ayabie_log (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ayabie_log) wrote,@ 2006-01-03 18:45:00 |
|
Rock and Read vol.7
Rock and Read vol.7
Interview with Ryouhei
"Visual-kei, a genre of art"
While being an elite in an engineering department, a complex due to his neutral appearance had been a reason for complex. This being resolved by the appearance of SHAZNA, his genius and charm fully bloom under the new concept of "visual-kei = a genre of art". Feature of Ryouhei's visual-kei-cult-talk!
- First of all, please tell me your birth date and family makeup.
I was born in March 27, 1983. My family constitutes of my father, mother, and younger brother. Though my brother is also a college student and we all live separately as of now.
- Where were you born?
In Nagano. My grandmotehr's house is in Nagano, so it's like my mother returned to her home to give birth to me. then we quickly moved to Shiga, then to Kanagawa, and I spent my childhood in Kanagawa, then moved to northern Kyushu when I was in 6th grade.
- So you moved around a lot.
Yes. My parents had a lot of transfers.
- Have you heard about your childhood from your family?
I hear a lot about my pre-school age. I seemed to have been a quite playful high-tention child, and you know how we all sit down and take a picture on the day of our entrance into pre-school?
- group photo?
Yes. During that time, I was the only one who could not keep still, and I would put up my arms and legs, and make a fuss about my position even though I got a very good one next to the director, delaying the photoshoot for an hour. I wasn't allowed to enter pre-school for one week..lol
- Were you grounded?
Yes. My first grounded experience of life is around 3 or 4 years old..lol So when I see videos from my childhood, I feel embarassed. I talk fast even now, but I rant even more faster towards the video my parents are carrying. I was a really restless child.
- It must have been quite an effort for your parents.
I think so. My parents wanted me to be able in a lot of thing, so they put me into a lot of different classes, and thanks to it I gained a little composure? If it wasn't for all those classes, I might have grown up like an wild boy. I was living in an apartment, and there were two or three other same-age friends, and we would run around the apartment playing ninja-games all te time. You know the plastic swords. We would slash at each other with those things and splash water with water-guns.
- Is this during your stay in Shiga?
No, I was only in Shiga when I was 1 to 2 years old, and from 3yrs old I moved to Kanagawa's Chigasaki. It won't be an exaggeration if I say my first phase of personality was formed there.
- What are your parents like?
My father is the typical serious person. I always say this everywhere, but the person I consistantly want to surpass is my father. When I enteLed college, I had a talk with my father and fealt this feeling the strongest. He told me things like, "I'm satisfied if you can grow up without being a pain to other people, do whatever suits you, and build a living with it". When I heard this, thought "impossible". What I thought was impossible is to surpass my father. I thought I will be running after my father's shadows until I die.
- How did your father treat you?
He was truely a person of character. I have never been it, but I was scolded a lot. He made clear the things one could do and one should not do, and I think this was correct. Same goes for my mother, but I really appreciate them both. They treated me in such a way I wish to mimic when I become a father in the future.
- So they were not the laissez-fair type?
No. My mother was the typical education-minded mother. She made me do everything from Kumon (Jpns learning center thing aimed for preschooler to grade school students), swimming classes, pianno, and violin.
- At the same time?
Everything at once. So I was really busy during grade school. Mondays and Thursdays were swimming days, Fridays were athletic, Tuesday piano and violin, and wednesday I had a little time to relax.
- Did you go on your own will?
Not really. Piano and violin were painful. I learnt to hate them at one point and stopped violin when I was in 2nd grade, but I continued piano until 3rd year in middle school. I actually appreciate learning it now. Thanks to it I have a sense of music, and it really helps me composing.. since I compose around 90% of ayabie's songs. Honestly, I didn't like going to Kumon either and I hated studying, but now I see how all those studying is helping me.
- What did you want to be when you grow up at that time?
A lawyer. Lawyer or Doctor.
- ...huh?
I know I sound arrogant. lol
- Not arrogant... but usually pre-schoolers don't think that way.lol (yes they do..lol if they are expected to enter good universities, the lawyer/doctor idea is harped on from the moment you are born...lol)
I speak non-stop and rater clearly, so my grandmoter always told me to become a doctor or announcer. Her family line is originally coloLed with doctors.. their last name is Asada. Do you know Asada ame? (well-known throat-candy.... wow I never knew he was related to this xD)
- Yes.
