Rock & Read 0043 Kai Part 1

ROCK AND READ 0043

If we are able to create a path, it’s natural that we’re walking that path together with everyone, that’s why we don’t take breaks; not even once

It’s been 10 years since the Gazette has been formed and 9 since Kai-san has joined. At the time of you joining, would you ever have imagined that you were going to reach this point?

I’ve never really thought about that before. There were many things that passed me by as I accomplished them, and I just continued working through them one by one so I had no time to think ahead and before I even noticed I had come this far.

You ended up working with a stoic attitude. I think many things have happened during those 10 years but if you try to recall them, what would you say left the biggest impression on you?

It’s something I can laugh about now, but the band ended up in a few dangerous situations. Those are things that stay in your memory, right?

Eh? That’s unexpected, that something like that would also happen to the GazettE.

There were some situations like that! The reason was that two member had different opinions and when 2 opinions crash, none of us want to give in! Even when the situation has kind of calmed down again, those particular two still won’t give in. So first of all, they’ll have to calm down (lol) Then we would settle the matter peacefully, though both would hold onto their own opinion in the end. Most of the collisions among the band are like that. Also, if you look at them from an outside perspective you often notice that both their arguments are right, actually. But the distance of the conversation would remain and neither of them would say something like ‘Okay, I understand.” And that made a lot of situations turn sour many times.

What do you do when that happens?

Sometimes it helps to just wait until the discussion has calmed down but there were also times where that didn’t work. Then a third person has to propose something or search for an option both of them can understand. That’s how we’re able to get over those times and there won’t be any gloomy feelings left either. In the end that’s what everyone likes about being in a band. That’s the base, so it’ll be okay. If all of us lost our motivation, there wouldn’t be anything to pursue anymore, right? But the thought that we want to continue the band no matter what happens, that’s our roots, that’s why those kind of situations really are no catastrophes..

It also conveys that the member acknowledge and respect each other. If you can’t think like “I’m really angry, but the things you’re saying are right”, then you as a group won’t be able to proceed.

That’s right. And also, if our fundamental sense of values weren’t the same, that wouldn’t work either. That’s something our band is blessed with.

To collide with each other in a band is also proof for a healthy relationship, right? It is troublesome, and makes people stop facing each other.

For the GazettE that’s not the case, we address problems. The atmosphere in the band is really great so everyone voices their opinion properly. On the other hand, we won’t give in (lol). I for that matter am someone who does give (lol)

It must be important for a band, I think, to have someone like Kai-san who’s able to maintain the balance.

I wonder. I wouldn’t know (lol). For me, if opinions really differ, the things the other person is saying will usually always be 1 or 2 steps ahead of me. That’s why I at least understand what they want to say, even though I wouldn’t give in if I thought that we should go more into this or that direction. But usually I’m able to understand what they want to say. Therefore I don’t know if you can call it giving in or rather considering the other person’s opinion.

That’s the kind of posture you see in a leader, isn’t it? You’re not that kind of leader who’d show a strict hand but create a harmonic band instead.

That’s something I hear a lot from the people around me. I wouldn’t know though (lol). But well, the GazettE is okay even with a leader like me! If someone were to quit [the band] right now, it would be unimaginable to continue with just the 4 of us. The GazettE with just 4 people wouldn’t be us anymore. If someone were to quit that would be the end for the GazettE, right? Everyone understands that, that’s why we wouldn’t do such thoughtless things.

I really want you to continue for 15, even 20 years. On the other hand, do you remember a moment in the GazettE, where you already thought ‘I did it!’?

There were already many of those! I don’t really remember the first ‘I did it!’ though (lol) Something that left an impression was when I changed my drumming style and got a reaction from a fan regarding that change, things like that. Also when we decided to approach Budoukan, the moment where, well, the members of course but also the office and the production side agreed [to playing in Budoukan]. If I think back, there definitely were many moments like that.

The first Budoukan was like that too I think, but the GazettE really has a challenging posture, right? With that alone, the joy you feel when you accomplish something is even bigger, I guess.

That’s right. But that we got such a posture is also thanks to the strength of our office and others. How should I say it, in the beginning we didn’t believe in ourselves at all. The first concert at Shibuya AX changed that completely. When we were told to perform in AX we were wondering ‘why would they let us do something like that so suddenly?’! But we succeeded in the end. And we probably got the first taste there (lol). Shibuya AX was our chance to get to know the joy of challenges. After that we went for Budoukan, aiming for bigger things. We didn’t change, not even now.

Around when did you feel some kind of real response from all those changes?

Response? In what kind of sense?

Did you feel that the band reached the level that you imagined it to get to in the beginning?

That’s difficult because I’ve never thought about it. But I think I felt it a little when we produced “TOXIC”

Eh? That recent?

For me personally, yes. Because the first time I felt a superb dignity as a band was after listening to our own songs on TOXIC. Before that it was just problematic. Like some wanted to do it more like this, or more like that. The people we met by chance also got to feel that, such asthe engineers who had the knowledge but with TOXIC all those things came together and were united in our sound and that’s when I felt dignity as a band.

