot, we went to the fishing store to get the necessary items. You reeled in around 3 fishes?
Shoya: Yeah I managed to catch 3 fishes.
Hoshino: But the peak for Tatsuya was at the fishing store
Tatsuya: yeah lol…because it was exciting there.
Hoshino: But the fishing activity itself wasnt so…
Tatsuya: No it was fun as well
Hoshino: What is so interesting about fishing?
Shoya: I wonder. It is kind of a ‘romantic thing’ for men? [I forgot if there was an English term for otoko no roman…?] On TV they have the show Maguro Ryoshi [Tuna fishermen] I really liked that. So it’s like a guy’s thing.
This is a really short video, request from @gumin7 so here it is. I don’t know how to isolate the video otherwise I would have made subs for it since it’s pretty short lol. But if you have a video of it, I can try make subs for it. For now, a brief translation:
I’m having a lot of trouble trying to embed this...so this is the link instead...
Qn1: A lot of time needed for makeup and costumes!!?
Interviewer: When did you come in for today’s interview? For the make up, shoot and all.
Kei: Morning around 7am
I: Now it’s 1220pm...So early!!
Kei: Usually each person needs about an hour...so that’s our estimates
I: one hour for each member?
Kei: Yeah. So each person takes about an hour to get ready
I: So do you do janken to decide who goes first and all?
Kei: We do exactly that. yeah janken...
I: really...
yo-ka: especially for early appearances, we will use janken to decide the order
I: so how about, you decide on the order for preparation for your next early appearance here?
yo-ka: ah good idea
I: what do you think everyone? Decide on your order for the next early appearance here. In this case, the person who win goes last, and the person who loses goes first.
(Tatsuya loses so he goes first)
Tatsuya: yeah I’m first~ I was the last for today. So i’m first for the next~
yo-ka: It’s perfect, see, first, second, third, fourth~
I: Eh? This seems so scripted though...That’s a nice order there. Well it can be sort of a miracle. So nope, this was not scripted and all alright~
Qn2: Favorite Karaoke songs
I: Do you go for karaoke everyone?
shoya: I often go with Tatsuya. After drinking, we will head out for karaoke. The both of us would always sing Sorimachi Takashi’s Poison. Everyone knows that song. There’s no one that doesn’t. We usually get high singing that.
I: Do you duet?
Tatsuya: Usually the flow goes like this. Shoya will start singing, holding the mic. Once the A melody starts, I will snatch his mic and I will start singing
I: That is a perfect evidence of having drunk [alcohol]
Qn3: Unique relationship with fans
yo-ka: As the vocalist, I’m known as the master. We have a song called Master too. Sometimes I’ll ask the gumins, “Who is your master!?” and then they will call my name. So we have such a wonderful relationship with fans.
I: So you ask, who is your master!?. How would they answer?
yo-ka: yo-ka
I: So That’s Me! That’s Me! Of course I guess you don’t say it in English, and you probably don’t use this hand sign. Ah but I would want to see that
I really gotta apologize @nika24u for taking such a long time with all my translations T___T Anyway, here it is. Dadaroma is a very new band for me (actually any bands later than 2011 would be considered new to me lol) so this was a pretty interesting interview. Yoshiatsu kind of talks like a kid sometimes (well I’m guessing he’s pretty young anw) and I get the feeling he is also pretty talented (just by reading the interview, havent listened to them yet). In any case, among the vocalists’ interviews I’ve translated so far, his was the easiest. (THANK YOU! XD)
R&R Vol 63 Dadaroma Yoshiatsu
[ ] <--- my comments/notes ( ) <--- what’s in the interview
So your hometown is in Fukushima Prefecture.
That’s right. Fukushima city in Fukushima Prefecture.
What kind of child were you?
I loved going on adventures. I would pick up a metal rod nearby, head into the mountains or forests and make a cave in a cliff-like area.
Do you get lost in the mountains?
I do quite often (laughs). I would go deeper and deeper into the forests, then it would get darker, and that’s when I realized, Crap! I gotta get back!, but the forests were quite vast. My feet would get caught at the trees, and I’ll be half-crying while finding my way back and all.
That is pretty scary (laughs).
Even now I’m like that, I would head right into somewhere without thinking much, and before realizing it, I would be utterly lost.
Yeah. But that’s nice, being surrounded by nature.
When I was young I was forced to learn the piano but I definitely preferred playing outside.
When did you start learning the piano?
I don’t really remember, but I think when I was 1 to 2. [me: what?!] I learned it with my younger sister, but I really hated piano recitals. I would be surrounded by my parents, then I had to step out on my own and perform a piece, I would get so scared and couldn’t move and would make a scene for about 5 minutes. At that time I was quite afraid of standing in front of people (laughs)
And now you are a vocalist (laughs). Do you practice earnestly? [for piano]
Yes. But I also hated it. As the day for the recital approached I would cry and make a fuss about wanting to quit, but my mother would go, “You can quit, but only the recital”. She’d say, “If not you will always be trying to escape things”. However even after the recital, I would somehow manage to continue; when I entered middle school, I stopped because of curricular activities in school. My younger sister quit around the same time, and went on to doing hip-hop dance instead.
Ohh!
At one time, she asked, “Do you want to try dancing too?”, but for some reason I didn’t. If I started dance that time, I might have ended up following that path.
Yeah you might have ended up in that cycle. But with piano and dance, your family is quite music-oriented isn’t it?
Yeah. My parents are divorced but I’m on good terms with my dad and we are still in contact. He was originally a band man too. As a bassist. Now he is a government worker, but when I asked him on the details, it seemed that he lived the same life as I am.
That is quite amazing.
When a PV gets uploaded, he is always the fastest to give me a response. He’d go, “I saw your PV!” And, “To be better you can do this and that” and so on, even though I don’t reply to him much, he would be sending me mails like that one-side (laughs). I guess he is supporting me that way.
So he is a passionate listener as well as a mentor (laughs). Your mother is into music too?
My mother has always been playing the piano and works in a kindergarten, and it seemed that she would perform there and all. We are a family that dabbles in music, so I feel that it is inevitable that I got interested in bands.
Indeed. At home are there always music turned on?
Yeah. My father likes jazz and rock, my mother likes classical music, so their musical tastes don’t really match up (laughs)
Hahahaha. You mentioned earlier you stopped playing the piano because of activities in middle school, what were they?
I was in the tennis club, as the vice president. I was intent on tennis those 3 years. It was nothing to be proud of but since middle school, I was the only one who dyed my hair brown, and they got really mad at me. For some reason, I just want to do something rockish like that
And so you decided to try out bands?
I did want to but there was not a single person around me that wanted to be in a band. I thought I would be able to find such a person after entering high school, so for the time being I was only listening to music. That time I wanted to form a band like Mr Children. But now I’m in this (laughs).
But you already wanted to play music since then.
Since I was basically forced to learn the piano, I don’t really like it, but as a kid it seemed that I would just create random original songs. Because of the piano, I do have somewhat of a music sense, and be able to understand harmonies right away, and I would be able to play the anime theme songs I hear on TV right away. My parents would be impressed, “Aren’t you amazing”they said, so I simply thought maybe that is my forte. Gradually I thought perhaps band is the thing for me.
And the starting point being?
During my time, Bump of Chicken was popular. Rather than JPop, I would be more taken in by music that are passionately conveyed through shouts and growls. And so I wanted to be in a band.
Did you manage to form a band in high school?
I did. For starters, I thought I’ll play an instrument after entering high school, but since I had no money, I only have the drums that are in school.
Ah, I see. In the music room
Yep. I realized that the brass club have drums. I, with dyed brown hair, would go to such a brass club that has no other flashy people like me and play the piano (laughs). Every day after class I would practice earnestly on the drums. When some of my seniors heard about that, they asked, “We are doing a live, do you wanna play the drums?” and that was my first live.
So your first role in a band was the drummer.
That’s right.
How was the first live?
As you can imagine, for a high school live, all the audience are your classmates. So they would all go “Woooh” for the sake of it. I remembered it being a really fun live.
You didn’t get the “this was so bad….” feeling?
We were playing songs by Sum 41 and Ellegarden so they were pretty easy songs, hence the live was simply fun. In the midst of continuing all that, people liking visual-kei started gathering around me. “Listen to this” they would say, and what they lent me was Dir En Grey. When I listened to it, I was like, “What is this!?”
Before that, you had no idea?
I didn’t. I had no conceptual idea about visual-kei or make up. And then I listened to the CD and watched live videos, and those had a strong impact on me. I thought, “I want to do this!” and so formed a visual kei band.
Did you continue playing the drums?
I did for around 1 to 2 years. In the end, because of university choices, that band ended, I myself took the exam for a beauty school and passed. After that, everyone went about their own paths…On the night before the school entrance ceremony, just as I was about to sleep, I laid on the futon. I was casually thinking, “I’m gonna be a beautician starting tomorrow huh…is that really alright?” Then, “No, I still want to be in a band!”, in the end, I didn’t attend the entrance ceremony and headed straight for Tokyo.
Eh?
That was my ultimate lack of filial piety (laughs). It seemed that my seat was the only empty seat during the beauty school’s entrance ceremony. My parent were really mad at me, saying “Don’t ever come back again!”, but I thought that’s fine. I had 1 or 2 friends in Tokyo so I thought I’ll just go for starters.
That is indeed your case of being reckless ne.
It’s the same as the forests (laughs). I enter first before thinking.
What did you do after going to Tokyo?
I had a senpai in Tokyo, who was in the band since1889. He let me stay at his place and took me to various places. And then one day, suddenly their guitarist left…since1889 was my favorite ever band. So I pleaded, “Please let me in as the guitarist!”
You could play the guitar too?
I had never played before.
Seriously!?
My senpai too was saying, “What are you talking about?”, but I replied, “I’ll practice like crazy so please have faith in my fiery passion and let me in!”. And then he replied, “I’ll think about it if you can play all our songs by that day”. And so I borrowed a guitar and practiced earnestly until the day of that ‘exam’. And I got the feedback, “you’re pretty decent at it!”
How long was it until that ‘exam’ day?
I think it was about a week. Because I love them, of course I’d know all the songs; luckily their songs were metal style, rather than chords, they are backed more by the 5,6 strings [plucking], so it was a rather smooth process. Hence, my first role in a band in Tokyo was the guitarist. Even though I had never done it before (laughs).
But it’s amazing that you managed to get into a band you love.
For me, it felt like a huge success.
What did you like about the band?
Everything. I coincidentally went to see them when they came on a tour to Fukushima, from the first song, I was like, “what is this?!”. The band is cool, their songs are cool too. The biggest impact was the presence of the vocalist. Even now I still respect that person a lot; when I watched his live, it was the same impact as when I listened to Dir En Grey. After that, I earnestly chased after them. After since1889 disbanded, there are people who asked if I want to join them as their guitarist, and so I did go to the studio, but as expected, I couldn’t find someone who could surpass that [vocalist]’s presence. I was like, “I’m very sorry but the vocalist is a little weak and all…” and I would raise the hurdle like that.
Even though you are the guitarist and a newbie (laughs)
Hahahahaha. Even though I couldn’t play at all, I was like “Can’t do with this vocalist”. However at that time, I was told, “in that case, you be the vocalist”. After that, I formed a session band with them and became a vocalist for the first time.
In other words, until now, bass is the only instrument you haven’t tried.
In high school, I had played around with it, but it was kind of tiring (laughs). It was heavy and I don’t have strong grip power
Even then your father was a bassist wasn’t he?
No, my father was huge. I’m like my mother who is small, and that can get a little difficult for me. I feel that our Tomo-chan is really amazing. Since he can swing it about freely.
Indeed (laughs). So that is how you started being a vocalist.
So following on, from the session band, my companions increased, and the band that was formed was Crazy shampoo. That band has no fixations on technique or performance abilities, all they want is to find people whom they can get along with and have fun doing stuff. So it was a bunch of that kind of people gathered around and they can’t play instruments at all (laughs).
It was all just fun.
Yep. It was really fun. We are always sticking together, even now we would meet and have fun, but in the end, we were saying, “Aren’t we better off not being a band?”. Rather than continuing until we get tired of it and start getting on bad terms with one another, it’s better to just end it right there. But I don’t feel satisfied with that. It’s not that we were never properly a band, but I wanted to be in a real band once again and so I started searching for members.
And that was how Dadaroma started.
The people that I took notice of when I was in my previous band are the current members. However I didn’t have their contact information, so I sent a DM over on twitter to the drummer Yuu-chan, and then asked someone else to pass the message to bassist Tomo-chan. The guitarist Takashi-chan is Yuu-chan’s acquaintance but he is also a really good songwriter. All of a sudden he would send tens of song data over to me, when I heard them, I can’t imagine anyone else besides him. And then the four of us went to the studio and everyone’s performance skills were so superb that I thought, “This is the one!”. Hence I thought I want to do this with vigor and this time it might be good.
Indeed that is amazing.
I often get told “Yoshiatsu is someone where no matter what happens, the people around you will always help you and somehow unknowingly follow after you, and without realizing it, everything will seem to go smoothly”. If everything goes too smoothly, it can also be scary.
Has it been like this since you were a child?
It might have been. Whatever that I wanted to do, somehow I would start doing it. It will be good if things continue the way it is….
Let’s continue this way (laughs). How do you write your songs usually?
I wanted the band to be one with no boundaries, and be able to say anything it wants, do anything it wants. Takashi-chan can write a really wide breadth of songs so I think the songs he writes are corresponded to my willfulness, where I'd say, I want to do this kind of songs and all. In fact, when I asked, “I actually want to do it this way, do you think it’s alright?”, he’d always go, “OK!” just like that. Because I always do whatever I want to do and say whatever I want to say, someone else is working hard for my sake, I just realized this while talking about it (laughs).
When you actually talk about things, you do realize things.
Indeed. Thinking about it, I realize people are willing to do things for me. I’m really grateful.
In terms of pronunciation , I feel that the band name Dadaroma is one that easily comes out.
For the band name, there was no meaning to it at all. Actually at first, I wanted to be DADAMORA.
