vol.170 Nighmare Interview (p.40)

“I want to be a leader like Mickey Mouse.”
YOMI

YOMI, do you have anything you want to do this year?

These days, I want to learn calligraphy. I did it before, from around the 4^th grade of elementary school to around the 1^st grade of junior high school.

I remember you wrote Japanese letters well using a brush.

I have a third grade certificate in calligraphy. Recently, I haven’t done it at all so I’m getting worse. I saw in a book a calligrapher who wrote in cursive style which was so cool, and I thought “Ah, it’s good.”. So I want to start it this year as a hobby.

People who write well are cool.

Yes, that’s right. And good writing is persuasive.

Even if you compare the same phrase or sentence like “Do your best.” you can see a big difference in letters. Good and not so good.

Yes. If the letters are poor, I don’t feel like doing my best.(laugh) So I want to do calligraphy. I don’t dislike the time needed to write Japanese characters, because I like to concentrate on doing it. 

How about doing a stage performance? 

Yeah, shall I write letters using a big brush?(laugh)

OK, let’s start talking about your album. YOMI, you wrote lyrics of 3 songs this time.

Yes. [18 sai] was the most difficult. I wrote [Gianism shichi] smoothly, because what I wanted to write was clear. I was writing the lyrics of [18 sai] and [crevasse] word by word as they came to me.

Did you remember when you were 18 years old?

Yes. But when I was 18 years old, I had already started playing in a band, so I thought about people who aren’t like me. I have the image of current people of 18 years old who don’t have any idea about what they want to be. So when I wrote the lyrics, I wanted to make an image of having dreams, because I thought I could make people who don’t have dreams become positive if they listen to this song.

How was your 18^th year for you?

I was afraid of nothing. If I failed, I could start over. But at that time, I thought I couldn’t start over again.

Were you on the straight and narrow in this way?

Yes. That’s one of the reasons why I haven’t thought about failures. I was really unbeaten.

How are you now?

Now I’m not so much unbeaten, but it depends more on if you can catch me!(laugh)

You mean doing something bad, don’t you?(laugh) How about as a vocalist of Nightmare?

Ah, you mean that? When I stand on the stage, I’m unbeaten. I can do anything.

If the 18 year old YOMI could see the present YOMI, what do you think he would say to you?

At that time I had an image that vocalists should be cooler than now.

Ah, was it like Toshi of X-JAPAN and Ryuichi of LUNA SEA who you liked?

Yes. At that time I imagined I was close to such vocalists, so he would be surprised at the present me.(laugh) Even though he might be shocked.

(laugh) In [Gianism shichi], what did you try to write?

I was asked by SAKITO to write on the theme of “scold”. But I hate to scold and to be scolded. As I said before, I think many people who scold and criticize others are mostly those who forget their own short comings. So I don’t like to scold so much. But then I thought I would be interested to do something with originality, so I wrote that it’s not good to be all the same in the Visual kei scene.

Because it’s more secure?

Yes. But I think it’s not right. I intended to persuade myself too “Have more originality” in a way.

I see. You mean to scold and encourage, don’t you?

Yes. So the title is [Gianism shittagekirei].(laugh)

What did you imagine in [crevasse]?

Of course I put all my experiences until now into this song, and when I listened to this song, I felt like I was wandering somewhere vast such as the North Pole, the South Pole, a desert, etc, and I tried to express it in my words. So I want you to listen to my voice as one of instruments rather than listen to my lyrics carefully.

I felt like that when I think about what I would think when I’m depressed I would remember people who I broke up with in various scenes until now. So I felt like I was thinking alone in a crevasse listening to this music.

……yes. It might be go for various situations of listeners such as he or she, or dreams. When I’m depressed I get well by listening to sad music.

I understand that.

Can you? So I hope this song would be such a song in the album.

YOMI, what do you imagine when you hear the words of 『the WORLD Ruler』?

At first, I imagined something in the real world(laugh), such as a leader. But we mean judgment, like a judge, than a ruler. …..Ah, but I think meaning of a ruler also seems matching to Nightmare, like a kind of Gianism.

Ah, it actually matches to Gianism. YOMI, which part do you think fitting to yourself?

Do you mean a judge? Uhn….I’m the one being judged.(laugh) I think it’s a desired rule that I lead our band Nightmare. But personally I dislike standing up in front of others. I don’t want to be above or below others. But I want to be a leader like Mickey Mouse.

