Miyavi interview with Tattoo Tribal Magazine
Thanks so much to diru915 for posting the scans!!
My first tattoo was a phrase to help me face myself.
Miyavi has done two huge scale world tours, touring over 20 countries to see passionate fans who cross the borders between Asia, Europe and the Americas. He got his first tattoo when he was 19, when he tasted frustration in the period leading up to the break up of his first band, Due le quartz.
“It was a period where I was feeling really disheartened, and really struggling with the gap between what I wanted to do and what I was actually doing, and I thought about leaving the band and dying. So I went by myself to Okinawa to try to go back to the drawing board and decide whether I really wanted to die or not. It was on that trip to Okinawa that I got my first tattoo: “天上天下唯雅独尊”. (“I am my own Lord throughout heaven and earth”) . It’s taken from a saying by Siddhartha, and “唯雅” is actually written “唯我”, but I changed it for my own name so it would mean “There is no one above or below me.” To show that I have to face myself head on. I got the tattoo to show my resolve not to stop playing music, and not to let myself be beaten by anyone, even my weaker self.”
During that period, he often calmed himself by transcribing sutras. That was when he got the full back tattoo of the Heart Sutra. More than a show of any great faith in Buddhism, the words were something he used to encourage himself.
“My tattoos aren’t really a collaboration with a tattoo artist, they’re words and thoughts and symbols that are important to me. My skin takes the place of a note book. I also have a few numbers tattooed on me. The first ones I got done were 4 and 9. I got them because those have always been unlucky numbers for me. When I was a teenager one of my very dear friends passed away, and I got them because to remind myself to accept everything that happens even the things like death and disasters. Now I think that I got it to XDDD my weaker side, or sometimes, to hide it. I’ve been through all that and I still have a lot of canvas on my body, so one day I’d like to get some of my own lyrics tattooed so they’ll become art. Because my lyrics are my way of making a record of my life as I live it.”
In other words, for Miyavi, his tattoos represent his life. The tattoo reading Due le Quartz on his wrist he got on his 20th birthday when the band had broken up. He shocked the people around him by debuting as a solo artist, miyavi the very next day, but the decision he made then is still what motivates him today.
“I got the band’s name because I wanted to remember the motivation I originally had to be a musician. I always wanted to be an artist that could become worldwide, and that was my first band that I joined when I came to Tokyo at 17... The future is basically an accumulation of the past, but I think that it’s also the future that decides the past, so I never want to forget my past. They say that ‘success is built on failure’, and I do think it’s true that it’s only after you succeed that all your failures start to have meaning. I doesn’t matter how, but if I succeed, this band will become something really valuable. I think that my reasons for getting a tattoo are always really instinctive like that. When something happens I can remember back to when I got a certain tattoo, and kind of go back to the way I was at that time.”
I want to cross over borders of gender and religion and culture and connect people with music.
Miyavi continues to create music that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world, music that only he can play. It’s not unrelated to the impulse that lead him to get all his tattoos.
“It’s kind of weird, but as Japanese, people don't really ever get things like ‘Ore’ or ‘Ware’ tattooed, you know? The way that you always seen foreigners with the kanji for ‘spirit’ or ‘friendship’ or somethig on their arms. (LOL) But whether it comes to tattoos or music, I want to be completely unique. Whether it’s my make up or my clothes or my guitar playing, I want to make people go, “What is this? Is it rock? Is it funk? Is it hip hop?” I think the reason why it’s making an impact on the market outside of Japan is that it can’t be confined to a single genre, and when it comes to creating a new scene, ‘Samurai Guitarist’ is an important keyword for me. Like, I fight with my guitar, instead of with a sword.”
Miyavi crosses the boundaries of race, gender and generation. His first album since moving record labels, ‘WHAT’S MY NAME?’ contains all his current progress. The groovy, edgy songs are made with only drums, guitar and vocals. His guitar playing, which is backed by his brilliant skill, is percussive and soulful. It takes only a moment to understand just why fans all over the world love his sound. You don’t even notice the absence of a bass. In a way, his guitar playing shatters the definition of guitar.
