Saturday 3 October 2015

The GazettE Club Zy. personal long interview: REITA (part 1 of 4)


Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4




The GazettE will release their latest album "DOGMA" on August 26th. They will also start their nation-wide tour "the GazettE LIVE TOUR 15 DOGMATIC -UN-" on September 5th and "the GazettE LIVE TOUR 15-16 DOGMATIC -DUE-" in December.
Club Zy. Will feature RUKI, Uruha, Aoi, REITA, and Kai in personal long interviews, starting today!

Fourth in the series is REITA on bass. What does he want to project in the album "DOGMA"?





When talking to people from different environment, I don't have to be excessively courteous, and also their point of view is exciting and interesting.

Q: the GazettE has been around for 13 years. Now, the GazettE has become a band which people aspire for, and whose existence has become an aim to catch up on. You are receiving this kind of praises a lot.
REITA: No, no. It isn't like that at all.

Q: The members themselves aren't aware of it?
REITA: No, not at all.

Q: Does the GazettE have a strong sense of, 'not being concerned with other people'?
REITA: If you interpret it that way, then I guess it's true. We don't go out with other people often, or rather, we're bad at it. And that's why, we don't really get involved with other bands and just complete everything within our own worldview. And that's why to be honest I don't really understand that kind of praise.

Q: Personally, are you the type who doesn't mingle with people from other bands?
REITA: Even among the GazettE members, I'm the one mingling with people from other bands the least. Somehow, I don't really want to mingle with people involved in music (laughs).

Q: You get more inspiration when being with people from different fields.
REITA: I think so. When talking about music, if I talk with someone in the same position or environment, I have to take that person's feelings into consideration. But when talking to people from different environment, I don't have to be excessively courteous, and also their point of view is exciting and interesting. And because I'm used to this kind of environment, I'm not aware of our own status.

Q: Far from thinking about being compared, you are not even aware of it.
REITA: I guess so (laughs).

Q: As I said earlier, I think there are many people who aim to be 'a band with big presence' like the GazettE. But the members themselves aren't concerned with it.
REITA: I'm grateful that many people think that way. But, rather than "We've reached this far!" kind of thinking, we want to go even further, and we always feel that it isn't enough. The people aspiring to be like us, don't you think their world is too narrow? (laughs).

Q: Even if you say that, you are among the few bands who are successful not only in Japan but also all over the world.
REITA: As for outside Japan, it's like somehow (without our knowing) the situation had become like that. It's not like the GazettE had been aiming to do things outside Japan since our inception. Rather, we heard that "the GazettE's popularity is increasing abroad", and when we actually went there, we realised that we indeed had a lot of support from people outside Japan.... And that's why, even now we still think it's amazing that we've got a lot of responses and support from abroad.

Q: And now, you take other countries into consideration, but originally you were not even aware of it.
REITA: Yeah. We just did as we like in Japan, and without realising we also gained support from abroad...  But I think, rather than awkwardly taking things into consideration, this kind of natural expansion is better.

Q: It's like, you're not swayed by other people's opinions, and just go your own way.
REITA: Of course we also think about the future... but in the end, it's like "The future is created through the accumulation of the present", so even thought we try to look into the future, we might actually don't (laughs).

Q: Or maybe you think it's not right to think too much about the future..
REITA: If we think far into the future, I think we won't be doing this kind of music. If we think about 'the kind of music we can keep playing in the future', the majority of our songs require a lot of stamina, which we won't have after we grow old. If we consider that, then we have to prepare 'songs which we can perform even if we grow old', and I don't want that. We don't know what will happen in the future. On the contrary, we have this strong feeling of 'to make each day to the fullest'.

Q: And I guess you will still be able to have that sharp attitude, 10, 20 years from now.
REITA: Being able to continue this band is the most important thing. We don't really know the definition of 'settling down'. When I see a band and think, "Ah, this band have settled down", to be honest I think they have lost their charm. And therefore, in order to keep charming people who like exciting things, I want us to keep being a band which continues to do exciting things.


Since I use many kinds of tuning, I've had several troubles during our live performances (laughs). But because of that, we have more possibilities in expressing ourselves. 

Q: You've entered your 13th year, but I can feel that you're still not satisfied and want more.
REITA: Since 13 years had passed, now we even have more desire (to do more things). We also feel that we still have more things we want to express. In our early years, there was a gap between 'what we want to do and what we are able to do'. But we have started to narrow down the gap, including of skill, and I think we've reached a good balance now.

Q: Every band has gaps between what they want to do and what they're able to do in the beginning.
REITA: I think so. First, the band itself has to have persuasiveness, otherwise it would be difficult to gain support from other people. the GazettE had been working hard to remove the gap throughout the years, and we will keep doing that from now on.

Q: When was it exactly, when you reached a good balance between 'the ideal portrayal and the things you can portray'?
REITA: It was in 2006 when we gave our first performance at Nippon Budokan. After that, it was like our skill increased, and we had a growth spurt .

Q: In case of the GazettE, I've got the impression that your sound underwent a drastic change after you started using down tuning.
REITA: The change of tuning was one of the main factors. On live performances, it has become both our strength and weakness.

Q: What do you mean?
REITA: We have instances when 'we want to perform this song and that song consecutively, without a break'. But in reality, the 2 songs have different tunings so we have to change instrument first. And because of that, there will be a time lag no matter what we do, and that's the demerit. But, it's also true that we have more room for expression now since we incorporate various tunings in our songs. And for us, that is also one of our weapons. Well, although it will be difficult for people to cover our songs (laughs).

Q: By changing the tuning, you can naturally get the wild style you have in your live performances.
REITA: It's one of the reasons. At first, we just wanted to use the kind of tuning which best suits the songs. Of course, when performing them live, we understand that since we have to change instruments, it's difficult to do it in a flash. But, during song making process, no one in the GazettE is concerned with it. In the end, since we use many kinds of tuning, we've had several troubles during our live performances (laughs). But because of that, we have more possibilities in expressing ourselves.


Translated by Val. Original interview here.


Jump to: Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Also read: RUKI | Uruha | Aoi | REITA | Kai


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