– This time, we discuss BLESS, the first new single to be released in a year and a half, and also take a look back at 2009. Last August, you got some attention due to JACK IN THE BOX 2009 SUMMER. I heard you unveiled a new song there. Have you been spending your time writing songs?
[No. I’ve already got at least 10 new songs. Some years back, I was writing songs and saving them, writing songs and saving them. The song I performed, Roulette, is a song I wrote back in ’03. I’ve had it longer than Can’t stop believing (5th single, released March ’07), so it’s pretty old, actually. No releases, no lives, I haven’t worked on anything new. You know, I only have one album. And it’s under TETSU69 (Suite November, released November ’02). So yeah, I’ve got to do something new before it all gets old. Even still, I didn’t do all that much in ’09. I didn’t have any headlining solo lives. I didn’t release any solo work at all, you know. There was a L’Arc~en~Ciel DVD release, though. I didn’t do anything up on stage, but I was still busy. I spent the first half the year working on the L’Arc~en~Ciel DVDs, editing the LIVE in PARIS DVD and the Documentary DVD. It was a lot of work.]
– You do the editing yourself? What an amazing leader!
[I’m not doing it all by myself, of course, there are a lot of staff members working, too, on all these boring leader jobs. That’s what’s kept me busy, anyway.]
– I’ve heard editing live footage is very tiresome.
[It is (his eyes widen). It is such a bother! Putting decent footage together can be such a pain, really. Same with picking out the best cuts.]
– Do you enjoy working on this sort of thing?
[I do. I get to say “Didn’t we have a cut like that? Use that here.” and “We’re not using that cut for anything, right?” I remember so much detail, the director was surprised. “Wow, you’ve got a great memory!” he said.]
– For the technicians, it must be quite pleasant to have the artist work with them and take such an interest in what they do.
[I’m all about improvement. Improve, improve, improve. Do better, do better every time. I’m a picky perfectionist. I figure I must be a hard person to work with. I’m probably a pain. Because I’m so picky.]
– I know.
[(laughs) It takes courage and determination to work with me, I guess. I take everything seriously, you know. You have to be just as serious or it won’t work out. Lots of people try to escape. I ring people up as soon as I get an idea (laughs). “Dontcha think we should be doing this, instead of that?” Or like, if I’m driving around, and I happen to find a nice piece of open land, I might go “Hey, I found a really nice piece of land. Think we could have a summer music festival here?” (laughs) ]
– Speaking of which, I heard it was your idea to have a summer version of the JACK events that are usually held every winter.
[I’m pretty sure a lot of us artists were wanting to do it in the summer, I’m not really sure, but anyway, there was talk about having it in the summer for a long time before it actually happened.]
– You have planning skills for any occasion, don’t you?
[I just like doing that sort of thing. I’m the one who thought up the name JACK IN THE BOX in the first place, and I think of the whole show, about how to put it together and make it more interesting. I wanted it to be bigger. It’s an event for our label, but I didn’t want the sessions to be only for us, I wanted it to be flashy, more spectacular. I suggested putting the sessions in between the regular acts instead of sticking them all at the end.]
– You certainly spend a lot of time working behind the scenes.
[I’m a very fussy person. I just want every last detail to be perfect. Every detail. I make sure everything is just right. That’s all. When I write music, I pour my soul into it until I’m satisfied, and when there’s a show, I think hard about every element, and ask myself what the fans will enjoy, and then I just go and see to it that everything that needs doing is done exactly right. It’s got nothing to do with knowledge or experience. It’s a simple question of getting everything done right. That’s what gets results.]
– Why didn’t you release any solo work last year? I believe you’re keeping your fans waiting.
[Glad as I am to hear you say that, and grateful as I am to have even a handful of fans who look forward to my solo work, I think what people really want is L’Arc~en~Ciel, not my solo.]
– I am certain the fans will be delighted to hear that. Not that they don’t like your solo work, but many people will be happy to know you understand how they feel.
[I may be the leader, but that doesn’t mean I have complete control over L’Arc~en~Ciel.]
– As leader, you get the responsibility as well as the blame. I’m sure the fans understand your position. Now, let me ask you about INAZUMA ROCK FES. 2009, in which you appeared last September.
[Inazuma was pure joy for me. I was coming in from outside, so I didn’t have to worry about anything (laughs). It must have been a lot of work for Nishikawa-kun, though. There were food stalls backstage, just for the artists. I got to eat some Omi beef(1). It was wonderful. The okonomiyaki stands we had at summer JACK were pretty great, too~]
– Ahahaha. What were you up to in late 2009?
[Later in the year, I was working on BLESS, mostly.]
– It’s the theme song for NHK’s Vancouver 2010 broadcast, right? It’s a beautiful song.
