– Among the products L’Arc~en~Ciel has produced, have any been interesting in the sense that they deviated from your expectations?
[Yeah, that has happened. However, it’s not limited to L’Arc, I think it would happen if other people did it, too.]
– But in L’Arc~en~Ciel’s case, the four of you each have strong, distinctive personalities, so there’s a high probability that more band magic is required, right?
[It changes a lot depending on the song. Sometimes we stay close to the songwriter’s original image of the song, faithfully building it up, and other times only the chord progression and melody will be left after we mess with the tempo and arrangements so much. It’s a case by case thing.]
– Let’s take the newly released “SMILE” as an example. How did it go for the song “READY STEADY GO”, which you composed?
[For that song, the tempo was a little slower at first. The rhythm was a bit bouncier. To me, it felt like a Prince song, and the working title was “Prince”. Then, I wanted to make it sound like Good Charlotte, wanted it to be a little more punkish. My interpretation of punk is current American punk. But for yukkie, it seems to be Damned’s “New Rose” (1). I guess we were looking at two completely different eras (laughs). So, we ended up trying out the Damned style, and this is how it turned out. That song was fun to work on while we were making it.]
– It’s an example of band chemistry, right?
[As far as that song goes, I knew from the start that it would turn out fine no matter which way it went. On the other hand, there are some songs that I’m extremely picky about and that I don’t want to see changed. For “Time goes on”, the guitar solo I played in my demo was adopted pretty much as is, with hardly any changes. So depending on the song, it can go completely differently. Both methods have their good points, though.]
– L’Arc~en~Ciel incorporates so many different elements.
[Ultimately, no matter what we play, as long as it’s the four of us, we naturally turn into L’Arc.]
– I think the band’s originality is apparent in that sense too. You say “No matter what we play we turn into L’Arc,” so what on earth is “L’Arc,” in your mind?
[The other day, I was reading the Oricon music business section, and Kameda Seiji-san(2) had written something good. “Speaking of L’Arc~en~Ciel, they are also a European soccer team, that is to say Nakata (Hidetoshi) and Takahara (Naohiro) and Yanagisawa (Atsushi) and (Nakamura) Shunsuke have assembled under the name.” Then, since I’m the leader I guess I’m Hide (laughs). I was thrilled to read that article. Because actually, I’d thought of that myself. When I thought it up, I passed it off as just a random thought, but Kameda-san thought the same thing. It reminds of what it’s like to unite four people with distinct individual talents.]
– You mean how even though they play on different teams, once united, they were immediately able to create an effective formation.
[Yep. That’s exactly what I thought of. Maybe I should wear a captain symbol during lives (laughs).]
– They play in Europe, but they came together to represent Japan, right? So, what acts as a motivation for the four people brought together to form L’Arc?
[That’s a tough question. In soccer they play to win. But music isn’t about winning.]
– Perhaps not victory, but you might have another goal in mind?
[That would be to make good music. Making our music even better. I think it’s all about putting out good songs.]
– Working with these members, you can rest assured that it will turn out nicely, right?
[Yes, that’s right. If we didn’t respect each other, we wouldn’t be able to stay on the same team.]
– When did you start to feel that you were like those soccer players in Europe uniting to represent Japan?
[I think I’ve partially always felt that way, but around the time I was working solo, I started feeling that way especially strongly. We each did our own solo work, then went back to the band, so doing L’Arc again really felt like we were representing something (laughs).]
– Certainly, hearing it from you makes it seem true.
[So yeah, I always feel like I’m a chosen representative of some kind, so I have to work hard or else, and I put my all into my solo work too.]
– Of course, you surely must have put your best efforts into both the band and your solo work.
[Take soccer as an example again (laughs): Solo work feels like playing matches in the regular league. Then, L’Arc is the special delegation. Of course, with real soccer players, even if their regular league matches weren’t broadcast on TV, they still wouldn’t catch the ball with their hands or anything. Whether it’s a league match or a special one, they’ll put the same power, the same energy into the game and play each match one at a time as best they can. It’s the same with the band and solo work. Just, people don’t pay the same amount of attention to the league as they do to the special matches. Personally, I want to make good songs for both the band and my solo work, so I put my all into both of them, and so it can be a little disappointing when only L’Arc manages to become a big success (laughs).]
– I see. Now, tetsu-san, do you feel that L’Arc~en~Ciel should always remain as it is now, or is there a particular direction you feel you should move toward?
[I think that L’Arc has members who are talented musically, technically, and also sensually. But, I think that when talented people like that get together, they generally turn into maniacs pretty quickly, so we need to have a good balance, I don’t want us to become maniacs, I also want us to have popularity. I want us to appeal to both amateurs and experts. I think that’s an incredibly difficult thing to do, though. However, I do think that L’Arc truly is one of the few bands that can do it.]
– Is that direction something that came from discussions among the members? Or is it instead something that came into play naturally, on its own?
