KAMIJO Interview
January 2000
please send thanks and fanmail to Tyran Grillo for the translation.
and, learn about Tyran's own music (as Murasaki) at his official site
Monochrome no Kokoro
------Your new single, 'Tokyo in Winter', seems to carry with it the indications of a compositional and poetic continuation, don't you think?
"This song called 'Tokyo in Winter' is a prologue single for our new album, a gateway into the album's tale. I have imagined that, when this album is staged, we will be performers in a drama that is oblivious to time. We will explore what kind of feelings by which these characters live their lives, what kind of romantic love they experience; we will not sing of the burdens with which we are faced behind the stage. Lareine's musical purity embraces human nature within lyrical expression, so I thought, 'Why not make a single which can act as a premonition towards the album?'"
------So do you, as members of Lareine, feel that it is okay to have surrendered yourselves, as a group, to the stage?
"Of course, because we are still ourselves. Even now, the things that we have left in the past are still constantly interchanging with our Lareine counterparts, and we have come to express that interconnection in our music, and for this reason, we always embody ourselves through this process, as if to emphasize and explore who we are, and to not hide behind masks. However, I have always desired to understand who we are on stage. For example, a queen is much like the mother of a land, right? If she leaves her throne, she appears before the people, and must give a majestic farewell dinner. However, that queen experiences love. We stand upon that aspect, like that queen's unpainted face, and the band that we call 'Lareine', which carries the meaning of 'queen' in its title, has painted that expressionless face with its music."
------As you have said, the flow of Lareine's tale is a naturally followed composition.
"That's true. This single, alone, is the story of a love triangle, but in the album, it becomes the tale of four people engaged in illicit relations."
------I have often thought of your creations as being an ultra-realistic response to your own hopes...
"Yes, we do have that feeling within us, and we consciously try to expose it. Prior to this album, depending on which music one listened to, one could listen to our albums as a 'sentimental love romance of a queen's magnitude'. Within myself, that which is called 'Lareine' (queen) has become a wonderfully significant reason for my existence. Those manifestations, I think, show my personal feelings in the form of the 'Tokyo in Winter' single and through them, I can feel the sheer magnitude of that painted sentimental love romance."
------I feel that the existence of queens is far away, but I also feel that one artist, in his/her personal life, can understand that meaning and seize it. S/he is called an artist, but s/he is also a human being, because even s/he experiences romantic love, and has imperfections. However, I think that the artist does not always want the fans to show him/her those same aspects.
"Hmmm, that's quite true. We have come to personally embody that concept by continually speaking of it. We don't just settle on only one thing and then enact it. However, in the end, since we are performing, surely an alternate self begins to exist in each of us. Therefore, I feel that I must relate that self to others. Because it is private, it is okay for an artist to encompass everything. However, those aspects that are not private also exist in Lareine, and I think it is fine to openly relate those as well... Because I am so extremely clumsy and unskillful, I am the type of person who creates a situation of romantic love in order to cover up my personal gags. (Laughs) I think that is the kind of self I portray. In that state, 'Tokyo in Winter' paints over my own expressionless face. Though, I would not call this a substantial indication. (Laughs) However, at such a time I think, 'If this is really who I am, then what can I do?'"
------Of the many selves that you possess in Lareine, which do you feel is the most real figure beyond all others?
"That is also included in Lareine... Only lately have instrumental ensembles raged greatly. In terms of sound, my ideal is Paul Mauriat, whom I feel has explored every possible feeling in 'rock taste'. I think it is beautiful, but others have said, 'It's pretty dorky'. However, that people have said that has recently made me happy. (Laughs) I think that Lareine is turning into this kind of wonderful ideal, but I feel that our sounds do not come only from us, and this also makes me happy. I think that, if one comes to experience this composition live, one will understand its continuation, and also where it is going." (NIYARI**)
------The guitar solo seems to convey the fragmentation of the hero's distressed mental state.
"I think it's the strongest solo MAYU has ever played. To me, it feels like pure white snow dyed completely in crimson." (Laughs)
------Are the emotions of this hero something that you have personally experienced?
