Interview with THE EMERALDS during Fall Japan Night

After their performance at Anime Weekend Atlanta, old school punk, rock band, THE EMERALDS, returned to San Antonio, TX on September 21st. Even though this band is indies in Japan, they have built quite a name for themselves within the American audience, having toured with Japan Nite for a few years along with other tours. Luckily, during their short stay in the USA that weekend, JaME was able to have another opportunity to ask them some questions.


Thank you for meeting with us again! Please introduce yourselves.
Akio: I am the hottest drummer, Akio.
Osuke: I am the bass player, Osuke.
Kazuya: I am the time traveling rock 'n' roll guitar player, Kazuya.

Beginning with the band's origin, what made the three of you decide to become musicians?
Kazuya: We went to a rock 'n' roll high school together. Before we made our band, we were already friends. I wanted to create a band so I asked Osuke and Akio, "Do you want to join? Do you want to do it?" Then we started the band. Very simple story.

Your music has the sound of old school rock, why did you choose to perform this type of music? Have you experimented with other genres?
Kazuya: This is the type of music I love to play. I just can't work with other genres. I'm a guitarist and this is my first time to play both the guitar and sing the songs. It's really difficult to do both. I can't really do complex things. Then I decided to start from the simplest thing and I like my style; I don't want to change it.

Many know that the theme of your music is "love," but please share with us why your music revolves around just this theme and not others. What kind of songs or themes would you not write about?
Kazuya: There are many themes, but I like to write lyrics on just what I like. If I don't like something, then I just don't want to do it. Love is important for everyone. So that's why I only sing with this theme. I don't want to make songs blaming other people or angry songs. It's okay to have that kind of music, but I don't want to have that in our songs.

All bands have good times and bad times. Please tell us about a time when THE EMERALDS went through a rough time.
Kazuya: We started the band in 2002 and from 2002 to 2004 we couldn't do what we wanted to do since we didn't know ourselves. Other people noticed us struggling so we decided to take a break and re-evaluating what we wanted.

You've already toured the USA multiple times, how is this fall tour going thus far?
Kazuya: We're staying in the USA for a short time, and while we're here, we try to live a full life. It makes us excited and it's enjoyable. It empowers us and it excites us every time we come back.
Akio: There are many people who support us like Jonny (San Antonio organizer) and there's a person who works at a radio station who's trying to help us put our music on the radio. At our shows, we always try to get the audiences' email address so we can send information about upcoming albums and events. MySpace is very useful to make friends and share our music. We already started our MySpace before it became popular in Japan and already have 5000 friends. We have so many friends who we have a strong connection with such as Jonny all over the world. The internet helps with this communication and spreads our music.

THE EMERALDS have already performed in the USA for quite a few years; for bands who don't have that experience, what advice could you give them in performing in a different country that doesn't speak Japanese?
Osuke: Don't be afraid!

In a previous interview with JaME, you mentioned that you wanted to also perform in Europe; what is the progress on that? Do you foresee any performances there this coming up year?
Kazuya: We have had some invitations, but it was just bad timing so we couldn't make it. So we haven't had a performance there yet.

You've already released your album LOVE IS ROLLING this year. Please tell us what project you're working on next.
Osuke: We haven't released in Japan, yet, just in the USA. So now we're going to go back and try to promote in Japan, and Korea. We're working on promotional now.

Just for fun, tell us something about the band member sitting next to you?
Osuke: (Turns to Akio.) Don't drink too much! (Everyone laughs.)
Akio: (Turns to Kazuya.) I will always be thankful to you.
Kazuya: We're always together and if we have something to say, we always say it at that time, so it's difficult to tell him something right now.
Osuke: Yesterday, I also told Akio not to drink too much. (Everyone laughs)
Akio: The day before that, too. (Everyone laughs)

Please give a message to your international fans.
Kazuya: We think LOVE IS ROLLING is a really awesome album. Please listen to the album; you can get the album online, so it's easy to find. And if you like the album, please call us and we can go to your country! This will begin the first steps of an opportunity.


JaME thanks to Jonny Yen for making this interview possible, Nao Iwasa and Kanae Jitozono for translating, and of course, THE EMERALDS for taking time to answer our questions.