– Two weeks have passed since the conclusion of the tour, so I would like you to pour your heart out during this interview, which we will conduct over a meal.
[Okay (laughs).]
– Do you like to eat?
[No, well I do pay more attention to it than I used to, but I don’t really care…… it’s not one of the pleasures of life, for me.]
– How sad! Looking back over this intense tour, spanning three months and 37 venues, how would you describe it?
[It was fun. I had fun right until the end. It had been a while since I’d had so much fun playing the drums. Since the tour started, I went through five or six, so that’s why. I’ve felt that L’Arc~en~Ciel wants to do bigger things, so it was fun to go around to lots of places like this.]
– Have you always liked lives?
[I do like lives. I like recording too, but ultimately lives are the starting point… When I first started, recording sounded like just a dream (laughs).]
– But, if you checked with the audience, they wouldn’t be thinking of it as a yukihiro live, would they? It’s rather more “self-searching”.
[Yeah (laughs). That’s right.]
– 37 venues means 37 rounds of self-questioning.
[Indeed (laughs). That’s a lot of questions, hahahahahahahha.]
– Almost like questioning the gods (laughs).
[I must be an M (laughs). I’m at my best when I’m a little bit unhealthy. I wonder why… Really, when I’m being a little strict with myself, that’s when I can do my best work, and my concentration improves.]
– That really does make you sound like an M, yukihiro-san.
[(laughs)]
– How was the recording, this time?
[Recording went smoothly. Before it started, I got wrapped up in worries about still being immature, but then I got into it and it wasn’t a problem. This time, I felt that we were being less subjective and more objective about it. And so, for example, if you look at the tone of the drums, there were many songs were I thought it didn’t sound much like me, surprisingly. But even though it’s not like me, as long as everyone was OK with it I let it go.]
– This might be extreme, but was it like, instead of playing for yourself, or for the band, or for L’Arc~en~Ciel, you played simply for the song?
[I guess so. I came around to thinking that, in the end (laughs). But even so, even though I couldn’t really hear myself in it, I was quite happy with some of it.]
– Speaking with the other members, I heard that you finished your drumming parts quickly this time, yukihiro-san. That seems to have left an impressive memorial on the other member’s minds.
[Oh, is that so? (laughs) I guess I was pretty quick. Why did that happen…… I have no idea (laughs).]
– The way the others put it, you played a lot of takes that didn’t need to be played over again, and so it was finished quickly. As if your feelings had made it through. That’s how it sounded.
[Before…… I was a lot more stubborn, really obstinate. I wanted to be completely satisfied with myself, wanted everyone to be able to say “Wow, that was an incredible take”, and so I played a lot. I had a lot of ego, as a player. If I messed up even the tiniest bit, I’d stop right away and redo it from the start…… I did that a lot. …yeah, I think I had a lot of ego, personally, as a player. I didn’t want to be laughed at, or thought badly of, stuff like that.]
– You don’t mean by the members or by the staff, right?
[Right. It’s inside myself, it was my way of moving forward and improving. In my case, I’ve been in a position to be called visual kei quite a bit, and got made fun of because of it. “You suck!” or “All you have is looks!” and so on. Since that was constantly around me, it got inside me too, so I internalized an attitude that goes “Don’t underestimate me!”.]
– But yukihiro-san, you didn’t give yourself a complex over it right? You just destroy them.
[Hahahahahahahahahahaha, really? Maybe I do (laughs).]
– You’re not holding onto the negative feelings within yourself, you’re acting on them reflexively. Like, “This is my way to be!” perhaps?
[I wonder (laughs). But I don’t say “This is my way to be!” or anything like that (laughs). Or maybe I do, unconsciously.]
– For instance, considering the 15th anniversary live, do you think that this was a good chance to, say, “restart L’Arc~en~Ciel”?
