[Live Report] the GazettE Celebrates 20th Anniversary. The brilliance of every era is still intact
Formed 20 years ago in 2002, the GazettE held their first live concert at Meguro Rokumeikan on March 10, 2002. since then, the GazettE has steadily grown in scale, performing in arenas and expanding overseas, and continues to reign as one of the leading artists in the visual kei genre. To commemorate their 20th anniversary, the GazettE held their "20th ANNIVERSARY -HERESY-" at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium 1st Gymnasium on March 10.
the GazettE was scheduled to hold its 18th anniversary concert on March 10, 2020 at the Musashino no Mori Sports Plaza Main Arena, but decided to cancel the event after the Corona disaster occurred. The band then stopped all live activities until late 2021, so this was their first anniversary live performance in five years. It is also important to note that this was the follow-up concert to "LIVE 2021 -DEMONSTRATION EXPERIMENT- BLINDING HOPE" (held in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka from September to December 2021), which announced the resumption of live activities.
＜Since "LIVE 2021 -DEMONSTRATION EXPERIMENT- BLINDING HOPE" was such a great live performance, it is not difficult to imagine that both the GazettE and their fans were highly motivated going into this concert. On the day of the concert, the Yoyogi National Stadium 1st Gymnasium was filled to the very last row of the second floor stands, and the venue was filled with excitement even before the show began.
The live started with the hard tunes "UNDYING," "Filth in the beauty," and "DAWN" in succession. All members of the GazettE wore black jackets with crisp silhouettes, and the roaring sound that shook the venue was the coolest thing ever. The audience responded to the GazettE with enthusiastic reactions such as head banging and folding, and the live got off to a great start.
I turned 20 years old. I didn't expect so many people to show up in the midst of the Corona disaster, but now that they have come, I will do my best to entertain you all, so please give me your best. We want to give you guys our thanks for the past 20 years. After the MC by RUKI (Vo), "We want to make it such a day," the second block performed a succession of songs including the uppity "INSIDE BEAST," the bewitching "Ganges ni Beni Roses," and the high-tension "Urareru Tongues," among others. The large scale of the performance, which even used up the sub-stages on both sides of the stage, was a great spectacle to watch, and the sound was always tight, which was truly brilliant. I couldn't help but think again, "the GazettE really looks good in a big venue.
In the middle part of the show, the band played "Falling" with its heavy sound and RUKI's passionate vocals, the emotional slow tune "Kouren", and the dark and heavy "Babyloon's Taboo" and "Dogma". I was surprised that the performance did not feel sluggish or dull despite the so-called "drag-out" type numbers. In addition to the quality of the music, this is largely due to the excellent skills of all the members as players. the GazettE's expressive ability as a band, which they have built up over the past 20 years, is overwhelming, and I was drawn in by the flow that deepened their worldview with a sense of storytelling.
I thought by now we could do a normal live performance with our voices. It's been a while since I've heard your voice, you know. We haven't heard your voice for a long time. We'll respond to you with the loudest sound we've ever heard, so let's go wild. It doesn't matter if we don't have voices! Let's go wild like we do! Following RUKI's agitation, the second half of the live featured the dynamic "VORTEX," "Akai Onepiece" with a "sharp retro" feel, "TOMORROW" with a catchy and powerful chorus and "NEVER DIES NEVER DIES" and others were performed as if in a rush.
RUKI (G), who sings with passion as she moves from one stage to the next emitting a gorgeous aura; Rei (G), who captivates with her stage presence revealing her inner passion and brilliant guitar solos; and Aoi (G), who plays solid backing and emotional lead work with a cool expression. Aoi (G), with her cool expression, delivers solid backing and emotional lead work. Reita (B) has an attractive silhouette with his bass held around his knees and raging heavy bass sound. The chemistry and sense of band created by these five different personalities was becoming stronger and stronger. The audience reacted enthusiastically with both intensity and a sense of unity, and the show ended on a high note.
The encore included the stylish "SHIVER," the fading medium tune "Cassis," and "LINDA~candydive Pinky heaven~," which utilized the exhilaration of punk music. The encore, which was different from the main show that focused on heaviness, was a fun encore that attracted the audience with its instantaneous energy and sharpness, and the audience was bursting with joy at the succession of nostalgic numbers. The GazettE left the stage with the feeling that the vast Yoyogi National Stadium 1st Gymnasium had completely become their world, and that the night had left a strong impression on everyone, including the members, audience, and staff.
The GazettE performed a dense live show at their first arena concert in three years, and the setlist for this anniversary concert was a mix of old and new songs, which reaffirmed their constant evolution and change, as well as their high level of musicality. The songs from any period of time are of very high quality, and there is no doubt that the GazettE has always faced music with a sincere attitude and created their works with a rigorous approach. Although the GazettE is often talked about in terms of their unique presence and character, they are a band with a very strict musical supremacy. The GazettE's 20th anniversary is merely a milestone for them, and their live performance was a strong indication that their appeal will only grow from this point on.
Finally, I would like to note what each member said at the concert.
I think 20 years is a long time. To be honest, it is not that easy to keep dreaming, and I think it has not been a smooth road at all. I think it is each and every one of you who are here, who have told me that you love the GazettE, who have kept the band standing here, who have kept this place safe. It is a miracle that everyone who has gathered here is dreaming the same dream, and I believe that this stage is possible because of the light that everyone is shining on us. Thank you for following us this far. Please continue to see the same dream together for as long as you can in your life, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support over the past 20 years" (RUKI)
Thank you very much for your support over the past 20 years. It has been 20 years since we first performed live. During that time, we have been supported by many people and have been able to learn a lot of things as we went along. I believe that all of them have helped me to improve myself and make us shine. I have been the most bored and reckless of the four of them, and they have helped me every time. Without the four of them, it would be meaningless to me. （Thank you very much for not letting go of my hand and walking with me. And thank you very, very much, everyone.
Thank you for your hard work. I am really happy that so many people celebrated with me today, even in this world. There are many bands that have been doing this for 20 years, but I don't think there are many bands that have been running for 20 years. And I think we have been able to do that, and we intend to keep running, so let's all run together. Thank you very much for today. I love you." (REITA)
Thanks to all of you, we have been able to continue to create this kind of space for 20 years without any change. It is very difficult to stay the same, actually. It takes a lot of power, and I think we are able to keep our style unchanged because everyone keeps the same. So please continue to stay the same. Thank you very much.
After 20 years as a band, my simple thought is to express my gratitude to all the fans who have supported us. I really feel a deep bond after 20 years of doing this. Twenty years have passed with that bond, but let's keep going forward for 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 years (laughs). I look forward to working with you. Thank you very much.
20th Anniversary Live Report - Rhythm & Drums Magazine (2022.03.26)
the GazettEが活動20周年の感謝を届けたアニバーサリー公演「20th ANNIVERSARY -HERESY-」【Report】
the GazettE delivered an anniversary performance "20th ANNIVERSARY -HERESY-" to express their gratitude for their 20th anniversary [Report]
Visual rock band the GazettE, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, held an anniversary concert "20th ANNIVERSARY -HERESY-" at Yoyogi National Stadium 1st Gymnasium in Tokyo on March 10. Here is a report on the live performance, which marked a milestone in the long-running activities of the group. The audience was waiting for the members to perform at the arena-class venue for the first time in three years due to the Corona disaster, and as the fans who came to celebrate the 20th anniversary waited, the lights went dark and the members appeared on stage with gorgeous lighting effects. The audience welcomed them with applause instead of cheers.
The first song they chose for the memorable show was "Undying," which started with an aggressive blast beat. The band started off with "UNDYING," which started with an aggressive blast beat, and then vocalist RUKI started to play "Yoyogi, let's go wild! The audience was quickly heated up by "Filth in the beauty," a standard live song, with the vocalist RUKI's incitement, "Let's go wild, Yoyogi! During the interlude of the song, the drummer Kai performed a "spinning head-bang," in which he shook his head clockwise in time with the song, as did the other members of the band, and his dexterous performance brought a sense of unity to the show.
The drum set used by Kai on this day was his longtime favorite Yamaha Live Custom, consisting of 2 basses, 3 toms, 1 floor tom, and a newly introduced Miner cymbal in a multi-point set-up. He raised his sticks high in the air and swung them down in a single motion, sounding one beat at a time with a dynamic movement that inspired the entire audience to respond to him.
After delivering "DAWN" and going into the MC, RUKI expressed his enthusiasm, "We don't want to be celebrated for our 20th anniversary, we want to deliver 20 years' worth of gratitude. Following this, Commandment smiled and rang out a light snare-driven beat, inviting the audience to clap their hands before launching into a performance of "INSIDE BEAST". The drum lineup continued with the melancholy number "Red Roses in Ganges," which began with a percussive drum solo, and featured drumming that brought out the elongated voice of the singer, as well as delicate cymbal work that colored the melodic bass solo by Reita and the gorgeous guitar solo by Rei. Rei's guitar solo was backed up by solid beats and tom fills. Commanding also took the lead at the beginning of "Tongue that Betrays," which stirred up the song with dizzying musical developments, and he enlivened this "riotous song" with his slow and steady drumming that mixed a tank-like heavy section with a number of foot strokes and a sturdy half-time approach. The "riotous song" was enlivened by the slow and rapid drumming, which also mixed in a stolid half-time approach.
Congratulations! Tenth album! It’s a big milestone. Could you tell us about getting your first major release? What were your feelings and hopes in those days?
RUKI: The first album we released under a major contract was our second, NIL. Looking back to those days, there are some parts that feel the same as today. Being "indie" or "major", I was never really aware of being either, and I still feel that way now. My focus has always been on the work we're putting out and how to keep surprising fans.
URUHA: Back in those days I wasn't aware that a major debut was an option for the GazettE, so I didn't really have any expectations. And not much has changed since then, our driving force remains the same; to keep making songs and performances to the best of our abilities.
AOI: I never expected to be in a band that could make as many as ten albums! I would like to thank all of the fans who have supported us along the way.
REITA: I remember desperately trying to make the first album with no knowledge of the right way to do it, but I worked hoping that we could make something that a lot of other people would listen to. That feeling keeps getting stronger and stronger.
KAI: To be honest, I never expected to be in a band that would last such a long time! This is also thanks to all the fans from all over the world that have supported us! Thank you very much.
Did you have a list of things you wanted to accomplish back then?
RUKI: One of the things I wanted to achieve back then was to build on our live activities, playing in small venues, and building our way up to be a band that plays large concert halls or arenas. Naturally, I also wanted as many people as possible to know about the band. Now we're focusing on perfecting our live show and evolving our music.
URUHA: At that time my main goal was to keep playing bigger and bigger shows.
AOI: I think they were pretty much the same as other bands who grew up around the 80's-90's music scene, although I think we achieved almost all of them.
REITA: I'd never really set any goals in terms of selling a certain amount of CDs or performing a number of shows. Our goal was to be a cool band.
KAI: I don't remember any clear goals except always aiming for the top!
Have you accomplished everything on the list?
RUKI: Not yet, but in a sense there's no goal.
URUHA: I've realised that it's a goal that can always be bettered.
AOI: Does it count being recognised by many people and becoming a professional musician?
REITA: Not yet, but we're always getting one step closer.
KAI: We're still trying.
Has the GazettE's progression changed in ways you didn't expect?
RUKI: I think it's been different to what I originally imagined for us, but in a good way.
URUHA: We haven't really evolved in the way that was expected, but that's not necessarily bad.
AOI: the GazettE has never once welcomed a producer. It certainly gave us endless freedom, but it also takes a lot of time to evolve. I've enjoyed all the unexpected twists and turns along the way, so I'm very happy about the progress we've made, even the smaller steps.
REITA: It's taking longer than I expected, but we're still evolving.
KAI: Being able to attract attention from all over the world is really beyond my imagination!
When I first heard 'NOX' and 'LAST SONG' from the MASS sampler I had goosebumps from excitement. They sound so fresh, modern and different to your releases so far, yet they still sound very much "the GazettE". To us, it feels like you have at least two songs each album that really stand out as different to anything you've previously done. Is this something you're consciously aiming for?
RUKI: It'd make me very happy if you feel the freshness and evolution in the band in not just those tracks, but the entire album. What's always in my mind when song writing is whether we can excite ourselves as well as the listener. I believe that if something excites us, it will naturally pump up the listener too.
URUHA: I'm grateful that you felt that way. Despite a new approach and nuance to our sound, what underlies it is clearly the GazettE.
REITA: It's difficult to make something our own and keep things fresh, I’m glad that you could understand and appreciate that.
"Come back to the light" seems to echo through MASS. It's also among the only times English is used on the album, which makes it feel even more special and targeted. Is this a key theme to MASS? What other themes are there?
RUKI: "Come back to the light" can be thought of how we feel regarding live performances at this time. It's both our raison d'etre and the reason for making music. The pandemic forced us to stay still, so this album offers hope for this situation.
Who have you been listening to recently? We've been going through The Offspring's discography again, it made the pandemic a bit more enjoyable.
URUHA: For me, it's been Bring Me The Horizon, Northlane and ZEDD.
AOI: I was working on MASS right up to the final minutes of release, so I haven’t had much time to chill out and listen to what's going on right now. I’m always working on rock music, so when I’m by myself lately I tend to listen to jazz.
REITA: Hey! The Offspring happen to be one of my favourite bands of the last 25 years! I still listen to them now. I didn't expect others to be listening to them during the pandemic. When they come to Japan I go and see them.
KAI: The Offspring, great! Personally, I’ve been really into Japanese artist Ado-san recently.
Your music video always seem so cinematic, BLINDING HOPE especially! Who are some of your favourite movie directors, and have their works directly influences some of your work?
RUKI: I watch a lot of movies and music videos, regardless of genre. So I wouldn't say a particular single director has had a distinct influence, rather it's the accumulation of the lighting, camera work and story editing that I've seen up to this point that is reflected in the video for 'BLINDING HOPE'.
As always, thank you for the overseas releases and for the world tours. We think you're in a very rare position as a band from Japan, to have had such a big impact overseas and to have toured the world. What kind of things have you learnt from these interactions and experiences?
RUKI: While working mainly from Japan, our material has reached all over the world. It's a miraculous feeling to know that. And with regards to touring, the experience of performing on stage in various countries has definitely strengthened our spirit perhaps even more than our music. I feel that the GazettE in its current form has been established by it.
URUHA: What had a big influence on me was how the way of communicating varies from country to country, but the fans could still show their excitement and feelings beside us on stage. That really left an impression on me in a good way.
AOI: I could feel it in the last world tour. I felt that it’s gone from "Japanese music being enjoyed by a core audience" to a much more general audience of "people enjoying a show". From these experiences, I came to think about all of our projects in way in which overseas fans can also enjoy.
REITA: It's great motivation to know that people are rooting for you all over the world. It's also interesting to see that the songs that get the crowd going overseas are different to those in Japan, it's fun to notice those details.
KAI: I think these experiences overseas have definitely improved the band! It broadens our horizons as well as influences the music we make!
Any final messages for international fans who bought MASS?
RUKI: Once the global pandemic is under control, the GazettE will be back on stage with our latest progression. Please wait for it, we're looking forward to that time.
URUHA: Thank you for your continued support. What did you think about our new album MASS? How happy it would make me to play in front of you all again someday. I hope that time will come and that if you have a chance, you come and join us on tour!
AOI: I'm definitely coming back to the UK once the pandemic's over. We're preparing for that day and very much looking forward to it. Until then, please listen to MASS to get you in the spirit. Also, don't forgot to check out the member's Twitter and Instagram accounts. So, until we meet again...!
REITA: Thank you as always! I am looking forward to the day we will be able to get excited with everyone on a world tour again. Until then, please take care of yourselves and have fun. I Really want to meet you. Please listen to MASS a lot until then.
KAI: I don't know when it will be, but we definitely want to do another world tour! Please wait!
the GazettEが明かすライブ美学と、バンド活動への信念「“ヴィジュアル系のあり方”を示していきたい」
the GazettE reveals the aesthetics of their live performances and their belief in their band activities: "We want to show what 'Visual-kei' should be.”
The live aesthetic revealed by the GazettE and the belief of their band activities “we want to present the visual-kei how it should be”
The GazettE released their 9th album NINTH on the 13th of June 2019 and will release their DVD on the 4th of March. It will contain all footage of their LIVE TOUR 18-19 THE NINTH, which has been going on for over a year.
This time the DVD contains 61 lives and backstage material of Live Tour18 THE NINTH / PHASE #01-PHENOMENON-, Live Tour18 THE NINTH / PHASE # 02-ENHANCEMENT-, which took place in live houses, as well as LIVE TOUR18-19 THE NINTH PHASE #03 GEKIJŌ HA DŌMŌ which took place in small places for the first time in 12 years like Takadanobaba AREA and Meguro Rockmaykan, WORLD TOUR19 THE NINTH PHASE #4 -99.999-, LIVE TOUR18-19 THE NINTH PHASE #5 KONKETSU at Yokosuka Arts Theater and LIVE TOUR18-19 THE NINTH TOUR FINAL DAIKYŪ at Yokohama Arena.
This time we interviewed Kai (Dr.) and Reita (Ba.) and talked about the aesthetics of the lives and their thoughts of the fans, while reflecting their thoughts on the tour during that time.
Lives at small lives houses became possible through time and the improvement of technology
Interviewer: The LIVE TOUR18-19 THE NINTH which went on for over one year, was a long tour with 61 lives. If you look back on it, what kind of tour was it?
Kai: Usually we always moved from hall tours to live halls, therefore we didn’t include small clubs yet. So, the content was quite rich.
REITA: I think that amount of lives was necessary to completely sublimate NINTH. We wanted to proof that lives of the GazettE are enchanting at all kind of venues and I think we were able to make that clear.
Interviewer: Was the reason to include small capacity live houses for this tour also because NINTH is to discover the history of the GazettE and therefore you also had the intention to follow the path you have walked so far, with halls of smaller capacity?
Kai: That’s correct. As you said, because NINTH is an album that binds together the history of the GazettE, it was a natural flow to also visit several small live houses.
Interviewer: Based on the comments from each member, the Live Tour18 THE NINTH / Phase#01-PHENOMENON- (PHASE#1 hereafter) in halls was a great start. Is that because you created NINTH while thinking about lives?
Kai: Our previous work DOGMA was too special, and we felt like returning to our previous style, but beside that, this time we were able to start exactly as expected. Therefore, we were able to deepen the content from an early stage.
Interviewer: REITA also said the same on the DVD, correct?
REITA: Everyone was quick to catch the feeling and because the fans understood our intention to “shine at lives” and because they moved their bodies right from the first day, the start position was set high, and therefore you can reach even higher places.
Interviewer: PHASE#1 started as expected, but the documentary shows also detailed briefing sessions of the direction and sound settings, as well as the intervals between songs.
Kai: I remember that the parts between the songs were more difficult during the DOGMA tour. Because regarding the NINTH songs, we had various candidate songs, older songs included, but because it was quite easy to match and handle these songs, the intervals between the songs weren’t difficult. However, it was good that we were able to concentrate our efforts on that early and thanks to that the degree of perfection was high compared to previous tours.
Interviewer: That the previous songs match the NINTH ones, is not only because you unraveled your history, but also because you can feel the essence of your older songs, which leads to a compatibility, right?
Kai: The concept of DOGMA was too strong and there were many restrictions for the candidate songs of the previous tour. You can say, that those disappeared and went back to normal, but as you also mentioned, the NINTH songs feel closer to our older songs.
Interviewer: They also don’t feel out of place if you match the songs with the ones from DOGMA.
Kai: I wonder why, though? (laughs). That’s really strange.
Interviewer: The following Live Tour18 THE NINTH / PHASE #02-ENHANCEMENT- was a live house tour. How was it compared to PHASE#1?
REITA: The image was getting solid during the hall tour, but I think we were able to release that image during the live house tour and we were able to concentrate on the intervals between the songs, the set list and our stage presence rather than on the direction.
Kai: The NINTH songs itself had a great potential, that’s why we investigated the approach of each song. We updated the candidate songs for set list to make the songs of NINTH stand out even further and I think it was a section that enchanted the ideology of the album deeply.
Interviewer: So, the small club tour LIVE TOUR18-19 THE NINTH PHASE #03 GEKIJŌ HA DŌMŌ (hereafter: PHASE#3) attracted public attention. I remember that at the time of the announcement it caused quite a commotion.
REITA: I was looking forward the announcement (laugh). Like: how is that?!
All: (laugh).
Interviewer: I think it’s been nearly 12 years since you had lives at Takadanobaba AREA and Meguro Rockmaykan in 2007.
REITA: Accompanied by the improvement of our technology, we sometimes talked about playing in small clubs, but faced the problem that our equipment probably wouldn’t fit, but with the time we also grew up and could afford more compact equipment, which made it possible to fit on stage.
Interviewer: If the stage is too small, it happens that the equipment does not fit, right?
REITA: Kai finally made his drums more compact. Because so far he had been too stubborn to do so (laughs).
Kai: (laughs). Also, beside the equipment, the old the GazettE thought it wasn’t possible to present an ideology in small clubs. But we didn’t have to worry about that this time, because I think rather than the appearance, it’s thanks to the strength of the NINTH songs that they create an ideology.
Interviewer: So far, you have also talked about doing lives at small clubs, right?
Kai: Of course, I wanted to do it, but because we’re a band, if just one person is against it, then the conversation is over.
Interviewer: Does that mean there was someone who said ‘nah’? (laughs).
Kai: That’s not what I mean (laughs), but it’s the bands atmosphere. We actually also talked about it during DOGMA, but the reason for not doing it, was probably because of said atmosphere in the band.
Interviewer: In that sense, the previous SAITEIGI tour, the 15th anniversary show Dainippon Itan Geisha “GUDON NO SAKURA” and BURST INTO A BLAZE 3 where fans could decide the set list by voting, had the purpose of reflecting your past and that the album NINTH was the result of those lives means that it was necessary at that point, right?
Kai: That’s correct. I think it was a natural flow.
Interviewer: Is there a memorable place?
Kai: It was nostalgic everywhere.
REITA: Of course, Meguro Rockmaykan, where we had our first live and Takadanobaba AREA I think.
Interviewer: At AREA you had your first oneman live where you sold tickets to the fans, right?
REITA: That’s correct. I think there were around 220 people.
Interviewer: That’s half of the live house’s capacity, but the GazettE also had such days, right? Do you remember the latest live at AREA?
Kai: Surprisingly I have the impression that the fans were shyer.
REITA: Especially on the first day.
Kai: I was like: ‚Eh? What are you guys doing?’ (laughs). Maybe they were shy because the distance was too close. That happens, but the first day was really terrible, right?
REITA: It was terrible! They weren’t excited at all!
Interviewer: Personally, I was worried that AREA would be destroyed, but it was indeed an unexpected development.
REITA: It was also very unexpected for us, but just because you challenge them, doesn’t mean that the distance to the fans vanishes, right? It felt as if we met for the first time on a matchmaking party (laugh)!
Kai: Because RUKI addressed that matter directly in the MC the next day, it got better, but the first day had a strange atmosphere (laughs).
REITA: Even when I went to the railing during the live, no one was touching me. Back then they would pull of my electrical jack. Well, I think it’s because everyone grew up, but it was a little different from how I thought it would be.
Interviewer: Even though the live was as imagined, that only was unexpected.
REITA: It was (laughs).
Interviewer: I heard a story that the Rockmaykan staff labeled you as “won’t sell”.
REITA: Not only the Rockmaykan, many people said we “won’t sell”.
Kai: Because of that, we’re standing here now.
REITA: Only our manager told us we would sell (laughs).
Interviewer: But I think that the tour affirmed your past with your current form.
Kai: We certainly stopped caring about the people around us and what they said at one point.
Interviewer: At the MC during the final of PHASE #3 at TSUTAYA O-EAST you mentioned that “the bands philosophy and belief is that they do what they think is right” and I feel that the band’s core is unshaken and consistent, and the unflattering attitude is also typical for the GazettE.
Kai: That’s correct. We started to think that it’s irrelevant that we are like this, because our surroundings were like that.
Interviewer: We heard that during the section of the WORLD TOUR19 THE NINTH PHASE #4 -99.999- (hereafter PHASE#4), the bands belief was also firmly introduced to the foreign fans. I even feel that they watch the GazettE with the same sensibility as the Japanese fans, but is that something you experienced first-hand?
REITA: No matter in which country we played, I do think that we were able to give lives with the same feelings as in Japan. You could say that you don’t care about where you play as soon as the live starts
Interviewer: I have a feeling that this sensation is rare, but was it like that since the previous world tours?
REITA: No, at first I got carried away by how many fans we also have overseas! (laughs)
Interviewer: During SONO KOE HA MOROKU some fans were moved to tears, exactly like Japanese fans
REITA: I think that they maybe translated the lyrics, but I felt that they listened to it seriously.
Kai: Oversea fans are very eager in their studies, right?
Interviewer: On the contrary, I have the impression that the reaction to the handshake event after the performance was special overseas.
REITA: In Japan I don’t know whether they are happy, because they are so embarrassed that they won’t meet our eyes (laughs). In that regard, the oversea fans react honestly, and therefore it feels good for us, too
Interviewer: Furthermore, there are also some that got interested in Japanese culture because of the GazettE.
Kai: Because of us? Is that okay? (laugh)
REITA: I’m worried if they aren’t misunderstanding Japanese culture (laugh).
Interviewer: As a matter of course, there is the image of visual-kei = Japanese culture, right?
REITA: We can go overseas and do a live, but we can’t bring our set-up equipment and for this reason I want the oversea fans to see a live of us at a place with 10.000 people and with 100% of our set-up at least once and experience a thoroughly elaborated visual-kei performance.
Our proud fans who won’t be embarrassed no matter where they go.
Interviewer: You returned from the world tour and had the Asia tour final, as well as the Yokosuka Arts theater performance, LIVE TOUR18-19 THE NINTH PHASE #5 KONGETSU, which was like a pre-event to the tour final in Yokohama Arena, right?
Kai: During the long tour,we finished the hall tour section after one year and continued with the small club tour and the tour overseas in a different environment. If we would have done the tour final immediately, we would have done it without remembering sensual things, we would have felt insecure at the final and therefore we decided to add one live to take up on set-up preparations and feelings.
Interviewer: You did it because of those aspects, right?
Kai: Furthermore, if we’re going to do something, we want to add a meaning and therefore added the title KONGETSU (mixed blood), because we mixed the NINTH songs with older songs.
Interviewer: How did you try to “mix-blood” the current NINTH songs with the older songs?
