L'Arc~Compendium

This is the translation of the Pop Jam interview from a show where TETSU69 was a guest and performed TIGHTROPE.

Since I translated it by ear, instead of from written media, the possibility that I misheard something makes it much more likely that something was mistranslated. I apologise in advance if this happens. It’s probably best to watch the clip while reading this, or at least be familiar with it.

Begin

Male Host : And now for this corner we have the solo project:
TETSU69 : Yes?
Male Host : TETSU69.
TETSU69 : Yes.
Male Host : Well, I kind of like the sound of that, but what does it mean?
Female Host : Yes, why sixty-nine?
TETSU69 : Well, I was born in 1969…
Female Host : Oh?
TETSU69 : And.. it was the first time people walked on the moon, and there was Woodstock, so I think it was a cool year.
Hosts : Oh, ok. I see. So that’s the kind of year it was.
Male Host : So, this time around, you traded in your bass for a guitar.
TETSU69 : Yeah, I did.
Male Host : It must be easier.
TETSU69 : Guitars are much lighter. Compared to bass. And that’s good, because my shoulder doesn’t get sore.
Male Host : Yeah, that makes sense.
Female Host : Please do your best, and proceed to the stage.
TETSU69 : Thank you for having me.

(He dashes to the stage and the performance starts shortly)

Transcribed and translated by Natalie Arnold

This is the translation of the Music Station interview from a show where TETSU69 was a guest and performed Shinkirou.

Since I translated it by ear, instead of from written media, the possibility that I misheard something makes it much more likely that something was mistranslated. I apologise in advance if this happens. It’s probably best to watch the clip while reading this, or at least be familiar with it.

Begin

Tamori : Now we have TETSU69. How are you doing?
TETSU69 : It’s good to be here.
Tamori : tetsu-kun, I’ve heard you like electric appliances.
TETSU69 : Yes. I do.
Tamori : I can understand liking electronics, audio systems, but appliances, that’s rather rare, isn’t it?
TETSU69 : It’s mostly the major ones, really.
Tamori : The major appliances?
TETSU69 : Yes.
Tamori : Washers, fridges, vacuums, air-conditioners… (tetsu is repeating the same items almost simultaneously)
TETSU69 : Yes.
Tamori : That’s unusual. But I guess you can’t help but accumulate a lot of those things.
TETSU69 : As soon as new models come out, I like to check them out. Like, different colours of vacuums, or something.
Tamori : You’d buy the same model, but in a different colour?
TETSU69 : Yeah.
Tamori : Wow. What exactly do you have, now? In your house? What do you have the most of?
TETSU69 : I have a lot of vacuums.
Tamori : How many?
TETSU69 : Four or five. (other guests laugh) Yeah.
Tamori : One for the LDK? (Note : This refers to the size of his home, Living room, Dining room, and Kitchen.)
TETSU69 : I have a 3L… (Note : Meaning three rooms in addition to the LDK.)
Tamori : 3LDK? You have four in there?
TETSU69 : Yes.
Tamori : You have more vacuums than rooms in your home!
TETSU69 : Yeah, I do. (nodding)
Tamori : Do you have one vacuum for cleaning each room?
TETSU69 : Um, well…
Tamori : You don’t use them?
TETSU69 :(laughs) I don’t.
Tamori : Ahhh. So why do you want them? All those vacuums.
TETSU69 : Well, when a new one comes out, it’s better than what I already have, isn’t it? I get envious.
Tamori : Ah. This morning in the paper, I saw an ad for one that had a sensor, and did the cleaning by itself.
TETSU69 : Ah! I definitely want to get one of those. (nodding)
Tamori : It’ll be out soon. It’ll be vacuum number five.
TETSU69 : Yeah, it will.
Tamori : You can use it when you don’t feel like cleaning.
TETSU69 : But I like cleaning. I have one with a garbage signal on it, you know?
Tamori : What’s a garbage signal?
TETSU69 : When there’s garbage, it’s red.
Tamori : Huh?
TETSU69 : And when it’s all clean, it turns green. There’s a light on it.
Tamori : Ahhh. So when you find a dirty spot, the red light comes on.
TETSU69 : That’s right. It’s like a sensor. Where’s the garbage?
Tamori : I’ve never heard of that.
Female Host : Me neither.
Tamori : So, what’s going on with L’Arc~en~Ciel?
TETSU69 : Hm. I… Um, well.. (Host says something I can’t hear) Yes, we do. Once in a while.
Tamori : You’re answering with a lot of “Ah” and “Hm”. It sounds suspicious!
TETSU69 : It should.
Tamori : Oh really?
TETSU69 : Yes, it should.
Tamori : I think we should go shopping for vacuums together.
TETSU69 : OK, let’s do that. (nodding)
Tamori : Ok, please go to standby.

There’s a brief talk with someone else while TETSU69 gets ready, and then the Shinkirou performance starts.

Transcribed and translated by Natalie Arnold

yukihiro

1) New World : It has the right feel for an opening track. When I was making the music, I’d already decided to submit it. But it wasn’t such a good a pop song until hyde-kun wrote the chorus and transformed it. I think that’s why it turned out the way it did (laughs).

2) LOST HEAVEN : Ever since I first heard it, it’s been easy to grasp the image of this song. To me, it’s a Recchi(Red Hot Chilli Peppers) rhythm. There aren’t many Japanese people funky enough to like Recchi though, at least that’s what I’ve seen.

3) Jojoushi : I’ve been thinking this song might be the best for showcasing L’Arc’s true colours. As far as the drumming goes, I thought something like ground beats would work best. It’s sort of like groove music.

4) TRUST : The finished version is just as impressive as the initial listen was.

5) Killing Me : I was having trouble doing three linked sets of two claps, so I started suggesting “How would this be instead?” (laughs) Can we change it a little? It didn’t change though (laughs).

6) AS ONE : I think hyde-kun probably already said this, but this sounds like a Slipknot song (laughs). This kind of song will be a hit with the younger drummers.

7) My Dear : This is a masterpiece. ken-chan’s arrangements particularly shine, don’t they? I thought it was going to be a hard rock song at first, but as it got closer to completion it became lighter, and I think it’s an incredibly emotional piece.

8) EXISTENCE : My first impression? I wanted to play it again (laughs)

9) Jiyuu e no Shoutai : This song was made back when we were working on SMILE.

10) Ophelia : It’s such a hyde-kun-like song.

11) Hoshizora : This is one of hyde-kun’s songs too… hyde-kun only had one song on SMILE, so maybe he thought more pressure was on him this time. He brought out a lot of songs this time around. And because of my bugging him (laughs), there’s one more. The drums for this one had me a little worried about what I was going to do, at first. The way I break up the song didn’t work structurally, because of how this song swells up and builds. The finished product was salvaged by Okano (Hajime)-san’s advice.

12) Twinkle Twinkle : I think this song was the only one fit to be the closing track. At first I thought it was going to be a hard rock song, and I was a little worried, but this is L’Arc so of course I had no reason to be (laughs). As for the drumming, ken-chan told me to give it the feel of a Sumapan (Smashing Pumpkins) song.

tetsu

1) New World : The bass line for this song was pretty tough. It keeps me busy. I want something like this for my solo. I wanna cover it. I don’t think I’ll be forgetting the pattern, for once (laughs).

2) LOST HEAVEN : In this one too, I’m constantly moving. Melodically, it has a bluesy touch to it, but it doesn’t drag down the listener.

3) Jojoushi : This is a finger song. I’m not especially good at doing that, but I don’t think there’s any other way to make it sound right.

4) TRUST : You know how the intro to this song has guitar going kakokako? That’s from the demo I played on guitar. Did I even have it tuned properly? I’m still not sure about that (laughs). ken-chan said “This is just fine!”

5) Killing Me : It was hard to get the bass to sound melodious for this up-tempo song. This is what forms the root of the song. I had a hard time getting it to sound melodious for this song, but it still ended up sounding pretty good. I found myself stopping to ask “Does this sound right?” a lot, but I don’t remember it being that troublesome, really.

6) AS ONE : My job as bassist wasn’t any trouble at all since we decided to pre-program this song. Oh yeah, I thought the lyrics to this song were all English, but then I checked the booklet and went “Oh! It is Japanese!” (laughs). I was surprised.

7) My Dear : It’s a good song.

8) EXISTENCE : The guitar intro to this song is magnificent. It’s so amazing, I doubt I could reproduce it.

9) Jiyuu e no Shoutai : This actually came from the rehearsals for Shibuya Seven days 2003. I was in the studio with yukkie, and we were supposed to be rehearsing all our old songs, but I felt like writing a new song and so I started jamming on a guitar. That’s how this song originally started. yukkie might not remember, though (laughs). To describe it simply, I’d say it’s a fast, free-flowing tune.

10) Ophelia : The bass on this one is awesomely cool. I think it’s the best bass line on the album. Every two or three times I play it right, I mess up the next performance, but keep going until the end, anyway (laughs). As long as we were using pre-programmed takes, I wasn’t correcting the parts I kept messing up on, was I? That changed the sound, and the studio changed it too. So, it’s a good thing. Even I can’t replay the same thing twice. I don’t understand how I pulled it off the first time (laughs)! That atmosphere doesn’t come back.

11) Hoshizora : I don’t have much to say about this type of song… It wasn’t especially tricky to play. Doesn’t it kind of feel like L’Arc’s old style? And this is ’05.

12) twinkle, twinkle : This is a finger song too. Slapping with the fingers. This song is very ken-chan-like… I like it, and I want him to write more songs like this.

ken

1) New World : yukkie said to me “ken-chan, do the chords!” It progressed with yukkie deciding what sounded best, and turned into a really bright song. “Wow! yukkie made a happy song!?” (laughs) But I was happy about it.

2) LOST HEAVEN : A good jamming song for our usual three-piece (guitar, bass, drums).

3) Jojoushi : I’ve been wanting to hear hyde’s voice in this register. I think this is how his voice sounds prettiest, but if I didn’t write a song for it, I wouldn’t get to hear him sing that way, so I wrote it.

4) TRUST : I’ve been thinking about the hidden theme in the backing vocals of this song. I thought they were cool when I first heard the song, and now I really like this song.

5) Killing Me : I always feel like going “Yay!” while playing this song, but I hold it in and just keep playing. That’s the kind of song it is.

6) AS ONE : When this song was submitted, I wondered “Did you make me a good hard song, hyde?!” and then hyde said “I wrote this because, during the tour, ken-chan said he wanted a hard song to play!” so I’m pretty embarrassed now (laughs).

7) My Dear : This is the tearjerker. For the second half of this song, I worked out the arrangements so that the atmosphere would gradually change, like doing a morphing (for example, an image manipulation where head shots of two people are merged into a new person using computer technology). Still, I don’t think that changed the song’s outlook.

8) EXISTENCE : This is great for bon-odori too (ken made a comment to this effect in the February 2005 issue’s interview concerning the release of Killing Me). I hope I remember to use it by then (laughs). I thought it would be nice to have a song you can run around irresponsibly with, so I wrote this.

9) Jiyuu e no Shoutai : I haven’t played this kind of guitar lately, so at least one of my strings goes “pyuu!” at the intro. It’s like a fresh start.

10) Ophelia : When hyde was all wrapped up in writing this one, he was focusing on the piano to write the chords. I was glad he wasn’t explaining them on guitar, cause that meant I was free to mess around irresponsibly on my acoustic (laughs).

11) Hoshizora : This is a splendid song, is it not? All sorts of different things went into it, so there’s a lot of feeling, especially in the chorus. I wanted the guitar solo in the second half to fade out, but it took too long. The key changes are complicated too. At least, they seem that way now (laughs).

12) twinkle, twinkle : Back during the Baltimore show, and during the SMILE tour, I was thinking I’d like to try a song with this kind of tempo, so I wrote it. It’s a good song for bon-odori, even kids and old people can use this one.

hyde

1) New World : After being rearranged by yukkie many times, this is the song that finally came out (laughs). But when it was finally done, I thought it was an incredibly catchy song.

2) LOST HEAVEN : It’s going to be a movie ending theme (for the movie Fullmetal Alchemist : Shamballa wo iku mono) so I thought I should check it out before I wrote the lyrics. But actually, as I was watching the DVDs, I found myself bonding with it so much that I cried out loud (laughs). I didn’t want to simply transfer that anime’s world into words, I wanted to let it influence me.

3) Jojoushi : It’s a good song, so I wanted to write good lyrics for it. It takes luck to be able to do that, and I think I had just the right amount of luck this time.

4) TRUST : When I wrote these lyrics, I wanted to convey a feeling that even though the world itself doesn’t change, life can change and renew itself all over again.

5) Killing Me : I started writing part of this song on a tree trunk. I’m not sure why (laughs). It just started with singing “Killing Me” (laughs). But for the album version I thought different lyrics would suit the feel of the song better (laughs).

6) AS ONE : We all like hardcore, but L’Arc~en~Ciel doesn’t have many songs like that. So I thought I’d go all out for this one. Still, the chorus turned out pretty catchy. I think it means I did a good job with the song.

7) My Dear : I wrote this three years ago, and I brought it out again because I didn’t think I was going to make my quota (laughs). But with the band’s arrangements, it got changed quite a bit. ken-chan in particular did good work with the structure and arrangements. I don’t think I have that kind of creativity.

8) EXISTENCE : The moment I heard this song, I got angry, cause it’s got a dirty image. I thought about something to write angry lyrics about, so decided to make lyrics about not being able to sleep.

9) Jiyuu e no Shoutai : I took rhyming into consideration when writing this one, so I think I paid a lot of attention to it (laughs).

10) Ophelia : This was another song that filled up my quota (laughs). I wanted to insert a name into the song, and even though it’s common, I pulled it out of Hamlet. (Ophelia is one of the principal characters in Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’, she is the tragic love of the main character, Hamlet) Hammering it out during our sessions was the greatest.

