With his first tour in three years "Requiem et Reminiscence II ~Saisei to Kaikou~", and the release of "Journey through the Decade", Gackt's schedule is increasingly packed, but this time, we'd like to do an interview that clarifies Gackt's personality and feelings.
"It's fine. I'll answer everything (laughs)."
-Ahahaha. Then let's begin. Firstly, as an artist, Gackt has built up his own one of a kind world view, but are you always conscious that your method of creation connects all your works?
"Yes, that's right. For one, I have what's called the "MOON Project", but I began creating the story called "MOON" in 2002. The story that became the "Requiem et Reminiscence II ~Saisei to Kaikou~" tour that began in December last year, I suddenly imagined during the tour of that time. While investigating various aspects of that within myself, I gradually made that story into something grand. I thought a lot, "In what kind of form should I present this?". I didn't want to stop at just music. How should I present it? A movie, a novel, really a lot of forms bubbled up in me. Wondering if I could make everything like a puzzle, putting various things together as a composite without considering genre, I came to do the the MOON theme in concerts. At the same time I proceeded to make a movie, write a novel and to spread artwork that standardised MOON. Because the story was too grand, that project continued until 2006. In that vein, I released the musical versions of the DIABOLOS story, and I intended to release another, separate album and tour with it soon after. But then there was the story of the Taiga Drama, and various other stories dropped in, so then I temporarily stopped musical activities. And then around Spring 2007, I started to think about getting this story moving once more. But around Winter, I got the offer to do the movie."
- The Hollywood movie, "BUNRAKU"?
"Yes, yes. So then I had to decide, should I go ahead with the tour as planned, or accept the movie request and try to challenge Hollywood."
- A troubling point. But surely, Gackt also had the dream of doing a Hollywood movie?
"That's right. Hollywood was one of my dreams. Because appearing on the world stage is my dream. So my staff told me they wanted me to not let the chance escape and take the challenge."
- I see. So you accepted the movie offer.
"Yes. I tore up the tour schedule I'd already put together, and had it put back together a second time."
- Of course, the movie filming was overseas, right?
"Yeah. In Romania. The whole time I was over there filming the movie, I felt internal tension. The things I'd been thinking about before doing the movie, I began to wonder whether I could continue doing them the same way. I began thinking, how could I surprise people more?
- Probably it's that it's been a long time since a tour.
-Exactly. They were surprised, right? (laughs)
"Right (laughs). Because a considerable amount of time has passed. About...how long? It's been seven years. Certainly even though I ended it in a way that said "there's more to this story", it couldn't possibly be(laughs)"
-It couldn't possibly be (laughs)
"So I thought about it heaps. Although this story was a sequel, I had to make it something that would convey properly to both those who were following the story from 7 years ago and those just touching the story for the first time. I had to clear that. I had to present the story properly to both sides. That was really difficult. From the beginning, Requiem et Reminiscence was somehow, something that gave me a chance to establish the image of my lives. The presentation based on the images, the music and the stage was also the exhibition of a new method of presentation. Certainly, it was the start of this tour in 2001. So it was a point I wanted to make important"
-I see
"Certainly, it was the beginning of the what are known as VISUALIVE concerts I produce. VISUALIVE is the style of presentation that gets across the things I want to get through, the things I want to hammer out, the production and presentation based on the images, music and stage with the music as the yardstick. Because it has to go into the territory of entertainment, it has to make those watching happy, make them have fun, be surprised, moved, cry, laugh, it has to be a stage that includes all those elements. I'm always aiming for this. Finally, after 10 years, I feel like I can realise that this year"
- If you didn't take that much time, there would have been things you couldn't implement, right?
"Yes. That's right"
- Surely, having things outside your musical activity such as the movie and the Taiga drama was a big thing.
"Yeah, that much is obvious. It was like that with the movie and the drama, but because music was separate, if I ended up making divisions within myself, for what purpose were those three years spent? There aren't those divisions in me. Rather, it might be that the ones watching, the ones recieving are the ones putting up those frames. I think there is no differentiation in presentation, no divisions. I think theres nothing distant about acting. The lives I'm doing now are the same. I think there are people who will be tricked into feeling like I'm doing a musical rather than a concert. I think there will also be people who feel like they're watching something contemporary. It's a rock concert, it's not that I'm acting, but in making the story progress with the music, in the songs, somehow the movements of the appearing characters hearts isn't just music, the set on the stage, how the rest of it is presented, is what I think is a VISUALIVE. And now, coming to the centre of the tour, I think it's been constructed as an image. Because there are people who come not just once, but over and over again, for their sake too, after each live is over I confirm the image of that day's live with the staff and always think about how I can update it to give people even more of a surprise, even more emotion. It's not that I change the whole thing every time, but if there are new discoveries, I think they'll feel completely different. We rehearse up until the last minute before the real performance too. Most performers don't do it to that extent, I think"
- You do that much...
"Yeah. Really, it's seriously hard (laughs)"
- But you do it (laughs)
"Yeah, I do it anyway (laughs). I can't feel at ease if I don't. I think it's just being myself, doing it to this extent."
- So then it's like your duty as Gackt the artist? To say it bluntly, going outside the territory of reliable work?
"Yes, that's right. I don't feel it's work at all. It's duty, or a mission"
- A mission. I see.
