L'Arc~Compendium

For this 21st Anniversary New Year’s Special Edition, we naturally wished to have these two appear! tetsu, author of this publication’s longest-running monthly column, and Nishikawa Takanori! These two, ridiculously well-known for being remarkably close, kindly divulged all the deep details of their story, from their meeting and reunion to the present day! They also combined their columns into one special creation! This laughter-filled discussion is not to be missed!

—

1 – about first meeting

Both born in Kansai just one year apart – the two youths, both devoted to music, had been fated to meet over twenty years ago! However, tetsu and Nishikawa did not begin to deepen their private relationship until only six years ago. At present, they share a trusting relationship in which they can express their naked selves. Meeting and Reunion. What dramatic story do these words signal?

– tetsu

– Nishikawa

—

tetsu and Nishikawa were both born in the same part of Kansai, and they are very close in age. It is also clear that they are very close in their private lives, but it is also a fact that their first meeting took place over twenty years ago.

However, the truth is that the two of them did not begin seeing so much of each other in private until far more recently, after they had already achieved their present respective positions.

Humans. A relationship constructed in the wake of position and achievement is a rather discreet one.

“Does he really love me and spend time with me because of who I am as a human being, not only for personal profit?” Such questions can make a person sick.

Furthermore, since tetsu and Takanori are both humans standing in the admirable position of Artist, there is no doubt that the number of people who can ever truly be allowed into their hearts is harshly limited, above and beyond any limit we ordinary people may face.

In spite of that, when the plan to create this interview was finally realized, their faces clearly portrayed the trust that they share, even as the session filled with their mutual smiles and laughter.

While the two of them do share a relationship of mutual respect as artists, they also have a bond in which they can show the non-artist portions of themselves with each other. In which they are not obliged to smile. The expressions they are putting on display today; are these their true human faces? Upon wondering this, I remembered the stoicity which they are both prone to display when it comes to their music, reaffirming my respect for them.

It is mid-November, at a certain place downtown. They completed the pair photo session first, then Nishikawa did his solo cuts first. After that, he waited in this room until tetsu came in.

tetsu [Oh? Have you been in here this whole time?]
Nishikawa [Oh. You came～ That’s right, I’ve been right here. (laughs)]

With that laughter exchanged in the place of a greeting begins the transformation of the room into a space where they can let themselves be for a day. During the photo shoot, a cameraman had asked them to “Get about as close as you would need to be to hold hands”, upon hearing this, tetsu took hold of Nishikawa’s hand.

Nishikawa [Hold on! He didn’t tell us to actually hold hands! (laughs) Just to get close enough to. Don’t actually grab me! (laughs) We’re gonna get outed!]
tetsu [Ehh? What? Doesn’t everyone already know? Isn’t it about time we had a coming out party? The truth is, we are ………. yeah (laughs).]

His laughter enticed all the staff members present to join in.

As appropriate for this new year’s special, the cover page photos are gorgeous and auspicious, shot before a prepared sheet of velveteen. When shown the test shots that the cameraman had taken earlier,
[Wow! That looks so new years-ish!]
came the gleeful reply from both tetsu and Nishikawa.

How is it? Such a gorgeous cover page! Surely it is among the most appropriate of all cover pages for the new years season?!

Additionally, the two of them happen to hold two of the longest running columns in CD-Data’s history! Incidentally, tetsu’s monthly feature {tetsu’s press} has appeared 88 times, and Nishikawa’s feature {Abareru! Kokka Touitsu Kurabu Z} has appeared 55 times. And plus! Let us celebrate this 21st anniversary issue of the magazine with new decorations! The festivities begin with this very interview. These gravia of the special anniversary issue will of course reveal all the details of their meeting and reunion, proceeding all the way to the present, retracing the steps that have led them to this moment. Let the talk begin in earnest.

—

– May I start by asking about the way you first met?
Nishikawa [We met in Shinjuku, around 2-chome right?](1)
tetsu [Wrong. It was at that beach in Kobe.]
Nishikawa [What? Really?]
tetsu [Yep. D’you forget?]
Nishikawa [Ahahaha. Really? That was it? (laughs)]
tetsu [Yeah. What was do they call that spot again? For cruising? You know, that beach in Kobe.]
Nishikawa [Ahahaha. Reaaaly～ (laughs) Whatever could you be talking about? You are such a strange person (laughs).]

– Where exactly was it that the two of you happened to meet?
Nishikawa [Where exactly was it, anyway? Without mentioning the beach in Kobe, please.]
tetsu [Hahahaha. OK, the first time we met must have actually been in Osaka, right? Yeah, yeah, that’s it! In Umeda! At EST1 in Umeda, I went “Irasshaimase” at you.] (2)
Nishikawa [Oh wow, that sure brings back memories! EST1 in Umeda! Next to the thing next to Walt’s Dou, right?
tetsu [Right (laughs). By the way, I used to work at Walt’s Dou too, way back when. (laughs).]
Nishikawa [Oh, really? (laughs)]

– What is Walt’s Dou?
tetsu [Well you see, Walt’s Dou is a music shop. But when we met, I was working somewhere else, in an accessory shop that engraved DOG tags and stuff (laughs).]
Nishikawa [Back then, everybody who was anybody in any kind of heavy metal band worked in a shop like that! It’s so typical.]
tetsu [Yep. In all the shops, all the guy staffs were band guys, well musicians anyway, and all the girl staffs were dating band guys.]
Nishikawa [That’s how it was, back in the day. In Osaka, in Kyoto, all over Kansai really, if you were a band man then you had that kind of job. At Kawaramachi in Kyoto, you could walk into any shop and the staff would all be band guys. Me, I had a job in a shoe store, but I only got the job because a friend of mine, a band man working in a name tag shop like yours, helped me get it (laughs). Oh yeah! It was CRAZY DANGER NANCY KEN chan from Kamaitachi, he had that kind of job at a place on Shinkyougoku. (3)
tetsu [Yeah yeah yeah that’s right (laughs).]

– Kamaitachi! That brings back memories! Now if I remember right, back then, the music scene, the band scene, was much hotter in Kansai than in Tokyo. I’m from Nagoya, myself, but I admired the Osaka scene a lot more than the Tokyo one, honestly. LOUDNESS, 44MAGNUM, Earth Shaker, it was truly the golden age of Japanese Heavy Metal. (4)
tetsu [Yes indeed, it certainly was. The band scene is Kansai was so hot, back then.]
Nishikawa [Oh yeah. Yes, yes you might be right. I wonder how the Kansai rock scene is, nowadays?]
tetsu [Yeah, I wonder. Guess it’s gone down?]
Nishikawa [Guess so? You sure don’t see as many kids carrying guitars around, that’s for sure. Or maybe it’s just ’cause we don’t ride around in trains much, so we don’t see ’em? (laughs) But there’s an impressive number of DJs and dancers around, compared to back then, you know? Nowadays.]
tetsu [Guess so (laughs).]

– Nishikawa-san, you have said that you made a.b.s. – abingdon boys school – the way it is because you thought it was sad that the young musician population was decreasing and “wanted to create a cool guitar sound that guitarist kids would want to copy,” correct?
tetsu [No way～ Hold on a second! Nobody can copy those complicated songs of yours! (laughs)]
Nishikawa [Ahahahaha. You think? Yeah well, a.b.s. is a band for adults who take their goofing off very seriously (laughs). But I really did think that way about things when I first started up the band～. You know how these days, there are all these video sites where you can watch stuff? I like to go on there and watch videos of L’Arc copy bands; it makes me happy. Sometimes they upload vids that make me go “Wow, what country are these guys from!?”, it makes me so happy to see how much effort these people put into copying L’Arc songs. Of course I like to see that happen with my songs, too. So anyway, I started a.b.s. because I thought it would be cool to have a band like that.]
tetsu [Yeah, I see. Obviously, it makes me very happy too.]

– I’m sure it does. Now if I may bring the topic back around to your first meeting?
tetsu [Back then, this guy was in Luis Mary, calling himself HAINE (laughs). He’s HAINE! (laughs).]
Nishikawa [Hey～! (laughs) Why did your voice get so loud all of a sudden? (laughs)! Talk more quietly (laughs).]

– (laughs) Back then, it was “LUNA SEA in the east, Luis Mary in the west”, as they said.
tetsu [Did people really say that? (laughs)]
Nishikawa [Um, yeah, back then we were sorta rival bands, so yeah I kinda think people did say that. Livehouses in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kansai would all fight to schedule one of us, so our tours ended up being at the same time. We spent a lot of time together back then. Their band name wasn’t even LUNA SEA like Moon and Ocean yet, it was still LUNACY as in crazy. Oh man, I sound like a walking encyclopedia right now, don’t I? (laughs) So yeah well, anyway, back then, I got introduced to tetchan through a mutual friend. That was exactly around the time that Luis-Mary was talking about going major and having our debut, but at the same time I was feeling really uneasy about it, my own band, and I wondered, “Is this really OK?”, I kinda wanted to start everything over from scratch, and if I could have just found members that wanted to start from scratch with me, I really would have gone back to zero. And yeah, that mutual friend of ours was a guitarist, and I had talked with him about how it would be nice if we could do that together, and he went “Hey I know this good bassist, actually,” and he had his eye on this guy so he suggested that I come along to meet him and so we went to EST1 and it turned out that it was tetchan.]
tetsu [Back then, that guy was pretty well known around Osaka, for being the guitarist of his band. The drummer of that band had been a friend of mine since high school, and I’d been in a band with him before, actually.]
Nishikawa [Oh, that’s right. Small world, eh?]
tetsu [At the time Luis-Mary was super well-known all over Kansai, so that day, I was all like “Oh wow, it’s HAINE from Luis-Mary!” Really, I was. I seriously thought “Wow, if I start a band with this guy, I could debut right now!”.]

– I take it you never got together as a band?
Nishikawa [Right. Even though I really wanted to make it with you.]
tetsu [What are you suggesting! (laughs) One day, randomly, I was just watching TV when I heard that Luis-Mary had their debut already, and I went “What the…. He already had his debut all lined up! He went and moved to Tokyo! Meehh～” (deep sigh)]

-tetsu

– I see, Nishikawa-san, you’re a traitor, after all.
Nishikawa [Nonononono. (laughs) I am not!]
tetsu [But you know what, it could be because of this that I was able to work so hard. I thought “Dammit～ I wanna get there too!” and worked harder for it.]
Nishikawa [I wanted to get in touch with you for so long, but then I lost track of that guitarist friend, and so I couldn’t get in touch with you, tetchan, and you slipped away. But hey, it wasn’t much longer until tetchan started up L’Arc, and you guys were playing at Namba Rockets, right? (5) When I went back home I dropped by Rockets and saw those flyers posted, and I went “Woah! I know that guy!”]
tetsu [Considering how much makeup I on for those flyers, how could you tell it was me? (laughs).]
Nishikawa [Hahahaha. I just knew. It was still the original lineup, and I could just tell it was you, tetchan.]

