Kaoru (DIR EN GREY) x Hazuki SPECIAL INTERVIEW Translation Part 1
This translation was done by me and echo (@byou_shin on Twitter).
It’s a long video and we had to rely only on our ears, so there were some parts we couldn’t catch! Feel free to help us with any parts we missed!
We will post part 2 soon! (I know I’ve left a few longer translations incomplete and never posted a part 2, but I promise there will be a part 2 for this one! And I’ll post a part 2 for the others eventually...life is hectic!)
Other translators may have already done this one, but in any case...here’s ours!
Part 1 ends around 23:45 in the video!
In this interview Hazuki and Kaoru hang out and drink while talking about their friendship, discovering rock music, and of course DIR EN GREY’s new single Oboro!
H: Thank you so much for coming everyone, we have Kaoru from DIR EN GREY with us today.
K: Thank you, happy to be here.
Wow, the mood feels different than usual, I’m a bit surprised right now.
H: [Laughing] Totally, it totally changed, excuse us.
H: So, I’ve been doing YouTube since last year, and I was talking about it with my voice coach for screaming. While it’s quite a special talk, I really wanted to let everyone hear some stories from Kaoru that they haven’t heard before. Thank you so much for replying to me immediately after I invited you here.
K: Well, the first time you asked me about an interview was last year.
H: Yeah, we’ve actually been planning this for a while.
K: But I also think it’s better to do this when you have something to announce.
H: Yes, so at this time ‘Oboro’ will release on the 28th April. With that said, I thought it’d be nice if you could tell us what you can about it, but there’s a lot going on, and well, for me, me and Kaoru often see each other, but don’t we always generally end up doing the same time every time we meet?
K: We finish eating, and then…
H: There’s often a recurring pattern, but occasionally it’s just us two, and we can hang out normally. But right now, we totally can’t get that atmosphere, right. [Laughing]
K: Generally, Hazuki during those times is kind of… [imitates an overconfident Hazuki] When I’m talking to you, I’m kind of like ‘ohh, ok’. [They’re both laughing a lot at this]
H: No, no no, [Laughing]. Right now I’m like that too, surely.
But for some reason or another, in this talk show corner, since I have a guest I brought a few drinks as a treat. First, let’s open the beer, it has alcohol content so-
K: Well, yeah. We can’t start without drinking first, after all it’s hard to find something to talk about without drinking.
H: I was nervous to get something without alcohol in it, since I respect you a lot.
[Hazuki and Kaoru toast]
H: Those watching may have noticed, but this is really in the way, isn’t it? [Gesturing to the covered item on the table]
It’s a real nuisance of a mystery object, but I wanted to use the first half of today’s show as an excuse to give Kaoru this drink. Me and Kaoru have known each other for around 15-16 years, however within that time this drink particularly left an impression on me.
K: We’ve drank this together before, right?
H: Yes, we have. I learnt about this type of drink from Kaoru. I didn’t use to drink this type of drink at all. I didn’t drink it, but I got into it from Kaoru because I wanted to drink the same drink together with you. Then, I realised that it’s pretty good. I was thinking about that, so I brought this with me today. Do you know what it is?
K: What could it be… If it’s around this big, maybe Whiskey?
H: Ah! Getting warmer! It’s similar to Shochu.
H: There’s no sweet potato.
H: Amazing! You really know your stuff!
H: Yes, it’s Tantakatan. How many years ago was this? I thought 12-3 years earlier but...
H: You drank this on the rocks a lot, but at that time I was still in my 20s, so I might have been a bit too young for it. I didn’t really drink much apart from chuu-hi and beer, but I thought drinking Shochu on the rocks was so cool that I ordered the same thing as you and then ended up liking it. Shortly after that I got really into sweet potato Shochu. At first I didn’t really like sweet potato Shochu, but after ordering like, ‘I’ll have the same!’ again, I continued to drink it and ended up getting into it.
K: This is really bringing it back, it’s so nostalgic. I don’t really drink it anymore.
