DEATHGAZE INTERVIEW(Credits to ambiviolence @ batsu)
Tsukachi_chan’s note :
Well, this interview was old enough..but I really want to post it in here..because I love this band so MUCH!! This interview was back when the vocalist was still SOU! (>0<)// ..
THE ROUSING BODY’S SOUL
DEATHGAZE
Deathgaze’s first appearance in our publication. Based and actively playing in
---What are you expressing, as in the band concept?
SOU: All four of us adore intense heavy rock, so we sort of wanted to make compatible songs that sound intense.
NAOTO: We did?
SOU: Nah, I just look at it that way.
NAOTO: Well, you could call it dark.
SOU: I want it to feel dark.
Ai: The base has a corrupted feeling.
---When I saw one of your performances for the first time, I was shocked thinking “I guess there are some amazing bands out there!”
ALL: Thank you so much!
Ai: Acutally, I’m the most impressive of them all…
NAOTO: That’s true!
---Ai-san’s uniqueness really has a lot of impact. I mean, between the real thing and what you see on the stage.
AI: I hope everyone enjoys the difference. Well, I’m a music plus alpha, so I think show has a lot to do with it, but I think it’s okay to do pretty much anything as long as there’s music.
---Your full album “Genocide and Mass Murder” that went on sale in July achieved a high level of perfection. It’s already incredibly fast with the drums and two basses, but the snare is also way past the speed limit!
NAOKI: I have to do it that way or it doesn’t get done. (laugh)
NAOTO: Our brakes don’t work.
NAOKI: That’s all I’m good at, so it’s like I’m putting that into it, yeah.
---How about the guitar?
NAOTO: The more warped the guitar is, the better. (laugh) Or more like, the person playing it is warped. (laugh) The noisier the better. All together it makes Deathgaze.
---I believe that Sou-san’s shouts and singing are uniquely peculiar in the current visual-kei genre.
AI: That’s going too far.
ALL: (laughing)
SOU: It’s like I’ve never broken anything or this is all I’m capable of. It’s still small-scale, and I do want to do more different things as well. As long as the soul makes contact.
NAOTO: What’s with you talking like your mature? (laugh)
---To back track, I heard that you had did a nationwide tour this summer. How was the response for the tour?
AI: It was an album launch tour as well, and it was our first tour of over 10 locations, so it was really educational tour and we came back with a lot from it.
NAOKI: It was our first time going to Hokkaido, but it was great to get a warm welcome from the concert-goers. I think that this tour allowed us to have fun performing concerts together. That’s the best thing about it.
NAOTO: I wanted to change one thing about the concerts I’ve done until now, since it was such a long tour. Like things I haven’t done yet. I tried to do things I’d been curious about. When I did, at that exact time we were all incredibly good at the Hokkaido concert, and something I couldn’t identify had changed inside me, and I’m happy it became a positive thing. Afterwards, I drank too much.
ALL: (laughing)
NAOTO: Well, I thought it was a good showing on my part, and it feels like I’ve advanced a level. Still, I don’t think that I’ve reached my final level yet.
SOU: I’m feel the same way about it as Naoto-kun. It was like a sense of unity at the concert in Sapporo, like something all four of us felt. The concerts after that also went smoothly, and it was like we had grasped something. It’s not something palpable or anything that can be expressed in words though. I think this tour is going to be the shape of our future. And afterwards, I drank too much.
---Did you drink after every concert?
SOU: Yes, we pretty much drank every time.
NAOTO: He (Sou) shed the most skin.
SOU: (laugh) I don’t know exactly what he means by shedding my skin (whether I’m breaking convention or maturing as a musician).
NAOTO: It started with the ferry.
---You shed your skin on the ferry?
SOU: I shed my skin on the ferry, shed my skin in the hotel, oh I had many skin shedding positions. (laugh)
NAOTO: He never had that type of character, but it was lurking just under the horizon.
SOU: Well, I guess you could say I opened up.