It's that Asada. My grandmother and grandfather were both headmasters, so probably they wanted me to go into med school. When I finished highschool, i had two choices. One was to enter engineering, as I did, but the other was to go into med school since I could have gone into it with the same grades. I enteLed college through recommendation-based examination. (recommendation-based people can pretty much get into wherever depending on their highschool grades, rather than the actual entrance examination) I had a hard time deciding between Keio Uni. engineering department and St.Marianne med school (rather than being pre-med during undergrad and entering med-school for grad, we have specialized med-schools for undergrads). My grandmother wanted me to go to the latter to continue the Asada family line, but at that time, I really liked computers and I wanted to do something with it. From highschool, I wanted to get a job related to computers, so I forced my way into engineering department.
- I see. Going back to our order, you first enteLed grade school...
Yes, I was the same in grade school. I was a noisy child, that my mother was probably worried about what would happen to me. My change probably came when I moved to northern Kyushuu when I was in 6th grade.
- Wasn't it hard to make friends when moving to a different school at 6th grade?
6th grade doesn't round even. You know how in grade school, we stay in the same class for 1st&2nd, 3rd&4th, and 5th&6th? So I was the only newface. It was an year with a lot of transfers, and there were one boy and two girls trasnfer students who enteLed into te class at the same time I came in. (...is it me, or did he just contradict his previous sentence...?) The other boy was quite wild, like myself when I was small. He mixed in with the others quickly, but it wasn't that easy for me. Maybe the other kids had somethng against my standard speaking style (Kyushuu has a dilect depending on the location).
- The other three were from Kyushuu?
Yes. I was the only one from the Kantou area (Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, etc district), so we had different styles. I couldn't catch on to it at first. And there are the "bad boys" appearing from 6th to 1st year middle school, whom I couln't keep peace with. Middle school was relatively a normal school, but middle schoolers can get rough. So my mother suggested me going to a prep-school that ranked first in northern Kyushu, and I wanted to get into that highshool so I began going to institutes. From then on, I was the typical study-nerd. I even felt my change of character myself. But I was the most rough at that period. I couldn't be myself at school, and simply studied my ass off every day. I did have friends in middle school, but they were all like me, and it was more like a study-group. I was really restless at home. While I kept quiet at school, I would snap at my parents and go against my fater.
- Anything like a typical domestic violence?
I did. I threw things at my mother.
- Did you ever actually hit her?
I did one time. I punched my mother with my fist, and made her bleed internally. I was horrified with what I did, and I thought I must be the worst human.
- Seems like you were at quite a dangerous level.
I think so. I didn't bring out any weapons, but during 3rd year was the hardest. Even now, I think I was on the verge of going insane.. It's really a story I can tell because it's in the past. I have never talked about this anywhere else.
- Weren't there anything that healed you?
Nothing. Well, the single hope was my parents, now that I think about it. My family kept supporting me at my side, but I didn't realise it at that time and thought they were enemies. Recollecting now, I can't understand why I was so ignorant of their support.
- Did you have anything that you could do to release stress?
Maybe games? But I didn't have any proper activities that I liked to do. I would compile all my stress within me and explode them at my parents.
- Usually people join gangs when they are like that.
It's probably due to my institute that I didn't go that way. My friends were all institute students so I wouldn't become a member of the gang. They probably had trouble at home, but I was really jealous of them since they seemed to be talented in academics and life. I was so glad when I enteLed highschool. My grandmoter bought me a synthesizer upon my entrance, and I still use it at home.
- What type of music did you listen to at that time?
Classics
- Right, you played piano and violin.
Exactly. I was listening to classics even at home, so i didn't know much about popular songs. It was when I enteLed highschool, when I was shocked at rock.
- Were you not allowed to listen to rock?
Not really. My parents didn't introduce it to me, but I didn't have interest either. I didn't see music shows, and didn't talk about those things with my friends.
- What was the incident that brought the boy-Ryouhei to a guitar?
When I was in 2nd year high school, Nakamura-kun, who lived in the same apartment as bought an electric base. That was the trigger. I was jealous, and wanted to do it too. If he plays the base, I thought I should play the guitar, and my father had an accoustic guitar so I tried it. I couldn't play it at all, but I was told that I could probably play an electric one, so I bougt an electric guitar. Being introduced to rock was really a large event in my life.
- What did you first copy?
That friend liked melo-core, so he copied bands like rancid and HI-STANDARD. As for me... oh, I first bought a CD when I was in 2nd year middle school. This has nothing to do with rock, but it was SHAZNA's "Sumire September Love".
- SHAZNA wasn't rock to Ryouhei kun?
