X JAPAN’s live DVD, THE LAST LIVE Kanzenhan (Complete version), was released. This product was a full recording of the December 31, 1997 live held at Tokyo Dome. You can fully experience the legendary break-up live with nothing omitted.
In order to celebrate the sale of this DVD here at Natalie, we decided to interview YOSHIKI (Dr, Piano) who is in Japan right now. X JAPAN have continued to perform vigorously since their revival in October 2010, and having just finished their world tour the other day, we asked him [YOSHIKI] a few things.
The constant feeling of “No tomorrow.”
-Congratulations on your world tour.
YOSHIKI: I think I overdid it a bit so now I’ll return to America and go in for a check-up. Although I think I’m fine.
-Of course, because it was an intense tour, wasn’t it?
YOSHIKI: A little over two years ago I had surgery on my neck, but since then, my three fingers(left hand: middle finger, ring finger and pinky) became numb and that hasn’t improved. So even now I’m taking medicine to relieve the numbness. At first I meant to hold back, but you could say that once the concert starts I become blindly reckless.
-You get worked up?
YOSHIKI: “There’s no tomorrow,” is how I feel so I just keep doing it again and again. I don’t want to think ahead and hold back. It’s a real battle every time.
The past can be changed in accordance with the future.
-In the midst of this, THE LAST LIVE Kanzenhan was released. I wonder if it was the first time you watched it in a while?
YOSHIKI: That’s right. Usually a live DVD is released soon after the concert but back then I couldn’t watch it. Two years later I was told by someone who works at the record company, “You should release it,” so I started working on editing it but in those days, I couldn’t make it to the end. My limit was up until “ENDLESS RAIN.” I’d watch it while crying. But ten years have passed and in the middle of this world tour, now that I’ve properly faced the past, I’m able to think about aiming for the future. Our last live was an extremely important point for us, after all.
-What made you think that?
YOSHIKI: Well of course, I’ve been able to face the past because of our current activity. That time was full of despair and the last live was held in the midst of pain and heart-ache and we held it like it was the end of everything. Especially after hide passed away after that, it felt like there would be absolutely no revival for X JAPAN. I decided to take the road of a producer and composer and I couldn’t even think of appearing like that as a performer again. That period lasted for a very long time.
-And yet X JAPAN is in full blown recovery.
YOSHIKI: It’s like a dream to me.
-In fact, you’ve been able to take that step out into the world that you couldn’t before.
YOSHIKI: That’s right. I really regretted that we ended like that, unable step out into the world at that point in time. That was the first time I felt that kind of frustration in my life. I’ve always believed that failing is giving up and that as long as you don’t give up it won’t become failure. But holding our last live meant ending without reaching fulfillment so it was like “Ah, I couldn’t do it.”
-It seems like you held onto that regret all this time.
YOSHIKI: I did. But now after ten years I’m able to face the world again. I once said in an interview in the past that “The past can be changed in accordance with the future.” If I didn’t have this present, that would have been a depressing past. But now I’m moving forward, so I can look at that last live as a point of transit. It wasn’t a period, it was like a comma.
-It’s curious to think of it that way. What you couldn’t do back then is now occurring naturally.
YOSHIKI: I truly wake up every day wondering if I’m really living a dream. “I’m really living a wondering life, huh,” I think. In the ten years since we broke up, the internet has developed remarkably and X JAPAN’s music is spreading on YouTube and through the efforts of other visual kei bands, visual kei is spreading throughout the world. And before I realized, X JAPAN fans have risen across the world.
-The seed that X JAPAN scattered back then has really blossomed, hasn’t it?
YOSHIKI: I once boasted that “Music surpasses borders, age, race, et all” but even I’m surprised at the truth of those words. I felt that I died once at the time of our last live but now I’m kept alive by the support of our fans. Because I’m living on that sensation, there’s nothing more to fear.
I really think the chorus should be sung “Kurenai ni somatta ”
-The world tour was a roaring success in any country, but why do you think X JAPAN are being supported so much by foreign fans?
YOSHIKI: It may be a cliché, but I really think that hard work will win out. In other words, I believe it could be because we have always taken music seriously. We pour our feelings into the music we really want to impart. Furthermore, there’s never been a live where we failed to give complete and utter devotion. Of course, I’m always thinking strategically about how to drive the music home purely. I think that touches people’s hearts and is able to overcome the barriers of the era and the barrier of race.
-How about musicianship? Somewhere in X JAPAN’s music, is there a Japanese aesthetic that strongly encourages the support of people from overseas?
YOSHIKI: I really think that, too. Having fully taken on the influence of Western music and at the same time Japanese music, I think the natural combination of the two is what makes X JAPAN. I listened to a lot of Japanese pop and classical music and of course I listened to all the hard rock, punk rock and heavy metal of Western music, too and took it all into myself and the result was X JAPAN’s music and that, on the other hand, was called “new” by fans of Western music.
-On that note, it seems that you’re mixing both English and Japanese lyrics into the world tour.
