domingo, 3 de julio de 2011

Neo Genesis│MERRY GO WORLD interview [English]

Neo Genesis│MERRY GO WORLD interview

Volumen: 23
Interview: "MERRY GO WORLD"
Published: Abril 2007
MERRY GO WORLD

12012's historical single with the cachiest melody has been finished as "MERRY GO WORLD." The members' thoughts included in this song makes one forsee their 2008 activities. We tried asking these 5 people facing a turning point about their current status, including their visuals, and the changes in each! Is Enya-kun who noticed the health of Miyawaki-kun who only eats yakiniku 12012's mother figure? We also observe Suga-kun's tendency for change.

--It's been a long time since our last coverage of 12012, so everyone please
inform us of each of your recent conditions. So, about the recent Sakai-kun.
Sakai: (laugh) This spring's Sakai-kun?

--That's right. Sakai-kun as seen from the other 4 people.
Miyawaki: The recent Sakai-kun, well, his head looks like a turkey.

--It's certainly various colours.
Sakai:(laugh) It's thanks to that.

--Your image is?
Sakai: Somehow I'm making it transformation-chic.

--(laugh) Transformation... [TN: the word for transformation here is hentai, which of course has other connotations too.] How many colors are mixed in?
Sakai: Six.

--Just a little more and it's rainbow color. (laughs)
Miyawaki: Also, recently he's becoming a reliable person. In various points he's strongly displaying a determination.
Kawauchi: But the recent Sakai-san is late when he wakes up. (laugh)
Sakai: (laugh) Recently, I'm busy, so I'm in a kind of mode where I'm forced to sleep.
Suga: Also recently he's wearing stylish glasses.
Sakai: Because my astigmatism's gotten really bad. (laugh)
Enya: He's really plagued by pollen. His eyes turn all red and he's often sneezing. Everyday he's saying "Today the pollen is bad."
Sakai: For some reason when I go close to Miyawaki-san's house there's a lot of pollen.

--Is Sakai-kun the only one with pollen troubles?
Suga: Me too. My eyes turn itchy and my nose runs.
Miyawaki: I don't understand it at all.
Sakai: If I scratch at my eyes once it's the end for me. (laugh)

--I understand. About Miyawaki-kun?
Miyawaki: Come at me from wherever. (laugh)
Sakai: Recently it looks like his face hurts.

--Huh?
Miyawaki: My skin is weak. Everyday I do my makeup my face swells up all red and I get all noisy like "Gyaa, gyaa!"
Sakai: Everyone pretends not to know.
Miyawaki: Because you're cruel guys. (laughs)

--Is that all about Miyawaki-kun?
Kawauchi: Also he smokes my cigarettes freely like they were his own. (laughs)
Miyawaki: I thought I'd quit smoking, and I don't smoke in the house so I've cut back considerably, but outside I receive the members' cigarettes.
Sakai: Because he decided to smoke until my last one. (laughs)

--So you can't quit?
Miyawaki: No, I've really cut back. To about 10 a day. Since Enya-kun was telling me it was bad for the body to quit suddenly.

--Enya-kun, is that right?
Enya: It seems so. Even if people who live in the city suddenly move to a place with clean air it seems to be bad for them. Sudden environment changes are bad for the body.
Suga: Miyawaki-kun's recent status... Individually, he makes songs on the PC but before when the data was too much he'd often say it would freeze, but that reminds me that recently he doesn't really say that.
Miyawaki: I deleted a lot of useless stuff. I cleaned out the stuff I put on iTunes, and it got way less bulky. Somehow as a topic there's no one anyone has less interest in than me. (laugh)
Enya: Also, for some reason lately everyday he's saying he wants to eat yakiniku.
Miyawaki: Ah, I do.
Enya: Didn't you eat it the day before yesterday too? In that circumstance, I'm worried about your nourishment, too.
Sakai: Hahaha, are you his mother?
Enya: I'm just worried about his body.
Miyawaki: If you eat yakiniku it's good that you're not hungry the next day. So, though I invite them, no one accepts.
Enya: If you don't eat 3 meals a day...
Miyawaki: ... I'm eating them. (laugh)

--Well then how is Kawauchi-kun's status.
Sakai: When Kawauchi-kun is done recording the drums in the studio he doesn't come anymore. Where did he go? (laugh)
Kawauchi: (laugh) In that case I rely on the string instrument corps to be cool for me. (laugh)
Miyawaki: For a period he wasn't healthy but recently, he's made a revival so I'm relieved. Also recently, he's giving off an atmosphere like "Please don't really invite me out". (laugh) Before during the tour we were always going to eat together but recently we haven't done it even once.
Kawauchi: ... Because I don't wanna eat yakiniku everyday. (laugh)

--Is it like that?
Kawauchi: I want to eat fish too. (laugh)
Suga: Recently Kawauchi-kun was challenged with a fresh instrument called a shaker during recording. Before the tour in the hotel even he was somehow obsessed and swinging the thing with a "shakashaka" and I thought he was really serious about it.
Kawauchi: Even though it's a shaker, it's an instrument put in an important song so I have to do it right.
Enya: Also his outfit is short pants now, his legs are really beautiful. I thought "I didn't know Tooru could have such pretty legs."