Rather than the music, the appearance shocked me. I saw SHAZNA on TV. My appearance is rather neutral, so maybe I have been admiring people who had neutral appearance, but I was shocked that someone can be a hero even with that. Usually people would be like, cool! to manly guys, but IZAM-san was able to become a hero, and be attractive to girls eventhough he is feminine. I wanted to be like him too. That was my introduction to visual rock, but honestly I was only buying SHAZNA CDs and nothing else.
- Did you really only buy SHAZNA's CD as for visual bands?
I did listen to to the "four visual kings" like Malice Mizer and Lacryma Christi, but I only bought SHAZNA. I was over-confident of my skills, and was listening to classics, so I was like, "Is this it for rock? Even I can compose this". This was 15 years old, when I composed "Tsuki koi". I had been composing songs on the piano, but this was the first music with songs.
- Were you planning to make a living through piano?
Not at all. There were so many talented people around me, so there was no way I could stand out.
- Piano didn't comfort you during your rough years?
No. It was painful during those times. Now, it's a comfort. I really appreaciate my mother, though she still says things like, "You told me you really didn't want to play at that time!".
- She probably thought that she shouldn't let you give up.
Probably. I think her decision was right.
- Maybe it was different for Ryouhei-kun, but maybe she thought that letting you quit would have taken away something that you could release stress.
Exactly. As Kato-san (interviewer) says, I thought I didn't like piano at all at that time, but now that I think about it, piano and violin were probably effective in releasing my stress. If I have quit, I probably would have nothing left.
- So she kept faith in you and looked over you.
Yes. That's also why I want to surpass my parents.
- When you were shocked by SHAZNA, do you mean that your character resonated with theirs?
Yes. I think I had an idea of what my personality was like.
- Did your neutral character become a complex?
It was a complex until I saw SHAZNA, but then it was resolved. I really want to say this to the world, but I believe there are a lot of people who began visual-kei music aspiring to be like SHAZNA.
- I think so too, though no one says it out loud.
Yes. They just don't say it. Not only about my feminin looks, but I really love SHAZNA, so I can't stand people who talk ill about them. If they can give impact to that many people, repeatedly release singles that sold 1,000,000 copies, they are truely a great band. Fuck those people who says SHAZNA corrupted visual-kei. They definately did not corrupt it, but spread it. Even if it's a transient band, it was able to make a boom. It's history.
- But you didn't think to form a band when you first saw SHAZNA?
No. I'm really ashamed to say this, but at that time, I thought that although SHAZNA beats me in looks, I was superior in music. I didn't know how difficult it was to form a visual-kei band and compose catchy music until I actually did it. In one sense, I enteLed visual rock in a very formal manner. I didn't know X (X Japan) or Luna Sea until quite late. When I saw X on Kouhaku utagassen (12/31 music competition) on the year I saw SHAZNA, I saw that HIDE-san's hair was pink, and told my younger broter that he was a wrip-off of IZAM.. (bitter laugh) I didn't know anything to that level. I told this story to Takehito-kun and Intetsu-kun, and they got extremely angry since they enteLed visual rock from X. For me, HIDE-san and IZAM-san are both at te same level.
- Returning to guitar, did you quickly get into it once you bought it?
I had a maniac friend. He listened to bands like Led Zepperin and Oasis, so I became a fan of Led Zepperin too. Ayabie has a song, "Metamor last page", but this title is taken from Zepperin's "Achilles last stand", an another of our song, "Tsuepper shi, taberu"'s "tsueppe" is also taken from Led Zepperin (Written in Japanese, "Zepperin" is "Tsuepperin". "Tsueppe-shi, taberu" is thus, "Mr.Zeppe, eats").
- I never knew that!
Until then, music was not a fun thing for me. I had a sense that I was made to do it. But rock was different. Classics value harmony, and the vertical line-up of music notes, but as for rock, it's more of a horizontal harmony. If there are 5 members, all of us must have the same breth. This is important also in classics if you talk about orchestra, but if it's piano, you are free to adjust your speed. You can't do that in rock. Classics is the change in one motif, and that's what makes it beautiful, but in Rock, you repeat the same motif. I learnt that this was the key in rock.
- When you got that sense, did you decide to make a living with your guitar?
No. While I was in highshool, it was nothing more than a leisure. I was planning to become a programmer once graduating college.
- When were you introduced to a computer?
When I was in middle school, my father brought an ancient PC9801. When I did some basics on it, it was fun. I don't know if it still exists now, but there was a magazine called, "Basicis Magazine" that listed a lot of programs. It was fun.
- Was computer a comfort for you?
Oh, yes! Wow I'm being deeply analyzed today! lol
- I think it was a time of PC telecommunication rather than internet?
That's true, but I didn't do PC telecom.
- What did you do with computers?
