KAMIJO Special Interview (Rock and Read 028)

 

"About You ...
About the future of Versailles ..."

- What were your thoughts as the leader of the group when Yu started having health problems during the recording?

Especially none, except that everyone should be healthy. Health comes first.

- Have you ever consulted about this?

These were more likely not advice, I just told him to be more careful and take care of himself, for some reason we began to spend more time together. All kinds of people can come together in a group. Someone can talk about their weaknesses and problems in front of others, someone cannot. Hizaki, for example, from the very beginning of the founding of Versailles could talk about anything, Teru, Yuki and Yu prefer to keep everything to themselves. This is especially true of Teru and Yu, they constantly need to be asked if there are any problems at a certain stage, whether they are worried about anything. And somehow during the recording period, I could not contact Yu, I was worried that his condition might worsen. He spent almost all the time with the members of the group, we could talk about anything ...

- And what was your first thought when you first heard about his death?

"What? He's no more! ”I guess. In fact, why exactly at that moment ... I thought that perhaps Yu's body did not want to exist further ... But, in general, I could not think about anything, I was just shocked. Couldn't even look at our photos.

- Versailles?

Yes. I could not look at our photographs or discs.

- You couldn't eat either?

I cried constantly, cried over and over. I could not be at home, so I locked myself in the hotel. I didn't want to meet with anyone, I didn't want to do anything.

- Something helped you to get out of this difficult situation, to overcome it?

It was the rest of the participants who said: "We can handle it!" For myself, I decided not to utter these words for anything. I wanted to leave them as a last resort. And he endured until the moment when this "We can handle it!" the rest will say.

- And what was the reason for that?

For me, as a leader, it was important that others come to this idea themselves. These are different things - when someone encourages you or when you yourself decide to move on. I think Yu was the same. As for me, I can usually easily pull myself together and move forward, but then it just seemed wrong. We had one common group, I was not alone, the situation was different, and until the very last moment I did not say something like: "Faster, we need to continue recording, we need to perform!"

-And how much time has passed until the moment when everyone came to the realization "We can handle it!" ?

This happened after saying goodbye to Yu, on September 22. Of course, we talked before. We're not an amateur band, we have certain obligations, so we talked about it as a job. We began to talk about music, creative plans, stage only later.

- When you were constantly crying ... during that difficult period ... you had no desire to give up everything?

I will not ... deny it. Before that, there have been deaths of people important to me in my life, but it has never been someone from the members of my own group or a member of the family. This is probably a great happiness. My parents are healthy. Except for my grandparents, who died when I was very young, I have not lost anyone else from my family. It took me a while to accept and realize death.

- Was it the band members' own decision to arrange the farewell ceremony?

Yes. We wanted to do both it and the farewell live as soon as possible. We wanted to do this immediately after death.

“ But it took you a while.

Yes. We thought that day 49 would be good for us.

- Some fans thought it was a little late, how did you feel about it?

I listen to the opinions of the fans, I read everything they write. But up to the moment and the level at which we were, we reached together with Yu and, no doubt, thanks to him. I think he is still with us.

- How did you want to hold the farewell ceremony?

I've always called him Yu-kun, and only on special occasions - Jasmine-san. In some special or festive situations, when he himself wanted it. We discussed the idea that Jasmine would love a ceremony by the pool surrounded by the luxurious flowers he loved so much. But, in the end, they abandoned it.

- That is, you thought about what Y. himself would like.

No, Jasmine. At that moment he was Jasmine. I think he would agree.

-You then read the eulogy, but as you said yourself, you had no experience of losing loved ones, so this was also the first time?

Yes, for the first time.

- What did you want to say?

At first I had a lot of different thoughts, but in the end I decided that I wanted to talk about the usual Y.

- During the eulogy, you announced, just like on stage: “Versailles, on bass - Jasmine you!”.

