Merry Christmas!
Hi guys, I started translating this a couple of months ago, thinking I'd get it done and then post it for Christmas, but that kind of got swept under the rug with moving to Okinawa and everything and I actually ended up doing most of it today :| (Luckily I brought the magazine).
Anyway, this is an old interview with Gackt from Oricon magazine December 24th 2001 on 12gatsu no Love Song, Madagascar and Christmas/New Years. Enjoy!
-Your new single "12gatsu no Love Song" is a very sudden release, isn't it?
"Right. Because the song descended on me suddenly, and I thought I should make it reach everyone."
-You went to Africa as part of your work, is this song a product of Africa by any chance?
"Yes. After I wrote it in Madagascar, I decided to release it."
-Do you remember the circumstances in which the song was created?
"It was at night. When I was looking at the ocean. Well, I say I was looking at the ocean, but there were no stars or anything and it was pitch black. You couldn't actually see the ocean (laughs). Of course there were no electric lights, and all you could hear was the sound of the ocean. It was really dark! I was smoking a cigarette there but all it lit up was the spot underneath me. If you want to know how dark it was, there was a fence 3 meters in front of me, and I didn't notice the African guy standing on the other side of it."
-I guess that would be hard to see (laughs).
"Even though I should have far better eyesight than most Japanese people (laughs). The African guy called something out to me and it startled me. So I got into a defensive stance, right? Except after that I couldn't tell if he was still there or if he had left (laughs)."
-Cause it was dark.
"It was like pitch black solitary confinement. Like I could hear the ocean through the walls of a cell."
-What an unpleasant environment.
"Well, that day happened to be cloudy. On other days, when the stars were out it was completely different. It was bright and you could see across the ocean. It surprised me."
-But the day the song was created was dark.
"Right. In front of the bungalow I was staying in, I sat like that until the morning… The song descended on me during that."
-I think perhaps because of that episode, it doesn't feel like an ordinary Christmas song, and has been finished into a refined melody.
"I don't think of it as a Christmas song though. Nor did I make the song for that day. For me, I absolutely can't let go of various events that have happened on past Christmases. Everyone thinks Christmas is just the 24th and 25th of December, right? However, it's already begun from November onwards. December was a month with a huge meaning to me. So, on Christmas, everything comes to an end. Though in my case it wasn't a good ending, hahahaha (self-deprecating laugh)."
-What on earth happened?
"Hm, I wonder (distant stare)."
-But isn't it a song written while remembering that?
"It wasn't a song written in a situation with snow and mountains and my beloved in front of my eyes. Rather, I was in the opposite situation, and the song descended on me while I was thinking about and feeling a lot of things. The place I went to this time, Madagascar, was a series of shocks. There was culture shock, and what I had believed in up until then- I didn't always have a concept of good and evil, but still there was some sense of right and wrong, you know? There were a lot of things that turned all that upside down from the very foundation."
-Really, terrible things are always happening.
"Didn't a lot of things happen just before then? The war started, and there was a chance to think about my feelings towards that, and towards people involved and forced to be involved. That became an opportunity for me to reevaluate myself. Everything got heavy.
- So it was a work from a period of time when your worldview was changing?
"It changed. Or should I say it's more like it expanded (laughs)"
- What are you going to do if you get more excited than this?
"You know… it's kind of like, I've been excited, but there have been a lot of points where I've suppressed it. I'm quitting that (laughs) I've decided, yeah."
-It's scary to think what kind of rampage you'll go on (laughs)
"No, I've decided to try harder to live like a human. To struggle harder."
- I guess you haven't been very "human like" up until this point. More like a demon (laughs).
"Hahaha! Are you thinking what I mean by "human like" is showing emotions publicly?"
- Ah, being faithful to your instincts?
"Yes, yes. Though I don't know if that's "human" or not."
- I feel like you already live by your instincts enough though
"I phrased it badly. The point is, I want to try and act more honestly on what I feel. Of course I do that with my work, but there are a lot of things in my private life I hold back on."
- Shall we move the topic back to the single? The song itself is gentle, and the instrumental version sounds like a film score, it's great. Though naturally I would say the song is good.
"That''s obvious (immediate answer)"
-When the song came to you, was it arranged like that?
