Wednesday 21 October 2015

the GazettE GiGS October 2015 Interview: Chapter - 5 Inside of the Band Magic


Chapter 5 | 6


Inside of the Band Magic


The vivid, realistic sound in 'DOGMA' was created by putting the personality of each members of the GazettE. Then, what kind of relationship do the members have, which made that kind of miraculous ensemble possible? Here, each member will talk about another member, and give a message for their younger selves, when they just started in the band. And with this, we can see relationship between the members, and also their starting points. 



RUKI

Uruha according to RUKI
I've known him for a long time, and to sum him up in one word it would be 'stubborn' (laughs). Uruha is the one who often have deep talks about music, so I think his being oriented to music and the thing that he's aiming for is similar to mine. However, I think his way of doing things is the opposite of mine. For example, Uruha is the one who would think of crazy phrases, while mine would be sketchy. That's why, since the first time I met him, it's easy to understand his songs. A lot of them are just plain impossible (laughs). For example, suddenly the B melody is super difficult, or the guitar sound is overwhelming, and even though there's no more space for the vocals I have to put some (laughs). He's been like that since the beginning. When I'm singing in low notes he doesn't play in high notes but rather going for both low and high notes (laughs). And when thinking about it, I feel that "He's (such a) guitarist".

Message for his younger self
Before, I was quite a slacker, and now I think about things more. I want to tell him, "It's better to get serious early" (laughs). Before, increasing the number of fans or sales were on top of my mind when making music, but now my focus is to know how much I can do the things I want to do. And as a result, I think I'm able to devote myself more into music now. But, I think it's good that I could keep the interest in 'making something' for a long time. In my case, I always make songs up to the details. Even though I myself never learned guitar properly, I learned by imitating others, and often it worked. So I think it's good that I was able to keep my interest in the sounds of various parts in the band.


Uruha

Aoi according to Uruha
In one word, he's emotional (laughs). As expected, he's the type of person who plays guitar with all his feelings. I envy his ability to put a lot of feelings into live performances. He can do it better than me, so I can't help but envying him a little. But I didn't have such impression of him in the beginning. If I had to say, then the impression of him as being someone who's exploring for things he wants to do was stronger. Unlike me, who started (Visual Kei) from liking LUNA SEA and wanting to catch up to SUGIZO-san, he doesn't have a strong, definitive root. And that's why, he doesn't fit himself into a fixed style, nor he is restricted by anything, so maybe he has a strong 'rock' spirit. I think, among everyone in the band, he's the one with the most 'rock' feeling, but most of all he excels at expressing his feelings and he's a guitarist with a lot of passion.

Message for his younger self
If I can meet my younger self, I want to tell him, "Play arpeggio more" (laughs). When I was young I really liked muting, so that's what I practiced on all the time. But, after joining the GazettE now I play a lot of arpeggios (laughs). But it's always a difficult battle for me, so I wished I had brushed it up more when I was young (laughs). But since I was young I've always had great desire for equipments. I think it's good that my love for equipments, or more like the feeling to keep exploring them hadn't changed. Like having new curiosity, now I have even more desire for equipments. But, now I'm using way simpler equipments than I used to, and unexpectedly I'm now using mesa boogie amps (laughs).


Aoi

REITA according to Aoi
REITA-kun has this sense of security, like you'll feel okay leaving things to him. In this regard, he's similar to Kai-kun. Both as a person and as a musician, it feels like he has a solid core in him. He will definitely not go back on his words, and as a player he feels like someone who gives stability and support my play. Of course I also trust other members, but among them I guess REITA-kun is the one I can trust the most, like he's the one who gives the most sense of security.... Well, I've never really thought about it though (laughs). And on top of being firm, he's also skilful. He will certainly turn the phrases that I request of him into something concrete. Sometimes I only give him the image of the phrases, but even then he will be able to do it. That is something that hasn't changed since our early days.

Message for his younger self
Well~ I want to tell him, "You should be more serious in making music" (laughs). I always feel a bit inferior towards the other members. It's like every time I look at them, I find the things that I still lack in myself and then I will try to grasp them. And that's why, If I can meet my younger self, I want to tell him to do things more seriously since the beginning. And when I look back on it, my meeting with the other members was a valuable thing, if I hadn't met them, maybe... I wouldn't be a musician now. Originally I only did it as a hobby, and later on it became my work, but I didn't understand music as much as I do now. I think it's only because I met the other members that I came to understand the joy of being in a band and the depth of music.


REITA

Kai according to REITA
When I first met Kai-san, he gave off the vibe of 'an interesting person'. He was barefooted, and he brought sticks, saying "I like this one better because it's heavy". I was like, "Well I like that kind of weird people so it looks like we'll get along well". But, as time passed, he became more serious. Originally drums is the foundation of everything, isn't it? So If I'm asked, "Will you trust him with everything?", then now, I'm putting a lot of trust in him. And also, he's really particular about details and sensitive, so it's like he has the responsibility of being a leader.. or rather, ever since he said "I'll be the leader", he has been having that responsibility and pulling us together. I'm not the type who can pull people together, so he really helps.

Message for his younger self
Now I will tell him, "You should start from finger picking" (laughs). Since I started by using pick, the moment I switched to finger picking, it was like I was playing an entirely different instrument. Had I been doing both since the beginning, like a bilingual person, I think my playing range would be much wider. But, If I have to say a fundamental thing, I'm glad that I kept on playing bass. I'm a person who can't keep doing things for long, and except for bass, I always gave up what I started. But I feel that my personality started to take shape when I started playing bass, so it's like it's an instrument which shapes even my character. Moreover, I only want to play bass in the GazettE. I never think of playing bass outside the GazettE.


Kai

RUKI according to Kai
First of all he has zero compromise for anything. He doesn't do things like "This much is okay", but rather he has concrete things that he wants to do, like on vocal recordings he has a clear thing in mind, and then he will challenge it to see whether he can reach there or not. That's my impression of him. Actually, even on things that I find "What's wrong with this one?", he would definitely go even further. That's why, I think he has an amazing vision as an artist. But in the beginning I didn't have that kind of impression of him, it was simply "He has a wide range of vocal" or "He has a good voice". But, as I work with him, I feel that his rank as an artist just keeps increasing.

Message for his younger self
I have a lot of advice to my younger self (laughs). But first of all, I want to tell him "Please be more serious". To be honest, when I was young I didn't really think about anything, so I want to tell him to think about things he has to think about, and make clear of what he wants to do. And although it's not related to music performance, I've always liked to meet and communicate with other people. I met a lot of people, got a lot of inspiration from them, learned a lot, and that's how the current me came to be. That part of me hasn't changed. For example, even now when going on tour I will go and talk to the staff.  My personality is that I like to look at the people around me, and I think even now that still hasn't changed.



Translated by Val. Original scans from Aoirous.


Jump to: Chapter 5 | 6

No comments:

Post a Comment