Kagrra, having had success with their European tour in August 2008, will proceed to do lives in Chili and Brazil in February 2009. Their music and image is the fusion of rock and traditional Japanese art, which keeps growing beyond borders into the world.
Please introduce yourselves.
Isshi: I’m the vocalist,
Isshi.
Nao: I’m the bassist,
Nao.
Akiya: I’m the guitarist,
Akiya.
Sin: I’m the guitarist,
Sin.
Izumi: I’m the drummer,
Izumi. Nice to meet you.
Last year in August, you had a European tour for the first time and it was a success. Congratulations. What are your impressions about the tour?
Isshi: Before we went there, I felt like my expectations and anxieties mixed, but after we came back, my impression can just be expressed by "I enjoyed it".
Were your preparations enough?
Isshi: No, we couldn't really do lives like we do in Japan, as there were limitations on bringing instruments and materials. We could bring a koto (Japanese stringed instrument) though, so I think we showed
Kagrra, with minimal resources.
Do you think you have more equipment than other bands?
Isshi: Uhn, I don't know.(laughs)
You traveled through five countries - Sweden, Finland, Holland, Germany and France, from North to South. Which country were you impressed by most?
Isshi: Each country had their own colors, so all of them were impressive, but I could feel the warmth of the crowd in Germany, France and Holland a lot.
The schedule seemed quite tight. Was it all right for you?
Isshi: Well, it was okay. (laughs)
Did you have time for sightseeing?
Isshi: We hardly had time for sightseeing.
Izumi: Concerning lives in overseas, we had experience of doing them in Hong Kong quite some time ago, but this time, it was our first experience to perform in those countries, so it was a totally different experience.
Was Europe different from Asia?
Izumi: It was quite different. The audiences, cultures and everything was different. Even in Europe, we performed in five countries, we felt that each place was different. However, the expectation that people were waiting for us in every country was so great.
Sin: When the first song started, the power from the audience and their expectation (feeling that they were waiting for us) was just awesome, I could hardly hear the drums. I've never experienced that, so I felt like "I can’t start the first song anymore". (laughs) For the second live, we made sure to raise the volume of the monitor at the beginning. (laughs) I was so surprised.
I guess there were more men than women in the audience?
Isshi: Well, there were quite many men, but still there were more women.
I heard even that in ballads, the audience was quite lively.
Isshi: Ah, yes. (laughs) That's one difference from in Japan. Well, we are okay as long as they are lively.
Sin: It doesn't mean that they don't listen to our music. (laughs) About that, I felt the same kind of thing when we went to the USA. It seems like people only listen to ballads quietly in Japan. I thought there isn't such a listening style in other countries.
Akiya: About the ways that fans enjoy the lives, Japanese do what others do; like they mimic what others do; but people overseas enjoy freely and individually.
Isshi waves a Japanese folding fan on the stage, and there were some people who mimicked waving their fans like him and some people enjoy freely as they turned away from the stage and drunk instead. (laughs)
In Japan, we can hardly see such people. (laughs)
Akiya: We don't see this in Japan. (laughs) People weren't shy and enjoyed it freely, I could feel that so much, which made me so happy. I enjoyed seeing them and felt happy to play. What's more, I didn't have any stress.
Nao: I enjoyed it too, it became a good motivation. They even sang our songs.
In Japanese?
Nao: Yes. We have a song named
Utakata, which they sang in every venue.
That means they understood the meanings of the lyrics.
Nao: I hope so. (laughs)
Did you feel traveling in Europe was much different from touring in Japan?
Isshi: Yes. The reactions of the audiences were various and there were different ways to enjoy it. In Japan, I wave a folding fan and there is furi(choreography) and people follow it, but people overseas seemed to have their own rhythms inside. Looking from the stage, they all seemed diverse, but I thought there was a sense of unity in enjoying the live so much. It was a strangely wonderful feeling.
Wasn't the way you did your lives different from what you usually do in Japan?
Isshi: Well, we performed in not such a different way from in Japan. However, we thought about the set lists to be able to make people understand
Kagrra, easily. We cared about that.
What was the strangest thing that occurred to you while being on the tour?
Isshi: I enjoyed it all around, so I don’t remember so much about any happenings. (laughs) However, not related to lives, we had one last day off at the end of the tour and we were in Spain.
After those lives, did you go to see Spain?
Isshi: Yes. We had one day off in Spain and had time to go sightseeing, then I had my digital camera stolen at a beach! (laughs)
Oh! Did you? Just like one of the simple tourists. (laughs)
Isshi: Well, I was just a simple tourist. (bursts out laughing)
Didn't you have any instrumental troubles?
Sin: When we came back to Japan, I found that the koto stand was lost. It’s gone even now. (laughs) In Japan, I use the other type which is heavier. I thought to bring a lightweight one so I got and brought it, then it was gone when we came back. (laughs)
Isshi, you held MCs in various languages in Europe. What made you decide to do this?