Dadamora?
Yeah. But the rest of the three said, “I don’t like it”. I was like, WHY!? it’s DADAMORA you know! And then I used an oil-based pen and wrote it down. “Look at the word form! Seee!” but it didn’t catch on. “Fine, then how about DADAROMA?” and somehow I got the reply, “Ah that is fine!” (laughs)
[Dadamora: probably a word play from dadamore which means excessive leaking of fluids, information or videos etc etc. Easier to understand if you just google dadamore. You might find some language explanation]
I see, so there was such a story (laughs). I’ve listened to Oboreru Sakana, and I felt a strong sense of nothingness….But listening to your talks, I get the feeling that Yoshiatsu-san is actually a really hot-blooded person.
I wonder….People around me tells me I am a passionate guy. But maybe it’s exactly that reason that….Dadaroma’s lyrics have a lot of libel/criticizing in them. Like complaining over things, or not being able to accept some things and all. For instance, when I watch TV or the news, there are things that will make me feel, “Wait, that’s not right?” and I will feel like stopping it. I don’t know if it got to do with me being hot-blooded or anything, I can’t hold myself in. And perhaps that comes out in my lyrics.
So the basis of that song is not so much of nothingness but anger?
Not to the extent of anger though…..It’s more of sadness. For instance, there are people who simply can’t get things to go smoothly, and even though they know things can’t continue the way it is, they end up slowly slipping away and falling into the abyss, when I see people like that, I feel sorry for them, like you are actually a good person, you aren’t wrong in any way but…Ame no Waltz was a song born from such sentiments. I wrote lyrics along the lines of, “You should haven been better evaluated, you should have been happy.” This might not be the best way to put it, but I feel pitiful for them.
This seems to be the case of two sides of the same coin, because you are hot-blooded, you have a colder side as well.
That might be true. When I write lyrics, rather than thinking in terms of symmetry, I think more about contrasts instead.
Do you think that way consciously?
Probably unconsciously, where my views sort of end up getting mixed into the views of someone who is the exact opposite of me. It’s not the same as saying irresponsibly, “you are not alone”, it’s more of, “I think the same way sometimes, so I believe difficult times such as that occur too, but I don’t think you are in the wrong”. If it’s not expressed like that, I feel it like a lie. I’ll think, you are definitely lying. Maybe this is not the best thing to say, but in the lyrics of many visual kei songs, there are often lines that say, “I’ll love only you” or “I’ll always be thinking of only you”….I’ll think, you are definitely lying right? (laughs). I dislike smooth lyrics like that. That is why I focused on lyrics that has a deeper message in them. I don’t write lies. In the calm tension of telling you, “I think it’s alright”, I’ll sing the songs with passion.
That does seem like a good balance ne.
Until now, everything seems to be a happy smooth ride, but it was because of various things that happened that fixed the current state. So rather than irresponsibly poking too much into matters, I want to watch over at the side. It is important to have such a distance between people. For instance, being willing to leave someone to do as he pleases because you trust him, or in a good sense, uphold the principle of laissez-faire. I guess that point of view and my current relationships with band members are reflected in my lyrics.
In that case, if the current sense of distance is not you have described, you want to grasp that distance sense and that’s why things are the way they are?
Yes.
How did you come to think that way? It doesn’t seem to be the result of happy stuff.
Simply put, probably my love stories till now I guess. Because I’m really selfish….(laughs) To put it in rather childish terms, I’m the type to restrain someone a lot. But because of that, relationships end up breaking apart. When I think about why I do the things I do, I figured it may be because I don’t really trust others. Hence I shifted gears to stop restraining people, and rather than not saying willful things, I decided to trust people more. Hence that’s how things become what it is now.
I see.
I’m the same towards the fans, in a good sense, i trust everyone. For instance, there are some obvious rules in visual kei concerts, even if some people break them, I trust that you guys [the fans] won’t do it. That is why, recently I start throwing my costumes at the audience (laughs).
Ohh
Things simply got really fun, so I thought, I don’t care about the costumes! and I’ll end up throwing them. After a while, when I looked down at the stage platform, I found my tops returned to me (laughs)
Ehhhh?
I really felt that our fans are amazing. If I go see a band I love, and their tops come flying to me, I’ll think, I can take it home!, but for our fans, they feel bad receiving them and end up returning them, I really thought that is amazing. This kind of trust is built among the members well. People who are supposed to write songs write songs, people who are supposed to write lyrics write lyrics, and other members don’t interfere. Because there is trust among members, that is how this relationship can form. Even though we haven’t even been together for a year, I am thankful that we can have this bond.
Indeed, while listening, I was thinking it is pretty quick that you can come to this point.
We have many recording and PV shooting sessions, and the pace was faster than what we all imagined so we are together almost every day. So we fought a lot as well, and then we start understanding the kind of person each member is and consequently able to build trust among one another. Even though the times we are together are short but those were rich times. Maybe that’s why we were able to bond so quickly.
You will be holding your one anniversary oneman live soon in Shinjuku Blaze, what do you want to be in the near future?
Right now we simply want to continuing doing what we think is cool in real time, so whether in a good way or bad way, we don’t have an ideal structure. However, I want to always continue doing what we want to do at that point in time no matter what others tell us. I get the feeling that is a stance we should not waver from. Rather than asking ourselves what kind of band we want to be, I want to be the band that knows we are cool just by being in this band.
I see. Final question, why did you choose to do the photo shoot in Ikebukuro?
I came to Tokyo without much thought, so my starting point can be said to be Ikebukuro. The shoot was done near the path a short walking distance from the south gate of the train station, that was actually the same route I took when going home in the past. Also band rehearsals and the places where my senpai took me out for meals are also in Ikebukuro, my first one man live in Tokyo was also in Ikebukuro. I guess this is a memorable place for me.
So there is no like or dislike to this place.
It is a place where I feel calm I guess. I have the impression that Shinjuku and Shibuya are scary places (laughs). Ikebukuro is the place where I wandered around when I was still a minor, so I know about the security around the area well enough to feel safe. Well, sometimes there are strange people around as well.
That means there are scary people as well though (laughs)
Well, I’m a guy (laughs)
Indeed (laughs). However, you coming to Tokyo out of the blue, if your senpai wasn’t here, if there is no place like Ikebukuro, you would probably be in a really bad position.
That’s true. Even now, having come so far, I would vaguely worry what on earth I was gonna do if things don’t go well. People around me tell me that I got the essentials down so I would be alright, so I guess I can somehow manage. However, after today’s conversation, I realized rather than the insecurities, it was better to realize the things that I should be thankful for.
Hi, sorry @surrealistic-jellyfish for taking such a long time with this...m(> <)m... I admit I had some resistance towards doing a yo-ka interview because he can be really abstract at times...and indeed towards the end of the interview he did become pretty poetic and abstract lol. I tried to translate as best as I could to get the meaning across so hopefully it is at least understandable >< Here goes...enjoy~
Since a year and 8 months back, this has been your second interview with us. The first time was right after your live at Ebisu Liquidroom. If we reflect upon all that happened since the last interview till today, first of all, ex-Drummer Yuu-san left the band, and the support drummer Tatsuya-san officially joined afterwards. In terms of the scale of your lives, you have leapt from doing one-man lives in places like Akasaka Blitz to Shibuya Public Hall, those were bustling days. And this year from March onwards, you are going on a tour around the 47 divisions of Japan, (Interview took place in the middle of May), your scale of activities are rapidly expanding.
Yes. Indeed, when I first had the interview, Yuu had yet to quit the band. Really, this one year and a half has been huge. The situation with Yuu was held back very much on the edge. Of course, I often talk to Yuu about music, but because I am also familiar with him as a person, even if he left Diaura for a moment, it will feel as if he is still always with us. No matter when Yuu came back, it is like he will be right there doing activities with us; even if he took a break from lives, the four of us would be taking photoshoots together and all. In retrospect, even though Yuu is the one who is most frustrated about not being able to perform as well as he wanted to during lives due to his tenosynovitis condition in his left elbow, I think I may have caused him painful memories by taking him out to the photoshoot location. There were many times where the two of us spoke privately, and once he confessed to me, “I caused trouble by taking a break, I can’t face everyone anymore”. I said, “It’s alright, everyone is waiting for Yuu to come back. You are necessary to us”, with the intention of encouraging him, but the phrase “we are waiting” might have ended up as a pressure point for Yuu. He was probably anxious thinking, “I have to get back on track as early as possible”, and so secretly practiced without us knowing, and ended up worsening his tenosynovitis, and even ended up hurting his deltoid ligament. During a time Yuu and I spoke privately, he said, “My body can’t keep up with my heart”, I wasn’t able to come to terms with the deeper anguish beneath. In the end, when he said, “ I want to quit”, it felt like something hit my head. However, in the same way I had bet my life on Diaura, Yuu had made the decision for his life amidst his own suffering. I don’t want him to end up not being able to play the drums anymore or end up hating music, so I decided to respect his decision.
It was a bitter decision ne. When it became the three of you, what were your thoughts?
In any case, I don’t want to lose to my emotions. Because my weakness will show during lives. And that would be bad for the band. A band is something where a bunch of strangers gather and then move towards a single vision. I don’t think it would be possible to find someone who could write the future together with us in the same manner so easily, hence I decided we would continue with a support drummer. During the time when the 3 of us shot the PV and did the recording, Yuu would appear in my head, and I would feel this sense of loss.
During the Ebisu live, when Yuu was taking a break from activities, current member Tatsuya-san was holding the [drum]stick in his place. When did you start intending to let him join the band?
That…….I feel apologetic towards Tatsuya, but I absolutely didn’t intend to have Tatsuya join us. After all I only thought of him as the support. Also, there is the factor that I basically don’t trust flashy people. In a good sense, Yuu didn’t have any of that sorts, so I felt secure in leaving things to him. For Tatsuya, if I were to pick, he would be the showy type. When it became the three of us, Kei, Shoya and I were desperate to protect the band, so we didn’t have much leeway in thinking about other things. But for Tatsuya, he has been hanging in midair for close to a year, so on that thought I really felt apologetic towards him.
Indeed. In regards to that period of time, Tatsuya-san mentioned in an interview for a music site previously, “There are 4 people standing on the stage, but only 3 of them were fighting the battle”, that was the solitude he felt.
For drummers, there are not many out there, so many bands are in need of them. It was around the time when he has been Diaura’s support for around half a year. I heard that there are well-known bands that everyone knew about asking for him. However, based on his will, he stayed on with Diaura even though there was no certainty to whether he can become a member or not. When I saw that, I felt his determination, “Ah, this guy is serious about joining us” and I felt happy about it. I realized he was for real.
And so on 1st April, you officially welcomed him as a member, and stood on the stage of Akasaka Blitz as a “4-membered band”
That’s right. Before then, Tatsuya wore blackish costumes in order to not stand out too much on the stage. But on that day, the four of us wore new matching costumes and waited for the concert to start. We wanted to etch the image of the brand new us on everyone on Gumin’s Day; when the closed curtains opened, we did not start performing right away, but instead shouted “This is the reincarnated Diaura!” and welcomed Tatsuya officially into Diaura, marking our new existence.
yo-ka-san placed a ‘flag’ behind the three ne. “Let’s launch the signal to our rebirth!” You had an expression full of vigor.
In my mind, I was thinking, “We’re gonna wipe out that slowed time, so look at the new born Diaura!”. Even now, there was something I clearly remembered. During the live, we started off with “Taidou”, the first song in our mini album REBORN, where Tatsuya also participated in the recording with us; when we played the song, I could feel Tatsuya’s drum sounds piercing at my back, I thought, “ What was that?”. Until then, I have never felt such a vibrating sound, so while coming to grips with this sound, I was able to affirm, “Aah, the path that we chose was not wrong”.
When you became the new Diaura, what was the first thing in your mind?
Resolve.
Resolve?
Yes. When we lost Yuu, it had a strong impact. On us. But even without Yuu, our times with Yuu won’t simply disappear. Even without Yuu, we gotta create works that Yuu can acknowledge. Hence it’s not the time for us to be looking down at our toes.
At Akasaka Blitz, you announced that you would be holding Diaura’s first one man live in Shibuya Public Hall at the end of the year.
That is right. We decided to sprint with all our energy until the concert at Shibuya Public Hall
Can you reflect on the concert at Shibuya Public Hall?
It was a stage I have longed for, but I know in reality that in facing that stage, there are walls that we have to climb over. It would be a lie to say that we had no worries, but it has been the third year of our band, we have to overcome this. All the various emotions helped rouse me up. After that, we did various things that we have never done before such as fast-changing clothes from top to bottom in between songs within around 5 minutes (laughs). For each member, there is a number of staff members helping out to change our costumes, and while taking off our clothes and then putting another set on, I thought, “we are like idols” (laughs)
The stage set and performance were amazing
Because it was our first oneman in a hall, before entering the actual venue, we had meetings on the stage set up while looking at the blueprint of the stage, but when I actually entered the venue, I was amazed at the scale of the room. Also, this was a secret until the actual date, but stemming from an idea of our [company] president, a monitor was attached to the stage. When I saw that, I thought “they beat us to it”. For that monitor, our manager brought out the idea to have the lyrics of ‘Innocent’ reflected on the screen, so that the gumins can sing along with us. I think the idea to put in the lyrics came about only the day before, but looking at the staff members all hustling around in order to ensure Diaura’s success, I realized the live is not just created by the people standing on the stage, it’s not just by the four of us; I felt the strong connection that everyone is fighting along with us. Whether it’s the sounds or lightings, everyone is helping us in their respective fields, which helps sets everything up with everyone running along with us. In the past, we were all frantic about ourselves, so I didn’t felt the way I do now, but after experiencing this stage, I felt I have grown more as an adult. And also, actually before the start of the live, Yuu came to the dressing room.
There was such a drama.