"Yes, but not an experience, an embodiment, I think. (Laughs) ....Within the album, the hero and the heroine meet and fall in love, then the hero confesses to his lover. 'Tokyo in Winter' takes place just before that confession....From here, I wanted the point of the album to be enjoyment. Within the album, only my companion and me exist, and the intentions of our previous lives appear on stage. In fact, I wanted to create another self within this CD, one that was borne and changed. Because I inherited these feelings from a previous existence, for that I wanted to create and offer a human being with these personal, inherited emotions. However, in order to be able to convey that, I had to expose the things that described me most purely, and only then would I begin to see who I really was. Recently, I have had many chances to see my actual self in the mirror....that's when I cut my hair." (Laughs)
------That being said, how could you cut your hair so suddenly?
"Before, my hair style had the theme of 'destined to always look like spirals'. In our indies days, we exhibited eternal love. At the same time that we were searching for eternity, we found the end of eternity. We then realized that what we had been displaying was not infinite. My eternal love flourished in both affirmation and denial. I decided to cut my hair in order to extract and confront the meaning within Fate's spiral."
------Though you may believe in Fate, do you ever feel a need to escape from its cyclic repetition?
"In the album's climax, there is a scene where the hero is faced with a choice. In response to this, I am sticking to this hairstyle. In the climax of our indies days, there were people who knew the story of my previous life, but it could have been too sad. However, I think that I can call upon the consequences of a supremely joyful extremity." (Laughs)
------In Lareine, you have your performer selves, and your private selves. Both exist simultaneously, and they approach and separate from each other. I think that in 'Tokyo in Winter', they are in the midst of approaching each other within an extremity. The performer self, in my opinion, desires to live only to send out a personal message...
"Actually, I would say it's the reverse. Saying things like 'I want to do only one thing' or 'I want to make this kind of album' are not the words of my performer self, they are my personal side. My performer self lives in the emotions of my personal self, and is exposed gently in that way. I am probably turned around in that sense."
------That's mysterious, isn't it? As an individual, what kind of life do you want to send, and what kind of life do you ask for?
"If I became a human being into whose soul a CD flowed, I would find it to be good, even if it were the end. If I express what I want to do in life, and I can convey to people Lareine's painted romance and let them know of my life, then I think I can accomplish good things. I cannot decide these things alone."
------So you are saying that you have come to live in order to convey something from yourself?
"After all, it is myself all along. I have found a way of living in Lareine, a shape that is etched into this album. I ponder these kinds of splendid things and offer them to those who will listen, and if those who come to hear it can find their own romance, then that is the most pleasant thing of all."
------Lately, your photos have been images of ascending to a stage, but they have been rather luxurious images.
"Those are the things of Lareine. If we embody ourselves, then we face the problem of trying to understand who the author is of this romance that we have created, because we have created an author that exists with no name. Behind the queen's mask exists the stage upon which Lareine flows in time, foreshadowing its own inherent meaning. I wonder, then, if the tears behind that queen's mask aren't subliminally the sentimental love romance that is expressed in our album, for the album is the next chapter, in contrast to the meaning in 'Tokyo in Winter'."
------Please tell us a little about the so-called 'Easter' event on December 26th...
"Actually, it has everything that our fans have expressed a desire to see. For that purpose, I thought that we would do something different than usual. The theme of 'Tokyo in Winter' is confession. We have gradually come to realize our visions together with our fans, because love letters are important...."
------Ah, aren't you to going to confess something to us?!
"I don't know whether I can do that or not. (Laughs) More than anything, I can't announce the full story about what kind of album we have created. The opening paragraph of the album is the English lyrics at the end of 'Tokyo in Winter'. Those are, of course, male feelings, but there are women's feelings as well. Please wait until the appointed day before you become conscious of the full story. Then everyone will know that music, and become connects simultaneously to it. [sings: 'ano ~ hi ~ to no~'] (Laughs) Again, in this album, Lareine will appear in a monumental event. Just enjoy....and listen to 'Tokyo in Winter' in preparation for the highest situation, and wait."
*Kind of hard to translate, but basically means a smirk, or slight smile...