I don’t know why I wanted to say so. But for some reason I shouted: "on bass - Jasmine you!". Probably no one says that in the eulogy. Due to his deteriorating health, Yu was unable to live with us on August 8, and he was not on stage with us. And since he was not there, I could not then pronounce the words: "on bass - Jasmine you!". This left an unpleasant aftertaste and for some reason I wanted to say so.

- Contacting Yu has become an obligatory part of the live for you.

Recently at V-ROCK FESTIVAL, Yo from Matenrou Opera played with us as bass player, but that day I still said the name Yu (October 25th). Yo did not play bass solo at that time, it was played by Hizaki.

- The stage should only be owned by Versailles.

And on the slides at that moment they showed Yu.

- And meeting with fans ...

I really wanted to meet them! Initially, according to the decision of the hall staff, the fans were supposed to bring their flowers when we were not there. But they didn't really like the idea, so we replayed everything. So, we really wanted this meeting.

- And what were your impressions of the meeting?

Not to say there was peace of mind ... but something close to that. There is no word in Japanese to describe this condition, I would describe it with the English word “Sympathy”.

- You said that you received a lot of messages from fans, but were there any doubts and concerns about a personal meeting?

Absolutely not.

- What feelings did you have when you finished your greeting?

The confidence was born in me that as long as there are people who need our group, we should not give up and retreat.

- You had to take a break from recording, cancel some live? How did you feel about being reborn and performing at the V-ROCK FESTIVAL?

There we wanted to stand out. We refused other performances, and even in this case we did not immediately give an answer. To tell you the truth, at first I was against playing at the V-ROCK FESTIVAL. After all, even if you refuse less important concerts, performing at such a major event is in itself advertising and propaganda. And at first I thought that we absolutely did not need it. But after the farewell ceremony, all the participants decided that we should not go into the shadows. On the contrary, we will regret it if we do not act. So we decided to go on stage, which I think was the right decision.

- What influenced your doubts personally?

After the farewell ceremony, I wondered what Yu would have done in such a situation. This greatly influenced my decision. “Yu would definitely perform. He would never miss the opportunity to participate in such an event ”- so I thought and decided that we should play.

- And what were you going to do with the bass?

We thought about an invited bass player to the concert, about taking on a temporary participant - we painfully considered a variety of options. But there was also a farewell live planned, so thanks to Yo from MO, who then came up and asked to let him play. But we told him that at the farewell live we would be four of us on stage, so even if he did play, it would be behind the scenes. We didn’t know if we needed it at all, and we had to refuse him. And when we decided to perform at V-ROCK FESTIVAL, we remembered his offer and asked if he would agree to perform with us. He was the first candidate.

- That is, it was the proposal of Yo himself.

Yes. True, to participate in a farewell live, and not in the V-ROCK FESTIVAL. But at that moment we were not going to perform at the V-ROCK FESTIVAL. We are really very grateful to him. Yuki was even present on their recordings once, so MO and I are very close. I would not say that we are teachers and role models for them. True, they constantly declare the opposite, but I still don't think so.

- After you decided to take part in the V-ROCK FESTIVAL, what was it like to play again? You left the stage for a while, right?

We had our first rehearsal in October and played four of us. But while I sang, the sound of Yu's bass continued to ring in my head. Therefore, at first, when Yo started playing with us, I felt out of place. Therefore, at one fine moment I thought about what was happening to me in general, after which we began to work harmoniously.

- What about the rest of the members?

It was bitter and hard for everyone that Yu was not with us at the rehearsals, they often took a break and left. To tell the truth ... it was really very hard.

- What was it like to stand on stage at the V-ROCK FESTIVAL?

I felt the unity with the audience, I could allow myself to sing sincerely, which was very cool. It was not an ordinary event for us. There was no escape from the sad sad atmosphere even at the moment of going on stage, nothing could be the same as before. Yu would like to participate in this live. This was to become one of the brightest and most memorable performances. Realizing this, Yu's absence was felt especially acutely. But we still continued to move forward, which was correct.

- Didn't Yu's absence feel strongly?