YOMI, if you would be a leader, what would the world become like?

I think the world would become brighter a little bit. I’d stop examinations, and make it so that everyone can go to any high school and any university they want. I want to help anyone who wants to learn, to study, no matter if they are smart or not.

Yeh, that’s a good idea! There is a saying that “If you like it, you get good at it!” because you’ll work hard.

I agree with you. I want to make this world so that we can study what we want to study, and do what we want to do. And I want to unify languages of all over the world into one. So the barriers of languages would disappear, and we would be able to understand each other.

Which language?

Japanese!(laugh) Well, anyway, I hope there would not be any fights. If we would become a monster band, many people would listen to our music. I think the messages of such musicians have big meanings. So we want to be a band which can contribute to world peace.

“Making many steps…...”
HITSUGI

HITSUGI, has there anything changed recently?

My parents moved. I was a little sad because I had lived in that house for 20 years. When I cleaned up my things and found small scores on a pillar, I was really moved.

During your move, I heard you stayed in Ni~ya’s home.

I didn’t have a place to sleep because of my move.(laugh) I don’t sleep in other member’s homes often, so it was so strange. (It was the first time for Ni~ya that other members came to his home.) And I felt it was historic.

For what?

I thought Ni~ya grew up here. Ni~ya hasn’t moved since he was born, so I felt more of his history. I had a good experience and it was funny.

A funny experience.(laugh) How was your recording going?

There was a tour and various things during that, so we had to stop working often. But it doesn’t mean we couldn’t concentrate, but we concentrated on both our music and keeping a grip on ourselves. But I had enough time to do my work. About the music, these days I don’t long for guitar heroes anymore. I think I don’t have to stand out by my sound and I’ll turn my Visual style into my advantage.

What do you mean?

Visual kei are often said that the appearance is showy but the sound is…..Of course the sound is steady and in addition, I don’t have to do something special to stand out. But my appearance is something like “Wow!?”.

You do steadily and firmly, and your appearance has no opponent.

It has been said that Nightmare doesn’t look like a Visual kei band without me. If I don’t put on make up, we aren’t Visual kei anymore.

Recently, members use simple make up. So you put all your hearts into creating music in this recording.

I was really serious. It was like that I was working trying to absorb many things that I was thinking about and getting lost.

In [~lulu~] which is the last song of this album, you made lyrics collaborating with SAKITO.

When SAKITO brought its demo to me, I thought I liked the feeling of this song. The world view of this song was established, so I thought SAKITO wrote the lyrics already. When I asked him “May I write the lyrics?”, he said ‘OK’ so easily that I said ‘Ah? Really?’.(laugh) I brought my lyrics to him soon the next day.

It means that something inspired you, HITSUGI.

The words came into me. I didn’t talk with SAKITO about the images of this song. I gave the lyrics which I wrote, then SAKITO added his words and phrases to it.

What did SAKITO say?

SAKITO said he imagined the scenery of a broad sea, or a huge blank, not a crowed downtown street. And the image of a morning sun that shines into an empty room. My original image was also a vast place, but not sea nor grassland nor sky, even they don’t have colors. I was staying in a empty vast extent, not worrying about staying there but just asking myself why I’m here, and trying to realize myself again, which was my vision.  

The images of both of you mixed to become the song. I felt the lyrics as if I was floating in the middle between ‘positiv’e and ‘negative’.

I only thought that I wanted to make lyrics which had no emotions of gladness, angriness, sadness or happiness, neither sad nor happy. I think every human falls into such an emotion sometimes, for example feeling empty one moment, which I wanted to express in my lyrics even we can feel like that slightly.

Why did you want to write such a feeling?

The situation of the lyrics that I wrote at first is a coma, which is where I can’t open my eyes, I don’t even know whether it’s caused by an accident or by an illness. For example if one comes from a coma, we often hear that he/she comes from a coma because they worked hard trying to come back. But I wanted to write the situation not concerning whether he worked hard or not.

You mean feeling, not will, don’t you?

Yes. So I’m thinking about “Can I love myself?” in a coma. And if I can’t love people and the environment surrounding me, I don’t want to wake up, but if I can love them, I want to wake up.

Where did the keyword of a coma come from?

I don’ know. It came from when I thought about the situation of nothing and no colors.

Only in the feeling?

Yes. As if I’m alone only with memories. It’s the situation which I can feel everything is flat.