It's really like Kai-san to not say that you got that accomplished feeling after gathering however many people, but feeling it on the sound side instead, right?

Well, I think that everyone is probably like that! Of course there are also members who feel response in other parts too but in regard to the sound we're all pretty strict.

You definitely notice that in interviews and such. No member would ever make any compromise about the sound.

Everyone's stoic, aren't they? Very much so. In order to improve we definitely try out techniques we didn't try until then or things like that. To try it out yourself for real, to hear it with your own ears; because if you don't experience it yourself you can't believe it. Especially because of this attitude I felt some kind of response when we listened to TOXIC.

Was it like that from the beginning, that you fussed over the sound?

No, in the beginning we weren't like that at all. That's why- I wonder since when…We once did a recording that was no good and ended up being a big failure. Until then we hadn’t known about the word „PrePro“(lol). If you do the recording it ends there, right? That’s what we thought but we didn’t know that in order to create a proper work, there was work in advance we. We talked to a senior band member and got to know about PrePro (lol). We started using it too in order to not repeat something like that failed recording. We ended up completing the recorded song after we had created it on the PC and then went into recording, right. With changing to that technique we were able to fuss not only about the arrangement of the instruments or our own play, but also the sound.

Another thing I just thought of is that the steps of the members are aligned and that that's also a feature of the GazettE.

That's true. It's just that I'm the type to get pulled along. In the beginning it were RUKI, Uruha and Aoi who started to fuss about the sound. I saw that and thought „maybe I can also do it like that“. So rather than proceeding on my own, I get the impression that I'm getting pulled along by everyone.

Through that, just like everyone else you noticed how interesting and important it is to fuss about the sound, right?

Yeah. When I started to get interested in the sound, my insufficient knowledge about my own drums showed. Around that time, every time we went for recording I always thought that I’m just no good. And then I started to study the sound of the drums and researched a lot. That was the first time I got the feeling that I’m studying but with getting more and more knowledge, it became more and more interesting. That’s why I don’t have the impression that I gave it my all to match the others.

It was mutual enhancing for everyone, wasn’t it? What do you feel about the transition in the musicianship of the GazettE?

We have the impression that we go our steps united for that as well. That means that the people who can take steps together came together. That are our roots, and in addition we also have a consciousness for each other as companions, the thought of not wantingl the band to regress. When you challenge new things or change something, I think there’s always a reason for that! For example if Ruki comes up with a keyword or something like that, because we take the steps together at such times, everyone will naturally think ‘ oh! That’s good!”and after the road is planned it’s natural to walk it together. That’s why we can also easily correspondent to changes or expanses in our musicianship and never stopp our work. Not even once. In that sense the band is really in a perfect condition, right?

That’s for sure. The GazettE gradually became a band that sets large scales, and decided to stand on the stage of Tokyo Dome in December 2010.

That’s right.

Tokyo Dome is what you longed for when you first started the band, wasn’t it? Though did you really think that that you would stand on that stage yourself one day?

Well, I actually thought I would (lol)

Eh? Really?

Just in the beginning. I had some strange confidence when I started with drums, even though I didn’t know anything at all (lol). Before I started the band I thought that it would work if I just worked hard, but after I entered the band I was hit by reality and that confidence slowly withered. In the beginning I thought ‘ we’ll be able to do it’. Idiotic, right? (lol)

No, no (lol). When did you start to realize that Tokyo Dome, which once used to be like a dream, was becaming real?

I wonder when? The topic had come up occasionally for a long time already, but realizing it… After we did Budoukan and Yokohama Arena...the venues became bigger step by step. When we reached Saitama Super Arena we all had some kind of tacit understanding about what would be „next“. But we had no occasion so we just waited. The moment Tokyo Dome was brought up by our staff we had 2 different opinions in the band. ‚Now or never‘ and „no no no, not yet‘. We were really disunited.

On the other hand it shows that all of you know how big of a meaning Tokyo Dome has. By the way, which side did you belong to?

I belonged to the ‚not yet‘ group. But at that time too, I could understand the opinions of both groups.

It was the first time for the GazettE to be that disunited, right?

Yes. We were torn into two groups but we had to overcome that in order to continue so first we wanted to confirm everything within the band. That's why only the members met up and went to an izakaya, though first we started with talking about the past. Even though we were supposed to discuss Tokyo Dome we ended up just rambling about this and that. Within that came talking about the first Budoukan. When we recalled that, I remembered how we became one while we approached Budoukan and how great that had been. In that moment my feelings changed completely into ‚if we're gonna do it, let's do it!‘. With that talk about Budoukan a switch was pushed in everyone, it seemed. It turned into: ‚...We‘re gonna do it?‘

That's a great story. It's great that you're still meeting up like you did when you were mere amateurs. The fact that you' started with a topic that initially had no direct connection to Tokyo Dome also reflects the delicate working of the members’ hearts.