[I suppose. I guess that to an extent, it was a relief. The early songs (referring to songs that were created before yukihiro joined), honestly I didn’t really want to play them, but after doing that live I felt relieved. Well, when it comes to playing old songs, I still resist a little. I think it would be better if they were played by the lineup of the time. I had a different experience you know? For example, if this were about Zi:Kill, I could play the songs they made after I left, but then it wouldn’t be the same song. It’s not about being good or bad. I was afraid of it, though. I think it’s the same for foreign bands. When someone leaves and someone else joins, it’s disappointing to go see that band. I really hate thinking that way… I hate it, and it scares me. But doing that live, I saw how many old, unplayed songs there are… If I work hard, I can handle it (laughs). I didn’t know how to go about it, but I knew I could have some fun playing them, somehow. It was a relief in a lot of ways, for me.]
– Let’s move on. I’d like to ask you to give us a drummer’s review of the twelve songs of the new album, one by one. Since this will be published more than a month before the album is released, please leave out the song names, just make it a quick sketch that the readers can try to match to the songs, once they hear them. So let’s start with the singles, from SEVENTH HEAVEN.
[I thought it would sound coolest if played in four-four. But I also thought I’d better make it match the clicks exactly – I really pounded it (laughs). I think I nailed it, though.]
– Next, MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM. For that single your rhythm was quite necessary to support the entire song, correct?
[That one really went by so fast that I can’t remember anything (laughs).]
– Really? Completed in one take?
[Yes. I totally put everything into it. At first I wondered “How was it, really?”, but I let a little time go by and then ken-chan said the take was pretty good so I knew I could leave it alone. I was so into it. I wanted to do it perfectly, but it really worked out for this song.]
– And now for DAYBREAK’S BELL?
[That one was difficult (laughs). I got through my takes quickly, but when I first heard the demo tape I had no idea how I was going to pull that off. I started by listening closely to the demo tape, and to the rhythm ken-chan was so crazy about, then I took out all the parts that were humanly impossible to play (laughs). Then, once the rhythm was humanly playable, I tried to get as close to it as I could and I tried several different approaches on the song.]
– And then there’s the oldest single to make it on this album, Link. Re-recorded as Link -KISS Mix- right?
[The image for that one is Motown. I thought the drums ought to stick to that as closely as possible too… It’s Motown but it’s also pop-ish. I had this image in mind that it could be really cool that way. A while back I bought a CD full of Motown break beats, too.]
– Next there’s the single due out in November. This one challenged you to try a different branch of music, wasn’t it?
[Yeah, it was a first for me. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it, at first. “How typical of hyde-kun” (laughs). In the end it turned out jazzy, don’t you think?]
– Now we’re left with the non-singles. First off there’s that wild, dirty, ken-chan rock and roll, right? (laughs)
[I was thinking it had to be wild, had to be rock and roll! Without thinking of anything else, I just played… Dakadakadakadakadakadaaang! I felt that intense, cool feeling just had to go into it.]
– Had you never done songs that way before?
[Oh right, I guess we didn’t (laughs). But ken-chan was very happy, so I’m glad (laughs).]
– There is a beautiful ballad, too.
[That one is tetsu-kun’s song, and it was arranged by Nishihira-san… Nishihira-san had a lot of influence on my drumming, there (laughs). This time when I went to record my drum parts, I put myself in recording mode from my head to my ass. Even so, there were changes to throw in every minute. I’d be told “I want to change that part a little, so really punch it in!” but I’d be thinking “No, I don’t think that part should be quite like that”, while I played it (laughs).]
– In a previous interview, you mentioned that it hurts your pride when your playing gets edited.
[Yes (laughs). My pride got cut down for that song (laughs). There were always new details coming up later and later, like “I want this part to be in unison with another instrument, so can you change the kicks to fit this pattern?”. It was a long story from the start of that recording.]
– Now tell me about the break beat song you created yourself.
[That one was really difficult to drum (laughs). Damn me (laughs). But it was quite interesting. I think I made some interesting takes.]
– But it must have been quite hard to play the break beats so fast.