I don’t know exactly, but it seems similar to when we were in our mother’s tummy.

Ah, it might like that. It’s like the feeling for the world which you are about to be born into.

It’s like a stage before emotion…..

I thought I could change the emotions after I felt them.

HITSUGI, do you have a wish to return to nothingness or emptyness?

Maybe subconsciously. Well, there is an excitement in this song, which is difficult to explain. It touches my heart, and if I didn’t feel that, I wouldn’t have wanted to write it, because I had never said that I wanted to write lyrics of songs that other members made.

This song has a mysterious charm. It’s so simple, it feels like floating, but has something very attractive to it too.

Well, it seems that both an ending and a new beginning coexists together in this one song. This song seems to be the last song, but it also seems to be the beginning.

Yes. This album seems aggressive as a whole but finally it returns to a quiet zero.

Don’t you feel like “Where am I?”? It’s like you aren’t landing but disappearing softly. ‘lulu’ means to continue long and narrow in Japanese. It seems to continue into the next song and the beginning of the album.

HITSUGI, you seem to want to give birth to your own meaning in this album.

Yes. I think in『anima』I opened the curtain and in 『the WORLD Ruler』I could go a hop and a step ahead.

So the next should be a jump?

No, I’m still in a step, like a hop, step and another step.(laugh) I’ll make many steps to make a longer jump.

If you could change the world, what would you do?

Uhn….I think everyone wishes there were no wars in this world, but I wish everyone’s heart would become several percent gentler than now, even just a little bit.

That’s nice.

If everyone could have 5 % of kindness, this world would change a little bit, I think.

“I know why there are 5 of us”
SAKITO

『the WORLD Ruler』is aggressive. I thought Punk elements came out in SAKITO too.

I didn’t think I would make that ‘beautiful’, but as long as it was interesting I would do anything I could. I think this is an album that I could release sounds and tunes which I wanted to do but I couldn’t until now.

Most of the songs are aggressive in their rhythms. And the first song, is surprising if not sensational.

As for the beginning rhythm of the first song, I made by sampling my voice, putting it into a PC, arranging it, making the rhythm.

I can feel the new Nightmare particularly in this song .

I used to make the first song thinking about the beginning of an album, so the music would not come at you all at once.

Until now, they seemed like prologues. And your lyrics have changed too. RUKA was glad saying that “SAKITO has some anarchy in him.”.

(laugh) Well, I don’t really show it but there are many feelings always whirling inside me. I’m always irritated.

So did you also put that part of you into this? In your former work;『anima』, you seemed a little different.

Yes. Before, I chose the words thinking how they would be received, but this time when the words came into my mind, I made them important because it means  I actually thought about it in myself rather than thinking about how they would be received ,.

It’s a big change for you to think about making use of your instinct.

Maybe so. When I started to create the album I was worried often thinking “Is this sound really needed?”, but that disappeared in the middle of our tour at around later half of the recording. To think that much made me tired, and I thought I would do everything however I wanted to. So this time I put many and various sounds into it.

[BOYS BE SUSPISIOUS] says it so straightly.

Well, it means that many people mimic something these days. I observed that people tried to ride in the main stream music and movies.

So you ask “What’s it like?”.

I thought we have to treasure our personalities more in this world.

You described it as a boy’s story.

Until now I haven’t wrote lyrics like this often, so I thought it’s interesting to make an imaginary person. In this song, after I hit on the title the lyrics came to me too.

And I felt pop elements of SAKITO coming out fully in this song.

I’m very glad to hear that. I don’t want to make music only for few people who understand. I’m happy that pop elements have been noticed.

Did you intend that?

I’m not sure. These days when I listen to our old songs I feel that many of them were just made by our ego. I have many songs which I don’t want to listen to, even the ones I made. Such songs were not so interesting because they had too many messages and themes. So I thought it would be better to make songs which I can enjoy and be able to move naturally to.

I’m captivated by the [Alice].

I tried to make it showy as much as possible. So I used live brass. It was fun.

The sounds were interesting, and the flow was cool.

My most favorite part is where the rhythm slows down in the interlude. I really like the drum rhythms and bass choppers.

And the lyrics are so complicated that Alice would be surprised.

The original Alice would be surprised? (laugh) This portrays the contraction in me and dual personality. I happened to watch a TV feature program [Alice in wonderland]. I often see it and read it, but I haven’t understood it until now. I like the wonder of the story. I’m a man who is attracted by mysterious things such as lyrics and songs of NHK [Minna no Uta], some of which I don’t understand what it means, which influences my lyrics. Do I want to puzzle listeners? Maybe. I want to think “What’s this?” and to think about my music.