Yes. When we were heading off to the stage, I called out to him, “We are heading out”, and Yuu sent us off with a nod. To be honest, it seems that until Shibuya Hall’s live, he had some resistance towards coming to our lives. Within the gumins too, there were various opinions in regards to Yuu like, “Wasn’t he made to quit” or “Even after leaving, he can’t just leave a name behind” or something, and he knew about these opinions, so it seemed that he couldn’t come to our lives. I mean it’s easy to imagine that there might be curious looks or looks of pity from other people. But I was really happy to see that he managed to overcome that and came to see the newly formed four of us standing on the stage of Shibuya Public Hall.
That was wonderful. So Diaura has been leaping from venues to venues, whether it’s Rokumeikan, Liquidroom, Blitz or Shibuya Public Hall, every time it’s announced that you will be doing a concert in those big venues, at the back there are voices that say “They probably can’t do it” or “That’s too reckless” and so on. No matter the venue, you have managed to pull off brilliant performances, but outside criticisms are often heard as well ne.
Yes. It has always been like this. For Shibuya Hall, it was the greatest challenge towards the unknown. Regarding the voices in the shadows that said “They probably can’t do it”, we had the will, “just you watch” and that’s how we rile ourselves up.
The last time you appeared in this magazine, we did a shoot at Shibuya BOXX where Diaura, with Yuu then officially a member of, had its first one man live. This time, we did a shoot at Nihon Budoukan following the previous theme about “The place where we are standing now is our dream”.
I mean, aren’t we already done with the concert at Shibuya Public Hall? I think of Shibuya Public Hall as a huge send-off party for our next destination where we shall be heading to. I am always frantic about my goals. With a goal, I can form a vision, and with a vision, I can think about what needs to be done in order to fulfill the vision. I believe that anything that happens within this process is not a waste. When we announced we are doing a performance at Rokumeikan or Liquidroom, many were commenting in the shadows, “Eh, what are you talking about?” However I have always believed in ourselves and pushed away those negativities. For visual-kei, it is easy to fall into the fixed trap where if you do this, it won’t work, and we are right in the middle of that, but I don’t want to get into the mainstream idea where, “just do this and you will succeed”.
You want to keep going beyond expectations.
That’s right. If we are bound to a specific form, I feel that it will limit our possibilities. In terms of the scale of a venue, after we stand on a stage that can be known as huge in Japan, the next step could be the world. If people stop asking, “What are you saying?”, on the contrary, I feel that we have reached the end.
What thoughts do you have towards Nihon Budoukan?
When I looked at it today, I reaffirmed that “I’m definitely going to do this”. If I don’t do this, who is going to? If someone asks again, “what are you talking about?”, it’s fine. If Diaura don’t go that way, we can’t continue (laughs). In the venue, the Japanese flag is present as well, it is a place that I would like to be as a Japanese. The first time I went to Budoukan was for Kuroyume’s concert in 2009. I was surprised that it was such a huge venue. My seat was pretty far from the stage, so the Kiyoharu-san that I saw beyond the many heads in front of me was really small. But all the surrounding people were in such high spirits, even from so far away, Kiyoharu-san was able to get them excited and that had a strong impact on me. To be able to move people like that, it is not something that anyone can do. Even the me then, I feel that it was because of Kiyoharu-san that uplifted my spirits. Not everyone is capable of this. That is why I want to be able to reach that position too. To be able to perform in Budoukan, to be able to stand on that stage is not the goal; instead, I want to become one with what I have felt and what I have seen on that day.
To stand on the same stage as someone who had shown you your dreams.
It is not a vague dream, already the plan is set in motion. During the Shibuya Public Hall live, I told the gumins, “It is important to have dreams”. Because dreams can push you forward. In this era where it has become hard to find dreams, isn’t it fine to have people who seem to be sleepwalking like I do? It is quite fitting of us to always have an ambition and keep pushing ourselves forward.
Being engrossed in a goal allows you to have something that you can hold on to. That is wonderful. Every day is a fulfilling day. Your perspective also widens.
Yeah. I certainly want to bring Diaura up, but to expand on that, I want to bring up this scene and this era as well. In 2014, Luna Sea did a 25-year anniversary tour, Kuroyume reproduced their debut live, Pierrot started doing lives again; the people who adorned the Golden period are nabbing the headlines within the visual-kei scene. I wondered, why is this happening? and figured, it’s because we can’t be depended upon. Our senpais seemed to be saying, “We can’t depend on you guys. Since you guys won’t do it, we’ll do it!” Until Shibuya Hall’s live, we raced past from behind in terms of our determination, but we can’t always remain as a band that is just starting to come out. If we simply remain as a challenger, the fight will become difficult from here on, so I feel that we should hone our skills, whether in lives, in expression or in intuitions. We can’t remain as our previous selves
So senior bands and Diaura are both fighting the same battle on the same stage.
Yes. We can’t lose. If we ask the various senpais, “What do you think of the visual kei scene after your era?”, they probably will answer, “the current era is a blank space”. I’m using rather bitter words though. But I feel reality is just that. Currently, even if there is a certain band in the spotlight, what is getting riled up is only the band itself but not the entire [visual-kei] scene. I feel that is because there is no such charismatic existence. In the past, there would be a charismatic person and whenever that person moves, the scene moves along, but now, there is no such thing. Hence I want to stop talking about whether our music sells or don’t sell. That scale is small, and the important thing is not about whether we can sell, but whether we can properly express the important things.
“Expressing the important things”. It is something that you can only say after accumulating enough experience.
While touring around the 47 divisions, it was right around the middle during the live in Koufu Kazoo Hall that I felt the condition of my throat going awry. I thought, “Eh, my voice is kinda vague”, and on that day it broke down, during the live I couldn’t bring out my voice like I wanted to. Before the double encore, I was wondering what I could sing with my rough throat; I remembered if it was the me back then, I would choose aggressive songs so that instead of singing, I would just be screaming continuously. I used to escape in that manner, but I also wanted to show the gumins what I have become. I don’t want to escape the mission of the vocalist to sing so I chose the song “If” without any screams. The members were worried asking, “Can you sing?”, and I replied “I am sure that something will come out from me singing it”, in any case I thought I’ll just sing it while heading to the stage. While singing, I casually looked at the floor [front of the stage] and for reason the gumins were crying. Though as a vocalist, I was not perfect, but my feelings were properly expressed. I realized that the notion that I should sing well no matter what has been confining myself. The important thing is not about making no mistakes, it’s about how well I can express the important emotions. I was able to discover what I was lacking in.
In your blog you wrote, “The voices of the gumins have always being pushing me to no ends”
It’s really like that. I was pushed by the gumin’s voices, and their tears pierced my heart. The song ‘If’ starts with the lyrics, “Let’s meet again in the fluttering season”, I chose this song because I wanted to express the thought that I definitely want to come back here again. Although my throat wasn’t in the best condition, I was having fun doing the live from the bottom of my heart, and experiencing the feeling that I am truly living the moment. After the live, when the gumins called out, “See you again”, in an honest genuine way, I thought in my heart, “the next time we meet, I’m going to present a different me”
You performed lives in members’ individual birthplaces, in Kashiwa [Palooza], you celebrated Shoya-san’s third year with the band, along with other various things.
Of course it’s the case with the band, but individually, there are many places where we are going for the first time, so there were various motivations. In terms of the numbers (mobilization crew), it was pretty strict, but looking back, there were potential possibilities everywhere. I was raised in the countryside so I wasn’t in an environment where I can watch lives whenever I want to, hence I want to bring live music to the people who don’t have that many opportunities to watch lives and hence we decided on the 47 divisions tour. For people who discovered us through, for instance Rock and Read, and took an interest in us, if they were not living close to the city center or in the metropolis, it would be difficult for them to go for concerts. In many tours, if we were going to the Tohoku region, it would be Sendai, for the Shikoku region, it would be Takamatsu, in many cases, we would simply round up one performance in one area without going to the other nearby prefectures. Hence this time, I want to go to all the cities, and though this goes without saying, there are people in any location, and I realized that in every one, there are certain sentiments. If it was in Tokyo, those feelings may just have passed by and I might not have felt that energy. While going around during the tour, I was often asked, “does the mood change depending on the location?” that absolutely didn’t happen. I think this also hinges on whether we managed to express ourselves to the audience. I was taught this basic fundamental through the 47 divisions tour. I thought to myself many times about why we are doing this tour. My mental state has vastly changed since the beginning till now.
How has it changed?
There are locations like Sapporo where we would do 2 lives, but for a live around the 47 divisions, simply speaking, there were at least 47 performances. From March till the last performance in July, we would be traveling and performing on stage on a very tight schedule. Initially, we would place emphasis on maintaining a stable quality of performance. However, I realized when I hurt my throat that time, that singing well is not the only important factor. When things go south, it’s not about clinging on to something, the important thing is to think about what that current self can do at the moment. Hence, even if I was imperfect, I would lay bare all of myself to the gumins. I don’t want to be in a lukewarm state; no matter what condition I am in, I believe it is my responsibility to convey my thoughts and my music. Hence I don’t want to think about the following lives and try to save up energy for them, I simply think about how I can shine in the present moment. The future is really an accumulated form of the “present(s)”. In that case, I shouldn’t be compromising the present. A live performance is about living in the moment. The 2 hours standing on the stage is about how much I am living within that period of time. In the midst of that, I am leading the way to how I am going to live.
So a live concert is about being alive.
Yes. Currently people in their 10s or 20s are known to be part of the ‘pressure-free’ generation, who don’t have interest in other people or can’t sympathize with others’ sufferings; for me, I do understand that kind of feeling of not wanting to care about things that is of no concern to myself. However, with an influx of information, where you can obtain anything you want, currently we are in a state that lacks imagination and so I feel a strong sense of urgency, if we don’t change, I feel like we won’t have a future. Hence, since I realized that, I know there are things I need to do and that I can’t give up.
Seeing how yo-ka san went through much difficulties, the gumins that gathered felt a connection with your words of rebirth have fiery passions within themselves. You feel that you can’t extinguish that fire.
Yes. Everyone wants to live, I believe. That is why I say this during the MC. “I’m going to destroy all the indecision and all that hesitation that you are having”. For those who are coming to our lives for the first time, they might feel that they can’t keep up with the mood, or they might feel daunted and have various kinds of worries, but these gumins overcame all that and bought our tickets, hence I want to firmly convey our passions to them. In order to do that, I have to show everything on the outside, I can’t try to hide anything. It takes resolve to say the words, and so I have to face my audience with everything I have. In the past, I feel that it is not good to keep talking non-stop during the MC, but I realized that is because I had the notion that “Visual-kei artists don’t talk much”. Since we are doing things that we feel are right, we should convey what we believe is the right way of thinking. Since I am the vocalist among the 4 of us, it means that the things I want to sing and tell others can be intimately conveyed to my audience, hence it would also be good to properly talk during the MC. I don’t bend my principles. I also won’t try to win favors with anyone. The messages hidden in music are indications of my lifestyle. Hence during lives, I want to convey my passion as a human being, and my way of life.
For the 47 division tour, it was a rich period of time for you to face yourselves and the gumins in all seriousness. How about the members?
Before starting on the tour, we were always together, so it might seem that we would be seeing each other’s coarseness and true personalities eventually, but that wasn’t the case. Everyone was pretty much the way they have always been. Well, in the first place I like being alone, so maybe there are many parts about myself that they haven’t seen of me yet (laughs).
yo-ka-san when you are alone, how do you spend your time?
I would take walks, and take in the scent of the air and soil. The scenery of the countryside and the color of the skies are different, the smell of the wind are also different so you can see a totally different scene. I feel that people and sceneries are similar. Every person has eyes, nose, mouth and so on, however depending on the balance, the skin color, everyone is different. For sceneries, there are mountains, land and clouds in the sky which all seem the same in our eyes, but depending on the landscape, what you can feel from each scenery is different. Music too, even though there is a genre known as visual kei, for the scenery and every other thing, it is not right to constrain them within certain limits. If you confine yourself, you won’t be able to see what is ahead. Going around the 47 divisions during the tour, I could thoroughly feel that there are so many things that I still do not know. Currently I am driven by the desire to understand many different things. If I found something I like, I want to discard my original fixated perspective, I want to expand my horizons beyond, ahead and within. I believe those experiences will help to widen my breadth in expressions in music and lyrics.
[Translation] Rock & Read Vol 63 Interview with Jui (GOTCHAROCKA)
Hoping to clear requests as much as possible while I have the free time...though so far all my requests have been rock and read interviews...which are pretty lengthy and text-intensive...^_^;;;A It will take a while before I can get through all of them...but for now here’s one with Jui~ @nika24u
( ) <--- what’s in the interview [ ] <--- my notes
Jui-san, it’s been 3 years since you last interviewed for this magazine in 2012. [Vol 42, see previous post]
(While looking at the previous article) This shoot was taken in front of Shinkiba Studio Coast. It didn’t feel like 3 years
That time, GOTCHAROCKA just started activities so we were doing an interview recalling the disbanding of Vidoll. That is why we did the shoot at the Studio Coast where Vidoll did the disbanding live……3 years after that interview, do people still refer you as “Former Vidoll member Jui”?
Indeed there are, but I am not particularly sensitive to how I’m referred as so I was not really concerned about it. However, when GOTCHAROCKA just started out, I did not like to be referred to as “Formal Vidoll”. When I heard that, I do get annoyed at times, but “the past is the past”, so at least people knew that. Now with GOTCHAROCKA, I can hold my head high while doing activities so maybe it didn’t matter as much to me. Also, even in Vidoll, the things I did back then were things I enjoyed doing
When you hold the identity as “Jui from GOTCHAROCKA” you managed to think of the past as the past?
Yes. I guess I can finally say it like that after all this time. Now, things have settled down, but in the past 3 years, there were full of ups and downs. Including the parting of a band member.
In March 2014, bassist Shingo-san left the band, but I don’t remember hearing much about that. Are you able to talk about it now?
Regards to that, there aren’t any taboos or whatever though. There were other things that he wanted to do, but even until now I feel that if he was intending to quit he shouldn’t have joined in the beginning. Honestly, I don’t hate him as a person, but I also didn’t want him to quit either. That’s why I felt the events leading to him leaving was a little off-the-track. I was a little shocked on that point.
