Aki Special Interview 【Part One】
──Let's cut to the chase, please begin by telling us your motives behind this solo venture.
Having played with SID all this time, always trying out all sorts of things as we compose new songs, put albums together, and perform live... I think it's a process that will always continue unchanged from now on too. At the same time, it also made me start wanting to express "myself" in music all the more, or you could say my desire to pursue that became really strong over the last few years. So, considering the band had just passed its 10th anniversary milestone, after we created the album "OUTSIDER" and finished touring for it...... The timing seemed right to broach the subject with my bandmates and management like, "Would you mind if I started a solo project?" In response, everyone agreed readily. And my bandmates, they even told me I shouldn't restrain my desires as a musician. I'm still very grateful for that.
──They probably agreed so readily because the band's in a state of fulfilment. If the situation was unstable, I suppose they wouldn't be saying that.
Yeah. That's why there's one thing I absolutely don't want people to get the wrong idea about, and it's that I'm going solo because I'm unhappy with the band, because that's not the case at all. I'm giving this a go purely because I wanted to challenge myself. That's really all there is to it.
──This means you hadn't been thinking all along that you'd like to go solo someday, right?
That's right. Up until now, I'd never given thought to anything besides what we do together as SID members, and it had been the only thing I pictured when composing. At the same time, the desire to compose an even wider range of songs and challenge myself also took root in me. It's honestly as simple a motive as that, even though it might sound weird coming from me. But it's not like I'd been repressing this feeling the whole time. I just have this personal policy of "once you've thought of it, you should go for it". That's why I had to do it now. With that, I started working on the demos after the tour.
──Seems you aren't going after any specific genre either. Especially considering SID isn't a band that limits itself musically.
Yeah. I obviously love rock though, so I did intend for ARISE to be a rock album. On that point, the last thing I wanted was to end up with an album that's more like a collection of my current demo tapes. Thing is, I've got many songs whose moments have yet to come. Among those unreleased songs, it goes without saying that there's lots of stuff I want to try out, but it would be meaningless to release them under my own name. That's because I've never once thought about performing the songs I composed with Mao, Shinji, and Yuuya in mind alone. So the whole album was written from scratch on my own after the tour. Basically, I built up what I personally wanted to do starting from its foundations. That's why the way I drew ideas for it was completely different from the songs I've composed up till now, which had always accounted for my bandmates' presences.
──I see. I'd like to hear about the contents of ARISE in-depth again; but first, Aki-san, as somebody who's always been a fan of music, I suppose you had a good idea of what others might say when a band member goes solo.
I'd braced myself for it. But I was genuinely glad to hear so many people going "you have my support"on social media networks, and to have the encouragement of my bandmates and our staff. Speaking personally as a music lover, I'm somebody who's pretty interested in the solo activities of people from bands I'm into, and I've enjoyed listening to them while thinking, "even though the band itself doesn't deal with such concepts, it turns out like this when this person's working alone?" Then sometimes that person's visual performance or aura when they're with their bands will change too. You can feel a sense of energy through this. I've always thought that's a nice thing, so.
──Ultimately, you'll bring the many things you'll gain back to the band, so I assume it's safe to say we can anticipate an even higher degree of freedom (( to create )) within the band's atmosphere?
That's right. And to do that, I think I need to start with myself by becoming more open first, then bring the stimulus from my solo activities back to my mindset when I compose for SID, which I hope will be a chance to break free of the limits within myself. To be honest, ever since I started this, I've only come to love SID even more. This is something I wouldn't be able to manage without their cooperation. I hope to make that clear most of all.
Having played with SID all this time, always trying out all sorts of things as we compose new songs, put albums together, and perform live... I think it's a process that will always continue unchanged from now on too. At the same time, it also made me start wanting to express "myself" in music all the more, or you could say my desire to pursue that became really strong over the last few years. So, considering the band had just passed its 10th anniversary milestone, after we created the album "OUTSIDER" and finished touring for it...... The timing seemed right to broach the subject with my bandmates and management like, "Would you mind if I started a solo project?" In response, everyone agreed readily. And my bandmates, they even told me I shouldn't restrain my desires as a musician. I'm still very grateful for that.
──They probably agreed so readily because the band's in a state of fulfilment. If the situation was unstable, I suppose they wouldn't be saying that.
Yeah. That's why there's one thing I absolutely don't want people to get the wrong idea about, and it's that I'm going solo because I'm unhappy with the band, because that's not the case at all. I'm giving this a go purely because I wanted to challenge myself. That's really all there is to it.
──This means you hadn't been thinking all along that you'd like to go solo someday, right?
That's right. Up until now, I'd never given thought to anything besides what we do together as SID members, and it had been the only thing I pictured when composing. At the same time, the desire to compose an even wider range of songs and challenge myself also took root in me. It's honestly as simple a motive as that, even though it might sound weird coming from me. But it's not like I'd been repressing this feeling the whole time. I just have this personal policy of "once you've thought of it, you should go for it". That's why I had to do it now. With that, I started working on the demos after the tour.
──Seems you aren't going after any specific genre either. Especially considering SID isn't a band that limits itself musically.
Yeah. I obviously love rock though, so I did intend for ARISE to be a rock album. On that point, the last thing I wanted was to end up with an album that's more like a collection of my current demo tapes. Thing is, I've got many songs whose moments have yet to come. Among those unreleased songs, it goes without saying that there's lots of stuff I want to try out, but it would be meaningless to release them under my own name. That's because I've never once thought about performing the songs I composed with Mao, Shinji, and Yuuya in mind alone. So the whole album was written from scratch on my own after the tour. Basically, I built up what I personally wanted to do starting from its foundations. That's why the way I drew ideas for it was completely different from the songs I've composed up till now, which had always accounted for my bandmates' presences.
──I see. I'd like to hear about the contents of ARISE in-depth again; but first, Aki-san, as somebody who's always been a fan of music, I suppose you had a good idea of what others might say when a band member goes solo.
I'd braced myself for it. But I was genuinely glad to hear so many people going "you have my support"on social media networks, and to have the encouragement of my bandmates and our staff. Speaking personally as a music lover, I'm somebody who's pretty interested in the solo activities of people from bands I'm into, and I've enjoyed listening to them while thinking, "even though the band itself doesn't deal with such concepts, it turns out like this when this person's working alone?" Then sometimes that person's visual performance or aura when they're with their bands will change too. You can feel a sense of energy through this. I've always thought that's a nice thing, so.
──Ultimately, you'll bring the many things you'll gain back to the band, so I assume it's safe to say we can anticipate an even higher degree of freedom (( to create )) within the band's atmosphere?
That's right. And to do that, I think I need to start with myself by becoming more open first, then bring the stimulus from my solo activities back to my mindset when I compose for SID, which I hope will be a chance to break free of the limits within myself. To be honest, ever since I started this, I've only come to love SID even more. This is something I wouldn't be able to manage without their cooperation. I hope to make that clear most of all.