– You sang for the band you were part of during high school, right?
[Just for fun. All of it was for fun, really. We did do a live show once. We didn’t really have any songs to play, so we just did two or three covers. They were metal songs, so the key was high. I had to shout; it wore out my voice, so I thought it must be awful to be a vocalist (laughs).]
– tetsu-san, your voice definitely isn’t suited for metal vocals.
[Right. Especially since I don’t shout much, normally. I do everything I can to avoid straining my throat.]
– Did you sing a lot when you were a kid?
[Just humming, really.]
– Did you sing at karaoke?
[Karaoke was in around the time I was in high school, so I’d go on the way home from school. I didn’t especially like it or dislike it. When I didn’t feel like singing, I’d just hum along or something. It’s only recently that I’ve started to like singing. I guess it’s because I’ve done some for the band.]
– You didn’t do any singing other than with your high school band?
[I didn’t sing much. I didn’t especially want to be the lead vocal. Back when I was putting L’Arc~en~Ciel together with hiro, we were having a hard time finding a good vocalist, and hiro said to me “tet-chan, you do the vocals,” but that kind of worried me so I said “I don’t wanna.” (laughs)]
– How come?
[I’ve always thought writing lyrics was the vocalist’s job. I’d never written any lyrics, and it looked like such a tough job to do (laughs).]
– Since L’Arc~en~Ciel became active, as far as lyric writing goes, you’ve written provisional ones, right? And of course, you do the backing vocals. Even though it’s not on stage, it’s fair to say you do quite of bit of singing.
[That’s true. I like singing my provisional lyrics. I get a lot out of them (laughs)]
– How so?
[To describe a song I’m composing to other people, the fastest way is to sing my temporary lyrics. It’s easier to communicate the song that way rather than with a synth or piano.]
– Do the temporary lyrics go lalala?
[Yeah, I use lalalas. Using random English words makes it harder to write the real lyrics. It’s like it becomes all I can hear, so the random English becomes the real lyrics. In order to get a plainer feel for the song, I use lalalas. But it isn’t all about the temporary lyrics anymore, I love normal singing too. Whether it’s for lives or for recording, I’ve been asking “Wouldn’t it be OK if I didn’t just do back-up?” (laughs)]
– When did you start to like to sing?
[I really started to enjoy singing around the time I started my solo work.]
– What was it that made you want to sing for your solo?
[When my solo work came around, I figured solo meant that I would be doing the singing. I was definite on that point. I never once considered working with another vocalist. I was absolutely going to sing.]
– Even though, formerly, you didn’t want to write lyrics or do any vocals.
[That was more than ten years ago. I thought I’d do something progressive for my solo work, so that’s how it came about. That’s the best way of describing it, rather than just saying I felt like doing it. I was never the one who had solo ambitions. I didn’t have even the slightest intention of going solo. Up to half a year before my solo work started, I would have said there’s no way I’ll ever sing for a solo project. But it came around anyway. The other members wanted to do solo work, so I had the time, and I was so bored I needed to do something, so I started writing songs, and then I had to write lyrics for them, and so I wound up singing them.]
– So then, once that process began, you discovered that you could enjoy singing?
[Well, I already liked to sing, but little by little I got to like it even more. I think I became a good singer because of my work with L’Arc~en~Ciel. From doing the back-up vocals. I think I was a lot worse in high school. By doing back-up vocals at recording sessions, and doing them during lives, I must have naturally figured out how to do it well. Similarly, from being in the band, even though I don’t practice with the drums, I’ve gained a degree of knowledge about playing them. If the rhythm is simple, I can play it.]
– Doesn’t that show you have an aptitude for it, tetsu-san?
[No, I think anyone can learn to play that way. hyde can play that type of rhythm, too. I don’t think hyde practices much, either. It’s the same for me. Of course, I can’t play anything complicated. But if it’s a normal 8-beat(1), I can play it. It’s something I don’t normally do unless we’re all together. Singing started out that way, but little by little I learned to do it well.]
– So without realising it, you used hyde-san as a model?
[People who are in bands doing back-up vocals tend to imitate the main vocalist’s singing patterns, or at least that’s what my voice trainer told me. When I had my first lesson, I was told “Wow, you sing exactly the same way hyde-san does.” So the lessons started by building on the habits I’d already formed. That’s also when I heard about that tendency.]
– How did you go about picking up proper techniques?
[We started with basic voice projection. I had never been taught the proper way to project my voice while singing before. My way doesn’t quite agree with what my voice trainer teaches, so at first I had to adapt to another way of doing things, as if I were starting lessons from scratch. Once that was done, I could go on using my old habits.]
