INTERVIEW FROM FOOL'S MATE #212
(complete)
please send thanks and fanmail to LanphEsInc@aol.com for the translation
---First, let's hear your comments on your concert at Shibukou (Shibuya hall) at 3/26, which was your last concert as an Indies band.
KAMIJO: The making part, which is an important part of Lareine, came all at once right before the Live, and it was very tiring (laugh), but because of that, the Live went very well. So there were moments where we could feel love, open mindedly, towards the fans as a lover. Then I felt I totally conquered a stage called Shibukou (laugh). I enjoyed myself feeling "this is easy" (laugh).
EMIRU: I was supposed to give it my best at this concert, but I can't say I gave it my best from my heart, and I could have done better. I was depressed after the Live, and I thought I was in one room, which was my own world. But lately, a good rival like person appeared, and I don't know if that was a good stimulation, but now, there is a part of me that doesn't worry. I was happy that I found an exit like this. So, I decided to make my expression methods better, and at the same time, I decided to make something different than my rival. While reflecting on my actions, a new goal was made at this Live.
MAYU: I was predicting that at the announcement of our Major debut, I would be emotional, but when I was waiting at the back stage when the opening movie switched to the SE, I became emotional by myself. Right when we were about to go, I was emotional (laugh). I was surprised myself. After that, we played 2 old songs, which were a favorite of mine, and the fans that supported us were happy so it was very good.
MACHI: We think that a Lives (Live concert) true form is when the customer (or fan) and the people who are doing the Live are having fun, so we used this point a lot. Like an Indies last Live, and having fun with everyone, we think we made a good starting point to the next step.
---Did you have moments where you had flashbacks of your movements on the stage?
KAMIJO: No, but everyone else had one (laugh).
EMIRU: I had one.
---But KAMIJO, you had a scene when you had trouble speaking (laugh)?
KAMIJO: That's because the fans really looked like my lover. I felt the feelings of the fans and that may have come out through my expression.
---During the live, the images (or movies) that were ran time to time were very well made.
KAMIJO: We wanted to prove that Lareine is going to reincarnate and go directly to the time 1999. So it was necessary to make the first part of the story that connects with the final "Fiancailles" clear. With that, we made the movie with the theme "Letter from Lillie" with appreciation to the fan letters we received, and it turned out to be the Live (Live concert) structure it was.
---Also on that day, MAYU's keyboard playing was displayed too...
MAYU: It's not a keyboard. Say "Death Piano" (laugh)!
EVERYONE: (Laugh).
MAYU: When I was young, I learned the piano for about a year until I quit, but during the past half year, I've been playing with it with my own style. And lately, I started to learn the piano again, and I played it at the Shibuya Concert. The people around me said "You have guts" (laugh).
KAMIJO: During the time when the heroine and I act, it had a very important meaning by MAYU playing the sad theme, [Hakumei]'s piano version.
MAYU: I was very nervous, and it seems I was frozen up (laugh).
---Ok, so let's hear about the Major-debut song, Fiancailles, you played at the Shibuya Concert.
KAMIJO: It was a song that was a wish and promise to us, and it has a meaning to give our life to you all.
---When was this song made?
KAMIJO: The main melody was already made at the end of last year, and during tours, we just sang the song incomplete. The tempo is slower than the other songs, and with loops, I think we displayed the idea of Lareine being a "A flower that came down into the present". This doesn't mean the song is digital, but it's a "Present version Romantic" that Lareine displays.
---The rhythm is very simple because there is a loop.
MACHI: Yes. Since the rhythm is slow, I have to be very careful or it feels embarrassing since it feels like people are listening to the smallest details (laugh), and during the recording of the song, I used a lot of my nerves. Because there are loops and percussions in the back, the rhythm is interesting, and not just a simple beat.
---The bass is simple too.
EMIRU: When you hear it, it feels very slow, but as a phrase, it is very fast. When I checked myself playing at the Shibuya Concert, my hand was moving really fast (laugh). Also at the recording, I changed the way to play it. I wanted a low sound, so I made it so that the notes were near the head of the bass kind of like how a monkey would play with an instrument (laugh). That's why my fingers rubbed against a place I usually don't use, and I bled (laugh).
MAYU: At the beginning, this song's intro was different. But as a guitarist, I secretly thought "Is it alright if a major debut single's intro is not a guitar!?" (laugh). I thought hard, and struggled on how I can show myself. Than, the intro became a guitar. The 16-minute cutting (recording) was very fast as EMIRU said. During the recording, the phrase where you (shakes head) shake your head and play (laugh). At the "A" melody, MAYU's favorite phrase is in there, and that part is somewhere you might want to listen to.
---The vocals sound region is very wide.
