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Interview with Ruki

interviewer:I heard that in Yokohama Arena live [Meaningless Art That People Showed], Uruha wasn’t in good condition, and you weren’t either, Ruki.

Ruki : Me? Well maybe a little.

I didn’t know that until the after party, after your performance. I didn’t think that you could or would have put on such a powerful performance if you weren’t well.

Re@lly? So maybe it was a good thing? (smile)

The live itself was extremely exciting even if I dare to say that the live wasn’t perfect, I would have to say that it was great!

Yes, that’s true. It was great. I think that we managed to keep our usual tension throughout.

It was a big difference to your live in the Budoukan. The Budoukan live seemed a little ‘parliamentary’, but this Yokohama Arena live seemed like your home ground from the beginning, even though you were playing there for the first time.

Ah, I think so too. In the Budoukan, we played feeling like “We’ve always wanted to be here.”, but this time if felt more like an extension of a normal tour.

Behind this, did the fact that you could do your live house tour [FURY&SORROW] before the final live, help?

Yes, it helped a lot. It was when our new songs came into our set list, so the new songs adapted well. As a result, it connected to the Arena live, and we got something there.

In the tour of [FURY&SORROW], I went to the Yokohama Arena Sound Hall building next to the Yokohama Arena. What did you feel those days when you did such hard lives, Ruki?

Well, there were many things. In Rokumeikan, electric power was cut out because of the humidity. (laugh) There were people who passed out in some places. I also fell asleep soon after I sat down on a sofa when I finished the live, and came back to our dressing room, and kept sleeping for one hour, a bit like a dead battery.(smile)

It was hard both physically and mentally?

Yeah, because I didn’t do only those lives, but I did also rehearsals before and after the lives, and pre-productions. So I used my throat too much so much so that I think my condition wasn’t very good.

As I hear about you more, I think that it is amazing that you can sing for three and half hours in the tour final at Yokohama Arena.

Thanks, but I still have lots to learn. (smile)

By the way, how did you feel about the set list including new songs this time, Ruki?

In the Arena live, from about the 8th song [Crucify Sorrow] to the 12th song [千鶴(Chizuru)] was re@lly important for me.

Those were songs which you made the audience listen to carefully, so it was the highlight for you as a vocalist?

Yes. I thought about how I could force myself into a corner mentally, because I wanted to make a tense atmosphere, in a good way that is.

The audience, who re@lly got into it in hard songs, listened to the music carefully at that time almost like still water.

That’s what has changed from before. The audience re@lly listens to the music when and where we want them to. I am re@lly happy about it and I think that it is a good thing. They also become wild when we want them to too.

I am not trying to flatter you, but I did not see any difference in the atmosphere between your live house concerts and the Yokohama Arena live.

Yes, I re@lly felt that too. To be honest, I am not sure whether it was because of the lighting or my bad eyesight, but I didn’t notice it until the encore. (smile)

So you didn’t know how was the audience reacting?

No. So when I came back to our dressing room after the live, I didn’t know and said “I think today’s audience didn’t re@lly keep up with us that well.”. (smile) Then someone said ‘No way! What are you saying?” But in the encore when I could see the whole audience, and I found that the audience were re@lly getting into our music and enjoying themselves.

Many bands say that “There is basically no difference between halls and live houses.” And you re@lly showed us that.

We aimed as high as we could , we did our best.

By the way, Ruki, you went to the floor at the end of the encore in the Arena live. It made the field sent the crowd into a frenzy.

Yeah. (laugh) I didn’t know whether I could go down or not. And I didn’t know where I could go down to, so I went like “May I go? Is it OK?” step by step. Well, I actually wanted to run, but there were cameras in front of me, and many people came to me, so I couldn’t. The field was quite cool, which was also good.(laugh)

That live gave us various feelings. To be honest, when I went into the venue, there weren’t any big screens, which made me wonder about what I should write if I can’t see anything on the stage.

Ah, ok.

But once the live started, it didn’t matter at all. If there is a big screen, we tend to loot at it, but there wasn’t, and I could feel the energy not through cameras but more through my own senses.

Yes. We thought at first that it was better to have screens. But after we thought about it, we decided that it would be better without them. So we could use the space like a big live house. I think that it was a good step forward.