You puzzle listeners and also puzzle yourself. (laugh)

To make the audience enjoy themselves, I have to enjoy myself, and if I don’t think about it, other won’t either. There are times that you will understand my lyrics afterwards, I have thought when listen to a song afterwards that this is what I was saying.

This time, you let YOMI write lyrics of 3 songs, and worked with HITSUGI making lyrics of one song.

If members want to write lyrics, I want them to write lyrics more and more. I don’t want to do everything. If they can see an image, then I really want them to do so.

 [~lulu~] which is your work with HITSUGI is a good song.

I like this best in this album. When I lie on a sofa thinking nothing, it’s very good to listen to.

It’s like being between flatness and nothingness….

I really like the contrast of the wall of distorting guitar sounds and the beautiful piano sounds.

What do you intend to in [the FOOL]?

This is the opposite to [the WORLD] and I took the name from a tarot. In tarot, ‘FOOL’ means reckless and foolhardy, so the image of the lyrics is a dreaming fool. Like he is always “Taking it easy.”.

Is this the short song which you talked to YOMI about whether you would put it on the album or not?

We chose it.(laugh) We recorded it roughly, so its live atmosphere comes out well, I think.

SAKITO, do you have anything you imagine when you hear the word 『the WORLD Ruler』?

For my personal image, it’s the way to interpret the world which I see. I think the songs show how I understand. Well, in the song of [BOYS BE SUSPICIOUS], I think I express honestly. There are answers and questions to each worlds, such as from a big world of society to small world of surround me, and my inner world.

Do you feel a desire for rule in you?

Maybe. Before, I didn’t let others touch my things. I think when I started Nightmare my attitude toward my songs was like that. Before I often thought that I was going to do everything as I imaged, but now I treasure the band most, and I feel the meaning or importance of the 5 members. So I’m trying to do away with my ego. As I have thought before, I want to be 20 % of Nightmare not all of it.

What did you do in New Year?

I went back to my parents’ home. I injured my health so I thought I was almost dying.

Did you catch a cold? Did you lose your tension going back to your parents’ home?

Maybe, so. I usually don’t catch a cold in my parents’ home, though. I had many people who took care of me, such as my mother, my grandmother, my younger sister, so I was comfortable. I realized the importance of my family~. Ah, it wasn’t the New Year but HITSUGI came to stay my home and drank with me.

Was it unusual?

Well, members rarely come to my home, so it was strange that HITSUGI was at my home. But it was fresh. Everything felt so funny. (laugh)

And Ni~ya, what impression do you have about your new album?

Honestly speaking, I can’t see it objectively yet. I’m always like that but when I get a CD-R after the mastering finish I don’t feel like ‘I finally made it!’. I don’t realize until the CD packages are made up properly. Of course I listen to the CD-R at home, but it has no booklet. However, I think “I want to do lives soon.” listening to it.

Are you thinking about your next tours already?

Not really.(laugh) Well, I want to go soon, but until then I have a lot of things to do such as rehearsals.

And you have to memorize them.

Yes. I don’t remember which phrases I played during the recording.(laugh)

(laugh)

Well, I’ll explain but there are songs which we recorded in August last year, such as [Alice], [18 sai], and [Morpho].

I see, that’s why you don’t remember……oh, no, no.(laugh)

Last year, we ran through our recording and lives, which was hard, but helped me stay focused and full of energy. We didn’t do our recording in our usual way.(laugh)

Was it better this way than you concentrating on it and struggling?

Yes. This time, we played instinctively rather than thinking about it. When we play together in preproduction, we made the phrases impromptu. It was like we played without thinking, which was different from our former recordings. It took time to create sounds, but phrases came out naturally without deep thoughts. I dare to say [~lulu~] was difficult, because it was so simple.

You searched for the bassist role first when you played this song, didn’t you?

Yes, as guitar and drum phrases were already determined in our demo stage.

Oh, you all seem calm.

Then I thought if I would play bass calmly it wasn’t interesting nor lively. So I played wildly a little bit like that, which I thought I definitely needed.

Your role is to mediate between drums and a guitar.

So bassist like me doesn’t have many chances to play freely.

You have to be professional. But this album is quite aggressive, and you had many part which you could play freely, didn’t you?