– When did you finally reunite?
tetsu [Reunite? When did we meet again? What song was it again? It must have been around the time I released my solo album, so sometime in 2002. I was going on a TV show and was waiting around backstage. That was it.]
Nishikawa [So that means it’s been about six years, already, since we met again. Wow, time sure flies. So that time, I was talking with a mutual friend about how we’d met years and years ago, but I was so sure that you’d have forgotten all about me so I didn’t have the guts to talk to you directly.]
tetsu [No way, I was thinking the same thing. “There’s no way Nishikawa-kun could remember me.” ‘Cause, yeah, Nishikawa-kun had been in Luis-Mary and debuted, and then became T.M. Revolution, I knew all that from TV and magazines, but I thought that to him I was just this random band man that he’d met a couple of times in Osaka; I figured you wouldn’t have put together that tetsu from L’Arc was that guy, was me. That’s why, even though we’d been on lots of programs together, I’d never spoken to you.]

– You both thought that way?
Nishikawa [Yes, yes. I was so worried about saying something weird to him that I never even said hi.]
tetsu [But then one day, one of our mutual friends told me that Nishikawa-kun had been talking about how we knew each other from way back when. That’s how I knew, “Wow, he remembers me!” and so about six years ago when we were on that program together, that was the first time we actually talked so that was our reunion. And it just so happened that we had some other chances to meet up, and on Music Station we even got to go on together and talk about the fact. I said “This guy betrayed me,” to Tamori-san (laughs).]
Nishikawa [I’m telling you, I never betrayed you! (laughs) You’re wrong. (laughs) How many times do I have to tell you before you’ll believe me? (laughs)]

– It did take a long time for you to meet again (laughs).
tetsu [Yeah. It really was an awfully long time (laughs). You know what, there’s a select clothing shop that we both like to go to during our private time, and we’ve even run into each other there.]

– Ah, I can see why. You both have very similar tastes, you wear a lot of the same things.
Nishikawa [Yeah, yeah. I like MANIAC’s stuff a lot too, I wear it a lot (laughs) Their select shops are pretty big and they carry all the main brands I like; you could say we like the same stuff (laughs).] (6)
tetsu [But you know, this one time the store’s lighting was was kinda dark, so I couldn’t make out faces clearly, and I thought there was this guy staring at me the whole time I was in there but it was just Nishikawa-kun. (laughs)]
Nishikawa [Yeah, yeah (laughs). But I really had been thinking about you that whole time, tetchan. Just when my band started sucking and I quit, that was when L’Arc debuted and took off, and this is kinda repeating what you said before, but it made me go “Wow, I’ve gotta work harder” and really stimulated me.]
tetsu [I see. So then you got to regret the way you dumped me and ran off to Tokyo, at least a little bit.]
Nishikawa [Like I said, you’re wrong (laughs). I never meant to dump you, or betray you (laughs).]

– But time passed, and the way you were able to meet again shows that you have some kind of destiny together, right?
Nishikawa [Yes. Having a photo shoot together and reminiscing like this, it feels kind of strange but it’s fun; it really does seem like destiny.]

-Nishikawa

– One rarely hears of people who became such close friends well after reaching adulthood. Not to mention that in this business, everyone has to put up their boundaries, it can be very difficult to meet anyone with whom to relax and be natural, correct?
tetsu [You can’t show your true colours much. But you know… Oh man, I’m letting on way too much (laughs).]
Nishikawa [But you know, I think that for both of us, no matter how close a relationship we might have with other people, we still couldn’t show our true colours the same way we can to each other. Isn’t that wonderful? (laughs) It is.]
tetsu [Yeah (laughs). Because there’s something nobody else knows about us, and we know each other that way (laughs).]

– But, indeed, from the moment you walked into the room, tetsu-san, and the two of you started to talk, the entire space seem to shift, heartwarmingly; I can feel it on my skin.
Nishikawa [Really? (laughs) Ah, this is bad, we might get outed!]
tetsu [You mean, as in the true nature of our relationship? (laughs)]
Nishikawa [Yeah (laughs). Back during the photo shoot you just took my hand without even thinking, didn’t you? (laughs).]

– Alright, alright (laughs). It’s simply that every time I hold a music-related interview, I naturally see the artist side of you, which means I meet the stoic, professional side of you, but this time, while of course you are here as artists, I feel that your true characters are being better represented, even down to the expressions on your faces.
Nishikawa [Yeah. when tetchan is around, I can relax. It’s kind of like what you said before, about how in adulthood, you have a much harder time trusting people, but with tetchan around I feel at ease. And he makes me want to show a little bit more of my true colours to everyone else. But it’s not like… It’s not like I would never do it otherwise (laughs). It really feels like I’m about to reveal everything, now (laughs). Oh, and it feels like I’m going back to how I was back when we first met.]
tetsu [I guess I feel the same way. It’s true, when we’re together I feel so grateful that I’ve been able to find someone that I can really be myself around. But sometimes, I think “Okay hold on, you don’t need to be THAT natural around me!” (laughs).]

– I’m jealous. I wish I had someone like that.
tetsu [I’m sure you do. I really want to treasure this destiny bond.]

Interviewer not identified.
Translated by Natalie Arnold

1. Tokyo’s pre-eminent gay district. Go back.

2. Recently renamed to simply EST, it is the shopping mall in Umeda, the north part of Osaka, where tetsu used to work. The shop he worked in still exists. Go back.

3. Kawaramachi and Shinkyougoku are both famous shopping streets in Kyoto. Kamaitachi was a rock band that existed from 1985 to 1991.Go back.

4. See: Tetsugaku Chapter 05 – Influential Music Go back.

5. Namba Rockets is a tiny live house in Osaka that was L’Arc’s home base during their indies era. Go back.

6. MANIAC WORKS , a brand tetsu is often seen wearing lately. Go back.

The seven-coloured rainbows that arch through his eyes, on occasion, seem to sparkle as though they were crossing the glistening horizon of hidden seas; on others, to pierce their target like ferocious, manic stormclouds. Vocal, hyde : he guides band and people into a promised land.

—

“Good afternoon.”With this slight greeting, hyde seated himself, his hunched back suggesting that he was collecting his light body close to himself. Before him like a paper cup filled with coffee that he had poured himself, along with his lighter and cigarettes. His personal interview carries the air of the commonplace. It has been nearly a month since the beginning of the current tour. Today, on which they have crossed the Seto Ohashi Bridge to `the next city’, hyde’s interview begins with the same air as always.

—

All notes in {<- } format are from the interviewer/editor and were present in the original Japanese.

– How have you been lately?
hyde [You want to know how I’ve been… *Cough, cough cough* (he coughs)]

– Uh oh. Are you alright?
hyde [Lately… Well actually I’m a bit better now than I was… Right when the tour started I came down with a cold. …A really long cold. These past couple of days, I finally got rid of my chill. Now, all I got left is this cough. The worst part was when I’d get into my futon and then break into a massive sweat. I went to the doctor but they couldn’t help, I took medicine and it didn’t do any good. It’s my own body, but like…. I don’t even like it anymore, but I can’t do anything about it. But oh well, it hasn’t hurt my throat. If nothing else, I take good care of my throat, so there haven’t been any lives where I couldn’t sing, and I don’t think there ever will be. Lives put a lot of stress on my body, so it’s important that my voice be in good condition. So yeah, as long as I’ve got my voice, everything else is just brute strength getting me through the fire. And mentally, it’s a great high. It’s just that some days, I’m all like “Oh man, am I ever in awful shape today,” you know. I get so dizzy during the lives, it gets me thinking “One of these days I will definitely pass out. Passing out sounds like fun.” (laughs) But I’ve been just fine. Afterward its like “Oh so I guess I’m not gonna pass out after all.”]

– Your body was in better shape than you thought?!
hyde [Yeah, pretty much. (laughs) … The last thing I want to do is make a bad impression on the fans. I don’t want to have to tell them in an MC that I can’t do my best because I caught a cold, and I don’t even want them (the audience) to notice I’m sick during the live. It would just really annoy me to have them thinking “Oh, I guess he’s not as cool as we thought he was”. Because I’ve thought that myself, when I go to other people’s lives. Like, if they don’t think that much of the audience. They just stand around, doing the live like it was a rehearsal in a studio. So the live isn’t fun or even interesting. I do not want to do that to my fans. Cause, you know, it’s no fun. It’s pride; lives are Pride. Because, in this business, more than any other aspect of the work, lives are when we can show off the best of ourselves, that’s what I believe. To be thought badly of at that point, it’s really beyond annoying to me. That’s why I always give 100%, no matter what condition I happen to be in.]

– Precicely because it’s the aspect you have the most self-confidence in, it forms your Pride.
hyde [Yeah. I do have lots of self-confidence that way, and well, if a live goes wrong then what else have I got? You know? I really do think that way. I have to be cool, that’s the important thing.]

– During lives, are there particular moments when you think of yourself as cool?
hyde […… (silence) …… Sometimes, as a result. Looking at the videos or pictures (of the lives) I’ll realize “Oh yeah, I did that thing.” I don’t think to myself “I am cool” during the actual live. It’s more “Gotta work, gotta work it,” or “I should still have some (energy) left in me.” I feel like I should be giving it everything I’ve got, every live. Sometimes I just do it naturally, sometimes I have to talk myself into doing it.]

– That’s incredibly honest of you.
hyde [….I guess it is.]

– For instance, I was going to ask you if you ever felt at one with the audience, but instead I want to hear more of this honesty, if you don’t mind.
hyde [Ah…… Let me see…….. …. … Um, I don’t know. …. It’s just, you know, on the inside, I have this idea that lives need to be aggressive or else they won’t be any good. …… Well, every day when there’s a live, I think about giving it all I’ve got. I don’t think about the next live, or about the tour being two-thirds over, or anything like that. I may not know what the next day will bring, but I do know that I’ve got to put all of myself into what I’m doing right this moment.]