"The orchestra was different. I had an image of the strings at first, but I hadn't brought any instruments with me to Madagascar. All I had was an IC recorder. And that wasn't for writing songs, that was for recording my thoughts like a diary. But when I realised I sung the lyrics and melody into it at the same time on the spot. But it didn't resemble the CD version at once."
-It's like it was all done at once, but actually there are a lot of different feelings included in it
"Right. When you actually read the lyrics, it might feel like a very narrow world, just the relationship between you and the one you call your lover. Of course, I think that's fine too. Because that's an important world too. But I wanted to present, in images or another form, a world that's not just that.
-Since originally in America and Europe, Christmas is a day to spend with your family, right?
"The point is, I'm not just talking about lovers, but something more important. Loving and being loved."
-It's a bigger bundle, right?
"It's love. Though it's cheesy (laughs). My former self wouldn't have said something like that, "It's love" (laughs). Because love has great meaning. So I think everyone will feel something in response to the great love that is the theme of this single."
-I see. It should be a great Christmas present. Speaking of which, you're also releasing a DVD with the behind the scenes shoot on it, "PLATINUM BOX~II~"! You released one last year as well.
"Yes. I'm going to release one every year. Though they're limited edition. Though it's more of a New Year's Day present than a Christmas present (laughs)"
-A New Year's present? (laughs) Why?
"Well it's a Christmas and a Happy New Year."
-Okay. Though it was a little unexpected to hear the word "New Year's Day"[お正月 oshougatsu] from Gackt's mouth.
"Would it be better if I said "shinnen"? [新年 another word for "New Year"]"
-Or should I say you don't seem like the type to enjoy New Year's Day (pained laugh)
"Yeah, there's no New Year's Day for me."
-What do you mean?
"I can't celebrate New Year's until I finish an album (laughs)"
-Then every year you don't celebrate New Year's?
"I don't. I don't feel like, "Ah, it's a new year" until after Chinese New Year. About March or April maybe."
-It doesn't feel like a new year until you go that far.
"Until the school semester starts, maybe (laughs)"
-But New Year's Day is good.
"There are things I like about New Years Day. The roads are empty. The city is empty of people, right? I love that. Then I fly down the empty roads in my car like whoosh."
- THAT'S the reason? (pained laugh)
"What I like about Christmas is, when you look around the streets, it's all happy couples, right? If you're there with another guy, it's a pretty lonely feeling and I like that."
-Wouldn't you attack them?
"That's uncivilized (laughs). It's not like that, shouldn't you be glad to see other people's happiness? The streets are overflowing with it, right? I really love it. That might be the reason I like Christmas. Because I haven't spent Christmas with a girl for many years. I always end up just spending it with guys. It's become a matter of fact."
-If that's how it is, then I think you should be able to spend Christmas partying together.
"Hmm. I definitely feel lonely. It's a mysterious feeling. The streets are overflowing with happiness, so why am I here with another guy spacing out? (laughs) Even though it's so cold."
-You always endeavor to like harsh situations, don't you?
"I like them. Lonely feelings are good."
-Shouldn't you guys have a rough bounenkai [忘年会 end of year gathering, "forgetting the year party"] together?
"I don't like the sound of 'bounenkai'"
-Then a party?
"A party… could be good. I like parties."
- On that note, I'd like to know your resolutions for 2002.
"More aggressive! More avant-garde-!"
-Sounds difficult (pained laugh). Well, you'll be creating an album first, right?
"I don't know when I'll finish it though."
-You always say that.
"No, I really don't know the steps this time. Actually I'm way behind where I was last time. Before (2000), the band was all living together for pre-production from October, right? This time, we're nowhere near that. Though we're working on things individually…"
-It's gonna be okay (irresponsibly)… Though I wouldn't know.
"You don't!"
- I mean, you have the experience in Madagascar, right?
"I think that experience will force me to act in a big way."
-We can only believe in you and wait.
"That's right. I want people who can get their hands on the single and "PLATINUM BOX~II~" to watch those and wait. "PLATINUM BOX~II~"… is great! It's all made up of clips. It's a DVD (laughs)."
-How generous! With this power, how will things be from now on?
"I'll show you through my actions. Anyway, I intend to push forward with what I believe in."