Programming. Though, I don't know why I didn't realize it, but my programming sense is zero. I'm doing programming in computer science right now in my university, but I really can't do this. Even back then, I simply typed in what was on the magazine from word to word. I never even thought of modifying it or anything. It's more like a final draft on word processing. Somehow I made myself to believe that I could do programming with this.
- So it was more like playing with a assembled plastic model?
Yes! exactly! But I misunderstood and thought that I should be the person who makes the blueprint of plastic models.
- But it's a typical idea for a boy.
That's true.
- Programming was the first boy-like play that was introduced to Ryouhei-kun, who was always studying.
Yes. Maybe that's why I like collecting stuff even now. I love collecting figures, but it may be due to my parents forbidding me to collect those when I was small. I didn't even collect mini-cars even tough my younger brother was trapped by it.
- I think it was the high-time for mini-cars?
Yes. To be honest, I was jealous of my brother going out with his friends to play with them, but I kept an air like, "it's a play for children".
- Is this due to your sense that you were an unique child, that you build up during classics time?
Exactly. I thought I was special. But when I was in grade school, I would take care of others and go talk to kids who were sitting alone. I think I was reading Freud's psychology analysis books.
- A gradeschooler reading Freud?
I was a precoscious child. I would read "Heike monogatari" and "Genji monogatari" at my grandmother's house (japanese old literatures), and memorize everyone's name.
- A normal child memorizes all the names of the monsters in Ultra-man (hero show). lol
I wasn't like that.
- Did you enter a music club in college?
Yes. One of it was the Euro rock club which coveLed bands like Led Zepperin and Smashing Pumpkins, and the other was a general music club, where I met Takehito-kun. I liked visual-kei at that time, but I wanted to do UK rock more.
- When was the first time you formed a visual-kei band?
Sophomore year. In our university, we devide students between sophomore and junior year. Freshman and sophomores use the same campus, and then we devide into our specialized maajors. At that time, I pondeLed of what I should do. I obviously wasn't apt to do programming. During labs, I couldn't do anything while the others were quite skilled. So I decided to go back to my SHAZNA-shock, and persuaded Takehito-kun to form our band, Hinawana. At first, it was more of a leisure thing for both of us. We were university students after all, so I was probably imagining a small live house with ten or so fans. But once we began Hinawana, it turned out to be much larger thn expected. I felt this on my December live, when we distributed a demo tape, and managed to attract a lot of fans. It was then when I thought to make a living through this band.
- You were quite optimistic? lol
Too optimistic. lol Hinawana only did 25 lives during the one year it was active, but we were able to do our final live as an one-man at Takada no baba AREA. This convinced me to plan more for ayabie. I was thinking things like having Speed Disk release our CD, and assembling an awesome member.
- I'm actually relieved to here that you were too optimistic. I didn't know Ryouhei-ku had such phases.
I do. I pretend to be cool and observant, but I think both my dirty parts and awesome parts stick out more than those of others.
- It seems like you are quite an analyst/researcher too...
I think so. I'm a nerd..
- But you also know the dynamic element of rock.
That's the strange part. If you are a nerd, you usually are nothing more than a nerd, but due to my parents' influence, music had became a part of me. Environment is really a key. Even in university, there are so many different people. There are ones who aspire to make a company from zero, on the other hand there is a guy who did a major discovery in quantum computer, who is promissed a good employment and wants to continue his research there. These people all have their own planned history, like "I'll do this and this until i'm XXX yr old!". Having these types of friens is a good influence.
- You equated researchers and nerds earlier, but for example, Nakamura Shuuji-san who invented the blue-color light-emitting diode probably felt dynamic at the moment he invented it.
Yes. I think people feel an awesome orgasm at those moments. I don't want to separate those. I don't believe in theories where people who do music and rock are cool. There are those who are researchers, but still are rock and cool. Not even that rock people are cool. Fathers are cool, Buddhist priests are cool, boxers are cool. Cool people are cool, no matter wht they do. It's just a difference in where they seek cool-ness, and I seek it in visual rock. It's sad tht there are many who don't understand this, so I hope to correct it. Everyone has their own cool moments. Even those people who spend teir time in front of computers all day, with glasses, and are called nerds can be cool too. I want to ask what is superior to te moment when someone invents something, locked inside a research lab for 1 month, 3 years, 10 years. On the other hand, I want those who prefer to enjoy "now" to enjoy it as much as possible and listen to ayabie's music. There is a diversity among our fans. There are people who come to our lives just for fun, then there's the others who seek support from our music during their rough times. It makes me think that we need to continue on with a firm sense that we are making our living with music.. This is what I think, is professional awareness.