No, it was felt. But Yu, he was there with us. Therefore, his absence from the stage was not so strongly felt. But on August 3, it was felt very strongly. The song PRINCESS has the words “You're my piece”, but on that day, August 3rd, I could not pronounce them. I could hardly hold back the tears and could not sing them. Yu's condition then worsened, he could not go on stage with us. But it wasn't at V-ROCK FESTIVAL.

- After graduation, there was no feeling that something went wrong, that something was missing?

Rather, it seems to me that we were able to convey exactly what we wanted.

- You haven't performed for about two months, was it practically a new beginning for Versailles?

Maybe. But this year we recorded a lot, so there was a period when we didn't play for about a month. But before going out, there really was a feeling that we hadn't performed for a very long time. As if the last time it happened was a year ago. And the state before this performance was far from ideal. Nausea, exhaustion, physical weakness. For the first time in a long time, we did a rehearsal with the air conditioner off.

- Did you rehearse with the air conditioner off?

Yes. It was very hot! Also, our floor covering is different from that on stage, so it became very slippery from sweat. As a result, for Versailles, each rehearsal became a serious test.

- Did you wear costumes?

We only wore them for the last rehearsal before the V-ROCK FESTIVAL, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense. We performed there in new costumes, which seemed somewhat redundant.

- Who is Yu for you now?

Group member. He was both a friend and a member of the group for me, but first of all he is now a part of the group.

- And what is your idea of ​​him?

The VISUAL KEI. Perfect VK was his goal, it was exactly what he was aiming for. You could learn a lot from him. To tell the truth, with Yu's death, it seems to me that there is still a lot that we never found out, which he did not talk about, believing that Versailles did not need it. He was a perfectionist. The VISUAL KEI. He could only exist in a beautiful image. This could give us a lot in terms of development. In that sense, he was just an amazing part of the band.

- Was it mutual cooperation?

Exactly. One of the things that pleased me the most was that Yu had a lot of discs from my previous band at home. And even a video. We didn't talk much about it, but I was still very happy.

- We have already talked about a lot, but tell us about how you met Yu?

When I was still a member of Laraine and we performed in Nagoya, there I constantly bumped into some suspicious person, constantly wearing makeup and sunglasses. I also thought: “Who is this?”, And it turned out to be Yu. It turned out that he was an acquaintance of guitarist Larain Mayu and bassist Emir, but it still seemed strange to me to bump into him in Nagoya every time we came there. He was introduced to me as the bassist for Jakura and he spoke to me in a very polite language, but we didn’t have the opportunity to communicate enough to immediately become good friends. I usually don't get to know strangers quickly and easily, but I was simply fascinated by Yu's aura, I wanted to communicate with him. And when I tried to talk to him, I immediately felt an emotional closeness with this person, however, this did not happen in the very first conversation. Emiru and Mayu were too noisy and disturbed.

- When did you become good friends?

Soon after that I produced the Isabel Varosa group, the members of which were Y's friends. Then we got to know each other better and became friends. I think it was vocalist Isabel Varosa Hikaru, who sang in HGP, who recommended Yu Hizaki. At least he was always present on the recordings. At that time, Hizaki and I were discussing the possibility of forming a common group, and Yu was constantly with us, so it turned out to be quite logical for him to get into Versailles.

- For example, in an interview in the pamphlet to the Shipyard at CC Lemon Hall in December last year, the two of you have said about that "as such in the official invitation Yu was not a group."

Probably. He was unusually elegant, I wanted to work with him. Khizaki and I wanted to create the "Strongest Group of Roses" and were very attentive to the choice of everything connected with this. All three of us were constantly together then, so it was absolutely natural that we became members of the same group, it happened so.

- Since then you have been through a lot together, and what became your most vivid memory?

One of those things is an interview with Yu for Rock and Read 026 around this spring. He then could not think about anything except this shooting, he constantly talked about it xD He looked absolutely happy, added that he still continues to think a little about the group. On the day of the shooting, he seemed to be infinitely happy, and shortly before that he showed photographs of possible shooting locations. Another thing that I associate with Yu is Nagoya. Although he said that he was born in Canada, Nagoya was his true home and homeland. I think he loved this place a lot. I also think he was very courageous.