“I wanted to go back to that question of “Just what can you do?” I wanted to bring the focus on the guitar, and on the beat. I wanted to make music that could exist only with those two things. Everything was recording in a single take, but I wanted to make it something that wasn’t just music guitar and drums could make, but something that had a sound pressure that matched anything you could even with an orchestra or a horn section. Not something that’s cool because it’s minimalistic, more like, even though there’s only two of us, we’re just as good! The concept for the album was like, I’m gonna open up a can of whoop ass on you with this guitar! (LOL) It has elements of rock, hip hop, funk and dance music, but it’s in a style only I can do, I want to get it to somewhere no one else can attain. I put everything I want to do and everything I have to do onto this album.”
In 2007, Miyavi formed the session band KAVKI BOIZ. Sublimating elements of traditional Japanese Kabuki into his own style, he toured the world with an MC, a DJ, a tap dancer, a painter and a taiko drummer, to great acclaim. On this new album he has once again gone back to the drawing board to face himself head on again. His straightforward message to himself and the world pierces the heart.
“If you literally translate the title “WHAT’S MY NAME?” it means “Do you know my name?”, but it’s also a question I’m asking myself. “Who are you?” Mentally, as well, I put everything into this album. I mean, I’m 28. When I made the album, I felt like “I started my own company, and I have a family now, and if I’m [at this point in my life and career] and I can’t create music that couldn’t be made by anyone else then I should just quit music.” I really faced the core of what it means for me to be an artist. To not worry about the numbers and just sing about what I want to sing about and play guitar how I want to play it. So that someday, I’ll be able to say “THIS IS MIYAVI.”
What do you want to bring to the world through your career?
In one word, “love”. There’s a song on the album called “FUTURISTIC LOVE”, and I sing about overcoming country and generation and culture and religion and history and all of that, to become one. Wouldn’t if be wonderful if by communicating that through music, we could make it happen? Since I started doing shows overseas, I really feel even more strongly about that.
I mean, you’ve got people from all over the world into the same music, right? Maybe this is just a pipe dream but I really believe that this is the true meaning of music.
My first tattoo was a phrase to help me face myself.
Miyavi has done two huge scale world tours, touring over 20 countries to see passionate fans who cross the borders between Asia, Europe and the Americas. He got his first tattoo when he was 19, when he tasted frustration in the period leading up to the break up of his first band, Due le quartz.
“It was a period where I was feeling really disheartened, and really struggling with the gap between what I wanted to do and what I was actually doing, and I thought about leaving the band and dying. So I went by myself to Okinawa to try to go back to the drawing board and decide whether I really wanted to die or not. It was on that trip to Okinawa that I got my first tattoo: “天上天下唯雅独尊”. (“I am my own Lord throughout heaven and earth”) . It’s taken from a saying by Siddhartha, and “唯雅” is actually written “唯我”, but I changed it for my own name so it would mean “There is no one above or below me.” To show that I have to face myself head on. I got the tattoo to show my resolve not to stop playing music, and not to let myself be beaten by anyone, even my weaker self.”
During that period, he often calmed himself by transcribing sutras. That was when he got the full back tattoo of the Heart Sutra. More than a show of any great faith in Buddhism, the words were something he used to encourage himself.
“My tattoos aren’t really a collaboration with a tattoo artist, they’re words and thoughts and symbols that are important to me. My skin takes the place of a note book. I also have a few numbers tattooed on me. The first ones I got done were 4 and 9. I got them because those have always been unlucky numbers for me. When I was a teenager one of my very dear friends passed away, and I got them because to remind myself to accept everything that happens even the things like death and disasters. Now I think that I got it to XDDD my weaker side, or sometimes, to hide it. I’ve been through all that and I still have a lot of canvas on my body, so one day I’d like to get some of my own lyrics tattooed so they’ll become art. Because my lyrics are my way of making a record of my life as I live it.”
In other words, for Miyavi, his tattoos represent his life. The tattoo reading Due le Quartz on his wrist he got on his 20th birthday when the band had broken up. He shocked the people around him by debuting as a solo artist, miyavi the very next day, but the decision he made then is still what motivates him today.