Well, I was just somehow fooling around. Before I thought I should stay behind others and support them, but this time I felt like ‘Let’s do it!’, which was like a lot like how I used to feel. As a whole, my bass is quite aggressive.

I think your thinking did a whole circle. And you came back not to the same place but to a new one.

Ah, perhaps. I might have through various phases and come back to my original place too.

Well, it’s great that you can play without thinking, which was the basis of your band.

Basically I want to enjoy music. I played freely this time, which gave me more fun. For example, we tried tones which I have never used before, and used effects which I haven’t used often until now, and I played feeling very fresh, I enjoyed playing very much. But I did trial and error playing bass solo in the interlude of [Morpho], because I thought not trying to break the atmosphere of the song as the first priority. I really felt it was made naturally on the whole. 

Ni~ya, do you have a desire of rule in you?

I have never thought about it, but as our band Nightmare, I want it to be the best band in Japan. The will for progression is important, I think.

If you became the best in Japan, what would you want to do?

Well, I want to have a vacation! About one month.(laugh) Then I want to travel. I want to go out of Japan to see different lives and cultures different to Japan. I have never been overseas yet, so I really want to go.

Ni~ya, before you told me that you wanted to go America. Why?

Because it’s free and not as confining as here.

(laugh) Well, that would suit Ni~ya.

(laugh) And everything is large in scale. I want to experience that too. And I want to have conversations with many people, even though I can’t speak English at all.(laugh)

Even though you can’t speak English, you seem best to be able to communicate with anyone.

(laugh) Do you think so? Now I want to have friends apart from Japanese. If I have new stimulations, I would have wider views and thoughts than now, I think.

Why don’t you travel alone?

No, I don’t want to go alone.(laugh) I want to go with the band together.

(laugh) So Ni~ya, now you can catch your breath, can’t you?

Not yet. I’m thinking about my life from now on.

How?

Not only my life, but I want to make myself totally new. I want to find me, but I don’t know if I can.

You can’t find it easily, but you might find it one day unexpectedly. It might be that others would find you before you yourself can find you.

I see. Even if others say I have changed but I can’t tell how I changed at all.(laugh) I might not notice it.

I see you have your mind searching for something new inside, Ni~ya.

I guess so. After the album is released, I might notice the new me by looking at those around me.

So will the next tour be one to find yourself?

Yeh, that’s a good idea! I’ll go with that theme.(laugh) I’m serious!

“I’m living with hatred.”
RUKA

What were you doing in the New Year holidays?

I didn’t go back to my parents’ home, but created songs instead. When we did a FC live, I went home just briefly.

So we’ll start talking about your album.

Eh-!?

Well, I understand, but you don’t like the interview about your new CD?

No, I don’t like it at all.(laugh)

So what should I do?

Well,(laugh) I understand, this is my work after all.

OK, please be patient to talk with me for about 30 minutes.

Hahahaha. By the way, I watched 3 weeks worth of『DEATH NOTE』before I came here today. After MISA appeared, it was very good.

The appearance of MISA was shocking.

I like the voice of MISA~.

Eh, you mean that?(laugh) Then in this album each song goes towards one direction as a whole.

Do you think it’s filled with distrust of humans?

I think so. SAKITO’s lyrics have become full of negative power.

Don’t you think so? Zozzy(=Nickname of YOMI) sometimes showed his negativity in [Gianism] but SAKITO hasn’t done that until now.

Yes, he hasn’t made punk songs yet.

See. It’s filled with anarchism.

RUKA, you are happy about that, aren’t you?

Yes, I’m happy!

So what did you imagine when you made [Criminal baby]?

Before, I read a book written about a prisoner on death row. Then I imagined the situation where he was waiting for his death alone in a cell.

It seems an incredible long time to be in a cell.

Do you think so? It seems pleasant for me so it might be short.

Why do you think it’s pleasant? Do you mean he can taste how happy he is living now to awake to his death?

I think so because his death is already determined. If I don’t use that word ‘pleasant’, I mean he noticed how wonderful it had been to live.

But there is a terror to face it. And regrets.

Uhn….it’s difficult. And it depends on what crime he did and went to prison for.

I remember the climax scene of 『DEATH NOTE』, which Yagami Light is making useless effort. And I like your lyrics that ‘there is no way to rescue the egoist.’, which seems to match.