The atmosphere at that time was indeed a little peculiar. Everyone knew what we should be talking about but no one started it (lol). Though it wasn't a quiet conversation either (lol). It was wonderful that we had come to the point where Tokyo Dome wasn't a dream anymore, that the staff even proposed to do it. That's why nobody was even thinking badly about it, but we didn't want to talk all businesslike or strictly about it, right? At that time I keenly felt that we‘re a great band.

I think it's really great that you strengthened the ties between the members before taking on the challenge of Tokyo Dome. But after you decided to do Tokyo Dome a lot of other troubles happened, right?

That's true. It’s something I can talk about freely even though it was a little different from when we approached Budoukan. As expected, Tokyo Dome is on another level compared to Budoukan and that was the biggest reason for the different feeling, I think. The office and the recording label that worked with us then were even bigger than the ones for Budoukan. While approaching Tokyo Dome, we thought that if we could manage to unite the feelings of everyone around the GazettE, it would be a completely satisfying performance! We honestly couldn't understand.

Early I asked you if it was very hard for you and you replied that 2010 was a really busy year for the GazettE. What did you mean with that you couldn't understand?

The decision to do Tokyo Dome was made one year priore. Therefore I had the impression that we were going in circles for that year. The consciousness of the band was one but we weren't able to unite it with the consciousness of the people around us. Like I already said, because the scale was a lot bigger, not everyone was able to grasp the situation. That also included us. In short: the things the office and the recording label were doing for us were fruitless. I understand that everyone was giving their best and worked hard for Tokyo Dome but it wasn't going well. The things I thought the members wanted to do got out of sync. So the situation continued only slowly! But mobilization for example was no problem for us. Regarding that, I went in without any worries. It really wasn’t that, we just wished to gain a result from becoming one while approaching Tokyo Dome which didn’t happen. That’s why there‘s some regret left.

I see. But it was the first Tokyo Dome for the GazettE and also for your office, right?

Yes. That's why it's no one's fault, it can't be helped. The road to Tokyo Dome was a really great experience for us and I really consider the experience to be useful for the office in the future too. Anyway, I think it was a great lecture for us. Such a thing can‘t be understood if you didn‘t experience it yourself.

I'm not a marketing pro so I don't really know but one year may be a little too short of a timespan for a band and staff who both haven't experienced Tokyo Dome yet, right?

Not with a united consciousness. I think it would have been completely different if our consciousness had been united. But I think I also depend too much on the people around me.

Yeah, it can't be helped, I gu-

Maybe it can't be helped, it's about us. If I just showed more attention...That's one of the things we reflected on.

As always you're really strict with yourself, right? Does that mean that you greeted Tokyo Dome while not being completely satisfied with a few things?

No, at that time we were already free of any thoughts. What was left was just doing it. We knew it was real, that we were really going to be standing on the stage of Tokyo Dome and until then, there were a lot of things happening that made us ask ourselves “Why?” But we talked with the members about that and decided to crush those thoughts. Because bringing such thoughts to Tokyo Dome is really lame. And there's no way something like a perfect stage exists anyway. More than anything, we can't everyone’s feelings but we wanted to enjoy Tokyo Dome exactly the way we imagined it and the fans probably had the same feelings we had as they came to Tokyo Dome. There's no way we could betray those peoples feelings, right? That's why we threw away all our negative thoughts and enjoyed the Tokyo Dome live genuinely. It was around one month before Tokyo Dome that we made that switch.

As expected. How did you decide the set list or the show for Tokyo Dome?

For the set list, we strategically started the road to Tokyo Dome with the 3 singles ‘SHIVER’. ‘RED’ and ‘PLEDGE’ one year prior. That’s why we decided for a set list with songs that match the structure of those three songs. We had always done it like that but in addition to the tour we also had Tokyo Dome now, right? In the beginning we talked about not doing anything anymore starting 2 months before Tokyo Dome, but we had never done something like that before. Starting right from the first Budoukan live, we would always go on tour, leave 3 to 4 days space and then have the final. So we asked to do it like that again. The management said that it would have an impact on attracting guests but we asked them to consider our thoughts as a band nonetheless. It did have an impact in the end but because it was the final of the tour, we wanted to do it like we always did. We wanted to present the songs that had been growing while on tour at Tokyo Dome. That’s why the set list reflected our intention.

That means that no one interefered in the content of the live and that it truly reflects the GazettE, right? What did it feel like when you were standing on the stage of Tokyo Dome, something you had been aiming for since childhood?

Strangely, it wasn’t different than at other venues (lol). When we went to inspect it though, I did think that it was gigantic! A few days before our live, Luna Sea had their live there and when we went to see it, our Tokyo Dome felt like a small child compared to them. But the view from the stage is different, I thought that the distance to the crowd would be bigger, but somehow ‘even Budoukan seemed a little bigger’(lol). I knew that [Tokyo Dome] is definitely bigger, of course but it just felt like that. That’s something that comes with experiences, right? We also did Yokohama Arena, Yoyogi National Gymnasium and Saitama Super Arena. That’s why in the beginning when we entered the venue from the stage everyone was a little confused (lol)