In Yokohama Arena, Ruki, you said “We the GazettE will be ‘Saikyou Saiaku’ band!” near the end of the live. Did your words of ‘Saikyou Saiaku’ mean ‘the strongest and the worst’? Or did you mean ‘the fiercest and the worst’? Or you might mean ‘the scariest and the worst’…..

Ah, I said that meaning ‘the fiercest and the worst’.(laugh)

Did you mean you want to be a continuously turbulent band?

Yes, I want you always think about us like “They are crazy!”. (laugh)

If I think about the GazettE’s achievements until now, these words sound meaningful.

We don’t re@lly have to pose or worry what people think about us now. For people who aren’t interested in bands we are just unknown individuals, but one day they will notice that we have become quite big. Not like we have a hit single, but a lot of people came to Yokohama Arena, and I think that most of them enjoyed themselves. We are considered visual kei at the moment, I think that is because of our looks? We don’t put our pictures on flyers so much now. (smile)

That’s true.

But I think it’s good there is a band like us. Saying things like we want to be ‘the fiercest and the worst’, we’ll go ahead basically without changing anything we say. Wait, I feel like I haven’t changed at all saying the same things I did in junior high school.(laugh)

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Interview with Uruha

Congratulations for a live well done. I heard that your health wasn’t so good the in Yokohama Arena live [Meaningless Art That People Showed], Uruha.

Yes, but it was good that I managed to finish it well.

I could tell at all that you were in such a bad condition when I watched your live. I was a little surprised when I heard about it in the party after the live.

Really? Well that’s good. I had no problem when I played songs, but when there was an interval, I became worse quickly. So I Ruki’s MC always felt very long!

And the live itself was very long. It was about 3 and half hours.

That’s true.(laugh) It may be the only live where I had to keep fighting to keep up with everyone. I had hay fever, abdominal pain, and even a temperature, lots of things. And to try and fix things I had various drugs, youmeishu, and energy drinks, which made me feel even worse.

That sounds awful. In such a terrible condition, what did you feel on the stage, Uruha?

Well, I felt great. I thought that place was like a smooth long huge tunnel, and I was overwhelmed with the feeling of having so many people there.

At the same time, not just the audience number, but the atmosphere given from them was quite different from that in your Budoukan live last year.

Yes, I agree with you. The audience re@lly got into it. I thought they moved re@lly well, so I felt good. Looking at them helped me too. I was encouraged so much.

You were helped by the audience.

Yeah. I’m sure that’s true because I was in such a bad condition that day. I was helped by the audience that’s why I could play so well.

Before the Yokohama Arena live, you did a live house tour [FURY&SORROW], so if you didn’t play your hall tour and live house tour, the final live would be quite different.

I’m sure it would be totally different. If we played in Yokohama Arena just after the hall tour, it wouldn’t have been like that at all.

So, what was the identity which you got by playing in [FURY&SORROW]?

What I got was a vision connecting to the next step. Concretely speaking, while we put our new songs (songs included in their single released this year) into the set lists, we made our lives thicker. Especially, in the beginning of the live, [Hyena] was put in, which increased the power of our live more.

I agree with you.

I think we could confirm our foundations during our hall tour. Then were able to add the next step, which was the live house tour. We re@lly felt that our new songs have to plug the live to go ahead onto the next step. Our fans were running high from the beginning. It was because fans received our new songs and came to our live, and more than that, we didn’t have any worries about our new songs. I think that was big. I think [Hyena] was easy to understand as a song.

The song re@lly stood out in the live more than we thought.

It was because I didn’t want to make our tour just to accustom our new songs. I have a confidence we could play it perfectly and did the lives from the beginning.

By the way, I went to see [FURY&SORROW] in Yokohama Arena, which was very chaotic.

Well every live seems to be like that, but yes, ‘Sanho’ was running on quite a high.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. One moment a girl wearing a miniskirt without stockings, dived into the crowd, and revealed her underwear in front of you. (laugh)

Ah, that. We don’t re@lly care about that kind of stuff so much. We are in extremely high in our lives, so we don’t care about that. I think we would be calm even if naked girls were rolling around.(laugh)

Ahaha.(laugh)

I’m happy that she didn’t care about how she looks and allowed herself to have fun. I can understand such feelings very well.

