[If I’ve ever had an idol, it would have to be Billy Idol.]
– (laughs) Really?
[Really. But my first idol was probably Julie (Sawada Kenji)(1). From back when I was in elementary and middle school. On the way home from school, I’d pass a place where they had movie posters on display. They had posters for ‘Makai Tenshou’(2) with Julie as Amakusa Shiro on them. I remember thinking “Wow! Cool! I want that poster!” But they wouldn’t give me one.]
– Did you have posters of Julie in your room?
[No, I only had posters of (Lambourghini) Countachs (laughs).]
– Ahaha. What did you like about Julie?
[Of course, it was mostly his appearance. I liked men who wore make-up. That androgynous style.]
– Who were you interested in after Julie?
[Tsuchiya Masami-san (3), I think. And after him, Duran Duran. Their looks were cool, and I liked the music, too. I liked JAPAN’s (4) looks too, but I listened to their music and didn’t care much for it.]
– I bet you took a lot of those full-size portraits out of ‘Music Life’.
[Yeah, I did! And in ‘Young Guitar’ they had life size shots of guitarists’ hands. I used to compare my own hands to those. But showing their actual heads…… that was a great idea (laughs).]
– Later on, how did you progress?
[In middle school, it was Oosawa Yoshiyuki (5). The first time I saw the PV for his debut single, [Kanojou ni wa Wakaranai], I thought he was really cool. I liked the song, too. Later on it was Honda Yasuaki. (6) The Kyoukyoku boy he played in [Nerawareta Gakuen] was cool~. And after that I got into Billy Idol.]
– At last, the star’s grand entrance (laughs). But doesn’t he kind of deviate? From the rest.
[He is a little different. But I think that’s pretty cool, he’s my “anti-idol.” I thought the guitarist Steve Stevens was cool too. ……. Maybe I was more into him than Billy Idol (laughs). In middle school, I used to take a broom and pretend to play guitar like Steve Stevens. They’re a matched set. After that, I didn’t have any more idol-ish idols. I was never really the type to call myself a fan of someone, anyway.]
– Didn’t you ever have any female idols?
[Not a single one. Anyone you could name, I hated. They’re nothing but puppets acting like children. “You don’t write your own music! You don’t write your own lyrics!” I always thought.]
– You didn’t even think any of them were cute?
[No, I didn’t. I thought Kyonkyon (Koizumi Kyouko)’s type was cute, though. Asaka Yui, too. (7) But I still didn’t like them enough to consider myself a fan.]
– But tetsu-san, you don’t feel the same way about idol products, right?
[Ah, yeah, I do check out their products. Oh, I like Yazawa Ai’s manga [NANA], especially the band with Reira, Trance. (8) I wanna see something from that~. If I get the chance, I’d like to make a band exactly like that one.]
– That sounds very interesting.
[But I don’t want to do it if I’m not 100% sure there will be people listening to it (laughs).]
– (laughs) Out of all the people we’ve covered during this interview, is there anyone in particular you’d still like to meet?
[Not really. I don’t think there’s anyone I want to meet. That’s all from the past.]
– I’m sure there are a lot of younger musicians out there who have you as an idol, tetsu-san, and would like to meet you. What do you think of that?
[Well, it makes me very happy. A lot of young musicians tell me “I listen to L’Arc all the time,” or “My band does covers of you.” I’m getting old (laughs). It feels kinda strange.]
– How does it make you feel, knowing those people exist?
[Let’s see… I guess it feels cool, like I’ve really accomplished something.]
-Interviewer : Harada Sachi
Translated by Natalie Arnold.
– (laughs) Really?
[Really. But my first idol was probably Julie (Sawada Kenji)(1). From back when I was in elementary and middle school. On the way home from school, I’d pass a place where they had movie posters on display. They had posters for ‘Makai Tenshou’(2) with Julie as Amakusa Shiro on them. I remember thinking “Wow! Cool! I want that poster!” But they wouldn’t give me one.]
– Did you have posters of Julie in your room?
[No, I only had posters of (Lambourghini) Countachs (laughs).]
– Ahaha. What did you like about Julie?
[Of course, it was mostly his appearance. I liked men who wore make-up. That androgynous style.]
– Who were you interested in after Julie?
[Tsuchiya Masami-san (3), I think. And after him, Duran Duran. Their looks were cool, and I liked the music, too. I liked JAPAN’s (4) looks too, but I listened to their music and didn’t care much for it.]
– I bet you took a lot of those full-size portraits out of ‘Music Life’.
[Yeah, I did! And in ‘Young Guitar’ they had life size shots of guitarists’ hands. I used to compare my own hands to those. But showing their actual heads…… that was a great idea (laughs).]
– Later on, how did you progress?
[In middle school, it was Oosawa Yoshiyuki (5). The first time I saw the PV for his debut single, [Kanojou ni wa Wakaranai], I thought he was really cool. I liked the song, too. Later on it was Honda Yasuaki. (6) The Kyoukyoku boy he played in [Nerawareta Gakuen] was cool~. And after that I got into Billy Idol.]
– At last, the star’s grand entrance (laughs). But doesn’t he kind of deviate? From the rest.
[He is a little different. But I think that’s pretty cool, he’s my “anti-idol.” I thought the guitarist Steve Stevens was cool too. ……. Maybe I was more into him than Billy Idol (laughs). In middle school, I used to take a broom and pretend to play guitar like Steve Stevens. They’re a matched set. After that, I didn’t have any more idol-ish idols. I was never really the type to call myself a fan of someone, anyway.]
– Didn’t you ever have any female idols?
[Not a single one. Anyone you could name, I hated. They’re nothing but puppets acting like children. “You don’t write your own music! You don’t write your own lyrics!” I always thought.]
– You didn’t even think any of them were cute?
[No, I didn’t. I thought Kyonkyon (Koizumi Kyouko)’s type was cute, though. Asaka Yui, too. (7) But I still didn’t like them enough to consider myself a fan.]
– But tetsu-san, you don’t feel the same way about idol products, right?
[Ah, yeah, I do check out their products. Oh, I like Yazawa Ai’s manga [NANA], especially the band with Reira, Trance. (8) I wanna see something from that~. If I get the chance, I’d like to make a band exactly like that one.]
– That sounds very interesting.
[But I don’t want to do it if I’m not 100% sure there will be people listening to it (laughs).]
– (laughs) Out of all the people we’ve covered during this interview, is there anyone in particular you’d still like to meet?
[Not really. I don’t think there’s anyone I want to meet. That’s all from the past.]
– I’m sure there are a lot of younger musicians out there who have you as an idol, tetsu-san, and would like to meet you. What do you think of that?
[Well, it makes me very happy. A lot of young musicians tell me “I listen to L’Arc all the time,” or “My band does covers of you.” I’m getting old (laughs). It feels kinda strange.]
– How does it make you feel, knowing those people exist?
[Let’s see… I guess it feels cool, like I’ve really accomplished something.]
-Interviewer : Harada Sachi
Translated by Natalie Arnold.
Žádné komentáře:
Okomentovat