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Feat. Gakupo from Vocaloid.
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Feat. Gakupo from Vocaloid. ---- Best view in Google Chrome, 1280 x 800. ---- |
☆ Arena 37 Special 07 2009Friday, July 3, 2009, 1:59 PM.Arena 37 Special 07 2009Ruki cover credits: http://kiniro-ageha.livejournal.com/11930.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this 20.000 character-interview we have been trying to find Gazette’s singer Ruki, moreover were we looking for the person “Ruki”, this one human being. We bring you all of this, from things that had pierced his mind ever since, things he had seen (?) and more of rather unexpected issues. - So, all in all it is that your personal project came to be the last. [So there is going to be a lot to talk about (laughs)] - Yes. (laughs). This interview will feature 20.000 (Japanese) characters, so please give your best. More than the other interviews of the normal kind, I hope we can delve more into the personal side. I’d be grateful for your understanding and support. [No, no, I, on my side am asking for your support as well.] (At this point the attention is drawn to someone of the staff bringing spaghetti.) [Ah, the spaghetti has arrived…] - ahahahahaha. Please go ahead and eat. (laughs) Since I don’t want to get you too deep into any conversations while you are eating, just let me ask how you have been doing lately. (laughs) [Ah, yes, of course. I’m sorry. (laughs) Then let’s start. ] - ahahaha, yes, please start (eating)! (laughs) [Oh, well, yes, I’ll do that, too.(laughs) However, (as he is arranging the mushroom neatly on the side), I can’t eat mushrooms. Really, I like Tarako-Spaghetti, but it can’t be helped when there are mushrooms in them. Ah, I’m sorry, let’s start then. (laughs)] - Ok, so let’s start from how you have been doing lately. (laughs) Yesterday you have returned from the company journey to Hawaii, haven’t you? [Yes, I did. I came back yesterday and went back into the studio just like that. The moment I entered the studio, I was pulled back to reality at an instant. (laughs) The other members couldn’t go since they had been in the middle of recording. However, since my part of recording was the very last and I was free to go, I thought I’d just go then. When I stay at home, I am still somewhat in the working-mode, so I went to get my head out of it.] - Because it always keeps rushing from one to the next. It’s like you can’t even breathe the air outside. So did you get a chance to rest? [Nope. I didn’t sleep at all.] - Huh? Did you work nonetheless? [No. (laughs) I did too many fun things. (laughs) I went shopping and I spent the whole time at the beach. Therefore I really didn’t sleep. (laughs)] - ahahahaha. Well, in that case, sleep is overrated. (laughs) [It is! As a man sows, so shall he reap. (laughs) I had a lot of fun. (laughs) It has been a long time since I only did fun things and didn’t sleep therefore. It was a constant repeating of going shopping and going to the beach and going to the beach and shopping.] - Like that you won’t get a tan either. Well, but getting tanned isn’t that good, anyway, is it? (laughs) [It isn’t. (laughs)] - Aren’t you usually more of the indoor-type anyway? [I’m the perfect indoor-type. Well, first of all, there isn’t much free time (to go outside), and when there is a day off or so, I don’t want to go outside either. When I want to sleep, I just sleep right away. It seems that becoming the indoor-type just came naturally with that. However, on Hawaii I wanted to be outside with all my will.] - Was writing lyrics… [(Interrupting) I didn’t!! Not at all. (laughs) On the other hand, it is good I had this resolution to not do that. Sometimes I really just need to let go of myself like that, too. This is something which under the usual circumstances I can’t seem to do anymore.] - It seems like it. Well, so you could re-fresh yourself then. [I did. I stayed 5 nights and during that time, I didn’t touch our music just once. The sound of the wind or the sound of the waves; all these natural sounds were completely sufficient.] - It’s things like that, isn’t it. [It is! (laughs)] - However, when you came back, there was the recording, your needed presence for the raw-materials of the CD-Jacket shooting and such things in your pretty tight schedule. [Yes there is. However, there are just things where I won’t compromise. Even if there are material shootings where I won’t need to be present, I’d rather be there anyway. I’d rather not complain afterwards about things we got made for us. It is better to complain right at the spot (where things still can be changed). Therefore, I’d just be there from the very beginning.] - Every time? [Yes, honestly. Whenever we shoot material for anything, I am most certainly always there. For [Guren] I have been there, too. For the shooting I even went to Hakone. Even though there had been a live the next day, I went anyway. This was really hard on my physical condition, but there are just things I can’t get myself into compromises with. For [Guren], things were still the way, that I’d go and do the designs and shootings, which makes it obligatory to be present there. I think, even if you explain everything prior to the shooting and then entrust them to someone else, it is still illogical to then complain about the outcome of things. In general it is better to properly take things to a satisfactory result by matching those things with myself and the partners.] - I see. [On the other hand this is causing a lot of stress, though.] - Most certainly. This time’s photo shooting topic had been what exactly? [The part we had been shooting in Shinjuku had the theme [DESIRE], and the overall topic was [Darkness]. As for the interview, I think it is ok, the way it is going so far, however, to match the clothes there, and how it was more like my private clothes wasn’t so good. This time though, I only conveyed how I wanted things to be dark and from there on, I left it to the designers and the camera man. I thought it was good, how I get the ideas and opinions from people who had done a lot of photo shootings already, who had done various things and who I