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argumentl · 2 days

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Fan-translation

Phy.25 Kaoru Interview (April 2024)

(Interview by Hasegawa Yukinobu)

ーAlong with the new single 'The Devil In Me', you have also recorded self-covers of your songs 'Cage' and 'Yokan'. Had you already decided to do this at the time you were making your previous release '19990120'?

Yes, we had. The idea behind the last release was originally in part due to our 25th anniversary, but we also thought it would be a good chance to reconnent with those people who had been fans of Dir en grey in the old days, but who had since drifted away. But we couldn't just re-release the old songs and then be like, 'Ok, thats it'.

ーYou have to get those returned fans to listen to your new music too, right?

So, we made 19990120 and planned to release a new song straight after, but as for what to include for the coupling tracks on the new song, we decided self-covers of Cage and Yokan would be good.

ーYou re-recorded the 3 songs from your debut release for 19990120, but following this, you went for your 4th and 5th singles. By the way, I personally found it very emotional that the band chose to re-record Yokan.

Did you?

ーI think you know this, but I've loved Yokan since way back....You know that, right?

Uh, no. I didn't know that (lol)

ーDo you remember that whiteboard there used to be backstage at Studio Coast, you would use it to decide the setlist? There were magnets with song names taped onto them, and you would use them for deciding that day's setlist. I once even tried making some magnets for Yokan and Akuro no oka, and sticking them on the whiteboard myself. Thats how much I love those songs (lol)

Oh, yeah, I remember that. (lol)

ーAnyway, regardless of that, looking back at these songs from the time of your debut, I really felt the Dir en grey of 1998. How did you approach your next moves in terms of sound back then?

Back then? Well, for the first three songs, they needed to have a big impact. Then following this, the singles Cage and Yokan had the restraint of being tied to a major label. We had to figure out how to make melodious but also interesting songs.

ーMaking songs with a major label?

Thats how it always goes, right? And record companies want follow up singles to have just as much punch as the debut single. So thats the kind of situation we were in making Cage and Yokan. But within ourselves we were also making them with the album in mind.

ーNot as stand alone singles?

This was our first full album as a band, so I wanted to include a lot of songs. With 5 singles included they had to be songs that would fit well with the other songs on the album. I remember having this in mind while making Cage and Yokan.

ーA lot of visual kei came out in the second half of the 90s, but in 1999, with your first album Gauze, I really got the sense that the members didn't want to fit into that typical band mold.

At the time, we were just so driven we didn't mind being seen as unorthodox. To put it in an extreme way, it was kinda like, 'As long as we make an impact, who cares about the music!'.

ーDynamite Tommy's band 'Color' had a similar outlook. They would say in interviews, 'We are an unorthodox band!'. Maybe you were influenced by him? (lol)

No, I don't think that has anything to do with it (lol). But at the time, there were not a lot of bands with flashy visuals. I mean, there were in the following generations, but in our generation visual kei was mostly bands wearing fancy suits. With us, there was a part of us that just wanted to be different, I think thats reflected in the songs too. Whether it was the single, or the label, whatever...we just wanted to do something out of the ordinary (lol). Also, we knew that our producer at the time Yoshiki, would make it sound good for us in the end.

ー Were you aiming to get to the top by being out of the ordinary?

No, not really. I wasn't thinking about the songs selling to such an extent while I was making them. Of course, I still thought this band would sell records, but part of me also thought 'How weird for this kind of band to be big'. So instead of aiming for the top, I just aimed to make interesting work. But of course, being with a major label at the time, we would have requests come in regarding the lyrics and the music. And the more I hear this kind of thing, the more I just want to go in the complete opposite direction. These were the circumstances in which we created Gauze. So at the time, I thought to myself 'After this I'm never gonna make another album like Gauze'. (lol)

ーYou wanted to be more free to make it in your own way?

Well, actually its like this every time, but whatever I make, even if I put my all into it, I always look back with some regret wishing I had done parts of it slightly differently. So after Gauze, I did think that I always want to surpass my previous work each time. Nowadays, its less about surpassing, but more about finding something different to try.