“I got the band’s name because I wanted to remember the motivation I originally had to be a musician. I always wanted to be an artist that could become worldwide, and that was my first band that I joined when I came to Tokyo at 17... The future is basically an accumulation of the past, but I think that it’s also the future that decides the past, so I never want to forget my past. They say that ‘success is built on failure’, and I do think it’s true that it’s only after you succeed that all your failures start to have meaning. I doesn’t matter how, but if I succeed, this band will become something really valuable. I think that my reasons for getting a tattoo are always really instinctive like that. When something happens I can remember back to when I got a certain tattoo, and kind of go back to the way I was at that time.”
I want to cross over borders of gender and religion and culture and connect people with music.
Miyavi continues to create music that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world, music that only he can play. It’s not unrelated to the impulse that lead him to get all his tattoos.
“It’s kind of weird, but as Japanese, people don't really ever get things like ‘Ore’ or ‘Ware’ tattooed, you know? The way that you always seen foreigners with the kanji for ‘spirit’ or ‘friendship’ or somethig on their arms. (LOL) But whether it comes to tattoos or music, I want to be completely unique. Whether it’s my make up or my clothes or my guitar playing, I want to make people go, “What is this? Is it rock? Is it funk? Is it hip hop?” I think the reason why it’s making an impact on the market outside of Japan is that it can’t be confined to a single genre, and when it comes to creating a new scene, ‘Samurai Guitarist’ is an important keyword for me. Like, I fight with my guitar, instead of with a sword.”
Miyavi crosses the boundaries of race, gender and generation. His first album since moving record labels, ‘WHAT’S MY NAME?’ contains all his current progress. The groovy, edgy songs are made with only drums, guitar and vocals. His guitar playing, which is backed by his brilliant skill, is percussive and soulful. It takes only a moment to understand just why fans all over the world love his sound. You don’t even notice the absence of a bass. In a way, his guitar playing shatters the definition of guitar.
“I wanted to go back to that question of “Just what can you do?” I wanted to bring the focus on the guitar, and on the beat. I wanted to make music that could exist only with those two things. Everything was recording in a single take, but I wanted to make it something that wasn’t just music guitar and drums could make, but something that had a sound pressure that matched anything you could even with an orchestra or a horn section. Not something that’s cool because it’s minimalistic, more like, even though there’s only two of us, we’re just as good! The concept for the album was like, I’m gonna open up a can of whoop ass on you with this guitar! (LOL) It has elements of rock, hip hop, funk and dance music, but it’s in a style only I can do, I want to get it to somewhere no one else can attain. I put everything I want to do and everything I have to do onto this album.”
In 2007, Miyavi formed the session band KAVKI BOIZ. Sublimating elements of traditional Japanese Kabuki into his own style, he toured the world with an MC, a DJ, a tap dancer, a painter and a taiko drummer, to great acclaim. On this new album he has once again gone back to the drawing board to face himself head on again. His straightforward message to himself and the world pierces the heart.
“If you literally translate the title “WHAT’S MY NAME?” it means “Do you know my name?”, but it’s also a question I’m asking myself. “Who are you?” Mentally, as well, I put everything into this album. I mean, I’m 28. When I made the album, I felt like “I started my own company, and I have a family now, and if I’m [at this point in my life and career] and I can’t create music that couldn’t be made by anyone else then I should just quit music.” I really faced the core of what it means for me to be an artist. To not worry about the numbers and just sing about what I want to sing about and play guitar how I want to play it. So that someday, I’ll be able to say “THIS IS MIYAVI.”
What do you want to bring to the world through your career?
In one word, “love”. There’s a song on the album called “FUTURISTIC LOVE”, and I sing about overcoming country and generation and culture and religion and history and all of that, to become one. Wouldn’t if be wonderful if by communicating that through music, we could make it happen? Since I started doing shows overseas, I really feel even more strongly about that.
I mean, you’ve got people from all over the world into the same music, right? Maybe this is just a pipe dream but I really believe that this is the true meaning of music.