REITA: We thought that they would support each other’s good points or that they would not feel out of place even during the main tour. But we do think it definitely would have felt out of place if we would have added them to PHASE #1.
Interviewer: Because with the process from PHASE#1 to PHASE#4, the songs of NINTH properly sank in.
REITA: That’s correct. I think because of that, we were more flexible with how we expressed the older songs.
Interviewer: And the LIVE TOUR18-19 THE NINTH TOUR FINAL DAIKYŪ was the 61st live of the tour. For the documentary you also recorded the nervous moments before the performance, but are you still nervous, even after so many tours?
Kai: I’m always nervous (laughs). Basically, for finals there are too many things to do, so I don’t have time to get nervous, but compared to previous finals, this time we were well-prepared and because there wasn’t anything left to do, I got nervous.
Interviewer: You were well-prepared especially because you managed to have so many lives, right?
REITA: I’m always anxious about finals, like: can I show a performance like this? But this time, to make sure that doesn’t happen, I prepared myself mentally and moved my body until right before the live. That’s why I was able to face the final calmer compared to previous ones.
Interviewer: Do you remember the feeling when you finished the 61 lives?
REITA: I felt relieved. Also, during tours we have the rule that after the live we decide the set list for the next live, no matter what. But because we don’t have to do that after a final, it’s like taking a bath, eat, going home (laughs). It’s a feeling of freedom. It’s super nice to go home without deciding on the set list, right?
Kai: Indeed (laughs).
Interviewer: Indeed, on the DVD we can also see you deciding the set list for the next live, but you decide it directly after the live, right?
Kai: We do it like that to reflect on the next live, because after we finished the live, the impressions of that live are still fresh. When I remember the tour now, we really finished 61 lives, right? It’s the first time for me to feel like this, but when I had time to immerse the aftertaste of the final, I wanted to do the next one quickly.
Interviewer: In the end, regarding the Yokohama Arena live, I think it was in RUKIS MC before UNFINISHED where he thanked the fans for “protecting the GazettE and this genre”, but is this the collective opinion of all members?
REITA: The fans of the GazettE are really awesome. They have passion and even come overseas. I don’t think there are many bands who are followed around like that. And you can also say that we are able to continue like this for over 10 years with lives around the same capacity, is because our fans are always tagging along.
Interviewer: I consider the GazettE lives to be “the GazettE lives” not only because of the musical performance and show on stage, but also because of the atmosphere created by the fans.
REITA: Same goes for festivals; I want others to see how our fans go wild. That’s also one of the reasons we take part in festivals.
Kai: Our proud fans who won’t be embarrassed no matter where they go.
Interviewer: The fans will be happy to hear that.
Kai: Please print it in bold.
REITA: Are you trying to get something? (laughs)
Interviewer: Reita also points at the fans in UNFINISHED during the part: “you are the light that illuminates the path we’re following” (susumu michi o terasu kimi wa hikari), aren’t you? The fans are the light, correct?
REITA: Ahaha (laughs). Of course. I feel gratitude towards the fans and also towards the members. But recently there are parts in RUKIS MC where he’s trying to move the members to tears now and then. Maybe he’s secretly watching us (laughs).
Interviewer: In MCs during tours RUKI also mentions his trust and gratitude towards the members and there are also scenes on the documentary where you can feel the good relationship here and there, but the relationship between the members is very good, isn’t it?
Kai: Well, it’s not bad, is it?!
REITA: Because we only did oneman lives after our 2nd year as the GazettE, I don’t know the atmosphere within other bands. Well, in general the relationships aren’t very good, though (laughs).
Kai: You smirk a little when you meet the members after two weeks, right?
REITA: You just can’t help wanting to talk about stories from your trip!
Kai: I personally maintain a more excited feeling when I’m together with the members. On the contrary, for example when I’m making songs alone all by yourself, I get extremely sensitive. That’s why tours are super fun. Being able to maintain your excitement is very important and that largely depends on the members.
Interviewer: During your most recent documentary, similar to what we already talked about, you can also clearly understand, the relationship of the members, side by side with the unwillingness to do compromises during the lives from different point of views and your belief of “wanting to do it well”. Why are you that particular about details?
REITA: Because at any rate, if you skip them, it will come back to you, right? In case of material arts, you would be beaten repeatedly. Just like that, it is a measure to keep winning. The more you do it, the more want to be particular about it. With that you also start to notice small details like you stage shoes for example and want to investigate such things further.
Kai: We can’t be careless, because we are honest people and if we’re careless we would also do a careless live. In addition, I think a lot about the fact that you don’t know when bands these days will stop its activities because of something, that’s why not wanting to have any regrets is important, right? If you think you did everything thoroughly, what remains are wonderful memories. If you’re careless, it will end up being a careless thing, and that’s why I can’t allow it.
Interviewer: To be able to see a combination of such close members, a documentary that shows the member’s determination and also the live footage that was born from that determination, highlights the amazing parts of the GazettE even more.
Kai: Thank you.
Interviewer: So,the GazettE will reach their 19th year soon, but what kind of the GazettE do you want to be in the future?
Kai: Because I love the GazettE which also includes the members and fans, I hope I will be able to continue to love the GazettE the way we are from now on too.
Interviewer: You’re your biggest fan.
Kai: That correct. That goes without saying, though.
REITA, Kai: Yaaaay (they bump fists).
All: (laughs).
Kai: It’s quite embarrassing, but it’s important that we can say that we like ourselves, right?
Interviewer: I think it’s important for artists. You notice if you watch the GazettE and I think the fans want you to be like that, too.
REITA: To be honest, when I’m going through magazines and the GazettE appear, I do think “it’s still different”.
Kai: That’s something you’re saying since way back then! (laughs)
REITA: But, from the appearance to the world view, the whole process of self-producing belongs to visual-kei. So far, we have done it this way and we can only do that, so I think we should continue like that.
Interviewer: The strength of self-producing, including the stories about your determination we heard today, is also typical for the GazettE and is very enchanting, right?
REITA: Because we’re visual-kei, we continuously want to demonstrate something like “visual-kei how it should be”. If I need to say that visual kei is something like this or that, then I would like to be in the band with the feeling that “visual kei is just the GazettE”.
THE GAZETTE LIVE TOUR 18-19 THE NINTH / PHASE #04 -99.999- @ BACKSTAGE WERK, MUNICH Live Report - CLUB☆GAZETTE (2019.06.18)
It’s so bloody hot omg we all look like we’ve been swimming. It turned out the AC was broken (had been so for several years according to bar staff??), apparently it was 35-40C on stage due to the stage lights. I don’t know how hot it was in the rest of the hall but it was h o t. I’m surprised not more people collapsed tbh.
Ruki is… not doing well :( he’s taking a lot of breaks from singing and his voice sounded like it’s near breaking several times. (Edit: several people thought it’s connected to the eathquake/tsunami warning that happened back in Japan a bit earlier that day, but he really sounded like he was just getting ill)
Terry: Can we talk about how Ruki pushed two of his fingers all the way into his mouth and smooched them sensually as he took them out
Emi: Reita was insane, he kept coming to the front and he was just going crazy, widening his eyes and sticking out his tongue and omlll. He was sweating so much, his tech came out multiple times to clean up his sweat, I also saw aoi dripping sweat and ruki kept shaking his jacket.
Kai messed up a bit in UGLY and they nearly stopped (the others were all smiling/laughing) but they kept going after all. When they came on stage again for encore and it was time for Kai’s MC he started with “sorri…. I make… mistake…” 😂😂😂
Emi: Kai was freaking adorarable, he apolgised for messing up during ugly which was so cute, Ruki just looked back and started singing again and then shrugged and laughed, Aoi couldn’t stop laughing either.
Ruki was a bit better for the encore!
Reita tried to time the throat-cut motion with Ruki for inside beast but Ruki only did it half-assedly so it failed 😂😭
Hyenaaaa I didn’t catch any of the Uruki action bc Reita came over to kamite and was playing with us 😭 BUT I caught the Aoiha afterwards!! Aoi came over to kamite and slowly went towards Uruha. Uruha noticed him and slowly lowered himself in front of Aoi (beaming). Aoi was nodding and smiling and it looked like they were talking. Then Uruha laughed and slowly got up again, Aoi (still smiling and nodding) moved behind him and played close behind him for a few moments until Uruha went back to his mic and Aoi went back to shimote.
Hika: Ruki put his arm around Uruha and few seconds later he patted his head lovely 😭😭😭
Hika: Kai’s little solo at the end of Undying… It is E V E R Y T H I N G 😭😭😭😭
calmhyena: Uruha and aoi were super cheerful and uru interacted a lot with the crowd! He seemed happy, showed us that he was sweaty too and replied to our hearts with another heart!
Reita threw a pick towards kamite and it landed on the edge of the stage. He laughed (super cutely 😭😭😭) and then continued throwing to shimote.
Uruha recorded the crowd (with their cameraman’s extra equipment) while Kai was taking pictures! Despite everyone being exhausted the crowd cheered a lot.
Kou: At the end of the live, Uruha took a phone from staff that they were using to record and recorded the entire crowd, while interacting with everyone. 😭💕 He’s such a sweetheart.
M&G:
I set a goal for myself: look Reita in the face (I never quite can) since it’s the last m&g for me. Kou went in front of me and f—… I get to Reita and he goes “hey hey look at me” in English 😭😭😭😭 I panicked and said いえいえいえいえ無理無理無理 (nononono impossible) and he LAUGHED and patted my hand
I asked a Ruki if he’s ok and he looked both happy and a little embarrassed. He said he’s alright, apologised while laughing, and then said thank you.
I told Kai: don’t worry about today’s miss! (I wanted to say more but he interrupted me by BURSTING OUT LAUGHING) Kai: HAHAHAHA SORRY SORRY (slapping my shoulder repeatedly and pulling at my hand until staff grabbed both my shoulders and basically frogmarched me past Uruha <– I did not stay in front of him particularly long (and he made it hard to leave because he was pulling on my hand lol) so I don’t think the forceful handling was justified)
Staff kept shoving me past Uruha, I barely had time to say “thanks” :( he held on to my hand and held me back while staff shoved me further and further lol… I feel really bad for him being last. He has no time to talk to anyone and he loves m&g :/
Kou: Staff pushed us way too quickly through meet and greet, especially in front of Uruha, who was last. I was barely able to say otsukaresama before I was being shoved towards the door. The staff who was shoving people away from Uruha not only ruined a lot of fan experiences, but you could also tell Uruha was quite distressed.
Kou: Very disappointed with German venue staff. At both Cologne and Munich there was one, maybe two, good/kind staff, but the rest were all on power trips and were total dickheads.
Thread on B7Klan being less than accommodating, including neglecting to follow up on disabled customers.
Kou: The staff member (who was huge and muscley af btw) who was pulling people away from Uruha didn’t just push like staff normally do, but would grab you by both shoulders or even by the hips and DRAG you away from him and shove you towards the door.
Lili: I just want to let you all know that when I told Reita “You rock!” He answered “Yes I Rock” and did a stupid pose doing 🤘🤘like of he was a statue model … XD 💛
Emi: I was shaking after speaking to Aoi so I was super nervous going up to Reita, I wanted to say something simple like thank you and I love you. So obviously aishteru is a bit intense so I was told people usually say daisuki instead, well…
Emi: I went up to him and I could barely look at cus omfg it’s Reita. I managed to get out thank you and daisuki But IT WAS SOOO EMBARASIINGNG. I felt like I was telling my school crush that u liked him, AND THEN HE STARTED GIGGLING AT ME.
Emi: After the Reita incident I was sooooo embarrassed so I couldn’t help but hide my face, Ruki took my hands and started laughing at how embarrassed I was, he was so smiley and warm and even though I only said thank you he really leaned in and listened to what I said.
Emi: Then we went to Kai, OMG WHAT. Kai is the most gorgeous human ever, he is ALWAYS smiling. Its important to know that I had been crying through the whole encore. so after I shook his hand I covered my face and he just said in the cutest voice “don’t cry! Don’t cry!”
Coldroute: Arm wrestling with Reita at the M&G - I WON !!!
Coldroute: And i touched his biceps - GUYS, THIS MAN HAS FUCKING MUSCLES I FELL IN LOVE IMMEDIATELY
Christina: I was shaking hands with Reita when i asked him to give me a high five and he said „yeah!!“ leaned back just so he could put extra power in his high five AND IT WAS AWESOME
Special shoutout to the friendly and helpful fans I met everywhere, you are all amazing! Thanks to fans who organised queueing when staff would not, and thank you so much to everyone who cooperated with the fan made systems and made this WT such an enjoyable experience ☺️💖
WT13 was quite stressful and not that enjoyable for me so I ended up skipping WT16, but you guys have showed me that world tours can be amazing (even though I wish we had ticket numbers eliminating the dumb system of making people sleep on the street).
the GazettE Re-introduce Themselves to the World with NINTH
Somewhere in the heart of New York City rested a five-piece rock band from Kanagawa, Japan. Less than 24 hours prior, they took Manhattan as its mistress by rocking an audience of 1000+ in Playstation Theater. Off-stage, they weren’t dressed any differently from the other citizens of America’s fashion capital; clad in loose black streetwear, expensive-looking caps, and ominous face-masks. What did stand out, however, was their other-worldly confidence and nonchalance with notes of awe. The Authentic Rockstar Vibe™.
This was the GazettE… four of the five members to be exact. REITA (bassist), RUKI (vocalist), KAI (drummer), and URUHA (guitarist) sat on cushioned seats respectively. AOI, the rhythm guitarist, was unfortunately absent. As they removed their disguises to greet me, their humanity became apparent as I realized they were just a group of regular cool guys.
Some really, really cool guys in really, really expensive-looking caps.
Even without the makeup, crushed velvet, and epic theatrics, they were drenched in charisma. Nearly two decades of activity have made these men practically royalty in the visual rock scene. And they seemed to know it. The weight of their invisible crowns and powerful influence slouched their shoulders in humbling angles... They had swagger.
After being introduced to them and the translator by one of their many managers, I rushed to set up for the discussion.
“Hello!” I said, breaking the awkward silence I'd created. They laughed and greeted me before we jumped right into the interview...
VKH: What do you think about the GazettE as a band today?
RUKI: Ah, to describe in one word… Do you want me to describe the band in one word? It can be in Japanese, right? (laughs)
VKH: We want to know where you think you are today. You can say however much you want!
RUKI: Oh man… You ask stuff like this? Please wait for like two hours! What a hard question…
[REITA, KAI, and URUHA proceeded to ponder how to answer the question as well. How do you sum up a 17-year career in four-to-five seconds...? It’s a feat that anyone would deem impossible. So I decided to grant them another 15 minutes to see where the conversation would go, and they seemed to appreciate it.]
VKH: It’s ok! We can come back to it. Maybe an easier question...
All: Oh! (everyone laughs and claps)
VKH: Out of your entire catalog, which songs are you most excited about performing in front of your international fans?
RUKI: "GUSH"! It’s fun to play. (laughs)
REITA: "FALLING." It’s the most important song because this is the first song that we play and this is the first connection that we have with the audience. It’s where we learn what kind of interaction we can expect from the audience and what we can provide. That’s why I like "FALLING" the best.
VKH: Nice answer!
REITA: Ah, I’m glad! (laughs)
KAI: "Tomorrow Never Dies." This is usually the last song that we play, and it’s the finale of the concert. Fans are super pumped up along with us, so that’s why I enjoy it.
URUHA: For playing overseas, "Filth in the Beauty." I don’t know why, but for some reason, everyone overseas really digs it. So I wonder if the song is more popular overseas than it is domestically.
VKH: Is it not that popular in Japan?
URUHA: In Japan it’s popular, but we play it so much that Japanese fans are probably tired of it now. They don’t get excited.
KAI: (overlapping with URUHA) We play it too much! Japanese fans are always looking for something new.
VKH: It’s the same way in America too (always looking for something new), but because "Filth in the Beauty" has that R&B sampling… R&B and hip-hop culture are so deeply mixed into American music today, fans get super hyped for that song. And it's so closely tied to the GazettE brand [that its a classic]. We haven’t heard it live that often, so we get excited when you perform it.
URUHA: That’s good information! (laughs)
VKH: Do you feel pressured to write more lyrics in English to reach more people?
RUKI: For the GazettE as a band, language is more like a secondary thing for us. We don’t tend to think that far in terms of words, we don’t really think about which language to do.
VKH: That’s good information!
All: (laughs)
VKH: In 2016, your first show in New York, you had a very strict concept and particular sound. NINTH, unlike DOGMA, has no specific concept and is much more versatile as a result. Was this to show the world just how dynamic and versatile the GazettE can be?
RUKI: For DOGMA, it was a stand-alone concept; it was a little strange and different because of it. Because DOGMA was the way it was, and we toured for so long people started to associate us with the word. But really, we don’t have that kind of concept as a band. We want to show people this is who The GazettE is in 2019. We want to make it easy for the audience to understand.
VKH: You often say you’re a live band, and NINTH feels like a love letter to your live audiences. What made you decide to showcase the GazettE as a live band on a studio album and how did you go about doing so?
RUKI: It’s interesting that you felt like this because that’s how we recorded it – [with the thoughts of] how a live concert feels. When you actually listen from the beginning to the end, maybe it will remind people of watching the GazettE live. [Maybe you'll feel like] you actually saw our entire live performance from beginning to end.
VKH: With this “live concert” underpainting, how did the glitch art imagery you’re using influence or relate to your music?
RUKI: Even before we started production of the songs for NINTH, that was the image that we had. We wanted to show something like glitch art. Not [to be] grotesque, but to have the art show the blood vessel [as] something more abstract. That’s what the glitch art was about. That was the inspiration that we had before we started working.
KAI: Often we, the GazettE will look at the design first and then we will get inspiration and make music that goes along with the image. DOGMA was exactly like that.
VKH: So the album was artistically influenced – that’s very cool!
All: (laughs)
VKH: Many English-speakers think rock is dead. But due to the immense success NINTH saw on iTunes and Billboard (click to see charts), we think your work can change their minds. What do you think? Do you believe rock is dead?
RUKI: But even in Japan, most of rock is dead.
VKH: Oh– (laughs)
RUKI: But as long as there are people who love the music, then it’s not in vain. It will never die.
REITA: It’s like a zombie. (everyone laughs)
VKH: You’ve said NINTH is the sound of “The GazettE in 2019”. But how would you describe the GazettE in 2018/2019 and what you have been trying to accomplish in your NINTH era?
RUKI: This is the first question again? (laughs)
VKH: Kind of, but a little bit different! It’s something a lot of people are wondering online.
RUKI: Really? I want to know too. (everyone laughs) Maybe... the reverse of rock!
REITA: Zombie. (laughs) Breaking Bad…. no, Walking Dead! (everyone laughs)
VKH: But you're alive!
KAI: the GazettE in 2019... Gosh, it’s so hard. I want to say something cool. Actually, we’re still searching for it. I don't really want to say what we are all about. We’re still touring, so something inside me is saying I don’t want to know that yet. I really look forward to seeing where this journey will take us. What we’re going to be in the near future.
VKH: That's a nice answer.
KAI: Oh I got the best answer! (everyone laughs)
URUHA: You mentioned before that rock is dead… Maybe we’re a bit old-fashioned, so perhaps we’re samurai! The GazettE is samurai!!
VKH: I don’t think what you’re doing is old fashioned, I think what you’re doing is new age. Keep doing you.
All: (laughs) Thank you.
VKH: You previously wanted to have NINTH produced by Josh Wilbur, but those plans were canceled due to time constraints. Might the next release or album have that dream finally realized?
REITA: The song for the music video [FALLING] was produced by him. He did the mixing for it.
RUKI: Yes, we don’t have plans to work with him right now, but we would love to [work with him again]. He wanted to come to our concert in LA but wasn’t able to make it.
Thank you for your time! Could you please share your goals and send a message to your fans and our readers?
RUKI: We will keep making good music without fail, and send it out into the world, so as usual, please keep watching us.
REITA: I am so very appreciative and grateful for you to love us so much, even though we don’t even speak English. From here on out we want to continue to keep making friends from all over the world and go to many different places, so please continue to follow us.
KAI: I want us to continue to make the kind of music that we love to create, and for the people who are waiting for us, we want to be able to visit them, and have more activities. The five of us will work hard for it.
URUHA: We’re doing so many live concerts in so many places on this tour, and we learn so much from the fans and seeing their reactions. We want to be able to make more music that the overseas fans will love and keep growing, and we want to come back here as well.
Source: https://www.vkh-press.com/2019/05/interview-gazette-ninth-world-tour.html
Born February 1. Blood type B. Vocalist of the GazettE formed in 2002. Other members: URUHA (g), AOI (g), REITA (b), KAI (ds). On March 13th, after 3 years, they released their ninth album “NINTH“. On July 19th (Thursday) and 20th (Friday), they are starting the first part of their new tour called “the GazettE Live Tour18 THE NINTH / PHASE #01 -PHENOMENON- at Misato City Cultural Hall.
During the 15th anniversary, basically the whole last year, the GazettE were hiding in the underground, working hard trying to produce their new album. But now the album is complete and it’s time to rage again with the people in the underground! Their ninth album is called “NINTH”. Compared to the previous work “DOGMA”, that was completely dark, I think that this album turned out to be very easy to understand. This time the title of the album came from the keyword of number 9, connected with this album. This is the GazettE of “PAST” and “PRESENT”!
_____________
Q: The title of this album that’s been released after 3 years is “NINTH”, this time you decided to use a number 9 as a keyword. But first, I’d like to talk about “DOGMA”. This previous album was released about 3 years ago, in August 2015. If we roughly summarized the interview that you gave to this magazine at that time, we could say that the GazettE is an absolute and true virtue, bringing the complete worldview with a dark sound. Could we say that this concept more or less fits “DOGMA”?
R: I agree, it fits.
Q: Looking back to this whole time of more than a year - from when the album was released until the final at Makuhari Messe, do you think you completed everything that you wanted?
R: Ahh, I think I did. Up until now there were a lot of albums that ended up with that feeling like it didn’t have enough time to properly digest. For example, the number of lives we did wasn’t enough. So, we were doing things like “REDEFINITION”. In comparison, with “DOGMA” we passed this problem and we felt like we were continuing with it forever.
Q: Yes, it took a long time.
R: During that time, we also released a few singles. Our “DOGMA lifestyle” was continuing for quite a while. (lol)
Q: “DOGMA lifestyle”? (lol)
R: Because of that, we got pretty familiar with it, and we were able to finish it with a “this is already enough” feeling.
Q: Could we say that the album reached a phase where it could already rest in peace?
R: Yeah, that’s right. There was quite enough of everything.
Q: Among all the things, what is something that stuck in your memory the most?
R: Something that stuck in my memory the most? Umm, I thought about something bad, I broke my ribs. I broke them before the recording of “UGLY”.
Q: Whaat!?
R: I’ve caught a cold and I couldn’t stop coughing for more than a month. So, that’s how one of my ribs broke and during the tour, I broke another one. It was quite difficult during that time, I was doing everything while drinking analgesics and wearing a corset.
Q: No way, is it possible to break your rib while coughing?
R: When you cough the lungs don’t go *whoosh* filling with air, so there’s an empty space left (so the ribs have nothing to support them and bend too much causing a break) if the force of a cough is too strong the rib goes *snap*
Q: So, in other words, it seems that it was such a strong cough……
R: Because of that I went to the hospital, but after all, it seems like they couldn’t do much, they just said eventually it will heal and take some time to rest, so that’s how it was. During that time, I decided to not talk about it, so I didn’t really say anything publicly, but yeah, I had this serious thing going on.
Q: I heard that it’s more difficult physically than mentally.
R: No, it was difficult mentally too. We had a pretty tight schedule. During that time, I couldn’t sleep well, we also had lives in the evening. Well, there weren’t many good things at that time, now that I think back on it. (lol)
Q: Hahaha! Between all of this, were there any good things going on?
R: Good things? I wonder if there was any…… No, there wasn’t.
Q: To that extent that you could let for “DOGMA” to rest in peace?
R: Yeah, that’s right. The lives themselves, were good, I think.
Q: By the way, it was September 27, when you did the last free live at the Makuhari Messe. Did you have a bit of a break after that?
R: No, I don’t really remember having any time to rest back then. After that it was Halloween, I think. Maybe my memories of having a break got lost because of it.
Q: Well, it’s Halloween, you were probably working hard.
R: That’s right. Since I don’t really have a memory of taking a break, I think that’s how it was.
Q: I think so too. Well then, the next keyword, since you said, that you didn’t rest in 2016 is “2017”. It seemed like in 2017 everything turned around, I got an image that you spent most of your time in the underground.
R: Well, I don’t know if you could call that an underground, in 2017 we had the anniversary live, and the things we were doing were solely related to the feeling of it.
Q: But you’ve said this before: “we are a live band”. And then in contradiction to that, you didn’t really have any lives in 2017. Does this rule not apply when you’re in a working mode? So, to put it in other words, you can’t do both things at the same time?
R: No, we can’t. After all, if there’s no concept, we can’t do things. Then we start saying “what are we doing this for?”. That’s how it was with the anniversary year too. At times we were like “so what are we doing right now?” or “there’s nothing for us to do” and then we’d just go *huff*. (lol)
Q: So, you’re not doing that anymore this year?
R: We already released “NINTH”, so now it’s like “why the things we have to do never end?”
Q: But that’s how it is, isn’t it? Because you’re a live band it’s not just about doing a certain number of lives, rather because you’re a live band, you want to do a meaningful live every time, right?
R: That’s right. This is exactly why we never do a live that we don’t see a meaning of. If you compare it to festivals, you can do things freely there (with less worry), but when it comes to normal lives, you must think about everything from a scratch. For example, we go like “well, so what kind of title should we do” and stuff like that. The stage itself is also just a foundation, you might not be able to reach the feeling of “this is a live” that easily.
Q: But when you become burned out by recordings, aren’t there times when you go “let’s do a live for a change of scenery!”?
R: Well, that was what happened for Halloween. It was like “wouldn’t it be good to have some distraction?” and that’s how it all started. And then it happened.
Q: Eventually you got into the spirit.
R: And we went with it. We thought: let’s do a strong concept. On top of that, we ended up creating our costumes from scratch and even came up with character names.
Q: That is your nature, isn’t it? Or should I say a habit? (lol)
R: I guess, that’s true. Because we do end up saying “ah we managed to do that” a lot. (lol)
Q: But during the times when there aren’t many lives, don’t your fans starve?
R: I’ve heard that quite a lot of times. Even if we announce something, there are always questions like “so why there’s no tour?” or “when’s the new song coming out?”. I’m perfectly aware of this, but there are things that you just can’t do at a certain time, so that’s how it is.
