ROCK AND READ VOL. 086 - SAGA INTERVIEW

THEIR OWN “ALICENINE.”

AT THEIR 15TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR FINAL THAT WAS HELD AT HIBIYA OPEN AIR CONCERT HALL ON AUGUST 10, THEIR BAND NAME CHANGED BACK TO THE ORIGINAL “ALICENINE.” FROM THE “A9” THAT WE HAVE GOTTEN FAMILIAR WITH OVER THE LAST 5 YEARS. ALTHOUGH WE HEARD THE REASON BEHIND THIS IN THE PREVIOUS ISSUE FROM THE BAND’S FRONTMAN, SHOW, IN THIS ISSUE, WE ASK EACH OF THE MEMBERS TO TALK ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS TOWARDS “ALICENINE.”. WITH WHAT KIND OF FEELINGS DID THEY HAVE WHEN FACING THIS BAND NAME AND THE “BLEND OF JAPANESE AND WESTERN STYLES” CONCEPT 15 YEARS AGO? EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN IMAGE OF “ALICENINE.”, SO THAT MEANS WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE MANY ASPECTS OF THE BAND THAT IS ALICENINE.

The one who composed the first release of the second stage of アリス九號., “Kakumei Kaika -Revolutionary Blooming-”, was the bassist Saga. We asked the composer himself why they went on such a strong Japanesque path. And when we did, we discovered an unexpected fact related to the original song. Also, what was the image of the lyrics he requested of Show? It actually became clear that this is connected to things that happened before the formation of アリス九號.! This is the latest interview where you can feel Saga’s creative soul and his “Love for Show”.

The new song “Kakumei Kaika -Revolutionary Blooming-” was first played during the encore of “A9 LAST ONEMAN ALIVERSARY TOUR FINAL & 15TH ANNIVERSARY "THE TIME MACHINE”“ at Hibiya Open Air Hall on August 10, after announcing that you would change your name back from "A9” to “アリス九號.”, while wearing new outfits.

Saga: That’s right.

Does that mean you worked on “Kakumei Kaika -Revolutionary Blooming-” with the intention of it being performed at this time?

Saga: Yes. I had started pre-production from around the beginning of June. For this song, I had worked with SuzukiDaichiHideyuki. I went to his house and there was much back and forth. Since the song was pretty much complete, some minor adjustments were made.

There was something that I personally thought when listening to the song for the first time. I apologize if I am mistaken. Is this perhaps a song that you had written for the secret solo project that you had previously made public in this magazine?

Saga: Ahh. As expected of you. Even if I wanted to be active in my solo project, I’m so busy that I can’t. For this year in particular, things were done for アリス九號.’s anniversary year, so I could not make the time to work on my private project. However, I did have plenty of stock songs for my solo project.

How many songs do you have?

Saga: I have enough songs for 2 albums. So when we had decided to change our band name back to “アリス九號.” together with our 15th year anniversary, we talked about releasing a single that was in line with those standards. When we were deciding on what song to make it and what visuals to show, what immediately came to my mind was to wear traditional Japanese coats like we had done in our early days. Those kinds of words were thrown around.

Why is that?

Saga: I wanted a feeling that we had returned. I thought that we should show that we were back in every respect, from the looks to the songs to the band name. Because I would think that even if we changed the band name back, if we didn’t change our appearances and did songs as usual, then there would be no need to change our band name back. I thought that if we were going to change our band name back, then I should change the way I composed songs back too. So I had started to write songs, but even though I thought to do so in my mind, my hands did not keep up and I couldn’t come up with anything (awkward smile). Even if I did write songs and they were goods songs, the only songs that came to me were ones that were not the kind of songs to be done at the point in time when we go back to being “アリス九號.”, so I rejected those songs. Before this, I had spoken to Show and said that I wanted to write a song that wasn’t gimmicky and had “good singing”, so I think that I wrote the song in a way that would allow good singing. But even so, we had to decide on a song or else we would have not made it on time. My iTunes is full of demos for my solo project, and when I listened to those, there was a song that I was hooked to. Unfortunately (laughs).

When you say “Unfortunately”, do you mean that you had the feeling of not wanting to bring out a demo that was made for your solo project?