Requesting mags:oricon or possibly mags:other tag from the mods OSU. Thank you, pyroyale!
Anyway, this is an old interview with Gackt from Oricon magazine December 24th 2001 on 12gatsu no Love Song, Madagascar and Christmas/New Years. Enjoy!
-Your new single "12gatsu no Love Song" is a very sudden release, isn't it?
"Right. Because the song descended on me suddenly, and I thought I should make it reach everyone."
-You went to Africa as part of your work, is this song a product of Africa by any chance?
"Yes. After I wrote it in Madagascar, I decided to release it."
-Do you remember the circumstances in which the song was created?
"It was at night. When I was looking at the ocean. Well, I say I was looking at the ocean, but there were no stars or anything and it was pitch black. You couldn't actually see the ocean (laughs). Of course there were no electric lights, and all you could hear was the sound of the ocean. It was really dark! I was smoking a cigarette there but all it lit up was the spot underneath me. If you want to know how dark it was, there was a fence 3 meters in front of me, and I didn't notice the African guy standing on the other side of it."
-I guess that would be hard to see (laughs).
"Even though I should have far better eyesight than most Japanese people (laughs). The African guy called something out to me and it startled me. So I got into a defensive stance, right? Except after that I couldn't tell if he was still there or if he had left (laughs)."
-Cause it was dark.
"It was like pitch black solitary confinement. Like I could hear the ocean through the walls of a cell."
-What an unpleasant environment.
"Well, that day happened to be cloudy. On other days, when the stars were out it was completely different. It was bright and you could see across the ocean. It surprised me."
-But the day the song was created was dark.
"Right. In front of the bungalow I was staying in, I sat like that until the morning… The song descended on me during that."
-I think perhaps because of that episode, it doesn't feel like an ordinary Christmas song, and has been finished into a refined melody.
"I don't think of it as a Christmas song though. Nor did I make the song for that day. For me, I absolutely can't let go of various events that have happened on past Christmases. Everyone thinks Christmas is just the 24th and 25th of December, right? However, it's already begun from November onwards. December was a month with a huge meaning to me. So, on Christmas, everything comes to an end. Though in my case it wasn't a good ending, hahahaha (self-deprecating laugh)."
-What on earth happened?
"Hm, I wonder (distant stare)."
-But isn't it a song written while remembering that?
"It wasn't a song written in a situation with snow and mountains and my beloved in front of my eyes. Rather, I was in the opposite situation, and the song descended on me while I was thinking about and feeling a lot of things. The place I went to this time, Madagascar, was a series of shocks. There was culture shock, and what I had believed in up until then- I didn't always have a concept of good and evil, but still there was some sense of right and wrong, you know? There were a lot of things that turned all that upside down from the very foundation."
-Really, terrible things are always happening.
"Didn't a lot of things happen just before then? The war started, and there was a chance to think about my feelings towards that, and towards people involved and forced to be involved. That became an opportunity for me to reevaluate myself. Everything got heavy.
- So it was a work from a period of time when your worldview was changing?
"It changed. Or should I say it's more like it expanded (laughs)"
- What are you going to do if you get more excited than this?
"You know… it's kind of like, I've been excited, but there have been a lot of points where I've suppressed it. I'm quitting that (laughs) I've decided, yeah."
-It's scary to think what kind of rampage you'll go on (laughs)
"No, I've decided to try harder to live like a human. To struggle harder."
- I guess you haven't been very "human like" up until this point. More like a demon (laughs).
"Hahaha! Are you thinking what I mean by "human like" is showing emotions publicly?"
- Ah, being faithful to your instincts?
"Yes, yes. Though I don't know if that's "human" or not."
- I feel like you already live by your instincts enough though
"I phrased it badly. The point is, I want to try and act more honestly on what I feel. Of course I do that with my work, but there are a lot of things in my private life I hold back on."
- Shall we move the topic back to the single? The song itself is gentle, and the instrumental version sounds like a film score, it's great. Though naturally I would say the song is good.
"That''s obvious (immediate answer)"
-When the song came to you, was it arranged like that?