[That’s true. That’s what made me go “Damn me!” (laughs)]
– Now for the next fascinating ken song.
[That song, I think I only had to play it once. It’s not a song I need to do much for (laughs). I did it exactly the way the rhythm of ken-chan’s demo tape sounded. I think the most I changed was the kick pattern, slightly. I did it squarely, nothing special happened all the way through. Well, the breaks just fit the start, build up, climax, finish pattern, so I might as well let the other instruments tell the story.]
– Now the fleeting yet warm ballad by tetsu-san?
[That’s a song I’ve wanted to get recorded since SMILE, so I had it finished in one take. I actually played it a lot before this recording session (laughs). I’m quite crazy about this song. I think I played it for three days straight.]
– After three days straight, the atmosphere in the studio must have been…
[It was bad (laughs). “Are you still doing that?” (laughs). It was hard though. At first I couldn’t match my body to the beat, and so the drum pattern couldn’t be settled. So I think for the lives, I played it wrong. I used the pattern it had before (laughs).]
– Next, hyde’s hard rock song.
[This part of hyde’s weird song series (laughs). I wondered if he wanted it heavy… I ended up doing something we didn’t have before now. In the end, I had to practise a lot. I had an hour of extra practise time the day before we recorded it… Yeah I practised.]
– Lastly, the ken ballad that echoes the clarity of the stars.
[I did that all in one shot too.]
– You did all of ken-chan’s songs that way (laughs).
[ken-chan already had a very strong image of what he wanted, and if I tried to mess with it he’d go NO! which I didn’t want to have happen, so that’s why. With this song especially, I didn’t have to do much with it, I didn’t do anything to it at all! He was picky about the drums on this one. It was strange ambivalent pattern, so I figured that as long as it sounds cool that pattern will work… Yeah, I experimented with the sound quality.]
– Looking it all over, what kind of album do you think it turned out to be?
[I think it’s a good album. Of course I felt that it was a relief to us. It feels like everything’s been cleared up… I think we can still move forward. But I think we’ve done what we needed to do for now.]
[Okay (laughs).]
– Do you like to eat?
[No, well I do pay more attention to it than I used to, but I don’t really care…… it’s not one of the pleasures of life, for me.]
– How sad! Looking back over this intense tour, spanning three months and 37 venues, how would you describe it?
[It was fun. I had fun right until the end. It had been a while since I’d had so much fun playing the drums. Since the tour started, I went through five or six, so that’s why. I’ve felt that L’Arc~en~Ciel wants to do bigger things, so it was fun to go around to lots of places like this.]
– Have you always liked lives?
[I do like lives. I like recording too, but ultimately lives are the starting point… When I first started, recording sounded like just a dream (laughs).]
– But, if you checked with the audience, they wouldn’t be thinking of it as a yukihiro live, would they? It’s rather more “self-searching”.
[Yeah (laughs). That’s right.]
– 37 venues means 37 rounds of self-questioning.
[Indeed (laughs). That’s a lot of questions, hahahahahahahha.]
– Almost like questioning the gods (laughs).
[I must be an M (laughs). I’m at my best when I’m a little bit unhealthy. I wonder why… Really, when I’m being a little strict with myself, that’s when I can do my best work, and my concentration improves.]
– That really does make you sound like an M, yukihiro-san.
[(laughs)]
– How was the recording, this time?
[Recording went smoothly. Before it started, I got wrapped up in worries about still being immature, but then I got into it and it wasn’t a problem. This time, I felt that we were being less subjective and more objective about it. And so, for example, if you look at the tone of the drums, there were many songs were I thought it didn’t sound much like me, surprisingly. But even though it’s not like me, as long as everyone was OK with it I let it go.]
– This might be extreme, but was it like, instead of playing for yourself, or for the band, or for L’Arc~en~Ciel, you played simply for the song?
[I guess so. I came around to thinking that, in the end (laughs). But even so, even though I couldn’t really hear myself in it, I was quite happy with some of it.]