11) Hoshizora : I used “explosive” words to make straightforward lyrics, and so I think this song penetrates the soul. I chose fairly strong words.

12) twinkle, twinkle : My job is easy, I just write lyrics for other people (laughs). But this one is incredibly hard to sing. But rather than hate the song, I see it as a fresh challenge.

Translated by Natalie Arnold

hyde-kun tried really hard this time.

– Once again, a product gifted with the romanticism and drive typical of L’Arc~en~Ciel has reached us. We are presently with the creator of the opening number which drives the album, hoping to discover how he feels about his current situation within the band.
– Last year, L’Arc released an album after some delay, following it up with a tour. Do you have any particular thoughts regarding this new L’Arc?
[No, nothing special, really (laughs). It just felt like meeting up with old friends again, after a long time apart. “It’s been a while!”]

– Then, going from that album to this new one was no different from going from the first to the second, or the second to the third?
[That’s right.]

– How has the production progressed?
[The same as always. We make new tunes, then do some pre-programming or something.]

– What did you think when you first heard the newly submitted songs?
[Last time, for ‘SMILE’, hyde-kun had been really busy, so I noticed he was trying extra hard this time (laughs).]

– How was the timing for the creation of this album’s overall image?
[I don’t really understand that, myself. I don’t think about it. Now that it’s finished, I still don’t understand it. When people ask me what the feel of the album is like, I feel like giving them a CD and saying “Go listen to it.” (laughs).]

– You aren’t interested in figuring out it’s ‘Big Picture’?
[Right. I think it’s probably better to take the songs one by one. There’s no way this is a concept album or anything. Everyone tells me this is an especially varied album, for L’Arc (laughs), so I figure we must’ve done a good job with it’s overall balance. And we didn’t even have to work on achieving that balance.]

Instead of thinking of the album’s big picture, I’d rather just simply call it cool.

– Is the reason you aren’t conscious of the album’s big picture because you’re so close to it, as one of the creators?
[Nah, we’ve never started by thinking about what kind of album we want to make or anything like that. We just go ahead and make something that’ll be cool.]

– Of course, the music you make always is, yukihiro-san.
[Is it really? When people say things like that to me, I never know what to answer.]

– Then, let me ask about lyrics. yukihiro-san, in the song you wrote, ‘New World’, what is the meaning of the first line “Koko ni Aru Tashika na REALITY”? (Note : Meaning : “What is here is a certain reality”)
[It’s about what I, personally, perceive as good. I have my own feelings, my own way of thinking, and that’s what makes my own reality. I think each person has their own version of that.]

– Could it also refer to how each of the four members had their own “certain reality” regarding their feelings on this latest album?
[I guess, maybe (laughs).]

– What are your own feelings about it, yukihiro-san?
[I wasn’t thinking that hard when I was writing the lyrics (laughs), but since you’re asking the question, I think there’s one (reality) for any kind of situation. For example, when your reality gets wobbly, or when you fall prey to nervousness, that’s what’s real during that time. Reality isn’t absolute, so I think it’s ok not to connect to it especially strongly. Like right now, my reality is that I’m here trying to think of answers to your questions (laughs), well, that’s actually true.]

– Yet, for instance in ‘New World’, before that ‘truth’, the main sensation is the band’s overwhelming positive energy.
[Well, as long as we’re talking about these lyrics, I’d like to say more about the ‘truth’, as we’re discussing. Anyway, I think that you shouldn’t worry too much about what the true reality is, as long as you’re going ahead feeling good. It doesn’t matter what’s real, what’s a dream, or what’s fiction; it feels better not to worry about it.]

– This new album does feel like it calls out to those who live in that sort of world, with dreams and fictions.
[For sure, there are moments where I feel L’Arc’s sound call out that way. It happens during lives, and also in recordings when we let ourselves go wild. At times like that, I think I feel it more than the others do (laughs), and send out my own feelings.]

Things left “unsaid” help keep up a good nervous tension in the band.

– How is the situation within the band itself? I would think that if all members aren’t sharing the same circumstances, you won’t be able to make music together.
[That’s true. We definitely each have out our own roles, and if I’m feeling a certain way, everyone will also start feeling that way (laughs) as soon as we start talking. But, we don’t talk about that sort of thing much.]

– Is L’Arc the type of band where after a really good session, you make sure to tell each other you thought it was good, or the type to just smirk at each other when you don’t get anything done, or maybe a mix of both types?
[We do both, but the latter happens more often (laughs).]

– Has it always been that way since you joined the band, yukihiro-san?
[Yeah.]

– You’re a shy group of people, aren’t you (laughs)?
[Maybe we are…(laughs).]

– You don’t feel awkward?
[It’s just, some things don’t get said. And I think there are some things to be careful about. If I’m in a good mood, but someone else isn’t, I won’t try to cheer them up, for instance (laughs).]

– Would that delicate balance be a factor in L’Arc being the way it is?
[That’s right. I think that sort of feeling helps keep up a good nervous tension within the band.]

– What about the album title?
[As usual, hyde-kun thought of it. Once the sound is done with, I don’t care about the rest… Of course, the title of an album should be the strongest word the lyric writer can find to express the album, and with L’Arc, that would be hyde-kun, so he thought that was the most suitable word for describing the contents of this album.]

– But the word ‘AWAKE’ is in the song ‘New World’ isn’t it?
[Oh, yeah, it is (laughs).]

– Of course, this summer’s tour will focus on songs from ‘AWAKE’?
[That’s right.]

– Including ‘Killing Me’?
[That’s ok, isn’t it? (laughs)]

I’ll work hard to make the lives intense.

-(laughs) Have you started practicing again, now that the tour is coming?
[This time, the recording took a long time, and so listening to the songs we recorded first makes me notice how much I’ve forgotten about them. This time, we didn’t cram it all in as much, but that let us put out better quality work.]

– This time, you have shows in Korea and China, too. How was your overseas show last year, in America?
[I was incredibly nervous. I hadn’t been that nervous in a long time. But, once the show started, I was fine.]

– How about Korea and China?
[I’m nervous, I guess. But I think it’s a different kind of nervousness than at the American show.]

– By the way, for many bands on tour, the day of a live doesn’t go well. How does L’Arc usually do on lives?
[We’re good, aren’t we? I, personally, have bad days too, of course, and sometimes the other three don’t seem like themselves. I probably do that too, though. I think last year’s tour went great, though.]

– Well, please try to make this year’s tour even better.
[Yes, I’ll work hard.]

Translated by Natalie Arnold.

Our manager gave us “Five songs each” for a quota!

– You’ve created a wonderful product. It was truly moving. ‘SMILE’ honestly pales in comparison.
[But ‘SMILE’ has a good reputation. I’ve had people tell me it’s the best album yet.]

– Of course, all listeners have their own opinions. But aren’t you happy about that?
[I’m not so much happy as surprised. But some people do feel that way. It goes to show that there are all sorts of people in the world. It’s like that with clothes, too, right? There are people who buy clothes that I look at and think “Who would buy something this weird?” (laughs)]

– Is ‘AWAKE’ your response to them?
[I wouldn’t call it a response. Our manager said “Five songs each” was our quota this time. So, except for yukkie, we submitted five songs each. I actually had about seven, so in all we had nearly twenty songs, right? At the time, I thought they were all good songs.]

– Wasn’t it hard to choose from so many?
[No, it wasn’t a problem having so many songs. We had a lot of really great songs, and that was when we realized that.]

– Was the tour for the previous album, ‘SMILE’, a major factor in writing them?
[Hmm, well, with some analysis, you might find a lot of the songs were influenced by that tour. But I don’t think that was all.]

I think we got the band engine warmed up.

– In the past, there was a time when the band accelerated furiously, correct? It had a tangible force, but I wonder if you wanted to step away from it. How far could you let it take you? I wondered.
[Wanted… I think all we needed to do was get the engine warmed up again. ‘SMILE’ felt like a warm-up, and now that the engine’s ready, we can get up to speed again. I thought so even back when we were making ‘SMILE’, that we wouldn’t be back up to full speed until the next album. It all worked out the way I’d hypothesized.]

– Now, you mentioned that you had submitted seven songs, and actually ‘Jiyuu e no Shoutai’ was made back in the days of ‘SMILE’ so you only had one new song made. Why weren’t more of your songs chosen?
[Just because they weren’t chosen doesn’t mean they’re dead.]

– That sounds rather suspicious.
[I’m unwilling to say more. We already have twelve great songs on the album, so… (laughs). That makes over 120 already, soon we’ll break 150. Maybe they’ll get used on another album.]

– It wasn’t the right time for them?
[That could be it, too.]

– Are you thinking of the next single?
[That, too.]

These songs are like a digest of the past year.

– What is your position with regard to songwriting? Have there been any changes compared to what you did before, or have some elements stayed the same?
[Over the past year, I think I’ve finally perfected my methods. I took a good look at what exactly I was doing, and I’ve matured, too.]

– When you were working on ‘AWAKE’, was there anything you thought you would finally get a chance to express?
[No, there wasn’t.]

– You were just glad to get it done?
[No, when the recording was finished, I wasn’t thinking “Hurray! We’re done!”… it just slipped away from me.]

– I realise that recording isn’t a simple task, but was there anything particularly troublesome? Something that got on your nerves, trouble with the location, or perhaps a restriction on how many days you could spend in the studio?
[I don’t think there was anything like that. I did a lot of net surfing in the studio, actually (laughs).]

– You had that luxury, but you were still thorough with your work.
[Were we? Well, it took a long time to finish.]

– How long did it take, really?
[About half a year. We started around September.]

– Recording became a part of your daily life?
[Actually, I’ve kind of forgotten about the recording period. I guess it must have been.]

– So, what do you remember about the recording, now?
[Is there anything? I can’t remember anything but the view from the studio. I can remember which studios we went to.]

– Right (laughs). Were you being particular about anything in terms of the sound of your bass playing during the recording?
[Nothing in particular. I’ve always taken it one step at a time, letting the sound vary from song to song. There’s no advantage in carving out one sound and using it for each of the twelve songs. That’s why I change the sound between songs, changing which bass I use too. With the bass as the root, the sound of the other instruments changes, too.]

– This time around, which songs were especially fun to play? And which ones were tricky to play?
[Fun ones… On ‘Ophelia’ and ‘AS ONE’ we used pre-programmed takes.]

– Eh?
[The main line of ‘Ophelia’, I kept getting the distortion wrong.]

– It doesn’t sound that way intentionally?
[It got distorted. I meant to make the amp sound distorted, but I ended up distorting the line (the direct output from the bass). Normally, I record straight from the line, but the sound kept getting distorted! Distorted by the amp, distorted by the line. But that’s how the end result turned out. If we hadn’t done that (made use of a pre-programmed take) it wouldn’t have sounded the same. Still, even though we had the pre-programmed version, I still played it two or three times. Just to see if I could record it right, I played it once or twice between other songs. But still, I’ve only played the full song three times, at most.]

I think listening to music is a question of love or hate.

– Ahh~. Hearing about that might change the way people respond to the song. But, changing the subject, I get the impression there was a lot of meaning placed in this album. Was it meant to be included? Or did you try not to do that?
[I think it might be a little bit of both.]

– It just happened?
[Yeah (laughs).]

– Did you consult each other?
[Nope.]

– What’s your secret for keeping yourself going? I think self-confidence must be necessary, or else you wouldn’t get very far.
[I do have confidence. I don’t let other people’s opinions affect me much. I don’t think the people giving me their opinions know better than I do (laughs) at least not musically. Would you claim to be in a position to tell a pro athlete how to play their sport? It’s the same thing, isn’t it? I don’t really listen, so it doesn’t influence me, and I don’t get affected.]

– Then, you can get inspiration on your own? For example, by watching movies or listening to music, or by going somewhere.
[…Not really. I never go anywhere (laughs).]

– You should! Or don’t you have the time?
[No, it’s just that I’m the stay at home type (laughs).]

– I remember you mentioned once that you don’t travel.
[It’s such a pain (laughs).]

– You said you do net surfing? But not real surfing.
[I don’t surf.]

– So what have you taken up for stimulation?
[Nothing at all.]

– Don’t you get bored?
[I’m a boring kind of guy.]

– That can’t be true, can it?
[Even at home, I just space out. …I’m really not that interesting.]

– …That’s enough (laughs). As I’d imagined, you’re at the age where men are past the phase of constantly obsessing with sex? Though, this album sounds so young it’s hard to think of you that way.
[Well, I guess that might be true.]

– Is there anything in particular you’d like your listeners to keep in mind, or to pay special attention to?
[I think listening to music is a matter of love or hate. If you like it, you like it, and if you don’t, then you don’t. I think we’re confident that we’ve put out a good product.]

Translated by Natalie Arnold

When I’m holding my guitar, it’s like my mind goes all white.

– ken-san, on the album ‘AWAKE’ I thought you came across as a ‘thoughtful person’.
[Have you always thought that?]

– We are talking about your musical approach, right?
[Yeah.]

– How did you consciously approach the music this time?
[I played with everything I’ve got.]

– With all your might?
[It’s not that I put my all into “making it sound even fiercer” or that I went all out because “this part is supposed to sound sadder!” or because “this part is supposed to be more fun!” but anyway, I put everything I had into it.]

– You weren’t pouring your all into giving shape to that particular song, but rather into putting the same soul into the entire product, right?
[Yeah. After all, I have to do something to make it stand out a little, give it a novel twist… It might sound weird to say I have to, but that’s how I write music and play my guitar, you know?]

– You could say that rock is about asking yourself “How can I make something new with this?” right?
[Yeah. But, it’s not really a question of working out my brain cells. My creative process doesn’t involve that much brain stretching. When I put my all into it, I mean finding things like “That’s the way!” or “I just had it!” and then maybe just taking care to figure those out. At first, I have butterflies in my stomach when I start playing, but it gradually fades.]

