WHAT's IN February 2011 - tetsuya interview

 

---It’s band’s 20^th anniversary since formation, how do you feel about this time?

t„I’m really surprised myself about it (laugh). 

 
--- The anniversary is close at hand, and I think that the fact that you keep running on the foremost line of music scene even now is really incredible.

t„ I think that, even if I take a look at the world, the bands that are going on for 20 years are a few, so this fact itself is incredible. I must be grateful to fans and members. 

 
---At the time of formation, were you drawing band’s future?

t„ I think that my way of thinking, after the creation of L'Arc~en~Ciel, hasn’t basically changed. As one would expect,I hadn’t thought of the period after 20 years, but I was sure that it would have been an amazing success.  

 
---Since when did you named the band L'Arc~en~Ciel?

t„First of all, when all the four original members have been gathered, I felt I had to think about band’s name. Among the proposals that everybody was putting forward, it was adopted the word I was suggesting, L'Arc~en~Ciel . 

 
---Where did your word come from?

t„Because in those days there weren’t things like internet, I took a look at several materials in a bookshop, and among them there was this French word. Its meaning is rainbow, but if we divide [single words it means] a brigde that spans the sky. It looks good and sounds good, too. I think it also matches the fact that you can express various colours with music. It’s long and difficult to remember, but I think that when it’s written in romaji it makes an impact.   
 

---It’s surely impressive.

t„Since it sounds like a brand of Western-style clothes, I thought it could be good. In those days I was working part-time in a record shop in Umeda, and because in Umeda there was a café with the same name, it has been written for a long time in Wikipedia that I took it from there. But it has absolutely nothing to do with it. Please get real! There’s no way to take a band name from a café name! Moreover, this writing was “RAAKUENSHIERU” in katakana, and beside that, even if I denied the fact a lot of times, this mistake has been repeated for long, so I’d like to say this even here once and for all.     

 

 

---L'Arc~en~Ciel’s first live was on 30^th May, 1991 at Nanba Rockets. Can you remember something of it?

t„Yes, it was a battle of bands, and 120-130 people gathered only for us. We were self-confident, and it was just like we had imagined, but we were told that it was incredible the fact itself that people from the surroundings had gathered for a first live.   

 

---Any effort to increase the amount of mobilisation?

t„Of course we did it. No matter how many good lives we were doing, if there weren’t people coming to see it, because it [the news] doesn’t spread, we would think of all things in order to obtain a huge audience gathering, even one more person only. In those days, since there wasn’t internet, it was hard. A specific thing? It’s a company secret! (laugh). First of all, we took proper pictures and we created handbills and fliers. But members never distributed those things. Amateur bands often distribute handbills themselves, but L'Arc~en~Ciel never did that thing. Since the beginning we were thinking about that branding (marketing term. [it means]making a [product]differentiation and promoting the value of the brand).  

 

---After that, has the amount of mobilisation really increased?

t„Well, I think so. Because after half a year, on our first one-man show, 300 people gathered there. 

 

---In 1994, October you released your first single with a major label, “Blurry Eyes”

t„In the previous July we made major debut with the video single; there was an idea of not doing it with a major since a considerably early stage, but as a matter of fact it has been rejected. 

 

---Why?

t„Because, after practically no time from the formation of the band, when not going on tour and not doing nothing, we didn’t want to go ahead. We wanted to go on doing every single thing we have to do. We didn’t accept the idea of “let’s going suddenly ahead with the elevator ”when we were going up the stairs step by step. 

 

----How things were going after the major debut? I heard that there are things that you can’t do as freely as indies.

t„I have often heard this idea from artist senpai: when major, you are told do this, do that, and you can’t do what you want. But when I went major, I think I’ve never experienced such a thing, because I was able to do everything I wanted and I wasn’t told what to do. I could do what I wanted both as indie and with major, however having a big budget makes it more possible to have a development on a large scale. For me, it was only an advantage. 

 

----After major debut, the base support increased steadily, but in 1997 there was a period in which you couldn’t be active for a while, I have a feeling that those were bad days.

t„Because it’s all grist to our mill [we weren’t particularly worried]. Moreover, I think that trouble comes together with work in any world. People that can work are divided from people that can’t by how smartly they will solve that trouble. Therefore, I think that we concentrated on how solving [the problem]. 

 

----The magnificence of the immediately following live “1997 REINCARNATION” at Tokyo Dome on December 23^rd has been conveyed even by live pictures. The scene when tetsuya-san was frequently raising yukihiro-san’s hand was impressive.

t„I think I acted like that to protect yukihiro-kun, in those days he received a very bad bashing from cruel fans in front of members. In the following year, 1998, in the “Tour’98 Haato ni hi wo tsukero! [Ligh my fire]” we did 56 performances, and since it was after yukihiro-kun had joined the band, I think that there was in some respects the awareness that we wanted to plant the idea that “these 4 persons are L'Arc~en~Ciel”. That’s why I was thinking about doing a great number of lives and a lot of releases.

----I think that it’s also admirable the fact that you could be active turning into energy even things like that. In 1999 there was also “1999 GRAND CROSS TOUR”. Seeing pictures of that live, the view from that outdoors stage is incredible. How was the scene that you could see from that stage?

t„Was very pleasant, that scene. 

  ----In the final live of “TOUR 2008 L’7 ~Trans Asia via PARIS~”, in 2008, the 4 members hand in hand greeting were impressive.

t„I think we made it because it was the last day of the tour. We did it also in order not to give fans anxious feelings, since we had announced that we wouldn’t do any live before 2011. But in 2010 we made releases, we all appeared in the CM for pepsi NEX, and we were doing regular activity.  

----There is the hope that in 2011 you’ll increase your activity.  

t„I think that since the formation of the band without changes, we are making precisely what we have to do, and we are going up the stairs step by step. Given that we were able to come to the present situation because until now a lot of people has been supporting us, without forgetting to be grateful, from now on I’d like to go on humbly. But in the same time, because there are adults that are getting in my way, because if I don’t fight, I can’t protect [the band?], I think I want to get focused. 

 Zdroj:https://mei-24.livejournal.com/2890.html