--Were you a little surprised?
Enya: Rather than surprised, it's more that he does it so easily.
Kawauchi: Of course, I never thought there would be a day where I'd wear shorts in this band.

--Was it according to a request?
Kawauchi: No, I just thought it'd be fine if one of us did it. When I drum it's easy to move in them and they're cool, and even like my character I'm thinking I wonder if I'll go wearing short pants from here.

--A short pants character.
Kawauchi: Anpanman. (laughs) [TN: This is a pun. Short pants can be read anpan and Anpanman is a famous character that's bread with bean jam. ]
Suga: (looks at Kawauchi, surprised)

--Well, about Suga-kun?
Sakai: Of course if we're talking about the recent Suga-san it's about the sunglasses. He's always wearing them.
Wataru: When he sleeps and when he enters the bath he's wearing them too. (laugh)
Sakai: Talking about minute details, the sunglasses he wears are different
from those in artist photos and the PV, I want you to notice that a little.
Suga: That's right. A while ago I thought I wanted to wear sunglasses, and the stylist had a wish like "somehow you need something loud" so I'm wearing them.

--It's cool with a feeling of a tough element.
Suga: Since they're pretty dark, I can't really see my surroundings very well. They're so dark I can look directly at the sun in the middle of the day. (laugh)

--So, you're sunglassesman.
Sakai: Anpanman and Glassunman.
Miyawaki: And also recently when you greet Suga-san with a "good morning" he's come to reply with "good morning" for you.

--He didn't say it before?
Miyawaki: He didn't. If you asked him to greet you before he'd say "Uissu~".
Suga: Up until now, I didn't keep the greeting thing in mind.

--(laugh) Didn't keep it in mind.
Sakai: Since he's the Glassunman (laughs). You can't meet his eyes.
Suga: (bitter smile) But, I thought "Ah, everyone else does greetings."
Miyawaki: It's a normal thing. (laugh)
Suga: So, I was thinking when you work until late at night and such though you've been together for sometime do you greet them again? (laugh)
Tooru: I'm thinking Suga-san's beard won't grow any more. To what length on earth will his beard will get to is on my mind.
Suga: Even I'm worrying about to where I should grow it. (laughs)

--Speaking of, it's an image change with sunglasses and a beard.
Miyawaki: Since a long time ago when we had days off it'd grow.
Enya: Since he wears a cross on his back, sunglasses, and a beard, he's a little scary. (laughs) Recently he has an aura like he's hard to approach. His sunglasses are dark so I can't see his expression so I never know if he's pissed off or something like that. But recently he came up to me with a bag from the super market and said "Here, take this" so I was like "What is it?" and when I opened it there were a lot of Iyokan fruits. I went "Of course the contents is kind like Suga-san." (laughs) It's bad to judge people by their appearance.
Miyawaki: And he's greeting us properly. (laugh) To add on to that at live the one remaining onstage until the end is Suga-san, when he's going back if you check his figure from behind you'll understand the meaning of bearing a cross on his back, I think.

--I see. Lastly how is Enya-kun's recent state?
Sakai: There are times when I finish the guitar in recording that I want to drink beer, and when I think I'll go invite Enya-san he's sleeping. (laugh) He's become tired. For me I think I rarely invite him.
Enya: I'm seldom invited by Sakai-san so why did I have to be sleeping. (laugh)
Sakai: Next time.
Miyawaki: I often talked just with Tomo-kun during tours, I though he really considered how to roll the band in a good directions. Until now Sakai-kun and I say our views like "wa~" but Tomo-kun is the type to not really say his, but based from there too he can do a good job of taking the lead.
Kawauchi: Wataru-san was saying it but, he really conveys that he's doing his best to hold a good direction for the band. Also, recently Tomo-kun is lively.
Miyawaki: That's right, yeah. I'm saying it with Tooru, he's living.
Enya: (laugh) Somehow when I'm told that it seems I get carried away.
Suga: In myself I haven't changed that much but certainly Enya-kun was talking about the aspiration of "showing oneself" at the beginning of this year. Recently when I'm listening to his statements and such I occasionally think "What he was saying then is something like this."

--Well, of the 5 of you the one who changed the most is Enya-kun?
Suga: In a good way. He said he wants to show courage?
Enya: That's right. Just a bit so I'm not hated.

--And, among days like that, soon the single you recorded after a long time, "MERRY GO WORLD" will be released, it's a pop song with a feeling of lively movement.
Enya: I made the song when we were making songs for the single, while thinking
"What kind of song is good?", as it's this year's first single and our 5th year as a band I was thinking about these various things and I wrote the song with catchiness and attached importance to the sense of sprinting. With a song like this I think it's easy to get the message in it.