YOSHIKI: At first, on the North American tour we used only English lyrics but along the way we held a discussion about, “Don’t you think this song should really be in Japanese?” For example, we have a song called “Kurenai,” but it was said that the chorus should really be sung “Kurenai ni somatta” after all, so we made that part Japanese. I think “Rusty Nail” is on the new album completely in English, but in the second half of the North American tour we purposely tried mixing in sections of Japanese.
-That’s interesting.
YOSHIKI: Just like we worked hard to study English because we like Western music, our fans work hard to study Japanese and sing the chorus along with us.
-I feel like that kind of Japanese component is one of the staples of X JAPAN.
YOSHIKI: That’s because “Kurenai ni somatta kono ore wo (This me that has been dyed red).” However you take it, it’s all about Japan.
Before our break-up, we had lost something important.
-It’s been four years since your revival, but X JAPAN has also played at festivals like LOLAPALOOZA, SUMMER SONIC and a-nation. In the 90’s, you had a strong image of a solitary band that Rarely played with other bands. What brought about this change?
YOSHIKI: To put it simply, I think we were able to return to our roots. This world tour has been the same, but to put it in extreme terms, we’re working with the intention that as long as there are people to watch us, we’ll play on a stage with only one light bulb. Of course, when passing through so many countries, there are times when it doesn’t go so well. The equipment doesn’t arrive, or the electrical power isn’t ready so we have to use back-up generators, or there’s no dressing room…
-You couldn’t even imagine that kind of situation in Japan.
YOSHIKI: In the past, before our last live, X JAPAN played nothing but Tokyo Dome so it’s a matter of extremities. When we entered the dressing room, there was a course of French cooking prepared, or something. [laugh] If I propped my foot up on a desk, someone would put my boots on for me. There were three drum sets prepared and if I broke one, the next was ready to go. We went that far.
-I see.
YOSHIKI: It went so far as when the members talked with each other, there would be a manager in between to pass the message along from manager to manager. Even though we were right there in front of each other. In that situation, I think we lost something important before we realized it. The fact that as long as we could make our music, we would be happy.
-You don’t realize if you’re in the eye of the storm.
YOSHIKI: Breaking up once and separating even from ToshI for a while, in the space of that ten years, I realized how thankful I should be for the place that I was in. Before the North American tour, we appeared at LOLAPALOOZA but there’s no rehearsal on the day of the event. You’re just thrown onstage. Before performing, I had to check my drum kit myself and if it broke during the performance I had to fix it while playing. [laugh] Starting like that, we had all sorts of problems right from the start of the North American Tour and I feel like we were able to return to our original intentions while going through all that. Back when we were going around the live-houses the only ones with a license were me and hide so either hide or I would always drive. We would drive ourselves and transport the equipment ourselves and I’ve finally been able to return to my feelings at that time.
-And going along with that flow, you also appeared in a big festival in Japan…
YOSHIKI: Our appearance at Summer Sonic was the result of me randomly saying “This time around I’d love to try Summer Sonic or something” at a dinner held by my friend where it coincidentally turned out a rep from Summer Sonic was there as well. “Will you really do it?” he asked. “I will! I will!” And that’s how it came about. Festivals are great. I think X JAPAN really suits the ‘away game’ atmosphere and grabbing the fascination of people who see us for the first time and turning them into fans is how it always felt in the past. I’m really enjoying that kind of thing at the moment.
In the world market, we’re a newbie band.
-In the 90’s it was like X JAPAN itself became a huge project but in comparison, I get the impression you’re working lightly these days.
YOSHIKI: That’s because overseas, of course, people say to us things like “Who are you?” Sometimes our pride is torn into shreds. When I decided to simply forge on ahead, I realized there was nothing for it but to return to our roots. When you think in terms of the world market, well, we’re just a newbie band, right?
-Has the relationship between the members changed at all from old X JAPAN to the revived X JAPAN?
YOSHIKI: Well, yes. While we’ve been travelling overseas, we’ve been together a lot. Travelling with only the necessary staff, the distance between the members has been reduced. Drinking together on the tour bus etc. We’re starting to act like a band.
-Sounds like we can expect a lot from you in the future.
YOSHIKI: When we first revived for three days at Tokyo Dome, we didn’t know then whether we would continue on or whether it would just be for that time. Our last live was so intense there was nothing but pain. The goal at that time was to properly get back together with perfect beauty and put a period on it. But then afterwards, we didn’t want it to be like a class reunion. We wanted to keep evolving. That’s why we’ve played half old songs and half new songs on this tour. I want to show off the revived X JAPAN. I don’t want to lose to old X JAPAN.
The new album is practically complete.
-By the way, is the new album coming along smoothly?
YOSHIKI: Actually I had intended to finish it before the European tour, but… [laugh]
-So does that mean it’s close to being finished?
YOSHIKI: Yes. The vocal recording is finished and the drums is almost finished. It’s just that I want to put in one more song and I’m debating about that but it’s basically finished.
-What’s it look like?
YOSHIKI: New songs and old songs are all jumbled together. I want to put the best X JAPAN I can imagine right now into this album. For one, being a new band overseas, I want to make this like a business card that says “This is X JAPAN.”
-Will you include the English versions of old songs?