[When I first heard it, the tempo wasn’t quite what it ended up being in the final version, but the melody was excellent; I knew we had something good. I’m very happy to hear you like it.]
– There’s a remarkable sensation, like a curtain being drawn, when the chorus begins. Was it present in the demo?
[No. In the demo, it just had a regular guitar intro and started with the A-melody like any other song, but then ken-chan had this idea that it should start off with the chorus.]
– Starting with the chorus isn’t exactly unusual, but this song doesn’t head off with a whole mouthful of chorus…
[It’s just a taste, just a taste.]
To bring out that L’Arc~en~Ciel feeling, I play my bass the way I drive.
– Right (laughs). That taste is quite superb. Then, you have the A-melody, which is lovely and gentle. Quite warm. It feels to me as though the drums and bass create a great flow of warmth; is that anything like what you had in mind, tetsuya-san?
[It is. For ballads, I play long bass tones, but if it ever got monotonous, then it wouldn’t sound like L’Arc~en~Ciel, so given this key and the tone of my bass, I made it a little, or rather, a lot, distorted, and anyway, I play my bass the way I drive.]
– The chorus goes on later in the song, but during the first chorus, the flowing bass sound feels very welcoming, and then comes the oboe to link it to the second chorus. The oboe tone struck me as quite powerful, playing alongside the band’s sound. After that comes ken-san’s signature crying guitar. That resonated for me, I felt as though I could cry, myself. After the third chorus comes the very long outro; it had me closing my eyes and drifting off in my head.
[We’re all pros, I think we can make a good song whenever we decide to.]
– I like the way the lyrics aren’t simple encouragement, but express a warm gaze. In competition, it’s natural to want to win, but when someone is cheering from the heart, it ceases to matter whether the athlete wins or loses, it instead becomes an expression of deep love. That’s how I felt, reading the lyrics. I felt the same thing listening to hyde-san sing them.
[Strictly speaking, when I was recording my bass part, the lyrics hadn’t been finished yet, but I put the same kind of feeling into my playing that would end up in the final version. The long way the athletes have come, the support from everyone around them; I don’t think there’s ever been a theme song that put the spotlight on that side of things before. There have been lots of cheering songs, though. It’s a theme song for the Olympics, but it’s also a song that I think non-athletes will appreciate, and get emotionally involved.]
– Indeed. By the way, do you watch the Olympics?
[I do. I watch soccer. They don’t play in winter, though (laughs). I guess I’ll watch the figure skating.]
– If you were going to participate, what sport would you pick?
[Maybe shooting. Wait, they don’t have that in winter, either. When I was little, I did some skating, so I guess I’d skate. Oh hey, it’s Vancouver, this year. I wanna go there to watch the games. I have relatives in Canada. My Grandma’s brother emigrated there.]
– Oh? That would make a lovely trip!
[Yeah. I think it’d be nice. The Vancouver Olympics. My Grandma is very happy about the theme song.]
– You wanted her to hear it, I’m sure.
[Yes.]
– Now, ROUTE 666 -2010- is your standard P’UNK~EN~CIEL number, correct?
[It totally wrecks any lingering feeling from BLESS (laughs). Our last single, NEXUS 4/SHINE, was a Double-Side-A release so we didn’t get to make a P’UNK~EN~CIEL track for it. I’m sure some people thought “Oh good, they’re done with that P’UNK~EN~CIEL thing,” but nope, we’re not gonna stop doing it! (laughs)]
– Ahahahaha. You’ve been doing it since ’04, I’d expect you have enough songs for a whole show by now.
[I know, right. We’ve got at least 10 songs, right?]
– Yes. This will be the 11th one.
[Oh. We can make an album now! Well. That’s been the plan this whole time, actually (laughs).]
– I will look forward to it! Now, this time, the track has an 80’s L.A. metal sound to it, it felt like a full dose of Mötley Crüe (laughs). It was a real treat for me, as a metal fan.
[Felt like Mötley Crüe, more like we turned into Mötley Crüe (laughs).]
– This one was arranged by YUKI P’UNK, yes?
[Yeah. We take turns, so yeah. Next time, it’ll be me. What should I go for?]
– You’ll choose the song, as well?
[That’s right. Everything, from picking the song through the arrangement.]
– I’m hooked on your vocals, now.
[But, I’m not even adjusting my key, I just sang it in the same key as hyde.]
– Even so, I’m completely hooked. Now, there was about a year and a half between this single and your previous one, so there must have also been long intervals where the four of you didn’t play together at all. Is it hard for you to switch between solo mode and band mode, or have you learned to adjust right away?