Q: It looks like for you putting out things, that you feel aren’t fully complete, would be like a betrayal.
R: Right, if I did that, I feel like I would regret it.
Q: It’s not that easy to fulfill fans’ request.
R: Right. I feel like it’s something that can’t be fulfilled thinking commercially. (lol)
Q: But, talking about 2017 anniversary and the outdoors live (LIVE IN THE SUMMER 17 BURST INTO A BLAZE 3) you could say that it was done as a fanservice to the fans, right?
R: It’s wasn’t done just because of that. In the beginning, we were planning to do this in a very light manner. We were wondering what impactful thing we should do for the anniversary year. And then we thought: “isn’t that the Heresy era (2003-2005) of DAINIPPON ITANGEISHA the GazettE?” So, we realized that we wanna do a live at Yoyogi National Stadium. From that moment on, a crazy feeling was born inside of me. (lol) I thought “Whaa, why did we decide to do this?” until the moment I got on the stage. After all, we can’t do things lightly, even if we think we can.
Q: So, at first it everything was in this light mode, but slowly you became obsessive over it and started pressuring yourselves?
R: That’s right. Somehow, though there must have been reasons for that at that time, there were still songs that we didn’t play during “REDEFINITION”. We thought we could just play them. But then we started worrying “what are we going to show at such a huge venue?”, I got sick just thinking about that. We didn’t even know what this DAINIPPON ITTANGEISHA is ourselves. Because we haven’t built up a concept for it yet. (lol) However, since I was thinking that we must make this into a beautiful memory for the people who are going to come, I thought that we can only show the best that we can. This also led to even more pressure. Also, for the setlist, we couldn’t just pick whatever.
Q: So, these troubles followed you until the moment you got on the stage.
R: That’s true. But when I got on the stage, I thought, ahh, I’m glad that I did this.
Q: Since you said that you were glad that you did it, what did you feel then?
R: It’s somehow difficult for me. Facing the past. Because usually the past or the person you were back then is bad. But because of the past, there is this “now”, so you can’t ally them equally, no matter what. When I think about my feelings at that time (anniversary live), I was wondering “what the old me would be thinking”, I thought a lot about it. But then even if I do this, do I have to turn it into a dark history? Isn’t it just fine to think “I was young”? That negative thinking is a move causing you to lose. So, I threw it away with a good feeling. I said: “those days were amazing”. Also, this previous thinking was an obstacle to our activities too.
Q: So, if the result was “I’m glad that I did this” if you think about it, you managed to overcome yourself who denied the past, right?
R: That’s right.
Q: How did the things go with the summer outdoors live?
R: The outdoors live was decided by fans’ vote. (Fans were able to vote which songs they want to hear during that live) Rather than choosing the songs by our own will, we let for fans to choose the songs they want us to play. But it ended up being our most popular and standard songs. We were like “what the hell is this?”. (lol)
Q: Normally, there would be a lot of different patterns (of songs) compared to usual, right?
R: But in a way, receiving an opinion that the songs we usually play are good, somehow makes you more confident in the things you do. Some songs that got to the top were from “DOGMA”. But now, there was this feeling that we shouldn’t be playing “DOGMA” again.
Q: If it’s something from the recent works, the probability of it being played during a regular live is high. So, of course, songs like this being chosen makes you feel confident. After all, in a case like this, fans usually tend to choose the songs that are rare, the ones you can’t hear during regular lives.
R: Yes, there weren’t any rare songs at all, in the ranking. I was like “oh?”. There were songs (in the list) that have never been played live before, so I thought fans would choose those for sure, but that wasn’t the case. Because, in the beginning, when we were planning this, we had a feeling that the voting results will have this “all-time best” feeling. After that, we thought, well, anything will do. (lol)
Q: But, the funny thing is that 2017 was the GazettE’s 15th anniversary and since there were such festivals held before, you’d expect for this one to be flashier, right? But it kinda went down at this perfect timing. (lol)
R: Ahahaha! That’s so true. (lol)
Q: So, there weren’t many thoughts of “anniversary” considering this event in the first place?
R: There wasn’t, from a while ago.
Q: To think about it, you don’t really do birthday celebrations either.
R: We don’t. None of us likes them that much.
Q: So, you’ve never done it?
R: Only Kai-kun does birthday celebrations every time we’re on tour, for some reason.
Q: That means you have birthday celebrations from time to time, right?
R: Sometimes. (lol) Since we often do tours in winter, Kai will, of course, celebrate his birthday there. As for me, I’ve never had a chance to celebrate my birthday on the tour. But I want to do it. Ahahaha! I’ve never been congratulated. I always bring my own cake. (lol)
Q: Well, isn’t that good too, then?
R: But I want to get it as a surprise! (lol)
Q: Then why don’t you plan your schedule in the way that your birthday would be during the tour?
R: But when you think about it, isn’t everyone kinda celebrating their birthdays recently? Also, what do you mean by saying a birthday celebration? Wouldn’t that be disgusting? Stuff like “RUKI’S BIRTHDAY LIVE!”, it would be the same thing as writing your own birthday card. (lol) Maybe it just makes me sad, thinking about us organizing and celebrating our birthdays ourselves.
Q: But it seems different to me. Anniversaries, birthday celebrations or birthday lives, doing all of that would be for your fans.
R: Eh? But we’d get gifts. How is it for fans?
Q: Well, that’s true but, I think they would love to spend a special day like this together, to celebrate together. It’s about establishing a place like this for your fans.
R: No no no no no no! If that’s the case, then there wouldn’t be any talk about setting up the gift boxes. (lol)
Q: Well, rather than putting a label of “birthday” you can do it just as a normal live on that day. (lol) Now, since you spent the most of 2017 in the underground to produce “NINTH”, it’s going to be our 3rd keyword. This time you simply called this album “NINTH” because it was your 9th album. Did you have any concept for the album?
R: Right, we didn’t have an actual concept. Well, rather than that, it was decided for it to be that way. Because “DOGMA” had such a strong concept. (lol) Now, there was this thing, that rather than looking at yourself and trying to fix what is wrong, we wanted to put the essence of ourselves in this 9th album. We wanted to put everything that we were until now into it. We wanted to say this is where we are right now. That was what we wanted to bring out of this album for the GazettE in 2018.
Q: It’s not just “right now”. You could say, it’s a “now” with everything that has happened before. On the contrary to the previous album, we could say that this is what this album’s concept was, that’s why it didn’t have that strict concept of the dark sound. (lol)
R: There was no such thing (no strict concept). (lol) But on the contrary, because we did “DOGMA”, we were able to make an album like this right now. All these works are great. Because we made “DOGMA” we can say that we have a weapon like this in our collection, and that’s why we were able to make something different from “DOGMA”.
Q: That is my personal impression, but this was the album that I was able to listen to witch such an ease.
R: That’s awesome to hear. It’s the GazettE thing, I guess, or how should I put it.
Q: Moreover, it’s easy to listen to even without having any previous knowledge about the band.
R: Yup. So, I guess, if you say that it’s easy to listen, it actually is.
Q: Was that also your intention?
R: While listening to the whole thing, I wanted it to have the same feeling as the endings of the GazettE lives. And we don’t really do lives that end with the feeling of disappearing into the darkness. (lol)
Q: Talking about album’s format, for a while you had a default of 14 songs per album, right? This time there are 12 songs, the total time is only around 43 minutes long, and most of the songs are about 3 minutes long. Looking at this information, you can see that the album is very accessible. Was that also one of your intentions?
R: It wasn’t intentional. (lol)
Q: So, why 12 songs this time then?
R: Well, it’s not like we intended to make exactly 14 songs on the previous albums either. Because it’s all about balance. There were many albums in the past that had 10 songs too, right? We put a lot of thought into this album, but the song number wasn’t something that was strictly decided.
Q: And the album having so many 3-minute songs, is also something, that you realized only after the album was done?
R: That’s right.
Q: Well then, what is something that makes this album stand out from the previous works?
R: For me, it has melodies that I wouldn’t have wanted to sing before. To put it short, it’s songs that have a feeling of that popular melody from our older days or the ones that sound catchy (more standard sounding songs). As you can see, we didn’t really have songs like this recently. I particularly felt that I don’t want to do them around the time of “DOGMA”, I felt like we already did those types of songs a lot. Songs that emphasize on the melody, or how should I put it? Well, but that is because I like melodic songs from my nature.
Q: I think so too. So, “NINTH” is kind of pop sounding as you could say.
R: I think so.
Q: There is this saying, “I’m not gonna stop showing off (or acting cool)”. Did you also feel like that?
R: This might be close. However, if you look at the time before the release of “DOGMA” it might not look like this is the case. Doing things like this for a long time and then getting a different impression and being able to make songs with it, makes you feel strong (confident). I think that’s the sense that I had.
Q: For you personally, which is the song that you’re the happiest with?
R: I might not be able to pick one.
Q: Then which one was the most difficult to make?
R: I wonder which one it was. Well, “NINTH ODD SMELL” was like that. The thing that was difficult about it, was the fact that we were changing up the song quite a lot until it reached its current version.
Q: This song, just like some in your previous albums, also had these words sprinkled in the lyrics that create a certain image. (lyrics of the songs mention all previous albums titles)
R: That’s right. Because it was a song that needed these kinds of lyrics, and I also wanted to make more of them. I wanted for it to be done in a way accompanying the sound, mixing everything that we were until “DOGMA” and how we are now.
Q: Just like we were talking before, it embodies everything that you were in the past in this 9th album.
R: That’s right.
Q: On the contrary to that, were there any songs made in an easy and slick way?
R: “URAGIRU BERO” was like that. Or the 12th song. The last song was like *pop* and it appeared, that’s how I remember the making of it.
Q: Right, “UNFINISHED”. It has the feeling of “this is already the last song”. You could say, that you’re seeing a light.
R: But it was the first time that we did this kind of song as the last one in the GazettE. Of course, we often end lives with the songs, that have a similar vibe to this, but we always finish our albums with the songs that have a gloomy feeling to them. Like “OMINOUS” we had just before or “MELT” and “OMEGA”.
Q: But this time you decided to choose a song with a happy feeling as the last.
R: Somehow, I wanted the song to have a feeling of “I don’t want this to end” which I have during the lives, I guess this time I wanted to do this type of song more.
Q: That is exactly the song’s title. “UNFINISHED” – meaning that this is not the end. Thus, the 4th keyword is “LYRICS”. Recently, while writing the lyrics, what are you focusing on the most?
R: I wonder…… It depends on a song.
Q: In the past, you said something like “I don’t see any worth or appeal in singing about something happy”.
R: That hasn’t changed until now. However, how should I put it, hope is not entirely zero. (Ruki is making a pun to the “hope is nil”) In the places where listeners are able to see hope in the lyrics, I leave it for them to decide if that hope was pointless or not, I think that’s how I write my lyrics right now.
Q: Do you often write your lyrics because you’re angry at something?
R: There are a lot of lyrics like that too. I write them because of stuff like anger or doubts.
Q: Do you point at specific people or things?
R: There are many times when I do that.
Q: For example, this time “GUSH” is like that, right? In this song, is there a clear target?
R: That’s right. However, “GUSH” is not written out of anger. Rather than anger, it’s written as a last resort, about people who think that someone who has a scandal is a less human than they are, or how should I put it. It’s cruel to do something like that. For example, aren’t there times (when the scandal happens) where these strange people talk about it? Stuff like “just as I thought”, that irritates me a bit when I see it. How would these people feel if someone was talking like that behind their backs? This also includes talks in the media, I guess. I feel like announcers or commentators always paint a much darker image than the situation actually is.
Q: I agree with you. By the way, I think there are many people who get inspired to write their lyrics by such things as movies, CDs, books or traveling, Ruki-san, you’re not this kind of type?
R: I watch movies a lot. Well, recently I’m a bit busy so I don’t watch them as much, but in general, I do.
Q: Do you find any themes or hints for your lyrics there?
R: You’d probably think so, but I don’t really, maybe once.
Q: So, you watch movies just because you like them?
R: That’s right. The movies they show in Korean or Cannes film festivals are usually dark. And I usually go to considerably small movie theaters. You have to be subtle there because if you eat snacks it feels like the sound will echo through the whole place. (lol)
Q: Like those movie theaters in Nakano? (lol)
R: Right, right. Also, I like movies that are more realistic or documentaries, also European movies.
Q: However, it’s not reflected in your lyrics. (lol)
R: Right, it’s not. (lol) Other than that, I don’t really care about Japanese movies that have no expressiveness in them. They usually don’t touch any taboo topics. Korean movies, for example, start with the topics like police corruption. That’s a very realistic topic, and it projects the parts that sometimes would be better left unshown, or how should I put it. I wonder why Japanese entertainment is being regulated so much.
Q: Well then, how about traveling? A journey in search for the lyrics.
R: Oh, I don’t think I do that. But if I’d travel somewhere for the lyrics it would be something like a ghost town probably. (lol) Otherwise, when I travel in private it’s for completely opposite reasons.
Q: Well, since the 5th keyword is “PRIVATE”, do you travel a lot?
R: I travel a lot. I don’t say it on Twitter or Instagram, though.
Q: However, you don’t go to places like ghost towns? (lol)
R: No, it’s not ghost towns. (lol) For example, I go to Italy, or just in general by the sea a lot. I go every year.
Q: Is it for the sake of refreshing?
R: That’s right.
Q: So, you like traveling?
R: That’s right. I’ll get some more work done and go on a trip soon (interview was taken in late March)
Q: But you have this image that you stay at home a lot. (lol)
R: Well, it’s because I stay at home a lot, I want to travel. I don’t have standard vocation times. So, I do things like one day trip to Korea. Sometimes I travel somewhere just to eat a meal that I want. I don’t travel much in Japan, but I’ll travel overseas.
Q: You probably didn’t travel anywhere last year?
R: Last year I went to Korea. To buy clothes. (lol)
Q: I thought you just stayed in the ungrounded since you were making an album?!
R: If I have at least 2 free days, I’ll go. Because Korea is very fashionable. I feel like things that are fashionable in foreign countries come to Korea immediately and it takes a whole year for it to reach Japan. Well, it’s not that I did an examination if it’s actually like that, but I don’t have time to do such things. (lol)
Q: I understand. (lol) You said that you don’t watch a lot of movies right now, but what was something that left an impression on you among the things you saw recently?
R: I went to a movie theater to watch “Nocturnal Animals”, it’s a movie made by a designer Tom Ford, I wonder if it was made to serve as a PV or something like that. The subject (of the movie) isn’t interesting at all. It was so boring, but it was shot in a very stylish way. So, I ended up looking at the lighting. (lol)
Q: Isn’t that already an illness caused by your occupation? (lol)
R: I did start doing all kinds of things, recently, I worked on a PV and other similar things. I could say that I’m tightening the hands around my own neck more and more. (lol)
Q: I get that feeling. (lol) How about music? Are there any bands or songs that you like recently?
R: It might sound surprising, but I’m listening to The Weeknd or stuff like that recently. After that, maybe a lot of hip-hop.
Q: How about metal?
R: I don’t listen to metal these days! (lol) Is there anything good? The one that I listened recently was Korn’s newest stuff.
Q: That’s not very recent, though. (lol)
R: That’s true. (lol) There was also this engineer (Josh Wilbur), I said that he was really good, and this time he did the mixing of “FALLING” for us. I think that’s it. I guess I don’t listen to metal. (lol)
Q: Then what was something that you got deeply moved by in your private life recently?
R: Something that moved me? There’s nothing!
Q: Immediate reply! (lol) Are you the type that doesn’t get moved by things easily?
R: Well, I am the type that gets moved easily, but… Moved by something…… There are times when I say, “ah it’s finished!”. So, I get moved when I finish working on something. (lol)
Q: For example, when you finish the recording?
R: Because you feel a sense of accomplishment in those moments. I wonder if I get moved by seeing certain sceneries? Oh, if the sea looks beautiful I do get moved by it.
Q: Do you say things like it’s such a blessing (that we’re able to see this scenery)?
R: I don’t, because I don’t have any friends. (lol)
Q: Oh. (lol) But I don’t hear any talks about you going out for drinks with someone either.
R: I also don’t go out for drinks. Even if I get invitation messages on LINE, I don’t open them.
Q: So, you’re the type that doesn’t like to leave someone’s message with “read”?
R: Well if I read it, I have to reply. (lol) I used to go before, with Aki from SID, but I don’t have much energy to do that anymore. (lol) Stuff like being out until the morning. I can’t even drink alcohol in the first place. And I get asked why I’m not drinking.
Q: And the atmosphere becomes weird. (lol)
R: Right, it becomes like that, so I have no choice but to keep up (drinking) with them. That’s why I’m working all year around. (lol)
Q: So, apart from those little trips we were talking about, you don’t really have a private life?
R: I don’t. I don’t even change my clothes according to seasons. I always have nothing but winter clothes in my closet. (lol)
Q: You’re gonna have a difficult time in the upcoming summer season. (lol) Now I’d like to move on to the 6th keyword “VIEW ON LOVE”, is that okay?
R: Yes. (lol)
Q: Personally, I thought that this time “TWO OF A KIND” is written in a current the GazettE’s love song style.
R: Ah, that might be the case.
Q: You don’t write these straight up lyrics about love anymore, like in “reila” or “Cassis”, right?
R: Ah, well the way I write them might have become different. Because feelings like love or like has an image of youth for me. Regarding those two words, I think this and that, and what would be better to use instead. Rather than saying it just like this, now I’d probably say things like walking together through the days or something along those lines. So, I might not be using expressions like “I love you” anymore. Or simply there is no such song at this time.
Q: If you perform “reila” or “Cassis” right now, does it make you feel uncomfortable?
R: No, not really. It’s just that these kinds of lyrics don’t appear much anymore. But, if I sing “Cassis” or “reila”, I always think “what is this song even”. (lol)
Q: Don’t say that. (lol) Well, your view on love might be connected to your view on women, by the way, what is your ideal woman right now?
R: Eh? View on women? Like the face?
Q: No no, let’s talk about the personality. (lol)
R: Ah, maybe people who are trying to do their best for the other person. People who do their best or think about the other, I think that is the most important thing for me in the person, after all.
Q: Isn’t that how your fans are?
R: That may be true. But I don’t really know them. (lol) I don’t know how they usually act. But I do feel thankful to them.
Q: This feeling becomes even stronger with years, right? Like the further you’re able to reach, the stronger your feelings of gratitude will be.
R: Yes, but still, I felt gratitude for a long time already. Because there was only one time when my irritation was caused by fans’ presence. Well, there are times now too that I get irritated, after all. Then I say this and that. (lol) Then I get irritated because of that, but it seems like a very universal way of thinking.
Q: Ah, (getting irritated) with yourself.
R: There are times when I get irritated and there are also times when you get irritated too, right? It’s this kind of feeling. But that’s completely fine! Let’s do it! This is how I feel about it. (lol)
Q: It’s often said that your fans are the reflection of you.
R: I think they are. Because we’re like this, these guys have to suffer pain like this. So, well, I want to say sorry. (lol)
Q: Hahahaha. Well then, let’s proceed to a keyword number 7 – “the GazettE”. Do you love the GazettE right now?
R: Love you say, I wonder how is it, what should I say…..
Q: Okay, I’m changing up the question then, what do you like about the GazettE now?
R: What I like about it? I wonder what I like. Well, it’s difficult, because I’m also running it.
Q: Because you’re directly related to influencing the GazettE.
R: Yeah, it’s because it feels like I’m running it. Well, the GazettE doesn’t have any nasty fellows, so I think that this is pretty good. Everyone has some problematic traits in their personality, but that’s completely normal (lol), there are many parts that we are similar in after all. How should I say it, somehow, all of us are slow to take action.
Q: Hahahaha!
R: We’re not very sociable either.
Q: And you also reject popular opinions.
R: True. Looks like if something is popular we’re not gonna do it, that’s how it feels to me. In that aspect, rather than loving the GazettE, it’s more of an embodiment of us, or how should I say it. Because the GazettE are assembled this way, whatever the case may be, everything will turn out the same in the end. (lol)
Q: During the recording, did it feel like you were together all the time?
R: No, this time the most important part was songwriting. And preproduction was also done separately, we just gathered the data in one place. But it feels a little wrong to say that we didn’t gather.
Q: No no, there are quite many bands these days that make an album without meeting even once.
R: Uh-huh, well, because you can do everything with data exchange.
Q: It also reduces the cost everything, right?
R: It costs a lot for us. If it was done to reduce the cost, I think we wouldn’t be doing this separately. And if we’d have time, I think we would always gather together for recordings.
Q: In other words, you also want to say that it wasn’t the case that you dislike being (working) together, right?
R: We never felt like that, like we dislike it or something. Though, it was too bothersome to go as far as actually gathering. (lol)
Q: That’s a different problem. (lol) What would you do if you accidentally met on the street, for example?
R: That would be so awkward.
Q: It’s awkward. (lol)
R: I wonder how it would be. Probably it would be just us going oh….. ooh…… or something like that.
Q: So, you wouldn’t say something like let’s go for a drink?
R: No no no! We don’t do this! We talk in the backstage, for example. Well, rather than talking, it’s more like we feel like we’re always together, so we don’t stay together apart from that.
Q: By the way, what about sharing the roles between 5 of you?
R: What about it?
Q: Ruki-san, you’re not the “driver” of the band, but you’re the one doing the leading, right?
R: Well, we have a system for that. I wonder what they are, our assigned parts…… We’re not really decided on that. Rather than that, anyone can do it. Also, all of us can work on videos too. Everyone in the band is really good with using video software. (lol) We all can edit.
Q: All the members? There are bands in which all members can compose music, but there aren’t that many bands in which all members know how to tamper with the videos.
R: Right, there isn’t. Also, all of us know how to use illustrator software.
Q: Kai-san is the leader, and he has an image of the person who brings you all together, after all.
R: If anything, Kai feels like a manager, I think. Like if he says something, he’ll do it. (lol) I’m also a blood type B so I can understand it, but he’s the type that only starts doing things when he feels pressured, I think. But, no matter how you look at it, Kai feels like a noisy manager. (lol)
Q: Meanwhile, Uruha-san has an image of a craftsman.
R: Ah, that’s right. Uruha is a nerd when it comes to things related to sound. That’s why, since I don’t have time to make SE, I just do a bit of it and then he continues the rest of the work.
Q: Also, it looks like Aoi-san gradually became gentle. (lol)
R: That’s right, Aoi does seem more gentle. Because before he had this angry image. (lol) Now, for some reason it looks like he doesn’t even get angry, I guess.
Q: Why did it change like that?
R: I wonder why? Probably because he’s already an adult, right? (lol) But it’s cute after he gets angry, he feels bad about it. (lol) Well, I think both blood type A members in our band are like this. Reita too.
Q: Reita-san seems like a great man because he looks quite sensitive.
R: Isn’t Reita the most sensitive/neurotic? I think both blood type A members are the most sensitive/neurotic among us.
Q: I understand. Next keyword number 8 is “VISUAL KEI”, so, is it right to say, that The GazettE is visual kei?
R: I think it’s right to say that.
Q: Do you have any opinions on current visual kei?
R: I wonder. Maybe I don’t have my opinion about visual kei. Because even if I said something, it’s a bit difficult to.
Q: It might not be a proper thing to say, but to put it in other words, I think you could say, that you’re the last visual kei band that managed to succeed commercially. You’re the last band that succeeded to climb until Tokyo Dome. So, I feel like I can draw one main line before and since the GazettE. And if I’m able to do this, why do you think that is the case?
R: Maybe because of the era? It has a meaning for us, even if we’d left visual kei behind, it’s something like our inner type, right? I wonder why, but people seem to think that visual kei has a limited worldview, right? But it’s not the case, actually, you can include or do anything. Even if you make album jackets or goods, I think that’s good, that’s why I do these things. It also seems like there are no rules. But if I look at the young kids these days, somehow, I do feel a bit sorry for them. Because they need to struggle between such a small selection of pies. I wonder why. Maybe there aren’t that many kids with rebellious hearts these days.
Q: Maybe, people who want to do visual kei are thinking about the beginning of this era. I think that maybe because the recognition of visual kei spread only to this extent, they want to become something like the GazettE, so they try to do the same things as the GazettE.
R: Oh.
Q: Maybe it was different in the past.
R: I wonder how it was for us, oh, I think we were saying that we might be able to surpass everything that was before! Something like that. I think we were in that kind of category. If someone is able to play at such a huge venue, we can absolutely make it too, I guess we feel like this even to this day.
Q: You can call it a positive fighting spirit.
R: I think we have a strong feeling like this during the festivals with different genres of music. It’s this kind of feeling “well, you might say that this is visual kei, but we’re kinda cool, so please take a look”. We want to show that this is how visual kei is without any contradictions. Like it’s summer, but we’re still wearing these kinds of costumes. And we want to be able to attract the attention. But yes, even if I don’t know much in detail, but there are times, that I feel sorry for the young kids.
Q: After all, it might be because of the intensity of the “era” that we were talking about earlier.
R: That’s right. Also, the fact of how close they are to it.
the GazettEの音世界をより深く描き出し、具現化するミュージッククリップ集。そこから紐解く彼らの作品への思い、そして信念とは――。
This is a collection of music clips that more deeply depict and embody the sound world of the GazettE. The clips reveal their thoughts and beliefs about their work.
It is no exaggeration to say that in 2014 the GazettE devote themselves entirely tours for fans, and their first and last release in this year was a collection of clips «FILM BUG III». The collection includes the songs, finding a second life and surprising their boldness and subtlety, comparable only with the members’ obsession. We were able to talk to RUKI (Vo.), described himself as “the most ardent fan of the GazettE», about the songs that continue to follow his convictions, and his thoughts on the 13th anniversary.
◆ How to create a good thing, without spending a lot of money at the same time.
- 2014 goes to its end. How was this year?
RUKI: This year we have focused on the fan club, so in a sense, the whole year we were hiding underground. Not released new tracks. But this is often the case with us. At this time one year…it happened that two and a half years we have not released anything.
- Now you have first and last release in 2014 «FILM BUG III». What’s the point of the name of «FILM BUG»?
RUKI: It’s "film, teeming with bugs”. This name appeared in the days when film cassettes were in circulation. Although at the time of the release of «FILM BUG I» we have already used DVD. I love to invent all sorts of names, so I decided “why not always use this name?”.
- «FILM BUG III» includes clips starting with the «SHIVER» issued in 2010 and ending specifically filmed for the collection «TO DAZZLING DARKNESS». The collection seems very diverse.