– You went to a voice trainer because you were going to be doing solo work, and wanted to make sure you had the proper foundation?
[Before I started the lessons, I had already damaged my throat a lot. The type of voice I used for singing in D’Ark~en~Ciel was really more of a shout, and it made me lose my voice, which was bad for my throat. It made me kind of anxious. Doing the vocals for all of my solo work meant I’d be singing a bunch of songs in any future lives. When I’m recording, I can take a break if I feel like it, whenever I feel like it, but that doesn’t work during lives. I’d be singing for a long time, so my initial goal was to make sure my throat would last that long. That’s why I went to a trainer for lessons.]
– Have you been seeing results?
[Yep. By the second or third lesson, my voice wasn’t giving out any more. Now, I can sing for hours on end.]
– You must be a fast learner.
[No, I’m really slow. I keep messing up the most basic things. When I was learning on my own, I picked up some bad habits. Then, everything I’d done before was D’Ark~en~Ciel type of music, so I kept trying to sing with that kind of voice. I had the hardest time learning to use my voice correctly. But I’ve always been a bad student. I never do my homework (laughs).]
– You have homework?
[For example, we’d record the lesson on a tape or an MD (2), and I would be supposed to redo the same thing and bring in my own recording, but I didn’t do it (laughs). At first, when I was asked to make those recordings, I did, but we never ended up using them (laughs).]
– Are you not doing your homework because you don’t need the practice?
[No, just because it’s a pain (laughs). Mostly because I let it pile up when I thought I was already good enough. Like, I was already good with pitch.]
– Since you started singing for your solo work, has there been a vocalist in particular you’ve wanted to emulate?
[No, I don’t have any particular image in mind. For voice quality, I like Deguchi Masayuki-san’s voice, from GRASS VALLEY (3). I use him as a reference when I find aspects of my own singing that need a bit of tweaking. Though really, I might have picked the people I use as a reference because we already sound alike. For example, if you have a short athlete who wants to become a professional, they’ll find a short professional athlete to identify with, thinking they want to be like that person. It’s the same sort of thing; if I can find someone who already sounds like me, that’s the person I’ll try to be like.]
– I see. It certainly makes things easier. Now, tetsu-san, you compose your own music, write your own lyrics, and sing your own songs. Is there anything you’ve paid particular attention to as a singer-songwriter?
[What do you mean? I don’t quite understand.]
– Let’s take lives, then. What did you pay the most attention to? At Danger II (4), (Held at Budoukan in December 2003, this event was held by the company behind L’Arc~en~Ciel) you moved around aggressively even though you were singing.
[I do move around a lot during lives. I’m an expert bassist, so I’m used to moving around holding my bass, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to move the same way as a vocalist. I talked about that with my voice trainer. During my lessons, I practiced moving while I sang. But, I was told “That’s enough, this studio is already cramped with just us in it. Make sure you do it right at the show.” That voice trainer came to the show, and praised me with “You’ve become a splendid vocalist,” afterwards.]
– If it were to go to a different event, would you see it differently?
[I think I’m the type who takes every event seriously.]
– How do you think your singing has improved?
[Practically speaking, I’ve been taking lessons, so I can’t help but accumulate lots of new tricks and techniques. I learn from my recording sessions, I learn from my lives, and then when I take a break I can look back and notice all the changes.]
– Has singing songs gradually become more interesting?
[Well, I don’t really know.]
– Some would say you’ve raised expectations.
[I guess we’ll see about that.]
– Playing bass and singing songs : how do you think you’ll be combining those two aspects?
[I don’t really know that, either. When I play bass, I’m holding and playing it, and when I sing, I’m looking past the mic and projecting my voice from my throat; clearly they’re completely different things. Even if you were to point out similarities, I don’t know how they can really be combined.]
– Lastly, do you think you’ll always continue to sing?
[I wonder. I’m the type who doesn’t like to say too much about what’s coming up. I mean, right now, if I were to say I want to always sing and always stay with the band, I’m sure all the readers would be relieved. “Ah, then L’Arc~en~Ciel will never break up and tetsu-san will keep going with his solo work.” I don’t want them thinking that. I don’t want to say much about the future because I don’t know what will happen. Back when I was first starting up L’Arc~en~Ciel, I had no idea when our next live would be, so I learned to treasure each one of them and make them special. I’ve kept that perspective. I don’t want to just be listened to. That’s why I want to do as many lives as possible. I don’t want people to say “I’m busy so I’ll skip this one and just go to the next tour.” I don’t like that they always expect a next time.]
-Interviewer : Hasegawa Makoto
Translated by Natalie Arnold.