[Oh, we’re all used to that, by now. We’re even used to not getting together for long stretches, and I’m used to the differences between bass days and singing days, now. I guess it’s normal. We’re not like office workers, we don’t do a specific job at a specific time. Being L’Arc~en~Ciel involves doing all sorts of things at different times, and because there are so many things to do, we’re all used to switching between them and we can work with that, it’s nothing like as special as everybody seems to think.]
– Last December, you were a special guest at Ken-san’s Birthday Live at JCB Hall, as TETSUYA. The Vice Editor-in-Chief of this magazine said: “TET-chan sings low notes so beautifully. Singing suits him.” He quite approved.
[He should tell me so himself (laughs).]
– Indeed (laughs). Do you go to the studio to practice on your own?
[You know, I have this hobby room at home, there’s this room, and in there, I have a massage chair, and a screen for watching movies, and I have a karaoke booth in the corner, too (laughs). In my soundproof room, I have a JOYSOUND machine, just like the ones in karaoke boxes, the transmitter kind. I have this space where I can sing at top volume in the middle of the night, so that’s where I sing. For I solo, I don’t actually get together with the band to practice very often. Plus, for my solo, I don’t have the kind of budget L’Arc~en~Ciel gets. I have to stop being tetsuya of L’Arc~en~Ciel and go to a tiny rehearsal studio.]
– Well then, in closing, how do you want this year to go, for tetsuya?
[Let me see, I think I’ll be working behind the scenes a lot on things people can’t see, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be doing anything at all, so don’t get mad (laughs). I can’t announce anything yet, but I have a lot of things in mind. Everybody, look forward to it.]
If I don’t, then I’ll never be able to move on.
***********
In December 2009, it was announced that tetsu was changing his name to tetsuya. At first, I thought this was merely a whimsical change, simply done for the fun of it, and perhaps done to surprise people, as he is quite fond of a teasing style of entertainment. I was certainly surprised myself. Yet. As I listened to his words, I realized there was something more there: a strong and willful resolve.
Then came this interview. When I asked about the name change, his expression went blank. He had this to say.
[I had no idea that I would be changing my name from tetsu to tetsuya in 2009. This is something I needed to do.]
A name change unexpected, even for him.
[I lost someone very dear to me, and so I took up a piece of his name. There was a lot going on, and I decided I had to do this. Of course, I knew there would be mixed reactions. Some people think it’s too much, others think “Don’t carry on like you’re the only one hurting.” Other people think there’s no good reason for me to do this. But. I know I’m the only one who can. I want to do this. If I don’t, then I’ll never be able to move on.]
Mixed emotions flashed through his eyes with every word. Those who stand with the stoic and uncompromising tetsuya require a resolve every bit as strong as his, and a passion just as intense, if not more so. The person tetsuya holds so dear never backed down and always held his ground until he was satisfied. He was trusted wholeheartedly. Every day, he looked ahead and drove forward, for which all were grateful. When he was gone, I heard his family tell of the unsuspected ways in which he had been looking out for them; once again, I sensed hidden depths. He is the only one who can carry on that will. Therein lies the true meaning. This is what he was prepared to take on by changing his name. Yet, in changing his name, he will be affecting the band. He spoke with the other members and with the head of their label, as well as the staff members closest to them, and even had meetings with the head of the company, to explain his wishes. The members agreed readily, of course, and in all the meetings, not a single voice was raised in criticism.
And so tetsu became tetsuya.
I found his clumsy resolve quite fitting. I am surely not the only one. Memories, now engraved into his being, unfading as he faces the future and walks toward what lies ahead. Resolve, indelible as a tattoo. However, this is not a personal mark, so as not to forget him; it is much more a sign to others, so as to not let him be forgotten. That is the sign of his true self.
[I want this to be the first and last time I talk about the name change. But, I’m still going to talk about him. The saddest thing about dying is the idea of being forgotten. To never be talked about, to gradually fade from people’s memories, that’s the scariest thing, for me. I think that being forgotten is the worst thing that can happen to a person. That’s why I will never forget him, I won’t allow him to be forgotten. I want to keep talking about him, as though he were still here with me. That’s how I feel. As long as he’s a part of my name, he’ll go on as a part of L’Arc~en~Ciel.]
It may be a clumsy way to express love. Still. That, too, is a part of “tetsuya.” All of his memories. It is truly fitting. His choice, and his way of life. Surely, he, too, loved the clumsy side of tetsu, even as he tried to correct it.
I felt I had learned something of the importance of facing forward and holding on.
May the feelings come through clearly.
Interview: Takechi Naoko
Translated by Natalie Arnold
1. Omi beef is one of the three types of high-class Japanese beef. The other two, Kobe beef and Matsuzaka beef, are better known. Omi is the former name of Shiga. Go back.