[When L’Arc first got started, our catch phrase was “Dual Nature in White and Black.” It’s not that we tried to live according to that phrase or anything, but it seems to me that we somehow did that anyway. The band’s name is L’Arc~en~Ciel, which means Rainbow, so we started in black and white, then all the other colours came in later. We aren’t black and white, we’re a band that spreads out into all seven colours.]
– It seems like it was a prophetic band name.
[I think it happened unconsciously, though. When L’Arc formed, on our first demo tape, there were two songs. L’Arc has never once sold a single copy of our demo tapes though, they were made so we’d have something to play for the live house owners when we were booking places. Back then, we had one really pop song and one really dark song on the tape. Going to both extremes (laughs). We’ve been doing that since the start.]
– The reason you go to both extremes, ultimately, is that you’re musically greedy right?
[I guess so. By doing that, we’ve even been able to infiltrate the layers of society that don’t listen to much rock, and from a sales point of view we’ve increased our figures, so in a way it’s rapidly brought us to the point where we could be maniacs if we wanted to be. Not even the record company people could complain. We steadily built up an environment where we could be free to do whatever we wanted.]
– To most of the world, “winter fall” is probably considered your break point, but what’s your personal take on that, tetsu-san?
[So that’s what most people think, is it? To me, it was always the album “True”.]
– When you got your break, did you become consciously aware that lots of people were listening and that you’d finally achieved popularity?
[Nah, my sense of awareness hasn’t really changed much since the beginning. Personally, I’ve never thought that this band called L’Arc~en~Ciel was lacking in popularity. So when I was told that we’d had our so-called break, I just thought “Oh, so they finally noticed.” (laughs) I was always sure that number of people who thought “L’Arc is good” was going up.]
– Do you think that L’Arc~en~Ciel particularly needs to be supported by many people?
[I do have a personal taste for being flashy, and so as far as being able to be flashy goes, I think we do.]
– This is rather sudden, but do you think about the band breaking up?
[This band will last as long as I live, I can’t say when it’ll end any more than I can tell when I’m going to die.]
– One more thing, tetsu-san. To you, what’s the fun part of being in L’Arc~en~Ciel?
[Hmmm, it feels like going home for the holidays.]
– Do you mean that you feel at ease?
[No, not quite. People react to me differently. The staff seems to be having fun, and the fans seem to enjoy it too. Giving everyone the chance to have so much fun makes me very happy. As long as I can make an environment everyone can enjoy, that’s enough for me. Combining that fun with the ability to make good music isn’t a problem at all.]
– Interviewer : Hasegawa Makoto
Translated by Natalie Arnold
[Yeah, that has happened. However, it’s not limited to L’Arc, I think it would happen if other people did it, too.]
– But in L’Arc~en~Ciel’s case, the four of you each have strong, distinctive personalities, so there’s a high probability that more band magic is required, right?
[It changes a lot depending on the song. Sometimes we stay close to the songwriter’s original image of the song, faithfully building it up, and other times only the chord progression and melody will be left after we mess with the tempo and arrangements so much. It’s a case by case thing.]
– Let’s take the newly released “SMILE” as an example. How did it go for the song “READY STEADY GO”, which you composed?
[For that song, the tempo was a little slower at first. The rhythm was a bit bouncier. To me, it felt like a Prince song, and the working title was “Prince”. Then, I wanted to make it sound like Good Charlotte, wanted it to be a little more punkish. My interpretation of punk is current American punk. But for yukkie, it seems to be Damned’s “New Rose” (1). I guess we were looking at two completely different eras (laughs). So, we ended up trying out the Damned style, and this is how it turned out. That song was fun to work on while we were making it.]
– It’s an example of band chemistry, right?
[As far as that song goes, I knew from the start that it would turn out fine no matter which way it went. On the other hand, there are some songs that I’m extremely picky about and that I don’t want to see changed. For “Time goes on”, the guitar solo I played in my demo was adopted pretty much as is, with hardly any changes. So depending on the song, it can go completely differently. Both methods have their good points, though.]
– L’Arc~en~Ciel incorporates so many different elements.
[Ultimately, no matter what we play, as long as it’s the four of us, we naturally turn into L’Arc.]
– I think the band’s originality is apparent in that sense too. You say “No matter what we play we turn into L’Arc,” so what on earth is “L’Arc,” in your mind?
[The other day, I was reading the Oricon music business section, and Kameda Seiji-san(2) had written something good. “Speaking of L’Arc~en~Ciel, they are also a European soccer team, that is to say Nakata (Hidetoshi) and Takahara (Naohiro) and Yanagisawa (Atsushi) and (Nakamura) Shunsuke have assembled under the name.” Then, since I’m the leader I guess I’m Hide (laughs). I was thrilled to read that article. Because actually, I’d thought of that myself. When I thought it up, I passed it off as just a random thought, but Kameda-san thought the same thing. It reminds of what it’s like to unite four people with distinct individual talents.]
– You mean how even though they play on different teams, once united, they were immediately able to create an effective formation.
