Interview with BLOOD

Despite their tight schedule, members of the famous visual kei band BLOOD found some time to talk about their overseas activities, coming anniversary and hopes to come back to Europe as soon as possible.


Good evening! Our readers know about your band a lot, so instead of a traditional introduction, please, tell us something interesting about the person sitting next to you.

Hayato: This is Kazuha, a guitarist from Japan, but he’s playing bass today. He’s our commander.
Kazuha: It’s Dora, who plays drums (everyone laughs). (note – here’s a pun occurred: the word “drums” sounds like “Doramu” in japanese; so he’s saying “It’s Dora, who plays Doramu”)
Dora: Here’s our guitarist and our reliable leader Kiwamu. He founded BLOOD and takes care of us thanks to the fact he speaks English. He also has a rich experience in touring around the globe.
Kiwamu: JaME Europe. (everyone laughs)
Hayato: I knew you’d say that!
Kiwamu: Well, I should introduce the one sitting next to me, right? (laughs)

Today is your final show in Europe. How was the tour? What did you like? What didn’t you like?

Hayato: There hasn’t been anything bad. Though it was a little difficult to talk to the fans because our English isn’t that good. But the audience did a great job!

Your tour schedule was quite tight and you played almost every day. How did you relax during the tour?

Kazuha: We like Europe, so we walked a lot and took loads of pictures.

What country did you like the most?

Kiwamu: It’s always better to say you like the country you are in at the moment. (laughs)

Why didn’t Azami tour with you this time?

Kiwamu: Because of the budget. The Europe tour is an expensive treat, that’s why he couldn’t come with us. Plus he’s the official member of another band, Misaruka, and is very busy playing there.

What do you plan to do after the tour?

Kiwamu: We are playing in Japan the day after tomorrow. We’ll be en route the whole day tomorrow and immediately after that we'll have a concert.

In Belgium, you played at the Made in Asia festival. How was it?

Kiwamu: We had problems with sound and equipment. When we went on stage there was nothing but the drum set. (laughs) Kazuha’s amp didn’t work, Hayato’s microphone was broken. I had to splash water on the first rows, and only Dora could play.
Hayato: Thank god everything turned out okay later.
Kiwamu: Still I asked the audience to forget everything which happened after the first song.

You cancelled your Russian show five years ago. Why?

Kiwamu: I wanted to play here but the promoter was too slow. Many concert agencies wanted to invite us, but our promoter and Russian organizers had issues. There was a problem with the tickets, that’s why we had to cancel everything and play one more show in Vienna instead.

BLOOD is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. How do you want to celebrate it? Have you planned anything special?

Kiwamu: Maybe… Last year I revived this band, changed its music style and wrote new songs. I have to adjust the music to every new vocalist. Because of that I consider the revived BLOOD a new band and don’t pay much attention to this anniversary.

Soon you’ll experience another line-up change because Hayato is leaving. What were the reasons for that decision and what will you do without a vocalist?

Hayato: The main reason is that I have another project I want to work on and I’m going to give all my time and energy to it. As for BLOOD’s plans… Let them speak for themselves.
Kiwamu: BLOOD’s music creates a certain concept. Yes, the members can vary but the overall atmosphere doesn’t change greatly. It remains dark, heavy and gothic. Despite all line-up changes BLOOD will stay the same.

Kazuha, is BLOOD your first band? Did you play anywhere before?

Kazuha: Yes, I played with different bands in Japan.

What bands, for example? (everyone giggles)

Kiwamu: He changed his stage name because he wanted to change completely to play in this band. He doesn’t like to talk about the past.

Dora, our readers know you thanks to your previous band Hibi subete wo nomikomu fukamoka. However, you changed your style drastically when you joined BLOOD. How did it all happen?

Dora: To tell the truth, I don’t think my previous image fitted me, so I was experimenting. I really love my current style and image.

Please, tell us more about your recently released single Unseen the NEW WORLD.

Kiwamu: I wanted to make something special for this tour and for one-man shows in Japan, which will start as soon as we go back there. We recorded it specially for our fans; they can buy these CDs only at our shows. If they come to listen to our songs and then buy a CD, they will feel its uniqueness. We did it on purpose. I hope we’ll sell all of them.

How did you choose the cover image?

Dora: Images of the first and the second releases were interconnected but we wanted to try out something completely new with this single.

Do foreigners often come to your Japanese shows?

Kiwamu: Seven years ago, when we hosted several parties, there were up to 20% of foreigners because it was gothic and industrial parties. Unfortunately, they don’t come that often now. They do but there aren’t many of them.

Where do you like to play—in Japan or overseas?

Kiwamu: Everywhere! (everyone laughs)

You were one of the first J-rock bands to play in Australia. Why did you decide to go there and how was it?

Kiwamu: I thought about touring South that time because everyone wanted to go there. The fact is that we were among the first J-rock bands not only in Australia but in many countries: in Germany, in Great Britain, in Mexico… Australia has a nice promoter, he’s my friend. He invited us and we did a great show. But we had to move for every new concert, cities were far from one another, it took us rather long to get to the new venue. It was extremely tiring but those two hours onstage compensates everything.

Hayato, you can often be seen stage-diving. Do you do it only in Japan or overseas as well?

Hayato: I always do it.

What about fans? Don’t they try to jump off the stage during the shows?

Hayato: No, not yet.

Did you have time to go sightseeing?

Kiwamu: The local promoter told us it’s not safe outside so we decided not to go out. The guys enjoyed the spa.
Kazuha: And gym!

So you like sports?

BLOOD: (everyone laughs) Concerts are the best sport for us.

Well, thank you for this interview! Can you give a final message to our readers?

Hayato: I’m happy I got an opportunity to come here and play in front of such a grateful audience. And I’m also glad we will continue to play in Japan. I will work hard for all of you!
Kazuha: I’ll try hard to come back to Europe and meet our beautiful fans again.
Dora: Thank you everyone who came to our European shows. Thank you for the wonderful memories. I hope those who couldn’t come this time will definitely come the next time.
Kiwamu: I was shocked when Russian fans asked about the concert that had been cancelled five years ago. It shows how long they were waiting for us. Today you asked about it too; it’s amazing. I think there aren’t many bands that people want to see that much. So, tonight we’ll do our best, and I hope we’ll be back very soon.

JaME would like to thank the band and Kirill Tverezovsky from J-Concert Agency for making this interview possible, as well as Sayaka Kamada for the translation.