"Yoroshiku onegai shimasu"- We exchange all the obvious greetings and I switch the tape recorder to on. My first question was of the details of the decision to conduct the production of the series of works in this project in L.A. In a calm tone, Gackt began to speak.
"There were a few reasons, but one was that Japan as it is now doesn't have the complete environment to create my music. Of course, having come here, there's a lot to think about outside of the sound, but psychologically, because it's kind of good in that way, I wanted to make it an environment where I could create my songs...Having stepped in that stream, I think it was because Los Angeles had good staff. I don't know if it's a good place to live or not, but it's not bad as an environment to create music. Although there's probably a lot of people who would say I don't suit the streets of L.A."
- That's right, huh (laughs)
"Even I think we don't match (laughs). Imagewise. Well, as for me, I've gone to Europe and such, but there are problems with my schedule...because while we had no time, the making of the promotional video had to be done as well, for example if you did it with "the PV filmed in Hollywood, the recording in France", it'd take an immense amount of time and money, and even I thought we couldn't do it. So, because we did both at the same time, here (L.A.) was the best. In particular, because the image staff are far and above the best here."
- Gackt can speak English?
"Yeah...although when I talk about fine details of business, there are times I get stuck on the right word to use. I understand pretty much everything the other person says, and I can say roughly what I want to, so I don't really get anxious about conversation. The staff who came with me from Japan, not all of them can speak English, but even so, it's not that they're extremely troubled in their lifestyle...Even those who say they can't speak much can all do as much as broken English, right? So there's no problem. There are those who have conversations just by listing words, I think it's amazing that they can communicate like that (laughs). Just, with that as an example, if we'd done it in France, most people wouldn't even have known the words. Only I would be able to communicate with the local staff, and it would become a situation where I had to translate for every single person, wouldn't it be awful? That aspect of communication was another big reason to come to L.A."
- Did you set about recording "Mizerable" immediately after coming to L.A.?
"No, first was pre-production. With just the Japanese staff connected to the sound, including the ones that participated in between, I think there were about 8 or 9 people. We used both a studio and a room, changing between both and did various kinds of work."
- You did it in a hotel room too?
"We did it, we did it. We changed my room into a studio. So, my room is...the windows are always blocked, so when everyone came to my room they said "We've lost all sense of time". Day or night, there are always candles lit, it was a situation where there were constantly sounds ringing out, right? They (The recording members) collapsed one by one (laughs). They got tired. So always, without fail, someone would be sleeping in the bed. I'd remain until last doing songs...always sleeping on the sofa or the floor. It's sad (laughs). Really, they always took up the whole room, sometimes you'd have several people sleeping side by side in the same bed."
- But Gackt was on the sofa or the floor.
"That's right (laughs)"
- (laughs) Does your sleeping time take constraints from the limits you've had till now?
"I mostly don't have any. To a laughable extent, I don't"
- If you average it, how much?
"How much would it be? If I get 2 or 3 hours, it's good, isn't it? Because I hardly have any time to rest. The periods of time are scattered. Because I don't have the kind of lifestyle where I go to sleep at night and get up in the morning. I sleep when I want to. And outside of that, aren't I always creating songs? It's not a style that uses 24 hour time. It feels more like, song, song, song, song, song, song, sleep, song, song, song, song, song, song, supermarket (laughs)"
- Supermarket?
"(laughs) Yeah. Coming to Los Angeles, I can only go out at night, and the only thing that's open at night is the supermarket, right? So when I go to the supermarket the amount (of stuff I buy) is huge. I think you'd be shocked if you saw. Aren't the carts here huge? I put so much stuff in it gets to the point where I can't move it"
- Is it all necessary things?
"You tell me (laughs). But I think it is. Everyone comes to my room, and everyone takes the stuff from there at will, so the result is an awkward situation where I have to buy everything. So it's that way even though I buy a lot."
- I've heard that you stock up on the scented candles burning in your room from these all-night supermarkets. In L.A., there's a section for scented candles in most supermarkets and souvenir stores, and there are dozens of scents lined up on the shelf. Because of that, or because of Gackt's influence, many of the Japanese staff who have come here have become "candlers" (laughs) before they know it. But Gackt's preference for candles comes from the softness of their light. Even in the NRG studios where Mizerable was produced, he turned off the lights and recorded amidst the lights of many candles.
"I really hate electric light...I'm weak against brightness. Especially the brightness of electric lights makes my eyes hurt. Because I hate them because they make my eyes really tired, when I'm here (the studio lobby) as well, I usually have them lower the brightness for me. I hate illumination from above too, indirect light is better...so I use candles. They calm me down most."
- The songs that were recorded for Mizerable had life breathed into them under that peaceful light. Because of their detailed and fine production, I can feel a situation of "advancing them smoothly" that's hard to put into words.
"We pushed it along (the production) favourably (laughs). When we began the computerised parts, there was a lot of trouble."
- What's the degree of completion (as of the day of the interview)?
"About 70%. If you go into songs, there's two left to finish.
- How's the condition of your throat?
- It (the atmosphere) is a little dry, so you might be able to sense that a little (laughs). But I think it's okay. A lot of emotion comes out."
- Well, in the recording of the vocals itself, there's no sign of hardship...or reason to suppose so. Is it this tight schedule?
"(bitter laugh) Well, the key point is my physical condition. If I talk about the recording starting at 3 or 4 am in the night, it was harsh. So the problem is just my physical condition."
- In all of that, what is the motivating force that drives Gackt's creativity forward?
"Hmm, I can't list them out... but unfounded confidence and pride that I am an artist, and the feeling of wanting to pursue the themes that are essentially carried in my heart. And, that there are people waiting for me. I think, it's all like that. It's the people who came along believing in me. If you ask, faced with that, how can I answer? It's by not betraying those who believed and those who waited, right? That's what I think.