[Yep. That’s exactly what I thought of. Maybe I should wear a captain symbol during lives (laughs).]
– They play in Europe, but they came together to represent Japan, right? So, what acts as a motivation for the four people brought together to form L’Arc?
[That’s a tough question. In soccer they play to win. But music isn’t about winning.]
– Perhaps not victory, but you might have another goal in mind?
[That would be to make good music. Making our music even better. I think it’s all about putting out good songs.]
– Working with these members, you can rest assured that it will turn out nicely, right?
[Yes, that’s right. If we didn’t respect each other, we wouldn’t be able to stay on the same team.]
– When did you start to feel that you were like those soccer players in Europe uniting to represent Japan?
[I think I’ve partially always felt that way, but around the time I was working solo, I started feeling that way especially strongly. We each did our own solo work, then went back to the band, so doing L’Arc again really felt like we were representing something (laughs).]
– Certainly, hearing it from you makes it seem true.
[So yeah, I always feel like I’m a chosen representative of some kind, so I have to work hard or else, and I put my all into my solo work too.]
– Of course, you surely must have put your best efforts into both the band and your solo work.
[Take soccer as an example again (laughs): Solo work feels like playing matches in the regular league. Then, L’Arc is the special delegation. Of course, with real soccer players, even if their regular league matches weren’t broadcast on TV, they still wouldn’t catch the ball with their hands or anything. Whether it’s a league match or a special one, they’ll put the same power, the same energy into the game and play each match one at a time as best they can. It’s the same with the band and solo work. Just, people don’t pay the same amount of attention to the league as they do to the special matches. Personally, I want to make good songs for both the band and my solo work, so I put my all into both of them, and so it can be a little disappointing when only L’Arc manages to become a big success (laughs).]
– I see. Now, tetsu-san, do you feel that L’Arc~en~Ciel should always remain as it is now, or is there a particular direction you feel you should move toward?
[I think that L’Arc has members who are talented musically, technically, and also sensually. But, I think that when talented people like that get together, they generally turn into maniacs pretty quickly, so we need to have a good balance, I don’t want us to become maniacs, I also want us to have popularity. I want us to appeal to both amateurs and experts. I think that’s an incredibly difficult thing to do, though. However, I do think that L’Arc truly is one of the few bands that can do it.]
– Is that direction something that came from discussions among the members? Or is it instead something that came into play naturally, on its own?
[When L’Arc first got started, our catch phrase was “Dual Nature in White and Black.” It’s not that we tried to live according to that phrase or anything, but it seems to me that we somehow did that anyway. The band’s name is L’Arc~en~Ciel, which means Rainbow, so we started in black and white, then all the other colours came in later. We aren’t black and white, we’re a band that spreads out into all seven colours.]
– It seems like it was a prophetic band name.
[I think it happened unconsciously, though. When L’Arc formed, on our first demo tape, there were two songs. L’Arc has never once sold a single copy of our demo tapes though, they were made so we’d have something to play for the live house owners when we were booking places. Back then, we had one really pop song and one really dark song on the tape. Going to both extremes (laughs). We’ve been doing that since the start.]
– The reason you go to both extremes, ultimately, is that you’re musically greedy right?
[I guess so. By doing that, we’ve even been able to infiltrate the layers of society that don’t listen to much rock, and from a sales point of view we’ve increased our figures, so in a way it’s rapidly brought us to the point where we could be maniacs if we wanted to be. Not even the record company people could complain. We steadily built up an environment where we could be free to do whatever we wanted.]
– To most of the world, “winter fall” is probably considered your break point, but what’s your personal take on that, tetsu-san?
[So that’s what most people think, is it? To me, it was always the album “True”.]
– When you got your break, did you become consciously aware that lots of people were listening and that you’d finally achieved popularity?
[Nah, my sense of awareness hasn’t really changed much since the beginning. Personally, I’ve never thought that this band called L’Arc~en~Ciel was lacking in popularity. So when I was told that we’d had our so-called break, I just thought “Oh, so they finally noticed.” (laughs) I was always sure that number of people who thought “L’Arc is good” was going up.]
– Do you think that L’Arc~en~Ciel particularly needs to be supported by many people?
[I do have a personal taste for being flashy, and so as far as being able to be flashy goes, I think we do.]
– This is rather sudden, but do you think about the band breaking up?
[This band will last as long as I live, I can’t say when it’ll end any more than I can tell when I’m going to die.]
– One more thing, tetsu-san. To you, what’s the fun part of being in L’Arc~en~Ciel?
[Hmmm, it feels like going home for the holidays.]
– Do you mean that you feel at ease?
[No, not quite. People react to me differently. The staff seems to be having fun, and the fans seem to enjoy it too. Giving everyone the chance to have so much fun makes me very happy. As long as I can make an environment everyone can enjoy, that’s enough for me. Combining that fun with the ability to make good music isn’t a problem at all.]
– Interviewer : Hasegawa Makoto
Translated by Natalie Arnold
Zdroj:http://www.larcompendium.com/site/?p=137
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