Since the beginning, you had a drummer as a support, after Shingo-san left, your bassist was also a support member, leading to the current 3-man band. It would seem that at this point GOTCHAROCKA seems pretty well-balanced, but how is it actually?
When Shingo left and it was just the three of us, it was indeed a little unsettling. At first, Tsunehito-kun from D played the bass for us, but he is an active band member elsewhere; when I was singing, I would feel a presence behind on my right side. However, in the case of a professional support player, he would try to erase his prominence. In that sense, he was really good at his role, so honestly until I got used to it, it was kind of lonely [without Tsunehito]. However, after a meeting with JUN and Toya, we decided that if getting a new member could destroy the current relationship among the three of us, then it is better for us to stay as a 3-member band. The three of us are completely different types, whether our appearances or character, we have our own roles. I like the current balance of us three, so I don’t think it is necessary to force another person into the band. Of course, if we managed to meet someone good….we will consider it.
For your relationship with JUN-kun and Toya-kun, was the balance right from the initial forming of the band?
Within us three, I am the eldest, so I guess to JUN and Toya, I’m considered as the ‘senpai’. However, I don’t really want to create a senpai-kouhai kind of wall within a band. Having said that, with our roles disseminated, I am in the position where I would gather everyone’s opinions and then advancing the band altogether.
Although there is no official leader in GOTCHAROCKA, you have the consciousness of a leader to push the band forward?
Even though I said I don’t want to create a senpai-kouhai wall, there is the custom of seniority based on length of experience in the industry, and hence unconsciously there might be such a mindset within the band. However, in regards to the “gathering everyone’s opinions and moving forward” part, there was a period of time where that was not possible.
So there was a time where you had a different standpoint?
At first, I thought “I have to listen to other people’s opinions”. When the question of “What to do” comes up, I made sure to give my opinion last. It is not that I am trying to take a step back or compromise myself, but if I say, “This is what I think. I want to do this”, the rest would end up following me. I really disliked hearing “Ah, indeed, you’re right”. When discussing matters, there are times where you are unable to voice your opinions, right? However, it is not just the problem of the person unable to voice his or her opinions, the one who is trying to get opinions is also having trouble. I start thinking this way because this was also a reflecting point when I was in Vidoll…..
What was the reflecting point?
In Vidoll, besides the songs and lyrics, I take charge of various things; gradually I created an environment where I kept pushing my opinions, like “We have to go in this direction”, “We have to write this type of songs” and so on. Because there was also pressure on me, it somehow ended up like that. If the CD don’t sell, it is inevitable to think that it’s because “the lyrics and songs are not good”. However people around me would find it difficult to say that to me. In an environment where we can’t say things like “This part isn’t good” to one another openly, the more I voice my opinion, the more the others are dragged along and it’s only a matter of whether they can keep up with me or not. Even though we are a band, it ended up becoming a band that revolves just around my views. This situation is one of the reasons leading to the disbanding of Vidoll. I mean, even though I have been dragging along the people around me, I cannot bear responsibility for all their lives. In the end, since I used that method for the band, I felt very guilty. I have never mentioned this guilt of mine to the previous band members though……
Even for this magazine, when we were talking about Vidoll’s disbandment last issue, you didn’t mention the guilt you had.
At that time, I couldn’t talk about it even for magazine interviews
That just goes to show how heavy an issue that was for you. Because you had that regret, you currently hold the standpoint of “saying your opinions last”
So going along with that reflection point, I thought about what I am to do in order to not destroy the band. Both JUN and Toya had periods of times where they were down on their luck and faced various troubles, hence they are more of the standpoint, “in times of trouble, let’s share our worries and stay on good terms with one another”
So that is why you have stronger feelings towards setting out on your own and chose to hold activities independently [as a 3-member band].
It’s kind of late rebellious spirit (laughs). However, as a result of following that member pace, I guess the person to put the band in order ended up being me. Our band members all like different things hence it takes a long time to decide on anything. If things continued that way, there will be times where the dates of delivery are delayed. Although I think it is important for artists to be picky on certain things, it is also a necessary skill to learn how to fight against time and be decisive where necessary. Hence recently, I do feel that I have to push my opinions through to a certain extent in some situations. While listening to people’s opinions, instead of spending too much time on empty talk, I thought it’s better to round everything up.
Besides having good communication within the members, in order to move forward in a rational manner, it is necessary to divide the various roles as well.
Since we are getting used to holding activities independently, we have somewhat come to know most of the know-hows. For the sake of the delivery dates as well, I want to avoid that [being independent] being a minus point for the band. However, when we are doing things concurrently with music production, it becomes easy to forget doing the things that have to be done. Everything becomes half-heartedly complete. Recently, I’ve learned to give out directions to people, so I guess things have become more orderly.
I heard that many young band people consult with Jui-san for help. I believe that it is because you have tried various trial-and-errors and established a unique perspective for yourself, that is why you have become a reliable brother to many, however do you think that you have changed from the past?
I guess in being able to get over things?
In regards to what?
Every time I meet a turning point in life, I would say I want to go back to my roots, but come to think of it, that is always very vague. Likely, after many years I would think back and say, “I didn’t really go back to my roots that time either”, but right now I really felt as if I am going back to my roots
In the first place, what does Jui-san consider as your roots?
The feeling of “No matter what I do, always aim for greater heights in terms of music”. When I first started forming band, I’d go even as far as kick people down for that sake. But gradually, that kind of mentality faded out…As you age, your friends around you, your acquaintances and all start settling down and get married and stuff. In the midst of that, I started thinking, “I want to lead a normal life too” while doing band activities. For instance, I wondered if I should sing popular songs that are more fitting of my age. However, a part of me also feels that’s not the right way to do things. Indeed, it is important to do things that suit the age, but if I’m too fixated on that, I become too conventional and that’s not very rockish. It’s fine having fun and making music at the same time, but I thought I would try returning to what I had thought before, and then my thought patterns changed.
While becoming more settled down, you managed to recover some of your previous aggressiveness?
When GOTCHAROCKA first started out, as part of a reflection point during Vidoll’s times, I thought “for the time being I’d have fun doing this”. I also thought, I can just slowly make it more business-oriented. However, even though it is important to have fun, I realized that cannot be all there is to it. I feel that I gotta bring out the more ambitious side of myself, and that’s how I got over things. If I really want to make music and go rock, it’s fine being a ‘bad’ adult. Somehow I managed to get over the fact that it’s fine being an adult detached from society.
What is the turning point that led you to your current viewpoint?
It was probably during last year’s summer tour, when we went around 20 or so locations around the nation, and the mobilization was poor in several places. That time I felt really frustrated and was troubled about it all the way until winter. When we formed that time, rather than getting bothered by the existence of other rival bands, I thought it would be fine that “we just be ourselves”. However, when actually met with reality heads-on, suddenly my motivation went down. I was thinking, “How long can I last in this band”, and also wondering “Is it the time to quit?”. Then I realized, “Aren’t I right at the bottom now?”. While feeling really frustrated at myself for being at the very bottom, I realized that I’ve been at the very bottom since the beginning. I mean, in order to be in a band, I quit high school mid-way.
When you formed a band with your friends from your hometown, you mentioned before that for your tour, you didn’t have money to stay in a hotel so you guys set up a tent and spent the night outside.
Yeah (laughs). Even though I was already at the lowest level back then, why was I hoping to be someone who is not? On that thought, I realized I had drifted off somewhere along the way. In that case, I thought it’s fine to be of the lower level from now on.
GOTCHAROCKA is still on its 3rd year, but with Jui-san’s previous long band experiences, you are able to hold an extensive array of activities. Along the way, your perspectives evolved, and so I think it’s not that bad if your initial feelings have diluted since then.
Of course, even now I am always looking up at the top, and having the intention of reaching out for my dreams. But with the awareness that I am of the lower level, it changed my way of thinking. In simple words, I am just trash (laughs).
I understand that you are not just rotting away but instead trying to kindle a certain fighting spirit within you by reducing your sense of self. But why the self-deprecation to such extent?!
It’s not self-deprecation (laughs). Because other than music, there is nothing else that I can do. At this time I wouldn’t think of going to take some university exam and gain some other useful experiences.
In a good sense, you’re becoming defiant.
Ah, I guess that’s it. Defiance. Finally, that word (laughs)
However, that is also considerably difficult. Considering how as an adult, your way of thinking would have somewhat solidified, it is not that easy to suddenly change your viewpoints.
Indeed, there is also the part about pride.
However, that defiance might be the turning point that break through something. What kind of influence does your current way of thinking affect GOTCHAROCKA?
Until now, I guess we are more on the discreet side. Of course, there are areas where we want to challenge ourselves, that’s why we decided on holding a one-man at Akasaka Blitz (interview held early November). So far that’s how it has been; since I wanted the band to last for a long time, I thought it’d be better to be cautious, but with just that thought, eventually things may fall apart. If I first think of defense, I might not know when to attack. At the end of the day, if I want to last long, it is necessary to go higher. Hence I thought I would narrow my vision instead.
Eh? Instead of widening?
That is also one part about defiance I guess (laughs). I feel it’s fine to go with the position that, if I don’t want to do something, I don’t have to. For instance, in the current music field, fan service plays quite an important role. Of course it is important to do a service to the fans that has been supporting us all this while. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to overdo it. On the contrary, if we focus too much energy on the fan service, it’s more like making light of the fans and also a waste. If I have that much time I might as well spend it on making better songs and practicing more.
I believe there are actually a number of people who feel the same way…However, not many are able to voice it so bluntly. I mean, criticisms can be daunting.
No matter what I am told now I won’t feel afraid at all. That’s why I’m narrowing my perspective (laughs). Of course it is important to do the things needed in order to spread our music, but I think we should discard the consideration of whether something is cool or uncool. Certainly, that way of thinking may not be fitting of the current era, I wish to hold the position that if it’s something I can’t do, I don’t want to force myself to do it. If I don’t do that, I won’t be able to see what the band GOTCHAROCKA stands for, and I would lose sight of myself as a vocalist. Also, through music, I managed to create a point of view for myself, and to have that destroyed is something I would really hate to see happen.
Without fearing misunderstandings and being fussy over words, basically you believe it’s not necessary to curry favor with anyone.
There is that as well, hence recently I haven’t been updating my blog or twitter much. Though, for today’s interview I have been chattering a lot (laughs), I feel that I can just say whatever I really want to say just here (in magazine interviews etc). Sometimes I do tweet random stuff now and then, but if I don’t tweet unnecessary stuff as much, I find that I can focus more on writing lyrics and all. I managed to express better the things I want to say on stage. Somehow, I’m speaking more publicly (laughs).
Originally, maybe that should be the form of a musician. Personally, I also hold the viewpoint that a person doing music should express himself/herself to an audience through their songs or stage performance.
Currently, isn’t it often said that the music industry is a really difficult industry?
CDs are not selling well, music TV shows and music magazines are also less commonly seen. However, is that related to Jui-san’s thinking?
I feel that it’s fine as it is. In the first place, I think it’s strange that music should revolve around money. Of course, as a professional working in the field, it is impossible to go on without some form of returns, but it would be wrong to focus just on that. Even without overdoing things, if you are drawn to something through music, there will be people who feel the same way.
Those are really strong words. After forming a new perspective, it seems that Jui-san has become a more unwavering person.
No, I do waver quite a lot. I get really indecisive when it comes to shopping for clothes. “This is nice” and I would have the register keep it for me, and after looking around in the shop again, I would find something else and go, “This is nice too….” and I would become indecisive. In the end, I ended up not buying anything.
That kind of ‘waver’? I was trying to say that you don’t alter easily the perspectives that reflect you as a person though (laughs). Well then, to change my words, I get the impression you are a really firm person.
Somehow in terms of image, people seems to think of me as being rather sensitive.
Maybe because they felt the sensitivity from Jui-san’s songs and viewpoints, which makes it seem like you are difficult to approach or easily broken?
Though, for myself, I feel I am rather brash to the point of insensitiveness. I hope people will just laugh away at my misfortunes, I also laugh at other people’s stories of misfortune (bitter laugh).
This may be rather imprudent of me to ask seeing the flow of this conversation, but since I thought about it, let me just ask. Next year would be the 10th year since your younger sister passed away.
Ahh, indeed. Time flies. That time, I thought about dying myself. That was the extent of my grief……Every day, once per day, I would simply cry for no reason. I had really heavy emotions then, no matter how many times I sigh, the darkness inside myself can’t seem to leave, But that was during the period where my band at that time (Vidoll) was on the rise.
After your sister passed away, you also did a one-man live at Shibuya Public Hall.
I would listen to “Sister” that I sang that time. During my sister’s birthday and all, I would wonder, “What kind of song was that”. Of course, I do remember what the song actually is (laughs).
Even though that was a song written and sung by you, with the passing of time, you might have different feelings towards the song in different time periods. Do you not sing the song anymore?
Hmmm…..Since this was a special song to me, there are times I feel like singing it. But won’t it be weird to suddenly sing this song in the middle of GOTCHAROCKA’s one-man live? In any case, it would be better to sing this in a setting that won’t make things too solemn. It would be good in a casual occasion and be able to do that comfortably. But things will probably end up different when it really comes to it. Every time I think about my sister, time for me seems to stop…but little by little, the grief is fading away.
The fundamental sense of loss and grief doesn’t change but with the passing of time, a different kind of emotion may arise with respect to the loss. Hence if there was a chance where you sing ‘Sister’, I think it is natural that it becomes something different.
Of course I didn’t forget about it, but indeed compared to 10 years ago, recently I can say that I haven’t been as depressed as before. Now I can say “at that time, it was like that”, and be able to speak of her name in conversations. In the past, when I started talking about my sister, I would think “crap, I mentioned her” and feel all guilty about it. Ah, but what I feel irritated about sometimes is when the other party tries to pay attention to your feelings. When a person I haven’t met for a while asks, “How’s your sister doing?”, I would wonder, what is he/she trying to say.
Also, when you are talking to someone for the first time, when asked “do you have siblings”, do you get troubled over how to answer the question?
