Zy 52: Arimura Ryutaro (Plastic Tree)

It has been fifteen years since Plastic Tree’s first CD release, Strange fruits -Kimyou na kajitsu-.This year they will hold Strange fruits -Kimyou na kajitsu-15 shuu nen・Tsuikai kouen (Strange Fruits 15th Anniversary, Looking Back), where we will be able to see how their music has evolved. (The live will be held in three places: Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. The Tokyo show will be in JCB Hall on May 3rd.) Our magazine had a personal interview with vocalist Arimura Ryutaro, and in this interview, we asked him to explain all of the songs in Strange fruits, keywords in the lyrics, and to analyze for us the origins of Plastic Tree once again.


Psycho Garden

This song was made right at the beginning. I remember we made it in a studio located near the Inage shoreline in Chiba. Tadashi played the intro with his bass and laid out the kind of song it was as he played. At that time, Tadashi played bass and sang in a studio. We got along really well with each other. It was the feeling of only A melodies. (smile)

That studio was rather large, even though it was located in the middle of town. It was quite a good studio. It was a very open area, and not many bands used it in Chiba. A good thing was that the studio had a white board and we could make songs on it as we came up with the compositions. Are the lyrics scary? (laugh) I didn’t know how to write lyrics. I just wrote what I imagined after I listened to the music. (smile)

twice

I put many ideas into this song. It was the first one I made. When Tadashi and I decided to make a band together, I had him over to my house to make songs. I just listened to the phrases Tadashi played and said, “They are good!” (laugh) It was really just like a friend coming to my home and playing guitar for fun. (laugh) But I remember that I was really moved because it was a very good song. (laugh) I think it took about three days to complete it.

And I also remember a pigeon died when we made the song. I'd found a pigeon during my part time job. It seemed to be injured. I went to meet Tadashi and said, “I have a pigeon at home.” But when we came to my house and opened the cardboard box where I'd put the pigeon, it was dead. (smile) So we went to bury it near my house...Then we made the song and it came out heavy and sad. (laugh)

Cream

I don’t remember it well, but I think maybe we made it in the studio. I remember this song became very long, so it was hard to write the lyrics. And I think of all the songs on Strange fruits, I sing the most in this song. In a way, this song is kind of the beginning of the band. The chaotic feeling that you feel really portrays the band as it was at that time. (smile) I think that you can really feel our youth in the music. There were so many things that we wanted to do.


For the full interview, please refer to Zy 52.
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