RUKI: It must be due to the fact that there were different directors. In total clips presented in this collection were filmed by three directors. «SHIVER», «RED» were filmed by Tan-san (Shuichi Tan who worked on music videos of LUNA SEA and hide), «PLEDGE» и «VORTEX» - by Imai-san (Toshihiko Imai worked with Kiyoharu и SADS), and on «REMEMBER THE URGE», «THE SUICIDE CIRCUS», «DERANGEMENT» and «Ibitsu» worked Kondo-san (Hiroyuki Kondo worked on the concert video and clips of DIR EN GREY). For the filming of «FADELESS» and «INSIDE BEAST» we again turned to Imai-san, and on the last clip «TO DAZZLING DARKNESS» again worked Kondo-san.
- If you look at the order of the tracks, it is noticeable that the clips of each director are contiguous to each other.
RUKI: This is because, depending on what kind of song was created, we decide who will be the director of PV and change the directors on this basis.
- Is there any video that you particularly remember?
RUKI: Yes, I remember the shooting of «THE SUICIDE CIRCUS», which went up to the pre-dawn hours. It was a nightmare!
- The GazettE’s videos always induce strange sensations, I never understood how you shoot them. It is difficult to understand even if they are shot in the country or abroad.
RUKI: We shoot in Japan. Even «THE SUICIDE CIRCUS» was shot in a Japanese amusement park.
- It looks so “foreign” …
RUKI: When we decorated the amusement park with light garlands, it began to produce “circus” impression. By the way, «DERANGEMENT» was shot in Roppongi, quite near here, isn’t it?
- (laughs) Even so, there is no even a hint of the environment in which it was filmed. Amazingly, but each of your work is shocking stronger than expected.
RUKI: “How to create a good thing, without spending a lot of money at the same time.” You should try in something to do this. Although, no matter what I’m saying about this, they still give us resources and money (laughes).
- What is the process of creating a video?
RUKI: On a par with those directors who can fully charge the whole process, there are those who work in close contact with you. And if for «SHIVER» and «RED» we entrusted the place for filming and everything else to the director, then with the other directors we have worked together. In the process of creation, we gave clear instructions like “here we should shoot this scene this way”. I particularly scrupulous in such matters.
- As Ruki-san, who is also engaged in decoration, you wanted to take an active part in the shooting too?
RUKI: Not in the meaning that I want to influence the process. I’m just constantly walking around the director (laughs). And saying: “insert this scene there”. And if this is a director who will not perform such instructions, we can not work together. However, Tan-san is the great maestro, so I have nothing to add. So, asking the question “Tan-san, do you like this take?” and geting the answer "Hmm, is it pretty good" I just say “Great!” and smile (laughs).
- Somehow it’s funny …(laughs)
RUKI: But Kondo-san is very good in editing. He joins separately scenes together in an incredible way, as I would never have guessed. In this genre, these three are simply irreplaceable. These people are not that strange … rather cryptic (laughs). But in Japan there are only a few of directors who agree to work on a video with you together. When we shoot a video, I flick through a large number of music videos. And for the filming of «LAST HEAVEN» in cooperation with the SONY WALKMAN (this video was going as a bonus to the player model Walkman®the GazettE) I invited an outside director. Perhaps due to the fact that he is a man overseas, he saw everything quite differently and did just about what we wanted. And since I’m not satisfied with this “about”, I thought that I reworked all what he has done.
- Usually, do you decide what will be the final video initially shooting?
RUKI: Oh no, here «THE SUICIDE CIRCUS» surprisingly was already fully understood, but during filming «DERANGEMENT» we found that we lack the basic frame. Then urgently we shot the scene with a red background. Since my suit was blue, I suggested “to create contrast, we put the red light and the camera will go like this.”
- Even though it was the main scene, the idea was born during the filming.
RUKI: Exactly. Because of these things it takes a lot of time. Each video of the collection took time, but perhaps the most difficult in this case was «TO DAZZLING DARKNESS». The shooting lasted indefinitely … (laughs). They often say “Then maybe you will shoot by yourselves?”.
- And here is such a collection of videos has become a Christmas release.
RUKI: Although the cover isn’t in Christmas way (laughs). This time it was drawn by the designer, and we chose this from several options. This is a man … I think so.
- It pretty resembles a Titan.
RUKI: A bit in the spirit of manga about JoJo. Something in it. But, despite this, does not look in Christmas way, so it would be at least to tie up with a red ribbon (laughs).
◆ By nature I’m more fan than the artist
- 2 and 3 December passed the final concerts fan tour (the GazettE STANDING LIVE TOUR 14 GROAN OF VENOMOUS CELL at Toyosu PIT). Why you decided to focus on the fan club in 2014?
RUKI: We did it for the sake of ourselves. While ceasing to write songs, we would like to return briefly to the easier things.But we can not afford to suspend activity at all, so we decided to rediscover our albums. And not to make all of this to the public, we restricted ourselves to the fan club.
- I heard that the setlist was composed only of songs included in previous albums.
RUKI: Yes, right. On this tour we played albums «DIVISION» and «TOXIC», in the summer tour «DIM» and «STACKED RUBBISH», and in the spring tour before - «NIL» and «DISORDER». Total for 1 year we passed through 6 albums. This caused a strong nostalgia.
- Returning again to these albums in practice, whether you opened something new?
RUKI: Remembering how and what we wanted to do in the past, we realized on some level we have become. Reflect on the theme “on this album we missed of this, so next one we made this way” or “the newest album incorporates this”. We realized that everything we’ve been through, did not happen because we staggered under the influence of the environment, but because we wanted to make our shows such way. Therefore, the tours have been quite at ease.
- And you succeeded in achieving initially stated purpose “briefly return to the more obvious things”?
RUKI: I guess, yes.
- Earlier Ruki-san said he thinks about his own performances in terms of audience. I was very impressed by these words. This time you have taken this rule as a basis?
RUKI: Well, not that you can not approach the matter differently, and it’s not even the fact that “we do it because we are the GazettE». I simply motivated by a desire to become a band of which I myself as a fan would say, "oh they are good.” I guess I’m even more hardcore fan than all our fans.
To begin with, I believe that people who play in a band, put into their work the strongest feelings. For example, earlier, when I was a fan of X or LUNA SEA, even among their fans were particularly zealous fans who gave all for the group, made cosplay and stuff. And more, I myself, perhaps, would like to stand in their shoes … That’s something like that.
- Probably so. By the way, do you think that most fans want?
RUKI: Not to be betrayed, don’t you think so? I am the same. Moment when the joint is stretched, which connect the fans and the GazettE they knew, is most disappointing. In this sense, perhaps, a good idea to stay away from the “right” course. On a par with the artists who are trying to get into the neutral zone, there are those who always kept close to the underground. I think we’re one of those. I do not know whether this strategy is successful for the band, but lately I have come to believe that it is not important. Of course, I want to be famous, and of course I want to sell well, but not to such an extent that to do what I don’t want.
- It is possible that the popularity of the GazettE and, moreover, winning an increasing number of loyal fans - the result is that you stick to this position.
RUKI: But in the same genre there is at least one such group. Perhaps we won’t outdo such group, but they definitely should to break the templates. For example, how BUCK-TICK do. Even if their style of music is changing, their view of things retains its poignancy. Never changed the list of the members, all the time to keep going their own way - it’s incredible.
- And since the debut of the incredible BUCK-TICK went for 27 years, and the GazettE next year will celebrate its 13th anniversary.
RUKI: Right. However, it does not seem that the time passed quickly, but on the contrary I want to ask, “What? It’s only been so?? No more? ”. Seems like they reduced our lifetime (laughs).
- (laughs). Is it because that in one year you were very intense activity? What has changed and what has remained the same over these 13 years?
RUKI: None of that would change very much. Of course, it’s depend on people in each band, but gradually begin to live according to the schedule, for as there are people who can be entrusted with the work, many people forget the essence of their activity. This applies to working with record labels or non-participation in the production of video. This is nobody’s fault, because it greatly simplifies some stage work. But even after 13 years we still do everything by ourselves. I think it’s great. In work on the cover or something else, we continue to accept as an active part, as in the indies days, when we are bound by the realization that we can not squander the money, and we do not care about the idea of proceeds profit. It still lives in us, and it is good that it lives.
- Fantastic, how this attitude is capable to take root.
RUKI: Indeed. In addition, we began to think more about the fans than before. To think what they would like. This does not mean that we will do anything just to please them, but we try to pamper them a little in the range of what we want to do That is to say, to show hospitality on our part (laughs). I think that as a band we strongly converged with our fans. In the past, we have largely left them unattended and treated with disdain idea “who wants - will understand”.
- You become more mature.
RUKI: Not that adults, rather gentle. However, it is important to note that it is not applicable to our songs. If I was a kid, for me it would be natural violently express my thoughts. Settle down, even if the songs were fluffy, then it would mean that I just completely softened.
- In your every word is heard the fact that you have not forgotten what it’s like to be a fan.
RUKI: Because I am by nature more fan than the artist. I desire to be closer to my own ideal, so in order to improve our quality, I will learn. I’m sure in the product that we make, so it seems to me that all the time I do is learning. Bringing the cover to the international standards, wherever our disk may be, no one can say that it is insignificant. And spare no effort I try to do a thing expensive-looking, even if in fact it was not spent much money. Simply said I am a strange fan (laughes). Super-devoted fan of the GazettE, which cannot be compared even with our fans.
- I think we will be able to witness these warm and tender feelings, that you experience to the band, at a concert the GazettE 13TH ANNIVERSARY [13-THIRTEE N-] in Nippon Budoukan March 10, 2015. At the sight of this ominous title and teaser, questions arise, what live it might timed to coincide with?
RUKI: The meaning is quite clear. Certainly, you will find a fascinating setlist, but not sinister. Like it or not, this will be the beginning of the 13th anniversary, so it’s good if people came to the live will be satisfied. We are thinking to make the setlist without relying on old times or novelty tracks, do it the way the audience could not have imagined.
- From now for the GazettE begins 2015.
RUKI: Next year we are making a lot of plans that promise to make it dizzy. Wait and tremble in anticipation that something will happen!
Beginning of「LIVE TOUR 12-DIVISION-GROAN OF DIPLOSOMIA 01」![sic]
「LIVE TOUR 12-DIVISION-GROAN OF DIPLOSOMIA 01」[sic] has just begun on 10/8.
With the tour imminent, we’re launching an interview in PS Magazine!
Concerning their feelings after the album’s release and the FC tour, and the curious details of『LIVE TOUR 12-DIVISION-GROAN OF DIPLOSOMIA 01』……?
― Before we move on to the『LIVE TOUR 12-DIVISION-GROAN OF DIPLOSOMIA 01』that’s starting now, I’d like to inquire about your thoughts on 『STANDING LIVE TOUR12 -HERESY PRESENTS- HETERODOXY』that took place this summer.
RUKI: We had the intention of doing everything thoroughly. Wherever possible, we wanted to play the songs we’d selected but……I guess it wasn’t like that?
― No, I thought it was extensive. And when it comes to the nostalgic songs, I think they were fresh to your new fans.
RUKI: I don’t know exactly how much they wanted the old songs though…… But, they’re the fan requests we got from the rankings. (T/N: at lives, they give out leaflets and let you vote for songs you wanna hear.) So, when we’d look at them in the end, a pattern started showing in the selection of songs. No matter what, they went for the songs from our early days. Going over our early stage felt kind of strange.
Uruha: And yet, we wondered what we’d do if what the fans actually wanted was the early days. We decided that we wouldn’t have that part be the deciding factor.
RUKI: In March, at the time of 10th ANNIVERSARY『THE DECADE』(at Makuhari Messe Hall), we did play such songs, but these might not have been the lives for them. And in rankings, they honestly overtook. We thought it’d be good if we considered the song selection some more. Because even if we played the nostalgic songs, they wouldn’t be nostalgic the next day.
― Hmmm……It’s difficult, isn’t it.
RUKI: On the contrary, there are songs from the time of 『STACKED RUBBISH』, such as 「GENTLE LIE」, which we don’t do at all. I guess it would be fun if we did a song that’s in such a sensitive spot.
REITA: We don’t do coupling songs either. Like 「Naraku」and「Kugutsu e」.
RUKI: Neither came up in the rankings though.
― Now that you’re talking about it, I started wanting to hear the songs from that time (laugh).
RUKI: It feels like this is different from just being immersed in nostalgia. Because this is a point to reflect on, expect them next time! (laugh).
― Meanwhile, your album 『DIVISION』has also been released. I wonder what it’s like passing that huge first edition over the register.
RUKI: In my case, X-JAPAN’s box set sold with a thud, didn’t it (imagine the thickness). When I was buying that……I thought, LOOK at this!
Uruha: When I’m buying something like that, on the contrary, I’m all restless (bitter smile).
RUKI: Why? (laugh).
Uruha: Doesn’t it stand out? It’s pretty embarrassing. Well, I guess『DIVISION』ended up having an impact as well.
― Please try to remember what it was like buying something of that size when you were kids!
Aoi: In my home town, there was no music shop, though.
― What? There must be one now!
Aoi: There isn’t one now either! It takes about 30 minutes by car to go buy something. Well, even now when I want to buy something, I end up buying it online (laugh).
― I see～～～. There’s that method!
REITA: I can’t remember the artists I liked putting out such limited editions, but I bought Kuroyume’s 『Drug Treatment』.
RUKI: That was huge, too.
REITA: And I wanted to have my friends say “Ah, you bought it!” (laugh).
RUKI: I get it! The guy who’d buy regular editions suddenly became a fan (laugh). Of course!
REITA: There was a line drawn between people who bought it on the day of release and the people who liked it after it became popular on TV. I don’t worry about such things at all now but at that time didn’t people have that sense of superiority with “I knew it first”? (T/N: Reita, you must be secluded, people still have that)
― It’s the real fan mentality.
RUKI: I have that first fan impulse.
Aoi: You’re a welcome fan (laugh).
Uruha: I borrowed the first edition from the guy who bought it, but I’m careful not to get it dirty since it’s the first edition.
REITA: I wish you’d stop borrowing first editions (laugh).
― We came upon a nostalgic topic. Kai-kun, of course, has material to top the episode we’ve been having here――.
Kai: I don’t have it (bitter smile). I’m also the type to get embarrassed when buying huge first editions. I even had the impression that people who buy live DVDs are amazing.
― Among you, the ratio of first press limited edition items RUKI-kun owns must be excessively high.
RUKI: That’s on the same level as Bikkuriman stickers.
― Then, from the next work, the GazettE should have Bikkuriman stickers……I’m kidding (laugh).
RUKI: Shiny ones! Shiny!
(After this, we digressed shortly into childhood stories of Carddass and J-League chips)
(T/N: I’m kind of angry with them for letting this part out. I bet it was hilarious.)
― Stories related to limited edition products are endless, aren’t they. The tour setting off this epic 『DIVISION』is starting soon. What sort of tour will it be?
RUKI: Honestly, the full image should become clear in a bit (the interview was right before rehearsal).
REITA: First, we gotta remember the body of the songs.
RUKI: I’m singing in the studio tomorrow. Lately, I guess I’ve also become gradually interested in equipment.
Aoi: It took you 10 years to finally start practising in the studio (bitter smile).
― You’re looking forward to it for now.
RUKI: I am. And, I’m getting back to the talk of first editions here but, in our time, (T/N: Ruki, you sound like a grandpa), it was different whether you went to lives or not. Even for X-JAPAN’s Tokyo Dome live, when I went I didn’t know if I could return home that day. Somehow I managed to get back with the last train. Something……a thing like that, it’s valuable.
― This passionate thought, is it a feeling that carries you to the actual place?
RUKI: I guess I might have the soul for it.
Uruha: But, we couldn’t go to lives that often. Because tickets were expensive.
RUKI: There were…..Christmas presents or Otoshidama in advance (bitter smile).
Uruha: I, in the period I wasn’t going to lives, met Ruki for the first time and already, the atmosphere changed.
RUKI: That’s right――.
― You’re not denying it (sweat).
Uruha: It was a completely different atmosphere. He was someone who went to lives, and always had this rocker air about him. I thought that was amazing. You wore make-up, didn’t you?
RUKI: Yeah, I did……
Uruha: Amazing! Come to think of it, RUKI also carried a business card.
RUKI: I did. Even though I was doing nothing but a copy band (bitter smile).
Uruha: You made an entrance.
REITA: But, it’s important to start from the style. (T/N: This is a decidedly Japanese phrase - 形から入る=start from style, which I suppose can be translated as “make a good impression” but it’s not quite the same.)
― You get such a feeling at lives.
RUKI: Basically, one can do as they please, but when it comes to the cosplay culture at lives, I don’t really understand the people who do it. But I feel that it’s good to have such enjoyment at lives, too. It’s like everyone comes together.
― The album is split into 2 CDs, so it’s good that it has something of a heavy-hitting atmosphere, right?
RUKI: No, no, on the contrary, it’s up, up. Please anticipate that.
― The two compositions『DIVISION』was named after. (T/N: I think there’s some sort of implication of a pun here that I’m oblivious to.)
RUKI: That’s not it! (immediate answer).
― Is it (bitter smile). If you don’t come, you won’t know (laugh). While imagining one and the other, we’ll look forward to it.
◆Today is August 25th. It’s the right timing, as just a few hours ago, I received the completed “DIVISION.” What surprised me most was that when I took this first press limited edition in my hands, it was heavier than I’d expected. I was like, “Ahh, so that’s how it ended up!”
「Yeah, that’s how it ended up (laugh). Actually, I received it myself just yesterday. When the real thing is finally done like this, it gives me a feeling that “We’ve really done it”, you know. But actually, it took a long time to complete.」
◆In the end, what was the most difficult thing about it?
「Being consistent about a lot of things, I guess. Like, at first I only had this really vague vision, and from that I tried to think up different kinds of stories… Bringing them all to unity was difficult. But I kept getting a lot of ideas. And in the end, they all connected as one.」
◆It was as if, so to speak, you saw it all since the beginning?
「Yeah. That’s exactly how it was.」
◆So you could call a coincidence coincidence, or call it a fortunate bit of thinking ahead. Things like that happen. Actually, although I myself heard a lot about this album from its initial stage of production, the concept itself was really rough at first. So I’m surprised that it was completed this elaborately.
「That’s somehow strange to me as well. When I decided how things would go and was completing them one at a time, the things I hadn’t realized had that strong a connection also connected in the end. It was a really fun process, watching such subtle details connect and gradually become one.」
◆Or you could say that, even if there were factors preventing you to see into such subtle details, they came together as, looking forth, you overcame them.
「I thought that was definitely what happened this time. And I didn’t always use this method. The artwork is the same way: I’d just have the idea for a jacket cover and then work on the contents from that. So honestly, I’d make it without being bothered that it isn’t really linked to the songs. As a matter of fact, this is where the link would naturally begin.」
◆For example, in case of the limited edition, you put the DVD as the point of connection between the two CDs. The videos supplied there, as well as the liner notes I wrote at the beginning of the booklet…and well, it might sound presumptuous coming from me, but you could say that they’re also a part of “DIVISION.” I felt like it might’ve been acting as a certain thematic glue. (T/N: The interviewer, Masuda You, is the person who wrote a two-page intro for the limited edition of DIVISION.)
「That, too. For the limited edition booklet, it wasn’t that I had some deep idea and a draft from the beginning. As different elements amassed, it turned out like this naturally. So, I guess it’s still a strange feeling. Well, of course it is, since I got it just yesterday but yeah (laugh)」
◆Even if you say it’s simply just a part of the album, it all began from an idea to make two mini albums of different inclinations. So, the limited edition went on to be structured in accordance with that, but you condensed the regular edition into one CD, with the song order completely different. Were you confident it was going to work out that way?
「No, on the contrary, we thought it wouldn’t work at all (laugh). Initially, we didn’t really think about the regular edition. And at the point when we decided to make it into one CD we thought that we should mix them up. And then as the mastering passed and we tried listening to it, there were parts where we were like “nah.” In order to complete it as a single CD we’d have to properly rearrange it. So we revised, and the song order was set up like this. And that was at a second round of mastering (laugh). But to tell you about my real intentions–although the way it is is of course okay–I guess I’d have to say that the real “DIVISION” is the limited edition one.」
◆That might be a bit of a shocking statement (laugh).
「But I honestly think so. Basically, the regular edition is “the CD we couldn’t not make” (laugh). There must be people who only want to hear the music, and not everyone wants a version like that limited edition. The price of the limited edition is also high, and there are people who can’t get it for that reason. So if there weren’t an option like the regular edition, they would be sad.」
◆Of course. So let’s talk a bit more specifically about the work. I would like to inquire about the limited edition while it was still in its basic form. The two CDs have different meanings musically, and on the basic sound level are different in terms of production technique. The people involved have the actual feeling of this disparity more than anyone else, but on the other hand I believe it’s natural that among the listeners there will be those who feel that it’s not all that different.
「I suppose it’s so. But, I wonder. It is different in that we’d expressly tried to tackle new things in order to differentiate the two CDs. Then again, it was a gradual change, happening throughout a natural transition. But I thought that these ten years would be visible in the flow from the first disc to the second. And yesterday, when I listened to it anew, I felt yet more different nuances to it. When I tried to listen to it objectively, I saw that after all, what makes it different are the different meanings. This is not an unexpectedly extreme change, but can be seen as having a proper path. As in, having a component of the past in it somewhere, yet being songs thus far unheard.」
◆That’s certainly so. I myself have also hoped to get a clearer analysis of the two CDs. In fact, when I kept listening to it, I didn’t really feel an extreme fluctuation, and on the regular edition, where the two sides of the songs are mixed, they didn’t give off a strange feeling. In short, while clearly facing a new direction, nothing is abandoned either.
「Somehow, that’s what it feels like. Those two discs have both sides in them and therefore form the same path. And that’s the path that’s possible because of what we’ve been through so far.」
◆That’s exactly why I think that even though the title is “DIVISION” and you chose it prior to starting the actual work, the meaning of it really expanded.
「It really did. But it turned out like that naturally. At any rate, in the very beginning, we were just thinking of it as a contrast of “ballads and violent stuff”. That made us think about various things inside ourselves. For example, about “what a CD ought to be”. So it wasn’t that we suddenly decided we wanted to create something interesting; the fact that it wasn’t a single was important, and then of course there were the implications of living in a world that is starting to focus on downloading.」
◆So, questioning what your work is supposed to be?
「Yeah. Therefore, having made this, we’re thinking of stepping things up even more.」
◆It’s like I can hear the voices say “Then, the next limited edition will have even a higher price?” (laugh)
「Ahaha! At least we didn’t make it expensive and huge without a point. This size, weight, the way the content is structured…all have a lot of meaning. Well…maybe some people will end up thinking all of this doesn’t have a meaning, but it’s like, when you suddenly see something that at first glance doesn’t seem meaningful, it’s important that you think about it with your own head.」
◆So it comes down to whether you can put trust in your fans’ imagination. For example, I expect there will be people who buy the limited edition thinking, “I bought it because I thought it was the members’ photo collection”. There were probably other times when you had to worry about such a reaction.
「Absolutely. But this time, I guess we weren’t afraid of that. Because from the beginning, we thought of going completely out with it. Usually, for taking such photos and making a booklet, we’d have to work with designers and cameramen for example, and for us to do that it’d have to appeal to as as “something we want to put out”. Of course, this part is also a way of reaching our core fans; however, what we want to show here aren’t our portraits. That’s something they have to understand. Because when we somehow meet the fans’ demands, then they don’t have the opportunity to discover anything anymore. If everything is geared towards the fans’ expectations, then it’s meaningless. Of course, I suppose there are times when you get something and you’re glad it was the way you expected, but I think it’s bad if there’s nothing new about it. At least, that’s what I wouldn’t like if I were a fan.」
◆Therefore, you’re not satisfied making extravagant products in the name of fan service.
「Exactly. So I’m thinking, for example, when it comes to overseas artists, there are times when I randomly buy a CD that’s been fussed over, and it makes me think “What the hell is this?”, you know? Because it’s not what I hoped for. Rather, it’s just all kinds of things in there without any explanation. So when I can relate to something like that, I can usually get more into it. If you’ve managed to relate in that way to our products, then that means our band has progressed further on. So I suppose that we personally have a different approach to the choice of products that make the fans happy. To put it differently, that’s what I see as fan service. Having them look forward to something by showing them new things. Photos are that same way too, but nice-looking photos aren’t everything, you know. If there aren’t new things, there’s no motivation, they’ve seen everything. It might happen that we’ll have to ask ourselves “So should we put out something of lower quality?” Should we try showing that we’re struggling with a drop in quality, or should we try for new horizons together despite that? I thought that that might be the difference」
◆When I was a middle school student and started listening to various bands, there were so many times when, the moment I’d get a new album I’d feel that “I don’t get this band anymore”. But, I ended up liking it exactly because I didn’t get it–because I would still try to understand. Due to having a bunch of such experiences, I’ve managed to grow up along with the band’s progress. Of course, it’s not a problem if I misunderstand them. RUKI-san, is it that you expect such a thing from fans?
「I do. For example, at the time when hide-san did zilch, I think the response was a bit strange. Because the lyrics were in English and the melodies really enthusiastic. I think that there were lots of people who didn’t really get it then and when they tried listening to it after a few years passed, they sensed it exactly right. As a fan, thinking that I wasn’t able to get to that sense when an album was announced would make me regret it somehow. As if I was somehow late to the party or something.」
◆Did you actually have such regrets back then?
「No, concerning zilch, everything was okay. But, for example, when it comes to LUNA SEA and stuff, the songs I liked at that time and the songs I like at the present are clearly different. Even with overseas artists, the things I’d felt were impossible for me back then, I normally listen to now. Since back then, if it was possible, I’d try to listen to all the things the artists I liked listened to. I bought all the CDs of the artists J-san listed as his favourite in a GiGS article. And even if it was something I didn’t understand, I pretended that I did (laugh)」
◆I really understand that so well. It’s because just by doing that you could feel as if you were closer to the artist you like. In the same way, you want to convey with the entirety of this album that “the GazettE right now are exactly this thing of this taste and viewpoint”, and it’s also that you want, if possible, for your fans to end up liking the whole thing, right?
「Right. Somehow, I think that the people now don’t do much thinking when they see the booklet.」
◆It’s like you’re saying that you’re no longer one of “the people now” (laugh).
「But, certainly I’m forced to feel a difference in generations. The not thinking, or not imagining. The whole, wanting to understand something from just seeing a single sentence. That’s how things like Twitter are too, in that you don’t try to see the backdrop of those sentences. When you don’t think about, “Why is he saying something like this, with what meaning in mind?”, then you only interpret what you see superficially, and because of that you go on to say something.」
◆Like getting angry even though they misunderstood something?