– There’s an example that’s easy to relate to (laughs).
[So I don’t yell at myself “What’s up with this?! I’m about to start playing, already!” as I start to play, but I just say “This is it.” I’m just saying obvious stuff (laughs).]

– You could make a joke about how “Food and music don’t mix” at this point (laughs).
[But really, once I’m holding my guitar and say “Ok, let’s go!”, it’s like it goes all white inside my mind.]

– It becomes a challenge to see how far you can meld with the song, or something like that?
[Yeah. When it gets to be the tune that asks to be played, rather than me requesting it, I’ve really merged with it. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?]

– You’re making it sound like food again (laughs).
[I have to keep an out and make sure the good bits don’t run away as quick as they came out.]

– If you’re pessimistic about that, you’ll be paying for it at the recording.
[Yeah. That’s why, for example, if we’re playing a darker type of song, I’d let myself fall into that sort of feeling. But this time though, when the moment came I said “Ok! Let’s put everything into this one!” and so “Boom!” it worked.]

– You were in an idle state.
[Yeah. What I mean is, I think there are a lot of people who are listening to us for the first time, and I want them to want to come to lives, and enjoy it, right? So I gave my all so I could do that. If those people tell me “No, no, you should get all wrapped up in the emotion of it!” I’ll say “Sorry, my mistake!” (laughs)]

– There’s always going to be someone saying “I wanted to hear ken’s angry guitar playing!” or something.
[Yeah. But I can say I put my all into making what we did end up with.]

– I think that perhaps the appropriate name for your approach to this recording was “ken-san unmasked”.
[Yeah. You could say that.]

– When a guest comes to your home, you say “Oh, I’m glad you’re here! I have good food!” and put your all into cooking something especially delicious for them. But in this case, the guests aren’t just fans, your music is also being made for hyde, tetsu, and yukihiro.
[Yeah, that’s true, that’s how it is for the music. That’s how I think about it, anyway. It’s not a strange way to play around, is it?]

– For example, rather than being like a stubborn ramen shop owner and saying “This is how our ramen tastes, so eat it!” or “I’m not making something special for you!” and just making what you feel like having, it’s better to ask the guests what they want and work on making something that fits their request.
[Yeah. “I’m making me happy!” or something.]

– Isn’t that sort of person horrible?
[Aren’t they? Makes you sick (laughs).]

– Ye, yeah (laughs). But why are you putting all of yourself into it, now?
[When we came back together to make ‘SMILE’ and toured it, of course all the members spent a long time together, and so I thought I should give more of myself while things were still fresh.]

– You weren’t before?
[It’s more like it crept up on me (laughs).]

– Ahahahaha (laughs).
[While it’s fresh… like for example, when you’re trying to start up a band you think “Ok, let’s go find a drummer!” and put your all into it from that point on, right? But I had just said “It’s such a pain, trying to find members.”]

– Ahahahaha (laughs).
[I even said “We don’t have to all be in the same place. It’s more fun to just write the songs I play by myself!” or something like that. I was playing randomly “Yay! That was fun!” and just goofing off like an amateur. I performed carelessly, but even though it was lots of fun, it wasn’t exactly good playing. That came later.]

– It’s taken a long time for you to come so far (laughs).
[It did take a while (laughs). “Ah, so this is the way guitar is meant to be played!”. Realizing that wasn’t so much me going “Hey, this is pretty good!” but rather just naturally coming to like this way better.]

– What was that like?
[“Am I always going to be doing this?” (laughs)]

– Please, keep playing! This latest piece of work is so very, very, good. ‘AWAKE’ I mean.
[I guess so. But well, I think my feelings change gradually. Like a mischievous spirit (laughs).]

For the tour, I want to show off the true colours of each and every song.

– Naturally, your feelings are going to change once the tour starts. We’ve only been talking about your thoughts on the recording studio work so far.
[Right.]

– What kind of tour do you think it will be?
[When it comes to lives, well, the word “live” makes me think of putting songs into sets of two or three and then saying “Time to show off!” and playing them that way. Even so, I want to perform while showing off the true colours of each and every song.]

– I thought the ‘SMILE tour’ had the feel of an omnibus movie that showcased each song individually. Was that what you were trying to do?
[Yeah. The feel of that one was jumping in with both hands and going “This is rock!” “What else could it be?!” (laughs). Well, it goes back to what I said about “I gotta put everything I’ve got into it” right?]

– You keep saying you want to showcase each song one at a time, but I think you have to keep in mind the overall performance, too.
[Yeah. Without that root, it’ll only turn on people who get easily excited, but what can you do about that? (laughs)]

– It’s not like a classical concert. You’re doing a rock show and so it’ll feel that way.
[Right. The audience participates, right? They keep us excited. But that’s kind of strange, isn’t it?]

– What is?
[I send out my feelings through sound. Now, I can tell what I was thinking, wondering “Will they hear it that way?” and if they do “I’m thrilled.”]

– What I felt the most was that “He really completely loves L’Arc”. You do love L’Arc, don’t you?
[This is embarrassing! (said brightly)]

– Please say it! Say you love L’Arc.
[What kind of interview is this?! “Declare your love!” This is the first time I’ve been asked to do that (laughs).]

Translated by Natalie Arnold.

Lies and fabrications no longer resonate for me.

– hyde-san, you were very active this time around.
[Well, I don’t think anyone needed to tell me anything. I just worked (laughs).]

– Although the songs are all varied musically, they all seem to send the same message. The same theme permeates them all.
[It might have been because my thoughts all revolved around the same main idea. I consistently stuck to the same spiritual theme.]

– Ah, you mentioned this when ‘Killing Me’ came out. The way modern society appears peaceful, but in reality that isn’t the case if you take a closer look at people’s situations. These are the thoughts currently preoccupying you the most, hyde-san.
[That’s definitely one of the feelings I’m sending out with this production. After examining myself deeply, that’s all I could come up with. No other themes I could think of had the same sort of reality to them, so they seemed boring. Even if I’d written about them, they didn’t move me at all, so it felt like I was writing lies. To me, using words that don’t resonate with me are a kind of fabrication. I wanted to make something that would resonate the way the music did. Of course, if I’d had any other ideas that resonated that way, I would have written about them. But this time, nothing else had the right impact.]

– Nothing else resonated.
[After all, my criteria is whether or not it resonates with me. I could think about what people will think, or what kind of lyrics would make people happy, but there are so many people who all listen in their own way, so I can only imagine their reactions. I’m not confident enough about how that would turn out. If it fails to resonate with me even by a tiny bit, I don’t think I can expect it to draw people in.]

– Then the themes that resonate with you are influenced by recent incidents, and the world’s situation, correct?
[It isn’t really about the current era. It’s more accurate to say it’s about the world up until now. Some things never change. I’m resigned to believing that some things will never change, yet I wanted to include hope in the lyrics I wrote.]

– It’s about things that people keep repeating throughout history, then.
[Right. It’s incredibly scary that we haven’t learned anything from history.]

– But, you don’t want to give up hope.
[Well, part of giving up is aiming for a different goal, instead. I know I’m going to die someday, but rather than having lived without changing anything, I want to die knowing that I’ve done something to improve the situation. This way, I still have a dream, don’t I? It’s like the difference between not winning the lottery, and having a chance to win the lottery (laughs). In the end, even if we’re all together, we can each choose whether or not to buy into the dream.]

– That’s right. Life is much harder without hope. We can probably all understand each other on some level. And yet, it’s human nature to repeat the same things over again. The theme extends to all humans, right?
[That’s the kind of creature humanity is. I don’t think that can change, it might even be genetically programmed. I think humanity is the worst species on Earth.]

– Yet we are all part of that species. We can’t live any other way.
[That’s the sort of thing I wanted people to awaken to when ‘AWAKE’ was made.]

– When I listened to the album, I thought about the meaning of the title, and I was told it meant ‘awaken’. To stop turning your eyes away, stop pretending not to see, and take notice of what’s really going on in the world.
[It would be meaningless if it didn’t reach out to people. If you don’t awaken, it ends up being just another nightmare. If that’s fine with you, that’s okay, I guess. As for myself, I’ve realized that even in these circumstances, people can love each other, and that love is universal. I might be blinding myself to the whole picture, but I still think it’s true. I don’t want to see the evil in the world get in the way of that love. I honestly don’t think a person can be truly evil. Even in wartime, people fight because they have something to protect. But I want people to realise there are other methods. After all, even schoolchildren can understand that killing isn’t the only way to solve things.]

– It would be especially fitting if you were feeling a crisis looming recently, wouldn’t it? In such a case, the words found on this album would hit even harder. hyde-san, if that was the only message you wanted to send, did it make writing the lyrics easier?
[When I can empathize with the line, it’s easy to understand, so in that sense it’s also easy to write. But overall, I approached the production from many angles, so it wasn’t just about saying one thing. Also, there were other elements I wanted to incorporate, but in the end this is what ended up becoming the main point. That’s why everything ended up sounding alike, but that’s what moved me, so it can’t be helped (snicker).]

– Then this product became the expression of your own feelings on this matter. But, wasn’t it tiring to pour so much of yourself into it?
[No, I get a great feeling of achievement when I find the right words to express my emotions. It worked well, this time. And so, listening to it should draw you in. In our previous work, I focused on having the lyrics emphasize the melody, but this time I worked more on the lyrics themselves. The music is great, but I think the lyrics will especially catch the ear on this album.]

– Yes, I think so too.
[In the past, I might have thought it was too much trouble and kept away from this sort of lyric. I used to hate this sort of thing. But now I think that little bit of extra effort is worth it, since it helps the lyrics get noticed. My personal experience might be influencing that. Until now, I just tossed out any lyrics I could, without thinking, but now I’m willing to write lyrics that are a bit more trouble to come up with. It’s not that this sort of theme never occurred to me before, but rather that it didn’t mean as much to me as it does now.]

– This is how you are, now. What you once would have thought to be a bother doesn’t seem so anymore.
[Right. I realized I have my own “truth” inside, and that I don’t have to be embarrassed about expressing it. I don’t think I was strong enough to do that, before. So now, I shine that much more. I’m more firm in my beliefs now, so I can express myself in my lyrics and get closer to the core of what I really mean than I had done before.]

– It’s because your beliefs have grown stronger.
[Right. If I were writing words of love without meaning them, I’d probably be very embarrassed. But if they’re sincerely meant, it’s not embarrassing. That’s how it works.]

– You write what’s in your heart, and then sing it. This time, the songs will be much more persuasive.
[And I had practiced the day before(laughs). In the past the day of recording was the first time I tried out a song. So, I made a lot of stupid mistakes. But this time, I practiced before recording day, so I could try out all sorts of things. It gave me better results.]

– Doing that must have changed how you felt about the recording process?
[No, it didn’t. It’s always fun (laughs). No one gets mad much, and they kind of praise me a lot (laughs). And so, I feel good, we get a synergy going, and I can sing it right. So, it might be an obvious thing to say, but practicing really helps. It’s about time I realized that, considering it’s the tenth album (laughs).]

– Why did you decide to try practicing ahead of time for this album?
[Willpower, maybe? I wanted to sing my songs right. I have to sing anyway, right? I thought that if I’m going to sing, I may as well do it right. I think I was too soft on myself before. Songs are my passion. I decided to put passion into them, finally (laughs). But I might not just be a question of passion. My technique, and the quality of my voice, I use those to express that passion. I think that’s necessary for our music.]

– However, this time, I think you put a much stronger emphasis on your message. Wanting to express it became a fairly major element in your singing. Without paying due attention to that, I think this product looses a lot of its listening worth. No, this album is already a masterpiece. It’s L’Arc, so of course it’s going to be cool, but that’s not all. Listening to it gives you a lot to think about.
[Yeah. I think it’s a pretty good album. Lately, I’ve listened to other people’s music, but nothing else is as striking as this. It’s not that I decided to sing about something deeper, I think it would have been OK to sing about lighter subjects, too. But the way I am now, lighter things seem boring. I just think this album comes from the heart.]

– Yes. It really is quite moving. Also, the tour associated with this album is starting in August. Can we expect to see the world view of ‘AWAKE’ come to life this way?
[Probably. Thematically, it has a heavy atmosphere, doesn’t it? It’s not just coming from the lyrics (laughs). I think I’d like these lives to be cooler than our previous ones. I think it would be nice to focus less on entertainment and more on the message.]

– You’re also touring in Asia, concluding at Tokyo Dome. Will the content of that tour be different?
[Basically, I’d like to do something a little different. The Asia tour will probably have more entertainment. It’ll be more of a party (laughs).]

Translated by Natalie Arnold.

The following interviews were published in the July 2005 issue of CD Data, scans of which are available all over the internet. The issue coincides with the release of AWAKE. Also included are special liner notes for the album written by each member. This translation has never been posted anywhere else!

This is a translation of the talk segment preceeding a performance of Link on Pop Jam from July 15, 2005. Takanori Nishikawa hosted the talk, along with Watanabe Ken and Kojima Issai from Anjasshu. Of L’Arc~en~Ciel, only tetsu and ken participated in this talk. The usual warnings about possible misunderstandings apply especially strongly, since all participants laughed and talked over each other throughout the talk. This translation was previously posted on my LiveJournal. This is a revised version.