Saga: That’s right. It is a song that I had written for myself, after all. But unfortunately, the demo for “Kakumei Kaika -Revolutionary Blooming-” had suited the style, and it just clicked.

That it was a song that perfectly suited the timing of changing your band name back.

Saga: That’s right. But this song was not written to be a single for a band, rather than communicating a message to people, the emphasis is on the atmosphere of the song. I wrote the song with the image of a degraded Japanese world. Personally, it has the feeling of Yoshiwara¹.

The image of the red light district?

Saga: Right, right. The incredibly sad world of the women who worked there. Originally, I wrote the song with the image of a sad Japanese world with a negative aura lingering in the air.

So that’s why you use the shamisen.

Saga: Yes. That was always in the song. From the introduction to the chorus. It’s not as though we put in the sounds of the shamisen because アリス九號.’s concept is a blending of Japanese and Western styles, but it was always there from the beginning. So when asking Show to write the lyrics, I communicated my own ideas.

What kind of ideas?

Saga: There was a band called Givuss that he used to be in before アリス九號. I really liked the titles he came up with for the band. One of their album titles was “Nou Ongaku, Museimei (No Music No Life)”, and personally, I thought he had interesting sensibilities. On top of that, in the very last artist photo of Givuss, they were wearing traditional Japanese coats. I thought that to wear a traditional Japanese coat and give such a title to an album was the kind of sense that only he had. At the time, other bands were all influenced by baroque and doing that kind of thing, but I thought he was original. In addition to being an extension from that, when アリス九號. first formed, the basic concept was a blending of Japanese and Western styles. アリス九號.’s debut single is called “Namae wa, Mada Nai”. There, we wore traditional Japanese coats.

So the concept at the time reflected Show’s sensibilities, which he always had since Givuss.

Saga: To me, those things are connected. I think that the sense that only Show has is アリス九號.’s uniqueness. I’ve always thought that we should value that. But when we changed our band’s stylisation to the English “Alice Nine” in our 5th year, he changed the way he expresses himself into something more broad.

In line with the stylisation of the band name?

Saga: Probably. Since then, he has been holding back on expressions that he used in the past. Even if he were to express himself that way, it would only be for a song on an album or a coupling song on a single. That’s what he kept it at. But personally, I always thought that he should push out those parts of him for all to see. So this time, at the point in time where we were changing our band name back, I told him that he should definitely do that. There’s a song called “Byakuya ni Kuroneko”, and I really like the world in the lyrics that he wrote for that song. It’s a little angsty, or rather, dark, but I think that he shouldn’t throw away his sense for using words. This is what アリス九號. is.

You felt that strongly about it.

Saga: Although I think when we are asked “What is アリス九號.?”, we will all remain quiet. I think that it’s Show’s sensibilities.

Show also has fantastic sense, like saying “Let’s become stars”.

Saga: That is also a part of him, but I think the motivation for his most fundamental expression is the sense that allowed him to wear a traditional Japanese coat and come up with “Nou Ongaki, Museimei (No Music No Life)”. When I said that to Show when asking him to write the lyrics for “Kakumei Kaika -Revolutionary Blooming-”, he said “I understand”. And so he wrote these lyrics.

So you had a resolute vision for the band in the changing of the band name back.

Saga: I had a plan for the framework of the band. So when we were talking about costumes, I suggested that we wear traditional Japanese coats. I originally liked the katakana and kanji stylisation “アリス九號.”.

Is that so?

Saga: Yes. So that’s why when we changed to the English stylisation, of course it was changed with the consensus of the members, but I had always thought that changing our band name was a waste. But at the time, I myself was writing songs that were similar to Western music. I didn’t have this burning passion inside of me to say that I absolutely hated the English stylisation. But things are different now. At first, there was the idea to change the band name back to the English stylisation at this time. We made it the katakana and kanji mix instead.

You didn’t like the English stylisation?

Saga: If we were going to change it back to “Alice Nine”, wouldn’t it be just fine as “A9”? When thinking about what we would do after changing the stylisation back to “Alice Nine”, I think that it probably wouldn’t be any different to what was being done (as “A9”). That being the case, I thought that I’d rather change it to the katakana and kanji mix and do something interesting.

And so the band name was changed back from “A9” to “アリス九號.”. Looking back on the 5 years spent as “A9”, how do you see it?