– Speaking with the other members, I heard that you finished your drumming parts quickly this time, yukihiro-san. That seems to have left an impressive memorial on the other member’s minds.
[Oh, is that so? (laughs) I guess I was pretty quick. Why did that happen…… I have no idea (laughs).]
– The way the others put it, you played a lot of takes that didn’t need to be played over again, and so it was finished quickly. As if your feelings had made it through. That’s how it sounded.
[Before…… I was a lot more stubborn, really obstinate. I wanted to be completely satisfied with myself, wanted everyone to be able to say “Wow, that was an incredible take”, and so I played a lot. I had a lot of ego, as a player. If I messed up even the tiniest bit, I’d stop right away and redo it from the start…… I did that a lot. …yeah, I think I had a lot of ego, personally, as a player. I didn’t want to be laughed at, or thought badly of, stuff like that.]
– You don’t mean by the members or by the staff, right?
[Right. It’s inside myself, it was my way of moving forward and improving. In my case, I’ve been in a position to be called visual kei quite a bit, and got made fun of because of it. “You suck!” or “All you have is looks!” and so on. Since that was constantly around me, it got inside me too, so I internalized an attitude that goes “Don’t underestimate me!”.]
– But yukihiro-san, you didn’t give yourself a complex over it right? You just destroy them.
[Hahahahahahahahahahaha, really? Maybe I do (laughs).]
– You’re not holding onto the negative feelings within yourself, you’re acting on them reflexively. Like, “This is my way to be!” perhaps?
[I wonder (laughs). But I don’t say “This is my way to be!” or anything like that (laughs). Or maybe I do, unconsciously.]
– For instance, considering the 15th anniversary live, do you think that this was a good chance to, say, “restart L’Arc~en~Ciel”?
[I suppose. I guess that to an extent, it was a relief. The early songs (referring to songs that were created before yukihiro joined), honestly I didn’t really want to play them, but after doing that live I felt relieved. Well, when it comes to playing old songs, I still resist a little. I think it would be better if they were played by the lineup of the time. I had a different experience you know? For example, if this were about Zi:Kill, I could play the songs they made after I left, but then it wouldn’t be the same song. It’s not about being good or bad. I was afraid of it, though. I think it’s the same for foreign bands. When someone leaves and someone else joins, it’s disappointing to go see that band. I really hate thinking that way… I hate it, and it scares me. But doing that live, I saw how many old, unplayed songs there are… If I work hard, I can handle it (laughs). I didn’t know how to go about it, but I knew I could have some fun playing them, somehow. It was a relief in a lot of ways, for me.]
– Let’s move on. I’d like to ask you to give us a drummer’s review of the twelve songs of the new album, one by one. Since this will be published more than a month before the album is released, please leave out the song names, just make it a quick sketch that the readers can try to match to the songs, once they hear them. So let’s start with the singles, from SEVENTH HEAVEN.
[I thought it would sound coolest if played in four-four. But I also thought I’d better make it match the clicks exactly – I really pounded it (laughs). I think I nailed it, though.]
– Next, MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM. For that single your rhythm was quite necessary to support the entire song, correct?
[That one really went by so fast that I can’t remember anything (laughs).]
– Really? Completed in one take?
[Yes. I totally put everything into it. At first I wondered “How was it, really?”, but I let a little time go by and then ken-chan said the take was pretty good so I knew I could leave it alone. I was so into it. I wanted to do it perfectly, but it really worked out for this song.]
– And now for DAYBREAK’S BELL?
[That one was difficult (laughs). I got through my takes quickly, but when I first heard the demo tape I had no idea how I was going to pull that off. I started by listening closely to the demo tape, and to the rhythm ken-chan was so crazy about, then I took out all the parts that were humanly impossible to play (laughs). Then, once the rhythm was humanly playable, I tried to get as close to it as I could and I tried several different approaches on the song.]
– And then there’s the oldest single to make it on this album, Link. Re-recorded as Link -KISS Mix- right?
