When you’re making an album, there’s a pattern of making songs that would match, there’s a pattern of choosing genuinely good songs. Is it related to DIM?
KAI: Completely the latter. LEECH, GUREN, DISTRESS & COMA, HEADACHE MAN, the four songs we settled on putting them in [the album]. We based our choice of those songs on the fact that when you listen to those songs, every one of them has a complete degree of important/serious things and a strong world view.
URUHA: Pointing at the song-making days, when we wanted stimulus we often watched TV. In those days, there were a lot of murders and there were a lot of news that shocked me. Keeping that in my head, even when I was going to bed I was thinking things like “criminal, what mentality should I do it with?”. But it’s not that I was doing songs with such a theme, but there were serious things of the world. I think songs with such atmosphere came out. This time, there were almost only things with impact ... and loneliness. If there had been a little more happier things in the surroundings [of those days], it would be better.
AOI: I was simply thinking “What music do I want to make?”. Because the GazettE has had a lot of heavy songs lately, I also thought I wanted [songs] with a soft atmosphere. Later, I also wanted a little upper things, I wrote two [songs]. I thought that if I put in songs with kind of a change of speed, The album would have listener response*.
*Listener response – is the way people react to listening to music; what emotions those songs would evoke in the person, etc.
The ones made byAoi-san, SHIROKI YUUTSU, A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN, it’s a taste of what happened.
AOI: What happened was probably straight. The other songs, every one of them was a villain [-> the kanji here is actually a ‘villain’ but my Japanese friend told me it could also mean something unusual, something that he wouldn’t usually do] (laugh). The ones I made were in the DOH [it’s the same as do in that do, re, mi, fa, sol, la...etc. solfege]straight group, I think. The tune, there were moments when the melody was rising. Because of the other songs’ darkness, I wondered if that representation was good.
Surely. It’s not an album that bursts open with a bang, but you get the impression of the importance of what you listen to.
AOI: Right. This time, the “yelling” kind [of songs] were the ones like OGRE and HEADACHE MAN. HEADACHE MAN was also put into the previous single. There were a few hard songs. Well, it’s because of this good age (laugh). It’s not really the age for screams, right ... it seems (laugh). To say something concrete, whenever there was a screaming place [in a song], it’s because Ruki put it into the melody. And the image you get when listening to it is probably strong.
KAI: It’s because I don’t remember there was a talk about a lot of violent songs to begin with. But, when we tried to do them, there surely were a few. It’s because we looked into the other direction rather than the screaming pattern, and there will probably be the impression of the album going into deep moments/places. It’s not only the melody, it’s also the great lyrics by Ruki. I got goosebumps a few times.
REITA: There are certainly songs you can listen to a lot, but it’s not because of their sugary/sweet feeling. The seriousness and suffocation are probably coming out [of the songs]. A lot of things handed down in the previous single were also put in. I think it’s an album with violence.
On the surface the violence is no there, you feel the presence of things like threat. Even though you put in songs of different types, did you put in every single song with a strong impression?
REITA: How was it? First off, it’s because this time the tuning was diverse. NAKIGAHARA was low C# (explanatory note: the pattern of 1-3 strings lowered by half tone and 3rd string lowered by half tone). If we didn’t do it like that, there would be a phrase we wouldn’t be able to play. Then, for 13STAIRS [-]1, the bass only was low A (explanatory note: the pattern of a 5-stringed bass’s 5th string lowered by one tune). A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN, only 4 strings F# (explanatory note: 1 tune lower), there was that kind of irregular tuning. I think it’s going to be troublesome during the live (bitter smile)
That’s amazing! Why did you decide to do such a thing?
REITA: If we didn’t do it like that in A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN, we wouldn’t be able to play the phrase. In 13STAIRS[-]1, it’s because low A# was requested by Uruha who composed it. It got really out of order during tuning, and during recording we often corrected it while playing.
AOI: I often made mistakes while playing A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN (laugh). When we were recording the demo, the guitars and the bass had to have the same tuning. Also because of playing simple riffs. But Reita’s bass was a little different.
The composer’s idea was important, right? The mechanical guitar&bass and the lively drums combination was very impressive in A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN.
AOI: The mechanical feeling is the image that you get at the beginning. If you only focus on that [part] and play, you’ll get that kind of feeling. But the lively vocal and the female chorus put it, it becomes a “rise, rise tune” (laugh). I’d say the difference in the degree of singing was good.
KAI: The drums had also had the mechanical sound at first, but I replaced it with a sound full of life. That way, the feeling was better and the songs had the groove. From the play’s [-> playing the instruments] point of view, the intro and the songs’ high point they had phrases where no flat points [in the sound] continued. But that was quite difficult [to do], and the recording was a troublesome. But other than that, riding with the rhythm and playing [the drums] was fun. When I got used to this contrast, it gave a pleasant feeling (laugh). I’m also looking forward to the live.
URUHA: When I started listening to it, at first, I thought about changing the guitar arrangement. But eventually, I really got into this pattern. Later, while doing the riffs, stepping on the whammy pedal (explanatory note: when you step on a pedal, you get an effect of changing the guitar musical interval) [you probably remember it from the ‘Other side of DIM’ film, but here’s wiki] was really fun.
AOI: It was like that for 2 whammies... (laugh)
URUHA: Yeah (laugh). During a live, there are many songs when we use only one whammy, but that was the first time we had to step on whammies together in the same timing. I think the live will have a very powerful feeling (laugh).
AOI: Won’t it? (laugh). But while making that song, the number one thing I had in my head was the making of the bass feature. “Oi, Reita-kun*. This time, try to take the leading role” I said (laugh)
*Don’t know if that was the way Aoi meant it, but the “KUN” that followed Reita’s name was written in katakana, and generally Japanese people use it to make the meaning stronger. So it might have had the nuance of adding an element of irritation or urging Reita to do what Aoi wanted him to do.
REITA: Thank you very much (laugh). Because of the tuning, the recording was really tough (laugh). During the pre-pro [pre-production stage], I was wondering if I could deal with it as I had to lower one string by half tone. During a live, since I’ll have to quickly change the tuning by myself, it’ll be good if I don’t change the way I hold the bass. But the tension of doing it like this, in the loose/slow part, pushing the riff out will be reduced [...whatever he means by that...]. And also, I played 4th string one tone higher. Moreover, in this song, the strings became an obsession too. I didn’t really like Ernie Ball strings [wiki here], the bass I used in this song had Ernie Ball [strings] attached. I thought those were Elixir [wiki here]. And also, when you change the stretch/tension of the strings, the sound is totally different. The freshly attached Elixir [strings] I unfastened, and the strings that I had thrown away into the rubbish bin before I took out and stretched them [on the guitar] again (laugh). I revalidated the quality of Ernie Ball.