「Yup. I’m like, read it properly (laugh). Even with music, I guess there’s things like that. When you try reading the lyrics and don’t understand. That’s where it ends. I myself don’t like it when I don’t understand something, so I’d like them to try thinking about it.」
◆Being able to enjoy things like that is, I suppose, one of the privileges of being a fan.
「Yes. I think my own sensibility got refined that way too. When I reach out to something I don’t understand, I touch into a world unknown to me, and attempt to understand yet more different worlds. So simply said, I think it would be a waste if such an instance would end with a mere glance, without thinking of anything, without searching for anything.」
◆When you’re listening to something you like, it’s natural you’d get interested about what’s on the other side of it. That’s what you mean?
「Yeah. On the other hand, there’s also stuff I’m told by fans. Such as, “It’s fine if you’re fixating this much on the booklet, but what about the sound?” And that’s before actually hearing it. Honestly, I think that’s a little beside the point. When it comes to such things, I think of it as taking it all together and making a single product, and since of course I have faith in the sound, I can fixate on other things, as well.」
◆Indeed. If you didn’t have faith in the music, then you’d be embarrassed and trying to fixate on the artwork would carry a feeling of guilt with it.
「Yeah. But, I think that saying such a thing obtrusively is also wrong somehow. So I want those people to try hearing the thing first and then say things (laugh).」
◆You’re quite right (laugh). But actually, before the release, you probably heard people saying “Why is the limited edition so expensive?”
「We wanted to make it a lot cheaper, but even so (laugh). We did our best, and everyone around us did their best. People from the recording company gave it their all, as well.」
◆That’s something that naturally, we shouldn’t really write in a magazine, but it makes a great difference whether or not you have the blessing from enthusiastic people in charge.
「That’s really very important. Like, that they tried reading between the lines some way or other when it comes to the things we want. And other than those people in charge, it feels like there is the “care” put in by various other people who participated. Like our cameraman Hirano-san, who ended up leaving a fingerprint on the front cover and then thoughtfully wiping it off. When I saw that I felt kind of happy. 」
◆It’s as if the product itself became a precious child of every person who worked on it.
「It is, and I actually suddenly noticed that Hirano-san and designer Yoda-san had started freely and enthusiastically saying things like, “the future GazettE should be like this” (laugh). It’s truly a welcome thing (laugh). In a weird way, it’s good that such people around us are handling our band, and I think it’s great that they were thinking with us how to make things happen. Actually, such feelings have come through. In other words, all of us have taken on the challenge of handling this product called “DIVISION.” The music is at its heart, naturally, but there are other parts to be enjoyed too. I want the people who haven’t yet had the chance to enjoy the album to the fullest, to realize that.」
◆In that sense too, this album feels like its music evolution and everything around it is on a different level.
「That’s why it’s fun. At first, we started out stubbornly trying to surpass our previous album, “TOXIC.” In the end, it wasn’t “TOXIC” that we were trying to surpass. In a way, it was completely different.」
◆In a way, it might have been everything.
「Yes. Maybe we were trying to exceed everything.」
◆And, another thing this album made me realize is that, this band, after all, doesn’t want to do what somebody else demands them to.
「Or rather, we don’t even know what is being demanded from us (laugh)」
◆To be rather specific, for example, if “Ibitsu” was conceived at the time when you were about to play at Tokyo Dome, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it became one of three singles.
「It might have been exactly like that.」
◆So certainly, it’s not making such a song, it’s that you don’t like it when someone demands you make it. After all, you should have your own voice.
「I agree. And I thought the same thing at the time of our 10-year anniversary.」
◆So when hearing “Ibitsu”, there might be some people who feel like “they’ve gone back a little bit, haven’t they?” But, as you’ve said before, in the end it is that you “haven’t thrown anything away”, and simply, there’s a difference in the detail of whether the band has sought something out and conceived it, or if someone has demanded it.
「Exactly. So of course, I’m curious about how everyone will hear it. I simply think it’s not about the sales anymore. Now there’s kind of a part where we should think how to have yet more people hear it. Saying this might get someone angry at me, but I don’t mind it if you borrow it from someone to hear it. I just think it’s fine if there’s even more people now who hear us for the first time in that way. I guess the album turned out like that. Because I want people to give their attention more and more to see what we’ll release. The form of this album is like this, too, because we will be releasing much more new things. Somehow, I think it’s really wasteful. Even though there are all these types of music, people only reach out to the things that are slapped right in the most obvious place. And so honestly, when it comes to DIVISION, I think it’s probably something that people who don’t already know the GazettE will have a much harder time picking up.」
◆Those who listen to the things already out there are not the music fans; for them it’s just a way of having more fun. And also, you’d said earlier, “to yet more people”, but I think that isn’t really a problem of numbers.
「Right. Still, it’s not that it can be fine for anyone. So exactly because of that, just, if I could have all the people in the country hear something like this, I would want to know like, which opinion the majority would be of.」
◆If only to ask the people who dislike it as to why they dislike it?
「Exactly. So if among the answers there would be “I didn’t understand it”, that would be okay.」
◆It would be best if you could do a survey with the entire nation, wouldn’t it?
「If it were possible, I’d distribute the album to the entire nation (laugh). Well, of course, that’s impossible, and apparently I’m supposed to think about the profit, too (laugh)」
◆Because if there were no profit, you wouldn’t be able to create this.
「Yeah. But, while we, the actual persons who created it, don’t have that much to do with profit, we’re all interested in how it’s perceived as. So it would be great if we could like, enclose it with the newspaper (laugh). Because nowadays, the very act of going out to buy a CD is progressively dying out. So even if we can make something simply to gratify that, there will still be a lot of people who won’t know that this CD is coming out. And I think that’s too bad. Certainly, if they end up saying that it’s a difference in taste, then that’s what it is.」
◆It’s really a “Even though there’s such a fun world in there!” kind of feeling.
「Yeah. I personally used to feel like that about the music of our predecessors. Simply put, I thought it should have been shared more.」
◆I think we might have been the final generation who could put into practice what we’d learned directly from those predecessors of ours. Don’t you think so?
「I don’t know about that. At least, mostly you can’t find bands with a similar point of view around here. And, it’s not really because I think I should be unique or that I want to be unique.」
◆It’s more a question of where to look for uniqueness.
「Yeah. I do want a certain type of uniqueness, and that’s why it’s annoying when I’m forced to recognize that some other band is, no matter who sees them, immediately understood as doing “something out of the ordinary”. After all, it’s not nice being annoyed by that. So when I think of someone’s work that it’s “reaching into a really deep place”, I think that then we need to go past that. And for that reason, too, I watch and listen to various things.」
◆I’m going back to what we were talking about before, but when buying CDs by those predecessors whom you hold in respect, even though it should’ve been something incredibly special, if it was substitutes with nothing but extraneous freebies, you would be disillusioned, right?
「But, for example in the case of Radiohead, don’t they put in a lot of things you really can’t tell if they have any meaning or not? I mean, I like it that those things then make me wonder, “Why did they want to include this?” I think that things like the booklet and the format express the image of the entire album. A collection of photos doesn’t do that. Thinking just how many things I can express in the small, regular edition, naturally the question “So if I make it huge, won’t I be able to say much more?” also surfaces. I mean, I want to make it a serious matter. Now, in the time when people coming into stores to buy a CD are rare, I want those who pick up the limited edition that costs more than 6000 yen to think that they’re glad they bought it, after all.」
◆On the other hand, since it’s a band’s job to persistently make good CDs, there are those who leave all the specifics and what surrounds it to the staff.
「Actually, a while back, we talked about that. And I think that’s also the right thing to do. But, our case is different, since we’re no longer at a place where we think that we’re just about the music. With each product we create, we have to take into account just how much responsibility we ourselves have. We don’t want to push those responsibilities onto somebody else. So if, say, we were ever to reach a point when we say something like, “We should only do music”, then at that point, I think this band would have truly changed, and we would have lost any interest in various things surrounding the music. If that happened, it wouldn’t be a CD, and it’d probably be enough if it were just a CD-R, and all we’d have to do is distribute that.」
◆But, at least for the time being, that isn’t what you want to do. A discussion article with the people involved in the booklet artwork was also included in the limited edition. When RUKI-san is concerned, visual kei is something that comes from such a comprehensive desire for expression, isn’t it?
「Yeah. I’ve always thought of it like that. In that it carries very deep ideas in each respective thing. Before, everyone used to fuss over things like the CD cover, didn’t they? And it’s sad that such a part is disappearing. There were times in the visual kei scene when people wanted to buy just the cover, and ended up liking it even more once they heard it. I think something like that can be very important. So, when we speak of visual kei and such, bands who don’t worry about that at all and who only wear make-up then wouldn’t be visual kei, and should just be called “make up kei”. Because just to be calling yourself visual kei, I think that you’re supposed to be particular about all the things that appeal to vision. Therefore, I think it’s off-point to say that “even though it’s visual kei, it has little band portraits.” Visual kei bands that I’d always liked were awesome even just with silhouettes. There were things that tugged at me with but a single shadow. Because it’s not the faces that I liked.」
◆It’s not just hearing or vision, but appealing to all five senses. Or to put it more clearly, that’s what you want to be. Speaking of which, you named the two CDs composing the limited edition this time, [VEIN] and [ARTERY], respectively. That is, 静脈 and 動脈. It feels like through those words, yet more things have connected.
「Yes, I think that they have. When I wanted to name the discs and tried to find two words for them, I tried thinking of the album as a single human being. That’s how I thought of it.」
◆Veins return blood to the heart, and arteries carry it throughout the body. In other words, gushing forth from this band’s heart is a desire for new things, but as it rushes through the entire body, at the time when it returns to the heart, it becomes something that also adds onto its roots. It felt like such an explanation can be given. Maybe I’m thinking about it too much though (laugh).
「Definitely leave what you just said in the manuscript, please (laugh). But actually, after deciding on a title like that, I make many discoveries, and parts that connect appear. Besides, it’s not like I ordinarily think about the difference between veins and arteries (laugh). At most it was only about the contrast of the characters “静” and “動”. (T/N: vein-静脈 and artery-動脈, 静 means calm, 動 means moving.) Consequently, that’s the way it turns into something meaningful. I think it’s too bad when there’s truly no focus on something like that. If there are those who don’t understand the words “vein” and “artery”, I assume there will also be people who don’t even look for the meaning. Perhaps there will be those who will start from the DVD. But you know, when you only listen to the music, it might feel shorter, but if you start listening in order while one by one taking stabs at the meanings of the words, I think it would be pretty tiring. And, I think that’s good.」
◆Seems you don’t want them to look for word meanings as if studying for entrance exams, and don’t want them to analyse the artwork in an artistic way either. But, exactly that, something so fun you’re absorbed in it to the point of exhaustion, that’s truly a privilege of being a fan.
「It is. In fact, it’s by imagining various things like that that the feeling of connecting everything into one comes about. To be very honest, I question whether these sentiments really can reach the teenagers, as well. Perhaps I can’t communicate this to the people who are only interested in the “so-called visual” style. That’s a difficult thing about it.」
◆In other words, this album is not intended to reach a 100% of those who call themselves visual kei fans. You’re people who are able to deliver this music and what this album itself is supposed to be, as something that hits right on the mark, and that’s also because you are still treading unknown territory.
「Yeah. I really think so. While we kept doing our trial-and-error thing, we planned on really understanding what we’re supposed to be expressing, what we’re supposed to be, and I think that this way, by being persistent in the way we go about things, something should travel even beyond the obstacles. And yet, because I’m a kid at heart, I want to surpass the bands I like, or should I say that, I’m also curious what the people I respect will think when they hear it. Since I think I wouldn’t wanna be one of those that my senpais mean when they say “The youth today…” (laugh)」
◆To say it more specifically, you’d like to be able to just confidently give the album to those people you admire, right?
「Exactly. Instead of saying “Please listen to it, I’m in your care,” I’d be like, “I came to win.” (laugh)」
◆Like, because I’m gonna step all over you (laugh).
「Of course, I wouldn’t say something like that (laugh). But like, there’s that thing “younger generations following the things their predecessors did.” I don’t like that. We want to continue on being as unique as we can be. I think that’s where the real respect is. While it is that “We honestly learned a lot from you”, it is not “So we want to be like you.” So well, when I make it seem like it’s settling scores, it might lead to misunderstandings but (laugh)」
◆In the end, by exceeding them, you can repay them for everything they’ve done for you.
「Yeah. So looking at the generations below us……and this really isn’t anything like me dissing them (laugh), but I do wonder why they aren’t going more for the win. It’s like there’s some “selling manual” out there that we don’t know about (laugh). Of course, I’m not saying everyone from the younger generations is that way.」
◆It’s like, things RUKI-senpai’s been saying lately are a bit scary (laugh).
「I guess that’s what it looks like. But when it comes to that, my generation is supposed to be the same as the image embraced by Kiyoharu-san and various other sempai (laugh). Actually, it’s not like that at all. For example, what I enjoy at the moment, is going into this thing that hide-san once called the “gap industry” (T/N: a niche market). Instead of aiming for the very middle with everyone, we’re in little gaps between, where it’s more fun for us to carry out our own way of doing things, and where we can do many different things. So I think it’s best if the name the GazettE can secure a stable place for itself there.」
◆There will probably be readers who don’t have that positive an image of the phrase gap industry, but for you, “gap=a territory just for us.”
「Exactly. Therefore, more so than in melody, we want to establish that in mind. We want to be recognized for having this type of mindset. And actually I think that being able to think this way is exactly because we made our previous album “TOXIC.” It’s like the things that we are able to do increased incredibly because we made it. And I think that, when making “DIVISION” now, it was necessary that we’d made that album, and both our ten years, and Tokyo Dome, now seem to have happened so that everything would connect here.」
◆Everything’s connected now, isn’t it. Personally I felt another thing–that in that relation between vein and artery, what’s essential are imagination and creativity. If there’s nothing but imagination, it can all end with a simple illusion, and if it’s just inventiveness, it then ends up a shape with no substance. By possessing both, the band’s blood circulates in a healthy way.
「Imagining is very important to artists. It’s not about capturing what one sees, but trying to think about it a little deeper, and still try thinking about what everyone will interpret it as. Actually, in case of this band, I don’t think we’ve had enough of the inventiveness part from the start, and beginning from imagining took a long time. But, exactly because of that, there’s a certain amazement when we accomplish something. Since it didn’t really go along with some planned storyboard. We’re not going about it by using a storyboard and thinking that that’s the way we’ll proceed. Instead, things just happen when different reactions amass. That’s something important to our band. I think that probably, if each of us tried to make a storyboard, we’d end up with completely different things.」
◆You’re saying that those differences are necessary to the band?
「Yeah. Namely, those differences show up in songs. When someone brings a song that they’ve been having trouble with alone, we’ll genuinely think it’s great. It’s just that when it comes to artwork-related stuff, they’re basically done by me alone. That’s why I always have the incentive to make things that will surprise my bandmates. Not all five of us have to completely understand it at first. As long as it can be understood with time」
◆So if it’s RUKI-san personally putting his imagination to work, you should make it by yourself, right. I think there must be a great deal of readers who think that way.
「There probably are. But, it’s not really like that. Basically, they’re things I make with the feelings of five people in mind. So actually, while other members indeed don’t have to do with the artwork specifically, I am able to make those things because my bandmates are there. If it was just me, they wouldn’t be the way they are.」
◆ You can do it exactly because you take on the burden by yourself.
「Yeah, so that’s why the pressure is huge too. Because more than anyone else, the ones I don’t want to be rejected by the most are my bandmates (laugh). And, so because I want to get their understanding, it’s necessary for me to know about a lot more things than them. Plus, then I can usually share these things I’ve learned with them.」
◆That’s a really great band! (laugh) Actually, I think there are people who feel that RUKI-san wants to do every single thing by himself. But, that’s not the case.
「I understand how it can look that way, and it’s difficult for me. But if I was in an opposite situation, I’d want honestly to think “wow, great!” about the ideas my bandmates bring forward, and I’d want to be respectful towards everything they make. So that’s why, in my current position, I’m feeling a lot of pressure.」
◆Somehow it feels like through this I’ve been able to understand the band’s structure more clearly. But you know, it seems like the birth of “DIVISION” will make a significant mark on the GazettE’s history. Aren’t you already starting to think about the next thing to come?
「We’re talking about it in not so many words (laugh). I guess we’re being asked “What are you doing?” because what we really have to do is surpass this (laugh). By the way, back then, we even mentioned stuff like, “Should we stop releasing things in the form of CDs?” Like, should we sell headphones with the album embedded in them (laugh)」
◆If you say something like that here, bands will actually start doing it later! (laugh)
「Ahahaha! But well, though it feels a little defeating when someone does something first, I’m often reminded that the world is a huge place, and there are still so many things that we can do. Going out on a limb here, and I’m repeating myself but, just for people to hear the songs, if they can download them then that’s fine. Because we’ll release it as a CD, and we still want to make everyone want to have it. And not because it’d be a ticket to the handshake-meet or something. When you buy a CD, the excitement you get when opening it is something special. I used to be that way as well, I’d even buy something and open it on the train back (laugh)」
◆There were things like that. You never forget a feeling like that, and it’s kind of a shame to not feel that if you’re a music fan.
「Yeah. Because the completed world in there is something that definitely only just begins when you take it in your hands. So exactly for that reason, I am doing my absolute best in making it.」
◆I see. But you know, I’m happy I could prepare for this interview today after I got the actual limited edition. Because I was able to have this conversation with you having felt its weight myself.
「Definitely. Talking with people who haven’t seen the actual thing is kind of difficult (laugh). Even preparing for the interview. Just by saying “it’s huge”, it’s difficult to understand in what way it’s huge」
◆Like this, people similar to us will also be able to fully realize the importance of having the actual thing in their hands.
「Well, I think we’re supposed to have it finished a bit earlier, so there are still things we have to keep doing ourselves (laugh). Of course, now our heads are filled with the tour for this album, but we have to drive ourselves on like this, in order to create yet more new things from now on.」
―This is your first interview in a while.
“It is? Ah, right. Because we didn’t have any singles”
―the GazettE won’t release any more singles?
“No, that’s not it. But after we released TOXIC, somehow we didn’t feel like releasing any”
―You said so during the previous interview. Like, ‘Next, we’ll release an album all of a sudden, without singles’.
“I did? That’s great. But it’s just that TOXIC was so huge. So after releasing such an album, what would we be able to express with just a single? That’s sort of how we felt. Like, 'It’s impossible.’”
―Why was it impossible?
“For example, when producing a work, the highest sense of accomplishment and satisfaction is releasing an album, so it’s like, after that, can we get the same sort of satisfaction with a single? So, we wondered what to do and the next plan was to release two mini albums. But from that it became so that we’d rather just do an album”
―It’s simple. So, this year in January at Yokohama Arena you announced the album and the title.
“We’d already decided to make it a two-disc album then. The content was yet to come”
―That’s why it got named DIVISION.
“Yeah. So first came the name. We worked from there on”
―What sort of concept is in the two discs?
“First we had the image of 'Us up until now’ and 'We from now on’, however, in the end, one disc was the GazettE as easily imagined by everyone, and the other disc as the sound we’ve accomplished throughout our 10 years. Which one the GazettE is, is largely divided into those two parts.
―What about the content of the songs? I thought the two discs had relative consistency.
"Hm, how to put it. The first disc has content with a story line, and the second has plenty of fairly emotional stuff. But wholly, it’s the problems of today. 2012 topics, and my state of mind about them form the basis of it.
―So there certainly aren’t happy songs. From the spectrum of emotions, you could say it’s overwhelmingly 'anger’.
"But it’s not spouting anger. It’s very detached. A cold anger”
―Exactly. Although you’re angry at the reality and situations in 2012, you’re never frank about it. How is it that you’re so detached?
“For example, concerning the song Hedoro, since I understand that not everyone is telling lies all the time, the lyrics are from an objective point of view about taboos and people not touching upon such subjects, and I guess there a lot of songs where such a sense of distance is quite established”
―I think this clearly concerns the nuclear plant but here you are looking at such a reality with an extremely detached point of view.
“That’s right. A year has passed since the earthquake, and it seems things have changed since then. Haven’t we begun to see a lot of things about Japan since then? Hidden things are starting to crumble. That’s also ridiculous, but that’s the way it is” (T/N: he means that it’s ridiculous that it took something like that earthquake to make things surface)
―Or should you say that we’re closer to knowing the truth now.
“But there’s also the thing that 'humans are that way by nature’. And, 'it’s not something that only now came out’. And it’s not limited to Japan, I think people have always been that way. That sort of viewpoint is strong in this album. The future sure looks hopeless. There might be a bit of hope but it sure isn’t bright.”
―Exactly. So, let’s end the album conversation here, and continue on to delve more into Ruki-kun’s way of thinking.
“Right, here we are (laugh)”
―It’s clear from our conversation up to now but it seems you always have this extremely detached point of view.
“I do. I guess I never get worked up”
―What sort of rock musician are you if you don’t get worked up (laugh).
“Hahahaha. But aren’t Japanese people like that in general? We also don’t have change occurring like overseas. So the thing with the nuclear plant, isn’t it originally a problem from long ago”
―Before good and bad, you end up thinking like that.
“But in Japan, ever since the atomic bomb was dropped, we’ve been having problems with it right? And I think that……it’s too late for that. And when watching the news, too, I keep going "look, as I thought” when things exposed aren’t even subtle"
―Well, even if you get angry you end up looking like an idiot.
“Yeah. I’m the type that by nature tries to look at the other side of everything. The reverse side is worrisome. That’s been becoming clear last year and this year.”
―But, when you were a kid, in the process of falling for music, it seems you ventured into a befitting fever even though you were detached.
“At first it was Sex Pistols, then LUNA SEA in the same way but whatever it is, it’s an antithesis of a clear-cut society, you know? I was attracted to that sort of thing from the start.”
―But being attracted to antisocial matter, you’re usually supposed to be resentful and grievous.
“How about that. I think it’s right at that time that I became detached.
―You don’t like displaying your emotions?
"No, perhaps that’s actually easy. When it comes to that, isn’t it tiresome complaining that much all the time?”
―That sounds a bit like something a lethargic person would say (laugh).
“It does? (laugh)”
―But if you were lethargic you wouldn’t be able to be in the band like this, and do all the amazing things up until now. So…I’m taking freedom here with an analysis, but it might be that you have strong self control.“
"Yeah…I guess I don’t really act on my emotions”
―But I think if we were to look behind the surface, the breadth of your emotions would be great. In other words, if you broke the dam, emotions would come endlessly pouring out.
“Yeah……”
―If not, then you wouldn’t have come to like LUNA SEA this much.
“Hahaha”
―In other words, when something is important to you, you keep on being absorbed only in things concerning that.
“That’s right. But other than that I’m like in sleep mode”
―What are you, a computer (laugh)
“But I might really be like that. Like……There are times when I wilfully separate myself. For example, when people accept us warmly, and when people have the same sort of sensibility, then I’ll get psyched and talk about anything. This interview is also that way, however, the difference between people whom I can talk to like this and with whom I can’t is quite dramatic. As soon as I think that, 'Ah, I can’t talk to that person about anything other than shallow things’, plain business talk begins. If it doesn’t then there’ll be no manuscript, right? That sort of thing”
―That’s also your cold anger, isn’t it. But about that, maybe in a way, it also feels like they wouldn’t know what to do with your passion.
“Is that so?”
―I think you’re a person who turns that part of you containing passion and ceaseless emotion towards things and people that you hold dear. You can’t falsify that.
“Yes……I think you have a point”
―Moreover, you don’t like being angry at people or hurting them by giving in to anger and sadness.
“That’s true. But somehow it’s always been like that. And I’ve also been enamoured by violent and delinquent stuff, but in the end it was nothing but being drawn to the antithesis of society”
―In the end, I think you are also the sort of person who strongly feels about the things he cares about. Doesn’t that come from Ruki-kun’s home environment?
“No……In essence, my home environment wasn’t good”
―How so?
“Because my parents were……extremely strict”
―They were what you might call Spartan?
“Half-assed Spartan (laugh). They didn’t let me out if I didn’t study, that sort. And it’s not that I would usually reluctantly study when they told me. I was the type that still wouldn’t study. In short, I didn’t become the child my parents tried to raise. I was always rebelling……I guess in the end I could do nothing but suppress my emotions. Of course, they didn’t get angry just because I didn’t study. For such reasons, I became extremely detached at home”
―So those are Ruki-kun’s roots.
“For example, I wasn’t rebelling like, 'What use is it to study’. I didn’t even have those feelings. I didn’t feel anything. Couldn’t see anything”
―Sounds the same as being dead.
“It is like being dead. But, at that time, I encountered bands that left an impact. Only they could get me, cold as I was, to become passionate. Anyhow, Sid Vicious was the first whom I came across, and since then it was all Sid over my room. It was like I wanted to completely turn into him. But because I was controlling myself in front of my parents, when I’d go to school I’d put up my hair, and when I was returning I’d put it back. Maybe I was strange back then”
―Seems the emotions you held back were poured into that all at once.
“Yeah, maybe”
―You fostered that detached point of view when you were a kid, but it seems that even now it is a big part of you.
“I guess that’s how it turned out……well, it showed up here and there in the lyrics this time, too……Recently I wonder a lot about how I am. You could say that I’m detached and I guess I’d say so too but that’s something I can’t change and I think the balance of that composure and passion is my personality.”
―Well, I think that being troubled with such things is the mark of a very innocent person.
“Hm……how so?”
―You have something you care greatly for. Because you don’t want to lose that, you get detached and you get passionate. That may be bothersome, and then you’re unable to be that self-aware.
“……I’m not sure I understand what you mean”
―Really? To put it another way, it’s like being self-important due to great selfishness.
“Ah, I think so, too. It’s selfishness. Because it’s not that I’d do something for the band. The idea is that I always do what I want to do. I do think it’s great selfishness. I don’t want to do anything but the things I want. I’m still like a kid when it comes to that”
―Yeah, but it’s better if you say innocent than like a kid.
“Of course! (laugh)”
―When I was doing research (for the article), I thought that you’d be this troublesome guy, but you don’t give off a bad feeling at all. You’re more like a boy.
“I see……that’s it. Since I don’t do that much self-analysis, I wouldn’t have known”
―Though, when you’re releasing an album like this and you’re putting what’s inside of you into lyrics, and we’re having such a conversation here, you steadily find out things about yourself that you didn’t know.
“Well, it seems so”
―If you try going further out, you’ll end up seeing more of yourself. Maybe you don’t have much self-awareness now, but maybe you do want to know more about yourself.