H: But I really do drink it! After we finish this beer, let’s share it.
K: Well.. we won’t know until we try. [Goes to finish his beer]
H: You don’t have to hurry! We still have time. I think just being able to capture your reaction on video is probably the best part.
K: This is really so nostalgic… Sometimes I did go and buy it from the convenience store, do they still sell this?
K: TN: *sorry we couldn’t understand this part at all!*
H: You certainly drank it. Was there something that made you get into it?
K: What was it? Maybe...I drank it when we were touring.
K: Did it? Maybe when we were touring…
H: Things go in an out of style among the team members while on tour, don't they.
K: I think the first time I drank it was maybe around X’s security building. Maybe with the person in charge there, Itou-san. They kind of have the face that looks like a Gorilla, or a cactus. When they were with us on tour, I might have started drinking it with them.
H: Well, let’s drink as we continue.
H: So, with that said, this isn’t actually the first time Kaoru has appeared on my program.
H: Yes, on our show Weekly lynch., how many years ago was it? Maybe 7 or 8 years ago, you made an appearance to promote The Unravelling. Since then, I think there are probably a lot of people watching now who haven’t heard it, especially lynch. fans, so please give an explanation for those watching. Do you remember it?
K: I remember just what we talked about, but not much else… Weren’t we in somewhere like a hotel lobby?
H: Yes, it was.
H: Yes, me and Reo went to meet you. I was really nervous back then. I was thinking, suddenly I would meet DIR EN GREY. I thought of myself as very mid-range, so the first time we met I was really nervous, but at that hotel lobby there were so many fans waiting to see the members, I really remember thinking ‘wow, they are really celebrities’ while Kaoru was walking through. At that time, we didn’t really talk.
K: Yeah, I was mostly talking to Reo.
H: For the most part I just sat there and listened, but when it comes to drinking I really liked to drink back then, but Reo didn’t drink. However, when we next saw you in Nagoya, I mustered up the courage to try to talk to you and invite you to do something "Kaoru san! Are you free tonight?". But that day you said you were busy "Ah sorry I have something planned today." So I was like ah... Then, the next day, I received a message from you at noon saying ‘I’m free right now, wanna take me somewhere?’.
H: Yeah, when I think about it now that’s pretty rare, but it was kind of like ‘I have a free day today’. I was like, woah! So we went to Mountain.
Cafe Mountain (Previously Mountain) is a coffee shop in Takikawa-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya known as Mountain, or 山.
H: You can see if you look it up, but Mountain is a pretty intense pasta and western food cafe.
K: Our fans definitely know it, I introduced them to it.
H: And the one who introduced it to Kaoru was me.
H: Ah, but when I heard Kaoru would be travelling to Nagoya with DIR EN GREY, I would go drink with him every time he came unless I had a concert in another area (outside of Nagoya) and couldn't go.
H: But back then it was my first time meeting with someone of this kind of scale. After all, it’s DIR EN GREY. Back then, I lived in Nagoya with my parents, but it was quite far in the countryside. Getting to and from Nagoya by train was quite difficult, so I’d stay at manga cafes.
K: Right! Manga cafes [Laughing]
You can just wait in them.
H: After the concert, during the first after-party all the members are there, and everyone talks a lot, but I was often not there for those parties, but from the second party onwards, I’d just be on standby in manga cafes until I was called to go. Also after drinking parties, it’s morning by then, right? But I didn’t have money to go home in a taxi, so I’d go to a manga cafe, sleep, and get the train in the morning. But I really felt like going for evening drinks with Kaoru was living the dream. It’s really nostalgic thinking about it now. So since then, we've continued to go out like that for the past 15-16 years. It might seem a bit strange for a vocalist and a guitarist, but to me Kaoru is a senior in our field that I highly respect.
H: Anyways, I didn’t really plan anything for this interview, so where should we start?
First off, what was your moment when you discovered rock music?