Rock and Read vol.7
Interview with Ryouhei
"Visual-kei, a genre of art"
While being an elite in an engineering department, a complex due to his neutral appearance had been a reason for complex. This being resolved by the appearance of SHAZNA, his genius and charm fully bloom under the new concept of "visual-kei = a genre of art". Feature of Ryouhei's visual-kei-cult-talk!
- First of all, please tell me your birth date and family makeup.
I was born in March 27, 1983. My family constitutes of my father, mother, and younger brother. Though my brother is also a college student and we all live separately as of now.
- Where were you born?
In Nagano. My grandmotehr's house is in Nagano, so it's like my mother returned to her home to give birth to me. then we quickly moved to Shiga, then to Kanagawa, and I spent my childhood in Kanagawa, then moved to northern Kyushu when I was in 6th grade.
- So you moved around a lot.
Yes. My parents had a lot of transfers.
- Have you heard about your childhood from your family?
I hear a lot about my pre-school age. I seemed to have been a quite playful high-tention child, and you know how we all sit down and take a picture on the day of our entrance into pre-school?
- group photo?
Yes. During that time, I was the only one who could not keep still, and I would put up my arms and legs, and make a fuss about my position even though I got a very good one next to the director, delaying the photoshoot for an hour. I wasn't allowed to enter pre-school for one week..lol
- Were you grounded?
Yes. My first grounded experience of life is around 3 or 4 years old..lol So when I see videos from my childhood, I feel embarassed. I talk fast even now, but I rant even more faster towards the video my parents are carrying. I was a really restless child.
- It must have been quite an effort for your parents.
I think so. My parents wanted me to be able in a lot of thing, so they put me into a lot of different classes, and thanks to it I gained a little composure? If it wasn't for all those classes, I might have grown up like an wild boy. I was living in an apartment, and there were two or three other same-age friends, and we would run around the apartment playing ninja-games all te time. You know the plastic swords. We would slash at each other with those things and splash water with water-guns.
- Is this during your stay in Shiga?
No, I was only in Shiga when I was 1 to 2 years old, and from 3yrs old I moved to Kanagawa's Chigasaki. It won't be an exaggeration if I say my first phase of personality was formed there.
- What are your parents like?
My father is the typical serious person. I always say this everywhere, but the person I consistantly want to surpass is my father. When I enteLed college, I had a talk with my father and fealt this feeling the strongest. He told me things like, "I'm satisfied if you can grow up without being a pain to other people, do whatever suits you, and build a living with it". When I heard this, thought "impossible". What I thought was impossible is to surpass my father. I thought I will be running after my father's shadows until I die.
- How did your father treat you?
He was truely a person of character. I have never been it, but I was scolded a lot. He made clear the things one could do and one should not do, and I think this was correct. Same goes for my mother, but I really appreciate them both. They treated me in such a way I wish to mimic when I become a father in the future.
- So they were not the laissez-fair type?
No. My mother was the typical education-minded mother. She made me do everything from Kumon (Jpns learning center thing aimed for preschooler to grade school students), swimming classes, pianno, and violin.
- At the same time?
Everything at once. So I was really busy during grade school. Mondays and Thursdays were swimming days, Fridays were athletic, Tuesday piano and violin, and wednesday I had a little time to relax.
- Did you go on your own will?
Not really. Piano and violin were painful. I learnt to hate them at one point and stopped violin when I was in 2nd grade, but I continued piano until 3rd year in middle school. I actually appreciate learning it now. Thanks to it I have a sense of music, and it really helps me composing.. since I compose around 90% of ayabie's songs. Honestly, I didn't like going to Kumon either and I hated studying, but now I see how all those studying is helping me.
- What did you want to be when you grow up at that time?
A lawyer. Lawyer or Doctor.
- ...huh?
I know I sound arrogant. lol
- Not arrogant... but usually pre-schoolers don't think that way.lol (yes they do..lol if they are expected to enter good universities, the lawyer/doctor idea is harped on from the moment you are born...lol)
I speak non-stop and rater clearly, so my grandmoter always told me to become a doctor or announcer. Her family line is originally coloLed with doctors.. their last name is Asada. Do you know Asada ame? (well-known throat-candy.... wow I never knew he was related to this xD)
- Yes.