“Is that so?”
―If you didn’t, then I don’t know why you guys would want to perform at Rising Sun (Rock Festival in Ezo 2012).
“Ahahahahahahahaha! What sort of place is Rising?”
―Super out of your element. the GazettE going up on Ishikari Heiya stage……I can’t imagine it (laugh).
“Hahahaha”
―But you have a reason for doing it, right?
“Yeah! Because we’re out of place by nature” (T/N: they use the same word 'away’ for this. Usually the word is used for away teams in sport. So I translated it 'out of element/place’)
―In this way, I think that it’ll steadily become something you’re aware of. Of yourself. Since at the time when you started the band, you weren’t aware of it.
“Exactly”
―Here’s a moment when I realize that even if you merely wanted to become LUNA SEA, you’re not RYUICHI.
“Mhmm”
―It seems that, in hindsight, this album has become a product that made you learn more about yourself.
“Yeah. Somehow……when I’m looking at lyrics I wrote recently, I’m able to remember the feelings I had when I wrote them, and revive them. Like 'Ah, that’, 'that’s how it was’. Things that leave a mark like that are already like a journal, like a chronology of myself. Therefore……I keep thinking, 'I wonder what will become of me from now on’. My detached point of view is also in there.”
TOUR 11 VENOMOUS CELL @ Tokyo International Forum Live Report - Yoroshiku Bitch (2011.10.10)
Today was the start of the tour at Tokyo International forum, which is the first of the 5 shows I attend of this tour (potentially more). I haven't seen the boys since Tokyo Dome, so I was pretty much an adrenaline rush on legs all day. I met GURENFAITH and 3 other LJ users (who I shall get the names of!) at around 8:30am at the venue, had breakfast, Ruki cosplay hunted, got our tickets and lunch before the doors opened at 4:30.
Pictures!
If you're a GazettE fan, and come to Japan to see a live, this will be your new best friend. I couldn't sleep the night before at all because of these guys, so even though I hate coffee, I've never appreciated it more than I do now.
Merch Queue at 12pm.
Now then.
Tokyo International Forum's quite a quirky place. The building is shaped like an almond, and the live halls are actually outside it. Our hall was hall A, so there were around 5,000 fans there that day. Since we'd arrived so early, we had food and wandered around, but a couple of hours before the live my nerves were kicking in as they do and I couldn't eat, or hold food down. See what you do to me GazettE? Which is a shame, because the food was lovely. At that point I knew I wasn't going to be able to do anything other than move, so I helped some more overseas fans with finding our ticket window. God that was so slow. We had to show our passport, GFC card, our payment receipt, and sign shit. It felt like each person was there a week.
But eventually we got it, and then joined the massive queue going into the venue. I bought both a heresy and GFC ticket for the live so I could compare the seats. Heresy ones were shit, but GFC? Niiiiice. Front. Got my money's worth there.
So this time around GFC was much better, 9 (very small) rows from the front on Uruha's side, and my Heresy ticket was on the second floor, which my friend got and ended up next to Ruki's parents and was petrified of his mom lol. So GFC is a good buy. I was seated next to the lovely KOTSURIN at the live, and we found out we're seated together the whole tour. The venue was the biggest one they'll use in the whole tour I believe. Amazing atmosphere. I'd love to do a live here again.
The Merch was nice this round too, and amazing quality, and I spent over 20,000 yen. I depressed over the fact I didn't have the boston bag from NLSB because it looked so practical, and sold out completely. I really went over budget on this one. I bought a high quality sweat set, a tour shit, and naturally, the new boston bag (there are pants with the hoodie). What's weird, is me and the girls bought our goods, and then frowned 'Are you...angry? I feel really mad.' We all did. Not at anthing, or the goods. We just did, at nothing. How bizarre. What are they putting in their goods?
There are much more photos on my facebook, especially of the gorgeous cosplayers and Ren. I'm spamming this entry enough, when we're not even at the gig yet m(_ _)m And since that's why you're reading this, I'll try not to distract you further.
So anyway, the gig was crazy. There was so much energy required on our part, with songs like Discharge, The Suicide Circus, Psychopath, Tomorrow Never Dies, Untitled, Sludgy Cult, Agony, Filth in the Beauty, Hyena, Venomous Spiders Web, Vortex, Linda, headache man, vermin, Remember the Urge, Ride with the rockers, My Devil on the Bed, Cockroach ect. It was a good list, but it ruined our bodies. I really gave it my all and then some.( KOTSURIN has given me the setlist* thank you*) (note I'm writing these as I happen to remember them, not order.)
[SE]
INFUSE INTO
VENOMOUS SPIDER’S WEB
SLUDGY CULT
VORTEX
THE SUICIDE CIRCUS
HEADACHE MAN
AGONY
RUTHLESS DEED
痴情
UNTITLED
Hyena
MY DEVIL ON THE BED
VERMIN
TOMORROW NEVER DIES
Filth in the beauty
Maggots
PSYCHOPATH
[SE]
OMEGA
[EN]
Ride with the ROCKERS
REMEMBER THE URGE
BREAK ME
COCKROACH
DISCHARGE
LINDA～candydive pinky heaven～
The intro was great and the images and video's used in the backdrop were stunning. If I remember right, Venomous Spider's Web was first. Any excuse to jump around and go nuts was fine with me, and together with Sludgy Cult, gave me an excuse to every kind of movement I wanted. This is TOXIC's first time being played live, so the crowd didn't seem sure about some synced motions and furi, so we just sort of winged it all. Admittedly, Ruki was very generous with our side of the hall, and he came over and got right in our face's quite lot, with those obscene things with his tongue he does. Someone needs to put a leash on that man sometimes, lol. Considering it was the bands fist time performing these songs publicly, they all did very well, as per the usual GazettE standard. Especially MY DEVIL ON THE BED, which they seemed to find difficult to play and record. Well done guys.
Speaking of MY DEVIL ON THE BED, the song stuck out the most to me performance wise, because Ruki really went out of his way. Ruki's outfit for this tour is this beautiful black suit, and he came to center stage to perform this lewd sex song with...a cane. A gorgeous black, laquor cane that looks like it must have cost a year's worth of my salary. And he did sort of male burlesque with it, while abusing the poor thing with his crotch, but somehow in a very elegant and tasteful way considering the song. (Did you expect anything different though? This is sex song.) But he did it so skilled and tastefully. He really made it work, and it was a really different stage presence than what we've seen from them prevously. In the most non preverse way I can say it, it was a feast fo the eyes watch. I hope he'll show it on the DVD. It was wonderful.
For THE SUICIDE CIRCUS, what was the most impressive was probably the things going on behind Ruki. The clips were all that from the PV, but different, either things that didn't make the PV, or a video made solely for the live purposes. I'm going with the latter. It's what made the mood, and the PV had truly some of the most amazing PV extra's arguably ever seen. It really turned the venue into a temporary carnival, and we were just along for the ride.
UNTITLED. Cried like a baby. The backdrop was like wisps of white light on a back background, in sync with Ruki's voice, which he leveled beautifully. I think this song is favorite for many on the album, and with good cause. Like PLEDGE, the emotion Ruki can put into it live is rivaled by no one. The whole family was there for all the members a took up the hole front row on the second floor and I'm sure this song must have been wonderful for them to hear sung. TOMORROW NEVER DIES was another great song for lyrics, singing them really makes you wanna try harder.
I don't remember when the encore break started, but the encore call ruined what little was left of my throat that night. No, more like I totally annihilated it. I remember being slightly irked with the fan next t me, who looked bored the whole live, and during the encore just sat the with her chin propped up in her hand looking blank. The only time she moved was to record fan service on her iphone, for which I had her stop for breaking the rules. Just as well it wasn't a staff member who caught her. Ouch.
KOTSURIN was great and gave me a bottle of water before the gig started. Thank god she did, I lost my own body weight that night in heat, my whimpy amount of leftover vitamin water just wouldn't have cut it. I took my water breaks when the band did. Made eye contact with Ruki a couple of times, and whenever I did, I noticed just how white the whites of his eyes are. They hunt you soul. Try it.
A great release again was HEADACHE MAN live (Yes. This live had a lot of headbanging). The mosh pit in the isle was total mental but hilariously, deliriously fun. Damaging, but fun. The slow headbanging with the seat in front of you can be incredibly satisfying. Vermin had a similar vibe, but it didn't have the insane laughter that Ruki does at the end that gives you chill from the tips of your toes, all the way up your spine and across your arms in the form of goosebumps. Both songs make the fans go psycho.
Now, one of my favourites, was...I can't remember which song it was lol. But they released about 12 black or white, massive, human sized balloons into the live hall. The fans hit them when we were fist pumping and knocked them all around, like a volleyball knock off. It was fun. The staff were making sure the band didn't get hit by these massive things though. Ruki seemed amused. His MCs were so cute too. He really knows how to cheer the audience up and make them laugh.
Bit off topic, but since this is all over the place anyway, Ride with the Rockers has changed, again. To the best version yet. Heavier. More vicious, and more adrenaline. Aoi and Uruha were on fire that night with hyperactivity, so it looked like they needed the release too. By the time Linda came around it was another mosh pit in the isle. I love how GazettE can somehow make Furi a mosh pit. You winners <3
Linda is how we ended the night. I couldn't move my neck, and after hearing the announcement about the tour final (OMEGA, 14/01), I had to get home to organised how I was going to attend it since I have a flight booked to visit family back home that's fixed. The next live I'll attend will be in 3 days in Yokohama, but got now, my neck hurts and I need sleep, since I have school in the morning x__X
.::ECT::.
*They played some 'traditional songs' like Hyena, Filth in the Beauty and Agony. But not Akai one Piece, Misenen, or even Kantou tonight!
*In Hyena, instead of Ruki cutting Uruha's throat, he did a dirty sort of winding dance down him. Like a standing up lap dance without touching, lol.
*Uruha's costume looks a lot less weird in real life. His encore costume was stunning. Think of all the loose floaty fabrics Aoi wears, hanging off him in a sort of shawl and vest top. His pants, boots, were all in white. He looked liked an angel god dammit cheesy cliche. Retia and Kai also stood out to me that night too in particular.
*The GazettE's logo hasn't officially changed. It's still their old one, or at least their old one was the one used on the screen.
*They moved a lot that night. High energy? Uruha and Ruki especially.
-- That you are appearing in this book, is actually the first time in five years,
Ruki [It is. It's really been a long time.]
-- You said that recently you didn't have a real place to properly talk (about things), so today we would like to listen to Ruki, as he is now, until the end. Last time we had been talking about the time until your debut, so this time, we would like to hear more from you while focusing the spot on the evolution "from your debut to Tokyo Dome".
Ruki [Yes. But honestly, it is like that, how I have been thinking about a lot of things I would like to talk about but there was no place, where I could properly do so. There was no platform, where I could talk about those things.]
-- Today, you can talk as much as you like. (laughs)
Ruki [Of course. (laughs) When talking a lot, it usually ends up being a talk about what Visual-kei is (to me). Actually, anything is fine with me in Visual-kei; however, there are a lot of things where I think that the authenticity is being taken less serious. Really, there are things where I think: "What's that supposed to mean?" So when I am talking with you or Masuda-san (Note: Interviewer, who is doing the second part of the interview.) I think this is the kind of deep conversation we get into.]
-- Ahahahahaha. Of course the artists are thinking about it, but on our part as well there are a number of things we feel frustrated about. I think there are lots of people, who don't listen, who just judge by appearance and not take things into account. I just think it's a strange kind of "pride" to depreciate things like that. I find myself thinking: "What kind of pride is that?"
Ruki [Ahahahaha Still a poisoned tongue as ever. (laughs) But it really is like that' isn't it? At first we are told that "Honestly, I had prejudice". That is, bluntly speaking, to look down on someone, isn't it? And I don't think that I am happy either when then being told that, after listening properly, that these kind of prejudice eventually vanished. Like, "Huh?" When being told these things like that that's not exactly a good way.]
-- With these words right now, I think Ruki has really been coming out as a human. I think these words show, that in which ever words you say things, without dancing around with their meaning, you do properly express what kind of human you are. I think that it is certain, that people come to think when listening properly, that the quality (of your music) is high, that you do have the skills, that you are great. However, there are certain conversational skills, not like first putting things down and then praising them afterwards.
Ruki [Ahahaha. It really is like that. We have also become good adults and we do understand that much. It is about listening to our music properly and then telling whether things have been understood or not. This is a little about magazines, but we do see, if the person who wrote the report, came to see us appropriately. The fans do understand this, too and there are letters saying "That was a good report". Maybe it is the same thing with interviews as well. But, honestly, I wonder why Visual-kei is the only thing that is put down like that with this kind of prejudice? I didn't think that it is something that particular. It's not like Visual-kei is especially separating itself (from other genres), so I don't know why people are looking down on it especially.]
-- Actually, Visual-kei isn't really a music genre, and it is really strange, how it is so greatly "discriminated", let's say from guitar-rock or so.
Ruki [Yeah, I really think so. Actually, as of late, I have been told a lot that, people have been fans of us for a long time, yet they could never openly say it. And while I am really happy that they have been fans for a long time, I do wonder why they couldn't have said it openly until now. Was it because it was embarrassing to like the GazettE? Isn't this also a form of looking down on us? Looking at thing like that makes me realize how much this world is based on judgment by sight.]
-- Certainly.
Ruki [However, we are the Gazette all including this kind of look. And when the orientation of the magazines changes, we are also told that we should rather not wear make-up, but we say that this right here, including all of it is what the GazettE is. I always intend to do everything by possessing this kind of pride. The music, the lyrics, the GazettE's logo, the CD jacket designs, the outfits, everything. Therefore we do of course check the pictures taken for the magazine, everything until the color proof of it. I think in a way, I am a pretty annoying, noisy guy in that sense, as I have to check everything that far. It also includes the images of the songs, the perspective towards things. Also, when I am saying I would like to do (the shooting) in black and white and I am told that "it would be a waste to not do it in full color" or that "the magazine isn't selling if it's not in color", I feel really disappointed by such things. Because this is of course part of the band concept and I think that all of that makes the GazettE. I really don't like creating things that are unfitting for us. We do not intend to get rid of our make-up just because someone tells us it needs to be done to fit in. That includes the costumes as well. Because that's something that can't be changed that easily according to the situation. It's not meant to be some kind of narrow-mindedness, but when someone asks me to take off the sun glasses and they are part of the outfit then there is no reason to take them off. And it's like "Huh? There are other artists that are wearing sun glasses but because this is Visual-kei, it's no good?" There has been this kind of discrimination. It's weird, because it's like asking "Demon Kogure" to remove his make-up. Because isn't Demon Kogure he himself because of his make-up?]
-- Certainly he is. And it's also OK for Kobukuro to sunglasses, isn't it?
Ruki [Yes yes! (laughs) It's said to be just a little stubborn. Moreover, when the talks go in that direction, it also turns to saying: "Well, as an adult..." (laughs)]
-- Yet, when looking at it from the opposite point of view of those adults, then the GazettE are really the "HEADACHE MAN" (laughs) The reason for some headache for sure. (laughs)
Ruki [Ahahahaha, yeah. (laughs) That hasn't changed ever since. And it won't change now.]
-- However, I think it is also connected to those uncomfortable human traits, that when there are people who are selling well, they are not being told such things at all. Even if they are causing people headaches, as long as they sell, there (attitude) won't be causing any headache really.
Ruki [Ah, yes. I also think that if we were selling even better, that the reactions would change, honestly. Actually, since the time of our major debut we have experienced this kind of thing. It is one reason, why I wrote "Hyena".]
-- "Hyena" is the single you have released in February 2007. At that time, there have been things that made you think like this?
Ruki [Yeah. In December 2005 we have been making our major debut with a single release through King Records (Note: Single release of “Cassis” in Dec. 2005) and the year after, in May 2006, we have held our finale of "Nameless Liberty Six Guns" at Nippon Budokan. But frankly, we didn't sell it out. In September 2005, we had held the final of our tour "[gama] the underground cockroach" at the Tokyo International Forum Hall A, which we didn't sell out either. Yet, without selling out the International Forum, the performance at Nippon Budokan had been announced. At that time, somehow on the side, it felt like: "will this be OK?" Moving to Budokan without selling out the International Forum first. However, I think this kind of priming is very important for a band. If things weren't like that, the band wouldn't develop further. It would always remain lukewarm, just spoiling us and not lead to growth. We'd be stuffed with self-confidence, yet that doesn't mean we'd be having this kind of conviction. I think that the things we do have meaning to them. Therefore we did Budokan. And as expected we didn't sell it out. However, from the time we did Nippon Budokan onwards, in about 2006, the people we were able to mobilize were starting to increase and step by step the people who started to know the GazettE became more and more. The fans that accepted us increased and there was a time, when we got this kind of response. There were more and more people, at the same time who said that they had been having prejudice at first and that there had been a misapprehension. And I thought: "Wow, how can they tell these kind of thing from the appearance alone?"]
-- What kind of people have been saying these things?
Ruki [As we dealt with making a record within the fields of a major (record company) the people to which our contact expanded newly, like the people from the agency, those people as our new points of contact. The (people) from Core magazine (Note: Visual-kei specialized magazine), those magazines, who had been publishing us ever since, never said these kind of things. However while those people have judged us also by our sound, the people from general magazines and those people who dealt with us when we started to sell and popularity began to increase, (have been saying things like that). This is certainly the way these people had been looking at us. Thinking about it like that it is kind of depressing. Well, this is still an unchanging story about magazines. Frankly, these things have been said by people who are involved with music and such. I would hope that these kind of people wouldn't judge us just by what they see. Being told that, they are having prejudice, yet think that the Gazette is different from other Visual-kei bands is also absolutely nothing happy. I just think: "What's with this kind of saying things?" It is often said like that. It was depressing. We are not at an age where you can get us to do things by saying nice stuff and praise us like that. Because in the end we do feel the real intentions behind the words of these people.]
-- I see. So this is how "Hyena" came to be.
Ruki [That is it. As long as we sell they'll be all over us, yet as soon as we don't they'd drop us at an instance. That's what we see. Therefore we will keep to ourselves sternly and we can only continue to do what we believe in. I think we can only protect ourselves like that. Probably, now, as we are about to perform at Tokyo Dome, the people to gather around us will become more, yet, we will stay calm about that. In that sense, it also seems that with doing Tokyo Dome, the line between artists/musicians and entertainers is vanishing. However, I don't like it, when that's the only thing. We are first and foremost a band, not entertainers. We are not intending to become part of the trend. Just previously, Visual-kei had been in a sort of boom phase, and I really hated it. I disliked being put into that. Visual-kei isn't a trend; it has been there for a long time already. I didn't want it to be a boom. Therefore we did things not to be put togther with that. And as we did something that isn't meant to be a boom and yet becomes one anyway, we had to get out of this forcefully. Like: "Isn't this kind of different?"]
-- Certainly. There was a time when people would say that "this is the year of Visual-kei!"
Ruki [Wasn't that like "Huh? Is that so?". We have always been doing the same thing until now.]
-- That's what I though. I myself have been following you from the time you mobilized maybe 30 people, to now, where you have played Nippon Budokan a number of times as you have been this band for a long time. And I have been told that I "absolutely have to check out your band! They are absolutely coming!" And I was like ....huh?? Wondering what that person actually really knew.
Ruki [Ahahaha. It really is like that. There is this huge time lag.]
-- There is. Also after your major debut you have been going abroad pretty fast, haven't you?
Ruki [Yeah. We have been told that we should do a tour overseas, because touring overseas wis popular. And we thought that that was maybe a number of years earlier, wasn't it? There was also this kind of time lag, when it came to the thinking of touring overseas, looking at it from nwo. As going overseas was popular, kind of everyone went overseas at once, yet, we had experienced this already at a different time before that. We have been going overseas for the European tour in 2007 and there were quite a few places which sold out completely. However, there has also been this moment, when we had grown tired of this bad kind of selfishness, which is different from Japan. With that, we came to think that it will be better to create the basis in Japan and renew our activities overseas. That's why we haven't been positively active concerning going overseas since then. I dislike being part of a boom anyway. There have been places where no Japanese band had been before, yet, when being interviewed overseas, rather than being asked about things concerning the band, there have usually been questions, which had to do with anime. Like: "Which season of [DRAGON BALL] did you like best" and such. There were only these kinds of questions. I came to think that the people there, who came to see the GazettE, didn't actually come to see us as a band but because they felt the connection to Japanese anime culture.]
-- Huh? Was there any sort of relationship between the GazettE and anime at that time?
Ruki [No. The first time ever was when we released out first single after moving to Sony, which was "SHIVER" in a tie-up with "Kuroshitsuji - Black Butler".]
-- And it was still like that?
Ruki [It was...]
-- Huh? Was there any sort of relationship between the GazettE and anime at that time?
Ruki [No. The first time ever was when we released our first single after moving to Sony,
which was "SHIVER" in a tie-up with "Kuroshitsuji II - Black Butler".]
-- And it was still like that?
Ruki [It was. Despite that. I think that is, what a "boom" is all about. The feeling of everything seen as one thing is, what is extremely popular. Therefore, when it comes to going overseas next time, it will be when we are a lot bigger. When we are bigger than that, is when I would like to go overseas again. People should come to see the GazettE as a band and we want to perform for people who like the music of the GazettE. That's the kind of environment. In Japan, too there are bands, which go overseas numerous times and there are many who have been approved because of their music as well. Therefore, I hope we can create a basis in Japan and head overseas from there again.]
-- I see. However, when it comes to the GazettE, you have walked quite a few paths that hadn't been opened yet, haven't you?
Ruki [Even so, the things we are doing are nothing that hasn't been done before. I think our sempais, who created this scene were amazing. There are so many things to actually experience by oneself. It is the same concerning the fields of a major band, in terms of trying things out for the first time and understanding them. Thinking about it now, the days we have spent to come until here is all our own experience.]
-- I see. Before, you talked about how Tokyo International Forum and Budokan as well hadn't been sold out, however, after you had released "Hyena", the performance at Yokohama Arena in March 2007 was pretty packed, wasn't it? You even added standing places, didn't you?
Ruki [Yes, the performances on March 11th in 2007 at Yokohama Arena was actually sold out. It wasn't necessarily related to the single that had been released at that time, nor had there been any great movements ever since we had performed at Nippon Budokan.]
-- Was going major maybe such a big thing?
Ruki [I wonder. For us, it only felt like an incommodity, when it came to going major. Like in terms of the lyrics writing. However, rather than doing things ourselves, we were able to use more PR tools, which I think certainly helped spread things further. I think it was the merit of that. In December 2005 we had been making our major debut through King Records, however, this was only concerning the distributions of our records. Therefore we didn't make any big announcements concerning that issue.]
-- Wasn't there any sort of longing to get a major contract?
Ruki [There wasn't. There isn't now either. Even if we were not major we could still be a band. Also, I don't feel like the GazettE has changed a lot ever since we went major, either. Because I think that, in which position we ever might be, we won't change who we are. Still, if there weren’t our surroundings listening to us, we could never lead a winning match either. In that sense, it is important for us to be major, because of the great number of people, who get the chance to listen to our music.]
-- I see. The release of "Cassis" in December 2005 had been very popular among many; however, there were times when you did show a certain resistance to being bound to that didn't you?
Ruki [There was.]
-- Why was that? After all, "Cassis" had been the very first release as a major band; did that have to do with that eventually? As the song had been made in that sense of incommodity of song making, maybe?
Ruki [No. That was not what it was about. It didn't have specifically to do with the "major" background. I just thought that I don't want us to be thought of as "the GazettE = a band that makes only song like Cassis". It is one of our songs, and we released it with the feeling of it being a good song, so it wasn't that "Cassis" was a bad song at that. I don't think so now either. Just being seen like that is what I didn't like. However, "Guren", which was released in February 2008, is also often referred to as a song people say they like a lot. It's good, because they are ballads, certainly. However, both "Cassis" and "Guren" are only songs among all of those of the GazettE and I dislike them being put as signature songs of ours. With singles, the number of songs released are actually only a few, so they easily leave an impression and among those the ballads leave the strongest ones. That is the reason, why I disliked that. Yet lately I am not so stubborn about that as much. When making "Guren" there was this part of purification, however, the feelings which I had at that time became less intense. Yet, it is probably just that we can put out acceptable songs into the world as well now. With this as our testimony, I think that the single "PLEDGE", which is to be released on December 15th, 2010, can be seen as a signature ballad for the GazettE, because we can say that we have made this kind of rock-ballad. I think that I'd be OK if this was seen as a signature song or ours. Put simply, "Cassis" and "Guren" are also good songs, but "PLEDGE" incorporates everything that the GazettE is right now. "Cassis" had been a song which I had written as a ballad for the winter with that bitter-sweet feeling to it. For "Guren" I somehow wanted to create a song with that Japanese feeling to it. Yet, for "PLEDGE" I wanted to create a song of which I could say that this is "what our songs are like". I think that is how I came to make this song.]
-- It is the moment, when you accept your earlier self. Also, in 2008 you have released "LEECH" and in 2009 it was "DISTRESS AND COMA". Personally, I really like the songs, including all their coupling songs, however, including the graciousness of releasing those songs as single tracks, it also shows the GazettE as an unshakable band with this firm kind of pride you have. The Album "DIM", which followed there after also held that feeling.
Ruki [For the album as usual, I thought about which color I wanted it to be like. And with "DIM" the dim feeling is coming about like that. At the heart of the album "DIM" was the phrase "DIM SCENE", which had already been there when I made "Guren". And the record has become one to carry this feeling on deeper.]
-- During the tour, too you have been showing the perspective of "DIM" on that stage, haven't you? With something like this, would this be a situation, which causes the least stress when expressing yourself?
Ruki [Hmm...On a musical level, that is probably the case. On a mental level, this had been a little out of order. Just with the release of "LEECH" in the second half of 2008, the year 2009 followed with the worst mental state possible due to human treachery. Certainly, when the band started growing bit by bit, different fellows started gathering around us as well. And amongst all of them, some had seemed to be plotting steadily, we felt. We had been betrayed by a person, which we had trusted a lot. This had been really hard. Despite all of that, "LEECH" did reach the top of the charts, which is extremely ironic. With that recoil, we did realize a secret live in Shinjuku as well. It was a time, when we hit back with the power of negativity. The lyrics I had written at that time portrayed the anger of that period, to the extent that I was probably revealing too much.]
-- Yet, this is probably the time, when humans have most of their underlying strength resurface.
Ruki [It really is like that. While being major, we moved as if we were still indies at that time. (laughs)]
-- But that's how it goes. Looking at it from the side, I think that, surprisingly, this was a very rich time for the band as such (because of the circumstances.)