URUHA: So the ones you once threw away into the rubbish bin were still good (laugh). [ouch, Uruha...XD]
REITA: Ahahaha! So, every time I once threw? (laugh). Just like I said, this time many things happened, the one most difficult to play was NAKIGAHARA. First, A melody* bass solo only, the picking angle also changed [->picking as in the way you hit the strings with the pick]. It wasn’t horizontal, I played the strings with about 45 degree [angle]. Then, I used a different bass for only one part. I managed to complete one place only. I hadn’t decided on that beforehand, I just did it like that at this place, it took time to record anything. It was quite difficult but I got a good feeling. The troubles were fruitful I think.
*********************************
*That A melody is a part of the refrain of a song. The Japanese wiki gave me this pattern for a song:
日本の歌謡曲に多く見られるリフレイン形式は、次のようである。
Aメロ - Bメロ - サビ - 間奏 - Bメロ - サビ - サビ - 終結部
Translation: The refrain form that you often see in popular Japanese songs is as follows:
サビ is the high point of the song [they will refer to it a lot later]
間奏 – interlude
終結部 – end
*********************************
URUHA: The one which left an impression on me was also NAKIGAHARA. This time, I didn’t really concentrate on making the song, but I was determined to make a phrase. Until that moment, I took making a phrase for granted. But this time, every song’s colour and world overview, I thought I wanted to play with a more strengthened phrase. At that stage, I didn’t know the title and I hadn’t seen the lyrics but the image that you get from the song was in accordance [with the lyrics and the title]. I bore the details of completing it in mind. When that happened, “This, if that’s the phrase, isn’t this the sound’s tendency” kind of thing happened. And also, in relation to music making, it was a little worrying.
The changing colour guitar [of course not literally – it’s about the sound colour changes], you felt it was more successful than what you’d felt until that moment.
URUHA: If it wasn’t like that, I’d think it was bad. From then on, whatever phrase I managed to do, after it got problematic. If I did a careful selection of what I had done before, wasn’t it like “It’s only that”?[with the idea, that it was not enough] That’s why, I had problems with the arrangement stage. And that was really difficult in NAKIGAHARA. The atmosphere was like the one from the old/past Gazette. In the demo that Ruki had made, there were no hints [about the sound, etc.]. At the stage of [creating] the original melody, even the guitars were put in wholly into it. But the melody was greatly handed down/transmitted. If it had been bad, I would have felt dejected/disheartened, and I’d also get the stale feeling . It would also have the poorly-built sense. We got this also during the indie period, when an incomplete “weak sense” came out, there were also things that got painful. There was a necessity of skilfully removing the [feeling] of it being crowded. And also, after the provisional title NAKIGAHARA, the lyrics too were deep, and I thought about doing some changes. I thought that if I didn’t put the kind of bad feeling nuance somewhere, it would be no good. This song was really hard. After thinking about the phrase, I noticed I got into the tape echo (explanatory note: an old-type echo machine). The sound with the kind of shaky bad feeling image was the most suitable for this song.
The beginning of the guitar [play], in NAKIGAHARA’s arrangement, you put in perfectly.
URUHA: I’m glad you think like that. We also pushed the places where the koto [13-stringed Japanese zither] was almost cheap. The process until the koto [part] came out, got a little cheap, and the koto also supported it. Well, that was troublesome.
Right, right. Still, you scored a point for using the koto in NAKIGAHARA.
AOI: We put in the koto because of the demo that was made by Ruki. Well, that was good (laugh). Even so, I thought that if we omitted the sound of the koto it would be bad. When the sound got stiff, you’d hear the koto. And it was troublesome there. The one that left an impression on me was 13STAIRS[-]1 brought by Uruha. This song was quite enjoyable. That was the first fuzz (laugh) [-> fuzz, refers to the distortion that is made to the sound using a fuzzbox - wiki here]. Since the original melody [making] time, I didn’t really understand the image of it, I thought (laugh).
In the demo stage, you also put in the powerful fuzz?
URUHA: I put it in. Even so, it didn’t have the fuzz. When I used RAT [wiki here] (explanatory note: an effect-making machine used for distorting/bending the sound) fully, I got the kind of fuzz sound. It was finished it in the demo, but the production was tough.
AOI: I [-> the sound I made] also didn’t have the fuzz. Uruha told me “I want that kind of sound”, so I bought different fuzz [-> fuzzboxes], but it was all not good. Because of that, I went to the staff who have all the equipment, though it didn’t mean that different things came out [of this] (laugh). While doing that [being with the staff & their equipment] we chose good equipment. Even so, because the two of us making the same music was not interesting, we changed the tastes [-< introduced some changes into the song so that both of them wouldn’t be playing exactly the same thing].
13STAIRS[-]1, while the first half is heavy & hot, in the middle of it, the changes into cool places in the middle of it [the song] you also need to check.
URUHA: From the chord point of view, it went on with only 1 chord, but there were things like, how much variation can be introduced inside it [the song]. This direction was probably interesting. It was also a song with that kind of challenge.
KAI: 13STAIRS [-]1, during the pre-pro [pre-production stage], “And finally, I thought the tempo would rise” was said. I really didn’t think there was much of a problem with it, but after trying to play it, it was surprisingly difficult (laugh). It was a little troublesome. Not just this song, this time, there are a lot of songs with difficult drums. There are plenty songs, like OGRE, which use daring rhythm changes, and there were also songs with an extremely fast change of tempo.
OGRE, it got the B melo 4 part 1 feeling? [no idea if that’s the correct term ]
KAI: Right. But that wasn’t difficult. First, because the sing’s beginning is 4 part 3 beat, if you don’t put it in, your head can’t match it [the speed/rhythm] and it gets weird.
EVERYBODY: True, true! (laugh)
KAI: When it starts from the beat In your head, the arrangement settles in your head.
Which reminds me, IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS, the end of the high point of the song, you opted for all members to play in unison at high speed.
AOI: It wasn’t difficult there, right?
URUHA & REITA: No.
KAI: But I heard from Ruki: “Kai-kun, this was a poor pattern, try harder, ok.” (laugh)
EVERYBODY: Ahaha? What faith, ne~ (laugh)
KAI: This time, it wasn’t only playing, music-making was tough. I’d say it started to be like that from the sound in the previous DISTRESS AND COMA. The sound-making started from then. Other things than before ...I mean, wasn’t there an objective before reaching the goal [referring to music – wasn’t there a plan for something they wanted to achieve]? But, in D&C only a sound with a considerable understanding came out, I got the kind of feeling of how to make it. First of all, to have the same sound as before, we choose which sound to add, and it started from the fanciful place. It’s not that we didn’t have a sample sound that we were aiming at. The engineers and technicians gave us a CD to listen to which we could use as a reference, but whatever it was [on that CD] I was aiming at something different. After different results of attempts, I finally found what I wanted. This I recorded, but when the bass, the guitars and the vocal we tried to add, we could hear that it was excessively packed in with sound. And also, during the mixing stage, the original sound and the added sound balance changed, so we had to change the added sound.