ーTo surpass=to deny your former selves, so the band underwent some changes, didn't it? I think the turning point came in about 2005 when the band began overseas activities.

Yeah, we went overseas and I think thats when we realised the importance of just being ourselves. Foreign bands stand on stage unashamed of who they are and what they do. There is a purity to it. So for us to chase our goals, I realised it wasn't just about surpassing ourselves, but also being more defiantly ourselves.

ーWere you not as self-confident before that?

Before that there was a lot that we simply didn't understand. From making music, to playing lives, finding ourselves was like fumbling through fog, grasping at things bit by bit. Eventually I realised this was our way of trying to reach our goals. So even just standing on stage, I would still feel a bit unsteady in myself. But going over there and playing lives, I felt more grounded. I realised its ok to just stand there, even completely stripped bare, and just to be yourself.

ー That realisation, yeah.

It was the right time to realise it. Maybe thats why we discovered how to show what was truly within us at that time. Our heavy sound wasn't just a result of lowering the tuning or using a heavy amp.

ーYeah.

I can't really explain it well, but its not about searching for something that is missing, the important thing is using what you have inside you. Whatever comes out from inside the 5 of us is good enough. For example, if you look at Shinya drumming, he doesn't seem like he has a heavy sound in him, but its HIS sound, so its ok. I don't want to change or manipulate it, the band sounds the way it does because of that. Rather than wanting something more, we should be a band that uses each member's sound just as it is.

ーIts great to acknowledge each member like that.

That's all we can do.

ーThats how a band should be, but bands are also groups of people with strong egos. There are also times when too much self assertion leads to failure.

Well, we have had times like that, in the 25 plus years we have been together. But I feel like we are where we are now because of that. You could say that we are similar now to how we were at the time of our debut....because we didn't know how to make music then, but we were just being ourselves. So its kind of interesting for us to re-do these old songs now.

ーWhen you look at these songs which you made 25 years ago, did you feel like they were interesting songs?

I feel like I tried hard to make something interesting. I just had an idea of what I wanted. But the gap between that and the reality was huge, so I constantly felt bad about it. I was remembering this during the recording.

ーDid you feel nostalgia for your young self?

Well, I still worry about things like I did then. I still get stumped when something feels a bit off when writing songs, but now I prioritise discovering what I have in me.

ー 'What you have in you'.....could it be...'The Devil In Me'!? (lol)

Hahaha

ーAs for the new single, what kind of image did you have for it?

Well, I discussed it with the members, but even before that, I had a vision of what would be good for our next move. But if it turned out exactly as I had envisioned, it would be less fun. So the members' opinions are really important.

ーIts a song unlike any you've done before. Its less about developmets or structure, but it really establishes each member's presence. Does this song represent the band's style going forward?

Yeah, its a different style than we've previously had, but I think its ok to keep it simple. Its a chemical reaction between the members. That's what the band depends on. Its not about who does what, its what do these 5 members each make you feel. Even a song which I'm not playing in is ok, if you feel that I am.

ーThats impossible (lol)

No, its not (lol)

ー But I feel like this is the territory you have arrived in after 25 years.

I think thats the type of thing that will make the band more interesting. How can I say it, we don't even have to make it weird, it just has to sound like us. We have over 100 songs now, right? Before we would try to cram stuff into a song to make it sound like us, but now we don't have to intentionally do that. In other words, its something thats easy to convey. Something that you can feel the presence of the 5 of us when you hear it. This will feel different depening on each listener, but thats how we are doing it now. And its the same for our new song too.

#dir en grey #薫 #PHY #kaoru #The other interviews are very intetesting especially Toshiya's #But I'm a Kaoru blog so only doing this here

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yridenergyridenergy · 24 days

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New artist photos for the release of The Devil In Me

#Dir en grey #The Devil In Me #Phy #magazine #Kyo #Kaoru #Die #Toshiya #Shinya

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a-fox-studies · 8 months

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September 2, 2023

Look who's back after too many mental breakdowns :D

I got back to studying today, and also hungout on call with @studaxy and @airtafaee it was so fun! I was a terrible teammate tho ..... (Let's not talk about that)

Things I did today:

Answered questions on Physics — Module 1 and Module 2

Tried starting with Module 3 but my brain got fried before that.