K: Like when did I start listening to rock music?
H: Yes, so for me I didn’t listen to anything except Japanese pop music when I was in elementary school. At that time I heard Rosier by Luna Sea by chance, and I thought ‘What is this?!’ and entered the world of rock music. Did you have a sudden start like that?
K: I think the first time I listened to rock music was… probably Boøwy.
K: Well, in my generation, everyone listened to Boøwy.
H: Were they active as a band?
K: Barely, only just. They hadn’t disbanded yet. When I was in middle school, everyone listened to them, but the first "band" I listened to was actually Seikima-II a little bit before that.
I bought the single on vinyl, and I listened to it, but at that time I wasn’t really thinking about them as a ‘band’ or as ‘rock’ at the time. But for sure, it was definitely Boøwy that made me consider each part of the band, for example the guitar or bass were really cool. I also listened to Barbie Boys and ZIGGY, but when I was in middle school, a transfer student came. They seemed really serious, they wouldn’t talk loudly in class and were very well-behaved. Our seats were next to each other, so sometimes I’d go to their place after school to hang out. In their room, they had a huge high-end audio system. They were a middle-schooler, but they had everything stacked, an amp, record player, tape player, and I think CDs were just catching on, so a CD player too, surrounded by these massive speakers and a bed. It was a small room after all.
H: They were your friend’s? Not their dad’s?
K: No, they belonged to my friend.
I thought it was really amazing, it felt like I’d entered an unknown world. I went to his place pretty often after school. I asked him to recommend some music to me, and he played metal.
K: A lot of western music. Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, things like that. At the time, it was very different to what I was listening to in Japan, so I thought it wasn’t for me at all.
H: You weren’t into metal at that time?
K: Absolutely not. I was into pop music like Michael Jackson, and a lot of new wave artists from the UK. I had this image in my head of really brawny guys in short pants playing guitar in weird positions, dressed with spikes like they’re going to a fight and posing aggressively. I thought it was so lame. [He starts laughing]
I thought more stylish people that sang wearing suits had a much cooler image.
H: This was after Boøwy, right?
K: Yes, this was after Boøwy. Although Boøwy did play in suits and I did think they were really cool, the jackets, every part of it. It was around the end of that point that I started to get into the kind of music I thought I wouldn’t be able to listen to.
H: Ah, like Japanese metal, what is that? Maybe a bit different.
K: It’s Japanese metal, yes, but the melodies are really similar to old Japanese pop music. I listened to that with a mostly unchanged attitude from when I was listening to Boøwy. Although, X really attacked me though - like Vanishing Vision and so on. I remember seeing a minibus with ‘Skull Thrash Zone’ stamped on it. I completely didn’t get it. The tempo was so fast and it felt so aggressive.
H: I feel like I can’t believe what you’re saying though!
K: Yeah, I was like no way, that stuff is absolutely not for me. But then I thought, I’ll just listen to one song and see if I like it. That was Kurenai.
So after I graduated middle school, I entered high school and it was that April, April 21st, that Blue Blood released.
H: Oh, it’s very iconic, even I know this.
K: When I went to the bookstore, X was everywhere. At that point, you know, right? I was thinking like, wow, they debuted completely already.
H: [Laughing] I don’t really know though.
K: I don’t get it either! But I placed an order for it.
H: You didn’t like them at that time though right?
K: Right, I just got slightly interested in them from that release, I pre-ordered the CD, went to pick it up on the day of the release, went home, and when I listened to it on my radio-cassette player it was kind of like what you said about Rosier, I was like ‘What is this?!’.
H: But before that, you didn’t like fast and aggressive music right?
K: Yeah, I would never listen to it.
H: The first song on the Blue Blood album is Blue Blood, right?
H: You liked it? Even though it’s so fast and aggressive.
K: Right, it is. But I was like ‘What is this?!’,and that’s where it all started.
H: So you started out disliking fast and aggressive music, but you still bought it.