– This tour has you getting up in super-crowded sold out stadiums for each and every live. Do you ever feel that it’s any different from your previous tours?
hyde […Of course it is. It always feels a little different when it’s not sold out. When the place is jam-packed, that in itself builds up a feeling of anticipation, makes me think I’ve got to give them all something in return. It’s my Duty. It’s linked to what I said before, about how I want to give it everything I’ve got and for everything I can possibly do.]

– I see. So then, do you feel that there is some kind of huge, invisible power underlying the sold-out lives?
hyde [….? What are you talking about?! (laughs)]

– My apologies (laughs). To put it as simply as possible, I meant to ask if you think there is some kind of unseen power lying in the fact that there are far more people who wanted to come to live than people who actually were able to do so. This isn’t limited to lives; I think that this invisible power is already present everywhere. It’s the power that comes with the name of L’Arc~en~Ciel, and all your activities. Do you ever feel any kind of unease with respect to this power?
hyde [……I don’t feel any unease. …And well, you know, when it comes to indirect information like that, I think it always ends up getting twisted somehow. If I were to pay attention to every single tidbit, there’d be no end to it. Personally, I think truth is in every passing moment. And then after that, the information that we give out ourselves, in magazines and stuff, that’s truth too, but only that. From outside the venue, thinking about what kind of live is going on inside, well that’s nothing but imagination. And because it’s imagination, there can never be end to how far it extends…]

– Truth is everything, then.
hyde [Precisely, and that’s also why I feel that I ought to make that true moment as perfect as possible, these days. On the other hand, lately I’ve been caring about all the other stuff (other than the truth) less and less. Looking back, I think that I used to care about all the trivial stuff around us a lot more.]

– How far back are you looking?
hyde [By looking back I mean… maybe a year or two ago.]

– Let’s change the subject. How do you feel about travel?
hyde [Traveling… Well well…. I’ve been like this (i.e. sick with a cold) since the recording just before (the start of the tour) so yeah. I’ve hardly been able to do anything at any of the towns we stopped at. I slept right through Hiroshima. I’ve just been staying in my room, making them bring me okonomiyaki. That’s all. Except when we’re moving.]

– With your health in such a poor state, rather than moving, it would be better to say that you are being moved.
hyde [Yeah yeah yeah. Like, they’re delivering me (laughs).]

– Delivery! (laughs) …. I can just about picture it, though it might somewhat pathetic. Sorry.
hyde [It is (laughs).]

– So, this traveling hasn’t been much fun, or much of a chance to relax for you, has it?
hyde [Ummm…. I wouldn’t say that. We all go for long stretches without going home, so it really feels like “Hey, I’ve gone a really long way” or “Hm I wonder where I am right now.” The problem is my MCs (during the lives). Even if I’ve been to the place before, it’s not like I was there to play. I just stay in my hotel room, the entire time, so I can’t go “Last night I went out and this funny thing happened.” I can’t say “I caught a cold so I spent all of yesterday in my room, sleeping” either. If I said something like that, all I’d get would be their (the audience’s) sympathy.]

– Indeed. If you said that, they’d reply “Are you OK?!” “Hang in there!”.
hyde [If they started sympathizing with me, then it’s a guarantee that they wouldn’t be as excited anymore. So yeah, I don’t have anything left to say. (laughs) When I get to the venue, I ask the local staff about famous things in the area, so I can at least talk about that.]

– If you were well enough to go out, it would surely be more enjoyable.
hyde [Yeah. It would definitely be different. … I really, really haven’t gotten to go out in any towns. Maybe out to a video rental store, at most.]

– You went to a video rental store? And, did you rent a video?!
hyde [Yeah. Cause you know, some days, like today, we don’t do anything except travel. When that happens, we usual get to the next hotel around 3 or 4 in the evening. And then, well, I don’t have anything else to do until night, personally. I just stay in my futon and sleep. I could read or something, but that just makes me tired. I’d rather get info from the TV, that’s easier. That’s why I spend all day watching videos.]

– That’s nice. A few months ago, you mentioned that there were several videos that you wanted to watch, but you didn’t have the time, so I suppose you must have found the time by now.
hyde [Yeah. I watch everything I want to see.]

– It’s the All-you-can-watch video tour.
hyde [All I can watch. I spend eight hours straight watching videos.]

– Continuously?
hyde [Yeah. Four movies.] { ←　Precice, for once}

– No way!? That sounds like an endurance race to me.
hyde [Before that I watched three movies in six hours.]

– Unbelievable. You wanted to watch those videos that badly?
hyde […More like, I had absolutely nothing else to do. (laughs)]

– Were they any good?
hyde [Uh…. (He stops to think) `The Fifth Element’, that was a good one. That girl, Mila, who stars in it, she’s pretty cute. ….Doing that, taking all that time just to watch videos, makes me realize that when we’re on tour, I actually have more time to myself than I do when we’re at home. On the day of a live, there’s tons of stuff to do, so of course I’m busy, but on the travel days I have a lot of free time. But the things I can do are so limited you know!? (laughs) In the end, watching videos is pretty much all I can do (laughs).]

– Do you think that, more than most people, you feel that you don’t want to waste your time?
hyde [I wonder about that. I guess that since I’m in this business, that’s the sort of thing that would bother me. Nowadays, you know, I just normally try to make lots of time for myself, taking things where normally don’t pay much attention and trying to do them according to some kind of plan. I think that it probably gets expressed all over the place in a lot of tiny ways. Then I take all that time I’ve made for myself and spend it all doing whatever it is I really feel like doing that day. So, even if I just use the time to space out, I still think it’s worth it. I think so because I’m doing it for myself.]

– If it was your free time right now, what would you be doing?
hyde [I want to take a walk downtown. …And then I want to watch a movie.]

– At the cinema?
hyde [Yeaaah, or on video. Whichever.]

– And the conversation shifts back a topic ….. I guess it’s not enough yet.
hyde [……………Yeah. (Nodding off)]

– I see. (laughs) Well then, what is the thing you want most right now?
hyde […….Peace and quiet.]

– And how long would you have that peace and quiet last?
hyde [Uhmmm….? Lessee. ….Let me think. ….. A year or so… Maybe two years ……. something like that.]

– One last question, and its the one I’ve been asking everyone. How do you think the other three members have been, lately?
hyde [They’re pretty delicate people, you know, those three. So, when it comes to lives, they’re pretty random. The rest of the time, they…. They look like they’re having fun, and I really wish I was healthy right now (laughs).]

Words – Itou Aki
Translated by Natalie Arnold

In order for the band to go on being as they are, he, with his bottomless clever gaze, soundly stacks the Present as a base from which to draw in the Future. What could be the object of his gaze, there beyond the rainbow? Bass, tetsu : The man who fixes rainbows with his sharp gaze.

—

“Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve done an interview that wasn’t for a promo.”

He murmured these words just after our interview’s end. The sound nearly drowned in the squeaking of the pipe chairs on the floor, yet it was unmistakably a murmur from him, from tetsu-kun. The words he pronounces can, on occasion, drive themselves like a wedge deep into the ground, long remaining within me. Why – It was precisely what I had understood myself, without being able to put it into words. “Interviews like this one are precious, aren’t they!?”
– That day, I understood the words, but I am still awaiting their meaning.

—

All notes in {<- } format are from the interviewer/editor and were present in the original Japanese.

– How have you been, lately?
tetsu [Hahaha. (laughs) Is that the theme?!]

– Yes, it is.
tetsu [Lately… Lately, I’ve become a traveling performer, as you can see.]

– Because you’re in the middle of a nationwide tour. Have you gotten accustomed to the rhythm of travel yet?
tetsu [I guess so. Well I guess I can’t say that I’m not used to it… But, I just don’t always know where “here” is going to be today.]

– You mean, you don’t know where you are?
tetsu [Yeah. ….Seriously, where am I right now?! (laughs)]

– Shikoku. {← Actually, he still isn’t sure about that.}
tetsu [(laughs) It really feels like Shikoku, I figure that part out myself. But, I mean “When did I cross the bridge today?”] (1)

– You came across from Honshu, so you’re talking about the Seto Ohashi Bridge.
tetsu [You’d think so, but… (Turns to his manager) Was it pretty? The scenery.]
Manager [Yes, it was.]
tetsu [Waahhh. Man, somebody should have woken me up.]

– Hahahaha. (laughs) You’re shouting.
tetsu [You know, I’m stuck in warp mode. This morning, I was in a hotel in Okayama, but then I realized I was in front of a hotel over here. …You know what, I got into pretty good shape for the sake of this tour, so I’m really healthy lately, actually.]

– More than when you’re living in Tokyo?
tetsu [Yeah. I think I’m even getting more sleep than I do in Tokyo. Well, I’m going to bed pretty late, compared to normal people. But I get lots of sleep. Yesterday I was working on my back stomach and back muscles, by doing push-ups in my hotel room.]

– You’re on fire.
tetsu [I am on fire!]

– Were previous tours also like this?
tetsu [Before, I used to goof off a bit more. By goof off, I mean that I’d go out and enjoy the towns we went to. I’d go out on the town and walk around. Go shopping and stuff. Back then, I had that kind of free time. This time around I don’t have anywhere near that much free time. We get to the venue on the day of the live, play the show, then head to the next place right away, so we spend the whole next day traveling. By the time we get to the next place, every single shop is already closed. Yesterday we had a show in Kurashiki, but I hardly set foot in Kurashiki city. And on top of that, we’ve been driving around in a car with curtains over the windows, so I don’t even get to see the streets, or any kind of scenery at all.]

– Hmmm, I see. You visit these places, without seeing them..
tetsu [It’s pretty sad, isn’t it.]

– What do you normally do to pass the time in your hotel room, or while you’re on the road?
tetsu [I sleep, you know, in the car. …In the hotels, I watch movies.]

– The movie channels on the hotel TV, right?
tetsu [That’s right. But not porn, though.]

– I didn’t ask. I didn’t ask (laughs).
tetsu [(laughs) But, somehow, the manager seems to have misunderstood me, thinking I must be watching porn because I watch the pay channels!]

– So, you should point out the mistake. Right here. Loudly.
tetsu [That’s right. You’re WRONG!]