Played Codenames and Top Four with my friends . . . I lost :D

Movie night with said friends

🎧 Invincible - Dream

#dailyfoxposts #studyblr #studyspo #study #note taking #math studyblr #physics studyblr #study aesthetic #physics #phy

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nekaneba-cookie-ocs · 7 months

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Reference and redesign for a shipchild I had for some months...

Name's Physalis Dragon Cookie or Goldenberry dragon cookie

Or you can just say "Phy" for short!

Uses She/they

Was shy to share this for a while but I figured out I need to post more often ahhaha....

#cookie run #cookie run oc #oc #cookie run ovenbreak #Physalis Dragon Cookie #phy

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thepriceofbeingaroseisloneliness · 2 years

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「PHY Vol.21」

Release date: 15th June

Brand new photoshoot and personal interviews.

You can order it at amazon.co.jp

#dir en grey #phy #magazine #kyo #kaoru #die #toshiya #shinya

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kyotakumrau · 2 years

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2022.06 PHY vol.21 - Kyo interview

text: Higuchi Yasuyuki

translation: kyotaku

please buy the magazine if you're able to! cdjapan ・ amazon.jp ・ hmv

let me know if you notice any typos and other mistakes; (my comments)

-- What kind of album do you think it is?

京 One where you get it's DIR EN GREY just by listening to the intro, a strong one.

-- I had this unwavering feeling that as long as it's these five people any sound will be DIR EN GREY.

京 I think whichever song you listen to, you will soon be able to get that this is DIR EN GREY. But it was hard to find the final compromise [for us]. Compared to before it was different, we couldn't play shows, it took more time than before to record, even as we had many songs we didn't see the final goal for a long time. Moreover, we don't really talk [with each other].

-- That's true.

京 We were moving forward without having talks like 'let's do that with this'. That's why I think it was difficult to find a place where all 5 of us were overlapping as everyone was searching like 'which way?'

-- Did you have a specific vision like 'next I want to do this'?

京 Personally I had. I already said this earlier, but something rich which makes you realize it's DIR EN GREY already on a short listen. Previously, the album had very intense melodies/tunes, so with more emphasis on the worldview I wanted to express better the curent DIR EN GREY. Moreover there are already some albums with worldviews, so something not similar.

-- I already felt from the first song 'this is different from the previous works'. Was that your aim from the beginning?

京 It wasn't my aim, but I remember that I said 'I want a long song(s)'. It's the lowest number of tracks we had on the album so far. There's also no SE, but I think it ended up as something with a richness we haven't had before.

-- I think each of your past works don't belong/connect to each other, but this time it's an album that seems to extracts up to now DIR EN GREY's strong points. Yet, I feel like you didn't make it this way with this in mind, it became like this naturally.

京 Naturally... well it might've been like that, but that worries me in a way.

-- Worries? Why?

京 When something that only that person has comes out naturally I think it's really wonderful. But in my case, I can't be satisfied with that, the another me says 'you're not this kind of amazing person'. Like 'don't coddle yourself'.

-- Your usual pessimistic (I'm trash) ideology.

京 Yup. That's why this time I tried out different things when singing.

-- I really noticed that. That you tried some styles you haven't done before.

京 Being in a band for this long, 'Kyo from DIR EN GREY' is established, I feel that everyone would be fine if I just rehashed the things I've done before, but I wouldn't. I can't stand it if I don't pursuit yet newer ways of expressions. Actually, I'd prefer it if I didn't have to do it. It would be easier.

-- Like, it'd be fine to do that.

京 I would really be okay with that, but the other me wouldn't allow that. That's why I want to test myself more.

-- Your singing this time left the impression of becoming this album's personality/identifying element. For example the way you used falsetto in '13' is very distinctive.