Begin

Takanori : And now, once again we have dragged L’Arc~en~Ciel into this playful corner. Today we have tet-chan and ken-chan!!
(Much clapping)
Kojima : Another month, you guys are back.
ken : Today, I’m kind of uneasy. This morning when I watched the news, they said “Sagittarius, be careful with your mouth!!” (laughter)
ken : Bad day for a talk!
Watanabe : Be careful!
Kojima : Maybe you shouldn’t say anything.
ken : As soon as I heard that, I shut it off. But it’s worrying me! So I can’t help it, I’m watching what I do with my mouth. Today, I’d better stick with bananas.
(Takanori cracks up completely)
Watanabe : Don’t they normally follow up with advice for the day?
ken : But I didn’t hear that part. (Miming shutting off the TV)
(more laughing)
ken : Ah, I’m talking too much already.
Watanabe : At least you watch the news.
ken : Yeah, I watched it.
Someone offscreen : Take care. You don’t have to talk too much.

Takanori : tetsu-kun is acting normal. Talking as much as usual. Whenever he goes on TV he seems so nervous. Aren’t you?
tetsu : It’s not nerves, it’s just consideration.
Takanori : Consideration? (some laughing)
tetsu : It’s better that I not talk much.
Others : Whaat?
tetsu : If I talk too much, it’ll seem like I’m trying to outdo the other people participating.
Kojima : We wouldn’t think that! Fine then, we just won’t talk.
ken : He’s like this in shops, too. Even when he’s with a quiet person. Doesn’t talk.
Takanori : But today it’s ken-kun who’s not supposed to talk much.
Watanabe : He’s talking too much!
Takanori : We should make him talk on purpose! See what happens!

Watanabe : Now, we all know that L’Arc~en~Ciel is popular, but to get sales they have to appeal to all sorts of people! So then, we went to investigate what old ladies in Harajuku think of them!

First ‘fan’ question : When was your first love?

Watanabe : Preschool or something doesn’t count. It has to be someone you actually found attractive.
Kojima : After your hair started coming in. (Note: Puberty)
(much laughter)
tetsu : Must have been middle school.
ken : (Starts to say something about puberty, but starts laughing)
(Everyone is laughing and I can’t pick things out, but it sounds like tetsu is telling ken not to talk about something)
ken : I could trap him with what I know.
(More laughing)
Watanabe : Do you remember what kind of person it was?
tetsu : Ehhh?
Watanabe : What kind of club were they in?
tetsu : Who was it again…?
(Much laughing)
Someone offscreen: Then, tell us about your first date.
tetsu : The first girl I dated. She played volleyball.
Kojima : Volleyball… Were you classmates?
tetsu : Not exactly… (laughing)

Takanori : You two were in the same middle school right?
ken : Yeah.
Hosts mostly over-talking each other : So then did the baseball hero (tetsu points to ken) know the volleyball player girl? Did you know tetsu-kun was dating a volleyball player?
ken : Well… (laughs) Now you’re trapping me! (laughs more)

Watanabe : Now ken-san, tell us about your first love.
ken : I was an early one. (laughs)
Takanori : Energetic, too. (more laughing)
ken : I’m not sure if we’d still recognize each other. (turns to tetsu) My partner <3 Someone offscreen : Now that your hair's come in... Takanori : Don't talk about your partner! (laughs) ken : It's actually really interesting. Even though I shouldn't talk! Someone offscreen : It's OK! Talk anyway. Just watch the perverted stuff. ken: It was in third year of elementary school. We had an exchange diary. Everyone : Ohh! How nice. Kojima : What did you put in it? ken : Nothing like... (starts laughing) Watanabe : We don't have to hear about the weird stuff. Takanori : It must have been nothing but slang words! (laughing and more laughing) ken : I wrote stuff like... we should talk more <3 Watanabe : "We should talk more in school!" And stuff like that. Kojima : "Today, we talked! And it's starting to grow in." (Everyone cracks up) Next 'fan' question : When something is bothering you, how to you settle the problem? Watanabe : You must have things worry you once in a while. tetsu : Yeah, I do. Someone offscreen : Like your work? tetsu : My work, my private life. (nodding) Watanabe : So how do you go about making those problems go away? tetsu : I worry by myself. And I cry, alone. Someone : You cry? tetsu : Yes, I cry. Anjasshu guys : Ehhh. And you admit it so easily. tetsu : Mmhmm. Watanabe : It's like he's proud of it. (lots of laughing) Crying must help him forget. Watanabe : ken-san, how do you clear your mind of worry? Settling your problems? ken : Hmm... Mostly, I sleep. And the next day, I've forgotten about it. People : Ehhh... ken : I sleep, I eat... Takanori : tetsu-kun, you're an A type? (Note : Blood type) tetsu : A type. ken : AB type. Takanori : Ah, so you can get distracted faster. It's easier to take your mind off things. Watanabe : Has anything been bothering you lately? ken : Hmm... No! (laughs) ken : Really, I think my lifestyle of forgetting about things is nice and convenient. Watanabe explains about a part of their campaign with the old ladies, which was a popularity contest between them (Anjashu) and L'Arc. A clip plays of old ladies being asked to choose between two photos, one of each group. They were asked to pick who they would like to have for a son-in-law. Old lady 1 : Hahah.. a cute one would be best! (picks Watanabe) Watanabe : Yes! ken : Uh oh. Old lady 2 : I like this one. Watanabe-kun. He looks like a modern kid. Anjasshu : Oh yeah! Old lady 3 : tetsu-san. I like his face. ken : Why did they use this picture? Old lady 4 : This one. (points to Watanabe) Watanabe : Yay, they're picking me! Old lady 5 : Him! (points to hyde) Hahaha... Old lady 6 : Granny picks this one. (Watanabe again) Ken-chan, is it? Old lady 7 : How about this one? tetsu-san. He's my choice <3 Old lady 8 : I'd take that tetsu-san. He has atmosphere. Old lady 9 : I like this kid. (points to Watanabe) He's a cute kid <3 Watanabe : Yay yay yay! Old lady 10 : I like this kid. tetsu. He's cute. In the studio : Oh! Tied! Screen : Tied with one point remaining! Old lady 11 : This one. (Chooses Watanabe) He has a cute smile. Anjasshu guys : We win!! Bonus : Kojima-san? Somehow, he seems unfriendly. (Much laughter in the studio) Kojima : I thought there was something weird. They always picked you! (points to Watanabe) Watanabe : It's because I'm smiling in the picture! That's what draws them in. Takanori : It's Watanabe vs L'Arc~en~Ciel! Kojima : Not fair! They won't even look at me. Takanori : Yeah, well, tetsu-kun, you almost won. tetsu : But it's a bad picture! Takanori : Yeah, that's the only reason. tetsu : The background is too dark. They should have used one with a brighter colour. And a smiling picture. ken : I don't smile in pictures! (much laughing) Kojima : But even if you smiled, the old ladies would pick us. ken : (smiles) Someone : Cute. (more laughing) Takanori : Ok, so with that in mind, introduce today's song. tetsu and ken : (Smile!) tetsu : Here's L'Arc~en~Ciel! ken : Link! (laughing and clapping, then comes the performance) Transcribed and translated by Natalie Arnold

This is a translation of the two hour All Night Nippon broadcast on July 8, 2005, with L’Arc~en~Ciel. I worked primarily from a transcript, but also had an mp3 of the show as reference. The translation should therefore be quite accurate. This is a spellchecked, proofread, final version.

Enjoy!

The choruses of HONEY, HEAVEN’S DRIVE, Niji, Pieces, NEO UNIVERSE, STAY AWAY and READY STEADY GO play.

Narration : Having released their first album in 1993, L’Arc~en~Ciel has had innumerable hit songs along their sparkling career.
Posessing an amazing vocal sense and always rising up to new challenges : the vocalist hyde.
Putting life into all varieties of music and taking the band into all directions : the guitarist ken.
The leader who controls the band, yet takes the initiative in a more playful way than any other : the bassist tetsu.
With a coool, avant-garde image and far-ranging capacities yet to be revealed : the drummer yukihiro.
Tonight, these four characters are on the air with us on All night Nippon, to look back on ten albums with the release of a new one!

all : L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon!

hyde : Good evening! This is L’Arc~en~Ciel’s vocalist hyde.
ken : The guitar, ken.
tetsu : The bass, tetsu.
yuki : The drums, yukihiro. (Not said clearly at all)
hyde : This time every Friday with Motoya Yukiko. Tonight’s All Night Nippon feels like some kind of theatre!
tetsu : Yes.
hyde : L’Arc~en~Ciel… I think the four of us want to reach out.
ken : (laughs)
hyde : All four of us are kinda nervous… on the radio.
ken : More nervous than going alone, before. (laughs)
hyde : The moment I got here, I wanted to turn around and go home. (laughs)
all : (laugh)
hyde : Somehow, we’re doing this… Um, does anything happen on this radio show?
tetsu : What will we have to do?
ken : Maybe nothing?
hyde : Maybe.
tetsu : Nothing…?
hyde : Yeah right (laughs) Something’s gonna happen. Definitely.
ken : Bring it on? (laughs)
tetsu : There’s nothing planned~~?
ken : There’s probably some way to avoid it.
hyde : Yeah yeah yeah.
ken : If we manage to avoid whatever it is… It’ll be an All Night Nippon that doesn’t really stand out, so they’ll want to do something to us.
hyde : Yeah yeah yeah. At least… we’re not in front of people. I want to make a plan. Basically, all four of us need to stick to the same story, so we don’t start any rumours.
ken : Right.. But right now it’s only two of us chatting. We should get a third one going.
hyde : Yeah, yeah.
ken : Although they say it’s all four on the radio…
hyde : That’s not going to happen. (laughs)
all : (laugh)
ken : Ahahaha (laughs) Well, let’s do our best.
hyde : Work hard?
ken : I’m trying hard. (laughs)
hyde : Let’s see… We, L’Arc~en~Ciel that is, released our tenth album on the 22nd of last month. (He sounds like he’s refraining from laughing) We released AWAKE (he says the word AWAKE with a flourish)
ken : Yep.
hyde : It comes, what… a year and three months after SMILE?
all : Hooo~~
hyde : …really (laughs). But still, I think it turned out to be a great album.
all : (laugh)
hyde : You guys (laughs). This is the tenth one.
ken : Hmm.. really, it’s hyde who worked hard.
hyde : Oh, me? (laughs)
ken : Consequentially. (laughs)
hyde : Yeaaah… it shows, right?
ken : It does show.
hyde : It shows that I worked hard.
ken : The last thing we did for that album was look over the cover jacket.
hyde : Yes yes.
ken : Yeah, and next to each song it says who wrote the words and who wrote the music. hyde’s name comes up a lot.
hyde : Wonder why.
ken : Why? You sound embarassed.
hyde : Hehehehe (laughs) Seems so. (laughs)
ken : Hahahahaha (laughing hard)
hyde : Yeah, so AWAKE is out. Hm.. Tonight. What else can we talk about, besides the new album?
hyde and tetsu : New single!
hyde : That’s coming out. That’s why we came to L’A.. All Night Nippon.
ken : Yes.
hyde : Right? On July 20th, we’re releasing Link.
ken : Yep.
hyde : This song will be on tonight’s show. For the first time.. in the universe!
ken : Haa… (Sounds like he cannot talk)

Here, sound effects abruptly start. It sounds like a voice being distorted.
hyde : Hm?
tetsu : What’s that??
Voice : Members of L’Arc~en~Ciel, Welcome to All Night Nippon.
tetsu : That scared me~ (laughs)
Voice : It is true that this was rather abrupt, but we felt that L’Arc~en~Ciel would give a good reaction to the surprise. Oh, and congratulations on the new album getting number one on the Oricon chart!
all : Thank you very much.
Voice : Tonight, the Nippon broadcast wants to congratulate you. Before we start out two-hour chat, here’s something to wet your throats. Help yourselves!
hyde : Whoa.
tetsu : What’s this?

(All sound like they are suprised when they realise what it is)

Voice : The program desperately scrambled to get you this champagne.
ken : Is this expensive?
hyde : Wow~
Voice : What we have prepared is quite possibly an expensive item.
ken : (laughs)
Voice : We had to make sure it was priced appropriately for a group of four people from Kansai~
ken : Would you tell us what the price was?
Voice : I cannot go that far. (laughs)
ken : (laughs)
Voice : As expected of Kansai natives, you betray expectations when it comes to financial matters. (laughs) By the way, there are four glasses over there. For yukihiro-san who does not drink alcohol, we have prepared some cola.
yuki : Thank you very much~
ken : Is it expensive cola?
Voice : Well, I think cola is generally always the same price (laughs). We thought it would be acceptable. Now, please help yourselves. You can each drink as you like. And, while you do so, tell us what you think of the taste. Let’s start with hyde-san.
hyde : Ah, well…
Voice : You take the champagne. (Sound of unwrapping) Take the.. take the champagne…

Pon!! (hyde says nothing, but the cork takes off)

all : Oooh (laugh)
hyde : Ah.. sorry, I spilled some. (laughs)
all : (laugh)
ken : So, can we start pouring now?
hyde : Ah, yeah, guess so…
ken : Yeah yeah.. I guess I’ll be pouring for hyde? (laughs)
hyde : Yeah yeah yeah.. ah, not so much. (laughs)
ken : Yeah, there you go. (laughs)
Voice : The glass is foaming up to the brim. And now we’ll have hyde-san pour for ken-san.
ken : There there there. One thing at a time.
hyde : One thing.
ken : Just one thing. (laughs) Yeah yeah yeah yeah…
Voice : Somehow, you seem like you’d be a threat to downtown. You’re pouring that champagne like you were going to town. Now, let’s have hyde-san pour for tetsu-san.
hyde : Okay, okay. (laughs)
tetsu : Uh huh (laughs)
Voice : Now, ken-san, could you pour the cola too?
ken : Ok, just this once.
yuki : Yes yes yes…
Voice : Now, all the glasses are full. Does anyone have a toast to make?
ken : Who, me?
Voice : ken-san, if you would.
ken : Then, to the tenth album~! Congratulations~! (laughs) Cheers!
hyde : Cheeers.
tetsu : Cheers.
yuki : Cheers.