– You’re shouting.
tetsu [Why would I watch videos? I’d rather do the real thing…]

– Is that why you train your back and stomach with those push-ups?!
tetsu [That’s right. (laughs) …But, really, that’s pretty much all I do, watch movies. Jurassic Park, Bad Boy, Liar Liar… Those were all interesting ones.]

– Do you watch a lot of movies, then?
tetsu [I do. They’re all on video though. The last movie I saw in a cinema was probably Titanic.]

– How was that?
tetsu [Hm, it wasn’t really that good.]

– Oh, is that so.
tetsu [Yeah. You know, it seems that whenever there’s a movie that everyone else says is great, I end up not liking it. About a year ago, there was a movie, and a friend told me “It was so touching! You should definitely go see it,” but when I saw it I thought it was awful, to the point that I got more and more upset while I was watching it. “What’s supposed to be so great about it? It sucks it sucks it sucks it sucks.” And then, I even got mad at the friend who recommended that movie. “What were you thinking when you told me to go see that?” Which is what I was thinking the whole time, in the cinema. Titanic was like that, too. Everyone kept saying “You should definitely go see it with someone you like,” and I was all “Ehhhhh?!”. There were some emotional moments here and there, but it wasn’t as great as everyone was making it out to be.]

– But, I think it’s great that you actually go to see these movies, even though recommended movies don’t usually work out well for you.
tetsu [I do go see them. I like to stay on top of what’s popular. And I have to see things for myself. That way, I’m learning about marketing.]

– Do you enjoy that sort of thing? The marketing?
tetsu [Enjoy… Obviously, whether it’s making music or going on tour, it’s important to know how to link it all to the way the world really works, or else everything fails. I don’t want to fall behind the times, but I don’t want to just chase the latest trends either. I do think marketing is important. But you know… In my case, things are a little bit different.]

– Well then, could you say, when it comes to movies for example, that it’s not just a little bit different but rather that your tastes are completely different from the mainstream?
tetsu [Yes. (laughs) I’m obviously different from the average person.]

– So do you have any thoughts related to your nationwide sold out tour?
tetsu [Hmmmm…. It’s beautiful.]

– Anything else?
tetsu […..Hm? ….No.]

– I see.
tetsu [Well you know… I don’t think too much about the present. It’s not good to focus on what’s right in front of your eyes. It’s better to look about five steps ahead.]

– That’s common advice in shogi and other board games, isn’t it? (2)
tetsu [Yeah, yeah. Yesterday, I went to some kind of bar, and they had an othello game, so I played othello. If you don’t think ahead, you always lose the game. People who can’t play the game, lose the game.]

– How did your game end?
tetsu [My game? I won. I managed to capture all four corners. (laughs)]

– It sounds like you have a knack for planning ahead.
tetsu [My opponent was constantly making moves that could be reversed right away. Watching him, I was thinking “Okay so he can see that this move will get him the most pieces right now, but a few turns from now I’ll just capture them all back. I wonder if he can see that.” It’s the same kind of thing. Right now, (the band) is a major success and we’ve got sold out shows all around the country, but that’s exactly why we need to take extra care. We need to think about how the world will change around us. …In war, you constantly need to be looking at least two or three steps ahead, or you’ll lose. That was something Char said. (3)]

– If that’s what Char says, then…
tetsu [Yeah. You know, I’ve always taken things at my own pace, I’m very down to earth that way, and I just want to go on doing that. I’ve always worked as hard as I can, and I still do. It’s just that before, no one would turn around and notice what I was doing, and now they do. So when someone says “Wow, you’ve really worked hard and done all these cool things,” I think “What took you so long to notice?”]

– You could think of it as a simple case of having different people around you.
tetsu [Ah… Yeah, I suppose that could be it.]

– Now, let’s move on to a completely different topic. I’d like to ask how your private life has been, lately.
tetsu [I’m recharging.]

– What does “recharging” mean, in your case, tetsu-kun?
tetsu [It’s life support… It makes me happy… Lately, people have been telling me that my expression seems a lot more friendly. Even the cameraman at a photo shoot said that to me. …Actually, I’m a very straightforward person. You could call me childish, or clumsy. I’ll just start smiling again right away.]

– Indeed. And what do you think of yourself being that way?
tetsu [I’m a bit too obvious, I think I’m a bit of a moron (laughs). But you know, I used to be bad at laughing. When I was a kid, I hardly ever laughed at all. And I was being cool, so no matter what happened or what I saw, I hardly reacted. I thought everything through and always came up with the downside of things right away. When I started doing this job, I didn’t laugh much either.]

– It seems that a lot of bands appear cooler when they don’t laugh or smile.
tetsu [There is that, yes. Well, you sure don’t see any punk bands standing around grinning. But we aren’t a punk band, so isn’t it kind of disturbing? Well, it’s not like we have to smile and laugh. I don’t like my smile. That’s why, even if they take smiling pictures, I never let them use them (in magazines), never ever. I’ve never liked to see my own smiling face.]

– I wonder why?
tetsu [It’s because I’m not smiling in my heart.]

– Wow, such harsh words to turn against yourself.
tetsu [Hahahahaha (bursts into laughter). But these days I laugh a lot. Yes. …I guess I could say, that I’ve learned how to smile. Anyway, I’m recharging in my private life, and I live by making music in this band of four.]

– Do you like to see yourself smile, now?
tetsu [I guess. …More than I used to. … Something like that. …It’s really just a recent thing, I’ve just barely gotten to be this way. Just barely gotten to think of myself this way.]

– Then, can you tell me what has made you laugh the most, lately?
tetsu [……….. (long, long silent pause) …. ….. What could it be!? I have no idea.]

– Could it be that there are too many things to choose from!? (laughs)
tetsu [There have definitely been a lot of things.]

– …………………. {← Epic Fail}
tetsu [No, I really don’t now.] {←Then, the interviewer appeared to want to attack him, or perhaps simply to challenge him.}

– When do you feel happiest?
tetsu [That would be when I’m shining.]

– As a last question, could you say something about how the other members have been doing?
tetsu [I have no idea (laughs).]

– I see, that’s where it comes from (laughs).
tetsu [I told you, I have no idea.]

– You seem strangely happy though.
tetsu [… I have no idea about that, either. (laughs)]

– You really have nothing to say about the other three?
tetsu [Not a thing (laughs). Well, how am I supposed to know how they’ve been, anyway?]

Words – Ito Aki
Translated by Natalie Arnold

1. Shikoku is the smallest of the main islands of Japan, and the largest bridge connecting it to the mainland, Honshu, is the one mentionned. The next most common way to get there is by ferry, which he could expect to notice.Go back.

2. Shogi is also called Japanese chess due to its strategic similarities to the western game. It is played with marked tiles. Othello is a board game where players control either the white or black side of pieces and must strategically flip rows to gain control of the board. Go back.

3. Char Aznable of the original Gundam series, of course.Go back.

Boundlessly intense, endlessly relaxed, his fingertips extend limberly to spin unending rainbow-coloured timbres. The melodies released from his fingertips, from the moment they reach the listener’s heart, proceed to link feeling to feeling in infinite arcing rainbows. Guitar, ken: the man who spins rainbows from his fingertips…

—

On the second floor of a local interviewing company, in a warehouse-like meeting room; such is the space he selected to hold his personal interview. “Me? I’m OK for an interview anytime!!” spoke ken-chan as he stepped before my tape recorder and had a seat. Starting with a simple “How’ve you been?”, our conversation ran off and split into various topics. The breadth of his activities and the sheer quantity of his work have accumulated, and he has encountered a true wealth of interesting episodes. There is no mistake that he is becoming accustomed to his fortune.

—
All notes in {<- } format are from the interviewer/editor and were present in the original Japanese.

– How have you been, lately?
ken [Lately?! Lately, I… Lately, nothing’s changed, not one bit.]

– Compared to your usual lifestyle in Tokyo, wouldn’t you say this is rather different?
ken [Oh yeah, you’re right. Lately, hey. If you put it to me that way, well let me see. I’ve had a lot of chances to shoot fireworks.]

– Oh, I see. Speaking of which, you held a big fireworks display didn’t you, in a past tour, a long time ago. It was on the beach, I believe?
ken [At night, you know, I’ve got nothing to do. The shops in these towns close early, see.]

– Yes, yes, they say there is such a thing as country town time. Since it ends early, the nights are long. Too long.
ken [Yeah, yeah. Fireworks, too, at first I was happy just playing with cheap ones from a convenience store, but now it feels to me like that’s not enough. So at Tokyu Hands (1) in Hiroshima or something, I bought some and bought some more. Spent 5000 yen on just fireworks. I bought lots -.]

– I can’t even imagine how much that would be.
ken [Well, I think it’s a seriously huge pile of gunpowder?! I’ve still got a lot left over, and come to think of it, isn’t it scary to walk around carrying all that?]

– You carry the fireworks around with you?
ken [Yep. Since I bought ’em, we’ve already had two fireworks parties. With about five or six people.]

– And is it you, ken-chan, who goes around suggesting “Let’s have some fireworks tonight!”?
ken [Yeah. Somehow or other, it’s me who says it, like “Let’s go do fireworks.” We had a fireworks party just the other day, and it was a pretty big deal, you know. I guess maybe we used about 5000 yen worth of fireworks just that one night!? We did it up on the seawall, shooting ’em one after the other, then I saw something that looked like harbour police or something, off to the side. So I went “Oh crap! Guys, don’t shoot right now!” when I saw them, and at first it was just a joke, right. In the morning, I went outside from the hotel, back to the spot we’d been shooting the fireworks, and I saw right next to it, the building said “Harbour Police,” for real! (laughs) Oops.]

– I’m glad you weren’t arrested… You weren’t arrested, were you?!
ken [It would be pretty bad if I was.]

– Yes indeed. …This might be just my imagination, but I think you’ve lost weight, ken-chan.
ken [Ah, I get that a lot. I guess I did lose some weight?]

– Yes. I think you did.
ken [When people ask me how I’ve been, maybe I should just tell them I’ve lost weight. Oh, and I saw a make-up artist that I hadn’t seen in a while, so apparently my face colour changed, and so did my eyes.]

– Did they tell you, specifically, what had changed?
ken [Hmm… I’m all grown up?! (Both laugh out loud)]

– (laughs) Like you’ve hit puberty, all of a sudden. But how about you, personally? Was it any kind of change you could actually notice?
ken [I’ve grown some facial hair, that’s probably it.]