REITA: This time, even the bass recording was the most intense I’ve ever had. Usually, I started the recording at about 1pm, I recorded until late about 7-8 o’clock, but this time even when it got to midnight, I still hadn’t decided on the sound. During the break in the middle [of recording], I went outside and was sitting alone…
AOI: What’s with that gloom all of a sudden (laugh)
URUHA: Don’t rest, just quickly get back to work (laugh)
[XDDDDDD]
REITA: Well, this “What sound should I do?” I thought. Really, whatever I did I didn’t know if it was good or not. I was sitting alone but I was thinking of a person’s degradation/falling down [not sure here; I think he was thinking about himself not being good enough…]. After returning back to the studio, after talking about things unrelated to the members, I recovered my tension and got back to work.
URUHA: Reita, when it was heavy/packed during the song making, he was just about to blow a fuse (laugh). Well, if you looked at his face, you knew it immediately (laugh).
AOI & KAI : True, true (laugh).
REITA: Well, because the sound, why I didn’t know if it was good. Because it involved with different components. Trying to replace the bass, trying to replace the amp, I did a lot of things, but I couldn’t reach a conclusion. Finally, it was more or less brought to a stop by a technician. “Well, let’s change the equipment again” I said, “Eh, wait a second. Is it because you want to reconstitute it or because you don’t understand it?” [ said the technician] . It was the kind of “Well, calm down” kind of feeling of what he said (laugh).
EVERYBODY: AHAHA!
REITA: It was intense more or less like that.
AOI: … I wonder if you’re cut out for the job of a musician (laugh)
REITA: But Aoi, you were boiled down during the guitar recording!
AOI: Well, I quickly took it out [-> produced the sound] (laugh)
REITA: Liar! (laugh)
[XDDDDD]
Ok, ok (laugh). Regarding the bass, you settled on what shape?
REITA: RAIN one piece, something like an amp simulator one piece, I recorded 3 tracks with 3 mikes put in front of KIABI (explanatory note: bass amp speaker) [just google it for pics :)] and it gave balance good shape. The low tone limit that came only with RAIN, I added more with the amp simulator. But halfway through the recording, “This bass is not enough” I thought. Before that, I had bought 2 new bass guitars, but I couldn’t cope with them. This time, I divided the recording, because I was recording 4 songs at a time, in the meantime I bought a MUSICMAN [I think Rei-chan’s 5-stringed bass was a Musicman; you can google those guitars for pics :)]. In the second half of the 4 songs I did them all like that [using the Musicman]. Having done it like that, I somehow completed it [the recording], but the mixing wasn’t finished yet. Whether it was correct or not, I honestly didn’t know.
AOI: As a matter of fact, I didn’t get into my sound at first at all too. The distorted sound in particular was totally bad. Uruha had previously recorded his [sound/part]. And because of the relation of the left-side channel [to Uruha’s right-side channel], the sound of the guitar, I was thinking of a gloomy/dull resound. Eventually, after a day I stopped recording and went home.
REITA: I knew it, so [the recording of] the guitar takes time, huh! (laugh)
AOI: … After one day, I went home (laugh). So, I got up early, I went to a music instrument shop and bought one PRS [wiki here]. I used the PRS during the previous recording too, but this was a different semi-hollow (explanatory note: a type of body interior cavity). Since then it was better, but still not good. No matter what I did, the beginning of the sound related to picking was slow. And also there was an amp called “÷13” (“Divided by 13”) that Uruha borrowed to use during the recording. So, if I wanted to borrow it to try to record, “Erm, don’t use it!” [I said]. (laugh) So, it ended up being “Don’t use it!” (laugh)
URUHA: I used “÷13” for the first time in this recording, but it’s a great amp. I wonder if I’m not going to use it to do a lot of things for the Gazette recording.
AOI: Right. For NAKIGAHARA [I used] an ordinary amp and Stratocaster guitar [wiki here]. This time, with the music recording looking like that, we learnt a lot.
Semi-acoustic PRS and ÷13, you assembled them a little unexpectedly. During the Makuhari Messe live, since the Stratocaster was used a lot, why did you think of this direction shift?
AOI: That’s because this time there were a lot of songs matching with Humbucker (explanatory note: soft sound making type) [wiki here]. The ones using a single coil (explanatory note: a type making a sharp sound) [wiki here] were the ones like SHIROKI YUUTSU and NAKIGAHARA.
So you thought about the tune’s importance and the guitar sound. Coming back to the talk about songs, NAKIGAHARA’ s clear world overview, that’s something that the GazettE have been doing to this day.
AOI: Just like we said at the beginning, it’s because lately quite a dark sound was flowing (laugh). I thought I wanted to steadily let our pure part out. But the others [in the band] and the lyrics were a little different , so I thought if it was ok with the others I did it (laugh).
KAI: In this song, halfway through the beat, I changed the hitting pattern into delicate and returned back to it. And I thought it was good. When I first returned to it, it got a little “Whoa!” (laugh).
REITA: The bass in this song was giving the kind of suspicious/wandering/light-headedness feeling. It was difficult to hit it [play the bass] delicately. At first, when I tried to match the bass with Kai-kun’s hitting, Aoi said “It’s different” (laugh). And, returning to the drums, in order to match it with the bass we heard “Kai-kun, this, what the hell was that?” (laugh). It would be better if I was hitting it so that light-headedness would come out easily, and whenever I wasn’t playing, I was thinking about how to do it. I was doing it over and over again and if I saw it [the proper way of what he wanted to achieve] I settled it in properly. Aa~, that was good…I was relieved (laugh).
URUHA: This song, the atmosphere [of it] was definitely there in the demo. The thing I had to do, was strengthening it without destroying [this atmosphere]. But that was the most difficult [thing]. I did something special, but the song’s feeling of pure white I destroyed completely. While being careful with it, I was thinking of a guitar phrase. I really liked the intro and the outro, but I thought that if I could bring out more of the feeling of depth it would be good. If I added long time delay [into the song] the image would be completed accordingly [to what he wanted]. I think I did a good job in my special way (laugh).
That feeling is good, isn’t it. The song’s guitar solo, Aoi-san did it, right?
AOI: Yes. This solo, “I wonder if I also got a little more mature?” kind of feeling I got (laugh). From the approach point of view, only the sound naturally flowing in my head came out obediently. There was also a period when I thought I didn’t really want to play a solo, but now that feeling is gone. If there’s a chance, let’s play is what I think. I think Uruha’s guitar solos are really characteristic, when you listen to them don’t you immediately know it’s Uruha’s? I also want to get to place like that.
[Wow, Aoi is praising Uha so much in this interview…is he trying to earn some Uru-smex? XD *gets bricked*…I wonder what Uruha was thinking at that moment…]
You wanted intense play. The slow tune element and the high point of the song part full of the sense of urgency you also merged in DIM SCENE, it’s the taste of what happened until now, right?