Indeed, I do. I wonder if it’s alright for me to say I’m an only child. I mean, if I say, “I had one…” the other party would feel bad as well. Since I still don’t know a good way to answer that, if the conversation seems to turn towards siblings, I’ll try to change topics. However, if I try to turn the conversation away from siblings talk, people will think, “Something probably happened to this guy?”, making me seem like a strange person (laughs). I think this kind of complicated matter will stick to me for life.
Earlier, I said Jui-san is a firm person…After losing your sister, did it change your life-death perspective or view of life?
What changed, was coming to think “I can’t die”. Sometimes, when things were tough, I do suddenly think about dying and whats not. Since my younger sister died before me, I would think, maybe I’m not alive anymore. Hence…..though it’s a weird way to put it, I feel that I’m still alive because of my sister. As expected, I would think about my parents. After 10 years, my parents are living life per normal but if even I left, what is going to happen of them. Once I think about that, I felt that I definitely can’t die.
Strengthening the firm core that was originally within yourself and having managed to reaffirm your initial resolutions as an artist, it can be said that Jui-san now has an enormous weapon at your disposal. I am sure with a persistent spirit and aggressive will, rock shall always persevere.
I have learnt to follow the path I believe in without getting swayed by other factors. At the end of the day, I am I, GOTCHAROCKA is GOTCHAROCKA. With a new perspective, right now I intend to once again aim for the top, starting from the very bottom.
hello^^ could you please translate this video? youtube(.)com/watch?v=20SPqMN2vCs thank you in advance^^
………really sorry for doing this so late m(> <)m apparently the video has now being removed because of the usual legal issues…
BUT. I did secretly, illegally downloaded a copy for myself before so that I can look at it offline…so I guess I can just translate the gist of the video since I watched it just now and it was pretty funny… but since this was not my video, I don’t think it will be appropriate for me to upload it >< still the contents are pretty funny so hopefully you can still enjoy some fun facts of Diaura here:
This video was from a clubzy interview. Not sure which issue but it was a short 5 minute+ video that tests how well the members of Diaura knew each other.
Q1. What is yo-ka’s favorite fruit?
yo-ka: I want you all to know this
Tatsuya: You always eat this!
yo-ka: This is the fruit for fall
Everyone else: … … …
Tatsuya: really…?
[Everyone flipped over their sketchbooks]
(yo-ka: Pear)
(Everyone else: Strawberry)
Everyone else: HUH?! Hey! Look at this!
yo-ka: wait…it’s actually pear…
Kei: I’ve never seen you eat pear before
yo-ka: No, no…it’s been strawberry for a long time…
Tatsuya: When did that change?
yo-ka: just a while back…when I went back home…
Tatsuya: What’s with the farce! lol
yo-ka: Well indeed it’s been strawberry all this while…so everyone is correct! But now, pear is my no.1
Q2. The type of woman Kei likes
interviewer: you can give an example
Kei: like, what kind of person…….it’s not the face alright
[Sketchbook answers]
(yo-ka: black hair, docile, a Japanese woman who supports him [support as in, ‘there is a woman behind every successful man’ kind of support lol])
(Tatsuya: someone like Seitoku Taishi [Google say he’s a prince of virtue?])
(Kei: someone willing to listen to me)
(Shoya: someone with black eyes)
Kei: (looks at Shoya’s answer) But everyone’s eyes are black!
Kei: Anyway it’s someone who is a good listener.
Tatsuya: I’m really close then
Kei: (looks at yo-ka’s answer) ah but I get the ‘woman who supports me’ part.
yo-ka: yeah, so it’s like what you wrote. Someone who supports Kei-san
Kei: Yeah, in other words, someone who is willing to hear me out.
Tatsuya: so someone like Seitoku Taishi…
Kei+yo-ka: *ignores Tatsuya* Yayyy~~
Tatsuya: *second time* But this too…
Kei: Well…yeah
Shoya: *joined in* but I’m not too far away either
Kei: Yeah, so you (Tatsuya) were referring to the ears, and you (Shoya) were referring to the eyes
Q3: The ramen flavor that Shoya likes
Kei: We went to eat with you ne~
Shoya: If you didn’t know this, you’re probably dumb
[Sketchbooks]
(Everyone: Home-made)
Everyone: Yay~
yo-ka: But isn’t everyone the same?
Shoya: Yeah the four of us
Q4: The vegetable that Tatsuya hates most
Tatsuya: Ah, what did I say it was again…?
yo-ka: Ah I don’t have confidence in this!
Tatsuya: But I’m sure you all know this!
[Sketchbook answers]
(yo-ka: Carrot)
(Tatsuya: Green peppers)
(Kei: Chinese yam)
(Shoya: Ume)
Tatsuya: I have never mentioned Chinese yam before lol!
Kei: No no, but you dislike sticky food right?
Tatsuya: well yeah
Kei: That’s why~
yo-ka: ah I thought it’s carrots…
Shoya: By the way, you do dislike ume right?
Kei: Yeah I don’t like it
yo-ka: You didn’t really like carrots either right?
Tatsuya: I like the sweet ones though. The bitter ones, not so much
Kei: What…so it’s peppers huh…
Ending quote by Kei:
Kei: There are also things that people are better off not knowing…
[Translation] Rock & Read Vol 42 Interview with Jui (Gotcharocka)
It’s been quite some time again...Chinese New Year week has surprisingly being quite busy even though I’m overseas and should have no family visits to go to...but I’m still thankful to have friends here to celebrate the occasion with ^^
Anyway, this is a request from @nika24u I received this almost a month ago...sorry that I’ve been putting this off >< but here it is~ I’ve been getting requests here and there, thank you for having faith in my translations lol xD I’m not ignoring you all, I’m gonna find time to get to them ><
I kind of procrastinated doing this interview because I get the impression that vocalists are quite poetic when it comes to interviews...but surprisingly this interview was quite interesting because he talked about issues surrounding the disbanding of Vidoll, a band that I’ve actually listened to. I’m not a huge fan but I do like some of their songs. Also, having some connections to the music industry, whether in Japan or US, I could somewhat understand the circumstances that he talked about in this interview. All in all, it is a really informative interview.
( ) <--- what’s in the interview [ ] <--- my notes
Well then, where shall we begin?
This time, I guess we will be talking about the happenings the past 1 year and beyond.
Yeah. The last time you appeared on this magazine, it was last year’s March issue……Oddly, today (May 7th) is also the day of Vidoll’s disbandment live [in 2011].
It’s a coincidence. When we decided on the day of shooting, I asked my hair and make-up stylist about the schedule, and he/she was available on either the 7th or 8th.
For this photoshoot, we wanted to portray Jui-san taking new steps forward, so we thought it will be good to do the shoot near the location where the disbandment live was held, at Studio Coast. Funny thing is even when the photoshoot date was decided, it didn’t occur to me [that the day of the photoshoot is the same as the disbandment live]. I only realized that just a while ago.
Me too. Of course, I did not forget that the disbandment live was on May 7th. But for some reason, I didn’t put the two together that today’s photoshoot aligns exactly with the date of that live. Yesterday I had a strange dream so I woke up in the middle of the night around 130am, that time I sudden realized, ‘eh? Come to think of it, May 7th is……When day breaks, I have a photoshoot at Shinkiba huh…’ What kind of ‘time prank' is this, I thought, and started thinking about various things and ended up not being able to get back to sleep. I also remembered things a year back, but there were also many things I don’t recall either. Like how I stood on the stage, and how I managed to sing that day and all. But the moment when it all ended was still fresh in my mind.
What kind of memory of the live one year back did you have?
That day was pouring with rain. There were issues with the live sound and in the end, the sounds don’t even come out. We were performing while listening to the middle tones, but the bigger the concert area, the harder it is for us to hear the kind of sounds the outer area [audience area] was hearing. During the encore song Ningyo, we could only hear the sounds of the silver tapes [I don’t know what they are called, the silver paper thing that bursts out towards the end of a concert], that was the extent of the external sounds that we could hear, so we did not realize what was wrong. That song was supposed to be the last, but the staff came and told the members, “The sounds are not transmitting so we cannot let it end like that”…… We went off to confirm the situation as well. But we realized that no matter what we do we cannot get the sounds to work. And so I/we stepped onto the stage one last time and told the audience, “we are unable to continue with this live any further” and it ended just like that.
You probably felt really frustrated.
Words can’t even describe it. Whether the live was a success or failure, it was a live where we couldn’t settle things once and for all. Sometimes I think, perhaps it is fate that we have to end that way……Even now I ponder on that, I still do not think that was a good way to end things.
Before the disbanding live, you released a solo album. In the previous issue, you talked about your feelings towards Vidoll’s disbandment and your solo activities. 1 year has passed since then, what can you talk about your experiences from your solo activities?
Actually, there were various issues, issues that I could not say in last year’s interview. The thing that fans most commonly misunderstand is that Vidoll was disbanded because I wanted to do my solo activities……It was certainly not the case, but I didn’t want to explain all the details.
Those issues, are you able to talk about them now?
After the decision about Vidoll’s disbandment was made, the producer from the record label told us that he wanted us to turn in Vidoll’s masters [recordings]. I wasn’t sure of the exact details, but I think it has to do with the contract terms.
When you form a contract with a record label, there are cases where the number of releases in a year is pre-determined. Vidoll may have decided to disband before the required number of releases was met.
However, at that time, we were not in a position where we could hand over our masters. It was impossible for us to gather the members together and write songs together, we also didn’t have the motivation to create new masters, we explained our situation to the record labels and our agency; and then they said, “in that case, how about Jui-kun produce the masters through solo activities?”
It was a period of time where different announcements overlapped and in the end many misunderstandings and speculations were spreading around.
The disbanding of Vidoll happened because there was a decisive happening that I, myself could not forgive. However, within the sequence of events until that point, there was already a ticking time bomb present where if something big happened, it could just explode. From the start, there was a period of time where I have discussed with the members, “If we are gonna end it, let’s just end”. In the end, things got complicated, which gave birth to various misunderstandings, but in regards to my solo activities, that did not happen right after the decision for disbanding was made. There was a gap of two months, where I/we were thinking about what to do after disbanding.
In the first place, why did things get so complicated?
To be straight honest, I didn’t want to do a solo. When we made the decision to disband within ourselves, we have yet to make clear the actual date to separate, we have also not yet decided whether to do a disbandment live or not. In regards to the disbandment live, there were members who wanted to do a disbandment live, and there were members who did not want to, so until that discussion settled down, I thought it won’t work out if I don’t make a distinction within the members. Hence I thought if I were to go solo, the earliest would be in summer, but the record label said, “We want to do it now”.
It’s the adult issues ne. [=legal implications]
I should have straight up told them, “I do not think this is the right time to do a solo so I don’t want to do it.” However, I asked the agency, “Before I go solo, please settle the issues surrounding the disbandment and the disagreements among the members”, and then they replied, “I am sure the members will understand”. And then the release date was decided upon. However, in the end, that promise was broken, and my solo announcement was made before things were properly explained to the members……
Do your previous members know about this sequence of events now?
I wonder, I didn’t mention this so maybe they still do not know I guess? In regards to this, I don’t think anyone is at fault, it was simply bad timing. Now I can talk about this publicly, but at that time, even if they were lies, I felt that I had to stick to them like they are truth. No matter who asks, whether the listeners or the media, I had to say, “I wanted to try going solo’……
I am also the one who believed in the lie (bitter smile). I was unable to see through the truth that Jui-san was trying to protect by lying.
Based on my honest feelings, I wanted to talk about these various things only after things were probably settled down. Originally, once the disbanding was certain, I should have felt the motivation to start from zero or one, but I couldn’t even reach that point……Even though my feelings were spiraling downwards, other things were still moving forward, so I have no idea where to place my passion. If I think about the me back then, now is a really bright and sunny time. Comparing the two, I would not want to return to that time period.
Even so…Even if [going solo] was something that you were not hoping for, as an artist, I don’t think you will release half-hearted works that contains your own name.
In conclusion, I did think it was good I did it. I managed to do things that I could not do as a band, I also made clear of various things within myself.
Meaning?
When doing lives with a band, for instance, after playing a ballad song, the next could be an aggressive song, but I can’t switch moods that effectively. However, going solo has allowed me to sing songs that I want to sing, so what I want to do with my next band is to shake off these extreme aggressive changes. I was able to do all the things I wanted to try out so I was able to refresh my feelings. Also when writing the solo album, I was able to meet the arranger-san Takumi-san, it had a huge impact on me, I thought, “I didn’t know there is such an amazing person”. I realized, there is always someone higher up, I learned various things.
Did you think about continuing your solo activities?
After going solo, I came to the conclusion that going solo doesn’t mean I am doing things alone. During lives I need support members, even during production, different people would be involved. With a band, certainly there will be disputes here and there, but indeed it is appealing to be able to share things with the members. Even with difficult times, having members around you to ride over the tide with, I think that is the splendidness of a band. Also, once again I came to the conclusion after doing solo activities, that the vocalist should not be the one to write the music in the band.
Why do you think so?
For a band, I always feel that it is best to have a main composer. Rather than having the vocalist to write the music, I feel that it is best to have the instrumentalist write them. In Vidoll, I wrote the songs in a certain timeline, but when I did my solo activities, I felt, as expected, the person to arrange the music should not be me. Because there are parts to the instruments that I simply don’t understand.
So that is what you felt when you observed Takumi-san’s arrangement. Hence, after realizing all these points, instead of continuing with your solo career, you decided to form a band once again.
It’s actually reversed, right after the disbanding of Vidoll has been set, I already thought about finding/forming a band after. However, members can’t be found that quickly. I have my reasons for wanting to form a band with these members, but people whom I thought are good are usually already in some other band, so they may have some circumstances on their side and hence unable to join me. So for the time being, I could only do my solo activities.
Since you can’t compromise the choosing of band members, until you find the right people you can’t form the band. So this time, how did you form the band, GOTCHAROCKA with JUN-san, Toya-san and Shingo-san?