It's that Asada. My grandmother and grandfather were both headmasters, so probably they wanted me to go into med school. When I finished highschool, i had two choices. One was to enter engineering, as I did, but the other was to go into med school since I could have gone into it with the same grades. I enteLed college through recommendation-based examination. (recommendation-based people can pretty much get into wherever depending on their highschool grades, rather than the actual entrance examination) I had a hard time deciding between Keio Uni. engineering department and St.Marianne med school (rather than being pre-med during undergrad and entering med-school for grad, we have specialized med-schools for undergrads). My grandmother wanted me to go to the latter to continue the Asada family line, but at that time, I really liked computers and I wanted to do something with it. From highschool, I wanted to get a job related to computers, so I forced my way into engineering department.
- I see. Going back to our order, you first enteLed grade school...
Yes, I was the same in grade school. I was a noisy child, that my mother was probably worried about what would happen to me. My change probably came when I moved to northern Kyushuu when I was in 6th grade.
- Wasn't it hard to make friends when moving to a different school at 6th grade?
6th grade doesn't round even. You know how in grade school, we stay in the same class for 1st&2nd, 3rd&4th, and 5th&6th? So I was the only newface. It was an year with a lot of transfers, and there were one boy and two girls trasnfer students who enteLed into te class at the same time I came in. (...is it me, or did he just contradict his previous sentence...?) The other boy was quite wild, like myself when I was small. He mixed in with the others quickly, but it wasn't that easy for me. Maybe the other kids had somethng against my standard speaking style (Kyushuu has a dilect depending on the location).
- The other three were from Kyushuu?
Yes. I was the only one from the Kantou area (Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, etc district), so we had different styles. I couldn't catch on to it at first. And there are the "bad boys" appearing from 6th to 1st year middle school, whom I couln't keep peace with. Middle school was relatively a normal school, but middle schoolers can get rough. So my mother suggested me going to a prep-school that ranked first in northern Kyushu, and I wanted to get into that highshool so I began going to institutes. From then on, I was the typical study-nerd. I even felt my change of character myself. But I was the most rough at that period. I couldn't be myself at school, and simply studied my ass off every day. I did have friends in middle school, but they were all like me, and it was more like a study-group. I was really restless at home. While I kept quiet at school, I would snap at my parents and go against my fater.
- Anything like a typical domestic violence?
I did. I threw things at my mother.
- Did you ever actually hit her?
I did one time. I punched my mother with my fist, and made her bleed internally. I was horrified with what I did, and I thought I must be the worst human.
- Seems like you were at quite a dangerous level.
I think so. I didn't bring out any weapons, but during 3rd year was the hardest. Even now, I think I was on the verge of going insane.. It's really a story I can tell because it's in the past. I have never talked about this anywhere else.
- Weren't there anything that healed you?
Nothing. Well, the single hope was my parents, now that I think about it. My family kept supporting me at my side, but I didn't realise it at that time and thought they were enemies. Recollecting now, I can't understand why I was so ignorant of their support.
- Did you have anything that you could do to release stress?
Maybe games? But I didn't have any proper activities that I liked to do. I would compile all my stress within me and explode them at my parents.
- Usually people join gangs when they are like that.
It's probably due to my institute that I didn't go that way. My friends were all institute students so I wouldn't become a member of the gang. They probably had trouble at home, but I was really jealous of them since they seemed to be talented in academics and life. I was so glad when I enteLed highschool. My grandmoter bought me a synthesizer upon my entrance, and I still use it at home.
- What type of music did you listen to at that time?
Classics
- Right, you played piano and violin.
Exactly. I was listening to classics even at home, so i didn't know much about popular songs. It was when I enteLed highschool, when I was shocked at rock.
- Were you not allowed to listen to rock?
Not really. My parents didn't introduce it to me, but I didn't have interest either. I didn't see music shows, and didn't talk about those things with my friends.
- What was the incident that brought the boy-Ryouhei to a guitar?
When I was in 2nd year high school, Nakamura-kun, who lived in the same apartment as bought an electric base. That was the trigger. I was jealous, and wanted to do it too. If he plays the base, I thought I should play the guitar, and my father had an accoustic guitar so I tried it. I couldn't play it at all, but I was told that I could probably play an electric one, so I bougt an electric guitar. Being introduced to rock was really a large event in my life.
- What did you first copy?
That friend liked melo-core, so he copied bands like rancid and HI-STANDARD. As for me... oh, I first bought a CD when I was in 2nd year middle school. This has nothing to do with rock, but it was SHAZNA's "Sumire September Love".
- SHAZNA wasn't rock to Ryouhei kun?
Rather than the music, the appearance shocked me. I saw SHAZNA on TV. My appearance is rather neutral, so maybe I have been admiring people who had neutral appearance, but I was shocked that someone can be a hero even with that. Usually people would be like, cool! to manly guys, but IZAM-san was able to become a hero, and be attractive to girls eventhough he is feminine. I wanted to be like him too. That was my introduction to visual rock, but honestly I was only buying SHAZNA CDs and nothing else.