URUHA: This, it’s like if you look at the previously mentioned dark nuance, it’s the kind of song made when the feelings reach the very bottom. I think that ‘sense of urgency’ that you mentioned is a good representation [of the song]. Because that kind of atmosphere was created.
A melody’s low arpeggio sound makes a powerful world overview.
URUHA: I’m also pleased with this phrase. When I play it like that alone until I am worn out [gives] a super good feeling (laugh).
AOI & REITA : It’s dark, ne~…(laugh).
URUHA: I could play it like that for a long time … (laugh) About arpeggio, I love playing it with 5 or 6 strings.
KAI: Me too, I also think this arpeggio is good. This song, after thinking about the flow’s suitable variation, when it was fine I made it. When we put in the guitar solo, then the vocal came and since then it got hot. The back also came to a climax… . On top of what everybody said, I also thought about the drums pattern. From the playing perspective, the slow part from the first half was difficult. From there, when the tempo is slow, when the hotness and the kick don’t meet/match, don’t you immediately know it? (laugh) And then, “Why?” I said (laugh). The click was made double 16 part [don’t know the professional terms for that…] and that was difficult (laugh). “What to do, what to do!” I was saying (laugh). When I added the beat’s bottom to the hitting accent, finally it went smoothly.
REITA: This song’s intro, playing the relatively simple phrase like a cyborg continues, but it has got a good feeling. 13STAIRS [-] 1 too, it’s just like that, but I thought about playing the same thing on and on like a typical bassist. But this time, I woke up from this comfortable situation [of not doing anything but playing the same thing on and on]. In this case, I wonder if I became a little mature (laugh).
URUHA: I also know this [feeling]. Because I looped into the same phrase while playing, but lately the feeling was really good.
REITA: The things we were doing were simple but in reality it was more difficult. When it was off, you’d know it immediately. In order to bring out the loop feeling in DIM SCENE, I turned off the drums and I also got to the place where I only listened to the clicks playing. When I did it like that, at first I always got into the loop style, but there was a feeling of briskly going into the atmosphere of the highest point of the song. This contrast, I want it to come out skilfully during a live too.
AOI: Personally, this song, it has the image of human experience. Until it gets to the highest point, we played it powerfully. With it being done like that, I wondered if we could express the song’s “violent feeling”. And, the song’s highest point part is only cold but…it seems to have a hot impression. The outer appearance is only cool, but the inside has the kind of hot way of playing. Such play was suitable, and that’s why I thought this song was full of human traits
Everyone, we didn’t expect any less of you. And the chosen songs, every single one of them has the expressive power together with the increased play, DIM’s overwhelming listener response proudly became this one album.
AOI: Thank you very much (laugh). How to put it … DIM is, “it will probably not sell” kind of album I think. “Do you guys know the major chord [wiki here]?” as if it was said (laugh). “If you think about numbers, isn’t it better to do music with a more major feeling [-> something that will sell because people like it]?” kind of words, as if I heard the voices coming out from calculating adults. But, we can’t go there. We keep our fingers crossed for the bands that are better suited there. We play the way we want to play… how to say it, it’s because that’s the only thing we can do.
But, as for the things you love doing, with a stoic attitude you dealt with making an album, when you listen to the sound you understand it.
AOI: What you said makes us very happy. There are also different fetters [-> they can’t do everything freely], but if we couldn’t do the music we want to do, it would be boring.
URUHA: Really, because we are doing the music we want, there’s also the high degree of completing the work we do. If we didn’t do what we wanted to do, you’d immediately notice the surroundings [e.g. from the songs], and I think if that happened the GazettE wouldn’t produce anything. If, for example, something like that happened now, I couldn’t forget the attitude of wanting to do the music I want to do, because the GazettE was never concerned with business as the number one [most important] thing. And, for me, this is a very big thing. When you do things you want to do, it’s ok to connect it with business, but when you put business before it [-> first you want to do business and then the music you want to do], it’s a different situation. With such attitude, the music you make doesn’t include things like your feelings, and you wouldn’t be able to have a intense discussion about your own music. How much business or success there is, I’m not really interested in things like that.
[Beautiful words from both of them, ne~:)]
REITA: Probably DIM, “When you listen to it normally, can you get into it quickly?” kind of words [can be said], I think there are many albums people don’t get into. But once you get into one, it’s because it’s an album you can’t escape from. Take western music, at first after the release it had bad reputation, but months and years passed and it started being called famous..aren’t there many such works [albums]? I thought DIM would become an album like that. Even if such a sense is stuck to it, if at first you listen to it twice, you’ll want it. If you do it like that, I think you’ll definitely get to understand the album’s merit.
KAI: Just like the guys said, “This is the GazettE now!”, it’s an album that I can say puffed us with pride. This time too, being able to create this work [album] gave us satisfaction. It’s because later, we’ll create songs with the awareness of a live. I have a feeling that lives will be very enjoyable.
Since it’s certain that those will be lives with a deepened world overview. Starting from July, even though it’s been a while, it’ll be fun.
KAI: This time, we even talked through things like the stage setting, because it became a really awesome thing, please look forward to it. And also, since it’s a long tour, the mood is slowly rising, it’s finally here… isn’t it. Because it’s going to be the opening day [of the tour], I want to make it into a good start with a bang. For this sake, from now on, I’ll do my best.
AOI: For me, it’s the live always and forever, I belong to the group which thinks that a live’s sound is good. Only this time, I think I wanted to make a limitless revival of the CD sound. In DIM, there was the sense of making only our guitar sound. And I want to listen to them live, it’s probably what I first thought. The revival, was probably a daunting task, but we tried, I think we want to deliver good things. In regard to the whole band during a live… everyone will do their best so as not to hold the others from achieving success (laugh). We’ll go for it with the feelings like “If it’s good, please don’t stand in the corner.” (laugh).
URUHA: In regard to lives, we want to convey 100% of us now in DIM. After release, we’ll start with conveying it. After listening to every song in DIM, more than taking in [what you hear], you’ll want to come to a live. And it’s because first of all DIM SCENE will make you rise. When you come to the GazettE live, I hope you’ll look forward to what scene you will get to see. Even in regard to the stage setting, because in the last meeting everyone was like “It’s not like that, it’s unpleasant!” kind of emotions oozed. There’ll also be the great self-confidence of a live that we’ll show. I’m personally looking forward to the tour too.
REITA: This time, the tour will start 2 days after the release of the album and it will start before the fans will have heard the album. With such a significance, the tour this time will be a place where our true strength will be tested. I think we want to have DIM’s charm conveyed properly during the whole live. Last year at Conifer Forrest, in spite of freshly finished work on LEECH, we only got excited about that… but it was that kind of pride. But, we didn’t get as relaxed as to rest on our laurels, because it’s not a simple world. I think we want to face this with a more severe attitude.