The person I contacted right from the beginning was JUN. He was Phantasmagoria’s main composer and he is a great arranger. He also has a certain kind of aura so I always thought it’d be good to have him. We have been drinking buddies for some time, once, right about the time where I was thinking of starting another band, I asked, “what are you doing now?”, and he said that he was leaving the agency he belonged to that time. Coincidentally I was also leaving the agency I was that time, but both of us were not able to work together officially right away. Then some way or other, we were like, “Shall we try writing a song?”
At that point, did you specifically tell him that you would like to form a band with him?
It was really a natural flow, where we start writing a song together. We were not aiming to release it, it was more of an experimental work. At the beginning, I would pass a song I wrote to JUN, and then he would return it to me where I would write the lyrics. We would work at each other’s homes, and exchange the data via mail, it took him only half a day to send back the song I sent, and it ended up really amazing and cool. If it was me, I certainly couldn’t arrange it like that, so if I were to band with him, the main composer would certainly be JUN. After that, we mailed each other songs and we would head out for a meal once every two weeks…this continued for some time and before realizing it, we have accumulated 25 songs (laughs). After that, we resolved our respective issues and decided to work together and started searching for members.
Did you think about doing a unit with JUN-san?
While we were doing the song exchanges, we did talk about stuff like, “Doesn’t JJ seems like a nice idea?” (laughs). However in the end, we have to find support members to do lives and on that thought, it is somewhat the same as searching for band members.
Between Toya-san and Shingo-san, who did you decide on first?
JUN was thinking of arrangements for twin guitars, so we first set out to look for one more guitarist. First, we decided if we were to “become that band that makes this type of sounds”, we were going to solidify on the guitar before thinking about the rhythm unit. In regards to Toya, I heard from other bandman that he wanted to talk to me.
Until then, how acquainted are you with Toya-san?
I have co-played with charlotte [Toya’s previous band] a number of times but I have never talked to Toya before. However JUN has played guitar with him in T-EARTH and so he knew about his abilities very well. So I thought I will talk to him and so I met up with Toya.
What was your impression of Toya-san when you met him?
First, I wanted to know “why did you want to work with me?” and pestered him many times for an answer. And then he told me that that he looked up to me a lot. Apparently he had listened to my solo on Youtube. In the first place, the reason why I pestered him to tell me why he wanted to work with me is because the more I search for members the more impatient I get…Because it’s easy to settle with that one person. However if I decide on a member like that, I believe we will both regret it later on. So I suggested we think about it for about 2-3 weeks. If we decide we want to work together after that, then we will follow through with it.
And the answer was a yes.
In charlotte, the vocalist Kazuno-kun passed away so activities stopped. Toya said, “Even now I feel that Kazuno is an amazing vocalist. Hence if I am going to be in another band, I can only be with a vocalist that I can truly acknowledge”. Those words really had an effect on me. Being able to think of a band member as number 1 after going through many things with him all this times, I think that is wonderful.
With those words, it was decided to have Toya-san join. Next is the bassist Shingo-san.
I went to watch various concerts in livehouses but there weren’t many people whom I thought made the cut. Then I remembered Shingo-san whom I have done various sessions with. I have thought of him as an exceptional bassist since a long time ago…..but he is a support member in another band and also does various works as a studio musician, so I thought even if I invite him, it would not work out. However, one day he wanted to talk to me and so we met. Then he told me that previously when he did a session with JUN and I, he felt really good about it, so if it’s a band with JUN and I, he would like to play with us. However, Shingo at that time, although he was going to quit being a support for other bands, he was not sure if he was going to continue being in a band. Hence we decided to meet again another time and then officially join our band later if he wants to. From there on, we got various things moving.
At the moment, there is no official drummer?
Currently Tero (former Vidoll) is our support drummer. Although he is an official member of trick, he said it is possible for him to work if he is available.The drums is almost like a lifeline so it is an extremely important foundation for a band. Hence if it is not a member that everyone can accept, it won’t work out. Personally, for my solo lives, I’ve had Toshi Nagai-san and Sasabuchi Hiroshi-san as drummers; in sessions, I also had the chance to work with SAKURA-san…[all pretty veteran drummers] Hence in regards to drums, I ended up raising the level for drummers (bitter smile). Tero is someone whom I feel is not inferior [to the other drummers he worked with] so I asked him to be the support drummer.
And that is how GOTCHAROCKA came to be. On May 1st, your homepage was set up, in the beginning of June, the profiles of members and schedules were also updated. For the name GOTCHAROCKA, what meaning does it hold?
JUN said, “I don’t want a straight-forward name”, I had the same thought. I didn’t want a name that just sounds cool but straight-forward. At the same time, I had the thought, “I want a band name that depicts the kind of music the band is doing”. The word “ROCKA” is what JUN came up with, when I heard that, somehow the word ‘GOTCHA’ that bears the meaning of “to capture” and “to seize” came to mind……So I asked JUN and the other members, how about GOTCHAROCKA? and they said it sounds good and so we went with the name.
What is the link between the name and the music then?
First of all, there is the meaning of “capturing Rock”. Also there is the meaning of “Gacha Gacha Rock” [Gacha gacha is like a sound effect word for clatter]. Also I mentioned this at the beginning, when I went solo I touched on various musical styles, hence for this band I wanted it to go one notch higher. Lyrics as well, I want there to be no restrictions. For instance, when making masters for major labels, there will be opinions such as “This kind of themes won’t sell” or “it won’t be good if this end as materials for news”, but now that we are independent, we can do various styles. I mean, won’t we have certain emotions at a certain time on certain days? If every day, 365 days are good days, it is definitely not gonna be interesting. Because there are bad days, there are good days, I want to make songs that represent that 1 day. I want to be a band where opinions such as “We are not doing this” are not pushed onto us, hence with that in mind, this meaning is also reflected in the name GOTCHAROCKA.
You mentioned your activities flow…Right now, GOTCHAROCKA is carrying out independent activities with the support of GOD CHILD RECORDS represented by Asagi-san from D.
From the beginning, I felt that if I’m going to be in a band, I want to be independent at the start. The members also expressed the desire to be independent, and that we want to be able to carry out activities based on our own capabilities. And then I wanted to know if we would need to start a company or something, so I researched it on the internet, but there were many things I didn’t quite understand…and then Asagi-san contacted me saying, “I have something to discuss with you”. And so the two of us went out to eat and talked about various things.
What did Asagi-san said?
He taught me the structure of a company, and told me if I’m actually going to start one, he can introduce a tax advisor to me and gave me various advice. In the talks, he also mentioned, “If it’s difficult to start from one, I can help”. Hearing Asagi-san’s talk, I realized it takes a lot of energy to build everything ourselves, I wondered if I can stay being an artist while handling all the business management……I discussed with the members again and we were unanimous in the decision that we would like to have God Child Records’ assistance and I asked Asagi-san for help once again.
Asagi-san mentioned before, “Jui comes from the same Tohoku region as I so he is like a younger brother I can’t ignore”
He made it clear that he wanted to help from the beginning. When Asagi-san asked if we would like to work with God Child Records, I had a peace of mind and felt really relieved.
Well then, finally GOTCHAROCKA is getting on track and ready to go. You are an unwavering band ready to take on challenges, how do you intend to go about your activities?
Within GOTCHAROCKA, if we think in terms of career experience, I am in the position of being the leader……but instead of me pulling the band along, I want to be the one to put things in order. In all the bands I’ve been in, it is often that they go with my ideas and opinions, but instead of doing that I want to hear everyone’s opinions and then I will consolidate all that and settle on a direction we are gonna take. In regards to the music, I’m leaving it to JUN and I want to define roles for everyone. In a band, after working for some time, there is always gonna be disputes in regards to the amount of work each has to do. Like, when someone is putting in a lot of effort in writing songs and other members seem to be just playing around……even if it’s not completely unfair it gets into people’s heads. In order for that not to happen, whether in regards to music production or things outside that area like band administration, I want to have roles defined for everyone.
While heading in that direction, what kind of band characteristic do you want to nurture?
I feel that if I say out my goals and dreams, they end up not getting fulfilled. Hence up till now, I try not to say things related to that, but if it’s a band that I have confidence in, I think it’s alright to put them into words. I wrote that in my blog as well, my feeling of wanting to be number 1 is stronger than anyone, so I don’t want the band to be one that breaks my confidence. I want this band to be the coolest among all the bands I have been in.
[Translation] Rock & Read Vol 55 Interview with Tatsuya (Diaura)
Hi all, it’s been a while. Here’s a (long) translation of RnR, request from @gumin7~ Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of Diaura’s music, but having done quite a number of translations of their stuff, I’ve come to like Tatsuya a lot within the band. So this has been a rather fun translation to do~ hope you all enjoy it :)
P.S. Feel free to send in translation requests for any band. I am not keeping up with the current Jrock trends very well so perhaps some of your requests can keep me up to date (^_^;;;)
( ) <--- what’s in the interview [ ] <--- my notes
This is your first appearance on this magazine. Is this also your first solo interview?
That’s right. I had individual interviews when I was with the other members on the same set before, but this is the first time where I am completely alone.
Let’s go back to your childhood days. What is your family structure like?
My parents, a brother 3 years my senior and a sister 1 year my senior, the 5 of us. My father was always busy with work so I do not have any memories of playing with him. In fact I don’t often speak to him, it is still a mystery to me as to what his work is. A manager of some food store maybe. Sometimes my mother will do part-time work.
What kind of child were you?
In the results slip, the part where it says ‘overall comment’, my teacher often wrote ‘can’t stay still’. Because I love my brother, since kindergarten I have been interested in baseball, so i often wear the gloves and had a baseball with me, and played around by throwing it at the walls outside.
You could have just played catchball with your brother.
My brother was busy with his studies so I almost never played with him. Until the day my brother graduated from high school and left the house, I had been in the same room as he so we were on good terms. On the other hand, I often fight with my sister.
How about memories of your father?
Not much. Honestly. During the few times he was at home, I remembered him drinking alcohol at night. He always tells me, “Study hard”. At that time, Famicon was popular, but the time I can spend playing it was fixed at “30 minutes on weekdays and 1 hour on weekends”. Also, I was not allowed to sleepover at a friend’s house…Well, when I started middle school, together with my friends, we did things that my/our parents said no to.
Are there things that you continued doing as a child? Like things you learned.
When I was a child I learned swimming and abacus. In kindergarten, I simply liked playing on my own. I played Famicon and Super Famicon with my friends though. When I entered elementary school, dodgeball was a popular game so I often played dodgeball during breaks. My club activity was the shogi club. I liked mind games. At that time, Slam Dunk was also popular so there was also a period of time I was hooked on mini basketball. I liked basketball even after entering middle school, and continued until the beginning of year 3 when the teacher advisor changed.
How about your studies?
I did pretty well academically (laughs). When I was in my 4,5 and 6th year in elementary school, I was the class representative. However I had a complex about being known as a “serious kid”. When I entered middle school, I wanted to act cool and make myself seem ‘bad’, kids who seem bad were popular.
Were you not popular then?
That’s right. Although I am a fast runner, I am always the “runner up”.
Runner up?
Yeah. For running, if compared to all the other guys, I am the faster kind, but I was always lined up with someone a little faster than I am, so I always ended up in 2nd place. That was my kind of position.
Maybe you just didn’t realize you were popular with the girls?
Hmm. I don’t know how to act when someone calls to me, so I always ignore them. When someone says “Good morning” to me, I pretend I didn’t hear.
“Good morning” is just a greeting though.
Ah yeah. I didn’t greet people. But I did try to appeal to a girl I like and get her to notice me
The “I am here” appeal?
Even to a girl I like, I couldn’t talk to her, so by talking with the other guys, I would make my presence known by speaking in a loud voice or something.
That is so meddlesome (laughs)
Ahaha. Yeah. So when I entered high school, I started “a movement that will erase the not-so-good parts of myself”
And what was that?
I wanted to talk to girls so I thought to myself what I should do to talk. In middle school, I had a quick temper. Very. Among guys, when they great one another they will often go, “Yo!” and bump their bodies into each other. Even though it was a joke, when someone bumped into me, I’d be like “What’s wrong with you!” and lose my temper
You don’t greet people, you lose your temper quickly……you were a scary kid then. How did you get into music or what got you started in music?
When I was in elementary school, I liked ‘globe’ that my brother listened to, so I would borrow his CD and recorded that into a cassette tape. After I entered middle school, I was obsessed with Luna Sea. I was blown away when I heard the album “SINGLES”. “What is this!” I thought. My discovery of Luna Sea was so impactful, I wanted to listen to any song they had and so I collected their CDs, got hooked on them and listened to them everyday.
What was the song you listened to the most?
I guess it would be “Rosier”. There is a piercing kind of feel to it. I also love “Dejavu”. With Luna Sea as a starting point, I also started listening to Laputa. I got hooked on them and I would trace all their previous songs and collect their CDs. My brother listened to Judy and Mary so I also continued listening to them. I like getting obsessed over artists and following them, 'I want to have all their albums!' and so I’d keep collecting them. At that time I started following Hi-STANDARD and so I got hooked onto visual-kei and melodic hardcore. In my 3rd year of middle school or high school, I also started listening to western acts like Green Day and the Offspring.
When did you start thinking you want to form a band?
When I heard a middle school friend started playing the guitar, I saw him playing and I thought, “wow that’s amazing”. I was playing air guitar at the side.
Air guitar?
Yes (laughs). I “intended” to play an instrument. In my middle school I ‘majored’ in air guitar (laughs). Then, after I entered high school, my parents told me they would buy me something to celebrate, I like J-san so they bought me a bass beginner set and that was how I got my first instrument. After that I would silently practice by myself. I would imitate Dragon Ash, Snail Ramp while practicing.
How about band activities?
My first band was formed with my high school classmates, we practiced Oasis’s “Stand by Me”. At that time, I played the bass. I was in the light music club that time, so with another group of members, we were like, “We wanna do a live!” and so we practiced. I was a 2nd year student that time and that was when I switched to drums. I had confidence as an ‘air drummer’ so I thought, oh well, it should be fine.