Isshi: At the end of last year, our company organized a live event. There, I asked my senior vocalist
HIZUMI of
D'espairsRay "How should I do the MC?" seeing as
D'espairsRay have done lives in Northern Europe quite often, so I asked him "How should I do the MC?" He told me "You should speak in local languages. Even if you can’t speak well, it will make everyone happy". So I thought it would be better if I spoke in each language, and I learned languages in each country every time, little by little, and did the MC.
There are five languages so far. Was it difficult for you to learn to speak in these languages?
Isshi: I think I could speak German quite well as I went there twice but French was difficult, as the pronunciation is hard.
When you spoke in each language actually on the stage, was there a reaction from the audience?
Isshi: Yes, there was.
Did you memorize all of it?
Isshi: No, I wrote it down on paper and read off of it. (bursts out laughing) As for MCs, there were several, so I thought memorizing all of them would be hard. (laughs)
You held autograph sessions in every country. What were these like for you? How did you feel about meeting your European fans so up-close?
Isshi: I thought they were quite active. (laughs) French people seemed more insistent and I was asked things like "Kiss me". (laughs)
Then, did you answer the request?
Isshi: Well, I was totally okay, but the coordinator stopped it and I thought, "Don’t stop it". (bursts out laughing)
Akiya: People in those countries were diligent. As they got to like Japanese artists, they learned Japanese first. When we listen to foreign artists, we won’t examine the lyrics so much, but they learned as much they could to speak Japanese and had conversations in the autograph sessions. I learned a lot from that. I think it's wonderful.
Nao: They were so pure. As we couldn't understand each other's languages, they had written it down on a piece of paper and showed it to us to get across what they wanted to say.
What are the things you have learned during the European tour, as a band but also personally?
Izumi: I have learned a lot but the best thing is that we could experience what we can't usually experience. While we,
Kagrra, keep our activities and keep building up our career, whether in Japan or overseas, we continue leaning new things too.
Did it influence your music at all? For example, the message in your lyrics would also be directed to overseas?
Isshi: On the contrary, as we are Japanese and the band has a strong sense of Japanese culture although we don’t rigidly stick to that, I thought we should make more Japanese things.
Sin: We don't change the fact that over creating something directed to overseas, we are creating something that we want to create as
Kagrra,. However, it was huge to be able to realize that there are people who are looking forward to us beyond the borders and the sea. I felt we are waited for. We have received fan mails written in various languages, but the feeling of the deep impression the first time we went there and were confronted with it was really huge.
Other than the concerts, what are you looking forward to in South America?
Isshi: I heard the audience is very warm, so I want to try not to be overwhelmed by their power. I think everything would be quite different from Europe. Most of all, I am wondering what kind of place it's going to be.
Is there anything you are really looking forward to, other than the lives?
Akiya: I have some wishes but I think it won't work because of our schedule. I want to go sightseeing anyway.
Izumi: I can imagine Brazil in my head but I can hardly imagine Chile, so I want to have a walk around there.
Recently miyavi played two concerts in Brazil. Have you had the chance to talk to him about his experiences there?
Sin: We don’t have many opportunities to see him, so I haven’t asked him yet. I want to ask him how it was, although I did hear about it from other people.
How is the music of Kagrra, made? While Isshi write lyrics, the composers and arrangers are written as Kagrra,, which means you all make songs together?
Isshi: Actually, the five of us write the original songs by ourselves, but the total production is usually done by
Sin.
Sin: And we do it in such a way that as we consult with the original composer, we make all of the parts together. Basically, the member who makes the original song brings his opinions mainly but it’s almost like each member makes each part.
Sin, from your profile it seems like you have a lot of knowledge about musical instruments. Are you especially interested in Japanese instruments?
Sin: I thought the koto was very cool when I listened to other people's CD, and thought "Can I put this into our music someday?" then I thought "Well, I’ll play it myself". It's not so strict really. What's more, as I make songs, I use a computer to make other sounds I want to put in.
Do you actually play shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) and biwa (Japanese lute)?
Sin: What I actually play besides guitar is only the koto. We invite studio musicians to play other instruments.
Isshi writes Kagrra,’s lyrics. Are you interested in Japanese old stories and Buddism?
Isshi: Yes. As I analyze myself, perhaps, Japanese old stories have had an influence on me and they still do nowadays. I like reading books. I don’t read Western books but read Japanese ghost stories, mysteries, and storybooks for children, and my roots are in such things.
Isshi, you also write books. Your stories are sad, beautiful, and make us feel nostalgic, just like the lyrical world of Kagrra,. We could feel an aesthetic sense typical to Japanese for fragile short-lived things.
Isshi: Yes. I like them.
Akiya, it’s written that you are fashionable and listen to various genres’ music?
Akiya: I listen to all sorts of music, and I don’t have anything I really dislike. Sometimes when I talk and I feel like something is rock, I get told "That’s pop." (laugh) Sometimes things are mixed in me like this. I like not only the new things but also old things, I like everything.
Do you put this into Kagrra,’s music?
Akiya: Yes, I put it in quite a lot.
Do you put the lyrics after the music is made?