– Oh, is that all it is?
ken [Yep. Oh, and I let my hair grow out, so I look dirty? (laughs) …What else could it be… Well, my lifestyle and environment changed, so the stuff I eat’s been changing too. So I guess it’s possible that my facial tone would change because of that.]

– Heh. I suppose facial tone is something that changes quite suddenly, when it changes at all.
ken [Isn’t it? A while back, I just happened to be looking through a bunch of polaroids that I got from some photoshoots we did. My face is totally different from how it used to be. Even in photos from a month ago, I look different. It’s my face.]

– How did your face look a month ago?
ken [It was just simple, I looked so much like a little kid.]

– Other than that, has anything else changed recently? On the inside, perhaps?
ken [Hmmmmmm… Changes, things that changed… What? What?!]

– For example, in your behaviour?
ken [It’s always been like this, but lately, I’ve gotten to really hate staying still (Both burst into laughter). You laugh, but you know what I mean, right? (laughs).]

– Yes. Lately, I’ve noticed you seem to be moving around constantly. You’re definitely more active.
ken [You can call me active, but it’s not like I plan any activities or anything. I just hate standing still. In my mind, you know, it feels like being sent back to elementary school. I’m like a little kid who loves baseball; if there’s a ball and a bat, you know I’m gonna go hit it.]

– Just before this, in the next room over, isn’t that what you were doing? I saw a ball and a bat.
ken [Yeah, yeah. Before a live, while everyone else is getting their makeup done, I play with those the whole time. ‘Cause I haven’t been wearing makeup, lately. So I just find a big enough space and start hitting it.]

– While the other three are in front of the mirror.
ken [Yes.]

– You run around with a bat.
ken [Yes. And then I go on stage, just like that (laughs). Seriously, sometimes I go on without even bothering to get changed. Sometimes, it feels like my other choice of clothes would be too dull, surprisingly often actually. When it comes to clothes, first the manager asks “What do you feel like today?” And then I answer. Like “Today I want Ikebukuro,” or maybe “Kabuki-cho style” (2) or something like that. And then the manager picks out an outfit that feels like Ikebukuro.]

– Hahahahaha. (Big round of laughter) So dirty. But, it sounds like fun. What happens if the outfit that gets picked out doesn’t fit your image of Ikebukuro?
ken [Well, actually, I may the one saying it, but I don’t really think about it much. About whether it fits my image or not. Plus, it always ends up being Sakamoto Issei stuff, for me. By the time we get three songs into a show, I’m already down to a sleeveless top. It only matters if it’s black or white. And when I play baseball, I’m sleeveless. I’m sleeveless today, too.]

– Indeed, you are just like a little kid. Like a school kid on summer vacation. But ultimately, is there any opposition to your being sleeveless like that from the beginning of the live? { <- Stupid } ken [Well I guess I have to wonder if it isn't kind of rude. So I try to wear the outfits they pick out for me, too. It's like sex. Rather than just get naked from the start, no matter how close and familiar your partner is, isn't it better to show up in a bathrobe or two? { <- This may be rather silly also } - Um..... ? ken [Well? I'm right, right? Right?!] - Yes. ken [Right!? And of course, you are going to leave this part in, right? { <- I don't know him anymore }] - You may rest assured that I most certainly will. By the way, how has the audience response been, during the lives themselves? ken [There are good days and there are bad days, but the good days are seriously awesome.] - What are the characteristics of a good day, for you, ken-chan? ken [In a live, hey... When I can't tell up from down. It's a question of feeling, though. On the other hand, I can tell it's a bad day when I stay calm. When I can tell what I'm doing, where I am, when all that stuff is clear. Obviously, things are more interesting when I can't tell up from down. There are days when I'm just howling, for no reason. Then I wake up later. "I think I was going WOO."] - And outside of lives? ken [What makes a good day? Let me see... I guess it's when I get to goof off a lot.] - Have you been able to goof off a lot lately? ken [Hmmm.... Lately, I .... I've been thinking that I want to go fishing. Fishing, to do that, you have to be able to stay still for a really long time, right? And I suck at staying still. So, I've always been really bad at fishing, but somehow lately, I started liking it. And you know, I heard that there's a fishing pole maker called KEN. So I want to buy their stuff. When I first heard about that, I thought "That's so cheesy, having stuff with my name on it," and then someone said to me "When something has your name on it, you start to want it, you know?" and then boom, it happened. "Yeah, that's what they say, and now I want that too." (laughs) And the lures, they're all so pretty.] - Ummm. ken-chan, going fishing. ...How ...unexpected. ken [I think so, too. Since I can't stand to stay still, I think I'll get bored with it right away. But I also think it'd be a good thing to try, once in a while.] - You mean, a good thing to try and hold still once in a while. ken [Yeah. I feel that way sometimes.] - Is there something in particular that you think of when that happens? ken [What am I gonna do next, when I'm done? Oh but sometimes, I space out and don't think of anything at all. My eyes are open, and there are people next to me, but I don't think about anything, no thoughts. It's like... it's like I go into this totally empty world. I might have talked about this before, but when I walk, almost 100% of the time I'm spacing out. Once, a long time ago, hyde passed by, really close by, and I didn't notice him at all.] - Hehh. I suppose that's extreme. Do you just walk around in circles, or...? ken [Well, I'm spacing out. So maybe I do.] - Do you feel that "extreme-ness" inside of yourself? ken [Well, I am type AB. (3) {It had to be said}]

– Ah, indeed you are. Do you feel aware of it, as in “Ah, I’m such an AB-type”?
ken [I do. I feel like I’ve got two personalities. …But normally, everybody does, don’t they? For thinking about stuff, they say there are two kinds of justice, generally.]

– Inside of yourself?
ken [Yeah. And, you can agree with either one. So, to decide things, you need to add in morals. You need to add morals to the mix, then decide which is better. If you leave it, if you say “Whatever, both work,” then you end up not wanting it either way. That way, you can see the two versions of yourself. …I think everyone works that way, probably. …I do. I think I can see my two selves much better now, more than I used to. Before, I used to get confused, all of I sudden I couldn’t remember why I was doing something, but now, I can sort things out and understand, and take consciousness of all those ideas, and go “Okay, this one.” Before it was just “Which? What? Whey? WHAT NOW?”]

– How did you manage to come to this understanding, I wonder. It’s quite fascinating.
ken [ …I think I just realized that if I took a step back, I could see things both ways, pretty clearly. And then, I could think about them… But anyway, I really feel like I just somehow figured out how to do it. I want my mind to be like this {As he spoke, he pointed his two index fingers upward and lined them directly before his eyes}.]

– You want to be like that.
ken [It’s more fun to be just the one. I think I’m jealous… Oh, by the way, what was today’s theme?!]

– It was “How have you been, lately”.
ken [Oh right. So how have you been, lately?]

– You don’t change at all, do you? Okay, so lastly, can you tell me how the other members have been, recently?
ken [Uhmmm, I think they’ve all gotten over the cold I gave them, so I’m relieved, seeing as I’m the one who made them sick.]

– But ken-chan, you had to have caught the cold from somewhere yourself, too?
ken [I didn’t catch it from anyone else, I created that cold myself. That was a really bad cold. It might be myself-enza.]

– That is, influenza, your style.
ken [Yeah. If you checked under a microscope, the germs would all have my face on them, I bet (laughs).]

Words – Itou Aki
Translated by Natalie Arnold

1. Tokyu Hands is a chain of department stores that focuses on crafts and do-it-yourself goods, hence having a lot more fireworks than in your average convenience store. Go back.

2. Ikebukuro and Kabuki-cho are neighbourhoods of Tokyo. Ikebukuro is a mixed commercial and enternment district, famous for Otome Road, the number one area for entertainments aimed at women. Kabuki-cho is the famous red light district. What either of these imply for ken’s fashion is not exactly clear.Go back.

3. According to Japanese blood-type-based fortune telling, AB type is supposed to indicate a bipolar personality that changes quickly and is generally quirky. Go back.

[Where could it lie, the origin of the rainbow?]
That question asked by each of us in childhood, he can answer it with rhythm. That graven rhythm, hailing the beat of the listener’s heart, draws out a primitive consciousness and much else besides. Drum, yukihiro: The man that is the earth that holds up the rainbow.

—

From the rainy days of Tokyo’s may, he took a flight. Its purpose was to make use of the tour’s transit days to take care of this personal interview. The craft climbed ever higher, westward bound, revealing the Seto Inland Sea below within an hour’s time.

The first time I met yukihiro-kun, we were heading north – toward London, to be exact – in an airplane. He had only one bag; an extremely small amount of luggage. Indeed, with nothing but the clothes on his back, he made his way to a L’Arc~en~Ciel photoshoot. Bending his knees upon the seat, he demonstrated the flexibility of his body and laughed. yukihiro-kun’s luggage must be only the bare minimum needed for the trip.

—

– How have you been lately?
yukihiro [I’ve been on tour lately.]

– Are you used to touring, now?
yukihiro [I can’t get used to it. Somehow, I can’t sleep, I end up staying awake until 10 am. Last night, I managed to sleep a little, but the last two days before that, I didn’t sleep at all. It sucks.]

– It really does. How about the lives?
yukihiro [I did my best, obviously. Even though I didn’t sleep, it’s not like I did a bad job, so there’s no need to feel bad for the fans who came to the lives on those days.]

– Have you always been unable to sleep during tours?
yukihiro [It’s been happening for so long that I can’t remember anymore!]

– Hahahahaha! (Both laugh)
yukihiro [For me, it’s not just the tours, I have a hard time sleeping any time I’m in a hotel room. I end up doing something or other, so I stay awake until 4 or 5 am. Even though I meant to sleep. I can’t sleep, and I can remember looking at the clock last time and it was already around 5 am. That happens a lot.]

– Eehh. I wonder why. I suppose some people are extra-sensitive to changes in environment.
yukihiro [A different pillow… or something… gah, I don’t know, I don’t know myself.]

– But, I suppose you must be getting delicate.
yukihiro [Barricade!]

– …Er? …I don’t believe it. I didn’t think you were the type to mess up someone’s words like that. (laughs)
yukihiro [Hahahahaha! (both laugh)]

– How about the lives, themselves?
yukihiro [Hm, yeah, the lives, I think they’re going pretty well. …I don’t know if the fans are really enjoying it or not, but personally, I’m getting great feedback, really.]

– Can you say, specifically, how the lives are going?
yukihiro […When it’s over, I feel really satisfied. … Yes. Somehow, I feel the same way every day.]