You were an ‘air drummer’ as well! (laughs) Do you remember how you felt when you first played the drums?
Rather than feeling drums are cool, I thought it was fun to create music with other people. That feeling was stronger. There was a sense of achievement when in sync with everyone. With these members, we practiced a total of 5 songs from Kuroyume and SADS and did a live in the audio-visual classroom. That was my first live.
How did it feel?
I wanted to do a live, so having accomplished that, I felt good. However at that time, I never thought about making a living off music. The 3 of us siblings, perhaps because we did abacus, we were good in maths. I was at a pretty high level where I participated in prefecture-wide tournaments for abacus, so I was studying in a business-oriented high school and learning on bookkeeping, so I was aiming to find a related job.
After that, what is the reason for deciding on your current path?
In a Green Day copy band, there was a really good guitarist, I asked him “What are you gonna do after graduating?” and he replied “I’m going to a professional music school”. That was when I realized there is such a thing [as a music school] and my heart moved at the thought of making a living from performing lives. Then I told my parents that I wanted to go to a professional music school and they were extremely opposed to the idea. But someway or another I got them to understand, I told them about the kind of school it is, its location and that it has a dorm so there will be no problems with accommodation, and the school fees required. I am from the Tochigi Prefecture, when my elder siblings graduated from high school, they moved to Tokyo, so my father predicted that I would be leaving home as well. In the end, he/they said “We got it, try doing what you like then” and sent me away.
How was it like living in Tokyo?
In high school, I went shopping in Harajuku so I had an idea of what it’s like. At the beginning, I lived in the dorms in Tokyo. In the dorms, there were students who were not in the same field as I was, for example there are students from ‘Grooming’ schools, [animal grooming], so there were many students from different kinds of schools, and so there was a lot going on, it was intense. It felt like everyday was a learning trip.
You can devote yourself to the music you like then.
That…..that was the period of time where I was slacking off in practicing. I was having too much fun with my dorm mates. Come to think of it, I had completely no sense of urgency back then. In school, they do check on your level, and the highest grade is a 6, I received a 5. I could move my hands and feet easily so even if I was taught something difficult I could do it. That was the time I overestimated myself.
Perhaps you had the talent from the beginning.
Since I was paying money and receiving money [for school], I went for all my classes, but everyday at 1pm, I would head back to my dorm and I would simply just play around, it was hard for me to return home. When I went back home on O-Bon festival and New Year’s, my relatives asked, “What are you doing now?”, I would reply “I’m doing music” with a guilty conscience.
Did you form bands?
With my friends from the drums department, we formed a band based on ska punk that was popular back then. We played songs from 175 R and Mongol800.
You drifted away from Visual Kei ne.
At that time I wasn’t so comfortable with Visual Kei. I actually used to work part time at a certain Ringer Hut store in front of Takadanobaba Area. At that time, I liked PENPALS so that was a period of time I wasn’t listening to visual kei. One time, when there was a visual kei live going on and these people with flashy make up and hairstyle came, I thought, “they are scary”.
Earlier you mentioned you had no sense of urgency, what was it that made you have that sense of urgency?
After I graduated, I was panicking, “This is really bad”. Whenever I formed a band and did lives, I see the band members and thought to myself countless times that the current me won’t make it. Forming bands, disbanding, I have experienced that numerous times, then there was a band where I thought “I’m gonna bet my life on this!”, and within just 6 months, the vocalist quit and the band was over. Just when I was at a loss of what to do, a certain manager of a live house talked to me. “A band called Diaura is searching for a support member”. I knew Shoya from before so I knew about the band itself.
And you thought you’d go for it?
I heard that they were going for a tour 2 weeks later and I thought this would be a good trial for me and so I went for the first studio session.
A trial? In the first place, was the fact that Shoya, someone you knew, being there a significant factor?
Yeah. We had played together so it was a little more relaxing. When we met again at the studio, because I didn’t talk to him (about going to the studio), Shoya was pretty surprised.
How did you feel when you tried matching your sounds at the studio?
I was desperate. At any rate. My first live [with Diaura] was at Aomori, that day I was so frantic I don’t remember anything. The 2nd time it was the live at Sendai, that time I feel I should input my own personality [into his performance], after the live, yo-ka told me “You did it!!” and I was like “Yes!”
“Yes!”. What was different from the first time round?
This is my style, I don’t stay in the background and play the drums, I’m the type to like expressing myself by drumming with all my strength, that was the live [the 2nd one] where I showed my good sides. Before I spoke to yo-ka, I was worried, thinking, “by showing my style like that, are they (members and fans) gonna be able to accept it? Is it gonna be okay?” But the people surrounding me watched me with warm eyes. I felt comfortable. So I was relieved.
And then it was all smooth from there?
No. At Ibaraki’s live, I made a mistake about the structure of a song, and the ambience of the live took a bad turn. After it ended, it was really tense and I was told “Let not there be a second time” at the parking lot where we had a postmortem session. That was very focused on me. Very much so.
2 weeks before, you didn’t expect to be on a tour as a support member, didn’t you. Until that time, besides the practicing, I guess there were many factors you have to take into account about forming relationships with the members of the band right.
Yes. For tours, we move around in cars. At first I was wondering what I could talk with them. Kei liked Laputa so that was the same as me and we had a common topic, hence we broke the ice at a rather early stage. For Shoya, I was older than him by a year so he called me “Tatsu-nii!”; when I started being a support for Diaura, I got him to stop using keigo [respectful language] to me. Traveling, performing, traveling, performing, within a short period of time, we were spending rather rich moments together in a cycle, so our relationships got closer.
When you build good relationships, you will start to have desires [to join the band]. For this…..
When I joined in as support, I heard that Yuu [ex-drummer] who was on a break at that time would be returning after a few months so I didn’t have such thoughts. Before going on the tour, I met with Yuu and talked various things with him, before I went for the live, he contacted me saying “Good luck today [Yoroshiku ne]” Hence rather than wanting to join Diaura, I wanted to put in my best efforts and go “I’m gonna catch the hearts of all the audience!!”; those type of feelings were stronger at first (laughs). I thought, I would use this experience and put it to use in my next band.
Pretty shady ne (laughs)
Yeah. I had such a shady period (laughs). My thought was that, bringing out my best = Diaura’s live becoming better, so I believe that was a sensible mindset then.
In the previous issue’s interview, yo-ka-san mentioned “I cannot trust ‘attractive [hana no aru]’ people”. What did you take away from that?
[There are different explanations for ‘hana no aru’ people. In literal terms, it means there are flowers surrounding the person. In other words, it means that someone is attractive, or someone has the ability to pull you to him/her with his/her looks or personality]
To be honest, I was invited by other bands as well. At that time I would compare Diaura with these other bands. But I felt that Diaura was better. To surpass Diaura, it has to be an even more amazing band. So thinking that, I rejected all offers to be a double support or band member and decided to focus on being Diaura’s support drummer. I didn’t want to destroy the good flow I had with Diaura.
When you heard Yuu-san was going to leave the band, how did you feel?
For Yuu, it was not so much that he was in poor health, but it was that he felt it was his fault that he caused trouble to the people around him, I knew about it so I was wondering how I should approach him about that. In fact, I avoided him for a while.
Looking at yo-ka-san, kei-san and shoya-san, how did you feel?
I could certainly feel their pain. So I thought I would pull them along with my sounds. I hit the drums hoping to get Diaura to ‘cheer up’ [ganbare was the word he used]
Previously, in a certain interview, you mentioned “There are 4 people standing on the stage, but only 3 are fighting. I was always alone.”
Yeah. That was how I felt. Especially during the Ebisu Liquid Room live. It could be due to the place being larger, but I felt a wall that I couldn’t conquer with the 3 in front of myself. I felt, no matter how far I go, I’m just a support member.
When did you feel such solitude?
During lives, I’m focused so I don’t think much about it, but when I am alone at home I start having negative thoughts. Like, when I am not around Diaura will be moving ahead, for example for PV shoots and meetings and so on. I would feel like I’m not needed, like I am cast out. I also wondered if I was being truly helpful in Diaura.
How did you feel when you were invited to join Diaura?
When the 4 of us went to the studio that day, after the session, I was invited out to eat. I thought, “Here it is”, so I was thinking it’s either going to be “This is the end of your support term” or “We would like you as a member”.
Those two are complete opposites.
Yeah. After that, we went to a ramen house and when they asked, “Would you like to join” and I replied “Yes” immediately. After that, we simply ate ramen like normal.
How about a ‘Yoroshiku!’ beer?
Nah (laughs). It ended after we finished eating ramen.
And then came the announcement. How did you feel that time?
When I was a support member, I played in lives wearing a black T-shirt, then they prepared a matching costume for me, when I put it on, I was like “ohhhh!” While wearing the costume, when the curtains rolled, it was an indescribable feeling. Even though I was sitting in the same spot, the weight felt different.
In the previous issue, yo-ka-san reflected and said “from the first sound of the first song, Taidou, he could feel the piercing sounds of the drums”
It was filled with my spirits. After the live, when yo-ka said “I believe we can make it with this lineup”, it touched my heart.
You met Yuu-san again at Shibuya Public Hall ne.
Yes. My previous dampened spirits rose again, and hearing that he’s gradually able to play again made me happy. Because I was able to talk to Yuu, there is no sense of awkwardness now.
You completed the tour around the 47 divisions, how do you feel now?
I was often in the same room as yo-ka, so we talked a lot about the band. I often drink with Shoya; on off days, I would head to Nara park with the members and feed the deers, so in a good sense, there isn’t much change in how we spent times together. While performing lives on a tight schedule, if we sense something isn’t good, we will try to overcome it in the next live so we are consistently improving so I think that is also very beneficial. For the band, I believe there are gumins (term for fans of Diaura) who feel that the previous lineup was better. Since the reality that “there was a previous drummer” can’t be changed, I did agonize over the fact that “I am always the ’second person’” so indeed there were moments I felt crushed by those feelings. When X Japan’s Taiji-san joined Loudness, he said in a magazine “there were times I felt, I am not the original member, I am just someone who joined in the middle of it”, I thought, yeah…When Diaura was formed, I felt vexing and sad that I was not there when it started, different kind of feelings about that will surface, even now, sometimes I get depressed about it. But I can’t allow myself to be crushed by that, I was the one who took the first step, I can only follow my heart. I can only move forward, that’s how I cheer myself up.
DIAURAnoDictatorial radio [2013.11.30] ~ could you translate this vidéo? Thank you
I’m assuming it’s this video:
So a brief summary:
So the video and sound are kind of out of sync but anyway, yo-ka and Tatsuya start out with their introductions, lamenting that it’s the end of the month, since this was broadcasted on Nov 30.
The female host asks Tatsuya what’s going on with him lately and it seems that Tatsuya lost something important “that should not be lost”. They did not mention what it is so it is probably really private and important, and Tatsuya was really depressed about it. And he did not manage to find it in the end. aw…
Anyway, Tatsuya chose a hit song ‘Love Somebody’ by Oda Yuji as his recommended song. yo-ka was making some joke about Oda Yuji and Maxi Priest (since both sang the song together). They also talk about old movie reruns on TV and in movie theaters.
A listener asks which song in the upcoming album (Focus) was a particular memorable song for them. Tatsuya said The Redemption, because it was the first song that he wrote after he entered Diaura. Also for previous songs, Master left quite an impression on him and he realized that that is one of the core songs for Diaura’s lives (probably when he was still a support member). Other previous that left an impression include Imperial Core, Another gate etc. So with various influences from Diaura’s songs, that’s how Tatsuya wrote The Redemption. yo-ka quipped in, saying how Tatsuya is a cheerful person usually but his songs are pretty dark. Tatsuya mentioned how yo-ka’s lyrics seemed to match the song perfectly. yo-ka’s pick from the album is Sleeping Beauty. He then proceeded to sing an acapella for the song and asked Tatsuya to help him harmonize. yo-ka being the evil person he is, left Tatsuya to harmonize on his own at the end.
Tatsuya picked just one mail from listeners among the many mail letters that were sent in, which is rather rare for the radio apparently. One reason being, there are two questions embedded in that letter. First question: in Diaura only yo-ka’s name is in english alphabets while all other members’ names are in kanji. If yo-ka’s name was to be written in kanji, what kanji would be used? yo-ka confessed that there was a period of time where his name was in kanji. A very long time ago, he emphasized. When he first started out in bands, his name was already ‘yo-ka’, but in kanji. Apparently it’s this: 妖架 but he felt this is way too solemn (because the ‘妖’ comes from youkai, meaning demons/monsters etc and ‘架’ comes from juujika, meaning the cross) and wanted to change it rather earlier on. so he changed to alphabets, and made sure it’s all small letters. Sometimes names are such that the first letter is in capitals but yo-ka wanted his name to be all small letters at all times. So he gives the listeners ‘homework’ to ask them to think of more suitable kanji names for him (that is not 妖架) and that they will phone the listener whose name was picked live.
2nd question: what kind of nicknames do members want? The listener calls the members: yo-ka-tan, kei-san, shoya-san, tacchan. yo-ka felt a little awkward by yo-ka-tan since he felt that is too cute a nickname for him. A name that yo-ka would want to be called seems to be ‘Master’. Tatsuya…wanted to be called ‘Dictator’ and yo-ka immediately said, ‘let’s not’. But he’s okay with being Tacchan, or Tattsun, as yo-ka calls him.
At the end, they sang ‘Love Somebody’ together and once again, yo-ka left Tatsuya alone at the end to harmonize by himself…
so that was a brief summary. I can do a subbed version as well, but only if someone is willing to make a video out of the edited audio (where the silent parts are trimmed out)~~~
[Translation] Interview: GOTCHAROCKA Club ZY Vol 28
Request from @nika24u
Sorry that this took a while cos i was on holiday mood...and kinda binge watching a lot of shows :| Anyway, here’s an interview for Gotcharocka. There may be a few awkward expressions in there cos sometimes I can’t think of an appropriate english term for the expressions they use even if I get what they are trying to say -.-
[ ] <-- my notes ( ) <-- what’s in the magazine
At the present time early in September, what kind of activities are GOTCHAROCKA doing?