- Did you really only buy SHAZNA's CD as for visual bands?
I did listen to to the "four visual kings" like Malice Mizer and Lacryma Christi, but I only bought SHAZNA. I was over-confident of my skills, and was listening to classics, so I was like, "Is this it for rock? Even I can compose this". This was 15 years old, when I composed "Tsuki koi". I had been composing songs on the piano, but this was the first music with songs.
- Were you planning to make a living through piano?
Not at all. There were so many talented people around me, so there was no way I could stand out.
- Piano didn't comfort you during your rough years?
No. It was painful during those times. Now, it's a comfort. I really appreaciate my mother, though she still says things like, "You told me you really didn't want to play at that time!".
- She probably thought that she shouldn't let you give up.
Probably. I think her decision was right.
- Maybe it was different for Ryouhei-kun, but maybe she thought that letting you quit would have taken away something that you could release stress.
Exactly. As Kato-san (interviewer) says, I thought I didn't like piano at all at that time, but now that I think about it, piano and violin were probably effective in releasing my stress. If I have quit, I probably would have nothing left.
- So she kept faith in you and looked over you.
Yes. That's also why I want to surpass my parents.
- When you were shocked by SHAZNA, do you mean that your character resonated with theirs?
Yes. I think I had an idea of what my personality was like.
- Did your neutral character become a complex?
It was a complex until I saw SHAZNA, but then it was resolved. I really want to say this to the world, but I believe there are a lot of people who began visual-kei music aspiring to be like SHAZNA.
- I think so too, though no one says it out loud.
Yes. They just don't say it. Not only about my feminin looks, but I really love SHAZNA, so I can't stand people who talk ill about them. If they can give impact to that many people, repeatedly release singles that sold 1,000,000 copies, they are truely a great band. Fuck those people who says SHAZNA corrupted visual-kei. They definately did not corrupt it, but spread it. Even if it's a transient band, it was able to make a boom. It's history.
- But you didn't think to form a band when you first saw SHAZNA?
No. I'm really ashamed to say this, but at that time, I thought that although SHAZNA beats me in looks, I was superior in music. I didn't know how difficult it was to form a visual-kei band and compose catchy music until I actually did it. In one sense, I enteLed visual rock in a very formal manner. I didn't know X (X Japan) or Luna Sea until quite late. When I saw X on Kouhaku utagassen (12/31 music competition) on the year I saw SHAZNA, I saw that HIDE-san's hair was pink, and told my younger broter that he was a wrip-off of IZAM.. (bitter laugh) I didn't know anything to that level. I told this story to Takehito-kun and Intetsu-kun, and they got extremely angry since they enteLed visual rock from X. For me, HIDE-san and IZAM-san are both at te same level.
- Returning to guitar, did you quickly get into it once you bought it?
I had a maniac friend. He listened to bands like Led Zepperin and Oasis, so I became a fan of Led Zepperin too. Ayabie has a song, "Metamor last page", but this title is taken from Zepperin's "Achilles last stand", an another of our song, "Tsuepper shi, taberu"'s "tsueppe" is also taken from Led Zepperin (Written in Japanese, "Zepperin" is "Tsuepperin". "Tsueppe-shi, taberu" is thus, "Mr.Zeppe, eats").
- I never knew that!
Until then, music was not a fun thing for me. I had a sense that I was made to do it. But rock was different. Classics value harmony, and the vertical line-up of music notes, but as for rock, it's more of a horizontal harmony. If there are 5 members, all of us must have the same breth. This is important also in classics if you talk about orchestra, but if it's piano, you are free to adjust your speed. You can't do that in rock. Classics is the change in one motif, and that's what makes it beautiful, but in Rock, you repeat the same motif. I learnt that this was the key in rock.
- When you got that sense, did you decide to make a living with your guitar?
No. While I was in highshool, it was nothing more than a leisure. I was planning to become a programmer once graduating college.
- When were you introduced to a computer?
When I was in middle school, my father brought an ancient PC9801. When I did some basics on it, it was fun. I don't know if it still exists now, but there was a magazine called, "Basicis Magazine" that listed a lot of programs. It was fun.
- Was computer a comfort for you?
Oh, yes! Wow I'm being deeply analyzed today! lol
- I think it was a time of PC telecommunication rather than internet?
That's true, but I didn't do PC telecom.
- What did you do with computers?
