Die Interview in Phy Vol. 28 + Scans
Dir en grey's new album is only about halfway done, running behind schedule.
Other translation notes on the interview:
Die confirmed that, at most, they were only a little over halfway into creating their new album. He considers that the melody of the two new songs that they played on Tour25 The Mortal Chapter 0 is simple, and he said that that is the direction that the band agreed to take from now on with their songs ever since they met in person to discuss the composition of The Devil In Me. The new songs are a departure from their more progressive genre, where a lot of different sounds and directions are used. For Die, apparently it's at least partly due to the fact that they started using ear monitors, which gives all the members "click" sounds for when to start playing, rather than to rely on the drummer. He feels like that takes away from the live feeling, especially because there are more clicks that they hear in their ears the more complicated the song is. But according to him, it's hard to go back to traditional means after you start using the ear monitors.
They are also hoping that this change in melody (i.e. the drums playing "behind tempo" and the beat created by the other instruments taking more space) will help shift Dir en grey toward more of a "live" band, to bring out more rawness.
He repeated that they only meet when rehearsing for tours, as they record everything separately.
While they know that they could probably tour without having new material, Dir en grey wouldn't be content with that. He finds that it can come off as arrogant and condescending toward the fans.
Because they keep thinking that there's more that they can do with the songs that they are composing, he realized that they constantly set the bar too high for themselves.
To this day, after more than 25 years in his career, Die still feels a sense of nervousness and tension on stage, at least for the first half of a show. In fact, that anxiety of doing everything properly in the shows has increased lately. He's sure that the other members feel the same way too.
Especially with Shinya, Die has told him that he doesn't have to play it exactly like the live version, but Shinya is stubborn. Die doesn't want him to be reckless, because he understands that drumming can be a big physical burden.
Seeing Alfee perform at Budokan in his 70s made him see how much potential there is and made him feel like just a child. In general, nobody in Dir en grey feels like they should be adjust their live performance based on their age.