[Just for fun. All of it was for fun, really. We did do a live show once. We didn’t really have any songs to play, so we just did two or three covers. They were metal songs, so the key was high. I had to shout; it wore out my voice, so I thought it must be awful to be a vocalist (laughs).]
– tetsu-san, your voice definitely isn’t suited for metal vocals.
[Right. Especially since I don’t shout much, normally. I do everything I can to avoid straining my throat.]
– Did you sing a lot when you were a kid?
[Just humming, really.]
– Did you sing at karaoke?
[Karaoke was in around the time I was in high school, so I’d go on the way home from school. I didn’t especially like it or dislike it. When I didn’t feel like singing, I’d just hum along or something. It’s only recently that I’ve started to like singing. I guess it’s because I’ve done some for the band.]
– You didn’t do any singing other than with your high school band?
[I didn’t sing much. I didn’t especially want to be the lead vocal. Back when I was putting L’Arc~en~Ciel together with hiro, we were having a hard time finding a good vocalist, and hiro said to me “tet-chan, you do the vocals,” but that kind of worried me so I said “I don’t wanna.” (laughs)]
– How come?
[I’ve always thought writing lyrics was the vocalist’s job. I’d never written any lyrics, and it looked like such a tough job to do (laughs).]
– Since L’Arc~en~Ciel became active, as far as lyric writing goes, you’ve written provisional ones, right? And of course, you do the backing vocals. Even though it’s not on stage, it’s fair to say you do quite of bit of singing.
[That’s true. I like singing my provisional lyrics. I get a lot out of them (laughs)]
– How so?
[To describe a song I’m composing to other people, the fastest way is to sing my temporary lyrics. It’s easier to communicate the song that way rather than with a synth or piano.]
– Do the temporary lyrics go lalala?
[Yeah, I use lalalas. Using random English words makes it harder to write the real lyrics. It’s like it becomes all I can hear, so the random English becomes the real lyrics. In order to get a plainer feel for the song, I use lalalas. But it isn’t all about the temporary lyrics anymore, I love normal singing too. Whether it’s for lives or for recording, I’ve been asking “Wouldn’t it be OK if I didn’t just do back-up?” (laughs)]
– When did you start to like to sing?
[I really started to enjoy singing around the time I started my solo work.]
– What was it that made you want to sing for your solo?
[When my solo work came around, I figured solo meant that I would be doing the singing. I was definite on that point. I never once considered working with another vocalist. I was absolutely going to sing.]
– Even though, formerly, you didn’t want to write lyrics or do any vocals.
[That was more than ten years ago. I thought I’d do something progressive for my solo work, so that’s how it came about. That’s the best way of describing it, rather than just saying I felt like doing it. I was never the one who had solo ambitions. I didn’t have even the slightest intention of going solo. Up to half a year before my solo work started, I would have said there’s no way I’ll ever sing for a solo project. But it came around anyway. The other members wanted to do solo work, so I had the time, and I was so bored I needed to do something, so I started writing songs, and then I had to write lyrics for them, and so I wound up singing them.]
– So then, once that process began, you discovered that you could enjoy singing?
[Well, I already liked to sing, but little by little I got to like it even more. I think I became a good singer because of my work with L’Arc~en~Ciel. From doing the back-up vocals. I think I was a lot worse in high school. By doing back-up vocals at recording sessions, and doing them during lives, I must have naturally figured out how to do it well. Similarly, from being in the band, even though I don’t practice with the drums, I’ve gained a degree of knowledge about playing them. If the rhythm is simple, I can play it.]
– Doesn’t that show you have an aptitude for it, tetsu-san?
[No, I think anyone can learn to play that way. hyde can play that type of rhythm, too. I don’t think hyde practices much, either. It’s the same for me. Of course, I can’t play anything complicated. But if it’s a normal 8-beat(1), I can play it. It’s something I don’t normally do unless we’re all together. Singing started out that way, but little by little I learned to do it well.]
– So without realising it, you used hyde-san as a model?
[People who are in bands doing back-up vocals tend to imitate the main vocalist’s singing patterns, or at least that’s what my voice trainer told me. When I had my first lesson, I was told “Wow, you sing exactly the same way hyde-san does.” So the lessons started by building on the habits I’d already formed. That’s also when I heard about that tendency.]
– How did you go about picking up proper techniques?
[We started with basic voice projection. I had never been taught the proper way to project my voice while singing before. My way doesn’t quite agree with what my voice trainer teaches, so at first I had to adapt to another way of doing things, as if I were starting lessons from scratch. Once that was done, I could go on using my old habits.]
