Interview with THE SOUND BEE HD

Ahead of the release of their new album, WALKING DEAD, on January 25th, visual kei band THE SOUND BEE HD talked with JaME about their concept that is linked to life, death and zombies.

Our last interview with you was five years ago. What have you been up to during these past few years?

YOU: We have released one or two albums every year. Although we had a support guitarist for a while, Yuu joined the band and became a full member. In this manner, we advanced into the darker, harder and horror-like direction that we are now.

He's been in the band for a while now, but you’ve gained a new member since we last interviewed you. How would you say the band has changed since Yuu joined? Has it been confusing playing in a band featuring two members with names pronounced “You”?

HIRO: We feel that he is stretching the band with his wealth of knowledge and experience in music. He is a charming guitarist. He has also been in charge of many songs and the atmosphere of the live shows has changed with him. Regarding the names, there are not many misunderstandings since we call them using honorifics. _{1
1 Certain Japanese honorifics are used mainly for male individuals while others may denote that the person addressed is female.}

Your new album is titled WALKING DEAD and your previous releases were BLooD RaiN ~ Chinurareta Keshiki~ and DAWN OF THE DEAD ~Shikabane no Yoake~. Is there a concept linking these albums?

DaISUKE DARK SIDE: Consistently, the theme of the songs that I make is life and death. In a world that can be seen from that perspective, everything can be composed. Also, the love songs come from a world that can be seen standing on the threshold of death.

Is there a song on the new album that you are particularly fond of it? If so, why?

YOU: All members respect the series “THE WALKING DEAD”, so we made an album that resembles its soundtrack! Since all the songs have a connection and they form a story, we like all of them. If I had to choose, I really like our main theme WALKING DEAD, which is a song that makes it easy to understand our worldview.

What draws you to zombies? Films and series like “The Walking Dead” and “Dawn of the Dead” are well-known around the world, but are there any Japanese zombie movies that you could recommend to our readers overseas?

Yuu: I don’t have much interest in Japanese zombie movies. Instead, I would like to recommend the anime series “Shiki”. Japanese culture is well portrayed in it and it also shows that peculiar sense of Japanese horror. I think it pricks the main point of the zombie theme. After all, the most horrible world is the human mind.

DaISUKE, you have been keeping fans up-to-date about your health on your blog and it seems like death has become one of the most prominent themes in your lyrics recently. Have your health issues caused a change in your worldview?

DaISUKE DARK SIDE: Even before I was diagnosed recently with this incurable disease, I’ve been writing about life and death as a main theme. So the worldview of the lyrics has not changed in any particular way. As a matter of fact, my body and life style has completely changed since I've been sick. I must be careful about my meals, physical training and rest in order to do a live show. But indeed, this has been the same even before my illness.

Last year, a number of your labelmates (Calmando Qual, Tokami, LIV’ERT and MAJOLICA) disbanded. How has THE SOUND BEE HD managed to keep going for so long?

HIRO: I think we can positively overcome any unforeseen event because we trust each other.

You performed in Shanghai just a few days before Halloween last year. What was that experience like?

Yuu: It was truly a good experience. I went to many countries with my past bands but this was the first time that I travelled to an Asian country besides Japan for a live show so I was really looking forward to it.

If you could perform in any city in the world, where would you choose?

Yuu: Personally, there are countries that I would like to visit. However, if the opportunity arises to travel somewhere, I would like to go there actively. I am not waiting only for an invitation from an event, I think that we should go around steadily and organize a tour by ourselves, look for live houses, etc. We are a band capable of accomplishing such things, so please wait for it in the future.

To conclude our interview, could you please leave a message for our readers?

DaISUKE DARK SIDE: We will keep changing the unaltered from now on. I want to live spreading our music around the world.
Yuu: We are preparing to go abroad at any time, so please wait for us. Also, since you can listen to our music by mail order or downloads, please listen to us a lot!
YOU: This year I want to turn the whole world into zombies with our album WALKING DEAD. For that reason, I want to perform in many countries! Please spread the word about THE SOUND BEE HD in your country!
HIRO: Thank you for everything. I am looking forward to the day that we can meet in a live show. I hope you can still support us.

JaME would like to thank THE SOUND BEE HD and Royal Stage for this interview opportunity.

Below you can hear a preview of THE SOUND BEE HD’s new album, WALKING DEAD, which will be released on January 25th.