Interview With Excite Music! (2007) [Part 1]
Spitz's interview with Excite Music about the creation and concept behind their 12th album, SazanamiCD. The members also discuss their 20th anniversary and how it affected them.
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-So I attended the 20th anniversary that was held in Zepp Tokyo last August but when Kusano-san stepped on the stage with Kreva (Japanese rapper), did he think "Why do I feel like an outsider?" because it was Spitz's event?
Kusano: No no no no. (laughs) Yeah. But the concert hall really did became the dog's living room. (Spitz is a breed of dog)
-(laughs). The "Rock Rock Konnichiwa!" event was full of character too. The events were centred around Spitz, but each artist had a long time performing on stage. I thought that the entire place had a strong "Spitz" atmosphere.
Kusano: To put it simply, we wanted to watch other musicians perform and help them showcase their music, which is why half of the event was other musicians performing. It was almost like we were just a part of the audience most of the time.
-Because of that, Spitz's performing time wasn't that long.
Kusano: Yeah. That's right.
- Mr.Children would performing on stage for at least two hours on events like "ap bank fes." and "Bank Band", for example.
Kusano: Is that so! (surprised) It's like that, huh... they must work really hard. Us on the other hand, we've decided to take a little bit more of a relaxed stance.
-Unlike Kreva's stage performance, once Spitz appeared, the atmosphere would immediately seem more relaxed.
Kusano: Though when the spotlight started to shine down on me, I was actually really nervous. (laughs)
-Because it's the band's 20th anniversary, didn't you feel like it's necessary to do more events, like "Rock Rock Konnichiwa Plus!" or something like that?
Kusano: That's right, precisely. I was wondering "Should we try doing various other things?", but it's not easy to find the time and space to do anything.
Miwa: That sounds like an excuse. (laughs)
Kusano: I thought about it a lot. At first, it was "It's going to be the 20th anniversary in two years!" and before I knew it, "It's going to be the 20th anniversary next year!" and we were still just vaguely talking about it. When this year arrived and it's nearly our 20th anniversary, I started panicking and I ended up being stuck in a pinch. There were so many things... that I didn't do.
Tamura: It's like someone's birthday party, but the person in question didn't do anything about it (laughs). I think it's the same feeling.
-That's definitely right. (laughs) Well, to talk about "Sazanami CD". It's like... it feels like it has a lot of voices that echoes.
Kusano: Exactly like what ripples (sazanami is japanese for ripples) are, don't you think?
-Your last work, "Souvenir" had a sense of stability or some sort. But that might be because the production was done continuously instead of intermittently.
Kusano: The direction we went with the songs, aside from the arrangement, I don't know... somehow I feel like it may have had the same direction that we found in "Souvenir". In that sense, this time, it's easier to unravel what is good or what is bad. I think the each of the songs in this album has an independent atmosphere (when compared to "Souvenir").
-The recording part was divided into several sessions and took a long time to be completed. To some extent, was the overall design of the album visible from the start?
Kusano: There's no blueprint for this album. With "Souvenir", the recording work was unexpectedly stressful and we had to focus really hard on it because our schedules were really tight. (smiles wryly) With a little more room this time, the only stressful aspect is the creative aspect, I thought it was good that we're able to make this album with as little stress as possible. Other than that, since our producer, Kameda Seiji-san and our sound engineer Takayama Tohru-san are so popular, the adjustment of schedules became difficult to agree on (laughs).
- I see. By the way, the beginning until the very ending of this album, the songs gave off a very determined feeling. I believe it was arranged this way? The first song, "Boku no Guitar", could you already see the image and intention of the song just by depending on the lyrics?
Kusano: I guess so, maybe because it was the first track, the sound just mysteriously arrived on it's own to me. Originally, it had an image of a lonely singer singing at the side of the streets. Someone that's a little lonely, like a pathetic person who is struggling through an unrequited love and has a bad habit of being a megalomaniac. But even though I created this song while imagining that kind of person, because it became the first track, the nuances that arrived as the song progresses became something mysterious to me.
-Somehow, it has a feeling like a morning glory. Like you're just saying "let's just go along with this aura!" (laughs)
Kusano: That's right. (laughs)
Tamura: When I got to hear the song on Kusano's demo tape, it wasn't this dramatic. It had more of a lonely feel. From that, I started considering the song's structure, Kameda-san's ideas, and tried to match the two together during the recording process. But when Takayama joined in, the world of the song just seemed to expand even further. When we were recording, I didn't even think about things like what should be the first track, but as we progressed I thought "We have only one candidate for the first track" and this song was the only one I could think of.