Programming. Though, I don't know why I didn't realize it, but my programming sense is zero. I'm doing programming in computer science right now in my university, but I really can't do this. Even back then, I simply typed in what was on the magazine from word to word. I never even thought of modifying it or anything. It's more like a final draft on word processing. Somehow I made myself to believe that I could do programming with this.
- So it was more like playing with a assembled plastic model?
Yes! exactly! But I misunderstood and thought that I should be the person who makes the blueprint of plastic models.
- But it's a typical idea for a boy.
That's true.
- Programming was the first boy-like play that was introduced to Ryouhei-kun, who was always studying.
Yes. Maybe that's why I like collecting stuff even now. I love collecting figures, but it may be due to my parents forbidding me to collect those when I was small. I didn't even collect mini-cars even tough my younger brother was trapped by it.
- I think it was the high-time for mini-cars?
Yes. To be honest, I was jealous of my brother going out with his friends to play with them, but I kept an air like, "it's a play for children".
- Is this due to your sense that you were an unique child, that you build up during classics time?
Exactly. I thought I was special. But when I was in grade school, I would take care of others and go talk to kids who were sitting alone. I think I was reading Freud's psychology analysis books.
- A gradeschooler reading Freud?
I was a precoscious child. I would read "Heike monogatari" and "Genji monogatari" at my grandmother's house (japanese old literatures), and memorize everyone's name.
- A normal child memorizes all the names of the monsters in Ultra-man (hero show). lol
I wasn't like that.
- Did you enter a music club in college?
Yes. One of it was the Euro rock club which coveLed bands like Led Zepperin and Smashing Pumpkins, and the other was a general music club, where I met Takehito-kun. I liked visual-kei at that time, but I wanted to do UK rock more.
- When was the first time you formed a visual-kei band?
Sophomore year. In our university, we devide students between sophomore and junior year. Freshman and sophomores use the same campus, and then we devide into our specialized maajors. At that time, I pondeLed of what I should do. I obviously wasn't apt to do programming. During labs, I couldn't do anything while the others were quite skilled. So I decided to go back to my SHAZNA-shock, and persuaded Takehito-kun to form our band, Hinawana. At first, it was more of a leisure thing for both of us. We were university students after all, so I was probably imagining a small live house with ten or so fans. But once we began Hinawana, it turned out to be much larger thn expected. I felt this on my December live, when we distributed a demo tape, and managed to attract a lot of fans. It was then when I thought to make a living through this band.
- You were quite optimistic? lol
Too optimistic. lol Hinawana only did 25 lives during the one year it was active, but we were able to do our final live as an one-man at Takada no baba AREA. This convinced me to plan more for ayabie. I was thinking things like having Speed Disk release our CD, and assembling an awesome member.
- I'm actually relieved to here that you were too optimistic. I didn't know Ryouhei-ku had such phases.
I do. I pretend to be cool and observant, but I think both my dirty parts and awesome parts stick out more than those of others.
- It seems like you are quite an analyst/researcher too...
I think so. I'm a nerd..
- But you also know the dynamic element of rock.
That's the strange part. If you are a nerd, you usually are nothing more than a nerd, but due to my parents' influence, music had became a part of me. Environment is really a key. Even in university, there are so many different people. There are ones who aspire to make a company from zero, on the other hand there is a guy who did a major discovery in quantum computer, who is promissed a good employment and wants to continue his research there. These people all have their own planned history, like "I'll do this and this until i'm XXX yr old!". Having these types of friens is a good influence.
- You equated researchers and nerds earlier, but for example, Nakamura Shuuji-san who invented the blue-color light-emitting diode probably felt dynamic at the moment he invented it.
Yes. I think people feel an awesome orgasm at those moments. I don't want to separate those. I don't believe in theories where people who do music and rock are cool. There are those who are researchers, but still are rock and cool. Not even that rock people are cool. Fathers are cool, Buddhist priests are cool, boxers are cool. Cool people are cool, no matter wht they do. It's just a difference in where they seek cool-ness, and I seek it in visual rock. It's sad tht there are many who don't understand this, so I hope to correct it. Everyone has their own cool moments. Even those people who spend teir time in front of computers all day, with glasses, and are called nerds can be cool too. I want to ask what is superior to te moment when someone invents something, locked inside a research lab for 1 month, 3 years, 10 years. On the other hand, I want those who prefer to enjoy "now" to enjoy it as much as possible and listen to ayabie's music. There is a diversity among our fans. There are people who come to our lives just for fun, then there's the others who seek support from our music during their rough times. It makes me think that we need to continue on with a firm sense that we are making our living with music.. This is what I think, is professional awareness.