– You mean, you feel satisfied with your own performance?
yukihiro [Let me see… Well, if you want details, there are some days where it’s just basic. Then just… times when I simply feel I did a great job.]

– What do you think about on those nights when you can’t sleep?
yukihiro [Oh, all kinds of things. All sorts of things inside my head, trying to get to the front. I think about all those things, all at the same time, you know.]

– Oh, I see. So you don’t mean that you think about all sorts of topics, one after the other, but rather that half of your mind is occupied with one thing and the rest is working on a different thought entirely?
yukihiro [Yeah yeah. Yes. That’s pretty much it. And, I get frustrated because I can’t sleep. …My eyes and stuff hurt. It gets to the point that it hurts to have them open. I figure I can’t sleep so I might as well read something, but I can’t read anything. Because my eyes hurt (laughs). So, I put on music and stuff, but now, I’ve got that music stuck in my head. Ah, and then, since we’re on tour, I can’t go out to buy other CDs. Some good stuff has come out lately, right?!]

– I can imagine you’d want to go CD shopping.
yukihiro [Yes. Even in the middle of a tour, I’ve still got some free time sometimes, so I’d like to be able to go out and buy CDs.]

– These days, no matter where you go, you can find those big foreign chain stores.
yukihiro [Yes. They’re everywhere. Well, some places didn’t have them (laughs).]

– Ah, already.
yukihiro [Yes, already. …I guess I want to listen to them (to his recently-bought CDs). I wanna hear some cool sounds.]

– Do you mean that you expect to be stimulated by that music?
yukihiro [Yes. That’s it. …But, there are other things like that, you know. … Books, just after I finish reading one. …That part (of him that craves more stimulation), it’s insatiable, isn’t it, even I think so sometimes.]

– Ah, is that so.
yukihiro [Yes. Before, I… how do I say… I used to be afraid that if I didn’t constantly take in cool things like that, I’d end up dead inside. I really thought so. I was sure that if I didn’t work on making myself a deeper person every day, I’d wind up completely empty.]

– And now, you don’t feel that pressure anymore?
yukihiro [Now, I… I think I still do, in some ways. Of course, I think that now, I’m better able to make use of all the things I’ve taken in, compared to how I used to be. So, I can’t say that I feel afraid, not the way I used to.]

– I wonder if that’s related to your ability to control the quality and quantity of what you express of the things you’ve taken in.
yukihiro [Hmm… I rather think it’s that I’ve gotten better at interpreting it all. For example, if I take one new thing now, before if took in one new thing, I’d get only one thing out of it… or that’s how it felt, but now, it all passes through me and I can use all of it, express it in in many different ways.]

– How much of that do you think is due to the influence of L’Arc~en~Ciel in your life?
yukihiro [How much, how the band is influencing me now, even I can’t answer that. But, I want to influence them, I want to do what I can for this band, in my own way.]

– That aspect of you, yukihiro-kun, can it be faithfully transmitted?
yukihiro [Hmmm…. (silence)… … . I intend to show it, that is. Yes. …I think it shows in the way I approach my work, with the songs. …And, even in ways that have nothing to do with music. When I make a huge ruckus, I think that side of me is part of it, that’s got to be what it is. I never used to do anything like that, before.]

– A huge ruckus??
yukihiro [No no no (laughs). Well of course, I think that before, my reaction to other people used to wait a breath. I’d be asked something, and before reacting, I’d take a breath and think about how I should react to whatever it was, I think that’s what I was doing. Now, if something is funny, I just go Nyahahahahahahahaha right away. It’s funny (laughs).]

– Ah, I see. More responsive, responding with laughter, indeed that’s the impression I get. You must be a laughing drunk, too, aren’t you?!
yukihiro [Am I?! (laughs) I think that part of me must have always been there, but I didn’t let it out, nicely. Because, I thought that laughing out loud, laughing too hard, was totally uncool so I didn’t do it. Because punks are cool. Or something. (both laugh)]

– What a change (laughs).
yukihiro [Hahahahaha (laughs). I don’t think like that anymore, not at all. I figure that if what I do is cool, that’s good enough.]

– It’s easier that way, I’m sure.
yukihiro [Yes. It is. And it’s boring to take a breath during lives. …Anyway, I think this is a really great environment. A little while back, the live was over, and I saw the staff loading things onto a truck, and I was touched, emotionally, somehow. Ah, they work so hard, they’re doing all this work.]

– Could you please tell me a bit more about that?
yukihiro [Yes. That time, it was after a live, and I was at the members’ exit, which was the same as the delivery entrance. That’s when I realized how great it is, everything the staff does for us.]

– And you felt it was great that you had so many people doing it?
yukihiro [Ah, yes yes yes. That’s it. And, those people, they’re all working together for the same cause. That’s just, wow, it’s great.]

– You mean that the staff members are all working together for you, for L’Arc. Did you feel something because you were the one at the centre of all this effort?
yukihiro [No. That’s not what I felt. I felt that I was a part of all the work that was happening, though.]

– yukihiro-kun, what have you been putting the most power into, recently?
yukihiro [The lives, of course.]

– For instance, do you do anything to give yourself more energy?
yukihiro [Before the show starts, I kick chairs.]

– You kick chairs. Hahahaha. (laughs)
yukihiro [Yes. Kick. (laughs) But even that doesn’t do much for me… so I kick walls (both laugh hard).]

– You kick?! (laughs)
yukihiro [Yes. I focus hard on doing it. …But you know, I don’t want to put too much power into it. Obviously, if I spend too much energy on that, I won’t have enough power left for the live. To an point, I need to be tense, but I also need to relax.]

– Is that something you can find in your regular daily life?
yukihiro [No, not at all. Well, really, in my regular life, I don’t think the same way at all. It’s just for lives, I guess that’s the only time I think.]

– One year ago, could you have imagined yourself the way you are today?
yukihiro [How could I possibly have done that?! (laughs) One year ago, I think that’s just about the time that Niji was being written.]

– At that point, had it already been decided that you’d be at the recording?
yukihiro [Ummm…. I think it was. But the exact schedule hadn’t been made up yet. …. But even still, how could I have imagined?!]

– How does it feel to have your entire environment change so much in one year?
yukihiro [It’s a good experience. It may not be a very common experience, so I’m lucky. Ever since the recording of Niji, up until this current tour. Everything single thing that’s happened has been a really great experience.]

– I’d like to close with the same question for all four members. How are things between you and the other three, lately?
yukihiro [Hmm, let’s see. hyde-kun has a bit of a cold, but that makes for a different atmosphere in and of itself, and he talks about making sure all the lives are really cool. I guess there are some parts that are really hard for him, with a cold, so that’s exactly why things are that much more intense. But it looks like he’s starting to recover now, so I’m happy about that. ken-chan is, well he never changes the slightest bit… right. (laughs) I think he’s very energetic. tetsu-kun is… Ah, tetsu-kun had a cold too, a little while ago. Because of that, in the morning, his eyes would be all puffy, and he’d say his eyes were no good. (laughs) Well, that’s how the tour’s been going.]

– Words by Itou Aki
Translated by Natalie Arnold

This is a translation of a reprint of an interview that originally appeared in PATi-PATi STYLE, 1998 issue, after the conclusion of the Light My Fire! tour. This was reprinted for the Box Set of The 15th anniversary in formation. The translation is based on the reprinted version.

—-

hyde, ken, tetsu, yukihiro –
The four of them, having just completed their dazzling tour of the entire country, namely L’Arc~en~Ciel Tour ’98 Light My Fire!, tell their Current Feelings in these Personal Long Interviews! And! The highly-rated plan makes a comeback! Could it be? The word-game interview’s revenge! Through these 29 pages, the super forceful and mega full bodied wrap-up will be accessed from just beyond this door…

This is a translation of a reprint of an interview that originally appeared in an item published by Sony Magazines. It accompanied the release of ectomorphed works. Familiarity with that album as well as other remixes that appeared on the 1999-2000 era singles is reccomended. This was reprinted for the Box Set of The 15th anniversary in formation. The translation is based on the reprinted version.

BEGIN INTERVIEW

He is already renowned as a remixer. For yukihiro, the drummer, this first L’Arc remix album, ectomorphed works, is an opportunity to discover a new side to their hits and to put the depth of their work on display. Let us obtain an explanation of the importance of each track from the artist himself.

—

ectomorphed works, the first remix album in L’Arc~en~Ciel’s history, features a neologism in its title, (Analyzed directly, ectomorphed means “recreated from the outside” and as so suggested, the artist has indeed made his decisive mark upon the songs by putting his hand to them from the outside in. Now, the details of the ten tracks that appear below were divulged by yukihiro, who alone applied his hand to the original works for this recreation. On the day following the album’s completion, it appeared that he had something to conceal. He was, of course, exhausted the previous night, telling us “I realized I’d fallen asleep with my shoes on… that’s how tired I was.” with a characteristic laugh that tells volumes about his satisfactory completion of the work, truly expressive as always.

—

● larva {ectomorphed long mix}

yukihiro [(In response to the question “Were you sure that this would become the opening track?”) I guess so. ‘Cause it’s instrumental. I wanted to make it long. I like Underworld (1) and… They have songs with a singing part, and the rest of the track just goes on and on, you know. I wanted that kind of ambiance. The track has blocks where there’s a bit more or a bit less sound, right. It didn’t give me much trouble when I was making it.]

● trick {new^2 wave of japanese heavy metal mix}

yukihiro [A revised edition? That’s what it is. It doesn’t really have much of a concept. I just wanted to remix it, again. If I’m going to have a chance to release it again, then I want to remix it again. This song is kind of hard to work with. There’s all kinds of kicks in it, so it’s hard to get deep enough in to figure out which one should be emphasized when. And the subtitle, I thought it was a really cool thing to say about this song.]

● Kasou {0628 mix}

yukihiro [It’s got enough sound, compared to the last version. There are more kicks, and more percussion, and I changed the rhythm around a bit. (For me, remixing is) Easier when there’s singing, so-called club music is really monotonous, you know. It’s loop music. It’s easier to showcase when there’s singing. It’s easier for the listener to appreciate too, I think.]