(sound of clinking glasses)

Voice : Congratulations~~~
hyde : Is it really OK to drink? (whispered)
Voice : Yes, you can really drink it. Feel free.
ken : Ow! My foot hurts!
Voice : Ah, ken-san, as soon as you start drinking!
tetsu : Ain’t it awful when he drinks? (laughs)
Voice : Despite a broken foot, ken-san came to the radio studio for a drink. Few people would go so far. Now, everyone is wetting their throats. This should make for interesting two hour chat on All Night Nippon. It’s a pleasure!
hyde : Yes, but first a song from the album. Here’s Killing Me!

~Killing me~
(CMs)
(BGM : intro from EXISTENCE)

all : L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon!

hyde : So, let’s get on with it. Tonight on All Night Nippon, the four members of L’Arc~en~Ciel are here. (slurring) Eeh..I had me some champagne.
ken : Yeah.
hyde : Ugh.
ken : We’re on the second round.
hyde : The second round is when it starts feeling good. (laughs) Hey, don’t you have a broken foot?
ken : Um, so what?
hyde : Aro (it sounds like he tried to say to say “ano”) you shouldn’t be drinking?
ken : The doctor did tell me I shouldn’t.
hyde : He must have said that for a reason.
ken : Didn’t tell me why.
hyde : Maybe he was just being mean.
ken : Ah.. haha (laughs) What’s the point of that? (laughs) Doctors.. they’re pop, lately.
hyde : Oh, yeah.
ken : Yup, “So you broke something” … “No booze for you!”
hyde : Yay?
ken : Yeah (laughs) Like yaay! The first doctor I went to had this super serious face, when he told me it was broken. I figured that was bad enough. Then the next one I talked to said “Oh, it’s a fracture!” (in a cheerful voice). That one gave me the will to live!
hyde : I see.
ken : That’s what the doctor said. I think it’s important.
hyde : That’s deep.
ken : Yeah yeah yeah. Well, there’s gotta be another side to things. I think I’m drunk.
hyde : Ah.
ken : But I’m OK, I’m OK.
hyde : You are.
ken : Yes.
hyde : Yes, for now. Tonight’s theme is the new album, AWAKE.
ken : Yeah.
hyde : It means ‘to awaken’.
Voice : There. L’Arc~en~Ciel have told us, on All Night Nippon, the meaning of their new album, AWAKE. It has the theme of awakening. Let’s have them tell us all about AWAKE.
hyde : Okaay.
Voice : Are you ready?

(Their responses start to loosen up)

Voice : We haven’t heard much, yet. (laughs)
all : (laugh)
Voice : I don’t want to push you, but I’d like to get things going.
hyde : Yes.
Voice : So then, let’s have hyde-san, red-faced with two cups of champagne, start.
hyde : Yes.
Voice : What is the theme of this new album, AWAKE?
hyde : Theme? Um… Love and peace.
Voice : .. I had a feeling it would be something like that~
all : (laugh)
hyde : Nah, I’m making things up. (laughs)
Voice : Love and peace? (laughs)
hyde : Yeaaaah. (laughs)
Voice : Er, what were your reasons for focusing on love and peace?
hyde : Wh, why? (laughs) When I was writing music, I was thinking about what would be good for lives… For the lyrics, what was it again? For people… No matter where. But in the end it was about love and peace.
Voice : It sounds like you’re changing your story. (laughs)
hyde: Oh, am I? (laughs)
Voice : You say that it ended up being about love and peace, what do the other members have to say about that?

ken : ……
tetsu : ……
yukihiro : ……

Voice : No, you can say anything you want. I think this could be quite interesting.
all : (laugh)
Voice : You seem rather nervous. Are you all right?
ken : Ah, it’s just something I heard. I thought I smelled something familiar, but it turns out I was wrong. It’s not much to talk about. Just filling time (laughs)
Voice : That was ken-san, from behind. How are you, tetsu-san?
tetsu : I’m behind, too.
Voice : At the back.
tetsu : Yes.
Voice : What kind of timing is this?
tetsu : Let me see… Since you mentioned the title?
hyde : Hm.
tetsu : For sure. Yes.
Voice : Anyway, the title is AWAKE. (laughs)
all : (laugh)
hyde : Shaddup, you’re noisy. (laughs)

(all laugh)

Voice : You’re going to get difficult. (laughs)
tetsu : No, well, is there a connection?
hyde : Hm.
tetsu : Love and peace.
hyde : That’s… all of humanity hasn’t awakened to it. Isn’t it deep of me to talk about those good things? (laughs) Good, right?
Voice : … We’ve just passed 1 AM. (laughs) Are you happy?
hyde : Yes, we’re good. (laughs)
all : (laugh)
hyde : Hmm… When I was writing the lyrics, I was mostly going for that “as a person” feel. Now, we’re still definitely repeating history.. Like with wars, they don’t really end. Hmm, no matter how many people get killed, we just keep going through it all again, stupidly. Even when we know it’s destroying us, we pretend nothing’s happening and live normally.
tetsu : Hmmmmm…
hyde : What I want to say is.. I want it to stop repeating. I want people to awaken to that meaning.
Voice : …deep.
hyde : Deep. (laughs)
Voice : Deeeep. (laughs)
hyde : Totally serious… (laughs)
Voice : We’ve made a deep connection with love and peace. Thank you very much. Now, yukihiro-san?
yuki : Yees.
Voice: Do you have anything to add? To the depth of this love and peace.
yuki : Right on.
Voice : … Thank you very much.
yuki : Fufufu (laughs)

Voice : Right, let’s continue with yukihiro-san.
yuki : Yes.
Voice : Is it true then when L’Arc starts to work on a new album, you get a quota?
yuki : Yeah. They tell us to make lots of songs.
Voice : By the way,
yuki : Yes.
Voice : How many songs did you make, this time around?
yuki : Me? I just made one. (laughs)
all : (laugh)
Voice: Oh? (laughs) That’s entirely different from what you answered just a few seconds ago.
yuki : Yeah. (laughs)
Voice : Ah, let’s ask the others then. How many did the other members make? First, hyde-san?
hyde : I did five.
Voice : Ah, five songs.
hyde : Yeess.
Voice : ken-san?
ken : Four songs…
Voice : Four songs. tetsu-san?
tetsu : Huh? ken-chan did five.
ken : No way?
tetsu : Really, really.
ken : You’re lying? (laughs)
tetsu : It’s true. But only four of them had demos, so that’s how many you played…
ken : Oh really?
tetsu : Yeah, so one more makes five songs.
ken : Mm… I forgot! Ok, so make that five songs!
Voice : You’d think the artist himself would know the correct answer.
ken : Nah, I don’t even remember my own life from last year.
tetsu : (laughs)
all : (laugh)
Voice : Are you OK with being so uncertain about things? (laughs)
ken : Yeah, usually.
Voice : So it was five songs.
ken : Yes.
Voice : Now, how many songs for tetsu-san?
tetsu : I made my quota, of five songs. Five, plus tossing out some old ones. The total was seven. I went a bit over.
Voice : Seven songs, that’s wonderful. Now that we’ve heard from everyone, back to yukihiro-san. Something seems to be bothering him…
yuki : Yes. (laughs)
Voice : Eh, yukihiro-san.
yuki : Yes.
Voice : What did the other members say to you when you turned up with only one song?
yuki : Oh yeah… hehehe. (laughs) Something like.. come back when you have a little more.
Voice : This time.
yuki : Yes.
Voice : Who was it that complained the most?
yuki : (laughs)
tetsu : Wasn’t it the manager? (laughs)
yuki : (laughs) Yeah… It was. Our manager, from the office. (laughs)
Voice : That must have been a serious business talk.
yuki : (laughs)

Voice : Now, let’s continue. Let’s hear from hyde-san.
hyde : Yes.
Voice : When you were making your songs, surely you must have expected the other members to react a certain way, when they first heard what you were making for this album…
hyde : Mmhmm.
Voice : When you first showed it to them…
hyde : Mmhmm
Voice : How did it go?
hyde: Um.. hmm… mm… Well, it felt like they were seeing me naked.
Voice. Oh. Have they seen you naked before?
hyde : Ahahaha (laughs) All the time. (laughs)

(all laugh)

Voice : So, how did everyone react to seeing you naked this time around?
hyde : Huh? They didn’t… they weren’t expecting it. (laughs)
Voice : Let’s ask around about how it was to see that. ken-san, what did you think?
ken : Well, something was kinda hanging.

(Everyone in the studio laughs)

ken : Well, the crap he brought out needed arrangements. And smoothing over. To make it into decent music.
Voice : But that didn’t change hyde’s feelings.
hyde : (laughs)
Voice: Now, tetsu-san, how about you?
tetsu : No, no, I was impressed. Wow…
Voice : Now hyde-san seems to be smiling discretely.
hyde : Fufu (laughs)
Voice : Now for yukihiro-san?
yuki : Eh… hyde-kun is impressive, naked. That’s what I thought.
Voice : hyde-san is reaching for the champagne again.
hyde : Yes. (laughs)
Voice : There you have it, the message of love and peace.

Voice : Continuing, now it’s tetsu-san’s turn.
tetsu : Yes.
Voice : When writing music, what do you have to have in order to get things done?
tetsu : Let’s see… my car. Hehehe. (laughs)
Voice : Not your instruments?
tetsu : Instruments… I need those at the end. When I first start writing the song, I need to be in my car.
Voice : So, you go for a ride in your car?
tetsu : Yes. Just for a change of pace. I go out for drives. In the middle of the night. The roads are clear, then. When I’m driving around, I get lots of ideas. That’s when they float out to me.
Voice : Do you just hum out the music, since you’d be holding the wheel?
tetsu : Huhu (laughs) Yeah, that’s it.
Voice : And you manage to remember the melody.
tetsu : Yes.
Voice : I wouldn’t think it would be possible to memorize while driving, so what do you do?
tetsu : I use an IC recorder; it looks like a cell phone. I pretend I’m talking on the phone. But I guess I’m not supposed to be doing that…
all : (laugh)
tetsu : I might get stopped by the police, by mistake.
Voice : You’d better be careful, next time.
tetsu : Right.
hyde : IC recorders aren’t banned?
tetsu : They aren’t.
hyde: They’re legal.
tetsu : Yeah.
hyde : So, you’re fine.
tetsu : (laughs)
Voice : Please explain about IC recorders, tetsu-san. I imagine they’re rather delicate.
all : (laugh) Voice : Be careful.
tetsu : Yes.

Voice : Continuing with hyde-san.
hyde : Yes.
Voice : hyde-san, you wrote many lyrics for this album. Where do you get your inspiration from when you write lyrics?
hyde : Ehhhh…. Let’s see. First I listen to the music. I listen to the song, then something pops into my head.
Voice : You always think of the same things?
hyde : Ah! This time, I kept the same theme the whole time. Nothing else moved me, this time around. So everything has the same theme. The same.. feeling, approached from different angles. It’s like the way looking at Mt Fuji from Shizuoka isn’t the same as looking at it from Yamanashi.
all : (laugh)
Voice : Quite a tangible difference~
hyde : That’s the feeling? But even from a lake, you can tell it’s Mt Fuji.
ken : Fuji’s reflection?
hyde : It’s still Fuji.
Voice : This is starting to turn into 5000-yen talk.
hyde : (laughs)
Voice : Confusing, isn’t it?
hyde : Yes.
Voice : Thank you very much. We have heard much about the album, and we will continue asking questions to everyone after this break. Now, a track from the new album, AWAKE. ken-san, please do the introduction.
ken : So, here’s L’Arc~en~Ciel’s LOST HEAVEN, please listen!

~LOST HEAVEN~
(CMs)

BGM : Killing Me’s intro
all : L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon!

hyde : Nyai (Sounds like he tried to say “hai” and “nai” at the same time / “Yes” and “No”) Tonight on All Night Nippon we have hyde and
ken : ken and
tetsu : tetsu and!
yukihiro : yukihiro here~
hyde : All four of us here! Let’s keep going~?

Voice : ken-san’s face is getting redder and redder as we go on.
ken : I’m drunk! (laughs)
Voice : That answer says it all (laughs). It seems you are enjoying yourself thoroughly.
ken : Owwwww.

Voice : Ah~?
ken : My foot hurts.
Voice : Ah~ has it been a long time since you last drank?
ken : The last time was about eight months ago.
Voice : Eight months ago.
ken : Yeees.
Voice : That’s a bit of a problem.
ken : I’m pretty dizzy.
Voice : Dizzy… By the way, is it rare for the four of you to go drinking?
ken : We usually don’t~~
Voice : Usually not.
ken : About once or twice a year.
Voice : Once or twice a year…but it’s not that you don’t enjoy drinking… clearly. (laughs)
ken : Just for New Years, and the end of a tour.
Voice : Ah~
ken : That’s when we drink our lives away, all of us.
hyde : I don’t even know where you guys go drink… your bars and corners.
ken : Oh yeah..