京 But if you just listen to the voice itself it's really strange, there's a part that sounds like a joke. 'Mouai ni shosu' and 'Otogi' were like that, it involved a lot of trial and error to not let them sound like that (like a joke) and allow them to fit well.

-- A quick listen left a dark and heavy impression, but in a way it's an album of songs (as opposed to instrumental pieces). So it's easy to enter the album's worldview.

京 Ah, the sound is maniac/fiend, but I guess it's easy to listen to.

-- But in fact, I feel like I received/interpreted something positive from your songs.

京 That's... an unusual opinion.

-- Really?

京 Well, I can't really put myself in the audience' shoes, so I don't know. I just want to say that the thing I was shouting stopped feeling fesh or interesting. For example in the case of the 1st song 'Schadenfreude', until now I'd be shouting in the heavy parts of the song, but this time I'm attacking with the melody. In 'Perfume of Sins' as well, in the part where usually would be singing there's none. Changing things with things like that, naturally the amount of shouting decreased. You get a positive feeling from those things, right?

-- There's also lyrics. For example in your previous lyrics, there were many songs where the singing directs the anger and hatred towards oneself, but this time I think there's also connection with the different singing stance or direction.

京 That's true. This time it's... more of a panoramic/holistic feel.

-- It is. Before you were writing lyrics with questions to oneself or hurting oneself, but it's not like that this time.

京 It's not, right? If I had to say it's more like 'actually everyone has feelings like those right? Usually everyone hides them but everyone has them, right?'

-- So in other words, there's a nuance of trying to find a camaraderie. This might be why it gives you positive feeling.

京 But it wasn't done on purpose at all. I don't want to share feelings with someone like in 'I want everyone to think like this'. That's not what I'm hoping for.

-- It felt like singing to someone who was a lot like yourself. If someone like that heard the song it'd feel like you were saved.

京 Well... if there was a person like that it'd be nice, but I don't have feelings like 'it's for that person' or 'there must be someone who thinks the same'. I'm not holding any expectations towards other people or should I say I'm not asking for anything.

-- What do you mean by not asking for anything?

京 For example fans would say things like 'I'll follow you for my whole life!', right? In the past I was someone who took that very seriously. But, then in some point of that whole life they leave. And with people who said 'I'll be writing a letter everyday!' after a month there's no more letters coming. That's why... I don't want to have any expectations towards people, like 'that's how it is'. I was the wrong one asking too much of other people. So it's something I'm doing out of self-centeredness (thinking of myself).

-- So you're saying you're now living your life without taking a glimpse of how other people are feeling.

京 But, just a little bit somewhere, I might be having just a tiny 1mm of expectations.

-- I think that's natural. It's simply a human nature to keep asking and expecting even if you have been disappointed or have given up somewhere.

京 But I'm trying not to think like that. I want to be more self-centered.

-- This part of not wanting to hold any expectations towards people, it's like this loneliness-like thing is breeding through in some places. I feel like this kind of feeling is also on the album.

京 I guess that's what a band is all about. For example, even as we had a huge show in Budokan, when I get back home and eat by myself, I feel 'what was all of that?'. I think 'was all of what just happened a dream?'

-- The loneliness gets born there. A bit like, even as there were so many people there for me, now I'm all alone.

京 For fans the feeling is probably similar. After the show ends and they are pulled back into reality, it feels like '...huh?'. It's probably the same.

-- That's true.

京 There might be some connection through that part I guess. Depending on the person, for some the 'we've played at Budokan!' or 'we've sold this many CDs' kind of achievements might give them confidence, but I'm not like that. I really would like to be.

-- But I think those are lyrics of someone who cannot become like that (laughing).

京 Hahahahaha. But, that's kinda why I'm doing things thinking about myself. Be it the new music or shows.

-- Even if you do things thinking about yourself, why do you think you're able to continue the band for 25 years and release new music?

京 Uhm... often I'm envied by people like my kouhai (younger colleagues/musicians). They say 'it's great you can do things you enjoy'. But it's just that I've been lucky. I've been blessed with a good timing/period, band members, label, just that, the rest is the same with everyone else. It's not like I'm someone great, there's no reason to be envious of me.