KAI: Completely the latter. LEECH, GUREN, DISTRESS & COMA, HEADACHE MAN, the four songs we settled on putting them in [the album]. We based our choice of those songs on the fact that when you listen to those songs, every one of them has a complete degree of important/serious things and a strong world view.
URUHA: Pointing at the song-making days, when we wanted stimulus we often watched TV. In those days, there were a lot of murders and there were a lot of news that shocked me. Keeping that in my head, even when I was going to bed I was thinking things like “criminal, what mentality should I do it with?”. But it’s not that I was doing songs with such a theme, but there were serious things of the world. I think songs with such atmosphere came out. This time, there were almost only things with impact ... and loneliness. If there had been a little more happier things in the surroundings [of those days], it would be better.
AOI: I was simply thinking “What music do I want to make?”. Because the GazettE has had a lot of heavy songs lately, I also thought I wanted [songs] with a soft atmosphere. Later, I also wanted a little upper things, I wrote two [songs]. I thought that if I put in songs with kind of a change of speed, The album would have listener response*.
*Listener response – is the way people react to listening to music; what emotions those songs would evoke in the person, etc.
The ones made byAoi-san, SHIROKI YUUTSU, A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN, it’s a taste of what happened.
AOI: What happened was probably straight. The other songs, every one of them was a villain [-> the kanji here is actually a ‘villain’ but my Japanese friend told me it could also mean something unusual, something that he wouldn’t usually do] (laugh). The ones I made were in the DOH [it’s the same as do in that do, re, mi, fa, sol, la...etc. solfege]straight group, I think. The tune, there were moments when the melody was rising. Because of the other songs’ darkness, I wondered if that representation was good.
Surely. It’s not an album that bursts open with a bang, but you get the impression of the importance of what you listen to.
AOI: Right. This time, the “yelling” kind [of songs] were the ones like OGRE and HEADACHE MAN. HEADACHE MAN was also put into the previous single. There were a few hard songs. Well, it’s because of this good age (laugh). It’s not really the age for screams, right ... it seems (laugh). To say something concrete, whenever there was a screaming place [in a song], it’s because Ruki put it into the melody. And the image you get when listening to it is probably strong.
KAI: It’s because I don’t remember there was a talk about a lot of violent songs to begin with. But, when we tried to do them, there surely were a few. It’s because we looked into the other direction rather than the screaming pattern, and there will probably be the impression of the album going into deep moments/places. It’s not only the melody, it’s also the great lyrics by Ruki. I got goosebumps a few times.
REITA: There are certainly songs you can listen to a lot, but it’s not because of their sugary/sweet feeling. The seriousness and suffocation are probably coming out [of the songs]. A lot of things handed down in the previous single were also put in. I think it’s an album with violence.
On the surface the violence is no there, you feel the presence of things like threat. Even though you put in songs of different types, did you put in every single song with a strong impression?
REITA: How was it? First off, it’s because this time the tuning was diverse. NAKIGAHARA was low C# (explanatory note: the pattern of 1-3 strings lowered by half tone and 3rd string lowered by half tone). If we didn’t do it like that, there would be a phrase we wouldn’t be able to play. Then, for 13STAIRS [-]1, the bass only was low A (explanatory note: the pattern of a 5-stringed bass’s 5th string lowered by one tune). A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN, only 4 strings F# (explanatory note: 1 tune lower), there was that kind of irregular tuning. I think it’s going to be troublesome during the live (bitter smile)
That’s amazing! Why did you decide to do such a thing?
REITA: If we didn’t do it like that in A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN, we wouldn’t be able to play the phrase. In 13STAIRS[-]1, it’s because low A# was requested by Uruha who composed it. It got really out of order during tuning, and during recording we often corrected it while playing.
AOI: I often made mistakes while playing A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN (laugh). When we were recording the demo, the guitars and the bass had to have the same tuning. Also because of playing simple riffs. But Reita’s bass was a little different.
The composer’s idea was important, right? The mechanical guitar&bass and the lively drums combination was very impressive in A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN.
AOI: The mechanical feeling is the image that you get at the beginning. If you only focus on that [part] and play, you’ll get that kind of feeling. But the lively vocal and the female chorus put it, it becomes a “rise, rise tune” (laugh). I’d say the difference in the degree of singing was good.
KAI: The drums had also had the mechanical sound at first, but I replaced it with a sound full of life. That way, the feeling was better and the songs had the groove. From the play’s [-> playing the instruments] point of view, the intro and the songs’ high point they had phrases where no flat points [in the sound] continued. But that was quite difficult [to do], and the recording was a troublesome. But other than that, riding with the rhythm and playing [the drums] was fun. When I got used to this contrast, it gave a pleasant feeling (laugh). I’m also looking forward to the live.
URUHA: When I started listening to it, at first, I thought about changing the guitar arrangement. But eventually, I really got into this pattern. Later, while doing the riffs, stepping on the whammy pedal (explanatory note: when you step on a pedal, you get an effect of changing the guitar musical interval) [you probably remember it from the ‘Other side of DIM’ film, but here’s wiki] was really fun.
AOI: It was like that for 2 whammies... (laugh)
URUHA: Yeah (laugh). During a live, there are many songs when we use only one whammy, but that was the first time we had to step on whammies together in the same timing. I think the live will have a very powerful feeling (laugh).
AOI: Won’t it? (laugh). But while making that song, the number one thing I had in my head was the making of the bass feature. “Oi, Reita-kun*. This time, try to take the leading role” I said (laugh)
*Don’t know if that was the way Aoi meant it, but the “KUN” that followed Reita’s name was written in katakana, and generally Japanese people use it to make the meaning stronger. So it might have had the nuance of adding an element of irritation or urging Reita to do what Aoi wanted him to do.
REITA: Thank you very much (laugh). Because of the tuning, the recording was really tough (laugh). During the pre-pro [pre-production stage], I was wondering if I could deal with it as I had to lower one string by half tone. During a live, since I’ll have to quickly change the tuning by myself, it’ll be good if I don’t change the way I hold the bass. But the tension of doing it like this, in the loose/slow part, pushing the riff out will be reduced [...whatever he means by that...]. And also, I played 4th string one tone higher. Moreover, in this song, the strings became an obsession too. I didn’t really like Ernie Ball strings [wiki here], the bass I used in this song had Ernie Ball [strings] attached. I thought those were Elixir [wiki here]. And also, when you change the stretch/tension of the strings, the sound is totally different. The freshly attached Elixir [strings] I unfastened, and the strings that I had thrown away into the rubbish bin before I took out and stretched them [on the guitar] again (laugh). I revalidated the quality of Ernie Ball.