could entrust with this (issue). On my part, this time, I really only wanted the theme to have a very dark feeling.] - Had there been something spiritual linked to this theme? [No. Back in the days there has been this kind of influence, but lately there really isn’t. Also, more than concentrating on the topic this time, I had been paying more attention on how to make the pictures really good. For the photo shooting it had been the same – instead of planning everything out in advance, I thought it would be good to do it with the inspiration coming from the place of the photo shooting and we were able to take a lot of good pictures. As for the camera man I am always asking Miyawaki-san, who always seems to understand the things I want to do or the things that suit me well. Lately I have come to think, that it is very interesting to just look and decide what to do at the actual place. This time, too, we did the photo shooting just like that. That’s not very binding.] - I see. [Somehow, lately, it seems that with this feeling a lot of interesting things can be caught in pictures like that. You’d just go and try to eventually realize how things turn out unexpectedly good and really cool.] - However, it seems like you can’t do something like that without trusting the person, can you?? [That’s right. I think this is only possible if one can understand the feeling of the other. This can only be done, when the other knows my sensibility or the textures required and such.] - Yes, it is. I think this is one point of being able to show a certain confidence, when you can match well with your partner (the camera man) and with the outcome of a product, one can show this certain self-esteem. [It is certainly like that. Moreover, photographs are something big and there is this importance of tools to convey the pictures. It is the same as with sounds, there are points where there can be absolutely no compromises.] - Yeah. Within Gazette Ruki-kun is the one responsible for the artworks and their overall initiator, also drawing himself and I think you have a strong sense for aesthetics – therefore what are the things you like about Miyawaki-san’s photographs? [The texture. The pictures themselves, too. However, the overall standard for me to decide (whether a picture is good or not) would be the texture. It’s the same with PVs. It is absolute impossible to do it (properly) with someone, if I just feel a slight mismatch in texture there. ] - So you like things with a certain sensation. [I do. It’s the same with [feelings], though, as it is pretty hard to explain and likes are based on very personal reasons. There are textures which just don’t suit me. There are people who are said to be virtuosi, yet if I dislike the texture (i.e. in their works), it’s just not possible (for me to accept them as such.)] - I see. Apart from being able to express yourself through Gazette, what would be a thing you care most about (concerning the band). [I really don’t want to do boring things, which is the most important thing to me. For example, even if it was something the fans wish for and think that is was something Gazette should do, as soon as there is this feeling of being boring, then I really don’t want to do it. We don’t want to do things one couldn’t get excited about. There is nothing in particular which we just don’t want to do, it is also more of a feeling. Therefore, it is most important to me that we don’t do things we can’t think of wanting to do. After all, we came to change since we are together as a band. Well, more than just change, we developed, and the things we can do have increased. However, there are fans who believe, that the old days were a lot better. Be it the songs, be it the expressions, it is different from the old days. Nonetheless, we can’t go back to that. Still, as I came to say this in interviews, it seems that this thinking has become a little less. A while back I was told these things quite frequently which irritated me, but lately it has become less. Even if I am told this from time to time, I don’t worry about this so much anymore. It feels like we can live more honestly like that.] - Well, humans do have this nagging tendency towards things they can’t have. [It must be like that. On the other hand, when you don’t change, they tell you how they get fed up with your unchanging (nature).(laughs)] - Yes, yes. (laughs) This is a very general point, but it is very easy to state your own opinion on existing things, I think. Even hinting this by just saying [It’s ok, even if it wasn’t like something else…] or [It would be nice if it was like that…] is much the same. However, I think it must be pretty hard on someone, to create such things out of such a deep/pure side within oneself. Even if one does understand this point to some extent, it is still very easy to form and state an opinion on existing things… … Ruki-kun is someone to create things out of this depth/pureness, but once you create something, is this more of a painful thing or more of a joyful thing? [It’s both. When I get something done the way I wanted it to turn out, that makes me happy. In case I can’t achieve it, it’s got more of a painful taste. So it is both, like a happy-sad feeling. (laughs) I am the one who is creating his own ideal. I think it has been the same for all the artists, who are my sempais, they did it like that. Now and before, it is something I am very grateful for.] - I understand. I think bands are different in that aspect, too. When it comes to writing lyrics and songs, there are bands, where it can be done by writing as a band member, drawing different shapes as a band as a whole or to give the band a certain shape by just writing very individually and putting this together. [Yes, it is like that. In our case it is basically the latter. We write our melodies individually, then I would add the lyrics and from there on, we would arrange the song in a certain way. Still, this is only a rather abstract way of putting it. Within that, I am probably the one, saying the most. For example, I’d say things like [Could that be a little more red-dish?] or [Please add a slightly darker feeling] or [I’d like this to lighten up a bit.] (laughs) I’m a