"The orchestra was different. I had an image of the strings at first, but I hadn't brought any instruments with me to Madagascar. All I had was an IC recorder. And that wasn't for writing songs, that was for recording my thoughts like a diary. But when I realised I sung the lyrics and melody into it at the same time on the spot. But it didn't resemble the CD version at once."
-It's like it was all done at once, but actually there are a lot of different feelings included in it
"Right. When you actually read the lyrics, it might feel like a very narrow world, just the relationship between you and the one you call your lover. Of course, I think that's fine too. Because that's an important world too. But I wanted to present, in images or another form, a world that's not just that.
-Since originally in America and Europe, Christmas is a day to spend with your family, right?
"The point is, I'm not just talking about lovers, but something more important. Loving and being loved."
-It's a bigger bundle, right?
"It's love. Though it's cheesy (laughs). My former self wouldn't have said something like that, "It's love" (laughs). Because love has great meaning. So I think everyone will feel something in response to the great love that is the theme of this single."
-I see. It should be a great Christmas present. Speaking of which, you're also releasing a DVD with the behind the scenes shoot on it, "PLATINUM BOX~II~"! You released one last year as well.
"Yes. I'm going to release one every year. Though they're limited edition. Though it's more of a New Year's Day present than a Christmas present (laughs)"
-A New Year's present? (laughs) Why?
"Well it's a Christmas and a Happy New Year."
-Okay. Though it was a little unexpected to hear the word "New Year's Day"[お正月 oshougatsu] from Gackt's mouth.
"Would it be better if I said "shinnen"? [新年 another word for "New Year"]"
-Or should I say you don't seem like the type to enjoy New Year's Day (pained laugh)
"Yeah, there's no New Year's Day for me."
-What do you mean?
"I can't celebrate New Year's until I finish an album (laughs)"
-Then every year you don't celebrate New Year's?
"I don't. I don't feel like, "Ah, it's a new year" until after Chinese New Year. About March or April maybe."
-It doesn't feel like a new year until you go that far.
"Until the school semester starts, maybe (laughs)"
-But New Year's Day is good.
"There are things I like about New Years Day. The roads are empty. The city is empty of people, right? I love that. Then I fly down the empty roads in my car like whoosh."
- THAT'S the reason? (pained laugh)
"What I like about Christmas is, when you look around the streets, it's all happy couples, right? If you're there with another guy, it's a pretty lonely feeling and I like that."
-Wouldn't you attack them?
"That's uncivilized (laughs). It's not like that, shouldn't you be glad to see other people's happiness? The streets are overflowing with it, right? I really love it. That might be the reason I like Christmas. Because I haven't spent Christmas with a girl for many years. I always end up just spending it with guys. It's become a matter of fact."
-If that's how it is, then I think you should be able to spend Christmas partying together.
"Hmm. I definitely feel lonely. It's a mysterious feeling. The streets are overflowing with happiness, so why am I here with another guy spacing out? (laughs) Even though it's so cold."
-You always endeavor to like harsh situations, don't you?
"I like them. Lonely feelings are good."
-Shouldn't you guys have a rough bounenkai [忘年会 end of year gathering, "forgetting the year party"] together?
"I don't like the sound of 'bounenkai'"
-Then a party?
"A party… could be good. I like parties."
- On that note, I'd like to know your resolutions for 2002.
"More aggressive! More avant-garde-!"
-Sounds difficult (pained laugh). Well, you'll be creating an album first, right?
"I don't know when I'll finish it though."
-You always say that.
"No, I really don't know the steps this time. Actually I'm way behind where I was last time. Before (2000), the band was all living together for pre-production from October, right? This time, we're nowhere near that. Though we're working on things individually…"
-It's gonna be okay (irresponsibly)… Though I wouldn't know.
"You don't!"
- I mean, you have the experience in Madagascar, right?
"I think that experience will force me to act in a big way."
-We can only believe in you and wait.
"That's right. I want people who can get their hands on the single and "PLATINUM BOX~II~" to watch those and wait. "PLATINUM BOX~II~"… is great! It's all made up of clips. It's a DVD (laughs)."
-How generous! With this power, how will things be from now on?
"I'll show you through my actions. Anyway, I intend to push forward with what I believe in."
Requesting mags:oricon or possibly mags:other tag from the mods OSU. Thank you, pyroyale!