– You went to a voice trainer because you were going to be doing solo work, and wanted to make sure you had the proper foundation?
[Before I started the lessons, I had already damaged my throat a lot. The type of voice I used for singing in D’Ark~en~Ciel was really more of a shout, and it made me lose my voice, which was bad for my throat. It made me kind of anxious. Doing the vocals for all of my solo work meant I’d be singing a bunch of songs in any future lives. When I’m recording, I can take a break if I feel like it, whenever I feel like it, but that doesn’t work during lives. I’d be singing for a long time, so my initial goal was to make sure my throat would last that long. That’s why I went to a trainer for lessons.]
– Have you been seeing results?
[Yep. By the second or third lesson, my voice wasn’t giving out any more. Now, I can sing for hours on end.]
– You must be a fast learner.
[No, I’m really slow. I keep messing up the most basic things. When I was learning on my own, I picked up some bad habits. Then, everything I’d done before was D’Ark~en~Ciel type of music, so I kept trying to sing with that kind of voice. I had the hardest time learning to use my voice correctly. But I’ve always been a bad student. I never do my homework (laughs).]
– You have homework?
[For example, we’d record the lesson on a tape or an MD (2), and I would be supposed to redo the same thing and bring in my own recording, but I didn’t do it (laughs). At first, when I was asked to make those recordings, I did, but we never ended up using them (laughs).]
– Are you not doing your homework because you don’t need the practice?
[No, just because it’s a pain (laughs). Mostly because I let it pile up when I thought I was already good enough. Like, I was already good with pitch.]
– Since you started singing for your solo work, has there been a vocalist in particular you’ve wanted to emulate?
[No, I don’t have any particular image in mind. For voice quality, I like Deguchi Masayuki-san’s voice, from GRASS VALLEY (3). I use him as a reference when I find aspects of my own singing that need a bit of tweaking. Though really, I might have picked the people I use as a reference because we already sound alike. For example, if you have a short athlete who wants to become a professional, they’ll find a short professional athlete to identify with, thinking they want to be like that person. It’s the same sort of thing; if I can find someone who already sounds like me, that’s the person I’ll try to be like.]
– I see. It certainly makes things easier. Now, tetsu-san, you compose your own music, write your own lyrics, and sing your own songs. Is there anything you’ve paid particular attention to as a singer-songwriter?
[What do you mean? I don’t quite understand.]
– Let’s take lives, then. What did you pay the most attention to? At Danger II (4), (Held at Budoukan in December 2003, this event was held by the company behind L’Arc~en~Ciel) you moved around aggressively even though you were singing.
[I do move around a lot during lives. I’m an expert bassist, so I’m used to moving around holding my bass, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to move the same way as a vocalist. I talked about that with my voice trainer. During my lessons, I practiced moving while I sang. But, I was told “That’s enough, this studio is already cramped with just us in it. Make sure you do it right at the show.” That voice trainer came to the show, and praised me with “You’ve become a splendid vocalist,” afterwards.]
– If it were to go to a different event, would you see it differently?
[I think I’m the type who takes every event seriously.]
– How do you think your singing has improved?
[Practically speaking, I’ve been taking lessons, so I can’t help but accumulate lots of new tricks and techniques. I learn from my recording sessions, I learn from my lives, and then when I take a break I can look back and notice all the changes.]
– Has singing songs gradually become more interesting?
[Well, I don’t really know.]
– Some would say you’ve raised expectations.
[I guess we’ll see about that.]
– Playing bass and singing songs : how do you think you’ll be combining those two aspects?
[I don’t really know that, either. When I play bass, I’m holding and playing it, and when I sing, I’m looking past the mic and projecting my voice from my throat; clearly they’re completely different things. Even if you were to point out similarities, I don’t know how they can really be combined.]
– Lastly, do you think you’ll always continue to sing?
[I wonder. I’m the type who doesn’t like to say too much about what’s coming up. I mean, right now, if I were to say I want to always sing and always stay with the band, I’m sure all the readers would be relieved. “Ah, then L’Arc~en~Ciel will never break up and tetsu-san will keep going with his solo work.” I don’t want them thinking that. I don’t want to say much about the future because I don’t know what will happen. Back when I was first starting up L’Arc~en~Ciel, I had no idea when our next live would be, so I learned to treasure each one of them and make them special. I’ve kept that perspective. I don’t want to just be listened to. That’s why I want to do as many lives as possible. I don’t want people to say “I’m busy so I’ll skip this one and just go to the next tour.” I don’t like that they always expect a next time.]
-Interviewer : Hasegawa Makoto
Translated by Natalie Arnold.
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