URUHA: So the ones you once threw away into the rubbish bin were still good (laugh). [ouch, Uruha...XD]
REITA: Ahahaha! So, every time I once threw? (laugh). Just like I said, this time many things happened, the one most difficult to play was NAKIGAHARA. First, A melody* bass solo only, the picking angle also changed [->picking as in the way you hit the strings with the pick]. It wasn’t horizontal, I played the strings with about 45 degree [angle]. Then, I used a different bass for only one part. I managed to complete one place only. I hadn’t decided on that beforehand, I just did it like that at this place, it took time to record anything. It was quite difficult but I got a good feeling. The troubles were fruitful I think.
*********************************
*That A melody is a part of the refrain of a song. The Japanese wiki gave me this pattern for a song:
日本の歌謡曲に多く見られるリフレイン形式は、次のようである。
Aメロ - Bメロ - サビ - 間奏 - Bメロ - サビ - サビ - 終結部
Translation: The refrain form that you often see in popular Japanese songs is as follows:
サビ is the high point of the song [they will refer to it a lot later]
間奏 – interlude
終結部 – end
*********************************
URUHA: The one which left an impression on me was also NAKIGAHARA. This time, I didn’t really concentrate on making the song, but I was determined to make a phrase. Until that moment, I took making a phrase for granted. But this time, every song’s colour and world overview, I thought I wanted to play with a more strengthened phrase. At that stage, I didn’t know the title and I hadn’t seen the lyrics but the image that you get from the song was in accordance [with the lyrics and the title]. I bore the details of completing it in mind. When that happened, “This, if that’s the phrase, isn’t this the sound’s tendency” kind of thing happened. And also, in relation to music making, it was a little worrying.
The changing colour guitar [of course not literally – it’s about the sound colour changes], you felt it was more successful than what you’d felt until that moment.
URUHA: If it wasn’t like that, I’d think it was bad. From then on, whatever phrase I managed to do, after it got problematic. If I did a careful selection of what I had done before, wasn’t it like “It’s only that”?[with the idea, that it was not enough] That’s why, I had problems with the arrangement stage. And that was really difficult in NAKIGAHARA. The atmosphere was like the one from the old/past Gazette. In the demo that Ruki had made, there were no hints [about the sound, etc.]. At the stage of [creating] the original melody, even the guitars were put in wholly into it. But the melody was greatly handed down/transmitted. If it had been bad, I would have felt dejected/disheartened, and I’d also get the stale feeling . It would also have the poorly-built sense. We got this also during the indie period, when an incomplete “weak sense” came out, there were also things that got painful. There was a necessity of skilfully removing the [feeling] of it being crowded. And also, after the provisional title NAKIGAHARA, the lyrics too were deep, and I thought about doing some changes. I thought that if I didn’t put the kind of bad feeling nuance somewhere, it would be no good. This song was really hard. After thinking about the phrase, I noticed I got into the tape echo (explanatory note: an old-type echo machine). The sound with the kind of shaky bad feeling image was the most suitable for this song.
The beginning of the guitar [play], in NAKIGAHARA’s arrangement, you put in perfectly.
URUHA: I’m glad you think like that. We also pushed the places where the koto [13-stringed Japanese zither] was almost cheap. The process until the koto [part] came out, got a little cheap, and the koto also supported it. Well, that was troublesome.
Right, right. Still, you scored a point for using the koto in NAKIGAHARA.
AOI: We put in the koto because of the demo that was made by Ruki. Well, that was good (laugh). Even so, I thought that if we omitted the sound of the koto it would be bad. When the sound got stiff, you’d hear the koto. And it was troublesome there. The one that left an impression on me was 13STAIRS[-]1 brought by Uruha. This song was quite enjoyable. That was the first fuzz (laugh) [-> fuzz, refers to the distortion that is made to the sound using a fuzzbox - wiki here]. Since the original melody [making] time, I didn’t really understand the image of it, I thought (laugh).
In the demo stage, you also put in the powerful fuzz?
URUHA: I put it in. Even so, it didn’t have the fuzz. When I used RAT [wiki here] (explanatory note: an effect-making machine used for distorting/bending the sound) fully, I got the kind of fuzz sound. It was finished it in the demo, but the production was tough.
AOI: I [-> the sound I made] also didn’t have the fuzz. Uruha told me “I want that kind of sound”, so I bought different fuzz [-> fuzzboxes], but it was all not good. Because of that, I went to the staff who have all the equipment, though it didn’t mean that different things came out [of this] (laugh). While doing that [being with the staff & their equipment] we chose good equipment. Even so, because the two of us making the same music was not interesting, we changed the tastes [-< introduced some changes into the song so that both of them wouldn’t be playing exactly the same thing].
13STAIRS[-]1, while the first half is heavy & hot, in the middle of it, the changes into cool places in the middle of it [the song] you also need to check.
URUHA: From the chord point of view, it went on with only 1 chord, but there were things like, how much variation can be introduced inside it [the song]. This direction was probably interesting. It was also a song with that kind of challenge.
KAI: 13STAIRS [-]1, during the pre-pro [pre-production stage], “And finally, I thought the tempo would rise” was said. I really didn’t think there was much of a problem with it, but after trying to play it, it was surprisingly difficult (laugh). It was a little troublesome. Not just this song, this time, there are a lot of songs with difficult drums. There are plenty songs, like OGRE, which use daring rhythm changes, and there were also songs with an extremely fast change of tempo.
OGRE, it got the B melo 4 part 1 feeling? [no idea if that’s the correct term ]
KAI: Right. But that wasn’t difficult. First, because the sing’s beginning is 4 part 3 beat, if you don’t put it in, your head can’t match it [the speed/rhythm] and it gets weird.
EVERYBODY: True, true! (laugh)
KAI: When it starts from the beat In your head, the arrangement settles in your head.
Which reminds me, IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS, the end of the high point of the song, you opted for all members to play in unison at high speed.
AOI: It wasn’t difficult there, right?
URUHA & REITA: No.
KAI: But I heard from Ruki: “Kai-kun, this was a poor pattern, try harder, ok.” (laugh)
EVERYBODY: Ahaha? What faith, ne~ (laugh)
KAI: This time, it wasn’t only playing, music-making was tough. I’d say it started to be like that from the sound in the previous DISTRESS AND COMA. The sound-making started from then. Other things than before ...I mean, wasn’t there an objective before reaching the goal [referring to music – wasn’t there a plan for something they wanted to achieve]? But, in D&C only a sound with a considerable understanding came out, I got the kind of feeling of how to make it. First of all, to have the same sound as before, we choose which sound to add, and it started from the fanciful place. It’s not that we didn’t have a sample sound that we were aiming at. The engineers and technicians gave us a CD to listen to which we could use as a reference, but whatever it was [on that CD] I was aiming at something different. After different results of attempts, I finally found what I wanted. This I recorded, but when the bass, the guitars and the vocal we tried to add, we could hear that it was excessively packed in with sound. And also, during the mixing stage, the original sound and the added sound balance changed, so we had to change the added sound.