YOSHIKI: Befoe the North American Tour, I had planned to make it 100% English. But during the tour we decided it was better to intentionally add in some Japanese. Saying that, I don’t think there will be more than 20% Japanese.
-There’s also songs we’ve never heard before, right?
YOSHIKI: There is. I think you’ll be able to experience the present X JAPAN.
-When do you think it will go on sale?
YOSHIKI: If I was told to release it tomorrow, it could be done with the songs already finished, but…
-The final song is undecided?
YOSHIKI: That’s right. Also, I think the meaning of ‘album’ has changed in the past few years. It’s become such a distribution driven world that I wonder what kind of album concept should be delivered or if an album is even necessary at all. I’m deliberating about that sort of thing, too.
The venture of adopting a Japanese accent into English.
-Recording has gone on for a long time, but was exactly has taken so much time?
YOSHIKI: Well, even I think that we have to put an end to it at some point. Specifically, “Jade,” for example, was distributed a little while ago but after that the mastering was done by the people called the top four in the world.
-Really? So… is there four completed patterns?
YOSHIKI: It’s a matter of choosing the best out of those four. Also, my own studio is set up so that I can always have the perfect environment, but I think that was actually a mistake. [laugh] Because there’s so much equipment to choose from, the choice itself takes time.
-What luxurious worries! [laugh]
YOSHIKI: Well, we’ve always been a band that takes our time. We look too closely at each separate part. Before I realize, I lose sight of the whole picture and then afterwards when I look at the whole picture, I say, “Actually, let’s do it all over again.” From the vocalist’s perspective, this time it’s mainly in English so ToshI is working really hard at the pronunciation but having said that, we’re not Americans so it might be better to put in a little Japanese pronunciation and so the choices continue.
-Daring Japanese pronunciation?
YOSHIKI: Right. Quite simply, instead of using perfect pronunciation, purposely try putting a Japanese accent on this or that part.
In the 90′s I lost sight of the wall to be broken down.
-Has your music changed since the revival?
YOSHIKI: There was no conscious decision to change but I want to write the best songs that I can. If my own heart is not touched by a song then how can I touch other people’s hearts? I want to write music that I can listen to and feel moved by.
-You’re the leader of X JAPAN, but actually each of the members’ indiviuality colors your music. Has SUGIZO’s joining the band had any particular influence?
YOSHIKI: Yes, of course, he plays the violin so there’s been some expansion. For the guitar solo in “Jade,” I had SUGIZO record different patterns and then said “For this part, try adding in whatever noise you like,” and chose from it later. [laugh]
-So it’s a band, after all.
YOSHIKI: That’s right. Whether it’s bass or guitar, I basically leave it up to them. Although my instructions are also pretty detailed. [laugh]
-It seems like the sense of tragedy you faced before the break-up has faded and now there are times you can enjoy cheerfully.
YOSHIKI: Well back then, in interviews etc. I was able to say so calmly, “X JAPAN’s not even a band anymore.”
-Do you feel differently now?
YOSHIKI: I’m consciously trying to make us into a band. If we’re not, we can’t put on a good show.
-I think something has definitely changed inside of you.
YOSHIKI: For example, if there’s a wall, when I try to overcome it or break it down, my fighting spirit wells up. But during that time in the 90s, I lost sight of the wall I needed to break. I felt like I lost track of what I should fight and how. But now I can believe that no matter how tall or thick, I’ll tear it down no matter what. Being able to see your goal is important.
I usually pass time either at the hospital or in the studio.
-By the way,YOSHIKI, how do you spend each day? I’m curious about your daily life.
YOSHIKI: We’ve been touring around, so it’s all scrambled. I’m an insomniac and I’m rarely able to sleep, so I sleep roughly once every two days.
-Really? Once in two days?
YOSHIKI: Yes. That’s why I have four assistants in America, so I’m always covered during my waking hours. Night, day, it makes no difference. Even at two o’clock in the morning I’ll be in the studio working. The doctor tells me it’s not good for me, though.
-That’s true. [laugh] You’re based in Los Angeles now, right?
YOSHIKI: That’s right, I have a certificate of residence over there. But from now on I’d like to increase the time we spend over in Europe and in Asia.
-When you’re not on tour, how do you spend your day?
YOSHIKI: I’m usually at the doctors or in recording. My body is pretty weak so about once a week I get hooked up to an IV. Otherwise, I’m always in the studio.
-Do you have some kind of hobby?
YOSHIKI: I used to like cars. What do I like now, I wonder? Oh, while touring the world I became interested in languages. I’ve been studying French for a long time. Recently I’ve been studying Spanish and Chinese as well.
-I’ll bet no matter how much time you have it’s not enough.
YOSHIKI: But when you’re studying foreign language, you don’t think about anything else, so I think it’s good. It’s relaxing to be able to focus your mind on one thing. When there’s nothing else to do I just think about recording and the tour and it’s tiring but studying language relaxes me.
-We’re looking forward to the new album. Will you be doing more concerts after that?
YOSHIKI: That’s right. I think the next one will be after the album release.
Source:
http://www.rokkyuu.com/interview/translation-of-natalie-mus-power-push-yoshiki-solo-interview/
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