"There were a few reasons, but one was that Japan as it is now doesn't have the complete environment to create my music. Of course, having come here, there's a lot to think about outside of the sound, but psychologically, because it's kind of good in that way, I wanted to make it an environment where I could create my songs...Having stepped in that stream, I think it was because Los Angeles had good staff. I don't know if it's a good place to live or not, but it's not bad as an environment to create music. Although there's probably a lot of people who would say I don't suit the streets of L.A."
- That's right, huh (laughs)
"Even I think we don't match (laughs). Imagewise. Well, as for me, I've gone to Europe and such, but there are problems with my schedule...because while we had no time, the making of the promotional video had to be done as well, for example if you did it with "the PV filmed in Hollywood, the recording in France", it'd take an immense amount of time and money, and even I thought we couldn't do it. So, because we did both at the same time, here (L.A.) was the best. In particular, because the image staff are far and above the best here."
- Gackt can speak English?
"Yeah...although when I talk about fine details of business, there are times I get stuck on the right word to use. I understand pretty much everything the other person says, and I can say roughly what I want to, so I don't really get anxious about conversation. The staff who came with me from Japan, not all of them can speak English, but even so, it's not that they're extremely troubled in their lifestyle...Even those who say they can't speak much can all do as much as broken English, right? So there's no problem. There are those who have conversations just by listing words, I think it's amazing that they can communicate like that (laughs). Just, with that as an example, if we'd done it in France, most people wouldn't even have known the words. Only I would be able to communicate with the local staff, and it would become a situation where I had to translate for every single person, wouldn't it be awful? That aspect of communication was another big reason to come to L.A."
- Did you set about recording "Mizerable" immediately after coming to L.A.?
"No, first was pre-production. With just the Japanese staff connected to the sound, including the ones that participated in between, I think there were about 8 or 9 people. We used both a studio and a room, changing between both and did various kinds of work."
- You did it in a hotel room too?
"We did it, we did it. We changed my room into a studio. So, my room is...the windows are always blocked, so when everyone came to my room they said "We've lost all sense of time". Day or night, there are always candles lit, it was a situation where there were constantly sounds ringing out, right? They (The recording members) collapsed one by one (laughs). They got tired. So always, without fail, someone would be sleeping in the bed. I'd remain until last doing songs...always sleeping on the sofa or the floor. It's sad (laughs). Really, they always took up the whole room, sometimes you'd have several people sleeping side by side in the same bed."
- But Gackt was on the sofa or the floor.
"That's right (laughs)"
- (laughs) Does your sleeping time take constraints from the limits you've had till now?
"I mostly don't have any. To a laughable extent, I don't"
- If you average it, how much?
"How much would it be? If I get 2 or 3 hours, it's good, isn't it? Because I hardly have any time to rest. The periods of time are scattered. Because I don't have the kind of lifestyle where I go to sleep at night and get up in the morning. I sleep when I want to. And outside of that, aren't I always creating songs? It's not a style that uses 24 hour time. It feels more like, song, song, song, song, song, song, sleep, song, song, song, song, song, song, supermarket (laughs)"
- Supermarket?
"(laughs) Yeah. Coming to Los Angeles, I can only go out at night, and the only thing that's open at night is the supermarket, right? So when I go to the supermarket the amount (of stuff I buy) is huge. I think you'd be shocked if you saw. Aren't the carts here huge? I put so much stuff in it gets to the point where I can't move it"
- Is it all necessary things?
"You tell me (laughs). But I think it is. Everyone comes to my room, and everyone takes the stuff from there at will, so the result is an awkward situation where I have to buy everything. So it's that way even though I buy a lot."
- I've heard that you stock up on the scented candles burning in your room from these all-night supermarkets. In L.A., there's a section for scented candles in most supermarkets and souvenir stores, and there are dozens of scents lined up on the shelf. Because of that, or because of Gackt's influence, many of the Japanese staff who have come here have become "candlers" (laughs) before they know it. But Gackt's preference for candles comes from the softness of their light. Even in the NRG studios where Mizerable was produced, he turned off the lights and recorded amidst the lights of many candles.
"I really hate electric light...I'm weak against brightness. Especially the brightness of electric lights makes my eyes hurt. Because I hate them because they make my eyes really tired, when I'm here (the studio lobby) as well, I usually have them lower the brightness for me. I hate illumination from above too, indirect light is better...so I use candles. They calm me down most."
- The songs that were recorded for Mizerable had life breathed into them under that peaceful light. Because of their detailed and fine production, I can feel a situation of "advancing them smoothly" that's hard to put into words.
"We pushed it along (the production) favourably (laughs). When we began the computerised parts, there was a lot of trouble."
- What's the degree of completion (as of the day of the interview)?
"About 70%. If you go into songs, there's two left to finish.
- How's the condition of your throat?
- It (the atmosphere) is a little dry, so you might be able to sense that a little (laughs). But I think it's okay. A lot of emotion comes out."
- Well, in the recording of the vocals itself, there's no sign of hardship...or reason to suppose so. Is it this tight schedule?
"(bitter laugh) Well, the key point is my physical condition. If I talk about the recording starting at 3 or 4 am in the night, it was harsh. So the problem is just my physical condition."
- In all of that, what is the motivating force that drives Gackt's creativity forward?
"Hmm, I can't list them out... but unfounded confidence and pride that I am an artist, and the feeling of wanting to pursue the themes that are essentially carried in my heart. And, that there are people waiting for me. I think, it's all like that. It's the people who came along believing in me. If you ask, faced with that, how can I answer? It's by not betraying those who believed and those who waited, right? That's what I think.
Zdroj:https://amaia.livejournal.com/93337.html
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