Isshi: There’s no fixed pattern. In the case of my original songs, I have a theme from the beginning, so I sometimes write as they are but basically after I get the image from the original composer, I start writing them to create my own world.
Your sound has been changing quite a lot lately. Songs like [Guilty] are very different from your past works. Was this change something that came naturally?
Isshi: Until then, we didn’t have so many aggressive songs and I think that song belongs to our new part. I think this song is one that people would stir to at lives.
When each of you make songs, do you create from your definite images?
Nao: I think we all are different. In my case, I play guitar as it comes in my head spontaneously, then I make the melodies by piano.
So the ways of creating demo tapes are different for each member?
Sin: Everyone is different. It depends on the member. As for me, I sometimes make it from guitar lines, sometimes from drums loops, and sometimes from melodies. It’s quite different each time but I don’t have a fixed way which I follow, so I don’t feel we have changed so much, but listeners might feel we have changed.
In your previous album, Jin Nakamura did the arrangement for the song Shigatsu tsuitachi
. How did you get to know him?
Akiya: When we met
Jin, he was very interested in us and he had a vision that
Kagrra, would be better in a certain way, so we thought we could make something really good with him.
Jin Nakamura also produced EXILE and Kumi Koda, so we have an image he works for R&B styles, so it seemed a little bit unexpected to us.
Akiya: No, he also made Japanese style songs for
Kumi Koda and
Kou Shibasaki. He has extensive knowledge.
How was working with him? Songs which he arranged were changed quite a lot?
Sin: I thought it was awesome. We are a band as you know, so if we make music normally, we put drums, bass, guitar and vocals. But if it’s done from an arranger’s perspective, many things were put together, for example, about drums, I thought "How many tracks are those for?" (laughs) I learned a lot.
You’ll release your 5th album Shu
on April 1st. What is your image of the title Shu?
Isshi: This title has two meanings roughly. One is the meaning of 'rosary beads', and it means there are various songs in this album and we unite them with the thread named
Kagrra, into one circle. Another meaning is that 'shu' pronounced the same as 'shu' of 'curse' in Japanese, so I want the listeners to imprint
Kagrra, into them.
Surely, this album has a wide range of songs, such as bright pop songs, dark heavy songs, large-scaled songs, gentle Japanese songs, etc. Each song has its own world view, right?
Isshi: Yes. They are different ages, different countries, a great variety of songs.
Are the countries of songs different?
Isshi: They are. Well, that's just my image.
This Paraizo
is the Christianity terminology meaning paradise’, right? Did you imagine a foreign country?
Isshi: No, this isn't like that. This is Japan, but as you know, this word is from early Christianity in Japan, so it means the place where people can be released from bonds, roughly speaking.
Kikoku ShuuShuu
is such a large-scaled song. How did you imagine making this song?
Isshi: At first, I imagine China in my original song but I couldn’t study enough about the world view of the lyrics... (laughs)
You use many difficult kanji characters in the lyrics of this song.
Isshi: I thought to write all of the lyrics in a Chinese poem at first but I couldn't really make it easily yet. (laughs) I put the nuance on that side, as the music was also created with an image of China.
When I take a look at the lyrics in this album, there are some songs in which you see modern culture and humanity, ironically.
Isshi: I changed protagonists depending on the songs and there are lyrics which are not written from my view but from someone looking down, such as
Jusou for example.
This song is dark, isn’t it.
Isshi: It’s not from the view of a human, but not from someone who governs, so I want the listeners think about whose thoughts these actually are.
Subarashiki kana? Jinsei is also the song in which you see the modern world gloomy, but the tune is totally different from Jusou
. I think you haven’t made such a funky tune featuring wind instruments like this before. Is this your new experiment?
Isshi: Yes. We all think about "What's my life?" don’t we? Well... frankly speaking, this is a song of when we are drunk. (bursts out laughing)
Yes, I know, but if I said so, I was afraid I might sound flat. (laughs)
Isshi: (laughs) Well, but there is a part in which I think quite seriously.
2010 will be you tenth anniversary. Do you have any ideas for it already?
Izumi: We want to do something, though we haven’t determined yet exactly what.
Please give a message to your overseas fans.
Isshi: While
Kagrra, has been taken care of overseas a lot recently, if your calling voice is strong, we can go anywhere, so please listen to
Kagrra,’s songs and invite us to your countries.
Izumi: We’ll do lives in Chile on February 20th, and in Brazil on February 22nd. I want to go to countries which I have never been to and I also want to do lives once again in countries which we have been to, so please keep looking forward to
Kagrra,.
Sin: Thank you for always backing us up. We’ll work hard to be able to make new good works from now on, so please continue supporting us.
Akiya: We’ll devote ourselves to improve
Kagrra, to be able to make songs with which we can fulfill your expectations. Recently,
our MySpace, a communication tool for
Kagrra, is progressing, so I hope we can connect with you there.
Nao: I think it would be easiest for you to understand us if we went overseas and showed our lives matching our music, so as long as we could go, we would gladly want to do lives in your countries.