- In what sense?

This also applies to Khizaki, because on stage they both perform in female images. But this does not affect their masculinity in any way. I, in truth, am rather effeminate in terms of character. And I, and Yuki, we are really effeminate ...

- And Teru?

With his experiences after Yu's death, it is somehow difficult for me to say whether his character

is male or female xD - And if we talk about memorable episodes from the speeches?

During the guitar solo at The Revenant Choir, we usually met in front of Yuki. And since the solo is long, Yu and I found ourselves some kind of entertainment during this time. And with just one movement of our eyes, we decided who would go to the left side, who to the right. That is, if I wanted to go to the right side, I only indicated this to Yu with a movement of my eyes, and he deciphered these signals. And if suddenly we could not dock, it turned out very funny. But trying to understand each other by barely noticeable signs seemed much more interesting than agreeing in advance.

- And what was the probability of a coincidence?

50 percent.

- Not a very good ratio.

But it was a momentary, very lively action.

-Yu usually had the most luxurious costumes of all the Versailles members - was there no problem or clash because of that?

Sometimes. If a collision did occur, I always wanted to apologize to the first one, but Yu was ahead of me and apologized immediately after the live. Even if I decided for myself that today I will definitely apologize first, but after the end of the concert I usually forgot about everything, so Yu again turned out to be the first. It was all funny too.

- And what about the memorable episodes from the tour?

After arriving at the hotel, the first thing he did was take the bass to the room and tug the strings. He always treated bass as his greatest treasure. He was our advisor with Hizaki, so he played a really key role in the life of the group. He was the type of person who can easily share an idea or proposal. In this he was like Kaya, he could also listen to something with angelic patience. He listened to everything attentively, and if he did not agree with something, then he spoke so bluntly. That is, he, of course, did not voice a refusal or disagreement sharply and categorically, but if he really was against something, then he stood his ground to the end.

- Have you temporarily suspended the work on the first major-album, which was supposed to be released in September?

Sometimes there was no desire to continue working on it. But still, having finished work on the schedule, now (in mid-November) we have begun work on track down. Sometimes working 20 hours a day, we definitely arrange one day off a week. In other words, we just do what we have to do.

- For 20 hours at knocks?

In October, there was always such a feeling.

- Have you made any changes after the recording was suspended and resumed?

We believed that we were obliged to convey everything that he wanted to convey to Y.'s listeners. Despite the fact that he did not write music or lyrics, we considered it possible to convey his thoughts and aspirations.

- By lengthening the melodies?

Not. We tried to put that into the lyrics that hadn't been written yet, into the songs during the recording. The texts already written have not changed. Versailles' lyrics often feature the concept of "death", someone might think that this is due to the passing away of one of the band members. But Yu liked the lyrics, he fully supported them, so I didn't think it necessary to make any changes. But nevertheless, this was a farewell album for him. He was created together with Yu and had to become perfect. Even though he could no longer play bass, this album was supposed to become a kind of his testament.

- And the new texts were somehow connected with Yu?

I would say that these are not texts related to Yu or dedicated to him, but those to which he inspired. I wanted to convey his message as much as possible. And their interpretation rests on the shoulders of the listener.

- Did you sing somehow differently from how you did it before?

After Yu died and resumed working on the record, I almost always burst into tears. During the recording, all my senses sharpened, I became more receptive. This, of course, happened before, but this time I need to exert a lot more strength to hold on and give all my best for two.

- "For two" - and for Yu as well?

Yes. Since the original concept of this album is "inheritance".

- What about the farewell concert in memory of Yu on January 4, 2010?

There I want to sing, keeping the image of Yu in my memory as tightly as possible. And we need this event. On January 20, our album JUBILEE is released, at the end of February a tour of the country begins - before that, it is very important for us to arrange a farewell concert. After all, you need to allow yourself to cry at least once. And I apologize to the audience, but on this day I will not sing for them, but only for Yu

the End.

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