---It sounds like you had a satisfying tour. Although you’re going to be having a one-man concert at the Chelsea Hotel in Shibuya on November 11th. How do you feel, feelings-wise, about it being held after a tour and after the distribution of a full album?
AI: We’ll use it to show the results of what we did good on the tour, what we did bad on the tour, and what we revised and what we grasped on the way.
NAOKI: There are songs we can’t do in the regular events, so I’m looking forward to that.
NAOTO: A one-man concert isn’t earth-shattering or anything, but it’s like I’m really happy about being on stage for a long period of time. I just hope everyone enjoys the show.
SOU: I’m concentrating on building up my physical strength. I forgot about marathons even before the tour, so I started them again. So I’ll be in perfect singing shape before the one-man concert.
AI: If we’re going to do it, I’d like to put on a concert that only we can pull off, attack it with all the feeling of looking forward to being able to perform a concert and all our gratitude.
---You have a one-man concert waiting for use at Bottom Line in Nagoya afterwards, too. Did you already have a certain zeal in effect when you chose this venue?
AI: We worked for an entire year since last year to December this year to perform in Bottom Line. I guess it’s like a starting line that’s linked to the future whether we succeeded or failed.
NAOKI: It really was like our target venue, so we want lots of people to come watch.
NAOTO: That is the place that I went to to see someone’s concert and then decided that I would stand on this stage, so I’m ecstatic to be performing a one-man there, so of course I’m really hyped about it.
SOU: Even after that concert, I know I’ll put out something new that won’t be limited to that performance, so I hope everyone will look forward to it and come to see us. I’m counting on you!
---Deathgaze is all about live concerts, right?
AI: There’s the comfortableness of the sound that you can only experience in concert, and the feeling of togetherness of enjoying a concert with us… it’s not like soul contact, but it’s something you can only experience by coming to a concert. You can come to work off stress by freaking out and letting go, or maybe listen to the sons in the back. You can have any materials you can use.*?* Bein able to enjoy something just by being in the same venue, or dressing up is what a concert is all about.
NAOTO: That’s the stuff I like to hear!
---I think we should center the theme on all of you now. This may contradict Deathgaze’s image, but you really love animals, so can you talk to me about the theme of “love”?
NAOKI: I own a dog. His fur is white, so I named him Shiro. When he comes in from outdoors, he comes into the apartment and checks around for food and then leaves again. He loves it when I rub his belly and stuff. But is it love?
NAOTO: It sure sounds like love. (laugh) I own fish and a cat. When my cat comes back into the house, he approaches me with a sappy looking love-face. He’s a mixed breed named Tyson. The part about me working hard to earn his food has to be love. (laugh)
SOU: Family?
NAOTO: Well, something like that. I also keep food fish for the tropical fish, so I’ll ask “would you like to eat a goldfish today?” and then feed them. They always call them cold fish eyes. But they’re wrong! They’re always watching me. (Sou carries on in this fashion for 15 minutes. It’s too lengthy, so it’s been cut out)
SOU: You’re such a windbag. (laugh) I own two dogs called Chibi and Kana. They’re both girls, and I take them out for walks now and then.
NAOTO: The fact that you call them girls instead of bitches is love, don’t you think?
SOU: Yeah, ‘cause they’re family. So I give them canned food on Saturday ‘cause it’s a special day.
NAOTO: Hold on a second. You just said something awful. You said you “give” them food.
SOU: Well, I’m feeding them, d’uh. What do you want me to call it? Give me a break.
NAOTO: But this guy eats my tropical fish’s food.
SOU: (laughing) Well, I did actually eat some, yes. I wanted to understand the love by trying out all kinds of the foods that animals eat.
---(laugh) How about you, Ai-san?
AI: I have a cute kitty in my household. He’s a 6 year old boy cat of a breed called a Scottish Fold, and his name is Toraou. He will only eat canned beef. He’s not interested in fish. Whenever we make eye contact from there at my feet, he mews at me. I like family like that.
NAOTO: That’s love. Love as told by Ai!
---All right, please leave a message with our readers.
SOU: Now that the tour’s over, let’s take on the two one-man concerts full throttle! Thanks for coming!