little unsubtle like that then. I think, since I am writing the lyrics to the songs, I would like to bring a certain atmosphere across with them, then.] - Ruki-san seems to be the representative for all the lyrics and all the songs. You have also been the initiator for the song [Distress and Coma] an there had been an interview on the single as such in which Aoi-san said: [Within this band I am certainly the most insistent guitarist and I would like to stick to that with cool sounds. However, this time I had been on Ruki’s side of the making and put all my heart into that. I wanted to make this song completely to what Ruki had been imagining, I think.] I think this is an incredibly nice connection you have there. [Yes, it is. However, usually in front of me, this is certainly something Aoi would never admit.] - It seems like it. He also said, that he wouldn’t feel very comfortable to say something like that directly to you. (laughs) [It seems like it. (laughs) Nonetheless, when playing his guitar with this in mind, it is the attitude towards making the song, which is bringing this across. That makes me really happy. I think this is a very essential part in making the music, as those who are Gazette concern themselves with how to reach a certain outcome in the song-making.] - More than half-hearted, the way Gazette is facing its own songs is rather stoic. [Without any influence it has become extremely stoic. (laughs) However, I think that the way we have been facing our song-making has evolved a lot. If I was to name something which has transformed our possibilities of making music in particular, there really isn’t anything, it just happened gradually. I think we changed step by step. It is something we have realized now. During the making of [Distress and Coma] it was me, who had been pouring out his ideas on the others. But in between, the others had been putting a lot of thinking into what they wanted to do and combine that with the things I would have liked the song to turn out to. It really feels like that is something that has grown to be, gradually. Therefore, as of late, this seems to be the reason, why recording has become so easy to do.] - I see. What was it that Ruki-san as the vocalist had been thinking about during the process of changing? [Something I had been thinking of as the vocalist? Well, I don’t really think of myself as being the vocalist, or seeing myself separated as such. Even though I am the vocalist. (laughs) This is also the same when referring to me as a professional. I don’t really see, where being professional begins in this case. Well, apart from earning money by making music, for me there is no such sensation in doing so. It does not mean, that it is improving anything really. Be it pros or indies, we are not only producing good stuff either way, we do come out with not so good things either way. The things we do are still the same. Therefore, there isn’t really any special influence in being a (so called) professional.] - Isn’t there more pressure as a professional? [Uhm, yeah, there is this thinking about what you would like to put into making a song, and I think taking responsibility within that, as in doing those things with a certain conviction and how you would like to properly produce songs and melodies, but apart from that there is almost no pressure. As for myself, I don’t fight against those things others around me think about it, though. In general, this is not about our surroundings, but rather about us. We think about how we can create music which will satisfy us and from there, we don’t worry about what this is within us we have to fight and we don’t worry about what others might be expecting of us. I think, this is the reason, why I still don’t feel like there is this kind of pressure. The only thing we worry about, when it comes to our surrounding would be, if we could be still regarded as a cool band. This would be the only time to remember frustration. Well, this is different from what pressure means, but wanting to be seen as such a cool band is certainly fueling us. This is something which hasn’t changed at all, neither back in the old days, nor now.] - Is there something you feel that has changed about your lyrics? [Basically, I don’t think they have changed. Being human hasn’t changed so much in that aspect. In the past there was this influence of wanting people to be well strong in my lyrics, also those lyrics which could move people. However, today, within me there is only this question mark floating about, facing a certain way of thinking or having to think about a certain encounter. And when there is something I really have to think about (again and again), this is when it will be embedded into my lyrics.] - Moreover, this is something that has become more real, too, hasn’t it? [Yes it has. I came to just write about those things the way I think about them. I think, that doing it just like that, has become one of my weapons. It is not a weapon to trouble anyone; it is more like natural arming (for myself). This is also the case for my usual self.] - So this has become like armor for the person Ruki? [Yes. I can’t really separate Ruki and the person I normally am anymore. It would be weird to try and force those to apart, I think. However you would do it, this is just me and there is no reason to part this. Because I came to realize this, I am now able to write very supple lyrics. That’s pretty convenient.] - Was there a time when Ruki and your usual self had been separated? [I thought, I needed to make a difference between those two. I felt there must be a separation. However, Ruki has become to be just a nickname for my usual me. Therefore, Ruki is not going to change from my usual self there, after all we are the same person. I am just a single person like everyone else. Therefore, if anyone is telling me that Ruki has a certain professional attitude, I always wonder what they mean. Like [What do you mean? What’s a pro?]] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- erm... this is like... part 1? ROFL. well, it's a really long interview :D. part 2 and 3 are still in the middle of translating! and Ruki is really talking a lot~~~ Labels: DIM, the gazette |