Saga: To be honest, it was tough. Because we started from a state where people didn’t know that we had changed our band name and were like “What’s A9?”. I do have an attachment to it, as we had carried the name all the way until this point, and I do feel that it is something emotional.

As A9, the members had set down their instruments to sing and dance, and even played the role of princes and incorporated a 2.5 dimensional play into your live show. During this era, the band came to do many activities in the pursuit of entertainment. What was the reason behind being able to do such activities?

Saga: It was because we had lost many things. We lost many things, and even lost sight of what we were. I think that’s why we were able to do that sort of thing. From someone else’s point of view, the sight of us doing that kind of 2.5 dimension play and reciting a script might make them think “You guys have really lost it”. I don’t think that it’s wrong to say that. I think a band is something that loses sight of things. I think that a band “strays off course” as a long as they keep on doing activities. I think that the people who belong to a big entertainment production company and have a proper director have people navigate them on the correct course, so they don’t stray off course. But I think that all bands doing activities on their own are straying off course. That’s why they always say to fans “Come along with us”.

Because you are straying off course.

Saga: Yeah. If you are on the right path, there’s no need to say “Come along with us”. I mean, because you’re on the right path. But when you do activities on your own, you stray off course and get nervous. Because you can’t see one step in front of you. All you can do is keep making choices on what is in front of you and do each and every thing.

Since parting from your previous management company, I think that it would appear to those around you that the band was straying off course at a faster rate.

Saga: Probably. In these 5 years in particular we strayed off course. But I don’t think of that as something negative. If that didn’t happen, then we wouldn’t have been able to reach this point.

By straying off course, the band matured.

Saga: Right. The secret to behind our band lasting for 15 years is “straying off course” (laughs).

Hahahaha.

Saga: I’m certain it’s true. All the bands that I like stray off course. U2 constantly change their musical direction.

Bands should stray off course.

Saga: Right. Whether or not that straying off course was correct or not is decided by the audience. If the audience doesn’t come along with you, then it means that that straying off course was bad luck.

And fortunately, A9’s straying off course wasn’t “bad luck”.

Saga: By a hair, though. Our audience did their best to try and understand our straying off course. That’s why there were many times where I felt glad. Also, even though we were straying off course, we took it seriously. We didn’t do it with any feelings of wanting to just cause incidents or to try and cause an issue. I think that is why our audience put in effort to try and understand us.

Your top priority wasn’t to do something crazy to make a buzz.

Saga: That’s right. Even with us dancing, it’s not as though we wanted it to become a hot topic; it was just the natural course of things. For us. It’s not surprising at all.

And fans understood that.

Saga: Yes. That is why we seriously practiced. That’s why I think we will continue to stray off course in future too. This is something that I want to say to the readers who like bands: That is what bands are! I want you to think about whether to follow a band or not after understanding this fact. If you don’t like that, then I think it would be less stressful for you to follow a more proper artist. Bands stray and stray off course, and while getting lost, there are moments where they just instantly return to the right path. That is cool in its own way, and doesn’t it make fans happy? That’s what a band is. Bands stray off path, and their members even change. But there are times where you can think “That thing at that time wasn’t bad”. That’s what’s strange about bands.

Like “They became princes and acted at that anniversary live, but that wasn’t bad either”.

Saga: Right, that’s right (laughs). That’s why even though we stray off course, so that we don’t think of the activities that we do as a mistake, we make a choice at each and every point in time.

I see. Even though you are straying off course, you are carefully choosing the path to take.

Saga: Yes, that’s right.

Ever since becoming A9, you personally have started to rap, singing in the chorus, and sometimes even leaving the bass to Tora and playing the keyboard. I feel that you’ve come to be able to show us that you go beyond the border of a bassist and are more and more like a multi-instrumentalist.

Saga: In the past, I thought that all I needed to do was just play the bass. But I myself changed my awareness to become A9’s colour, so I think that change shows. My colour in the band is purple (laughs), but if an outsider were to take a glimpse at us, they would be like “That purple caught my eye”. I myself decided that it would be okay for me to show that my colour in this band is an important one, and not just be a part of a collective entity that is the band. That was also a conclusion I naturally reached. After becoming A9 and looking at ourselves objectively, I felt that my individuality was still weak, and I felt that there was no need for us to pull ourselves back.