[FURY&SORROW] and [Meaningless Art That People Showed] in Yokohama Arena were basically the same set list except for their encores. Which part did you like most in those menus, Uruha?


Which part? No, I liked all of the menus this time. But if I have to say something I would say the later half in which we kept feeling high and we were kind of forced into a corner. It was hard but felt good. I think it’s because I’m a little bit masochistic.(laugh)

Oh! So that is the real you!?(laugh)

Well, When I’m forced into a corner, and the live reaches climax and ends, I feel the best. In this way, every band man is generally masochistic, I think.

At the final live in Yokohama Arena, the tour [DECOMPOSITION　BEAUTY] series concluded finally. What do you feel now in this flow, Uruha?

In the true meaning, I think I understand how I send our feelings in our lives. I don’t think my condition or distance has anything to with the live. It’s not about whether a live concert is in live houses or in arenas. And you know, I don’t think it’s a matter even whether we are seen or not. This time we didn’t put a big screen in the Arena, which was because we felt could communicate to the audience directly without unnecessary things. I think it will make a big effect on our future, because now I know the most important thing is to ‘feel each other’.

Do you mean music and lives are not just to see nor to listen to, but more to feel?

Yes. Even if we play in a small venue, people are in mixing, shaking their heads hard, and can’t see us. But we can feel each other a lot, which has nothing to do with whether the venue is big or small, whether we can be seen or not. the GazettE is a band like that, and I want people to know about it.

From now, we will release another album, and go on tour again from autumn. I want everyone to feel our various thoughts and feelings which the band the GazettE will release there.

We ourselves have come to know the possibility of our band through this tour and Arena. It is just amazing. We have a desire to go further and do more, so we are re@lly looking forward to that.

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Interview with Kai
Were you able to sleep well the night you finished your Arena live?

After I finished the live, I didn’t know why but I　just wanted to drink alcohol! So I went to a convenience store and bought some beer, and drunk with my parents talking about their impressions of our live.

I know your parents come to your lives every time.

From our first Shibuya AX live, they come to almost all of our final lives. They came to our tour because I gave them tickets to cerebrate their 60th birthday.(laugh) My mother is a piano teacher so she has a good eye about music and can be quite strict but she praised me for the live in Yokohana Arena saying “You all grew up!”! And I heard they cried moved by my MC.

I’m sure they did! You said thanks to fans and the people around you, and gave serious messages such as “Live strongly.”.

Well, when I saw all those people, I re@lly wanted to say thanks to many people. I was just happy about so many people coming to see the GazettE, and enjoying our concert. Can you imagine, before, we used to be in the opposite position, where we looked at the stage as the audience. So naturally I felt thanks for those around me. While I was talking, I was moved and almost cried.(laugh)

Yeah your voice did show your emotion. I’ll ask you about the four lives in live house tour which you did before that impressive live. What did you feel when you played in those venues with all those memories?

We haven’t played in live houses for one year, so I felt fans’ eyes and heat, which brought me back. Well, all the members tend to over imagine things. For example, we imaged Rokumeikan being quite small, but when we played there, we it was actually quite large. So it was good that Rokumeikan was the first venue, because we played in venues larger than that after that concert.

Finally the last day in Shibuya O-West, everyone was so excited that the heat from the audience came up to the second floor.

That was because it was a live house. There I felt good like “This is great!”, more than in halls.

When I saw that, I thought “They won’t be any problems in Yokohama Arena.”. I was very surprised when I heard you had a fever on the day, Kai.

Eh, re@lly? For me there were some parts which I felt a little bad about. For example, I couldn’t play as well as than usual, but no-one seemed to notice, and I didn’t express it on my face.

I didn’t notice at all. Even in encore, your energy didn’t decrease at all.

That was because I was trying to make up for how I was feeling. Anyway, I did my best until the end, and I felt much better when I played in the live. After I left the stage, I suffered from vertigo and couldn’t control it at all, but when I went for the encore, I became better. So I thought the power of lives and fans were great. I also think Reita didn’t feel so bad either when he played in Yokohama Arena.

Yes, he said there were no problems during the live.(laugh) Anyway, I thought you were great playing drums so powerfully even though you had a fever. I thought you might have done some special training.