[Read more...]
-So I attended the 20th anniversary that was held in Zepp Tokyo last August but when Kusano-san stepped on the stage with Kreva (Japanese rapper), did he think "Why do I feel like an outsider?" because it was Spitz's event?
Kusano: No no no no. (laughs) Yeah. But the concert hall really did became the dog's living room. (Spitz is a breed of dog)
-(laughs). The "Rock Rock Konnichiwa!" event was full of character too. The events were centred around Spitz, but each artist had a long time performing on stage. I thought that the entire place had a strong "Spitz" atmosphere.
Kusano: To put it simply, we wanted to watch other musicians perform and help them showcase their music, which is why half of the event was other musicians performing. It was almost like we were just a part of the audience most of the time.
-Because of that, Spitz's performing time wasn't that long.
Kusano: Yeah. That's right.
- Mr.Children would performing on stage for at least two hours on events like "ap bank fes." and "Bank Band", for example.
Kusano: Is that so! (surprised) It's like that, huh... they must work really hard. Us on the other hand, we've decided to take a little bit more of a relaxed stance.
-Unlike Kreva's stage performance, once Spitz appeared, the atmosphere would immediately seem more relaxed.
Kusano: Though when the spotlight started to shine down on me, I was actually really nervous. (laughs)
-Because it's the band's 20th anniversary, didn't you feel like it's necessary to do more events, like "Rock Rock Konnichiwa Plus!" or something like that?
Kusano: That's right, precisely. I was wondering "Should we try doing various other things?", but it's not easy to find the time and space to do anything.
Miwa: That sounds like an excuse. (laughs)
Kusano: I thought about it a lot. At first, it was "It's going to be the 20th anniversary in two years!" and before I knew it, "It's going to be the 20th anniversary next year!" and we were still just vaguely talking about it. When this year arrived and it's nearly our 20th anniversary, I started panicking and I ended up being stuck in a pinch. There were so many things... that I didn't do.
Tamura: It's like someone's birthday party, but the person in question didn't do anything about it (laughs). I think it's the same feeling.
-That's definitely right. (laughs) Well, to talk about "Sazanami CD". It's like... it feels like it has a lot of voices that echoes.
Kusano: Exactly like what ripples (sazanami is japanese for ripples) are, don't you think?
-Your last work, "Souvenir" had a sense of stability or some sort. But that might be because the production was done continuously instead of intermittently.
Kusano: The direction we went with the songs, aside from the arrangement, I don't know... somehow I feel like it may have had the same direction that we found in "Souvenir". In that sense, this time, it's easier to unravel what is good or what is bad. I think the each of the songs in this album has an independent atmosphere (when compared to "Souvenir").
-The recording part was divided into several sessions and took a long time to be completed. To some extent, was the overall design of the album visible from the start?
Kusano: There's no blueprint for this album. With "Souvenir", the recording work was unexpectedly stressful and we had to focus really hard on it because our schedules were really tight. (smiles wryly) With a little more room this time, the only stressful aspect is the creative aspect, I thought it was good that we're able to make this album with as little stress as possible. Other than that, since our producer, Kameda Seiji-san and our sound engineer Takayama Tohru-san are so popular, the adjustment of schedules became difficult to agree on (laughs).
- I see. By the way, the beginning until the very ending of this album, the songs gave off a very determined feeling. I believe it was arranged this way? The first song, "Boku no Guitar", could you already see the image and intention of the song just by depending on the lyrics?
Kusano: I guess so, maybe because it was the first track, the sound just mysteriously arrived on it's own to me. Originally, it had an image of a lonely singer singing at the side of the streets. Someone that's a little lonely, like a pathetic person who is struggling through an unrequited love and has a bad habit of being a megalomaniac. But even though I created this song while imagining that kind of person, because it became the first track, the nuances that arrived as the song progresses became something mysterious to me.
-Somehow, it has a feeling like a morning glory. Like you're just saying "let's just go along with this aura!" (laughs)
Kusano: That's right. (laughs)
Tamura: When I got to hear the song on Kusano's demo tape, it wasn't this dramatic. It had more of a lonely feel. From that, I started considering the song's structure, Kameda-san's ideas, and tried to match the two together during the recording process. But when Takayama joined in, the world of the song just seemed to expand even further. When we were recording, I didn't even think about things like what should be the first track, but as we progressed I thought "We have only one candidate for the first track" and this song was the only one I could think of.