Voice : You’re simple drinkers (laughs) Now, let’s start the talk with hyde-san and ken-san. Earlier, all four of you discussed AWAKE. Continuing with the same topic, I think we should discuss a personal awakening for each of you. You can each take a turn. What do you use to wake yourself up? hyde-san, if you could please start us off.

hyde : Er… the manager. (Answered quickly)
(everyone in the studio laughs)

Voice : (laughs)… a person? (laughs)
hyde : Yes.
Voice : A person… (laughs) You don’t have any other method for waking up?
hyde : Just once in a while.
Voice : Sometimes. What do you use for those occasions?
hyde : An alarm clock.
Voice : An alarm clock.
hyde : Um… it’s old-fashioned. The… kind that still rings after you hit it. Like, it rings again five minutes later.
Voice : That’s because you don’t get up right away…
hyde : Ah, well, nothing else wakes me up.
Voice : Ah~.
hyde : It’s exactly right for me. You know how at first, your eyes just kind of open gradually?
Voice : It sounds like you don’t wake up nicely.
hyde : I’m a bad waker.
Voice : Ah, well, let’s move on. How about you, ken-san?
ken : Same for me… manager.
all : (laugh)

Voice : L’Arc~en~Ciel’s manager seems to have an exhausting job, as far as I can tell. ken-san, you probably don’t use any other methods.
ken : Mainly, it’s the manager~
Voice : Mostly, manager-san.
hyde : Well, you know. The time we need to set a clock for changes, like, depending on how bad the traffic is, and where we need to go that day.
Voice : Ah~.
ken : (laughs)
hyde : So it’s good to have someone take care of the timing, every day.
Voice : Wonderful explanation. Thank you very much.
ken : (laughs)
hyde : Sorry. (laughs)

Voice : Now how about you, tetsu-san?
tetsu : I use a normal alarm clock, or I set my cell phone to wake me up.
Voice : Ho. It seems you’re more accurate with time. Have you always been like that?
tetsu : Uhhm.. Maybe? But lately, I haven’t been getting up.
Voice : Why?
tetsu : Huh?
Voice : Why haven’t you been waking up?
tetsu : How come? Cause I’ve been tired? (laughs)
Voice : Aah, be sure to take care of yourself.
tetsu : Yes. (laughs)
Voice : And now, how about yukihiro-san?
yuki : For me, it’s the manager.
Voice : (stifling laughter) You could all take a lesson from tetsu-san. (laughs)
tetsu : Aren’t they something? I wouldn’t… I don’t want to hear the manager’s voice first thing in the morning.

(Everyone in the studio laughs. Is the manager there too?)

ken : Yeah, well, if I don’t get a call from the manager, I won’t go out.
tetsu : Ah, I see, that’s how it is.
ken : Yeah.
hyde : I’d just be grumpy.
ken : Yeah.
hyde : I won’t answer to less than two tries. Hey. HEY!
ken : (laughs) So yeah, I think having to go out is a poison, that we get from the phone call.
hyde : Cause we don’t know if we’ll need to get up or not.
tetsu : Yeah, yeah. Can’t know if you’ll have to be woken up, or if you’ll have to sleep in.
hyde : Um, have to?
ken : Um… forget it. (laughs)
tetsu : Forget about it? (laughs)
hyde : Maybe, maybe I’m actually sleeping. (laughs)
ken : Eh, I wonder if the manager thinks that way? Think so?
hyde : If it were me, I would…
ken : But then you’d be in charge of waking me up (cracks up laughing)

all : (laugh)
hyde : Oh, would I? (laughs) So you’d be late once in a while? (laughs) That’s what would happen, right?
ken : Nah, well, it probably would. (laughs)
all : (laugh)

hyde : See~ (laughs)
Voice : It seems there is much love between you. (laughs)

Voice : Now, let’s continue. This time, let’s have all four participate. What was your… sexual awakening like? ken-san, please start us off.

tetsu : Sex… (laughs) (Tries to stifle his laughter)
ken : Ah.. it was on TV. Dirty (ladies?)

all : (laugh)

ken : They were doing it on TV (laughs) Women, on a completely wholesome TV show! Mud wrestling with boob-squeezing… And splashing mud.
Voice : That doesn’t sound wholesome… (laughs)
ken : It was on at 7 pm~. They were already showing the hard stuff that early. So, yeah, I didn’t really get it, didn’t know what it was. Why are these nice ladies doing hard stuff like this? What does it mean? I asked my mom that question.
Voice : Ah.. and how did she react to that?
ken : We had a long talk. (laughs)
Voice : The big talk. (laughs)

ken : “What are you watching?!”

Voice : … the birds and the bees talk.
ken : Yeaah.
Voice : Wonderful.
ken : Mmm~
Voice : Let’s continue by asking tetsu-san. How was it for you?
tetsu : Sexual awakening… When was it? … Um… when… when was it… I can’t quite seem to remember.
Voice : Talk about your awakening.
tetsu : What? Um…??
Voice : Elementary school? Middle school?

tetsu : Ah..

Voice : It’s usually by then that everyone has their sexual awakening.
tetsu : Yeah, it was while I was in school. Probably.
Voice : Middle school?
tetsu : Middle school… Um..? In middle school… yeah, it was middle school, probably.
Voice : Then.. take your time to think about it.

tetsu : Fufu (laughs)

Voice : We’ll come back to tetsu-san later.

tetsu : Wha~?

Voice : hyde-san, when did your sexual awakening come?
hyde : Ah, well, in bed, -that- started.. expanding.
ken : Hm? What was? (laughs)
hyde : Can I say that here? (laughs)
ken : Probably not. (laughs)
hyde : So I rubbed -that-, and, oh? It felt good~.
ken : (laughs)

all : (laugh)
hyde : (laughs) That was probably.. in the top years of elementary school, I think.
Voice : In the last years of elementary school…
ken : (cackling) You used your imagination (laughs)
hyde : Yeah, well, my old lady was sleeping nearby. (laughs)

(All laugh hard, especially ken-chan)

hyde : I have lots of memories of that, doing it by myself. (laughs)
ken : Did you get frustrated?
hyde : I slept like an old lady. (laughs)
ken : Sound asleep.
hyde : Yeah.
ken : More like pretending to sleep.
hyde : Maybe so.

ken : Hm.
Voice : I think your old lady was better off not knowing.
ken & hyde : (laugh)
Voice : Now lets ask yukihiro-san. How was it for you?
yuki : For me it was middle school… with my senpai, at the time.

(After a moment of silence, all laugh)

hyde : … no… no way. (laughs)
ken : (laughs)
hyde : What.. what kind of sexual awakening? What’s the story? (laughs)

tetsu : (laughs)

hyde : Heeey? (laughs)
yuki : Sexual awakening…
tetsu : That means your first sexual experience… (laughs)

(Everyone in the studio laughs hard)

yuki : Oh, well, you know. (laughs)

tetsu : We know, already. I see. Ah~
hyde : Sorry… (laughs)
all : (laugh)
Voice : Such joy. (laughs)
yuki : Yeaaah. (laughs)
Voice : And now, back to tetsu-san…
tetsu : Ah, well, for me it was probably.. middle school.. Eh..? Must’ve been my girlfriend back in middle school.
Voice : That might be going farther than just awakening. (laughs)
tetsu : Nono, my first experience wasn’t in middle school was it? It was just, that. Starting to notice girls, gradually becoming aware, of that stuff. The opposite sex. Isn’t that all it is?
hyde : Hmm… We kinda sound. Like idiots.(laughs)

all : (laugh)
ken : Reeaally idiotic. (laughs) I remember, I still didn’t know about porn and stuff when I started getting my first erections. (laughs)

(All laugh hard)

Voice : ken-san’s face is all red. He is red because of these great revelations. That he was nice enough to share. (laughs)

… And now a commercial break.

(BGM : Intro to EXISTENCE)
all : L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon!

Voice : Let’s move on to questions.
ken : Huhuhu.(laughs) Who’s this?(laughs)
Voice : Rubbing in his futon, hyde-san.
hyde : That’s enough of that. (laughs) That isn’t hyde. (laughs)
ken : (laughs)
Voice : In middle shool, with his senpai, yukihiro-san.
all : (laugh)
Voice : With his girlfriend in middle school, tetsu-san.
tetsu : (laughs)
Voice : Finally, watching the ladies play, ken-san.
all : (laugh)
Voice : Are you ready to move on?
hyde : Gladly (laughs).

Voice: Continuing! Let’s find out about your musical awakening. Let’s start with yukihiro-san.
yuki : Ok. I think it was TV shows.
Voice : TV programs?
yuki : Um, am I allowed to say the show’s name?
Voice : Please do.
yuki : Um.. The Best Ten? Hm? Yeah.
Voice : Ah, many artists appeared on that program… Did anyone in particular remain in your mind?
yuki : Um… Ippudo. Tsuchiya Masami-san, from that.
Voice : Like, Sumire September Love.
yuki : Yeah, that song. Exactly.
Voice : Did you have the CD, or rather the record?
yuki : Yes.
Voice : You bought it yourself?
yuki : Ah, yes. I did.
Voice : These are unexpected roots.

Voice : Ok, next, how about hyde-san?
hyde: Eh… Off Course, probably.
Voice : Ohh. What was it about Off Course that attracted you?
hyde : Hmmmmmmmmm, let’s seee. It’s just that I kind of liked them. And they came on tour. To my hometown.
Voice : How old were you at the time?
hyde : Elementary school.. probably sixth grade?
Voice : You went to concerts at that age?
hyde : Yes. I did.
Voice : Ah. The first concert I went to was Oda Kazumasa-san.
hyde : Yeah, the first one I went to was Wada Akiko, actually.
Voice : (laughs) So, how old were you for that Wada Akiko-san concert?
hyde : That was early on in elementary school.
Voice : Ohh… But you weren’t awakened yet, at the time?
hyde : No, I wasn’t awake. “Oh, there’s lots of grown-ups here.” (Said in a childish tone).
Voice : With the job you have now, you could meet Wada Akiko-san or Oda Kazumasa-san if you wanted to.
hyde : Ah, I haven’t met Oda-san.
Voice : You haven’t met yet. Would you like to? What do you think?
hyde : No, I’m scared.
Voice : Scared?
hyde : (laughs)
Voice : You’re scared?
hyde : It’s just that… I have a lot of respect for these people… I’d be bothering them if we met up. That kind of scared.
Voice : Oh.. You still have your straightforward, boyhood feelings towards them.
hyde : Yes, I’ll always have those strutfor.. stratfo.. Um. Straightforward feelings. I’m not used to that word.(laughs)
ken : Now he’s playing innocent.(laughs)
all : (laughs)

Voice : Now, let’s continue. tetsu-san, what was yours like?
tetsu : It was in elementary school, around sixth year. Either that or first year middle school. YMO… yeah. And I liked Ippudo too.
Voice : How did you encounter YMO?
tetsu : On TV, wasn’t it?
Voice : TV… I guess it was more your classmates at the time, but did your friends also like YMO?
tetsu : Um.. two or three people in my class did.
Voice : Ah, did you have fun together?
tetsu : Um, what do you mean? Huh? (laughs)
Voice : Like trading tapes among yourselves. Or maybe doing covers of them, in a band.
tetsu : Nah, not then. I wasn’t doing that sort of thing yet, in elementary school. I didn’t buy any of their records, but I did have tapes.
Voice : Did you make a tape with records you borrowed?
tetsu : I used rented records for that.
Voice : Ah, you started out just like a normal music fan.
tetsu : Yeah. That’s right.
Voice : Thank you very much.

Voice : Lastly, ken-san, what was your musical awakening like?
ken : We had some kind of records, at home. Movie soundtracks, or something.
Voice : Yes.
ken : Like for Godfather or something. Um.. I listened to that? And I must’ve really been impressed, cause I listened to it a lot. Then I don’t really remember what I was like in elementary school (laughs). I don’t know why I was listening to that lonely music in elementary school. Nothing special happened.
Voice : Do you have a sad memory associated with The Godfather?
ken : Oh, yeah. But nothing sad happened to me.
Voice : Maybe just the feeling of sadness.
ken : Not.. quite. Even though it’s sad, it made me feel good. That’s what’s strange about it. Oh, but I don’t mean like an erection.
Voice: (Refraining from laughing) Thank you for that superfluous clarification.
ken : Ahahahaha (laughs).

Voice : And now, yet another track from the new album, AWAKE. Let’s have tetsu-san do the introduction.
tetsu : Yes! TRUST!

~TRUST~
(CMs)
(BGM : twinkle, twinkle)
all : L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon!

hyde : Broadcasting on 36 channels from downtown Tokyo’s station. OK, all four of us are here for L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon.
ken : Yes.
hyde : Eh.. tonight’s topic is the title of the new album, AWAKE. For two hours, we’re doing talks with the theme ‘to awaken’.
ken : Yees.
hyde : Um.. this time, the All Right.. Ni.. Night Nippon (He’s putting a lot of effort into pronouncing this right) homepage was set up so that questions concerning ‘awakening’ could be sent in by email during the broadcast?
ken : Yup.
hyde : That’s what they told us. Wow, we got a lot of emails. Let’s introduce some.
ken : Hmm.
hyde : ken-chan, you do it.

ken : Eh… This from Aya-chan in Fukuoka. [When I was in middle school, I liked to watch erotic programs late at night. Once, when I was channel surfing, I happened to catch a L’Arc~en~Ciel song. The mysterious artistry of Kasou impressed me and drew me in. When I saw it, I though “Wow, we have a band this cool in Japan!” and I was… moved. If I could meet L’Arc~en~Ciel, I would gladly show them my sexual desire.].. is what it says.
(laughs)
This is from a girl?
hyde : Is it a girl? (laughs)
ken : Yeah. A girl wrote this…. sexual desire letter. They really have late night shows that turn girls on? (laughs)
hyde : I wouldn’t know, I don’t know anything about that.
ken : I don’t know… there’s stuff hidden in the late shows.
hyde : Hmm…
ken : Mm.

tetsu : Hmmmmmm.

all : ……
hyde : ……. Ah! tetchan, go ahead.
tetsu : Ok! (laughs) The next letter is from Misaki-chan. Thank you. [I was awakened to L’Arc on NHK’s Kouhaku Utagassen. At the time, hyde-san was wearing red contacts, (hyde is making “uh huh” noises the whole time) and I had never seen anyone with red eyes before. I was in first grade at the time…]
hyde : Elementary school? (laughs)
tetsu : [It was so shocking for me to see that I still remember it now.]

hyde: That must have been… the year of the rabbit…
ken : Oh, that’s not too recent?
hyde : Or maybe the year after that was the rabbit…
ken : I don’t follow that stuff. (laughs)

hyde : (laughs) I’m probably wrong…

ken : Hmm… So, when the year of the monkey comes… monkeys.
hyde : Right right right right.
ken : I see. I’ll have to be careful.

yuki : Ok, this is from a 14-year-old using the radio name of Makyuu.. san.
[My awakening to L’Arc was through Fullmetal Alchemist. At the time, I really liked FMA. That’s how I found out about L’Arc. I found an anime magazine in a convenience store with FMA on the cover, and when I read it I saw (Reading this in a monotone voice), the opening theme is done by L’Arc~en~Ciel, that’s how I learned your name. At first I asked “Who is that?” as my only reaction. And then when I went home, I watched Music Station. Tamori-san said “Next we have L’Arc~en~Ciel” and introduced L’Arc. I felt a bit of strange tension (the other members are laughing)… I was strongly mesmerized by READY STEADY GO. When the song ended, I was sweating. Of course, it was not cold sweat. It was sweat from the heart. L’Arc is the best~ That’s when I was awakened. I don’t think there’s anyone left who would ask “Who is this?” about you. (yukkie is saying this with strange tension)]
hyde : Heh~.
ken : Hmmm.
tetsu : Heh.
hyde : I.. went to a bookstore once. In Shibuya.