KAMIJO: It goes down to 2 octaves. But it was very good that my best sound region came at the songs main part. We think the smoothness of the song is very Japanese like. Even though we were aware of the part like the lyrics, we think the quality of that has gone up.
---On the other hand, the coupling [Je t'aime] is a hard (rock) song, but the structure of the song isn't as different from the arranged version played at the Seinenkan (concert hall).
KAMIJO: We wanted to recreate the Live (Live concert). Usually, Live version songs only have different lengths, but anyway, we searched for the fragileness in coolness. Recently, the members have a strong insistence as a Rock band, but even if we play Rock music, our confidence that Lareine will be the same is displayed in this song. Because we write our own music and lyrics, the feelings of us four are strongly in there.
---How do you make songs?
KAMIJO: At the studio, we all made it by just playing around. MAYU made the B melody, I made the main part and EMIRU and MACHI made the rhythm, and the lyric "Je tambrasse" was MACHI's favorite phrase (laugh). When MAYU here made the B Melody, he said "Uwa~ (Wow), I made it too good!" (laugh).
---So he was drunk with himself (laugh).
KAMIJO: While everyone was drunk with themselves, (laugh), they got to let out their good parts so I felt that this is how a Band should be.
MACHI: For the drum's phrase, I let out the part that I absorbed when I started playing the drums in High school, and thought this would be cool. There, I added the part that has grown from me since than, and had fun recording. But to tell the truth, a song with a fast tempo like [Je t'aime], there is a part that I can play with instant reactions, so my Rock spirit and guts were required on [fiancailles] (laugh).
---There is also a Bass solo.
EMIRU: It was recorded with one shot. I decided to put in a tasteful part different from my usual arrange. First I slide, than at last, it becomes a chord, but you feel a chill in your spine at that part (laugh). I went straight without tricks. Up to now, a lot of people said that my work had a lot of tricks, and I think that too. That's why I think making a phrase from the unison of the drum and bass is Rock. The drums match this song and it feels good, and this is expressed in the song.
KAMIJO: This current occasion, I thought there was a part where the Bass can't be heard, so I asked an Engineer and found out that the drum and bass's sound match too much, making the sound of the bass cancel out (laugh). This kind of thing never happened before (laugh).
MACHI: Since EMIRU thought up of a cool bass solo, I thought of what I can do and decided to make a phrase copying the bass with the drum, so it turned out to be a unison.
MAYU: I broke my "shortest time recording" record in being Live (Live concert) like (laugh). In the solo, I got to play a solo that I personally think is #1 or #2 in Lareine's songs, and in the later half I show off with a sweep (To play a string in one direction with a down or up picking) (laugh).
KAMIJO: That word you just used, you put your life in it (laugh).
MAYU: (Laugh), so, I want guitar kids to listen to it too.
KAMIJO: We wanted people to realize the part that we came down to the present in this lyric by using the word "Tokai (city)" that has never been used before. In this song, we put in a feeling we want to present the word, "Je t'aime" to the flowers that blossom in the corners of a city, the people who haven't touched Lareine. I am very satisfied with the song's take, which is like a Live (Live concert) packaged.
---But, the way you sing is different.
KAMIJO: It is very different from the way I sing [Fiancailles]. There is a "me" like this. If you listen and compare [Fiancailles] and [Je t'aime], I think that it became two very interesting songs.
---With this single, you will be going to the Major, so what are your enthusiasms?
MACHI: I want as many people to listen, and I want to give excitement, and surprises, in a good meaning, to as many people.
MAYU: I've been making music with the theme of "present", and I think it's very fortunate for me to become active in the "present", so I would like to make good music from now on. I am also going to practice the piano (laugh).
EMIRU: Up to now I have felt a limit, but after the Shibuya Concert, that limit blew away, and I am very excited that I can see past that limit. There is going to be another tour in the summer, and my mind is tilting toward that, but I would like to be a person that won't lose against rivals, or all people, and I want to show that me to everyone.
KAMIJO: People who have supported Lareine previously, it will become a memory, and those who are going to know us, it is a unknown past life, so with fiancailles, a video called "Romance Revolution ~its whole aspect and truth~" will come with it, and in that video, it will contain the Lareine from the "Meguro Rokumeikan" time to the Lareine up to now. After listening to fiancailles, we want people to watch that video. Also, there is a message put in the last 60 seconds we want people who are in love to watch. That message was toward to the summer's tour, and "Nakano Sun Plaza (Concert hall) 2 days". To make a great drama that goes on for 2 days at the "Nakano Sun Plaza", we want people to listen to fiancailles. Anyway we exist in the same time period as everyone, and being displayed in a show window. And in a space called Live (Live Concert), we jump out of the show window, and make a love story with everyone. Anyway we think this is the beginning, so we want people to join this story. So people who want to experience a lo~ng love story instead of a short story, please touch the world of Lareine.