No not re@lly. We hadn’t played in a live house for a while, so after we finished the live in Meguro Rokumeikan, members were dead tired. But I wasn’t so tired. Then I thought it was good for me to stop smoking. (laugh) And I don’t cut corners in rehearsals, I do it like a live! That might be good for my physical training.

You overcame your cold by your sheer physical strength, and played in Yokohama Arena in perfect condition. How did you feel when it was started?

I dared not to look at the audience, because I thought I had to get a grip on myself first to draw the audience in. And I knew members went fast in the first phrase, so I thought “This is not good. I have to keep the rhythm”, so my tension was blown away at that moment. I think I tried to calm down and concentrated on my playing in the first song.

Did your tension change to your responsibility? What were you especially impressed with in the live?

I was impressed the moment when we all made our sounds all together in the beginning of the first song [Filth in the beauty], and I remember when we finished the first parts of our set list, I felt a good response, and said to the staff next to me that “I can make it today!”, then he went back to the wing of the stage with smile on his face.(laugh) And I was impressed with the song of [Defective Tragedy].

The drums are re@lly important in this song.

I think that I played the best I ever have in this song! I made a victory pose after I finished it. But when I saw the live image later, there were actually few wrong bits. And I remember my drum solo so clearly. In [Ride with the ROCKERS], I re@lly wanted to get everyone going, so that was a great way to do it. The phrases might change every time, but basic form doesn’t.

And I felt through your live house tour and Yokohama Arena live, you re@lly made your timing and rhythm important.

This time, we synchronized to the songs a lot. I used to fit my rhythms to the click, but now I try to fit to the band sounds. I make the click to be my feeling, and for example, if I hit the drums and think “In the next beginning it would be better to go in faster.” And at a moment, I’ll go in faster than the click.

It felt re@lly good because there was the atmosphere and the type of timing that is only in lives. Besides, did you try to do something different from usual playing in such a big venue?

To be honest, a drummer can’t move, so I can’t do something special. But my mental aspect is a big part therefore, and I can’t make it by myself, but can make it with responses from the audience. I thank fans so much for making me feel very close to them in Yokohama Arena. I saw and could feel from the stage the fans growing together. I could also feel that the people in the back enjoyed it even though they couldn’t see us. I was so happy to see fans who were in the far back from us clapping their hands and having fun; I was re@lly on a high after that.

This invisible aura and feelings shortened the distance between fans and members, and made you do away with the unnecessary things in Yokohama Arena. Actually I think you all did your best.

Well, it’s rather rude if we didn’t. So I don’t care about other bands these days. I don’t have rivalry anymore for bands which are active now and used to play in Tokyo Dome before. Well, I started to play in a band longing to be like LUNA SEA, but when I think whether I still have to aim for them now, our goal is more than them. We have decided to climb up to where no one has been, as long as we can, as the band of the GazettE.

When I saw your great live in Yokohama Arena, I felt that your popularity will continue to grow. I think that you will re@lly get there.

Yes. I’m sure! And I want to do it with our fans together.

Did you hear the cheers from fans when the schedule of your next tour was projected at the end of the live?

Of course, because we watched that from the wing of the stage! When we found the words ‘Nippon Budoukan’ in the middle schedule, we, five members, said this means something, because it used to be written in the end and in bigger letters.(laugh)

You finished the tour [01] in the Budoukan, then live house tour [02] started in November, and then I don’t know how long your tours will continue…..

I think it will be up to around [10]?

Do you that, what do you think that you, personally, will have to do?

I’ll look after my health. My parents said to me “Your body is not only for you!”.

Manager K: He always works too much. In the rehearsal of Yokohama Arena, I said it’s OK to come even though he had a fever, but use a mask!.(all burst out laughing)

I put on a mask! But after the rehearsal finished, it became sloppy and I felt bad. So I took the mask off and put a towel over my mouth.

So you’ll look after your health and w0rk hard to create the new album now.

During this one month, I don’t know how many times I changed the arrangement of drums in the same song! First I make a song and bring it in, talk about it, then take it home again. Sometimes I have to remake a song from zero again, and you know….. But there are a lot of good things so please wait and look forward to it.

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