Ruki [It was. It was like that. Like always, there was this wide gap in the situation as such. Concerning the music, we were very passionate, yet, concerning everything else our spirit / moral fell back a lot, because of the things that happened. I think that the many things occurring are simply a part of life. But this "negative power" is probably necessary as well, I think. Right now we have been able to free us from this bad vortex of that time, but it cost about this one year until this time's single "PLEDGE". It was not just being agitated through a number of directions, but the anger (of that time) was also incorporated in the singles following "LEECH".* Because it had been this kind of deep betrayal, it caused this kind of deep anger. Yet, I think that because we went through something like that, we are now who we are today. Honestly, because there had been these heavy feelings incorporated in the songs released after "Guren", added with the real anger of that time, this actual heaviness had been born. (laughs)]]
*Ruki had mentioned that after "LEECH", also "VERMIN" and "THE TRUE MURDEROUS INTENT" had been about the same issue, even though he had hoped to be done with it, when he wrote the latter.
-- Ahahahaha
Ruki [Thinking of it now, with the things that have been decided, and yet while not forgiving this ever, it was a necessary experience. Well, despite making songs like "Cassis" and "Guren", breaking things down with this kind of heaviness probably also had its parts where this kind of stubborn/weird think was in the way as well. Yet, I think it is also very interesting as to how we do things like this. (laughs) At the same time, we also had been playing in the charts. Like: "Wow, this songs gets this kind of a reaction!" I also think that this kind of enjoyment is important, on top of making music. However, only ever making music with the charts in mind is really not interesting at all. Despite making music as a professional, it is also important to not only think of making music as part of one's work. After all you wouldn't want to go things the wrong way, and if you have to look at it as work, from a time where you started making music, because you liked it, it is no use, when you stop enjoying it. This is what I think right now.]
-- Previously we had been slightly touching the topic of what pride is, yet, when it comes to you, do you ever think about breaking through this kind of pride to make this band bigger than necessary and just want to sell?
Ruki [No. Until now I haven't thought that doing certain things would sell more. For example, I haven't thought that when we wanted to go a certain direction, that we should change that direction in order to sell, or to fill a certain venue. Because after all, even if we don't fill TOKYO DOME I would not think it is because our music is bad. This is not how I think about this. Because I have this kind of confidence, I wouldn't take things like this to heart too much, even if we don't fill it. On the other hand, I don't really understand how to simply fill a place either.]
-- Like, what would that need to be done?
Ruki [While playing at TOKYO DOME, this does not mean it is the end of the band, because we will continue in the future as well. That's not the end of the road after all. It also does not mean that we will only keep playing venues at TOKYO DOME class. I am not failing its meaning, when I say that for us, TOKYO DOME is just another place to get fired up. It is a place for us to prime inspiration. In this way I think it is necessary for us. This is the reason, why we decided to do TOKYO DOME this time. I don't want this to be seen too heavy. It is just like Tokyo International Forum in 2005 and Nippon Budokan in 2006.]
-- I see.
Ruki [At those time, those had been "unfitting" venues for us. Tokyo International Forum and Budokan had been for us at that time the same kind of priming. Lately we have been doing halls, which have been about a certain size only, like playing safe, not doing anything we wouldn't fill, DOME had been decided looking at what we might be able to do like right now. Really, we are not being threatened by anything or anyone really. It doesn't mean we want to be seen as artists who have played at TOKYO DOME either. We don't have this kind of pride. I'm repeating myself, but for us this is simply pulling of the ignition. Lately, I have received a lot of fan letters, asking whether we would go on hiatus after TOKYO DOME, or since our schedule after TOKYO DOME has not been revealed yet, whether we would eventually disband. No, no, no, like always for a final, we are playing at a bigger place, where we will be announcing future plans. In that sense it is just like always. There is no particular reason why the future plans have not been announced yet. Certainly, TOKYO DOME is for everyone an especially large place, in general terms as well. It is seen as something special. Of course, for us, too, this is different in sensation from playing an average live house. However, it is a challenge in its own way. It won't change anything, whether we played at TOKYO DOME or just a simple live.]
-- On the other hand, the reactions you get from your surroundings are very special.
Ruki [They are. When I read the letter, which asked whether we would break up after TOKYO DOME, because the schedule hadn't been revealed, I just wondered: "Huh?? Why would we?" (laughs) If we were to break up, I'd probably announce that a lot bigger, like "the GazettE DISBANDING! “ I don't know what it is like with other bands, but we as band members are very close to each other, so before we break up, we'd have to really start hating each other, I think. At that point, I am not sure if we could still be playing live.]
-- You wouldn't be able to continue if you were to dislike each other this much, right?
Ruki [Yeah. If we were to dislike each other, we wouldn't do this. That would be the time to quit it already. I don't see the point in continuing until you hate each other...]
-- You wouldn't be able to continue if you were to dislike each other this much, right?
Ruki [Yeah. If we were to dislike each other, we wouldn't do this. That would be the time to quit it already. I don't see the point in continuing until you hate each other. Don't you think it would be hard to be making music together if you didn't like each other? If it goes as far as not talking to each other anymore, I think we could not be making music together either. You don’t do sad things like that, right? I don't think we could continue until it goes that far. I think we wouldn't be able to continue physically. However, before we really start disliking each other, there would be a lot of talks, so I don't think we'll dislike each other after all.]
-- Certainly.
Ruki [Therefore, I will never think about selling so much that the musical aspect changes. Because I wonder what kind of meaning there is (to music), when doing so in order to sell. However, when it comes to the opinions from outside, just as much as to what the band members think we should be doing, I will stop to take those in and think about it. Parts of understanding will lead to a consent. If there were the things we wanted to do within this hard-to-understand music business, we will not forcefully push them through only halfway understood, but we will rather take them in and make them properly understandable. After having come to release records in the major fields, that is certainly the one thing we have been told the most.]
-- In that sense, this is also what being major means, right?
Ruki [However, in the early days, there was also a time, when we made songs that were easy to understand und we thought that people could like. That's also been something that is part of us, and because we know what is good about that, too, we also properly think about it and make music from there. Yet, I am totally not taking in any opinions, which state that "you won't be selling if you don't directly say 'I want to meet you'". It is probably one thing to take in this kind of guarantee of that person, if I was to write lyrics accordingly to make the GazettE sell a lot more, with simple lyrics like "I want to meet you". However, if we threw our pride away like that, writing these lyrics and didn't sell, we'd be talking about who was going to take responsibility for that, right? Like: "If you say something like this, would you please take over responsibility?" or "Are you going to take over responsibility now, since I wrote those lyrics as you told us and have caused so much damage to the band that is might be the end?". That person would in any case refuse to take responsibility. Well, then why would they keep demanding things like that so strongly? And if they were telling us that "Don't worry, anyone who has written something like this sold" and put up any number of people who sold as examples, I'd still be like "No, no, no, these people are all different from us". Those people might have sold doing so, but just because everyone is doing the same thing, doesn't mean everyone is selling. For the things we do at our own responsibility, we will take over responsibility, yet, if someone tells us to do certain things and we fail with it, I wouldn't know where that would be resounding. Because I don't want to do something as bad as seeking responsibility in other people.]
-- At whatever time, you would want to take over responsibility for the things you have done yourself. That is probably all of what your pride as the GazettE and as Ruki, along with the direction you are taking with the other band members is all about. I think that is graciously cool.
Ruki [In which way ever it will eventually be turning out, we will not bend around the things we want to do or our individuality. For me, that would be the worst thing that could be done in Visual-kei. Changing completely after not selling and in that respect starting to wear make-up...such things. I think it's fine if there are bands that put their main priority to selling. However, we are aiming for something else. Even if it is not to solely make music for our fans, nor the people that gather around us and our music, because we are in vogue, we want to become a band that has always been thought of as a good band by those fans who have supported us ever since. Yet, to do that, we still have to work a lot harder. That's also how we came to decide about playing at TOKYO DOME. This is to urge us forward more than until now even.]
-- You have also said that you don't want to gather shared feelings with the lyrics you write. In the previous interview in ROCK AND READ you have said that, there are quite a few moving things, when it comes to what women understand as "sad", and that was, what left the biggest impression on you. You are not talking about common feelings there, are you?
Ruki [No, I'm not. It's more like reading the lyrics and being moved by picturing them. Like being moved just listening to the song. Since I am a man, it shouldn't become like the feelings of a woman. That's not how shared feelings come about. Even as love is one thing, people are very different. The sorrow and the sadness. The type of person you like is different, which is also the point in difference of sorrow and sadness. It's not possible to share feelings completely. It is more like feeling sorrow by imagining the scene from which the sadness arose or imagining the background from which these feelings came from. I don't write these lyrics for people to understand these feelings, from a situation when someone met with someone at that hour, with something happening from which those feelings arose. After all, this is what happened to me as a writer and I think of shared feelings in that aspect as somewhat intrusive. The people that listen have (only) the images of people that listen. I thinks that's fine like that. Because the people that listen and take it in, have a number of feelings coming together, which is good that way. However, I would like to talk about my feelings of the lyrics I wrote, when I am asked in interviews, as to what kind of background they have. Still, without using the phrase "I want to meet you" directly I still bring this feeling across that the person from the song really wants to meet that other one altogether. Rather than using such obvious words, I want to write lyrics on an a lot deeper and more mental level. Yet, while probably being connected to the topic of selling or not selling, I was, reversibly, during the Indies time as compared to the major time, a lot more “dirty”.]
-- Dirty?
Ruki [Yes. Because I thought about writing lyrics with the awareness of what I thought fans of Visual-kei would like to hear. I was calculating with it. Usually people liked it when I thought they would. It was the same with songs. However, I was aiming for that less and less as we continued with the band. It has become less needed in that sense. Back then I was still trying out the lyrics I was writing myself. Like, what would be like me, what would be like Ruki, what's his style? Certainly, I didn't want to write lyrics like everybody else. However, as I continued writing, this just came to be naturally. Of course there are times when I just want to write "I want to meet you", since I do have these feelings naturally as well. Still rather than using that phrase, I see if I can express it deeper and the means of that is what is most like me. That's also why I think that my lyrics now as compared to earlier are a lot straighter forward. Saying "I want to meet you" also means "I can't meet you" and accordingly it also means "I can't hold/reach you", which would be the expression in that. When adding things up like that, it is probably what makes lyrics harder to understand, but then I don't want to write it simple. Because hidden in that are the deep sadness and those feelings I want to sing about.]
-- I see.
Ruki [Lyrics to decode. Because I think this is also part of my individuality, I hope I can continue this without bending myself around things.]
-- In a different interview in another magazine you said that you believe, that the revivals of all your admired sempais, is due to the fact that you, who continued their work, couldn't do it properly.
Ruki [Yes. I really think like that. It seems that even though we have surpassed the age of our admired sempais from then already, we have still not achieved what they have. I think we need to work a lot harder on that. That's just how I think in general. It seems that if we don't work harder, the hurdles ahead are getting lower and lower. Back in the days, when you worked really, really hard, you were able to get on a black and white page (in a magazine), however, when you are just about to sprout (as an artist) you can get some 10 full-color pages. That's not good. There is no enticement in something you can obtain this easily. We really have to work harder. After all these are our fields of Visual-kei we have been admiring, and yet, it even feels embarrassing. There is this tendency of imitating those bands that have become popular. I don't want to say anything patronizing really, but I think that it can't be helped that there is this kind of "prejudice", too. We need a lot more pride to do it properly I think.]
-- During their performance on December 29th and 30th, 1991 at Nihon Seinen Hall LUNA SEA announced their major debut and eventually went major in May 1992, the following year. GLAY became major in May 1994. The band members were all still in their 20s at that time, right?
Ruki [Yes. Even at a young age like that, LUNA SEA and GLAY were simply awesome. I remember what RYUICHI said at the time of their major debut: "What's wrong with dreaming!" When I talked to J-san back then and said "We are going to play our first Budokan! “ He would say: "At that time, we have done TOKYO DOME already! Work hard! (laughs)" It was a supportive push and I could only think that we need to work harder. Lately, I have more opportunities to talk with our sempais and I was told that they think that the GazettE is a cool band. And while I think that it is quite a motivational force, I think I would be giving even more if they told us we are rubbish. (laughs) It's not that I would want them to call us rubbish, but I would work harder so they wouldn't call us that eventually. Those fields that have been created by our sempais, and because we are walking those paths, which have already been opened up for us by them, it is what I have to protect. After all, our sempais have not just fascinated us by their look, but of course also on a musical level and past that on a very deep mental level as well. I have been reading the magazines, too. I have always admired the more, esthetic masculine Visual-kei scene with bands that are more particular about their musical and artistic side. Still, somehow there was this time, when it became more colorful. It seems that that was when the image was crumbling. Because of that the music disappeared, too. At that time, all the big bands seemed to have stopped their activities as well. The timing and the things coming together during that period are also the reason, why we were there as fans. That's what I thought at that time. The fans too thought of it as a claim of their always admirable and cool Visual-kei scene. As for me and with anything really, I dislike people who give up easily. I really hate people who give up without doing anything about it. Wouldn't you regret it if you just gave up without trying anything? Therefore, I think it's better to take action than regretting things later.]
-- Isn't there anything you gave up on without doing anything?
Ruki [No. I can say there isn't. As there are things that are impossible when it comes to the visual aspects of the CD jacket design, there are concerning the budget. However, I don't give it up when it seems impossible on the budget side. It's like at first just trying to go with saying it's impossible. (laughs) After all there are cases when things that seemed not to be an option, come to be a possibility when taking the first steps. Giving things a shape that I don't like is pretty painful after all. I wouldn't be able to handle it, when thinking about giving such things to the fans. I really don't like this kind of thinking. Doing everything earnestly is what holds the meaning to things. Whatever the result of it may be, first it needs to be done earnestly. That's what I think. It is the same when I think about TOKYO DOME.]
-- I see. There are also connections to this, right?
Ruki [Yes. Even if it is stubborn, I am not one to forget the sensation of the early days. That is my basic premise.]
-- Sadly, humans are just beings, who do forget things, so that's difficult, isn't it. Even though you remember that pure feeling / sensation from when you were a kid and thought you would never forget it, eventually (the memory) grows thin.
Ruki [Yes, that's what it's like. Therefore, at those times (when I am about to forget), I am absolutely watching hide-san's videos. His live DVDs or so. And when I watch these videos of him, I remember those things I was about to forget. Like very basic thing, such as how being in a band is actually fun. For me, music with respect solely to the charts is no fun because that's not what rock music is about. If I was to become like that, I was to disappear myself. Of course playing in the higher ranks of the charts feels great along with the facts that everyone gets to listen to it a lot and everyone thinks it's great, yet that kind of joy is something else. First and foremost I think that not losing sight of the original joy (of being in a band) is important. Even though it seems simple, it is actually difficult.]
-- Certainly.
Ruki [But really, I think it's a simple thing. That is the one thing we wish for the most right now. When we first were about to play Budokan, there had been this wall, which showed us it was impossible. Yet, when looking at it, we all joined together and rushed towards it with all our strength. This passion and the emotions of that time is what we came to remember now again. I think we should never forget this sensation in the future either. When aiming of a safe place, one gets to be lazy. Even though that's not intentional, the passion runs out. As of late, I came to think that the GazettE had a decline in this certain kind of passion. Therefore we are aiming for TOKYO DOME.]
-- However, in all honesty, when thinking about the people to mobilize for TOKYO DOME, even with the long tour prior to that, I thought that it might be quite hell-bent to go for. You probably also have thought about not doing lives at all and just do TOKYO DOME on one blow, which would also be by the means of the number of people you'd expect to be able to mobilize.
Ruki [Yes, we did. We do understand that much. We understand this ourselves and we have been told the same things by the staff around us. However, I don't think it is of much meaning. We are not playing at TOKYO DOME to challenge anyone in the number of people we can mobilize. That's also why we wanted to go on tour at all costs. Telling our event manager to squeeze in the plan as much as possible, they have scheduled this tour for us. We are a band that usually challenges a big place at the end of each tour and just because this was TOKYO DOME, we didn't want to let it go to waste.]
-- I see. Like for the Budokan performance, it was this degree of importance to sum things up like that.
Ruki [It was. That is the most important thing. Therefore, there would have been no meaning in just playing TOKYO DOME like that.]
-- I see.
Ruki [The first person who told us to do TOKYO DOME was the one who set it up for X JAPAN and LUNA SEA. That person said: "Do it! I'll take over responsibility." However, we wondered if it was OK if someone else took over responsibility. After all, you can't take responsibility for something like that really. However, that person still wasn't lying. We were happy that this was the kind of feeling we were regarded with. This feeling did support us, too. Even though there was no way of confirmation, there was still the feeling that the GazettE would be OK. It was passionate in either case. We were happy. Honestly. The fact that there were people who supported us just like that. It must have been the same feelings as the fans were having, waiting to see the GazettE stand on the stage of TOKYO DOME. With this kind of support in the back, and to become the GazettE, which can be thought of as a cool band, we are right in the middle of rushing ahead.]
-- Of course I am expecting a lot.
Ruki [If I was to earnestly express my feelings, it is not that we are not uncertain (about playing at TOKYO DOME) even after the long tour. It's not that we are not scared about it either. However, performing at TOKYO DOME after this long tour is also part of the loyalty towards those fans that have ever since supported us like this, I think. I thought this, no matter how hard, is what we need to do, and in respect to being in a band and to protect what the GazettE is all about. Our surroundings probably thought that we are idiots to be playing TOKYO DOME after we have been on this long tour. However, that's fine. That's just how we as the GazettE do it. Isn't it OK do dream? (laughs) I don't want to let a dream simply end as a dream. And I would like to borrow RYUICHI's words here: "What's wrong with dreaming!" I really think about it like that, too. Even as we are told that it is oh-so awesome to be playing at TOKYO DOME, it really isn't. For us, it is the same as it was when playing at Nippon Budokan and Yokohama Arena. TOKYO DOME is where the street we have been walking earnestly until hear leads us. This rout is also what we have wanted to show. It is one of the landmarks on this way. Even though this landmark is extremely huge and has our inner most excited. (laughs) However, if it wasn't there, we wouldn't be able to keep going further. At this point in time, this is what the GazettE wants to show.]
-- From this summer on you have been on your long tour throughout Japan the whole time. Right now the final at TOKYO DOME you had been heading towards has clearly come into focus as a turning point.
Ruki [Yes. The tour this time has been divided in part "01" and "02" and we began "01" with the thought of wanting to play "all songs of the GazettE". Making no difference between old and new songs, we just wanted to play all our cards. Honestly, the preparation was rather difficult. There were songs we had the feeling had been quite different already. However, there were also things of which we could reconfirm the things we have always thought of to be good parts and it was important to try and do all those songs after all. As we gradually squeezed in the songs, we also went with a changing set list every evening for the second half of the "02" part of the tour. As a result, we figured out what was necessary when aiming for TOKYO DOME and we have come up with what has become sort of a golden rule for us at that.]
-- I would like to ask, by which circumstances you eventually came to decide upon playing at TOKYO DOME again.
Ruki [At first it was Backstage Project's Sugimoto-san, who asked us: "How about TOKYO DOME?", which he recommended at the time, when we had done Yokohama Arena and we had been really worried about it at that time. Quite a bit of time has passed since then and we came to think that at some time, we would have to take up this challenge...Somehow, we always understood our own capacities and weren't aiming for insecure places either. We kind of had been doubtlessly buried in this expected range.]
-- It is understood as common sense, if you only reach out for the challenges you can win.
Ruki [Yeah. Gradually, the doubt concerning that grew bigger, though. As with the way the tour had been done, you kind of get used to it as you go about it again and again. First we'd tour the halls and only the finale would be held at a bigger place. Rather than repeating this procedure, we wanted it to be more like the explosion we have to eventually look towards. That's what we want it to be. That is, why we eventually decided upon TOKYO DOME as a result.]
-- As the rout that's taking you there?
Ruki [Yes. However, when playing places like TOKYO DOME, most let some time pass in-between (doing a tour), don't they? I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to do it like a festival. The moment we had decided upon DOME, we also decided upon the three month consecutive single release. With that, (we knew), we had to record about nine new songs and we decided to squeeze this into the tour schedule around the free times as best as possible. That's the flow of how we decided it. (laughs)]
-- That's a pretty masochistic development, isn't it? (laughs)
Ruki [Isn't that where the passion and the desperation comes from when facing something like that? Giving our utmost, when doing a tour doesn't change for once, but when then facing such a huge goal ahead, the sense of unity between the band members and the staff just becomes incredible. That's what it was like when we were doing Budokan for the first time. Playing at a big stage for the first time, and people around you tell you how impossible that is. (laughs) However, I realized again, that this is the time, when the band itself is developing the most and it does now, too. This is the kind of tour I wanted to do once again.]
-- Like "Team GazettE" is once again, growing to be something new?
Ruki [Yeah. That is the kind of passion I wanted to feel once again. We also understood that this would be hard on us, too. And actually it was extremely hard and I wanted just to get a break more than ever. (laughs) Besides making songs and playing live there were a number of things that we had to do, too. After all, making three singles is much like making one album. Yet, I thought that we could not let ourselves get cornered. It is not like I felt bored of ourselves, but I really dislike facing purely innocuous things. I just wanted a wall, some real obstacle, which everyone would tell us to be impossible to break through.]
-- Do you actually think of this as a wall this high?
Ruki [Of course. I think there is also meaning behind provoking those people to tell us "Do you think it's good to do this right now? “ We, as band members have talked about doing this unusually thoroughly. The opinions this time were really going apart, too. "Isn't that just a little scary?" along with voices stating "Do we need to rush it like this?" The result of it all came down to "I don't know, let's just do it." (laughs) Somehow, the GazettE has always been like that from the very beginning. For the first time we had been playing Tokyo International Forum, the first time we had been playing AX; it was like being mentally hungry for the things we thought impossible and going with that. Eventually, it has always been like that and that was, what we talked about with everyone.]
-- Actually, even as you have come this far, it is still a very narrow field in which people know about the success of the GazettE, right? It is not like a band that has been standing on the stage of TOKYO DOME is going to be accepted in a wider field automatically. Accordingly, isn't letting people know (about the GazettE) thoroughly, part of the motivation as well? Personally, this is what I imagine it to be.
Ruki [There is certainly this reality that, even if there wasn't this kind of motivation. Simply, when we actually decided on playing there, we did think about how the view of people would change eventually, and we did move on, being aware of the things concerning what we could be doing on that stage. (We thought about), what we could be doing, based on the fact that many other artists groups had been performing on the stage of TOKYO DOME until now. As for the timing this time, we will be playing right after LUNA SEA, don't we? And as that we would like to do something incredible in this position. Eventually, for us, the number of people we are able to mobilize is nothing we can just do. All we can do is make great songs. However I think this is still different from simply seeking to make songs that would gather as many people as possible there. Because this is not supposed to become a story about how much we change ourselves. Therefore, as for the things we can do either way, is busy ourselves and do what we can. I think it would be good if "we are understood by the people around us", concerning that.]
-- I see. Certainly, I think that the GazettE is aiming to be liked by just anyone. Even though that probably makes it sound bad.
Ruki [Ah, but we think like that, too. It certainly is like that.]
-- However, no matter what the preferences are, it's about being recognized. You wouldn't be negating that there is this kind of desire, would you?
Ruki [No I wouldn’t. That's something that's important. When I first learned about Visual-kei, I started out with the feeling "Woah, this is weird! “ However, I also remember the moment, when my feelings towards this changed from "What's this?" to "This is cool! “ Well, the time is different now, and it doesn't mean that things are taken in the same as they were back then... For example once, there was a time when Visual-kei CDs sold like an explosion, but then recently the charts are a battle about selling well or not, aren't they?]
-- Yeah. It is like racing with the technology for the sake of consumption.
Ruki [I think that a battle in that place is rather meaningless and something a bit different. Also, we can't keep up with the pros in the end. For example, when I first got to know LUNA SEA, and even though they had been on the top of the charts, they were different, which is why they fascinated me. And I think this position is still open today. We, ourselves, are intending to work our hardest towards that, yet, if we were to go with this kind of flow in our fields, it would be troublesome and rather mortifying, wouldn't it?]
-- Even more so since TOKYO DOME is a place where only "success" is forgiven and whatever it takes to achieve this success.
Ruki [Yeah. Somehow, even before "02" of the tour started, I somehow came to think that I would like this band to have a color it hadn't had before. Concerning the set and the lighting and such. When I thought about, what kind of color I would like the GazettE to show, I thought that this should be regardless of the Visual-kei (background). Yet, with it still being Visual-kei as it is.]
-- Including it not being just and overdone performance?
Ruki [The lasers we came to use are probably a result of that. We wanted to make use of something that usually isn't used like that by Visual-kei bands, but not just half heartedly but exhausting it fully. I hoped that in our case, people would say that "if GazettE does it, it's cool", when doing it. And of course it was meant to also include the "Rock-aspect". the GazettE is after all a rock band and that was a real must...Actually, for the "01" part of the tour, we did it with a more gothic appeal to begin with, however, it was that we came to think that it was maybe a little different. To put it differently, it showed us, what we had to do it differently in the next (step). Therefore, even though we had intended to use about the same staging for "01" and "02", we urgently came to change that. It was very motivating to change this in real time, too and we came to do something that hasn't been done by anyone anywhere else before. We wanted to make this a scene that no one would forget. This is not just about the aggression (during the live) or the "mood / rhythm" of it. After all, when playing on a big stage like that of TOKYO DOME, eventually, rather than the five people on stage, people's views often go to the screens, don't they?]
-- Certainly. Originally you would like the views of all people to go to the stage.
Ruki [That is one thing and I would also like to make the whole venue become much like a rave. Not like being divided into the stage being the stage and the seats being the seats. I wonder how far we can do this by using DOME. I thought that this is one place I would really want to create an unforgettable scene at first, when challenging it for real. Naturally, when you think of doing something as daring and try doing something unprecedented, quarrels come up. It is not really a thing to fight over yet there were so many things I wanted to do that I was told weren't possible. Yet, I wouldn't give in just saying "it can't be helped", and wanted to know the reasons behind it. I wanted to comprehend what it takes to make it happen. Like, if it was OK when being in the budget and such. I didn't want to leave these things unanswered.]
-- This seems to be the kind of fight that repeats itself throughout the history of the GazettE, doesn't it?