Heh~. I wrote these lyrics imagining myself. I like these lyrics best in this works.

Because you could write what you wanted to say logically, and there is a story in it.

I think so. And the lyrics are not so difficult.

I think we would remember humans, not substances at the last moment of our death..

Maybe so. About parents, grandfather, grandmother…..but it seems dark.

Well, because this album is dark.

Ahahaha(laugh)

About [Black Sick Spider] you said he is your ideal man, RUKA.

If you are a man you would think he’s cool. And don’t mind if I say so, but he’s the type that foolish girls fall in love with, don’t you think so?

Yes. But I’ll say, he is also a foolish man who cares only about his appearance, I think.

Haha. Well, both men and women like playing with fire.

For me, I don’t like the situation of being deceived or tricked. Do you?

I’m living with hatred.

But if you would be in such a situation, would you feel bad?

I guess so. But isn’t hate the strongest thing in life? The idea that ‘I’ll get back at him!’ becomes energy for living. If we were satisfied with everything, we would end.

However, even if hate would disappear, we never be happy.

Really?

Of course we have a vengeful energy, but when we achieve it, we wouldn’t feel ‘Look at me!’, nor we wouldn’t care about him anymore, because we would be looking at the next step up.

Does it mean like ‘the rich won’t fight’?

……(laugh) well I’m not sure. Is it right? I mean it’s not worth it to deal with such a person.

I thought exactly that! I’m sure it means that.

But I don’t mean we don’t have to be rich.(laugh) Like we would have some room in our heart, so we would go to the next step.

Yes, that’s right.

But I don’t think we are living with only such feelings. For example, you need a peace of mind, don’t you? Well, not only hate but also you seem to have strong negative power in you, RUKA.

Maybe so.

But I think you have changed since I met you, RUKA.

How have I changed?

You still try to stay cool, but it less than before. Because you feel like you don’t want to gloss yourself so much and you say only what you want to say, which you have changed.

I don’t know but~.

Well, you might have changed since you had experienced various negative things.

I don’t know well, but isn’t it hard for you, because I talk different things each time?(laugh)

I get used to it. Every time I try not to have bias against you.

Hahaha!

Then, what do you think is cool as a man, RUKA?

I think it’s a heart, isn’t it? Or it’s a large caliber.

Do you work hard for it?

Yes. I’m thinking about how I can get it bigger.

You just think about it, which isn’t enough…..

! (laugh)

Well, women would be also attracted to such men, and you have to work hard to be like that.

I know what you are saying. I just lie around at home dong nothing. That’s too bad.(laugh)

Well, it’s better for you to feel too bad than feeling nothing......hey? Why am I helping you?

Thanks for the follow up!(laugh)

●Comments for all songs●

●[BOYS BE SUPICIOUS]

HITSUGI: The rhythm at the beginning is SAKITO’s voice. That’s surprising.　However, I thought he did a good job! It’s really out there!

SAKITO: These days I listen to Electronica, club dance music, and sampling music. I had never done sampling, so I bought a microphone to record at home, as I thought it might be interesting, and I tried it.

HITSUGI: And he played the main riffs with clean sounds, no distorting at all, which is so nice!

YOMI: Their playing was so hard that I tried not to lose to the music. I felt like I was doing a live.

●[PHANTOM]

SAKITO: The only lyric we had was the word ‘kagayaku(=shining)’ which was at the end of the song. So we made the lyrics to match or connect the songs together. I turned out to be quite good quality.

YOMI: If it was possible, I wanted to sing the temporary lyrics as they were.

RUKA: Honestly speaking, it was a story about who will be bald among our members.

How you could make such a beautiful song from such a thing?

RUKA: Yeh. But we are often affected by our temporary lyrics. Sometimes we can’t get rid of words and we use them as they are.

SAKITO: The rhythms are computer input sounds, so they became a totally new texture which we have never done before.

●[the WORLD]

YOMI: [PHANTOM] became to be its introduction, so the world view of this song became strong.

It became to be ‘Hirogaru yami no naka’(=inside the expanded darkness) more.

YOMI: Yes. I like the traditional mood of this song. When we play this song in our lives, I really feel that I’m playing in a band.

I watch the animation every week, so I became used to this song naturally.

HITSUGI: Aren’t you happy if you hear this song in our lives? You think, ‘Ah, this is that song!’, when we perform it live.

RUKA: Yes, I feel rested when I listen to it.