From a producer’s point of view.

Saga: Yes. Lately I’ve been listening to younger bands, and sometimes all I can hear is the vocalist. Isn’t that a real waste? Even though everyone in this scene wears make-up and is in a band because they particularly want to stand out. But despite this, only the vocalist wears a different outfit, and everyone else wears the same colour. I wonder if they are okay with that. The instrument players need to show themselves more. To the point it gets annoying. My feeling is that if they don’t do that, it will be boring. In this scene that is called Visual Kei, what’s interesting about it is that guys apart from the vocalist are also putting themselves out there to the point it gets annoying, right? If only the vocalist needs to stand out, then the instrument players should just wear masks. Isn’t that the logical conclusion of that line of reasoning? I feel that if you’re going to act cool, don’t let it just stop at your looks and make your playing and performance cool, and it doesn’t matter if you bump into your other members; just go for it. I think that a band would be more interesting if no matter how many times they get told “Don’t come out to the front”, they want to come out to the front.

Were you ever told by the members “Don’t come out to the front”?

Saga: Our band is full of nice people, so I haven’t been told that. Show will never say “No”. Even if I were to say “I want to rap” or “I’m going to sing the whole chorus”, he’ll be like “Oh, okay” (laughs). He won’t ever say “I’m going to do that”. That’s why people should just do what they want. Of course, if they’re going to do it, then they need to practice. If there are any band members reading this issue of “ROCK AND READ”, that is what I want to tell them.

Ever since A9 participated in “PARTY ZOO ~Ken Entwines Naughty stars”, I feel like A9 has really gone hard with this. In the past, it would have been unthinkable for you to use your own face parts as a topic and push it, like you do with “Nose Mountain”.  

Saga: That might also be because that is what Ken advised us to do. He said to us “I thought A9 were princes, but you guys are boring” (laughs). When he said that to us, it made us think “Huh? Were we always like this?”. That’s why meeting Ken was the biggest thing for A9. The biggest memory I have from these 5 years of activities is ever since being able to participate in that event, we have become close with Ken, and he has been giving us lots of advice.

The band returned to its original name in light of the change within the band. What do you want to do with アリス九號. going forward?

Saga: In the past, we were the kind of people think that the atmosphere wasn’t important. When we joined our previous management company, we were twisted, so we were punks who were like, “Atmosphere? We don’t need that” (laughs). But now, going forward, I would really like to value the atmosphere. What’s most important after our 5 personalities is the atmosphere. Now, it’s sort of like 5 gaudy people are in front of a white backdrop. But going forward, what I would like to show as アリス九號. is the 5 of us in front of a really complex painting. And the background image is, at least for this single, the world that blends Japanese and Western styles. This will probably change for each release, but I want to make it so that there is a common factor. And that is what I talked about earlier: Show’s sensibilities. Going forward, I want him to show his sensibilities more.

Show’s sensibilities will be the key to アリス九號. going forward.

Show: That’s right.

Earlier you were talking about bands straying off course, so do you think that after another 5-year period, アリス九號. will change their name again?

Saga: I am putting in effort so that we don’t change it. Always (laughs).

So where will you head towards with this band name?

Saga: I want for us to head to our 20th year anniversary. I want to play at Nippon Budokan. When I thought about how to cook this アリス九號. to get there and what kind of meal we should be to be able to play at Budokan, for me, the answer was to go really deep with our colour, with アリス九號. Even with the songs, I want to write song that don’t present to the world a song that is easy to listen to or feels familiar to the ear, but one that has an atmosphere.

And when it comes to expressing that, it does seem like it will be easier for not “A9”, but “アリス九號.” to do.

Saga: Is what I think. To us, this name is catchy, but it’s not a catchy name to the rest of the world. They think “What is this?”. Our band name doesn’t allow us to do normal things. To me, I think アリス九號. is a band name on the same level as Yabai Tshirts Ya-san.

Ahahaha. It seems like you will be accelerating the straying off course going forward.

Saga: That’s why I can’t say “Please come along with us”. To me, “straying off course” is the biggest compliment you can give.

¹ Yoshiwara was a famous red-light district in the Edo period.

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