Fool's Mate no. 211
personal interview with KAMIJO
May 1999
Send fan mail and thanks to LanphEsInc@aol.com for graciously translating this.
---By the time this issue is out, the Shibuya Concert at 3/26 is over, but tell us about the "Romance Revolution" you started that day.
KAMIJO: Right now (Beginning of March), we do not know the results of the revolution, but it used the whole city of Shibuya, and was a very large event, so it would end up like, "I was here so I couldn't see that place".
---So it was that large.
(Laugh) So, I don't think everyone would be able to know everything. But, wherever this event took place, the key to success of the "Romance Revolution" is how the people going through the city, and saw this can find his/her destiny person. I think we can show something like an essential "Spirit of Revolution" perfectly at the Shibuya concert. And at Shibuya, the reincarnated Lareine is going to make the people listen to their single that is going to be released in 5/26, which will be their first in this world, and by doing this, we think the result of the "Romance Revolution" will appear for the first time.
---How did the Shibuya concert called "Spirit of Revolution" turn out to be like?
It was like a movie and a rock band's Live (live concert) linked together.
---You already did Lives using images (or movies), so what are the differences in those and the Shibuya concert?
For the images (or movies), we made them more preferable to the fans. But this time, we used the theme of previous life we had in our mind and embodied it. People don't know what kind of previous lives other people had. But by showing the previous life as the present life, that story isn't a previous life, but it can be taken as the present life. In a love story that exceeds time, I think it's never seen before, and you can take in the ideas in many different forms.
---Making a form for something you don't know is very hard.
Yes, I agree. But in the time Lareine and the fans made one love story together, we always ended by making a "Promise to meet". The idea of "Previous life" is a theme that came from that flow, and naturally appeared. Also I've been using the word "Destiny" very often when I was young (laugh).
---That's certain.
At the Shibuya concert, the Heroine from the present life reads a letter from the Heroine of the previous life, and learns the feeling of herself in the past life. She doesn't know the name or face of the companion, but she learns there is a destiny person out there, and by learning about the destiny in the present life, the story of 1999 begins.
---So what happens there if the Heroine doesn't learn about the destiny?
I think destiny is left in the form of a letter from your past life in people's heart, and I am sure it is there. To "learn (or know) your destiny" is the ability of you opening that letter. I think the people at the Shibuya concert can open that letter there, but even for those people who couldn't, I believe a "blue bird" will bring that letter to them by 5/26.
---So Lareine will continue to give the opportunity (or chance) to open the Letter of Destiny?
Giving isn't accurate, at that time, or until now, I think the people who felt the same way as any part of Lareine, that person will naturally realize their destiny. But I think the opportunity (or chance) is the existence of Lareine itself (laugh).
---You don't do anything special?
You listen to favorite bands and music because you feel something right? I think music as one combination (or harmony), but even if someone lived in the same environment, a slight change in something like blood type, I think that person will listen to and create music that is different. So the people who feel the same way about our songs, I think that person had some sort of connection in the past with us, and has a destiny with us.
---Before you reincarnated, in other words up to now, what do you think Lareine was like?
Lareine's past life, I think we left our feelings at that time before the Shibuya concert. Whatever note we let out, and wherever we did our Live (live concert), the "Emotions we want to express" in the songs were the result. On the other hand, by doing Lives (live concert) to make people listen to our music, and make notes, Lareine itself can also realize their feelings (emotions) from their past life, and that is when we can start over from the beginning.
---So after you reincarnate...?
In the past life we become the "blue bird" we talked about previously, and get on the wind of SME Record, and descend to the year 1999 going after the Heroine.
---So the single we talked about in the beginning of the interview that is going to be released 5/26 will become the debut single.
By using the title "Fiancailles", it will become the first voice of the reincarnated Lareine. "Fiancailles" means "Engagement" in French. We put a meaning, 'a engagement with all of our fans'.
---So that would be a perfect word for Lareine who expressed a "Major debut" as a "Engagement with the fans" (laugh).
Yes (laugh).
---I think the reincarnated first voice is very important.
In the song we put a meaning, after reincarnating, even though there are people we never met, or lose sight of people who supported us previously, if we bloom like a large rainbow with 7 colors, those people can easily find us. In this song, you can see very clearly the expression of Indies (amateur)/Major = Past life/Present life, and it's in a poem. Anyway the important factor is the largeness, and the feeling you can see the horizon is #1 from our previous works (laugh). Even the person who sings this can feel relaxed. Even though you know the existence of your destiny person and have not met him/her, there is sadness with hope that you can meet that person.
---So the depiction of "sadness" is different from the previous Lareine.
I think it's very different. The term "Reincarnation" can be seen here very clearly, well, in a Lareine way it is (laugh). The title and the word "Engagement" doesn't directly tie in with the lyrics, but it was the one we saw a lot of hope in it, so we used it as the title. With that, we recorded and included the song "Je t'aime", which means "I love you" in French, as a coupling.
---That's the song you performed September last year at the "Seinenkan".
Yes. To tell the truth, we performed that song at the January tour, and it is a very 'Lareine-ish' song. It's a little hard, and the lyrics "Doresu ni karamaru sono bara no toge (That Rose's thorn attached to the dress)" come out. This too is a way of Lareine to express love (laugh).
---How are you going to change visually?
MACHI will have the spirit of love, MAYU will have the spirit of sadness, EMIRU will have the spirit to put people together, and I will express a "person" with these 3 spirits, and we will maintain the large complex of Lareine from the past life, and be romantically elegant, so everything can be expressed by the word "Romantic". From the flow right now, it's like an eye popper (laugh).
---(Laugh) I hear that a video comes with the single, so is the purpose of the video to show that form?
About the "Romance Revolution", we talked about how difficult one person can see everything at the beginning of the interview, so we made this as one movie and made it in a form as a "Documentary film", and on that video will show the Lareine that has just been reincarnated, and show a rowdy scene in the city. This shows the reactions of the "Romance Revolution" very strongly. The revolution turned out more than we expected, and since we are going to be reincarnated in a time period with movies; we wanted to leave something from that one moment. We want the people who saw it to know what kind of person their destiny person are. A video to be at a store is the very first time since Lareine became a band. The video is a part needed to explain the single, so want the fan to expect the video with the single too. We especially want the people who promised to meet again to buy and look at the song and document film named "Fiancailles".
---You guys are doing business fine (laugh). According to Lareine, the Major Debut is like "satisfying", and by expressing it as "reincarnation", there is going to be a lot of expectations, so what do you want to show in the new world?
Well, our movements were very long (laugh). Well from the point of view of Storyteller KAMIJO, the scripts to the love stories we are going to use are done to a certain point. So if you want to have a really romantic feeling, you should jump into my chests (laugh).
---Can't it be another member (laugh)?
Well, EMIRU's role is to put the fans and me together, and MAYU plays the guitar when I am sad, and when I am sad, MACHI's role is to enlighten me with a floor tame. Anyway, by making them touch our Lives (live concert) or CDs, it's like invading the time. Or it's like a show window called "Lareine" decorated in the year 1999. So, without changing our spirits, we think we can draw a love story with the fleur (flowers [in this case, his fans]) we made a promise to meet again. We already have a date course planned with those destiny people (laugh).