REITA: This time, even the bass recording was the most intense I’ve ever had. Usually, I started the recording at about 1pm, I recorded until late about 7-8 o’clock, but this time even when it got to midnight, I still hadn’t decided on the sound. During the break in the middle [of recording], I went outside and was sitting alone…
AOI: What’s with that gloom all of a sudden (laugh)
URUHA: Don’t rest, just quickly get back to work (laugh)
[XDDDDDD]
REITA: Well, this “What sound should I do?” I thought. Really, whatever I did I didn’t know if it was good or not. I was sitting alone but I was thinking of a person’s degradation/falling down [not sure here; I think he was thinking about himself not being good enough…]. After returning back to the studio, after talking about things unrelated to the members, I recovered my tension and got back to work.
URUHA: Reita, when it was heavy/packed during the song making, he was just about to blow a fuse (laugh). Well, if you looked at his face, you knew it immediately (laugh).
AOI & KAI : True, true (laugh).
REITA: Well, because the sound, why I didn’t know if it was good. Because it involved with different components. Trying to replace the bass, trying to replace the amp, I did a lot of things, but I couldn’t reach a conclusion. Finally, it was more or less brought to a stop by a technician. “Well, let’s change the equipment again” I said, “Eh, wait a second. Is it because you want to reconstitute it or because you don’t understand it?” [ said the technician] . It was the kind of “Well, calm down” kind of feeling of what he said (laugh).
EVERYBODY: AHAHA!
REITA: It was intense more or less like that.
AOI: … I wonder if you’re cut out for the job of a musician (laugh)
REITA: But Aoi, you were boiled down during the guitar recording!
AOI: Well, I quickly took it out [-> produced the sound] (laugh)
REITA: Liar! (laugh)
[XDDDDD]
Ok, ok (laugh). Regarding the bass, you settled on what shape?
REITA: RAIN one piece, something like an amp simulator one piece, I recorded 3 tracks with 3 mikes put in front of KIABI (explanatory note: bass amp speaker) [just google it for pics :)] and it gave balance good shape. The low tone limit that came only with RAIN, I added more with the amp simulator. But halfway through the recording, “This bass is not enough” I thought. Before that, I had bought 2 new bass guitars, but I couldn’t cope with them. This time, I divided the recording, because I was recording 4 songs at a time, in the meantime I bought a MUSICMAN [I think Rei-chan’s 5-stringed bass was a Musicman; you can google those guitars for pics :)]. In the second half of the 4 songs I did them all like that [using the Musicman]. Having done it like that, I somehow completed it [the recording], but the mixing wasn’t finished yet. Whether it was correct or not, I honestly didn’t know.
AOI: As a matter of fact, I didn’t get into my sound at first at all too. The distorted sound in particular was totally bad. Uruha had previously recorded his [sound/part]. And because of the relation of the left-side channel [to Uruha’s right-side channel], the sound of the guitar, I was thinking of a gloomy/dull resound. Eventually, after a day I stopped recording and went home.
REITA: I knew it, so [the recording of] the guitar takes time, huh! (laugh)
AOI: … After one day, I went home (laugh). So, I got up early, I went to a music instrument shop and bought one PRS [wiki here]. I used the PRS during the previous recording too, but this was a different semi-hollow (explanatory note: a type of body interior cavity). Since then it was better, but still not good. No matter what I did, the beginning of the sound related to picking was slow. And also there was an amp called “÷13” (“Divided by 13”) that Uruha borrowed to use during the recording. So, if I wanted to borrow it to try to record, “Erm, don’t use it!” [I said]. (laugh) So, it ended up being “Don’t use it!” (laugh)
URUHA: I used “÷13” for the first time in this recording, but it’s a great amp. I wonder if I’m not going to use it to do a lot of things for the Gazette recording.
AOI: Right. For NAKIGAHARA [I used] an ordinary amp and Stratocaster guitar [wiki here]. This time, with the music recording looking like that, we learnt a lot.
Semi-acoustic PRS and ÷13, you assembled them a little unexpectedly. During the Makuhari Messe live, since the Stratocaster was used a lot, why did you think of this direction shift?
AOI: That’s because this time there were a lot of songs matching with Humbucker (explanatory note: soft sound making type) [wiki here]. The ones using a single coil (explanatory note: a type making a sharp sound) [wiki here] were the ones like SHIROKI YUUTSU and NAKIGAHARA.
So you thought about the tune’s importance and the guitar sound. Coming back to the talk about songs, NAKIGAHARA’ s clear world overview, that’s something that the GazettE have been doing to this day.
AOI: Just like we said at the beginning, it’s because lately quite a dark sound was flowing (laugh). I thought I wanted to steadily let our pure part out. But the others [in the band] and the lyrics were a little different , so I thought if it was ok with the others I did it (laugh).
KAI: In this song, halfway through the beat, I changed the hitting pattern into delicate and returned back to it. And I thought it was good. When I first returned to it, it got a little “Whoa!” (laugh).
REITA: The bass in this song was giving the kind of suspicious/wandering/light-headedness feeling. It was difficult to hit it [play the bass] delicately. At first, when I tried to match the bass with Kai-kun’s hitting, Aoi said “It’s different” (laugh). And, returning to the drums, in order to match it with the bass we heard “Kai-kun, this, what the hell was that?” (laugh). It would be better if I was hitting it so that light-headedness would come out easily, and whenever I wasn’t playing, I was thinking about how to do it. I was doing it over and over again and if I saw it [the proper way of what he wanted to achieve] I settled it in properly. Aa~, that was good…I was relieved (laugh).
URUHA: This song, the atmosphere [of it] was definitely there in the demo. The thing I had to do, was strengthening it without destroying [this atmosphere]. But that was the most difficult [thing]. I did something special, but the song’s feeling of pure white I destroyed completely. While being careful with it, I was thinking of a guitar phrase. I really liked the intro and the outro, but I thought that if I could bring out more of the feeling of depth it would be good. If I added long time delay [into the song] the image would be completed accordingly [to what he wanted]. I think I did a good job in my special way (laugh).
That feeling is good, isn’t it. The song’s guitar solo, Aoi-san did it, right?
AOI: Yes. This solo, “I wonder if I also got a little more mature?” kind of feeling I got (laugh). From the approach point of view, only the sound naturally flowing in my head came out obediently. There was also a period when I thought I didn’t really want to play a solo, but now that feeling is gone. If there’s a chance, let’s play is what I think. I think Uruha’s guitar solos are really characteristic, when you listen to them don’t you immediately know it’s Uruha’s? I also want to get to place like that.
[Wow, Aoi is praising Uha so much in this interview…
You wanted intense play. The slow tune element and the high point of the song part full of the sense of urgency you also merged in DIM SCENE, it’s the taste of what happened until now, right?
