The Aoi & Uruha GUITAR BOOK
Aoi: I think since “NIL”, I’ve definitely become more the GazettE-like now, since up until then Ruki was doing a lot of the arranging and changing. Although I wrote songs during the “Disorder” time, it was during “NIL” that I left the most impression on. That is it was like I finally felt the music I was making. Up until then I was just accompanying the band, but at that time I had the sensation that we were starting to write stuff together.
Uruha: That was certainly when the band started getting popular. Aoi was faster than everyone else in introducing a PC composer when we distributed everyone’s parts. I think that was Aoi’s turning point, even his awareness changed. Since that time his position as a guitarist in the band has also changed.
Aoi: I think I also came to realize at that time that out of somewhere came a feeling of it being bad to rely on people. That feeling kept growing and growing, then in “NIL” it blew open.
Uruha: When I was exploring my part, I found it when Aoi was there. It was then that Aoi gave us all motivation. When one of the members in the band approaches their timing, the whole band’s feelings seem to rise in level. With that I mean that I think I want it to always be like that.
Aoi: That’s right. It was such a big thing for the band; I didn’t expect it (laugh).
Uruha: Ahaha. Since then we now do pre-production. From that good result we came out with an album.
- Not limited to “NIL” the two of you also seem to be becoming more proactive with acoustic guitars.
Aoi: Since I’ve liked the acoustic guitar, when I was in the band I’ve always felt like I wanted to play the acoustic guitar. That’s why when I listen to a song, in my head I always hear it being played by an acoustic guitar.
Uruha: For me, it was the influence of another band. During a live, I saw them playing an acoustic guitar on a stand and then I thought “I see”. If you do it this way then you can use an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar in the same song. When a twin guitar band has 2 people playing acoustic guitars it completely changes the atmosphere. I think that is also something the GazettE makes the best out of.
(T/N: I thought the same thing when I saw Aoi and Uruha do it)
- So there isn’t such a person who is weak and thoroughly reluctant at the acoustic guitar.
Uruha: There aren’t any here. It was because I wanted to do anything. It’s just that I didn’t have any money and I hadn’t gotten an acoustic guitar yet (laugh). That’s why in the beginning I didn’t play acoustic guitar.
In “Stacked Rubbish” it was one thing I had on my mind
- With the two of you liking the acoustic guitar you have made it into the GazettE’s huge forte. Following the “NIL” album, in “Stacked Rubbish” the guitar assembly became even more complex.
Aoi: That’s right. Up until then it seemed like we were basically doing different things, but then we became a splendid unison.
Uruha: At that time, it was like I had one thing on my mind. Instead of being about personality, two guitarists started to think about music composition together, and out of that came “Stacked Rubbish”.
Aoi: Right. For some reason or another, we started carefully selecting how we played the songs’ impressions. That’s why in order to have a feeling closer to twin guitars it’s necessary to be in unison which is better than being messy and you end up with a good song when you do it. That’s the kind of approach we changed to.
Uruha: It’s just that in regards to matching up perfectly, both of our finger habits are different. Within me is of course a different story. Since I’m doing something unconsciously, I don’t know that it’s different until I’m told. I need to do checks in order to get to that sort of place. Moreover, we had poor communication about our different finger habits, so the two of us decided to talk about it.
Aoi: We talked in great detail, didn’t we?
Uruha: Yeah. Anyway the two of us created a matched sort of sound. I think that was a very difficult thing.
- Something like finger habits are annoying when one person is playing all of the backing for the band but that wasn’t the case, right? And then the guitar sound in “Stacked Rubbish” was a huge change. Since an amazing amount of gain was sustained, did you frequently use a single coil PU*?
* PU – Pick up (the part of the electric guitar that picks up the sound when playing the guitar)
Aoi: I said that some time ago, I always saying something like “the guitar sound’s light, I wonder what’s causing this?” When I thought about it, I thought it wasn’t because I had no clue on how to thicken the sound because at that time I was still in the stage of searching for answers. And then I tried dropping the gain.
Uruha: It seemed like I wasn’t able to get the true feeling of the chord to come out. To make the best of the chord’s feeling you need a big grouping is what I thought.
- Is that so? So then did the two of you have a talk about that?
Uruha: We did.
Aoi: If only 1 person does distortion and that one person distorts with all his might, we can’t get to the place we’re aiming at. So then we started going “What is it then?” or so (laugh).
Uruha: We discussed it, and when distorting we wanted to make it simpler. Before “Stacked Rubbish” we released “Filth in the Beauty” and even though I used a humbucker for that, when we were recording “Regret” I tried using a P-90. And then it was the same for “Stacked Rubbish”. But I couldn’t really see what exactly my objective was. I was playing with the wrong impression. “This is thick. But that’s sort of P-90” was the kind of feeling (laugh).
Aoi: It was the same for me (laugh). In short, it had the appearance of predecessors (laugh).
Uruha: Although half of me still had questions in my heart. I’d think something like “Isn’t that a little off?” (laugh). Now when I listen to it, it seems so crisp (laugh).
Sharper, gentler. I want to send out more emotion in my guitar playing.
- But that “crisp feeling” was refreshing. For the live after the release of “Stacked Rubbish”, both of you used single coils, right?