Ruki [It does. However, doing this, it is because we are working hard on grasping on to some kind of new sensation right now. Whenever we are completing the things of one tour at the end of it, something is different the next. For example, when it came to the stage entry for the "02" part of the tour, while having this imagine in our heads, there were things where we thought that they wouldn't be possible as we imagined them to be. Yet, when we came to see what we had mapped out in our mind having become real on stage, we had been feeling a shiver running down the spine on our own set for the first time in a long time. Certainly, we have to do things thoroughly, so we can honestly think of ourselves as a cool band. If it's not like that, it's meaningless.]
-- This is the same, when it comes to music, right?
Ruki [It is. For example, during the time of "DIM", while our enthusiasm was kind of low at that time, we wanted to do something definite for this album. Something that would be described as dark. This was also included in the tour and we realized something that was fresh for us as well...and we did that anew when it came to making "SHIVER".]
-- I can just agree to these words. Making "SHIVER", making "RED", they are overflowing with strength. It seems there is nothing you were lost about.
Ruki [No. After all there is what we perceive as a "cool band" isn't there? We have pursued this the whole time until "DIM". "This band has to do this kind of song and this band needs to do these things". That's what was there at first. However, we came back to the position in which we would think about what would be cool and what we eventually wanted to show ourselves....... It's kind of weird, while Visual-kei is kind of a closed scene, there are lots of exciting things about it, aren’t there? Yet to understand these good points ourselves, we had to realize the importance of turning outside and see how to show this that way. Back in the day, I really hated anything that was like pop.]
-- You mean the things that the record companies would want as a potential single song, right?
Ruki [That's still the same these days, though. (laughs) However, when looking at it from the angle of "conveying or not conveying", it is not like I don't want people to understand eventually. Yet, while thoroughly portraying our own style, I think this is all we can do. After all, the people in a record company are all normal people, too, aren't they? This also means that not all of them know really everything about music either. They are all people who just want to make "songs that sell". I was wondering to what extent we could get their agreement when making songs like we do with lyrics like ours. That's the key to it, I think. Because I am trying out to what extent I can do (what I want), is why I get into fights with them, ever since we moved (to Sony). (laughs)]
-- You do? I thought that the single you released after you had been moving was extremely easy to understand in parts.
Ruki [Even so I was told that it was hard to understand, still. (laughs) Like, I was advised to write this as if it was an e-mail that was written on the phone. And it is not like that person would have been especially touched at heart by words like that; it was just, because that was the kind of thing that was selling. However, at the same time, that person didn't know anything about Visual-kei, yet I knew that they were learning about it. Hence, I think it was a first step to conveying things to this kind of "outsider", getting their consent and taking this into account.]
-- On top of calculating the whole scene, it is good if you could find a common standard, right?
Ruki [Yeah. Right now we have been doing a number of experiments within our music and there have been good results as well, yet there are certainly some that aren't. (laughs) Moreover, I think there are also times, when we think too much about the balance of things. Like feeling the need to make a very heavy song after having released a ballad. I think it would be OK if we don't get too tied up with this kind of fixed balance either. Therefore, maybe, when looking at what we are doing now, I think I remember the resistance that would have been there with our earlier selves. However, when being too particular about things like that, you just can't move on. I think it is necessary to break down this kind of frame and just have to move on to something I think would be even cooler. Of course there are also fields where you have to stay true to your principles. Be it the lyrics or the feeling of the chords, there are fields, where you'd wonder where it went. Eventually, I hate it when it becomes neither one nor the other. Heavy stuff has to be thoroughly heavy as such. There has to be this kind of rebel spirit to it.]
-- That is the part you shouldn't miss out on even though you become a band that played at DOME, right?
Ruki [Or to say it in the opposite way, because we are a band playing at DOME we shouldn't lose that (kind of spirit). Since the stage of DOME is the one place we wanted to stand on since we were kids, there would be no meaning to it, if we stood on that same stage not thinking of us as being cool with it.]
-- That's totally understandable. And one thing I believe is that if there was a song that was undisputable seen as a signature song, the GazettE would become even stronger. To say it in an extreme way, if even people looking at the GazettE from the outside without having a special interest, but like that one certain song.
Ruki [I understand. For example in our case, the existence of ballads are kind of extreme. The chance by which they can be listened to, are also extremely different (from the usual). Until now it had been "Cassis" and "Guren". In December 2010 the ballad "PLEDGE" will be released and we wanted to make it something different from those (others). With that I wanted to make it something the previously mentioned record company representative would say "wow" to, because I think that if he wasn't affirming with it, it wouldn't lead to a reaction either when normal people would listen to it. However, of course first and foremost it also has to be something that we think about as the best we can do, too. After all, we want to spread the things and have them understood as what we think is cool. Back in the days, it was just that only the people that "knew" would eventually understand (what it was all about). However, now, we also want people to understand, that usually don't know (what it is about). We couldn't be satisfied with songs otherwise. ... Yet we didn't want to make something anyone could write, nor something that would be the usual J-POP ballad. First of all we wanted to make an awesome rock ballad. It was supposed to be a
ballad yet bringing things across in the rock (music) kind of way.]
-- And as a result "PLEDGE" can be seen as this kind of signature song.
Ruki [If it does, that's fine. That's the wish I have. I wanted to make a song without regret. Honestly, "Cassis" was a song I had regrets about. I hated how this one song was what we were told was "the GazettE". That's why the next songs where so heavy. However, if "PLEDGE" became this kind of signature song, I wouldn't see it as a problem. I can show this off with self-confidence.]
-- I have come to look forward to TOKYO DOME more and more. And of course to the things that follow.
Ruki [This might be kind of sudden, but I really think that B'z way of doing it, is really awesome. Among the people playing at DOME they are the ones doing it with utmost conviction. They are certainly the people one can see as someone doing the real ROCK among people. I think the same about the revival of sads, too. It's what you feel is rock music, they are the real players. I probably think this because I like Kiyoharu-san, though. (laughs) When I watch him the feeling of excitement is kind of different. They are not simply a band that got back together again. Just looking at one of his pictures, it just immediately makes me think how awesome it is. That people like him are here like that now is something very stimulating for us. And it would be no good if we as the Gazette could not reach past these sempais of ours at some point.]
-- Yeah. It would be simply losing to those who have reunited again.
Ruki [Eventually, Visual-kei isn't some industrial standard. There would be no meaning to us, if we just lost to the people from a different time that returned now. There are so many amazing sempais of ours. Previously, when I went to see Yoshii Kazuya-san for the first time, there was something that struck me ever since I saw a foreign live first. DEAD END were like that, too. It feels a bit like wondering what "god-like people would be like", though. (laughs) Like this kind of awesomeness. However, I don't think it is too favorable if we ourselves still keep wondering about these kinds of things. It seems that if we were to sit back in this position, the things we were reaching out to had been different. As I said, I do not want to become this kind of celebrity. There are people who act too much upon being a celebrity...I don't want to liven-up the sports news paper and I don't need to appear in ground-wave TV shows either. I want to exist as someone, who can release this one real record.]
Saitama Super Arena Live Report - JaME (2009.10.26)
2009 marked the seventh anniversary of the GazettE. Yet the tour they did to mark this event, as well as the release of their latest album DIM, were more than just birthday events. You could also see them as omens of what would be the band’s future. And planning the tour final at Saitama Super Arena, a much larger venue than the usual ones for the band, was proof of their ambition. But it was also an important test, and with such a huge crowd as the jury, an average mark would not be satisfying. So let’s see if the GazettE successfully passed the test with honours.
One thing was sure: at 5 pm, the announced starting time, Saitama Super Arena and its surroundings were filled with fans. As always, the show was as much in the audience as it was on stage, as spectators made great efforts to dress up for the event. Rarely have there been so many Reita cosplayers in such close quarters, and though the capacity was 20,000 people, the concert was still sold out. An impressive performance, especially at the end of a twenty-two dates tour in Japan, for which the GazettE deserved an A letter grade.
Shortly after the official start time, the concert began. Darkness covered the hall before the stage was lit, accompanied by the song DIM and the crowd’s applause. The stage was illuminated by a very bright red light, and each member’s arrival was marked by white lighting that cut through our sight. And suddenly, with our eyes still a bit dazzled from the band entrance, the first song, The Invisible Wall, started. It was a perfect starting point for the concert, giving the audience the opportunity to set the mood and adapt itself to the Saitama stage. A very plain stage, it had only two large screens, one on each side, to show the band playing, and six smaller screens. The musicians were also not too overdressed; vocalist Ruki appeared in a white shirt and black gloves, while the rest of the band were mostly clad in black.
As a result, it seemed the GazettE wanted to give the beginning of the show a very peculiar atmosphere, something for which the new DIM album could be quite suited. The audience felt this, and let itself be drawn by the mood of that first song, listening calmly for the most part while a few headbangers could be seen here and there. It ended with the man on the video screens committing suicide by blowing his head up, while Ruki mimicked him by pointing his finger to his temple. If the GazettE wanted to give their audience suicidal ideas, they might very well have succeeded, had they decided to keep this mood going. Thankfully, they had another project in mind.
Because the next song, LEECH, instantly took a different turn. The lights on stage and on the screens turned psychedelic, which seemed to drive the audience crazy. Everyone started to wave their arms and heads, jumping around till the whole place shook and the vibes reached every part of the hall. It was truly amazing to see how, in an instant, the GazettE could change the mood of the whole Saitama Super Arena hall. And it’s proof of the heights their mastery of live events has reached.
Then the hall went dark and was filled with screams from the audience for a little while, until Ruki introduced the next song, DISTRESS AND COMA. The lights turned green and the screens showed green binary lines, very much Matrix-like, mesmerizing the public who stood subdued and calm during the song. Even a brief solo from Uruha did not stir them. And it was only when the lights went out that the spell broke and the audience, finally realizing what had happened, started to shout again.
The next song kept that same mood, starting with purple lights focusing on Aoi, before the stage was plunged in a dim blue light, setting a more intimate atmosphere appropriate for a song with more quiet parts. It ended with Ruki on his knees. But the intent was not to make the audience despair or languish, and indeed the mood for the next songs was about to get as different as possible. The lights turned greenish, even unhealthy, and horrible faces filled the screens among which a strange young girl appeared. Silence filled the hall. And suddenly the colours mixed in the hall and Ruki gave a glimpse of the power of his voice and singing. In an instant, he drove the audience into a frenzied mass of head banging. After he called "Saitama" several times, the musicians and the crowd united in another common headbanging session. That song really drove everyone wild, and Ruki’s screams intensifying at the end only increased that effect. Now for HEADACHE MAN, the mood became eerie, close to madness, as the audience head banged as much as humanly possible. Multiple eyes watched from the screens, on a red background which turned white for the chorus. Far from frightening the audience, it drove them to new heights and they started to jump wildly.
A final laugh from Ruki plunged the hall into darkness. It was a brief and welcome respite after such an intense set, yet the audience kept on shouting for several minutes. The next song started much more quietly though, with the lights focusing on Ruki, with Uruha and Aoi both playing acoustic guitars. The audience listened respectfully before the band roused them again. The two guitarists kept on switching between electric and acoustic guitars, making for two completely different atmospheres. The way they played with the audience’s feelings was indeed impressive. Mesmerized, the crowd started to clap rhythmically, in a now psychedelic atmosphere. Blood whirled on the screens, over a white background, before waves of red spotlights filled the hall. In this dream-like haze, the audience stood very straight, very calm, listening with rapt attention to Ruki’s singing, while Reita accompanied him with a bass solo. The singer was finally illuminated by a blue light, before sending a last tortured call in front of a red and cloudy sky background.
Silence fell, and the crowd appeared to be in shock, still a bit dizzy from the last song. Aoi took center stage for a bit and played on his double neck guitar while Ruki let the audience rest a bit. It was as though everyone was hypnotized after the magical act, and only a snap of the fingers from the magician Ruki could draw them from their meditative state.
Applause and shouts finally filled the hall. The concert had only started one hour before, yet it had been very intense already. Ruki spoke a few words, making sure everyone was well awake. A needless precaution, because the audience was really getting worked up now and followed Ruki’s call to jump with obvious delight. A good thing, because for the next two songs, the crowd would have many opportunities to test its toughness. Fans waved their hands, jumped and head banged as much as they could, as the songs really tore their guts out. The atmosphere was really hot now and the audience was really starting to let loose. The musicians set an example for them, taking turns interacting with the crowd, Ruki getting closer to the edge of the stage, and each guitarist coming to the front. Each member also appeared on the smaller screens.
The atmosphere got harder for DISCHARGE, alternating with bursts of music, powerful sound and Ruki's strong voice. White lighting and smoke filled the hall, and the crowd looked like it was having an epileptic fit. The audience united for a respectful head bang for their gods, before going wild in a pagan salute. The last song, DIM SCENE, started in an ethereal atmosphere fitting the song, only to be broken by a bestial howl from Ruki. Meanwhile the screens behind him showed water steams full of foam with glimpses of breaking faces. Then the screens turned red again, and the last few words of Ruki were drowned in deafening sounds. He was finally left alone on stage in the dark, before staggering off.
Silence fell before the audience began to applaud and call for an encore. After ten minutes Reita and Kai came back on stage to stand side by side, each wearing a scarf around his neck and mouth. Reita started to scream “Saitama!” and the audience screamed back. After a few words, to warm up the audience, they started Ride with the Rockers. During that song, they kept playing with the crowd, Reita shouting and the fans answering. The next song, Ruder, was also all theirs, and the two of them put the Saitama audience to test. It was a show of head banging, dancing and shouting, everything the audience could do. Finally Uruha and Aoi rejoined their friends and started to take a part in the fun, while the audience went wild with calls of Reita and Aoi.
For THE $OCIAL RIOT MACHINE$, Ruki finally returned to the stage. It started with a solo from Uruha, and during that song, Reita, Uruha and Aoi each kept making solos in response to each other, while Ruki drove the audience to new heights. No more light shows and mood stuff now, it was all about strong and raw sounds, full of energy, spreading through the hall and making the audience ecstatic. The band couldn’t stop itself now, and the next song came without a break. The audience didn’t want to be left behind and kept the pace, responding to the musicians’ fierce head banging with their own.
The band took a small break on stage while the audience stayed as wild as ever. After saying a few words, Ruki called for Saitama to make itself heard even more. The following song started with great head banging and screaming from Ruki, while Reita and Uruha played together at the front of the stage. The hall became like a great human sea as long hair flew and waved through the rows of people.
Finally, it was time for the last song, LINDA. The audience felt this would be its last chance to enjoy the show and didn’t even take the time to rest. They just kept on headbanging, jumping and having fun. After a last solo from Aoi, it was all over. the GazettE started to salute everyone, Ruki shouting “thank you” over and over to the audience. After the band left the stage, the lights went out. "DIM SCENE" was written on the screens, while Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door by Bob Dylan was played. The audience kept screaming and asking for more, and it felt like they could go like this for a long time, just to have a bit longer with the band.
And the GazettE came back! The fans must have knocked so hard on the door that it broke because, to their delight, the band would perform one more song to end this show, and at the same time this long DIM tour. They probably felt they were in Heaven right then. Before starting, Ruki spoke a few words and his emotion really could be felt in his voice. The atmosphere for that last song was as wild as when the concert began several hours before. It was the last opportunity for the audience to get a last good look at the musicians as they appeared on screen, as well as hear solos from each of the guitarists. Each moment was savored because all too soon - although it had been over three hours - the concert finally came to an end.
To thunderous applause, the GazettE saluted their fans one more time. As a parting gift, they invited some of their staff on stage with them, and everyone held hands. The fans also joined hands before everyone made one last jump on Ruki's count. After the band left the stage, darkness fell one last time in the hall. the GazettE’s latest single was broadcast on the screen and a few announcements were made, including a live DVD of this concert and another show at the end of the year to celebrate Christmas the GazettE’s way.
If anyone had any doubts about the GazettE's ability to play in front of such a large audience, this date at the Saitama Super Arena should be proof that they are quite capable. The band gave a great show, playing not only great music but also creating different atmospheres throughout the night. And if this show was indeed a forecast of the band's future, then we can only wish them to continue this way. Because even if the GazettE just started playing on their own in such a big hall as the Saitama Super Arena, it already seems like it’s too small for them. Anyone knows when there is a free date at the Tokyo Dome?
Set list:
「剥離」「Hakuri」
1 THE INVISIBLE WALL
2 LEECH
3 Hyena
4 DISTRESS AND COMA
5 Shiroki Yuutsu (白き優鬱)
「エ リ カ」「Erika」
6 13STAIRS[-]1
7 HEADACHE MAN
8 WITHOUT A TRACE
「感触」「Kanshoku」
9 Nakigahara (泣ヶ原)
「子宮」「Shikyuu」
10 Guren (紅蓮)
11 A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN
12 COCKROACH
13 IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS
14 Filth in the beauty
15 OGRE
16 DISCHARGE
17 DIM SCENE
「朦朧」「Mourou」
Encore:
EN1 Ride with the Rockers
EN2 Ruder
EN3 THE $OCIAL RIOT MACHINE$
EN4 Anata no Tame no Kono Inochi. (貴女ノ為ノ此ノ命。)
EN5 Kanto dogeza kumiai (関東土下座組合)
EN6 LINDA~candydive pinky heaven~
Miseinen (未成年)
The hall shook as if there was an earthquake. This might have been the moment when the history of visual rock moved to a new era. This large, two-day event was finished off by the GazettE.
Makuhari Messe became a flood of headbanging from the first song, Filth in Beauty, with a violence that left those watching with mouths agape at the spectacle. the GazettE fans were certainly a devoted lot.
This huge power increased even more with their latest single Before I Decay, as the ground quaked with the sound of the strong guitars and the violence of the fans. The band then showed their more relaxed side with medium tempo numbers Guren and Chizuru, although defined by the GazettE, relaxed still meant a few thousand bodies were thrashing around.
Afterward, intense tunes such as Hyena, COCKROACH and Ruder were drawn out in succession. The band closed with LINDA, which ended their set spectacularly. Their performance was played in earnest and did not give the audience time to rest at all. This spectator's euphoria, the excited condition of every person…it was an effort worthy of them as they progressed, like their great predecessors, to become a great band of the future.
Set List
1. Filth in the beauty
2. BEFORE I DECAY
3. Maggots
4. Psychedelic Heroine
5. A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN
6. GUREN
7. Chizuru
8. Hyena
9. HEADACHE MAN
10. COCKROACH
11. DISCHARGE
12. Ruder
13. LINDA
After they released their album STACKED RUBBISH in July, the GazettE did a national hall tour for about two months. Their Budokan live on September 7th was successfully filled to capacity. After that they took a short break before their European tour in October, their live house tour, Pulse Wigging To Black 02, in November, and they are still on the move. After a lengthy wait, vocalist Ruki was able to appear for a personal interview despite the difficulty in finding time in his busy schedule. He talked about how he felt during the summer tour and what he wants to do now.
As a solo interviewee, you haven’t appeared since Zy No.29, which was released in July 2006. Last time you were drenched with blood (laughs).
Ruki: This time I was drenched with water (laughs).
The idea that you wanted to go in the sea came from you, Ruki. Why did you think of such a concept?
Ruki: As a personal interview, we usually imagine being shot in our private clothes. So I thought I would go back and do what I couldn’t do in the shooting of the band. Then I thought of something like... a woman in a funeral(laughs). And I wore Kimono and went in the sea. I simply like this kind of mood. Honestly speaking I’m now absorbed in the Japanese mood.
Japanese mood? That’s a little unexpected.
Ruki: I think it came from the image of the song Chizuru.
I see. By the way, this time we’re going to ask you about the hall tour in July, which finished with the Budokan live on September 7th. How do you feel looking back on that?
Ruki: Um, until then I had been thinking about fans and how to do our lives, but by that time I didn’t think about that. I think that we were able to start from a higher position so to speak, as we had gained a lot of experience in our lives. So I could really concentrate my feelings on the songs.
As it was a summer tour, I'm sure you were exhausted.
Ruki: Actually it was hot during the lives, but it was because of our costumes.(smile)
So it was kind of your own doing then?
Ruki: Yes (laughs). It was still hot whatever costumes I put on, but I put on thicker clothes, which made me feel even hotter. And the halls were quite old so the dressing rooms were hot too.
And you did the Budokan live on September 7th. Last time you did a Budokan live you cried a lot, but this time it seemed that you were a lot more relaxed.
Ruki: Last time, people around me were nervous and I felt a lot of pressure about doing such a big venue for the first time. This time we didn’t change the set list and how we appeared, and didn’t do any additional things, so I could do it without feeling any pressure. I think we were able to do it as we usually do.
The range of the age of the audience in Budokan was so wide. I saw a man who looked like he was 50 years old pumping his fist up into the air (laugh).
Ruki: Ah, I get fan mails from people who are pretty old.
What do they write?
Ruki: "I remember the old days when I liked CAROL (legendary rock band headed by Eikichi Yazawa)", was one fan mail that came to me (laughs).
CAROL and the GazettE are totally different (laugh).
Ruki: Yeah, totally (laughs). But they continued to say "I remember when I used to go the lives of CAROL, and I’m excited again". So all kinds of people seem to enjoy our music.
That's a very good story. The generation of CAROL would be those in their 40's ~ 50's? Only the GazettE has such old fans, don’t you think?
Ruki: Yeah. I don't know why. I just wonder where they got to know us.
They may have just happened to listen to the music that their daughters or sons listen to, and then...
Ruki: They might think "It’s so cool!" (laughs)
Source: https://www.jame-world.com/en/article/21109-zy-37-ruki-of-the-gazette.html
JaME interviewed the GazettE before the final stop of their tour in Helsinki on October 30th, 2007
The doors to Tavastia were already open and the enthusiastic audience was swarming inside when we headed backstage to interview the GazettE. Because of the tight schedule, the members were split up and JaME was given the chance to interview Aoi and Reita. Both had their make-up done and gig outfits on, since it was only an hour until the concert. The interview was relaxed as the members were both excited and responsive, and Aoi was strumming his black guitar.
Reita: (sits down) Hello, my name is Kai! (in English) (everybody laughs)
Aoi: He's lying! I'm Aoi. (in English)
Hello, we are from JmusicEuropa. Thank you for this interview.
Reita & Aoi: (they bow) Nice to meet you. Thank you. (in English)
How have your concerts in Europe been so far? Are you already feeling tired?
Aoi: The tour has been wonderful. So many people come to our concerts and we've been more and more excited at each concert.
How do you like Finland and what have you done here?
Reita: Your country is very beautiful and exotic. We have gone shopping at shopping centers nearby and eaten out, mainly alone. In my case, too many fans noticed me and in the end I had to arrange a signing session of sorts.
Aoi: (in a sad tone) But no one recognized me! (everybody laughs)
Aoi, you and Uruha both play guitar solos in your songs. Is there any competition between you two because of this?
Aoi: (laughs) Of course there is no competition between us, because after all, our working is based on continuous teamwork. Uruha plays a solo if he has a deeper emotion or affection towards the song and vice versa. Many our songs have guitar solos from both of us, though, so we are very equal as guitarists.
NIL and STACKED RUBBISH were such different albums. Will your style change in the future or are you now what you ultimately want to be as a band?
Reita: You can never be sure about the future, because everything is possible, so that's hard to answer. We don't want to be labeled into one category. We'd rather make the kind of music that feels good at that moment. And our present musical style represents us the best now.
How are your music videos and songs related to each other?
Reita: Our songs are almost never directly related to the videos.
Aoi: The material in the video is rarely related to the lyrics. We want to give our fans some space for imagination. Music videos that are related to the song are, in my opinion, rather useless. They, almost without exception, ruin everybody's personal images that the music gives.
Now that you're finishing your European tour, can you say how well you've been able to break through the language and cultural barrier?
Reita: We feel no barrier at all during the concerts. It doesn't matter which country we play in, the fans always make us happy. And at concerts we communicate with our music and gestures, not verbally so much. (laughs) There is a barrier only when we are in a hotel or a shop, we can easily get in trouble in such situations.
Has there been anything specific about European fans that has stuck in your minds?
Aoi: I think European fans are surprisingly nice in concerts. From what I've seen, they queue for a long time, but they do it quite decently without any big fights. And in concerts they go wild in a genuine way.
Should Japanese and European fans learn something from each other?
(both laugh)
Aoi: You know... (starts drumming his thighs) GAZETTO! GAZETTO! GAZETTO! GAZETTO! (everybody laughs)
Reita: When we hear that shout in Europe, our excitement and adrenaline levels soar even if we're still backstage. Our Japanese fans don't do that, so the concert atmosphere in Japan starts only when we get on stage.
Your fans have been discussing whether you are a major or indies band. Could you tell us how it really is?
Reita: Actually, (laughs) we are neither.
Aoi: I don't understand bands and people to whom this kind of labeling is very important. We've never cared about the faltering borderline between major and indies bands, since to us the most important things are performing and making music. We just are the GazettE and in our opinion, everybody has the right to decide for themselves if they want to see us as an indies or major group. We don't care about it or prefer either option over the other.
When writing music, would you say the melodies are composed through the basis of music theory or through what conveys your emotions the best?
Aoi: I personally don't trust music theory. To tell you the truth: I have never even studied it. The melody is always the first thing in my mind when I start constructing a new song and I keep perfecting it just by ear until I get the result I want. I don't need anything else.
There are small indies bands whose looks resemble yours a lot. What do you think about them?
Reita: We really don't care about other bands that much.
Aoi: I think we are a unique line-up with striking personalities, both musically and regarding our looks. We aren't very interested in other bands, so we haven't really been actively watching them...
Do you become happy anyway if you come across a group that has been inspired by you?
Aoi: Of course! I always think it's great if the things we do have inspired other people - whether it is the fans or another band.
Your tour will be over after this concert. What are you doing to do when you get back to Japan?
Reita: A tour starts in November and lasts until May next year. We haven't thought about the time after that yet.
There has been more and more English in your lyrics. Do you base the language you use in your lyrics just on the sound of the language or do you use Japanese and English for expressing different things?
Reita: Ruki writes the lyrics in the language his voice can take. Pronouncing these two languages is so different that for example at certain pitches he simply isn't able to sing in English even if he wanted to. (laughs)
What has inspired your current visual look?
Reita: We always think about an imaginary person called Gazette and what he possibly looks like at certain times.
Aoi: When the basic idea is ready, each of us develops his personal style a bit further. As a result, we look like Gazette as a whole but we all also have some of the personal elements we are recognized by.
Are you close as private persons? Do you meet each other in your free time?
Aoi: We're like a tight family and we see each other so much as the GazettE that when we finally get some time off or a holiday, we'd rather spend it alone.
Thank you for this interview and we wish you a very good gig!
Reita: Thank you very much.
Aoi You are the best! (in English) (laughter)