K: It was more like the album as a whole, I really felt it. I felt like I was listening to something really crazy.
H: So from the time you looked at the advertisement, you got interested just like that??
H: So your outlook on the world started from that point.
K: That’s exactly what happened.
At first, I I didn't really understand anything about the instruments, but I really liked the singing and the whole atmosphere. I saw that they were having a concert in the central hall of Osaka Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan (TN: currently called Orix Theater). But it was sold out. I thought, I’ll just go to the venue anyway.
H: Even though you didn’t have a ticket.
K: At that time, I only had around 5000 yen. So I went to the venue, and there was a bootleg van there selling photos etc.
H: Oh, those are always there! With low prices and stuff.
K: But honestly, I wanted to have even something like that. I just wanted something. So I thought, "well I should buy something" so I went there and took a look and they had a guy selling tickets illegally. So I asked "do you by chance have any tickets left?" and he asked me how much I had. I had to factor in the train fare to get home so I told him I had ¥4000, but he said it was too low. The real price of the tickets was 3000 yen though.
H: Oh, it was cheap, back then.
K: So I gave up, I was looking at the items thinking about buying something that wasn't too flashy, and in the meantime the show was about to start so people were heading into the venue, and the old man came back to me and said ‘I’ll sell them to you for 4000 yen’. It was a seat right at the back, but I bought it. But I probably shouldn’t say all this, right?
H: Well, well, well… It’s a story from old times!
K: So, at the concert, on the right side of the stage…
K: When I saw him, well… the impact…
H: Even if you just glimpse him, that’s it.
Ah, but were you a middle schooler at that time?
K: No, I was in high school.
When I saw him, I could only look in his direction.
H: No but, as DIR EN GREY’s leader, (he is, everyone!) to hear you say you can’t deal with fast and aggressive music is...
K: No really, I really couldn’t listen to it.
H: But you would later become the fastest and most aggressive.
K: No, no no.... [taking a drink]
H: But at first it was impossible for you, huh. So after you saw Hide-san, as expected, back then X was pretty heavy and they had their hair all up like this [Hazuki puts his arms up to show how their hair was while Kaoru goes hm hm to agree]. So from there on you were all about rock?
K: Yeah from that point on it was everything. I even did my hair like them a few times. Back then at first I was very reluctant to listen to foreign metal.
H: Ah, I understand that. I too was very much against it.
K: I felt that the barrier to entry was too high.
H: When I read interviews with artists that I liked, they all liked foreign artists didn’t they?
H: I felt like I should listen to them, but I couldn’t and I didn’t like them.
H: Kaoru-san also felt like that right?
K: Yeah. When I’d see Alice Cooper I thought “wow! he looks really cool” with his black eye makeup, but when I tried to listen to his music I didn’t understand.
H: I get it! I guess I’m better off listening to X!
K: In terms of other music that was introduced to me, I could understand pop. When I listen to foreign metal now, I like it, but it really wasn’t a part of my roots. I didn’t get it at all.
H: I completely understand. Back then I often rented CDs based on Luna Sea members’ recommendations. For example Gun’s and Roses, Nirvana, to name a few, but they weren’t heavy or dark and instead were more cheerful sounding. I thought something’s not quite right. But one day I listened to Korn and Slipknot and I thought “Oh, I like this!”. Until then I didn’t really listen
K: Ah, so around then is when you started listening to foreign music?
H: Yes I started listening to it seriously from then on. Kaoru-san, do you have any beer left?
H: Excuse me, sorry to keep you waiting, let’s open this! So your audio friend, what happened to that kid?
K: I lost touch with him after Junior High.
K: Yeah I have no idea what he’s been up to since then.
K: But actually, I’d like to meet again.
H: Aah, I see. Well if you are watching, please get in touch. He probably isn't watching [laughs]. But if by any chance they are watching, it would be really nice if they did! Well for the time being, let’s talk about music...or rather, you’re releasing a single soon, if we don’t talk about it…
End of part 1! See you again soon!