Uruha: I forcibly distorted the single coil. Since a single coil like P-90 is thick, if I distort this, I get a great sound is sort of what I was thinking. It was still incomprehensible (laugh).
Aoi: That’s probably what I’m doing. I had a thought of something like a single coil is more likely to give an absolute thick sound. To say it was like watching our predecessors though (laugh). I want to pray that I don’t lose the ability to make the best of it (laugh).
Uruha: Thickness and thinness, everyone has a different definition. To me, I think that thickness is something like getting a good balance between the low tone range and the high tone range to come out, and like a skillfully collected sound. Since that’s the meaning that the single coil thickness has for me, the humbucker has its own humbucker thickness. Since that’s my understanding, that’s what I’m searching for to properly use in our current songs. In addition, that’s what I make certain to do when I try to figure out which way to create thickness.
Aoi: My recording is the same way. For now I arrange all the guitar parts in a row and I try playing the whole thing, then I use the best fitting tune. For lives I use humbucker-sized single coil as my main.
Uruha: Using something like a single coil creates a great clean tone. And then when using the humbucker’s half tone, I thought the feeling of the sound coming out was “Crisp!” The single coil definitely seems better for being able to create a subtle clean tone.
- Although there is an experimental portion when you made “Stacked Rubbish”, I think after that the GazettE’s guitar quality became very tight.
Uruha: I think that did happen. Besides when we were making “Stacked Rubbish”, after we did a lot of trial and error, I lost the concept of a main guitar inside of me. I began to properly make use of perfectly put together guitar composition forms. That’s why the music we do now is very fun. Up until now that’s the feeling of being able to do the best music.
It’s the sensation of trying to play the guitar that somehow echoes in my head
- So it became “my trademark guitar’s sound” or so style. My observation when listening to “DIM” is that I really understand it.
Uruha: When we did “DIM”, 2 years had already passed since “Stacked Rubbish”. At any rate we crammed in all feelings of growth or so.
Aoi: Since we cleanly crammed in a portion into “Stacked Rubbish”, the tour that followed also had that feeling. In “DIM”, it was a feeling of wanting to record something that was a sharper than sharp and gentler than gentle. I also wanted to send out more emotion in my guitar playing.
- In order to record 1 phrase, I feel that you tried a lot of perceptiveness.
Uruha: It did seem so, huh? It’s just that our environment’s change was huge. Since long before even though it was something I wanted to do, I wasn’t able to do it. It was because I had limited time to make use of perceptivity. To tell you the truth, I embraced and made use of the various perceptivity for the first time in “DIM”.
Aoi: Recording gradually became a luxury. I think it was something I was truly thankful for. Since I have a distinct vision in my head, I truly look forward to that form. I think it’s because I get a super unexpected feeling when I’m doing something I truly want to do. This sort of time was when the GazettE has put out about an album a year or so. In that case the albums are all fired up (laugh). There are a number of reasons why we can’t come out with a single, something like that is allowed if an album is out.
- That sounds fun. When listening to your guitar play and such, there was a feeling of an unusual guitar approach.
Uruha: It wasn’t that I wanted to do or create something unusual as a guitarist. When I heard a tune it echoes in my head, and as a result I somehow do it on the guitar, that’s what my guitar playing has become.
Aoi: Since Uruha has doing various different things, it inspired me as well to want to do something like that (laugh). I have that part in me. In the past when it came to various things and when I would show my own color as well, he would point out a whole lot of criticisms to me (laugh). At the beginning the band showed a sort of calm composure, but now we’ve been wanting to show our own colors.
- So that’s how your approach has continued to progress, huh? After playing together for 8 years, what kind of impression do you have each other now?
Aoi: Just a while ago, Uruha was in a period of really “devoting oneself to playing” or so. Since that time when you watch our current live videos, you can feel his huge progression in front you. The sense of stability in his playing also contributes to his performance. To be honest, watching Uruha when he’s devoted to playing is rarely not interesting. His stage performance now is also very spectacular. Even though being able to listen to him play is important, at the start of the band he wasn’t like that so I never want to forget being able to see something that important. I think during that time, we were progressing in an extremely good direction. The current Uruha is very good. Watching him repeatedly I have thought, “Aah, it seems like a 1 person victory” (laugh).
Uruha: You didn’t really think that little of me (laugh)?
Aoi: Actually, I don’t think (laugh). Nah, the truth is I feel. I lose to the burn of combativeness (laugh). Because during lives you aren’t my friend, right? Your place is more like my rival.
Uruha: Since the old days, I think Aoi has become aimless as well. As for me, I am the opposite type; there are parts of me that worry about things I shouldn’t worry about and I make use of my own strong conviction. But lately, there haven’t been those things, I’ve become aimless. I think being one of the GazettE is also fun. As a musician and as a guitarist I’m maturing a lot. When I watch him Aoi lately during lives, he doesn’t make any mistakes. I think that’s a great thing. I think the current Aoi is in an extremely great place.
This is the end of ~the gazette impression~
Zdroj:https://phoenixshin.livejournal.com/10720.html?fbclid=IwAR3KE-Kl_cT3Fsm0SlyTb8q9ojO9lYXOCELsyiSgP4RoCLQG1_c-P0tz96M
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