[The image for that one is Motown. I thought the drums ought to stick to that as closely as possible too… It’s Motown but it’s also pop-ish. I had this image in mind that it could be really cool that way. A while back I bought a CD full of Motown break beats, too.]
– Next there’s the single due out in November. This one challenged you to try a different branch of music, wasn’t it?
[Yeah, it was a first for me. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it, at first. “How typical of hyde-kun” (laughs). In the end it turned out jazzy, don’t you think?]
– Now we’re left with the non-singles. First off there’s that wild, dirty, ken-chan rock and roll, right? (laughs)
[I was thinking it had to be wild, had to be rock and roll! Without thinking of anything else, I just played… Dakadakadakadakadakadaaang! I felt that intense, cool feeling just had to go into it.]
– Had you never done songs that way before?
[Oh right, I guess we didn’t (laughs). But ken-chan was very happy, so I’m glad (laughs).]
– There is a beautiful ballad, too.
[That one is tetsu-kun’s song, and it was arranged by Nishihira-san… Nishihira-san had a lot of influence on my drumming, there (laughs). This time when I went to record my drum parts, I put myself in recording mode from my head to my ass. Even so, there were changes to throw in every minute. I’d be told “I want to change that part a little, so really punch it in!” but I’d be thinking “No, I don’t think that part should be quite like that”, while I played it (laughs).]
– In a previous interview, you mentioned that it hurts your pride when your playing gets edited.
[Yes (laughs). My pride got cut down for that song (laughs). There were always new details coming up later and later, like “I want this part to be in unison with another instrument, so can you change the kicks to fit this pattern?”. It was a long story from the start of that recording.]
– Now tell me about the break beat song you created yourself.
[That one was really difficult to drum (laughs). Damn me (laughs). But it was quite interesting. I think I made some interesting takes.]
– But it must have been quite hard to play the break beats so fast.
[That’s true. That’s what made me go “Damn me!” (laughs)]
– Now for the next fascinating ken song.
[That song, I think I only had to play it once. It’s not a song I need to do much for (laughs). I did it exactly the way the rhythm of ken-chan’s demo tape sounded. I think the most I changed was the kick pattern, slightly. I did it squarely, nothing special happened all the way through. Well, the breaks just fit the start, build up, climax, finish pattern, so I might as well let the other instruments tell the story.]
– Now the fleeting yet warm ballad by tetsu-san?
[That’s a song I’ve wanted to get recorded since SMILE, so I had it finished in one take. I actually played it a lot before this recording session (laughs). I’m quite crazy about this song. I think I played it for three days straight.]
– After three days straight, the atmosphere in the studio must have been…
[It was bad (laughs). “Are you still doing that?” (laughs). It was hard though. At first I couldn’t match my body to the beat, and so the drum pattern couldn’t be settled. So I think for the lives, I played it wrong. I used the pattern it had before (laughs).]
– Next, hyde’s hard rock song.
[This part of hyde’s weird song series (laughs). I wondered if he wanted it heavy… I ended up doing something we didn’t have before now. In the end, I had to practise a lot. I had an hour of extra practise time the day before we recorded it… Yeah I practised.]
– Lastly, the ken ballad that echoes the clarity of the stars.
[I did that all in one shot too.]
– You did all of ken-chan’s songs that way (laughs).
[ken-chan already had a very strong image of what he wanted, and if I tried to mess with it he’d go NO! which I didn’t want to have happen, so that’s why. With this song especially, I didn’t have to do much with it, I didn’t do anything to it at all! He was picky about the drums on this one. It was strange ambivalent pattern, so I figured that as long as it sounds cool that pattern will work… Yeah, I experimented with the sound quality.]
– Looking it all over, what kind of album do you think it turned out to be?
[I think it’s a good album. Of course I felt that it was a relief to us. It feels like everything’s been cleared up… I think we can still move forward. But I think we’ve done what we needed to do for now.]
Žádné komentáře:
Okomentovat