SAKITO: We can say the same thing in [almina], but we don’t want to end with『DEATH NOTE』.

●[Criminal baby]

Ni~ya: If you listen to the album in this flow, you’ll feel ‘That’s it.’. From [the WORLD], it flows over you like a row of big waves. We all play different things to each other, for example, the intro, which is interesting.

HITSUGI: It’s not in unison either.

Ni~ya: But, we can’t say we have never done it before.

HITSUGI: Uh? Have you turned into Zozzy?

YOMI: So you mean we have but we haven’t done it before?

Ni~ya: (laugh) But this is the first time we play totally different to one another, different phrases and rhythms….

HITSUGI: You can really feel the pulse….

Ni~ya: (laugh) And this song itself seems as though it expresses a Nightmare, and expressing RUKA very well.

Well, it seems like a RIKA tune after all.

RUKA: A hum.

SAKITO: As for guitar, I imaged 『Saint Seiya』 the animation. The main melody was the same image as the theme song.

Did you play as though you really became the Saint?

SAKITO: I didn’t become Saint Seiya no…..(laugh)

YOMI: When I listened to it later, it felt like the 2 songs after [PHANTOM] were almost like part of a series.

HITSUGI: The contents of the lyrics also connect to each other.

●[Alice]

RUKA: When I listened to it first, I thought “I’ll be able to do it.”. But I couldn’t. I was surprised because it was so fast, and the rhythms were difficult, it was the hardest song.

Ni~ya: It’s hard. As for tempos and phrases, it might be most difficult song in the album.

HITSUGI: But the rhythms are fun.

RUKA: Just after the last main melody before going to outro, there is a part like a hook, which tenses me when I listen to it. I wonder if it comes from the horns?

SAKITO: Ah, the guitar codes also have quite a lot of tension too.

RUKA: It’s good finishing gradually, not finishing clearly. I’m happy that I can feel anarchism in the lyrics.(He is glad.)

SAKITO: I’m pretty frustrated….(laugh)

YOMI: SAKITO’s temporary lyrics were cute. The chorus at the beginning was written in English, which was the name of a Sumo wrestler. So it was difficult for me to catch the atmosphere when I sang the song in its recording.

SAKITO: When I try to write temporary lyrics, I feel as though I have to write funny things.

YOMI: Hahaha!(burst out laughing)

Ni~ya: Well, everyone has their own uniqueness.

RUKA: As for our temporary lyrics, I have a confidence not to be beaten by any other bands.

●[crevasse]

YOMI: This song has a good atmosphere, so I want you listen to it when you sleep.

I don’t think that I could sleep to it…..

YOMI: (laugh) Ah, don’t listen to the lyrics but feel them. I think you’ll feel good like you are falling.

SAKITO: I want you to listen to our music with the feeling of flying. I wanted to make the texture like dub and PINK FLOYD. Somewhere in a interlude, there is a cymbal sound we call ‘♪chan !’, it’s very soft like fuwan, fuwan, which is the point you should listen to carefully.

RUKA: I have nothing to boast about. I dare to say I’m poor at it.

Can you also say you are good at?

RUKA: No, I’m not good at.

HITSUGI: RUKA didn’t know which guitar on the left or right was mine or SAKITO’s until recently.(He smile bitterly.)

SAKITO: Really~?(laugh)

RUKA: No, I didn’t know that.

Ni~ya: I thought again that the character of Zozzy’s voice was good. ‘He is doing nice!’ I thought.

RUKA: It’s nice! You are admired.

YOMI: Yes. It was worthwhile for me to work hard.

●[18 sai](=18 years old)

RUKA: This is also fast.

Ni~ya: How to take the rhythms is difficult. I’m afraid I might take a rhythm too fast or too slow.

This time, there are many challenges in our rhythm.

RUKA: And I didn’t think the lyrics were made by Zozzy at first. They had a different image to him. Also about his other songs, Zozzy’s lyrics don’t seem like his either.

YOMI: My image has changed.

SAKITO named the title.

SAKITO: I thought if I were 18 years old I would make this kind of song.

Does it seem a little green?

SAKITO: Yes. I didn’t care so much about the 18 years old part, so I thought I might change the title depending on the feeling of the lyrics, but when I saw the final song I thought the title of [18 sai] would be easier to convey what I wanted to say.

●[Black Sick Spider]

YOMI: In this song I thought I was pretty cool.

Now did you say ‘I’?