(all members make understanding sounds)

hyde : I was killing time in a bookstore, and they had an FMA poster on display.
ken : Yeah.
hyde : Ah, so they’re displaying that… At the time, I didn’t know much about it.
ken : Mm.
hyde : Well, they’d already done the tie-in, but I didn’t know anything about FMA. All I knew was.. it’s about a guy in fourth-grade or so, and his little brother in first grade.
(others make agreement noise)
hyde : So, on the poster it was the little brother pointing and saying “He’s the FullMetal Alchemist” (laughs)
all :(laugh)

hyde : But, the young one looks older, so I said “Oh.” I wanted to know more about those two characters.. Erm.. “Ah, so this manga is popular now” (laughs)
all : (laugh)

hyde : I thought.. it would be heartwarming.
ken : (laughs)
yuki : That’s not exactly how it goes. (laughs)
hyde : No kidding. (laughs)

ken : (laughs) Ok, the next letter is from Atsuko-chann~, in Kagoshima. [My awakening to L’Arc was with STAY AWAY. At the time, I was in the dance club in high school, so when I saw the video, with all the members doing such a complicated dance, I wanted to try the same movements. I thought your band had more skill than I do, with my dance club, and I was honestly jealous. Later, I found out it was really CGI with pro dancers doing the work, and I remember being very relieved. Anyway, it was a very shocking awakening.] Hmm.. I guess it leaves an impression. That promotion video.
hyde : I wouldn’t have thought anyone would go that far. I thought people would just smile when they saw it.(laughs)

all : (laugh) ken : You don’t expect people to feel that strongly~
hyde : People don’t seriously expect us to dance, do they? That’s really surprising.
ken : Hmm.. It is kinda weird.
hyde : It’s weird.
ken : At the time, yeah, hyde danced, just a little.
hyde : Only a tiny bit.
ken : Dancing really.. suits me the least. That’s what my teachers always said.
hyde : Really? (laughs)
ken : Now that I’m grown up… They can’t say anything against me.
hyde : Ah~
ken : They were really hard on me. And besides, that’s what really matters. From the neck up, it was our CG, and for the hand movements too. I guess some people still hold a grudge. The intro to New World starts playing)
hyde : hm?
ken : Oh.
yuki : Eh.. so now listen to another song! Here’s L’Arc~en~Ciel’s New World!

~New World~

(BGM : AS ONE’s intro)
hyde : hyde here.
ken : ken here.
tetsu : tetsu here.
yuki : yukihiro here.
all : L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon!
(CMs)
(BGM : Killing Me)

Voice : Tonight’s show is a tribute to the hit album, AWAKE. L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon. This AWAKE is the tenth original album since L’Arc~en~Ciel’s debut in 1994. With 12 new songs on this album, L’Arc~en~Ciel have produced over 100 original songs. Which songs among these have the most meaning for each of the four members? This question is of interest to their fans. Now, we will have each member present an older song and give his thoughts about it. We will also ask a few questions…..

Voice : Let’s start again with the vocalist, hyde. hyde-san, which song do you have strong memories of?
hyde : Eh.. It’s not actually on an album…
Voice : (laughs)
hyde : Sorry. It was the c/w for the winter fall single, metropolis.

(BGM : metropolis)
Voice : What do you think of this song?
hyde : This is a good song. Extremely good. It’s got a good tune… Well, this isn’t really related. But, I… Um.. (clears his throat) Um. I’m still having relations with a teacher from when I was in elementary school. Ummmm, it was a really good teacher.. That’s not what I meant to say. That good teacher didn’t exactly give me a blessing or anything, but once in a while when I remember what I was blessed with in elementary school, my relations with that teacher come up, uh… Every time that single comes up, I want to send it to that teacher. When winter fall came out as a single, I sent it… because of the lyrics to metropolis.. oh, this sounds bad. … but it was… gentle…

ken : Ah, that does sound bad~
hyde : It’s the lyrics.
Voice : Ah~

(the line “Hametsu wa Mado no Soto~” part from metropolis plays again, meaning “Destruction is outside the window”)

hyde : That line, exactly.(laughs)
Voice : Let’s listen for a while.

(During the line “Furueru Kairaku ni Oborete” the members laugh, meaning “Drowning in trembling pleasures”)
(They don’t resume talking until the line “Seiki wo Iashite” has played, meaning “healing genitals”)

ken : That says a lot. (laughs)
hyde : (laughs) This makes me want to say.. “Oh, I’m so sorry, teacher.” (laughs)

ken : (laughs)
Voice : Please tell us more about this teacher. Were they male or female?
hyde : Oh, it was a woman teacher.

Voice : A female teacher…

hyde : A woman.. teacher.. Yeah, well, I guess I can’t help but reveal it now. That teacher left a huge impression on me.(laughs) She probably tells her students now “You know, I taught hyde from L’Arc”. I bet it makes them more interested in her. They wouldn’t think this had anything to do with her. But, you know, I tried to write that song, those lyrics, dozens of times before. Whenever I try to write perverted lyrics, I picture that teacher in my mind. (laughs) She, uh.. stimulates my imagination~
ken : She’s your ideal?
hyde : Yeah, she is.

ken : Ah~
Voice : Even though this is a good song, is that the reason it was never put on an album?
ken : (laughs)
hyde :(laughs) Definitely.(laughs)
Voice : Thank you very much.

Voice : Next, let’s have ken-san share his thoughts on a song.
ken : Ok.
Voice : ken-san, which song did you think of?
ken : I pick the song Voice.
Voice : The circumstances behind that one are especially complex, but please tell us about them.
ken : This is a song from the album DUNE. We had a different version of it. Hm, yeah, we did. When I joined L’Arc, it was the first song I contributed, and then we moved out to Tokyo, right? I was still new. I was impressed, thinking “Wow, Tokyo studios are so big!”(he sounds like he’s talking to himself)

(BGM: Voice – not the version that is on DUNE)
Voice : You’re thinking of the version we’re playing now.
ken : Yes.
Voice : This may very well be the first time this version is broadcast.
ken : Ah~ Maybe so.
Voice : Yes. This is extremely valuable.
ken : At the time, the sound engineer was listening to Metallica.

tetsu : Ah~ (like he just realised something)

ken : We became close, when we were comparing my song to Metallica. (laughs)
Voice : (laughs) Ah, so that explains why this version is harder than the normal one. It’s because of Metallica. (laughs)
ken : Yeah. Comparing it like that.. they do things differently in Tokyo (laughs). Or so I thought at the time. Hmm.
Voice : You lost your Tokyo virginity to Metallica.
ken : To that comparison with Metallica. Yeah.
Voice : So what we’re hearing right now is very reminiscent of Metallica?
ken : That’s what it makes me think of. Yes.
Voice : Thank you very much.
ken : Okay.
Voice : Now, we will continue talking with the other two members, but first we have a commercial break.

(CMs)
(BGM : Intro to New World)
All : L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon!

(BGM : Jiyuu e no Shoutai)
Voice : Commemorating the release of their tenth album, AWAKE, here’s L’Arc~en~Ciel. At this time, the members are taking turns picking a song from the past, introducing it, and telling us their thoughts about it. We’ve gone through hyde-san and ken-san, so now it’s tetsu-san’s turn.

tetsu : Yes.
Voice : tetsu-san, please tell us which song from the last ten albums you chose.
tetsu : I pick winter fall, from the album HEART.

(BGM : winter fall)
Voice : Of all four members, tetsu-san seems to be the one most worried about which song to pick.
tetsu : Yes. (laughs)
Voice : Why is that?
tetsu : Eh.. No particular reason. (laughs)

All : (laugh)

Voice : It’s a well-paced song (laughs)
hyde : Maybe that’s the problem.
Voice : That could be it.
tetsu : (laughs)
Voice : Well then, even if it isn’t much, do you have anything to say about this song?
tetsu : (laughs) Er, I think I can talk a little.
Voice : Then if you could please tell us what you’re thinking?
tetsu : When this single came out.. I think it was the first time we hit number one on the Oricon singles chart. Am I wrong? Am I? Am I right? Manager… (laughs)

ken : Eeeh~
hyde : Ooh~
tetsu : OK? Though our album had hit number one, before that.
hyde : Oh, that’s right.
tetsu : But for singles, it was our first number one.
ken : Ehh~
hyde : Eh.
tetsu : Yeah.
Voice : tetsu-san, do you always check your position on the charts?
tetsu : No, but since it was our first number one, it was especially memorable. (laughs)
Voice : At the time, was there anyone in particular you wanted to share your joy with?
tetsu : Ah.. No there wasn’t.
Voice : (laughs) You kept your joy to yourself.
tetsu : Yes, that’s right.
Voice : You could taste it. Was it especially hard to make that song?
tetsu : Ah.. Recording that album, the album HEART, we lived together, in a mountain retreat. About a whole week, to get our rhythm back. Remember?
ken : Yeah, I do.
tetsu : Writing two songs a day.
yuki : Yeah.
tetsu : And I even… I ran away with yukkie, crying in the mountains.
yuki : We ran out to the mountains, right. (laughs)
ken : You ran away?
tetsu : Mmhmm. (laughs)
ken : (laughs)

tetsu : I deserted you. (laughs)
Voice : While all this harship was going on, hyde-san got lost in his own mind.

all :(laughs)

Voice : He’s eating calmly in his corner.
hyde : Sorry. (laughs)
Voice : What was hyde-san doing during that runaway-in-the-mountains episode?
hyde : Hmm.. I don’t really know (laughs). I must’ve been in the mountains, too.
ken : When the two of them didn’t come back, the engineer and producer said “What’s happening with this band?!” to me… I remember saying “Sorry!” to them. (laughs)

tetsu : (laughs)
yuki : (laughs)
Voice : But they came back safely…
tetsu : Well, yeah, but not at the same time! We came back separately… so it didn’t look like we we’d met up, at all. (laughs)
yuki : (laughs)
Voice : Even more trouble. (laughs)

all : (laugh)
Voice : But when you came back, HEART made number one.

ken : (laughs)

Voice : You obtained that distinction.
tetsu : Right. We did~.
Voice : You worked so hard, you deserved it. Thank you very much.
tetsu : Yes, thank you very much. (laughs)

Voice : Now let’s continue with yukihiro-san.
yuki : Okay.
Voice : Which memorable song did you choose, yukihiro-san?
yuki : I also picked a song from HEART, Niji.

(BGM : Niji)
Voice : yukihiro-san, what do you remember about this song?
yuki : Well, you see.. this was the first song I made with L’Arc. So the recording of it is a special memory for me.
Voice : It was your first recording.
yuki : Yes.
Voice : It must have been very difficult.
yuki : Yes.
Voice : How did it go?
yuki : Ah, well, you see, it was an abrupt start. I wasn’t sure if my own style of drumming was going to work out or not. It went slowly, taking the recordings from each day and looking at how it was shaping up. (laughs) It worked though. (laughs)
Voice: Did the other members welcome you?
yuki : Yes.

Voice : What did you think of them?
yuki : Um.. let me think. I don’t really know. (laughs)
Voice : Let’s ask them what they thought of you.
yuki : Hahahaha. (laughs)
Voice : So then, hyde-san?
hyde : Ah, sorry, I can’t remember.

all: (laugh)
tetsu : That sounds like a problem…(laughs)
Voice : What about you, tetsu-san the leader?
tetsu : Well, I really mostly remember the studio. That basement studio. So, well, my first impression is mixed with that. My impression of yukkie.
Voice : Ohh~. How about ken-san?
ken : Ah~ I thought he could stand to be flashier. I think I said as much to yukkie. Then he showed me what he could do. With flashiness? What am I saying? (laughs) Well, interpret that how you want (laughs).

Voice : Your message gets through (laughs). I think it’s allright. So, thank you very much for your thoughts and memories on that song, yukihiro-san.
yuki : Okay.
Voice : And now, we have a commercial break. After that, we will ask each member about their thoughts on the follow-up to this tenth album, the single being released on July 20th, which will be aired tonight for the first time. But before that, a track from AWAKE. Here’s L’Arc~en~Ciel’s AS ONE.

