―In your memory, what was your first impression of Shinya-kun?
Toshiya: My memory of talking to him for real was when it was pretty much decided for me to do a band together with them, and I went to see their live in Osaka. We decided to meet after rehearsal was over, and during rehearsal, I was waiting at Kentucky’s. I was told by Kyo-kun how “Shinya will come in the meantime. He won’t talk and he may be a gloomy person, but please talk to him.” So I was waiting and thinking how Shinya-kun was a really gloomy person, but then I saw this boy going up the stairs with a shy smile (laughs). And with what Kyo-kun said, I thought I needed to talk and I tried very hard, but our conversation would cut off in the midst and silence ran through… It was to the point where you would think this store has surprisingly loud BGM (laughs). And around that time, I just got my driver’s license so when I talked about driving school, Shinya-kun was also thinking of getting one, and until then, he wasn’t speaking at all, but all of the sudden he was on the edge of his seat asking me questions (laughs).
Shinya: (laughs)
Toshiya: “Is it hard to get a driver’s license?” “How much will it cost?” “Is it better to go to a training camp?” And I was bombarded with questions. With this, I thought I was able to grasp his heart where I acted like a big brother and told him (laughs). Around that time, Shinya-kun was also cute (laughs).
Tower Records Shinjuku & littleHearts. Tokyo instore appearances on May 17th. Tsukasa had scheduling conflicts and didn't participate (but shared voice messages!)
At Tower Records Shinjuku and littleHearts. Tokyo. I'm going to try and sum up most of what was talked about, but nothing's going to be chronological or separated by event!
Tsukasa had other obligations and couldn't be at these events, but he prerecorded a voice message for each that they played at the start, and they were typical Tskasa goofiness.
RAPTURE was recorded without the members meeting to record together in person. They went to the studio separately and watched each other's sessions on video call, and sent feedback in text.
Surprisingly this made the process smoother than usual because there wasn't as much back and forth during the recording process.
The sound effect at the beginning of the song that sounds like a coin rattling around in a glass, was imagined based on Karyu's idea of wanting the song to start with the sound of "a time capsule being opened." That's not what the final result really was, but that was the inspiration for it.
When Karyu sent the band the song demo(?) in their group chat, only Hizumi failed to reply, not even an emoji. When asked how long it took him to finally react, Karyu stressed that he never has, so the emcee (Yamamoto-san at Tower Records) asked for his feedback then and there. Hizumi gave a thumbs up. Laughter.
When asked about which part of RAPTURE is a recommended point, Hizumi led by saying the part where he sings with Karyu, and Karyu mimicked his answer, so Zero mimicked the both of them.
Zero giving Hizumi poison in the opening of the MV took 5 or 6 shots, because Hizumi kept pursing his lips or moving to meet the lip of the bottle and the director kept telling him to stop.
There WAS liquid in the bottle and Zero kept spilling it down Hizumi's chin and chest so he was trying to stop that from happening.
The MV's director is the same as the director for REDEEMER.
It was the director's idea to shoot Hizumi flipping his microphone, and for Hizumi to shoot up in the coffin at the start.
There were several prompts about stories from their overseas shows in the past. The cheese fondue incident came up, which they've talked about before:
In Switzerland(? they don't remember where) they were told the local specialty food was cheese fondue so they were all pumped expecting to get it in their dressing room, to the point they were all chanting "cheese fondue" while waiting - then they didn't get any.
The next stop was in Germany, and they got cheese fondue there instead, but it was full of white wine. Hizumi ate a bunch without noticing the alcohol (Karyu says it tasted very obviously full of alcohol), and ended up performing the show drunk.
They talked about some of the venues in the US having showers because of the nature of touring - play a show, hop on a bus, play on a show, etc. And at one point Karyu and Zero were in showers next to each other, and every time one adjusted the temperature, it would affect the temperature of the water of the other, so they kept going back and forth freezing and scalding each other.
Hizumi said he'd take showers on Taste of Chaos with his clothes on since there was no way to do laundry, and assumed the other members did the same. They rebuffed and told him they took showers normally and just washed their clothes in the shower too without wearing them.
The members were asked if they're cat or dog people. Hizumi said monkey, Zero and Karyu said cat.
One fan question started by welcoming Hizumi back, then asked which version of RAPTURE each member liked the most. Before letting them answer the emcee kept reading the sumbission, which went on to say they like the vocalless version the most. Everyone, band and audience, burst out laughing since they'd specifically addressed the initial question to Hizumi. After Karyu ribbing him a bit, the emcee added that there was an explanation on the submission so everyone quieted down, only for her to read that the fan likes that version the most because they can hear Karyu singing his part clearly. Hizumi threw his hands up (laughing) and said he guesses he's just in the way. Everyone was losing it, and when the emcee looped back around to asking what each member's favorite version of the song was, of course they all had to say the vocalless one.
This turned into a bit of a gag, where they decided they could make a a whole vocalless album and do the September FC live vocalless, and it'd be the easiest live of Hizumi's life.
Speaking of, fans asked what sort of setlist could be expected of the September live since RAPTURE was a pretty "safe/standard" setlist. They didn't name any names, but ultimately made it sound like they're leaning toward a fan vote on what they play. But said that certainly, they'll play more "mania-muke" songs.
The topic of Born being switched out of the CROSS ROAD FES setlist 1-2 days before, for TRICKSTeR, came up again, when asked about why they didn't lead with RAPTURE at the revivial live but instead, Born. They decided it was a good starting song because they'd switched it out at the fes and had only teased it with their warmup, so they decided to deliver on it.
They were asked if they knew their MBTI (Myers-Briggs types), and Karyu said he took a quiz and sent it to the group chat for everyone to do it, and no one ever did or replied. Hizumi said he took it and had a screenshot somewhere, but doesn't remember. Zero didn't take it at all because no one else ever responded, and he remembered looking for it later but thought it'd gotten deleted. Karyu was incensed over being ignored.
Regarding their results, both Karyu and Hizumi remember being Es, though Karyu ribbed Hizumi about whether that was true for him. Hizumi mentioned Karyu's result was something like "conductor".
At one point - I don't even remember what it was about - Hizumi and Karyu were disagreeing about something, and Hizumi told Zero to chime in to settle it. Zero said he was staying out of it.
If I remember anything else that was notable (it was a long day!), I'll update this post later! Also if anyone else who was there remembers anything I missed, feel free to leave a reply and I'll tack it on!
RAPTURE will be debuting on NACK5's BEAT SHUFFLE program tomorrow night (April 24th) that airs between 7pm and 8:30pm JST. Exact debut time is not announced, and the band will not be making an appearance.
baratheonpilled
gracieabrams
kianamaiart
amandla
germansingergirl
yousharknotpass
origamiaround
titsay