"It's like the reason I exist here. The spirit I was born with. I like it. Making people happy, entertaining them, surprising them. I really like to see them respond to me emotionally and cry. It's not because I'm Gackt the artist. Myself as Gackt the artist and my private self are entirely the same. Even in private, I like to make people happy, entertain them, surprise them. Because the essential things are there, in the process of arriving there I can put my life on the line. Because I think I can do it seriously. Really, when I see those so moved they are crying, and happy smiles, I can be glad I did it. Because I'm not skilled, I don't know about being an artist and a private self. Work like ours doesn't have an "off"
- But don't you get tired always running along with no place to rest?
"I get tired (laughs). Even now I'm in tatters, physically and emotionally (laughs). Seriously (laughs). It's harsh.
The previous page of this interview is here
Also, a few seconds of the audio for Flower is up at Gackt.com. The video says (roughly) "Leak of Gackt Information Incident" and the lyrics in the section sung are "Repeating the sin that won't be forgiven, even if I fall to hell..." Oh, and I love this song. You all need to know that :)
- I often have conversations with Miyavi, and I often hear about you from him. When he was young, he was also sparing with his sleeping time and kept running recklessly, but now I think it seems a lot like he's remembered to live using off and on mode.
- Eh? Don't you mean you'll skip a concert?
"Ahahaha. No, of course I don't. If it happens, I'll quit music itself. I've made that resolution. But it's because that extent is no good. It's because I have confidence it won't happen that I do concerts without thinking of the next day. Because I believe my strength isn't that kind of thing. If I started thinking about the next day while doing a concert I wouldn't be myself any more. I definitely can't recommend this way of life to anyone, but it's the only way I can live. Even if my life ends in that single concert, I want to live with no regrets. I think that even more now, because I thought my life would only be up until I was 30."
- Why?
"My body was weak when I was a child. I thought there was no way I'd have a long life. So to me now, this life is overtime. I want to live with all my might in the extra time. I want to go as far as I can. I want to live with no regrets. In 50 years everyone I know and am friends with will be dead, myself as well. No matter how we struggled, it will be the same. So I want to struggle with all my heart, and go as far as I can, is what I think."
- And that is your mission as Gackt?
"Yes. All of this way of life. If I quit this way of living, I wouldn't be myself any more. If I quit this way of living, I feel like everything I'd presented would become a lie. But I wonder if that's okay?
If there's one person living like this. If when I die, everyone laughs and says "He was an interesting guy", then it's okay. If there was someone else living this way, then I might not have needed to, but if I look around and there's no one else, I (have)** this way of living."
- Stoic as always... But if I look at you now, I can't imagine that you were sickly.
"Well, it's because I take care of my health like a sick person, I don't neglect my health."
- But, it's impossible with an ordinary human's strength, your schedule. Or your way of life.
"Ahahahaha. That's right (laughs). But it's because I'm sickly, that I follow habits that control my body, that strengthen it. But thanks to that, I really felt strongly that I could do it until I was 30. Of course, the things I wanted to do weren't of a scope that could be completed by age 30, I haven't finished them, but that's why I've lived desperately. So in this spare time I have now, because I can be grateful that I'm still alive, from now on I can work my hardest. Because I won't leave any regrets. I'm grateful to be able to do it, to be able to live. So I want to live with all my heart like it doesn't matter when this life ends. I want to be satisfied when I fall. I want to let the flowers that will be satisfied when they fall bloom***."
- You want to finish your life.
"Right. I don't want to live half-finished. It's just that.
-Up until now, you've been stoic, pushing ahead, going as far as possible, is that way of thinking because you became an artist? Was it from the time you were a child?
From when I was twenty.
-What triggered that?
I encountered someone when I was 19, and it changed my life. So my life is divided into two parts, up until 19, and from 19 on. They're completely different. Up until I was 19, I had weak points, negative things like destructiveness and decadence, I wasn't able to think about the meaning of living. Why did I exist here?, was the only thing I thought about. I was probably only looking at dying. But from when I met that person, I knew the meaning in living. If my life has meaning, I want to know what it is, I began to think like that. In order to find that meaning, I began to think I'd try to live for dear life. There's no such thing as a person with a meaningless life. There is definitely a meaning. To someone, for something. I tried to think like this. Firstly, I thought I'd start by shaping my thoughts. Then, if I was able to give people a push on their backs, wouldn't that be my reason for existing?
-I see.
I don't know how far I can push them, but even if it's just a little, when they realise the push on their back is my own hand, it feels like I've been allowed to live.
-That's deep. But I think that among them, there must be people who think that without Gackt's words and music they wouldn't have been able to find meaning in their life. Surely, I think they must send so many of those letters and emails to you yourself, but isn't there frustration in not being able to reach out a hand directly to those people yourself?
Yes, that's right. I think there are many fans who are weak-minded like that. But I think I can give them a push on the back with my music and words. But, even if they're close, if we're separated, even if I can give them a push, walking has to be done by the person themselves. I was like this in the past myself, I couldn't walk without dragging my companions along against their will. I'd give them anything to get them started, I'd prepare for them. But if they won't go forward even one step with their own feet, even if they stand there forever, they won't clear the problem of embracing their current selves.
-Moving your feet one step ahead is the important thing.
Right. There's the most important thing.
~~~~~~~~~
* AB blood type. The Japanese believe your blood type influences your personality.
**I can't quite read the scan here, because the white text overlaps the white on Gackt's jacket. This is an educated guess
***This is hard to say in English, but he's once again using falling flowers with the meaning of "dying" they have in Japanese culture. The word I translated as "satisfied" here is actually 納得 which means "understanding agreement, assent". To die with the feeling, "I see, it's okay then...". Not really being happy about it, but understanding why it has to be.
- Current Music:The Lion King OST- "Under the Stars"
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