NAOTO: Let’s eat delicious yukke (like beef sashimi) at our last two one-man’s!!
AI: There’s the obligatory nonsensical parting comment. (laugh)
NAOKI: We’re gonna do our best at the one-man, so I hope you all come. Let’s all enjoy a delicious roast together. Goodbye.
AI: We’re going to pull of the one-man with aggression and always at full power, and it will be fun and sound great and expressive, and we’ll climb the ladder one step at a time with our members, so please give us your warm and full support. We’ll never stop, so you can look forward to our further exploits!!
(Credits to Archaela @ batsu)
---Today's topic is your revival, which I have also been looking forward to. For starters, in December of last year your previous vocalist suddenly returned. Following that, in order up until your revival, may I ask how you spent the past year and how you felt about it?
Naoto: We really only did the session lives and there wasn't much else, we didn't even keep in touch, and there was a period when we stopped going to the studio for even the few times we did. The entire time we were surrounded by anxiety, but we figured we were fine and tried to go on living as we always had.
Ai: There were a lot of feelings left behind...
Naoto: Yea, that was certain.
Ai: We felt like 'Even though we want to continue with the band, why are we...?' We simply tried not to get frustrated, and searched for a new vocalist while continuing with our lives.
Naoto: We didn't have any dragged out feelings towards our previous vocalist! Since we've always thought it's just the three of us.
Naoki: We were always frustrated because we wanted to do the band and have lives but we couldn't. No matter how much we wanted it we couldn't do it, so we would do stuff like arrange the instruments, keeping ourselves always prepared to do it.
---It seems that you spent the time in a way that we could never have guessed. Was there time to come face to face with the band and the music?
Ai: Well... it's like this... the energy inside of myself, I had no way to release it, so it wasn't so much the music, or days thinking about music (of course music was always on my mind), but personally, for some months since the beginning of the year I spent it just idling around.
---Naoto, did you have any new thoughts about being a guitarist or about DEATHGAZE as a band?
Naoto: I couldn't think of myself as a person who plays music (laughs), when we were on hiatus. On one hand, I had the guitar. Um... I would put my favorite CDs in the player, but sometimes I wouldn't even listen to them. I wasn't really in touch with music I think. I was in touch with my guitar, but it was only a literal sense, and I was in a state of mind not to think about it.
---How about you, Naoki?
Naoki: As for the music part, I'm always like that too, but I would make CD and after listening to them every time I would feel a sense of guilt. And if I listened to the music of works we had done before, I started thinking things like 'if I change the instrument to this it will sound much better, won't it?' (laughs). There was a period when I would listen to the CDs of my favorite artists and these images would pop into my head.
---When you were on hiatus, you held vocalists auditions, correct?
Ai: Correct. At the beginning of April we announced we were looking for one. Countless people came, Japanese people, foreign people, women. But, how can I say it... no one really caught our attention. And when we thought we were in trouble, we suddenly stopped holding the auditions... now that I look back.
---By the way, what kind of events led up to you changing parts and becoming vocalist?
Ai: Um... when we lost our vocalist in December last year, the thought crossed my mind that maybe I should try singing, and that was the first step. After that, regardless of the fact that we couldn't find a suitable vocalist, we started thinking that we wouldn't find someone who was able to convey the feelings of the music that the three of us had created. Then I started juggling whether I should stick with bass, or go with vocals, all the while feeling it's probably best someone who is able to express those feelings should stand front and center and express them, so I thought about changing parts. After that was what... We hadn't been together for all that time, and we had been feeling darkness, so we thought we need to find some kind of light, and more than searching for light we instead realized that that light is us. At that time we had the vocalist auditions, the session lives, but secretly I had been practicing to become vocalist, even hiding it from the other members.
---You were the vocalist for your session band Knohhoso though.
Ai: I was singing then, wasn't I. And I think the other members had a sense that it was just for the session band, but the truth is it was really a rehearsal for me (laughs). In the end, we covered DEATHGAZE in July. At that time I stood front and center, and it was enjoyable to be able to express the feelings of our music through singing. I was filled with confidence, and after that talked with the band.