● fate {everybody knows but god mix}

yukihiro [The subtitle is ‘everybody knows but god’. It’s the opposite of the saying ‘god only knows’. So it’s a twist, saying ‘everybody knows fate, except god.’ For this one, I had ken-chan play some new guitar parts. First I made a simple synth version with rhythm and bass for him, and went “Here, play something.” He gave it back and I edited it… I wanted to try making a remix like that. ] (When approached about this style of music creation, ken called it “correspondence style”. /laughs)

● Shinshoku ~lose control~ {ectoborn mix}

yukihiro [This is the only song that I really want to do over. I don’t think the last one was cool. Of course, at the time, I did think it was cool, but now I look at it again, and as a remixer I think it was pretty amateurish. But honestly, a bit after I made the last one I thought “Oops, what did I do…” (laughs). I went into it thinking “I wanna do this differently” so I decided to put ‘ecto’ in as part of the title.]

● a swell in the sun {system in chaos mix}

yukihiro [Here, the subtitle alone is ‘chaos’ right. My image of chaos? It makes me think of… putting it simply, it’s a ‘snowstorm’, like on TV. Only more twisted, and more solid. I used to dream about it a lot, when I was a kid. I dreamed about how it would twist around me. I don’t dream about that anymore (laughs). Honestly, I haven’t listened to the completed final track yet, but when I was making it I thought “Hey this is sounding pretty good.” But I wasn’t really adding much new sound. This is how I wanted it to sound in the first place, yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s it.]

● l’heure {quiet afternoon mix}

yukihiro [After chaos comes floating? Yes it does. It’s got the atmosphere of a quiet afternoon. It’s the same for any song, but I think the bass and drums are what’s important for creating the atmosphere, with this kind of sound. I try to take care, with that in mind. In this song, it’s like the drums are floating on the bass. The sound the drums make, it’s really quite dry. It’s not about my own preference in sound, this one is about creating a world.]

● cradle {down to the moon mix}

yukihiro [(When asked about how this remix has ‘moon’ where a previous one had ‘earth’) Well yes (laughs). I wanted it to ‘float’ more. I thought, I want this one to go to space (laughs). I added some female vocals here. hyde’s voice is Japanese, hers is English, see. At first I thought simply, they would work together, back and forth. It’s kind of tricky to work with, you know, with rap. When the girl is singing normally and I licked into a rap, and stuff. I think it’s really cool.]

● Shinjitsu to Gensou to {out of the reality mix #2}

yukihiro [In this one, the second half sounds like a draw. At first I thought it should be more, I didn’t know more what, exactly, but it felt like it needed to be more. But, then when I laid it out I thought it would be hard to listen to. This is a “sequel” anyway, so it’s not about adding or removing sound. I did a lot with it, but it still matches the previous one, it just brings more to the table. It’s not about thinking “I’ve gotta change it,” its simply “Can I make this any cooler?”. I had the idea, and it sounded like it would turn out pretty cool so that’s what I did.]

● metropolis {android goes to be a deep sleep mix}

yukihiro [This one is pretty different from the old one. It’s kind of refreshing, I guess. The last one was all “Wooah!” you know (laughs) overall. I wanted to cut back on that, this time. Actually, it’s got one piece less than the other. I took out one part. And it’s actually the last thing that I put into the last one. I thought there was something missing, but that was overdoing it, I felt. In the end, the sound of the piano that I wanted to show off in the last one, it’s more obvious in this version.]

Words – Masuda Yuuichi
Translated by Natalie Arnold

1.Underworld is an electronic music duo that has been recording since 1980.Go back.

This is a translation of a reprint of an interview that originally appeared in PATi-PATi, October 1996 issue, shortly before the recording of True began. This was reprinted for the Box Set of The 15th anniversary in formation. The translation is based on the reprinted version.

BEGIN INTERVIEW

As intensely hot and sharp as he may appear on stage, the vocalist of L’Arc~en~Ciel is always surrounded by a fluffy yet mysterious air. Now, let us ask hyde for seven wonderful dreams…

—

Autumn

I like this time of year, when autumn turns to winter. Because somehow, human warmth becomes tangible during this season. For example, whenever someone goes out to eat, they’ll invite others, saying “Let’s go get something warm to eat.” I guess I like that atmosphere. It feels nice to sleep, too, you know. Makes me want to spend the whole day curled up in my futon. And I also like the sadness of it. Falling leaves and so on. I think it’s kind of romantic, too. What does autumn remind me of?! Uhm…. Bonfires, I guess. I like camping, I used to do it a lot. Bonfires are great to have when it’s cold out. Ah, I guess it reminds me of those nights. Oh, and sanma (1). Obviously, it goes with autumn.

—

Self

Right now, I’m mostly interested in recording the next album. Right at the moment, that’s all I can think about. When it comes to myself, if I were to analyze myself, I guess I’m a cold person. That, and an optimist. These days, I’m really trying to be more optimistic. But, I think that by doing that, the cold side of myself will end up having even more influence. For example, imagine there was someone at work that I couldn’t quite seem to get along with. When that happens, I tell myself “Well, that person still has good points, so there’s no helping it.” Then, if those good points turn out not to be good enough, I go “Oh well, forget it. I’ll just ignore that person.” Isn’t that cold?! (laughs) You know, I think I want to get better at speaking. I have a feeling my life would be more fun that way. It doesn’t occur to me to start talking to people, so my conversations go nowhere. So, I think the girls I date get bored. Because I don’t talk to them much. I wanna get better at speaking.

Space

A while back, there was a map of space published in Newton (2). Looking at it got my heart fluttering. There’s the Milky Way, you know, that’s the centre of our galaxy. The solar system, where Earth is, is just a tiny dot at the corner of the galaxy. Then, if you could see the galaxy from above, it would look round, but from the side it’s actually narrow. Like a thread. And then from Earth, we can just see the Milky Way. Because we’re looking at the centre from over in the corner. Isn’t that fascinating?! What if I could go anywhere?! I’d want to go to another planet that has life. You know, I used to be afraid of that when I was a little kid. In magazines made for kids, they’d draw faces on the planets and stuff like that, you know. Mr. Jupiter, Mr. Saturn, and so on. That always creeped me out. And aliens, that just wasn’t cool. What if I could only bring one thing to space?! ……..My bride.

Rain

When it rains, I feel rather calm. On rainy days, no one really wants to go outside, right? So instead, I get to look at the day differently, and wonder “What can we do indoors today?” It makes me very excited. When I was a kid, there was a park about five minutes away from my house, and I used to play there with a couple of friends there. This one time, it started raining all of a sudden, and it rained really hard, with thunder and lightning, so intense that I couldn’t go home even though it was only five minutes away. Plus, there wasn’t anything nearby that we could use for shelter, all we could do was huddle by the wall of the gym next door. There wasn’t anything above us so we got soaked anyway. The water went up to my knees, and it was running like crazy. I had to slosh my way through it. (laughs) Sticking to the wall. Then I saw this old guy come running up, sticking to the wall. Of course, he was having a hard time too (laughs).

Love (3)

I hate it. Koi have such an ugly face and they just hang around with their mouths open. It’s gross, you know? (Wrong koi! It’s supposed to be koi as in Love) Ah yes, you want me to talk about love. Love, to me, is a powerful drug. When I’m in love, my heart is pounding constantly. On the other hand, when I can finally calm down, it means it’s another kind of love. When I can relax, it’s a different kind of love. I think the passionate, exciting love is just a part of the greater whole. It’s just a piece of this great big bond (he makes a big circle with his hands) that connects people.

Dreams

I have a lot of dreams. I had a good one recently, but it’s kind of embarrassing so I won’t tell you (laughs). A while back, I realized that I was dreaming while I was still asleep. In my dream, I went “Hey, am I dreaming?!” and then started bragging to everyone else in the dream. “Hey I bet none of you realize this, but we’re actually in a dream right now.” And everyone answered “Oh yeah, I guess you’re right.” And, in my dream, I knew how to wake up. I could go “Hey this is a dream!” to somebody, then tell them “If you just do this, it’ll wake you up.” The trick was to just move my eyeballs upward without opening them. Then, in the dream, I woke up, and thought “Aw, I woke up. I should’ve taken the chance to do bad stuff,” like a naughty little kid. I was thinking of all the stuff I’d do if I had a dream like that again, then I realized “Hey, I’m still dreaming!” but then I woke up for real. I haven’t had another dream like that ever since. The coolest dream I ever had was like, I was at the top of a mountain, and there was a UFO battling an airplane. That was about two years ago. They were fighting right there, in the sky. With missiles and everything. I was just a normal person, watching from the ground, going “Woooow, awesome~”. It was so intense it was almost scary, I guess. Lately, I’ve been dreaming about Mount Fuji. About climbing Mount Fuji. A while ago, I saw this thing on TV about it, and they said that the mountain doesn’t belong to the government. Did you know that?! It actually belongs to a shrine. I think it’s called Asama Shrine, and it owns everything from the summit to I don’t know how far down, and then everything below that belongs to the government. Apparently they fought over it, in court, after the war. And the shrine won. Oh, and the shrine was given the mountain by Tokugawa Ieyasu(4).

My childhood dream?! I wanted to be Kamen Rider (5). My mom tells me I was really crazy about Kamen Rider, I had Kamen Rider stuff on my bike and everything, and I’d get bath towels to make a cape and run around the neighbourhood like that every single day. (laughs) Then, I’d jump down three flights of stairs, like Wooo~. Sounds like I really wanted that costume (laughs).

Mystery

I like mysteries. They make my heart beat faster. But you know, when I get around to looking up something I find mysterious, I get bored halfway through. But, it’s not good to want something to stay mysterious. Things need to be solved. We can’t just say “That’s the way it is, the end.” Obviously, I can’t expect to understand things when even the experts haven’t figured them out yet. I just get bored when I don’t understand. Well, I guess I get bored even when I do understand (laughs). Women are a mystery. I used to not understand them at all, but now, I think I basically understand them.

– Interviewer: Itou Aki
Translated by Natalie Arnold

1. Sanma is a type of fish that is in season during autumn and therefore is a typical meal of this time of year, in Japan.
Go back.

2. Newton is a scientific periodical, probably the most well-read of its kind in Japan. Incidentally, some of hyde’s comments about space and the galaxy are not quite correct.
Go back.

3. The word “koi” can mean either Love or Carp. hyde pretended he thought the question was about the fish, at first.
Go back.

4. Tokugawa Ieyasu was one of the three warlors who unified Japan at the dawn of the 17th century. He even ruled the country as shogun himself for a few years.
Go back.

