D'espairsRay ZY No.44 interview translation
Here is another translation.
I will appreciate any help if there are any mistakes or something needs to be corrected ;)
Please do not repost it anywhere. I prefer to keep the translations to my own dark little corner and be responsible for my mistakes and the words I choose.
The interview is not particularly good, there is a typo in an introduction (HIROZON instead of HORIZON). There also seems to be a whole chunk of a conversation missing (the part where Tsukasa talks about being a "party boy" and then abruptly it is about writing songs and an anniversary live). It's interesting nonetheless.
Q indicates an interviewer (question) and I suppose it is pretty clear who H, K, Z and T are.
In the eye of a tornado
D’espairsRay release a new single [HORIZON] on December 3 and right after that go on a tour around the country (a tour final is at Yokohama Blitz on December 30). With [HORIZON] they present their new positive sound, different from what they’ve done until now, and this year seems to be busy until the very end. Recording music, touring, including overseas, time off. Today, they look back at the past year and talk about the new songs.
Q: 2008 was a year you rushed from 9th anniversary towards 10th. It seems to have been filled with touring around Japan, but actually what kind of year was it?
H: It started and ended with recording. Recoding, America, recording, Japan, recording… that sort of a year.
Q: Was it fulfilling?
H: It was a fun year. I think it was fulfilling.
Q: Among all things that happened, what left the most impression? It was recording, right?
H: It was a summer tour in Japan. Until then we’d never had so much fun during lives. That is something I remember even now. Maybe it was a result of having the old songs included in the set lists. We saw lives in a different light and that was great. Until recently, we thought that our old songs did not fit into our present style and there were parts we could not perform. Breaking out of that loop was a new discovery.
Q: And you continue to play lives until the very end of the year, right?
K: Yeah, it was really a year throughout which we did nothing but played lives and recorded songs… and still we are now a little late with the production of an album (bitter laugh). All things considered, it turned out that we had to record during the breaks between the lives. It’s a live, recording, a live until the very end (laughs).
Z: We had no rest.
T: When it comes to the band, I think the same about the last year.
Q: “When it comes to the band”? Was it different for you personally?
T: I moved to a new apartment.
Q: The change of surrounding was big, right?
T: I think it was good.
Q: With the good surrounding can you write songs much better?
T: We will talk about that later.
Q: Eh? (bitter laugh). Anyway it was an aggressive year.
H: Also I think we started to enjoy recording more than in the past. Things like pre-production are still difficult though.
Q: I would like to hear your thoughts regarding the lives. Especially Zero gives the impression as if he bursts open on the stage.
H: I think he changed after an American tour.
Q: What happened there?
Z: I don’t know (laughs). But the outfits and the bass changed. Now I have my own model of the bass.
Q: Appearance?
H: I think his style of playing changed too.
Z: No, in the past I had no eyebrows and such. When I had that image, putting on clothes and doing the make-up I entered a certain mode. That mode is a little different now. So I think I’m going to completely change from now on.
Q: Unexpectedly, you calmly analyzed it.
Z: That’s not true. In comparison to the past I am not calm during the lives.
T: Probably it was also a year I showed myself at my best as a “party boy”.
Q: A “party boy”? (snigger). What is that…? (bitter laugh)
T: No, the songs…I didn’t write them that much and what I wrote was not really good. I didn’t know what to do, it seemed like I couldn’t do anything (bitter laugh). But the 9th anniversary live was fun.
Q: Just “fun”?
K: I won’t say a lot, but the meaning is “cool”.
H: Wouldn’t it be good to declare now that you’re going to write a lot of songs next year?
T: Then… I will write a lot of songs in 2009!
Q: Oh, you promised (laughs).
Z: I’ll say that, but the thing is that after coming back from America Tsukasa started to use two bass drums. His fastidiousness towards the drums got stronger.
Q: Why is Zero the one who tells me about it? (bitter laugh)
T: I wonder why I didn’t remember that…
Q: So for now Tsukasa is going to write a lot of songs in 2009…
T: No, not only me, everyone is going to write songs I think.
Q: You watered it down, didn’t you (laughs).
H: So that’s your spirit (laughs).
T: But if I don’t say that I’m sure afterwards I’ll be told “Didn’t you promise to write everything?”
Q: Well, please discuss that later at the band meeting (laughs). A while ago we talked about the recording, seems like it’s been a few years since the release of an album, right?
H: It’s going to be two years.
Q: What kind of an album will it be?
K: The whole image can be seen already, but I can’t say yet. In the beginning when we decided to make an album, the rough idea was to blend together [Coll:set], [MIRROR] and the newest sound.
Q: “Was” is past tense, so the image changed?
K: It didn’t get outside of that goal I think…
H: But I think a range within one song got wider than before.
Q: To what extent the album is finished right now?
K: There are 2 more songs left.
H: 3 songs!
K: 3 songs? 3 songs, huh…
H: You have to know the reality!
Q: You release the album in early spring, don’t you?
K: Yes, we worked hard in December, though it was impossible to finish. We want to meet a bright New Year (laughs).
H: We don’t want to record right in the beginning of the year (bitter laugh).
K: In the worst case, we want to finish the guitar recording. If it looks bad, I’ll say “Let’s record together” on the day we record the bass.
Z: But at that point guitar does not appear yet, right?
H: In that case I’ll cut in too! “Let’s record together!” (laughs).
Q: If you do that it’ll be a live-like sound (laughs). I’ll look forward to it. Finally, what kind of a year do you want 2009 to be?
H: Personally, I want to release a new album and go on tour.
K: Me too. Concentrating, recording, resting… like that. Right now we are recording, but there are still songs left that we want to include on the album. We want to take them all out until all is gone and we are left empty.
Q: You start to overflow?
K: Not overflow, but we want to be in a situation when once we are empty, the new things will be born.
Z: I want 2009 to be even busier than right now.
Q: With the opinions of three members set, I’d like to hear about the ardor of the “party boy”.
T: 2009 will be busy!
H: Busy partying?
T: No, this year is 10th anniversary and the meaning is that I want to move towards a magnificent party. I want to release an album and have fun!
Q: I’ll expect a party tune.
T: I’ll sing it!
Q: Oh, you promised! I’ll look forward to it!
I read two other interviews, recent issues of SHOXX and Fool's Mate. Maybe I'll finish them later.