~ AS ONE ~
(CMs)
(BGM : The intro of Killing Me)
all : L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon!

hyde : …you’re crowding me.
ken : (laughs)
hyde : So! Like we keep saying, the new album is out.
ken : Yup.
hyde : And.. we have another single coming.
ken : Yeah, really quick.
hyde : July (talking at the same time as ken) July 20th. The new L’Arc~en~Ciel single will be Link.

ken : ………
tetsu : ……….
yuki : ………
hyde : …. yeah.
ken : Fufu (laughs)
hyde : Um.. Link’s coming out!
ken : Yes!
hyde : Yeaaah! It’s a really summer-ish song. A calm, happy number… And it’s a song that tet-chan made!
tetsu : Yes.
hyde : Hey, tetsu-san. How is it?
tetsu : How..? Um. It’s summer-like. Refreshing.
hyde : Mmhmm.
tetsu : But you already said that.
hyde : So um… did you write it in your car?
tetsu : Actually, this time I wrote it at home.
hyde : No~ (“Iie”)
tetsu : No, at home (“Ie”) (laughs)
hyde : Hmmm, where at home?
tetsu : … at home. (laughs) Probably my living room.
hyde : Living room.
tetsu : Living room.
hyde : Living… tet-chan, what’s your living room like?
tetsu : At home? (laughs)
hyde : Yeah.
tetsu : Well, I have a sofa…
hyde : Oh, sorry sorry. How many mats? (Note : Tatami mats, of a standard size, can be used to measure a room’s area)

tetsu : Huh?

hyde : How many mats?

ken : (laughs)
tetsu : (laughs) Bad question. You ask dirty questions (laughs). Oh, um, I think it’s smaller than the living room at your place, hyde.
hyde : Ah~ (laughs) I see.

tetsu : Really.

hyde : Oh, really. And it’s all white?
tetsu : Yeah, it’s white.
hyde : White.. So you wrote it in there.
tetsu : In there, yes.(laughs)
hyde : I see. So it’s a classy one. This song.(laughs)
tetsu : It’s not classy… (laughs)

ken : You’re done. (laughs)
tetsu : (laughs)
hyde : Do I make sense? (laughs)

tetsu : Not at all. With that classy thing… (laughs)
hyde : Ah, but isn’t your place classy? In that super-tall building of yours (laughs).
tetsu : Nononono (laughs) But there are a lot of floors.
hyde : Oh, how many?
tetsu : Uncountably many.
hyde : That many? How… nice..
all : (laugh)
hyde : Your furniture, how much is it worth, all together?

all : (laugh)
tetsu : (laughs) What are you… (laughs) What kind of talk is this? Um.. let me see..
hyde : More or less than 10 million yen? (he cut tetsu off to say this)
tetsu : No, um, how can I put this? Um, hyde-san?
hyde : Hm?
tetsu : Are you trying to buy my stuff?
hyde : No no no (laughs) … Okay.. about Link…
tetsu : Link. Yeah, Link.. (laughs)

All : (laugh)

hyde : The song that came out of tet-chan’s living room. I got to take that, this, the? classy song and make up lyrics to it.
ken : Ha, ha.
tetsu : Classier lyrics, too. (laughs)
hyde : They are classy lyrics, aren’t they~?
tetsu : So, where did you write the lyrics?
hyde : For this song, um…

tetsu : Where were you?

hyde : …In the studio.
tetsu : The studio?!
hyde : In the studio, yes, the studio…
tetsu : Aah! In my studio? (laughs)
hyde : Aaah~? (laughs) Ah, they took me into that car. (laughs)
tetsu : (laughs)
hyde : The director, I mean. For FMA. I had a chat with the director cause it’s a tie-in song. He’s really passionate about it. So… I helped make up this classy mix.

tetsu : Fufu (laughs)
hyde : For cohesion.
tetsu : Yeah.
hyde : So I gave it a shot. It turned out to be a cool little number.
tetsu : Mmhmm.

hyde : I think so.
ken : Number. (They’re saying “number” in English this whole time)
hyde : Number, number…what’s with you? Lately. (laughs)
ken : Ah… Hmm? Number?
hyde : Saying things like “Listen to this next number” (laughs)
all : (laugh)
ken : Well, first off I don’t even know what number means. (laughs)
hyde : Number, you know.
ken : Hm~

tetsu : Number…

ken : Ok, so what do you want me to say for this one? The next one?
hyde : Chekitout!! Or something.
ken : Chekeraa? (laughs) Oh.. hmm. I think you mean “Check it out!”

tetsu : Che… (speaking softly)

ken : So, say something about the CD being out, then? Drop, or Out, or something?
hyde : Yeah, that’s it.
ken : I wonder if this is going to become a new popular slang word… I kinda like it. (laughs)
hyde: Like the song.
ken : Mm.
hyde : Ok, lets get on with it and play the upcoming single. Link!

~ Link~

hyde : Ok, so you’ve heard Link. What did you think. Eh.. For people who live in classy places (tetsu goes “Eh?”), this song is wonderful.
tetsu : (laughs)

ken : Fufufu (laughs)
hyde : So! Fo sale on July! 20th!

ken : Yep.

hyde : I said “Fo sale” (laughs). It’ll be released July 20th. ken : Yees.
hyde : Please look forward to it.

(BGM : intro to EXISTENCE)

all : L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon!
(CMs)
(BGM : Intro to AS ONE)
hyde : hyde here.
ken : ken here.
tetsu : tetsu here.
yuki : yukihiro here.
all : L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon!

(BGM : TRUST)
Voice : Following the release of the new album, AWAKE, is the new single, Link, coming on July 20th. Also, L’Arc~en~Ciel is starting a tour this summer. L’Arc~en~Ciel, AWAKE TOUR 2005, (Much tour date information I’m skipping)… Are all the members looking forward to the tour?

hyde : Yeah. Asia… Live?
ken : Yep.
hyde : AWAKE tour.
ken : Yep.

hyde : Yeah, so we’re doing a lot of lives.
ken : Yeah, yeah.
tetsu : Yeees.
hyde : Eh, that’s enthusiasm.
ken : Enthusiasm?
hyde : Yeah, I want to reach out to everyone.
ken : Ah~.
hyde : With this project.
ken : Personally, I’m looking forward to the AWAKE tour.
hyde : I see.
ken : But this broken foot is bothering me. That’s what’s worrying me. Will I be able to give as much as I did last year?

hyde : Yeah.
ken : That’s all I’m thinking about. Putting on a show for all those people.
hyde : Mmhmm.
ken : And overseas, too. I want to give them some real entertainment.
hyde : I see.
ken : This sucks. I wanna do my best.
hyde : I know what you mean.
ken : Every show this year. Every performance.
hyde : Going all out.
ken : Going all out.
hyde : I know.
ken : This year is like.. What was I gonna say? Oh yeah, it’s like a second rabbit. Well, no. You know what I meant. (laughs)

All : (laugh)

hyde : Yeah, I know. (laughs) This is like the prelude to what you really want to do? And this broken foot is in the way.. at this late stage…
ken : Entertainment? (laughs) hyde : It’s entertainment..

ken : Hehehe (laughs) It is?
hyde : It is, watching you try to stand up.
ken : Oh, I see. (laughs)
hyde : It’s touching.
ken : Ah, touching.
ken : “I still can’t stand up today?” I keep asking myself.
hyde : Mmmhmmhmm.
ken : Looks like I can’t. (laughs)
hyde : Looks that way. (laughs)
ken : Another two days till I can stand.
hyde : Ah, so you’re close.
ken : Yeah, I am.
hyde : Is something wrong?
tetsu : Nah, not really. But, um, I want to make it a wonderful show.
hyde : You like the lives, right?
tetsu : Eh? (laughs) Lives… (laughs) ken : Well, yeah. It’s not something we usually bring up. (laughs)

hyde : Right, right, right.
tetsu : Well, I certainly don’t hate lives.
hyde : Oh…

tetsu : Um…
ken : But you don’t really like them? (laughs)laughs) I do… like them. Once we get started, I like it. It’s like taking a bath. Before you get in, it’s a pain, right?
hyde : Ah.
tetsu : “Ah, do I have to do this again?”.. you know, taking one every day? (laughs) Well, I do, anyway. But once I’m in it’s like “Ah, this feels great~”…

hyde : Then you’re glad you did it.
tetsu : Yeah.
ken : Oh~
tetsu : Lives are like that. It’s horrible when we’re preparing.
ken : Is it?
tetsu : Yeah!? (laughs) Isn’t it? All the rehearsals…
ken : So…?
tetsu : Oh, never mind. (laughs)

ken : Ok… Well, maybe I’m the only one…
hyde : I get it…

All : (laugh)

tetsu : So that’s it…

all : (stifled laughter)
hyde : (laughs)… Okay, what’s going on? (laughs)
all : (laughs)
hyde : This is a promotional talk, a promotion talk.
tetsu : Nah, but it’s fun. For me too. That’s a first.
ken : Your first time.
hyde : Yeah, and after AWAKE tour, we have ASIALIVE. (He trips over the word “live”) China, Korea, then Tokyo Dome. That should be great. Lots of fun.
ken : Yeah.
hyde : Yeah. I hope they cheer as much as I’m imagining.
ken : Yeah, in China.
hyde : But I heard they don’t stand up.
ken : In both?
hyde : I heard that for them, standing up in a live means you’re mad.
ken : Seriously?
hyde : Yeah, in China, anyway.
ken : Whoa~.
hyde : Well, that’s the information I got, but I guess we’ll have to see for ourselves when we go.
ken : We won’t know the atmosphere.
hyde : Oh and… I don’t remember any Chinese.
ken : Really? (laughs) I can chat a little.
hyde : You can? Oh yeah, you spent some time over there.
ken : I went over for a bit.
hyde : So say something.

ken : ……

all : (laugh) ken : (laughs) Wo shi (Note : I don’t know ANY Chinese so sorry if this looks weird!)

hyde : Wo shii?
ken : I am.
hyde : ken shi.
ken : ken. Hmm. I think that’s it. (laughs)

hyde : (laughs)

ken : But just by saying that, you think we can get our feelings across to them?
hyde : Probably.
ken : Yeah.
hyde : What about “We are?”
ken : Ah, don’t ask me. Chat with the manager.

hyde : Hmm.
ken : hyde, what if you sang one song in Chinese? They’ll ask you to.

tetsu : (laughs)
hyde : … what if.. I .. just hide in the shadows, and not talk? (laughs)
ken : (laughs) Go tell that to the public. They’re not gonna take that. And I bet they can think of a different reason, too (laughs)

hyde : Hmm…

tetsu : That’s awful… (laughs)
hyde : Jojoushi or something.. would work.
ken : Yeah yeah, get a choir! Or something.
hyde : Hmm, well, if we had a choir come on, no one would be paying attention to my singing. (laughs)

all : (laugh)
ken : So, it’s just distribution!
hyde : Ah~.
ken : “It looks like hyde is singing the song in Chinese.”
hyde : I get it.
ken : But it’s just katakana.
hyde : Mmhmm.
ken : All of it. Well, yeah.
hyde : Even if we don’t do that, I can still use English, right?
ken : Well, it’s China, you know. (laughs) Their language…
hyde : Better do things their way.
ken : Yeah, well, maybe they’ll be happy anyway.
hyde : Oh, REVELATION would be a good one.
ken : Revelaaation… Um, what do you mean? Sing that part in Chinese or in Korean?
hyde : The “Yuigadokuson” part…

(They laugh)

ken : That already sounds like Chinese. (laughs)
hyde : Sorta. Kinda.
ken : Hmm.
hyde : Well, it feels that way.
ken : Yeah.
hyde : Let’s keep working on that. It should be a fun tour… A good goal? To aim for.

ken : Yes.

hyde : And now! One last song from AWAKE.
ken : Yeah.
hyde : Please listen to this song. Jojoushi.

~Jojoushi~

(BGM : Intro to Killing Me)
all : L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon!
(CMs)
(BGM : Intro to New World)
hyde : Hi! The four of us are here for L’Arc~en~Ciel’s All Night Nippon. We’re coming up to the end now.
ken : Yes.
hyde : So, our tenth project is complete, now.

ken : (laughs) hyde : The next goal is to make it to 20 albums.
ken : We’ll be 60 by then. (laughs)
hyde : Yeah. (laughs) Probably. So… look forward to it. To our 20th album.
ken : Hey, I know today is a radio show, but it doesn’t feel very formal? Not like a meeting at all?
hyde : (laughs)
ken : Like “Please tell us your thoughts on this next song, hyde-san.”
hyde : Ooh, they can’t help but ask that…

(they laugh)

ken : (laughs) This one was more like… a happy little meeting.
hyde : Aah… But there’s something I want to say.. underwater. (laughs)
ken : Hahahaha (laughs) This is getting pointless.
hyde : Yeah, but ken-chan, I don’t think you’ll go for it… you won’t go down there. (laughs)

ken : (laughs)

Voice : Well, we’re running low on time. Let’s finish by asking each member to send a short message to the fans. hyde-san, please start.

hyde : Okay. Thank you very much for being with us today. I had a great time. If we had a bit more time, I’d get tet-chan to reveal more of his private life. But unfortunately we’re out of time. It’ll have to wait till the 20th album. This was hyde.

Voice : Now, ken-san, please.
ken : Oh, ok. So, we’re getting ready to tour AWAKE, I hope we’ll be able to do something extra special this time, as you heard on this radio show! Um… look forward to it!

(BGM : twinkle, twinkle)
Voice: Thank you very much. Now, tetsu-san please.
tetsu : Ok. Um, it was fun. Today. Thank you very much. We’re rehearsing for the tour now, and I think we’ll have lots of fun doing it. Come to the lives!

Voice : Thank you very much. Finally, yukihiro-san, please.
yuki : Okaay. um… Please keep encouraging L’Arc~en~Ciel.

Voice : … A simple finish. (laughs)

(They laugh)

Voice : Thank you very much! You did an exceptional job tonight!
ken : Good work~
tetsu : Good job.
hyde : Yeah, yeah. Oh, thanks for staying with us all night. This has been L’Arc~en~Ciel. … Goodbye~.
ken : Bye bye.
tetsu : Bye byye.
yuki : Byebye..

Translated by Natalie Arnold