5. Kamen Rider is a live-action children’s series about a costumed fighter. In English, it is called Masked Rider.
Go back.

This is a translation of a reprint of an interview that originally appeared in WHAT’s IN? June 1999 issue. It was done around the time of the release of Pieces, before ark and ray were released and also just before the GRAND CROSS TOUR. This was reprinted for the Box Set of The 15th anniversary in formation. The translation is based on the reprinted version.

BEGIN INTERVIEW

As the century draws to a close, L’Arc~en~Ciel once again take up their activities after having lit the world on fire. Their second single of the year is a very gentle song that lends colour to the heart. This July, they will simultaneously release two long-awaited albums that will include their numerous hit songs from the past year, as well as these two newest ones. Still running strong this year; no one can stop L’Arc~en~Ciel!

—

Following up on HEAVEN’S DRIVE, L’Arc~en~Ciel will soon release a new single, Pieces, on June 2. In a reversal of its predecessor’s hardness, this song is a solemn ballad that incorporates an elaborate string section. In a quiet, gentle sensation of fullness, this lovely song tints the heart ever more as it is heard. Representing the members, tetsu, this song’s composer, had a few words to share.

– Another hit song for you.
tetsu [Is it really? Personally, I really love anata, the last song on HEART. So, I was thinking I’d write a song that would be even better than anata. That was my starting point.]

– Did you have a specific image in mind? For snow drop, you mentioned “Patrasche running through the fields” (1).
tetsu [Let me see… It was kind of irritating. Like, that feeling that you can’t resist gravity, it’s sad and it’s maddening, and you can’t do anything about it.]

– You had no problems writing the song?
tetsu [I got the A-melody and B-melody finished rather quickly. It was just the chorus that took some time. I couldn’t come up with a melody that fit in well with the rest of it.]

– When it came to the lyrics, did you have any instructions for hyde-san, such as a specific image?
tetsu [Yeah. It would take too long to explain, but the shortest way to put it would be ‘Consideration’. How can I say this… I think that there are a lot of people in the world who do bad things without having the slightest intention of being evil. For example, thinking they can get away without working very hard, but in the end somebody ends up getting seriously hurt because of it. I think that sort of thing happens a lot, so the idea is “Let’s be more considerate.” I had that in mind when writing the song, and I said the same sort of thing to him.]

– Ah, indeed, the end result has quite a caring feeling to it. Also, thanks to the string backing, it sounds very solemn.
tetsu [The strings, yeah, I knew I wanted them to be there right from the beginning. Partly because to write a song that’s even better than anata, there have to be strings (laughs). The strings are incredible this time! Two or three times as many people as for anata.]

– I see! The sound is all the richer for it. Now, about the albums that are being released in July, how are they turning out?
tetsu [They’re very broad, with all kinds of songs mixed together. There wasn’t any particular concept behind them. With L’Arc, the songs usually come first. The music comes first, and the lyrics are made to fit the music, so in the end, even if there does seem to be an overall theme, it’ll only be something we came up with after the fact. So, when we’re composing songs, we can just focus on coming up with something good, something we enjoy, music that we want to hear and make for ourselves.]

– Once the albums are released, you’ll immediately embark on a nationwide tour, but this time all the shows will be outdoors.
tetsu [That’s right. This has been going on for a while, actually, I’ve always wanted to have a live that couldn’t be sold out. So that no one who wants to come will be left out. That’s why we booked the largest space available at each city we’re visiting.]

– Since it will be the middle of summer, it sounds like it will be physically exhausting. Have you been training at all?
tetsu [Training, well… I have been going to the gym and working out, at least.]

– The title is 1999 GRAND CROSS TOUR, which makes me think of it as an End of Century sort of idea. What about you?
tetsu [No, it’s not a question of making you think that, it is definitely connected to the idea. The End of the Century idea. It’s not that we seriously believe it’s the end of the world or anything like that, we’re just using the concept.]

– These days, one hears of young people committing crimes that would have been unimaginable in the past. It truly feels like it’s the end, doesn’t it?
tetsu [No, I really don’t think so. I think the same thing happens in every generation. It’s just that now, we have more media to cover it all, so that as soon as something happens, everyone knows about it but no one would have heard about that thing in the past. I think it’s been happening over and over again in people’s lives. And I think other eras have been a lot worse. I heard that in a text written thousands of years ago, there were complaints about “young people these days” (2) I think it’s the same in every generation. I don’t think the present is special.]

– I see. So, to go back to what you said earlier, you are using the concept?
tetsu [Yeah. Even Marilyn Manson (3) has that hermaphroditic character, and I think it’s really interesting to look at the way he’s made himself into the king of terror with apocalyptic images. If Marylin Manson hadn’t done it first, then we would be doing it (laughs).]

– Have you already begun planning for specific performances on the tour?
tetsu [No, we haven’t really thought about it yet. First, we need to finish recording the albums. Then, we need to make the video for Pieces.]

– What kind of video will it be?
tetsu [Oh yeah. I want it to be kind of like a movie. I think it might end up being kind of awesome.]

Words: Harada Sachi
Translated by Natalie Arnold

1. See previous interview here.Go back.

2. He seems to be refering to a quote that is usually attributed to Socrates via Plato and reads “What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?” Go back.

3. Marilyn Manson is a Shock Rock band that is very famous for causing controversy with shocking images and actions. Indeed the lead singer, also named Marilyn Manson, was presenting himself as a hermaphroditic figure at the time this interview was made. Go back.

This is a translation of a reprint of an interview that originally appeared in WHAT’s IN?, January 1999 issue, alongside the release of the Light my Fire! tour video. It will not make sense to readers who have not seen that video. This was reprinted for the Box Set of The 15th anniversary in formation. The translation is based on the reprinted version.

BEGIN INTERVIEW

Having completed the longest tour of their history to date, L’Arc~en~Ciel is now releasing a video of their concerts. The release date is set exactly one year after the day they reincarnated at Tokyo Dome. This video puts on display the growth they have achieved over the past year.

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L’Arc~en~Ciel. In 1998, this band attracted the attention of the entire country, and their Lives are an important side that cannot be overlooked. “We were on tour so long that I can’t remember what I did when I went home,” so spoke one of the members, his words proving that the lives were indeed their main activity. Despite all that, they found the time to release 10 titles (11 if one includes the GODZILLA soundtrack), which shows that their other focus has been on recording and releasing, which they have done simultaneously, and may very well be “The most impressive thing this band has done” over the course of the year.

The tenth title… Namely, the greatest work by L’Arc~en~Ciel this year: Light my Fire! will be released on December 23. This live video combines footage from the Osaka Dome live on October 17 with that of the final concert held at Yoyogi National Gymnasium on the 21st for its primary focus.

tetsu [I heard there were more cameras on us this time than ever before.]

ken [There was that R2D2 guy, he was pretty interesting. I know it was operated by remote control, but still, it looked like it had a face. Our eyes would meet, and it looked like it was having fun. And it went zoomzoomzoomzoom when it moved.]

hyde [Oh, and it looked embarrassed when I blew kisses at it (laughs).]

Beginning in May, “L’Arc~en~Ciel Tour ’98 Light my Fire!” lasted nearly six months and spanned 56 concerts in 47 venues, mobilizing some 230 000 people. At every venue, the tickets sold out almost the instant they were put on sale, suggesting that an untold number of fans were left unable to see the lives. During this long tour, many backstage clips were filmed in the style of artistic shorts, and are included on the video as “Member Approved (?)Highlights”.

hyde [Highlights… the Hokkaido Fox. It was so cute.]

tetsu [The backstage clips were put together out of stuff from the entire tour. I guess there’s more from the first half, right?]

yukihiro [I think the highlight is the one where hyde-kun goes to the bathroom and suddenly transforms (laughs).]

hyde [Oh that. I thought “Let’s film my hair standing up, frame by frame” so that’s what it is, only a little exaggerated (laughs). So that’s how it turned out.]

tetsu [I have that clip where I come out from behind Charlie’s head (Charlie being a cameraman who accompanied them on the tour) but now I wonder why I did that in the first place (laughs). I can’t remember what I was thinking, but I remember what it felt like (laughs).]

ken [The real mystery is that clip where yukkie goes “Dakkadakkadakka gwinn” (everyone laughs). I don’t know, do you want to explain or tell us what that was about?]

yukihiro [Oh that (laughs). I don’t remember what was going on. Not at all. Watching the video, I don’t understand it either. What does that mean, “Dakkadakkadakka gwinn”?]

Of course, the effective use of CGI special effects can also be considered one of the highlights.

ken [A highlight… how about the opening? The first time I watched the video, I didn’t know it was special effects. I thought “Wow, that’s some awesome lighting,” “We totally couldn’t see it from the stage.”]

yukihiro [That was the sun, right? It’s ‘a swell in the sun’, so you know, it was swelling.]

ken [So that’s why it got bigger? …I learned something new today.]

tetsu [And there’s something else that I didn’t notice during the live. During ‘Shout at the Devil’, there were fireworks going off, bang bang, right behind us but I didn’t even notice. Those fireworks, it was a special effect we only used at Osaka Dome. When got home and watched the video I was so surprised, “Oooh wow!” I had heard people talk about it but I didn’t know it had turned out so great.]

The final addition was the 150-piece string orchestra that performed in the encore, ‘anata’. This, too, was a special performance reserved only for the Osaka Dome show, and this highlight, too, was faithfully captured on video.

What follows is nothing more than my personal opinion, but it seems to me that every part of the lives of this tour, including the above-mentioned “Member Approved Highlights”, which was captured on film is a special characteristic of this video. As you are well aware, their music displays the contrast of light and darkness as a key part of its appeal, and the same has always been true of their live shows. Yet, after seeing so many lives during this tour, I now believe this trait to be of the greatest importance. In the midst of their aggressive activity this year, their bright songs have not solely been bright, and their dark songs have not solely been dark. That is the power of this band. I believe this strength may have fuelled the tour. Despite the various restrictions and unavoidable edits required by video, it is nonetheless clearly felt. Precisely because of the greatness of the lives, the true power of the band can be displayed.

In closing, I asked them “What did you do on the day after the final show of the tour?” and will now transcribe the most memorable answer. It may also be seen as a hint about things yet to come.

tetsu [I don’t remember what I did. But, with the tour being over, I didn’t have anything to do and I felt bad. I’m better off when I have things to do, obviously.]

Words – Itou Aki
Tranlated by Natalie Arnold