-- I understand what your kouhai say. From the third person's perspective, you're someone who knows properly what you want to do and pushes to get it. And because of that there's a chance people around you might be bothered by it, that they might think it's troublesome or selfish. Even so there are still people around you because you're better than that.

京 Is that what people think?

-- At least that's what I think (laughing).

京 That's... well, I'm happy.

-- I thought why it is easy to enter the album's worldview is because you can express yourself without any pretending.

京 Ah... that's true. One thing I can say, no matter if it's Kyo in DIR EN GREY or Kyo in sukekiyo, I can only let out my real self. The truth is, I'd love to be able to have an on and off button and express in front of people a completely made up self, but I can't.

-- No matter what, the you who is the root/foundation will end up coming out.

京 The only way I can do it is to express myself by cutting off the part of myself and throwing it. Moreover, for the musician me and everyday me to be as close as possible is really hard, and with that it's also hard to deal/interact with people. Even if I lay myself bare doesn't necessarily mean other people will respond. That's how I've always been feeling.

-- I think it's not only you, everyone is like that in this band. You're the kind of people who are just not able to make music that would lie to the current you even if you wanted to.

京 That's true.

-- It's a good point of this band. At last, let me ask you how did you end up with the album title PHALARIS.

京 We're thinking about the title when the songs are all together, and this one fitted the image the best. I researched various torture tools and this is the one I wouldn't want to experience the most.

-- It was apparently made by a man named Phalaris.

京 In those days tortures were carried out in front of the people. They treated this tragic event as something to throw a revelry/loud celebrations for. When I was reminded about a scene like this I thought that a lot of distasteful bits people usually hide will come out there.

-- It's good to ask/hear story like this one from the person who chose to use such a terrible thing as an album title (laughing).

京 ......is that so?

#dir en grey #kyo #京 #phalaris #phy #interview #translation

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scarlet-cavern · 4 months

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I am curious about the world in which you all live in:

Is the population all animal and animal-folk? Are there towns and cities? If so, how come you decided to live in a cave?

jade: well.. as far as I know, the population couldn't really get more diverse! there's humans, elementals, birds, kobolds and dragons, mantises, cats, jackalopes. you name it, basically. most any species can either be feral, or a 'folk. both live pretty seamlessly together, you'll find.

walk through any village and you'll see over a dozen different species before leaving, I'd reckon. everyone, no matter what they are, has a place in most towns and cities. and many buildings are made with this diversity in mind. accommodations for small, four-legged folk such as myself, or vice versa!

Maddie: and yeah we've got cities. Tlen on its own has two pretty big ones— Landering and Shellat, not to mention the port town Parvanni that's basically the nexus of trade on Tredan. Cooperation is a sign of civility, after all.

phy: as for why we're camping out in an obscure cave north of Landering, lemme give you a brief history lesson.

Old dragon is actually a retronym you know, we used to just be called dragons up until about 33 decades ago. The Hunters' Guild was — still is, kinda — a group dedicated to killing all the "monsters" in Atheria. They really meant any species, sentient or not, that might oppose the rule of humaniforms. So when they had built up enough support and strength, they decided to start killing dragons.

That war lasted 2 decades, and did lead to the deaths of most dragons. A few hatchlings survived that became new dragons, but 31 decades ago the remaining Old dragons gathered together to fight back. The end of the Hunters' war was hardly even a battle, but it was so late. Only a handful of Old dragons exist anymore.

I was born 31 decades ago, in this cave. I spent my first years hiding, remaining unseen. I'm probably one of the youngest Old dragons, but they don't really talk to me much. Besides, if there is a younger Old dragon than me it's probably best that they're kept secret. This cave, however, has always been my home; I've just been lucky enough to get to share it.

jade: if anything, I feel lucky that you trust me enough to let me stay here, love.~ this is better than any burrow I've ever lived in. bigger, too. more stony.

eli: GAY

eli: same tho

#cave talk #jade #maddie #phy #eli #cw violence #cw death #scarlet letters

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