URUHA: This, it’s like if you look at the previously mentioned dark nuance, it’s the kind of song made when the feelings reach the very bottom. I think that ‘sense of urgency’ that you mentioned is a good representation [of the song]. Because that kind of atmosphere was created.
A melody’s low arpeggio sound makes a powerful world overview.
URUHA: I’m also pleased with this phrase. When I play it like that alone until I am worn out [gives] a super good feeling (laugh).
AOI & REITA : It’s dark, ne~…(laugh).
URUHA: I could play it like that for a long time … (laugh) About arpeggio, I love playing it with 5 or 6 strings.
KAI: Me too, I also think this arpeggio is good. This song, after thinking about the flow’s suitable variation, when it was fine I made it. When we put in the guitar solo, then the vocal came and since then it got hot. The back also came to a climax… . On top of what everybody said, I also thought about the drums pattern. From the playing perspective, the slow part from the first half was difficult. From there, when the tempo is slow, when the hotness and the kick don’t meet/match, don’t you immediately know it? (laugh) And then, “Why?” I said (laugh). The click was made double 16 part [don’t know the professional terms for that…] and that was difficult (laugh). “What to do, what to do!” I was saying (laugh). When I added the beat’s bottom to the hitting accent, finally it went smoothly.
REITA: This song’s intro, playing the relatively simple phrase like a cyborg continues, but it has got a good feeling. 13STAIRS [-] 1 too, it’s just like that, but I thought about playing the same thing on and on like a typical bassist. But this time, I woke up from this comfortable situation [of not doing anything but playing the same thing on and on]. In this case, I wonder if I became a little mature (laugh).
URUHA: I also know this [feeling]. Because I looped into the same phrase while playing, but lately the feeling was really good.
REITA: The things we were doing were simple but in reality it was more difficult. When it was off, you’d know it immediately. In order to bring out the loop feeling in DIM SCENE, I turned off the drums and I also got to the place where I only listened to the clicks playing. When I did it like that, at first I always got into the loop style, but there was a feeling of briskly going into the atmosphere of the highest point of the song. This contrast, I want it to come out skilfully during a live too.
AOI: Personally, this song, it has the image of human experience. Until it gets to the highest point, we played it powerfully. With it being done like that, I wondered if we could express the song’s “violent feeling”. And, the song’s highest point part is only cold but…it seems to have a hot impression. The outer appearance is only cool, but the inside has the kind of hot way of playing. Such play was suitable, and that’s why I thought this song was full of human traits
Everyone, we didn’t expect any less of you. And the chosen songs, every single one of them has the expressive power together with the increased play, DIM’s overwhelming listener response proudly became this one album.
AOI: Thank you very much (laugh). How to put it … DIM is, “it will probably not sell” kind of album I think. “Do you guys know the major chord [wiki here]?” as if it was said (laugh). “If you think about numbers, isn’t it better to do music with a more major feeling [-> something that will sell because people like it]?” kind of words, as if I heard the voices coming out from calculating adults. But, we can’t go there. We keep our fingers crossed for the bands that are better suited there. We play the way we want to play… how to say it, it’s because that’s the only thing we can do.
But, as for the things you love doing, with a stoic attitude you dealt with making an album, when you listen to the sound you understand it.
AOI: What you said makes us very happy. There are also different fetters [-> they can’t do everything freely], but if we couldn’t do the music we want to do, it would be boring.
URUHA: Really, because we are doing the music we want, there’s also the high degree of completing the work we do. If we didn’t do what we wanted to do, you’d immediately notice the surroundings [e.g. from the songs], and I think if that happened the GazettE wouldn’t produce anything. If, for example, something like that happened now, I couldn’t forget the attitude of wanting to do the music I want to do, because the GazettE was never concerned with business as the number one [most important] thing. And, for me, this is a very big thing. When you do things you want to do, it’s ok to connect it with business, but when you put business before it [-> first you want to do business and then the music you want to do], it’s a different situation. With such attitude, the music you make doesn’t include things like your feelings, and you wouldn’t be able to have a intense discussion about your own music. How much business or success there is, I’m not really interested in things like that.
[Beautiful words from both of them, ne~:)]
REITA: Probably DIM, “When you listen to it normally, can you get into it quickly?” kind of words [can be said], I think there are many albums people don’t get into. But once you get into one, it’s because it’s an album you can’t escape from. Take western music, at first after the release it had bad reputation, but months and years passed and it started being called famous..aren’t there many such works [albums]? I thought DIM would become an album like that. Even if such a sense is stuck to it, if at first you listen to it twice, you’ll want it. If you do it like that, I think you’ll definitely get to understand the album’s merit.
KAI: Just like the guys said, “This is the GazettE now!”, it’s an album that I can say puffed us with pride. This time too, being able to create this work [album] gave us satisfaction. It’s because later, we’ll create songs with the awareness of a live. I have a feeling that lives will be very enjoyable.
Since it’s certain that those will be lives with a deepened world overview. Starting from July, even though it’s been a while, it’ll be fun.
KAI: This time, we even talked through things like the stage setting, because it became a really awesome thing, please look forward to it. And also, since it’s a long tour, the mood is slowly rising, it’s finally here… isn’t it. Because it’s going to be the opening day [of the tour], I want to make it into a good start with a bang. For this sake, from now on, I’ll do my best.
AOI: For me, it’s the live always and forever, I belong to the group which thinks that a live’s sound is good. Only this time, I think I wanted to make a limitless revival of the CD sound. In DIM, there was the sense of making only our guitar sound. And I want to listen to them live, it’s probably what I first thought. The revival, was probably a daunting task, but we tried, I think we want to deliver good things. In regard to the whole band during a live… everyone will do their best so as not to hold the others from achieving success (laugh). We’ll go for it with the feelings like “If it’s good, please don’t stand in the corner.” (laugh).
URUHA: In regard to lives, we want to convey 100% of us now in DIM. After release, we’ll start with conveying it. After listening to every song in DIM, more than taking in [what you hear], you’ll want to come to a live. And it’s because first of all DIM SCENE will make you rise. When you come to the GazettE live, I hope you’ll look forward to what scene you will get to see. Even in regard to the stage setting, because in the last meeting everyone was like “It’s not like that, it’s unpleasant!” kind of emotions oozed. There’ll also be the great self-confidence of a live that we’ll show. I’m personally looking forward to the tour too.
REITA: This time, the tour will start 2 days after the release of the album and it will start before the fans will have heard the album. With such a significance, the tour this time will be a place where our true strength will be tested. I think we want to have DIM’s charm conveyed properly during the whole live. Last year at Conifer Forrest, in spite of freshly finished work on LEECH, we only got excited about that… but it was that kind of pride. But, we didn’t get as relaxed as to rest on our laurels, because it’s not a simple world. I think we want to face this with a more severe attitude.
Zdroj:https://guren-void.livejournal.com/4671.html
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