JUN: Now, we are ‘CHIKACHAROCKA’ [chika=underground]
So you are right in the middle of recording your new single scheduled to be released on December 2nd?
Jui: Right. That’s why it’s been some time since we were last like this…(shyly points at his costume)
JUN: Also……..'Clothing Food Accomodation’
In other words, you are living per normal (lol)
Jui: After the tour ended in August 18 (tour based on album Royale), our pace slowed
JUN: We had been touring nonstop since last year’s winter tour, so we have wound our clockwork to the max. While thinking, “i guess there are moments we don’t feel too pressed for time huh”, we are now at the point where we are rewinding our clockwork. It is important to have times where there is nothing going on, but if we go too loose, we might not get our ‘Clothing Food Accommodation’. For instance, we might end up just staring at the walls.
Jui: If we continue with this lack of urgency and passing time, we get frightened instead (lol)
Toya: However, it's exactly with these periods that we get a bigger sensation. During album production or going on tours, when there are these big activities going on, we think “we gotta treasure all these one by one”, but that narrows our perspective instead. Personally, at this time where activities have slowed, it’s a period of time where I can see various other angles. In regards to previous [concert] lives as well, I can look back at those from a different viewpoint from that time, so I think this is an important time period.
JUN: We do expand on our awareness ne. This summer we will be celebrating our 3rd anniversary, but the biggest challenge GOTCHAROCKA should be taking on right now is the album Royale (to be released in June). The tour based on the album has already been set in motion, so right now the most important thing in my/our mind(s) is “thinking about what is necessary to GOTCHAROCKA and how to realize them.” Because we are feeling the strong sensation that we are creating something important, I think it is an album that can portray our growth. In the midst of our recent more relaxing period of time, we are creating songs while reaffirming those thoughts.
Jui: However on the contrary, maybe because it’s a period of time where we have time, I also end up wondering, “are we thinking this too calmly?”. When writing lyrics, many things come to mind, but I have no idea which ones to pick. Originally, I’m more fitting of the type that somehow creates something from accumulation of daily happenings, but now it’s a period of time where I’m creating and deleting things at the same time.
How about lives? This fall, you are holding designed/planned monthly lives, in December you are doing tours in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. At this point in time, what are your thoughts in regards to the lives?
Jui: The monthly 3 lives are kind of like a festival. We were wondering if we can display a side of us that can’t be seen in usual lives.
JUN: For the designed lives, while we do intend to show a different side of us, it’s also a way for us to see a different side of the audience. There were many things, for instance in August during Toya’s birthday live, we secretly replaced the song ‘shortcake’ with ‘Happy Birthday’ without letting him know to celebrate. Until that point, I was secretly wondering ‘how’s it gonna turn out, mufufu~” and when I saw the happy expressions on the audience’s faces, I can’t help but enjoy every bit of it (laughs). So for my birthday live in November (Nov 15 @Kobe), to go to the extremes, I wanna be the ticket-collector or the one making drinks and all (laughs)
Toya: We shall do something fun (laughs)~
Recently I feel that GOTCHAROCKA is a band that is really good at ‘switching on and off’. Like how in the 3 years GOTCHAROCKA has been active, the stances you have accumulated naturally comes along.
Jui: We don’t create the liveliness consciously, they somehow comes about naturally. For me, I am the type to prefer showing the side of me that is exactly how I am, but when we were doing something fun, I do enjoy myself so it is also a side of me that’s exactly how I am. GOTCHAROCKA didn’t start with our concepts and values been firmly put in place, but when we release a work, the way we want to show ourselves are becoming solidified to a certain extent. But it doesn’t mean that our entrance is getting narrower; it means that as a band with a world view, we are able to move more freely within the breadth of the band. In other words, it’s not that we are starting to see different expressions, it may be just that our individual personalities are beginning to show at different timings
So that being your opinion that you are gradually expressing yourselves that way. I am certainly looking forward to your subsequent works and lives.
Toya: For the tour in December, the lives in Nagoya and Osaka are held in rather compact locations. I think it will become a live where there will be strong desires for souls. [awkward expression I know…] On the contrary, the final show in Akasaka Blitz, it will be held in a large space, in a very attractive [live] ‘box’. I think it is place that is very fitting of the current GOTCHAROCKA’s ambience and style, so I want to properly convey the feels that time.
Jui: For me…I just wanna sing. Even though I say I wanna sing, i don’t simply think just that, and it does not mean I want to sing on my own. I want to sing at a place where there are people who truly want to hear my songs.
JUN: Did you hear that!? What Jui-san said. “I don’t want to sing on my own” it’s exactly that!! A song that people want to hear has some sort of power, I feel. Within GOTCHAROCKA, we are a band that often thinks, “Just leave this section to me!”, hence I have the confidence to be able to handle the responsibility of performing to the audience. Hence, until this year’s final one man live (at Akasaka BLITZ), I want to create a GOTCHAROCKA live with everyone. Everyday we think about what kind of band we want to be, that’s why I want to do a live that comprises all that we have accumulated. And then, make those become reality with everyone. That is our current wish.
Wow it’s been forever since I last posted anything...well recently I’m kinda taking a break from jrock and currently more into the anime/seiyuu fandom so I was doing more stuff over there...(if you’re interested, I’m at http://anokoe.tumblr.com) So I won’t be initiating any projects for the time being... However I will be taking requests~ so if you have an article you want translated or a video you want subbed, send me a message~
Anyway, this is a request from @nika24u
Shoxx Gotcharocka A-Z Interview
In this order:
Jui (Vo)
Toya (Gt)
Jun (Gt)
( ) <-- what’s in the interview [ ] <-- my notes
A age (What do you think is your mental age?)
5 years
25
13 years Jun-san...
B blood (What blood type do you think represent your personality best?)
Type O
Type O
Many didn’t expect me to be Type O, people often thought I’m a Type B
C character (Analyze yourself)
Sometimes a psychopath
A dark guitarist who finds most things troublesome
A multi-colored clattering monster that goes by with a BAAAANG
D diary (Please write about yesterday in diary format
caught a cold. Please help me
Yesterday, I went to a Tendon-ya and ate tendon! It was really delicious! I wanna go again!
Yesterday was Gotcharocka’s 3rd anniversary live! It was fun and touching, I love the fans! The members had great expressions too! While heading back home, I felt a smiley, good kind of tiredness! Before going home, I ate a hamburger! When the wrong burger was brought to me, I said, “It’s the wrong one!”, they apologized and made a new one for me! It was delicious! I got back and slept!
E emotion (Recent emotional events[happy, angry, sad, fun])
Happy: 3rd year anniversary live I guess
Happy: Went through Gotcharocka’s 3rd anniversary without issues
Happy: The new song sounds great~
Angry: My mac[book] doesnt work
Angry: the road was crowded
Angry: There was a really noisy fella on the train
Sad: My mac is reaching the end of its life
Sad: As the live came to an end I kinda felt lonely
Sad: My (older) brother debuted as an idol….
Fun: Production work
Fun: Being able to do whatever I want during my first birthday live
Fun: The tour was really fun!
F friend (a recent bandman you made friends with)
—————
None, recently I think
The people I got even closer with are the people from Spatz [スパッツ] [Jun’s session band. I don’t really know the English name for this band…]
G girl (The type of girl you like)
Someone good at different things
A kira-kira person [sparkling/shiny]
Someone whom I can get along with with and someone who likes me
H hit (A recent hit for you?) [hit, in the sense like hit music, the hits, something you like etc]
Water containing hydrogen
Local beers generally tastes great
I buy fruits yoghurt everyday
I image (Please imagine how you’d be like 10 years from now)
none, I guess
My personality’s like this so I probably won’t change much
GEH! I wonder if I’ll be flashy playing the guitar! Well that would be funny
J jewel (treasure)
The personality known as Jui
Everyone
GR’s guitar
K kid (A name you’d name a child. Include the reason)
De Niro [probably referring to Robert De Niro] (reason: I want to raise a child who can act)
Tofu (reason: Food names are cute)
Toukichirou followed by Hideyoshi [Famous person from the Sengoku period] (reason: because I can’t think of one)
L like (your favorite song among your band’s songs)
Akai Eki
Kyousou Royal
What a crazy question! (Kyousou Royal)
M member (Your first impression of your members)
Jun: Refreshing smile
Toya: Kinda snappy
Jui-san is really adult
Jun is a really cheerful person
Jui-san: Oh! What an up and coming Vo!
Toya: That is some ikemen there
N native (Something you’re proud of in your hometown)
It’s full of kind and down-to-earth people who would stop right away at the yellow light.
People in Yokohama in Kanagawa-ken are generally nice people, but a person living there have no idea what’s really nice about it
Kobe has beautiful mountains and oceans and night sceneries, the sweets tastes great, and there are many fashionable shops, well, it’s unparalleled
O one (If you can have one wish granted, what would it be?)
I’d wish for everyday to be different
10 million sales
Please tell me all the things that I don’t know I will like
P produce (please produce a slogan for each of your members)
Jun: Urevo RED [urevo/uribo - probably referring to the visa card]
Hey ! I know we, gumins, can be a little annoying but, i got a Gab interview with yo-ka and.. Mao of Sadie.. I can't snd u any screenshot so, would you mind to tell me how? And of course, You're not forced to translate it ! :3 But yeah thanks ! (I tried to translate it on my own but well, it turned pretty bad hehe)
you can send screenshots to my email: [email protected] ~ usually interviews don’t take up a lot of my time ^^
Hi i want to ask you .. Is that Yo-ka and Gotcharocka interview complete? I just ask because it looks so short, i hope dont get mad with me for ask you that. As i always said thanks for all that you translate , you make a good job ..
Well, based on the images I received, that was it...^_^;; I was pretty surprised too when I finished to the end
[Translation] Jui (Gotcharocka) x yo-ka (Diaura) Interview
From GAB magazine Vol 77, released on 1st Oct 2015
request from @call-my-master~
Jui (Gotcharocka) x yo-ka (Diaura) Interview
( ) <-- what’s in the magazine [ ] <-- my notes
Yoka: There is this thing called the “North-east gathering”. The eldest guy is Asagi-san [D], the second is Jui-san and the third is me. We are always holding wine in one hand during that gathering (lol)
What do you talk about during the gathering? Do you talk about one another’s band?
Jui: We do. Though, actually I don’t want to talk about bands, since it takes energy to
Yoka: I probably only get that honest during the gathering
It’s not easy to hear inside information from others in the same industry. Besides the point that you are both born from the same North-east region, what other factors contributed to you two being able to share talks openly?
Yoka: I was simply taken in by the fact that he sings well. If he was not a good singer, even if we are born from the same Tohoku region, I probably won’t be this friendly with him.
Jui: Me too. My first impression of Yoka was that he is good at singing and skilled. When I went to see their one-man live at Shibuya Kou, I thought “I gotta work harder”.
Yoka: I’m flattered (shy laugh). Recording technology are pretty developed now, so it’s easy to tweek the performance of instruments and the voice.
Jui: When you hear the sounds from the [CD] and thought they’re cool, and then you go see the live and it’s a totally different thing. That kind of stuff happens often ne.
Yoka: Back when I was a listener, I got all my information from just CDs, magazines and lives. Now it’s easy to get information and while there is a good side to it, depending on what it is, there are some parts to it that I don’t feel is good. Music being uploaded to video sites, words being easily tweeted on Twitter, it kinda feels more superficial now.
Jui: There were times I thought about that too, I wanted to quit Twitter all together
Yoka: Me too, I feel I should just quit [Twitter]
Jui: I thought, "What good is there in knowing our charms?”
Yoka: Exactly! As an artist, the “work” that we produce is a 100% reflection of ourselves. In other words, we are now getting ‘eaten’ by ‘organizations’ such as Twitter.
Jui: There were times where I feel, that is not where an artist should focus his or her energy on.
Yoka: Like, what can come out of those numbers? For example, if I have a million followers, does that mean I can do a good live?, no it does not. That’s not how one starts out. Me thinking that I want to quit Twitter at some point is not a reflection of my arrogance. It’s about going back to my roots. [Twitter] is not the reason I started out in music.
You would want people, whether bands or the audience, to see you based on your music and live performances.
Yoka: This is like the ‘North-east gathering’. This is the mood at 3am (lol).
Sorry that I didn’t prepare the wine (lol). Just like what Yoka-san mentioned earlier, in the past when I can only obtain information from CDs, magazines and lives, it was fun wondering, “what kind of people [from bands] they are!?” but now with Twitter, there are quite a number of bandmen who will show their personal lives.
Jui: Even if the audience wants to know those, I don’t think it’s a good idea to show it. I wanted to tell somebody that (lol)
Yoka: Because we are vocalists. Both of us write music and lyrics and that is where we express our inner selves, and letting people know about our daily lives is not a proof of our existence. Taking photos after live performances is also an example; if it’s with people I know, it's fine. But for a certain event, I met a band member on that day itself for the first time, and suddenly that person asks, “yoka-san! please take a photo with me. Please let me exchange phone numbers with you!”. Honestly, I hate that. (All laughs)
Jui: I hate that too. Because it’s not like you’re gonna talk to me the next time we meet anyway (lol)
Yoka: I think there should be a procedure to it. You meet a person, have a good talk, and then get to know each other better. As an artist who publish “works” of self-expression, I feel that you are thoughtlessly overstepping that artist’s boundaries [by asking to take picture on first meeting etc]. I think as a fellow artist, you should respect another artist’s area.
After this interview is published, I guess there will be way fewer bandmen approaching the two of you (lol)
Both: Aah~, people will be talking to us less and less! (All laughs)
I’m too busy to do anything lately so I can only upload raws...
Download
Key: !RhJ5E5rgzqoZAAqCjC9Y50VJIMKMPAO1ECC_cp8cUg4
I kinda like Spyair, and also I used to watch Gintama a lot haha, so recorded their part here. I did not have the other bands’ parts but hopefully Google can help you find them....
I wish I can sub this but I simply don’t have the time orz...and I’m working on other subs so... o.o