---What did you think when you heard that story from Ai?
Naoki: I felt like it was already OK! (laughs)
Naoto: 'Oh, is that right?' (laughs) But really though, it was just like that. When those words came out of Ai's mouth so naturally, there wasn't so much as an "ehh?!"
Naoki: There wasn't any guiding him like 'we want you to sing just like the best we've had up until now,' but we said that he was the leader, and so he should be able to sing. But of course we understood that it wasn't a half-hearted decision, wanting to switch parts from the bass that he had played for so long, so it was A-OK! As you can see he's also lost a lot of weight.
---That's right! Compared to your previous image...
Naoki: It was for that very reason.
---Was that around July?
Ai: That's right, the live was the end of July, and after it was done with just before summer I had discussed it with the others. Since losing weight I was able to see just a little bit more light, and it's like a door has opened. After that it was pretty much the fast track to making music.
---Is that the way the three of you want to do things from now?
Ai: No, not like that. I'll continue this later but, since I've become vocalist we have to find a bassist. In the midst of underground activities, we had searched but we had reached a dead end. After that, while we were creating music, we thought we want people to hear it as soon as possible, and somehow start activities again within the year, so it we decided not to hold out until we found a bassist, but rather find one after we had started up again. If we continue on someone will come up. Right now, the fact that we are in the middle of hiring may seem uncool but I just hope that a year from now we can be doing well.
---I see. Just before you said there had been a lot of anxiety, but now that you've announced your revival, how do you feel?
Ai: Well, simply put the three of us are pretty tight, and because of that there really isn't any more anxiety, but personally since I'm not yet standing on stage, I know that when I do I'll be anxious. It's not so much that there's anxiety about continuing something, since the feeling that we have to continue with a certain responsibility is stronger than that. Just like we've done up until now, make good songs, have good performances, keep on making good things.
---First, you will start up live activities once your singles are released, but first the maxi singles will be released between January and March of next year. Since it's been awhile since your last release, I imagine that these songs are all that came of this past year?
Ai: Right. When we had stopped activities we realized something that we couldn't when we were active, I we could feel the support from the fans that are constantly waiting for us, even when we did the session lives, and I hope that we were able to return that feeling in the songs and lyrics. Because of our hiatus we have a lot of faith in these three releases.
Naoto: There are also previous songs that we've rerecorded, but since the fans are not yet used to Ai singing, the songs are kind of like DEATHGAZE's meishi (laughs). Of course the new songs are full of everyone's feelings, so please listen to them. We feel that they are even for people who don't know us yet.
Naoki: Each single only has one new song, but with those we reveal what to do from now on, and our feelings are expressed by Ai's singing, so please listen to us...
(Everyone laughs)
Ai: Did we all just push?
Naoki: I just want people to hear the old songs that they've been waiting for us to rerecord. We chose which songs with that in mind, so please listen!
Ai: We don't have a schedule that we can announce yet, but we want to keep our activities going full-force once we start moving, and we don't ever want to stop again, and so with that feeling in mind, I can hold my head up high, so please wait for us!
---Finally, a message to your fans who have been awaiting your return!
Naoki: Thank you to everyone who had waited for us, and to any new fans please keep with us!
Naoto: Really, there are a lot of feelings of thanks to everyone who had been waiting until now. I can't really say that I understand the feelings of DEATHGAZE's fans, but even when we did our session band a lot of people came out, and then I thought that even if just those people are waiting for us I am really grateful! Even when we were on hiatus... Well even on hiatus we rock out hard! (laughs) Well that's saying a bit much, but we want to live up to the expectations of those who know us, and for those who hear our music or see us in Cure for the first time we want them to know this kind of band exists! (laughs) We're a very manly band and we want to become even more manly (laughs)
Ai: We have a lot of faith in this band's music and what this band is trying to express, and we don't lose that. It's not just about the music, but even if there is only one person who like this band, there is meaning in this band continuing, and we'll continue forever. Since you have some time then, check us out.
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