YOMI: Yes. I said ‘I’,’ I’, ‘I’.

All: …..

HITSUGI: Now, let’s go on to the next song.

YOMI: It’s so bad…..(laugh)

Please tell us about your coolness.

YOMI: Recently, I thought that my vocal style was more for ballads, but when I sang a hard song like our old songs, I thought again that I’m good at this kind of song.

RUKA: So which is your type?

YOMI: This type of me is cooler. I don’t dislike this type of me.

HITSUGI: How about another type of you?

YOMI: There is a problem…..

At the last scream…..

YOMI: Don’t say ‘scream’ but say ‘shout’.

Eh~,(laugh) your voice of the shout was beautiful.

HITSUGI: That was my voice of 5 years ago.

YOMI: Yes. There was the 20 year old me and the 25 year old me.

RUKA: How did you feel collaborating with the young you?

YOMI: The present Zozzy is more profound and persuasive.

RUKA: Shithead!(laugh)

●[Gianism shichi]

RUKA: [Gianism roku] was shocking me and it became more complicated, so I thought ‘shichi’ will be incredible, like it changes to various beats in each bar. If so, I thought I would use sampling secretly.

You thought about that?

RUKA: (laugh) Yes. I was in a state that we couldn’t listen to it without readiness somehow. Then it was unexpectedly simple, so I was surprised by contraries..

It draws the flow of old [Gianism]. Which was the point this time?

SAKITO: I made the point on how to change the pace of shuffle in the middle. I really like the rhythms like shuffles, so I put it into my music.

HITSUGI: I like the aggressive riffs.

Ni~ya: This song is of a high level. Each scene has totally different sounds, so I’m thinking about how to play in our lives.

●[the FOOL]

HITSUGI: Everything is fast and it ends fast too.

RUKA: I thought I failed during making it.

Why?

RUKA: I thought it was out of our range. Because it was so fast that we couldn’t keep up at first.(laugh)

HITSUGI: In this song, we said ‘Let’s put in something to play.” in our rehearsal, then RUKA brought rhythm pattern, and SAKITO made codes. At first we all play together, but we were in puzzled, and at last we said “We might give birth to something”, and changed our parts. RUKA played bass, SAKITO played drums, YOMI and Ni~ya played guitars, and I did a vocal, and we also tried other patterns, but failed.

RUKA: We thought we would fail and we did.(laugh)

Ni~ya: But it was so fun.

●[alumina]

Ni~ya: When I listen to this song, I feel relaxed. I calm down.

Like an oasis.

HITSUGI: This is a place where we cool down once, because the former songs are so fast. (laugh)

YOMI: I’m nervous in our lives. Once I couldn’t get in this song because I couldn’t hear the count in our live. I remember that….

RUKA: It’s a trauma.(laugh)

SAKITO: I sang this song in Karaoke few days ago, and got about 84 points.(laugh)

●[Morpho]

Ni~ya: Before this song, minor tones continue, then this song looks light and bright. And also the tune is pop. I might listen to this song the most in this album, thinking my bass in interludes is good.

HITSUGI: Are you intoxicated with yourself?

SAKITO: Why don’t you say “Get intoxicated with me, than get drunk with alcohol”?

YOMI: You are so severe~.

Ni~ya: I won’t say that!

YOMI: I was told by SAKITO to “Sing like you are artless.” I think that it is one of Nightmare’s better brighter songs.

HITSUGI: If you listen to this in our lives, you would cry.(laugh)

●[〜lulu〜]

SAKITO: I recommend to you the contrasting of the wall of distorting guitar sounds and beautiful piano sounds.

HITSUGI: When I listened to the demo, I thought “I got it!”. Then I thought “I want to write lyrics.” and said that to SAKITO. It was a little like the combination of [Ochiba].

It’s a nice combination.

RUKA: I was really worried though. When the demo came to me, I thought 2 ways in my head. One was a sign of “Please let it be.”, and the other was “I’ll leave it to you.”, because he didn’t have time to think about the drums. I have never had such a simple song since then. I felt like I would loose if I would ask him about it…..

HITSUGI: Why would you loose?(laugh)

SAKITO: When the drums in my demo are simple, it often means that I’m too tired to think about it.(laugh)

HITSUGI: Then the sign meant that “I’ll leave it to you.”.

RUKA: Really?!

YOMI: This is very comfortable. What’s more, this whole album is comfortable to listen to. I want to sing it in our lives soon!