--I got the feeling it was the song with the brightest tone of 12012's songs so far.
Miyawaki: Yes, until now I drew what I thought the ideal future would be and such, and there were lots of songs where I wrote about my hopes for wanting to live in a world like this and such, but I thought really I want a song that looks at reality with a strong power that moves forwards. When I first listened to this song it reached my ears immediately and I wanted to put that message in it.

--It's that in a spinning world with the speed rising, it can't be like this.
Miyawaki: That's right. Since there are lots of artists who sing about happy things, I wanted to sing about the part that's a blind spot. Maybe now it's becoming something one has to notice but in the world there are things I wanted to start questioning.

--Becoming used to losing things, living unconsciously so as not to be hurt and such...
Miyawaki: Yes. Humans are a living thing that unknowingly adapt to their environment, right? Personally, a year ago when I first lived in Tokyo I was feeling suffocated, confused with the length of time that was passing, but before I knew it I was used to it. But, in living we suddenly think we're not leaving something important behind.

--Yes, yes. What was the first impression of the other three when they heard the song?
Sakai: When I first heard it I thought it was a really catchy song. This time we didn't just choose it from our own view but from those of a third party as well, so it had a feeling that could be conveyed to more people than usual.

--So then, I wonder if it's a song that will become a turning point for 12012.
Miyawaki: That's right. It's our first step forward from our 5th year anniversary.
Kawauchi: Of course when I first heard it I felt that the impact was surpassing the group. As for the drums so far I played with the stance that was inspired from the song, but this time I spent a long time thinking of one phrase.
Suga: This time, of the candidates for songs to pick, for me a major premise was to have a catchy song.

--12012 should open a new door with this, right?
Suga: Yes, I didn't think about it that deeply.
Sakai: Only rather than say that this song changed the band's sense, it faced us towards a new point.
Enya: There was a new challenge in a song of major progression, but I have feelings like we made a song that would be good as an entrance to those who don't yet know 12012. Having said that, that doesn't mean we will follow this route hereafter.
Miyawaki: The energy of this song faces outwards, all of us got the same impression and it was done with the same method to convey, this kind of song is probably a necessity for the present 12012. I have feelings that I want to gradually meet new people.....

--In both songs the vocals come out first. The second song, "LOVERS" left an image of a Japanese melody.
Miyawaki: A "wa" feeling. [TN: "wa" is a prefix to indicate something Japanese in origin, but also means peace.]
Sakai: At first this song was floating in the highest point, we arranged it in the band and perfected it, but we made something better than I imagined. It was a song with the image of flowing water suddenly roaring.
Suga: Always when I think of guitar I think of what the song needs, but when I heard this song I could see the guitar, amp, and phrases to use all at once. Soon an image came to mind, there are songs where I can feel a response even in myself.

--The vocals had a lot of poetic sentiment as well. Well, what was the point you'd like to push of this song?
Kawauchi: The point we're pushing the whole thing. Personally what was surprising was that we made "MERRY GO WORLD" the first song.

--How would Suga-kun explain this single?
Suga: If I do it as an explanation, this single is a turning point.
Enya: I would say so myself too, I think all of the songs on this single
are cool. No matter which song became the title I think it wouldn't be strange, it's become a work with self-confidence. Also, there are 3 jackets that are "trompe-l'oeil" so please try looking closely.
Wataru: Actually there's a girl holding a knife, you can see in the handgun and such, if you look close there are scary things hidden too.

--But I thought it was a cute jacket, with the boy on it.
Suga: It's not cute at all. (laugh) In a sense, it's horror.
Miyawaki: But this is the first single we've made in a while with such a sense of accomplishment. It gave the feeling like we made one album with new factors, and hereafter it'll be a single that will be tied with 12012 I think.
Sakai: The four songs we recorded are perfect. We always make the main song and coupling without discrimination, so I definitely want everyone to hear it. We didn't put out 3 types for sales, since we truly were able to make good songs, to buy only one... (laugh)
Miyawaki: (laugh) Advertising.

--Hahaha. On 5/15 at Akasaka BLITZ there's a special live for the 5th anniversay, the title of this live is "arashi (storm)"?
Miyawaki: On that day, a storm will pass through BLITZ. (laugh) After you're done watching it, we want to give you a feeling like a storm just passed.

--Like a sky, freshly cleared up.
Miyawaki: Beautiful, isn't it. With that we want to show the things 12012 ahas done up until now along with what we will do after this. We have more aspirations for this year than last, we want to go doing more interesting things, and we want to do more and more huge things with our schedule.

--That's to say?
Miyawaki: I feel that we've got too cool preparations in order, in our feelings and senses we've decided completely on a target. We want to go striking it in our lives and works.

--What is that target?
Miyawaki: Included in the Japanese music scene, even facing the world, as 12012 I think we want to start a whirlwind. This year even if our bodies wear out it's fine because we want to go on pressing for answers, we want to do things with the intention to gamble it all.
Enya: Perhaps a seal might be put on lives.
Miyawaki: We'll be doing work, but I think maybe gradually we won't do lives. Or rather we want to save up for a bomb.

--Well, you can't miss May's BLITZ even more now.
Enya: Yes, please anticipate it.


Credits: Cultic

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