Interview from ZY May '08
May. 30th, 2009 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oritsu_luvFirst off, thanks to everyone who's been enjoying my translations, especially all of you who've commented here! That makes me really happy!
I've put all my Miyavi related stuff under a new 'miyavi' tag, to make it easier to find things here. ^_^
This is an interview right before Miyavi went on his world tour. I can't wait for the magazines to come out so we can see his thoughts after!
You released two DVDs: 'The beginning of Neo-Vizualizm TOUR 2007 - Final-' (Which we will call 'Shinkibashi) and ''The beginning of Neo-Vizualizm TOUR 2007 -Gekokujo LIVE-' (Which we'll call Shibukou) on the same day. Certainly the shows are very different, but why did you decide to release two discs?
Actually, we hadn't planned to release the 'Shikibashi' disc. We only recorded it to check how the show was going.
Is that so?
So we couldn't really mix the sound or anything, it's just as we recorded it. But...it was so damn good that I decided to put it up against the Shibukou DVD. (LOL) The Shinkibashi show was really the idea show. So when we were looking it over, I was like, 'We gotta put it out!' (LOL) The groovy feeling that we had on this tour, and that feeling of just being totally on top of our game, like, all that really showed. Also, I love that venue.
Shikibashi Coast, right?
You can also see the jam session, which we couldn't do at the Shibukou show because of time constraints. So in that way, I feel like the Shibukou show was in a different vector. Because when we did that show we really had to think about the fact that we were doing it at Shibukou.
Also, it must have been special to perform there, because since you'd played your very first show there.
Right, right. It was tough. We didn't have a lot of time for rehearsal either. At Shibukou, I tried more to make it into entertainment. Into a real 'concert'. Shikibashi was more like 'this is a live show/jam session.' At Shibukou, I tried to put in some of the things we'd figured out by doing the Shinkibashi show, and also to make it be more of a performance. But the performances was difficult...
Really? I really thought you took the show up a level.
I'm not sure if I should have try to do that with the KAVKI BOIZ. Because their biggest strength is performing in a really free atmosphere. Well, I guess packaging that up well was the task for this show.I mean, even from the perspective of the musicians and players, if everyone's freezing up it's hard to jam, you know?
The band itself seems to welcome incidents.
That's true. (LOL)
So you'll be starting your World Tour in May: What are your expectations?
Expectations? I don't have any. (LOL) Really! It's always hard to think about tours.
And you'll be going to places with different cultures.
The situations will be different too. It's pretty tough. I'm really wondering how I should go about it. Like, about performance style and all that. Well, I don't plan to change my style, but...well, I guess I just need to 'kabuki'.
I don't know if I should say this but, after you toir the US, Europe and Asia, you'll be doing your tour in Japan, right? So don't you think your tour in Japan is when you'll be at the top of your game? (LOL)
Maybe. Since I'll be going all over the world, I want to experience all kinds of things, and see all kinds of things, and absorb all kidns of things. I want it to be something that leads to something else. So I hope I'll be able to show all that in Japan. Going back to the album (This iz the Kabuki Japanese Rock') to be blunt, it doesn't even have to be super Japanese, really. I just want to take my hints from there. Because I really do love this style. And it does fit really well with the name 'Miyavi'. (LOL)
Come to think of it, it is a very Japonesque name.
And linking it all to Kabuki is kind of a theme for me.
It's interesting to think that you were named Miyavi and then you ended up living this way.
At the time, I hadn't thought that deeply about my name, of course.
You might have had a name all in Katakana, really French sounding, or something.
I was almost called Ramos. (Ramosu)(LOL)
Ramos? If you had been Ramos, I'm sure your life would have been a lot different...
'Ramos - This iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock'. Hahaha. That's awesome! 'Ramos-shugi'...Bwahahaha! 'Ramos-uta dokuso'!
You probably wouldn't have thought of those titles, either. It's strange thought, because you ended up being really wrapped up in your Japanese identity. Is it your goal to really train the Japanese part of your mind?
I still don't really have a goal. Happily and sadly.
Really? You're saying that right before you go on your World Tour?
It is a world tour, but these days, that's normal. It's standard. And I went to Asia on my first tour, too. It's just that the timing worked out to this year, butI'm not really putting a special emphasis on it. I think that after time it won't be this big thing, and that Japanese music will start to really stand on it's own as Japanese music.
You have a high conciousness, as always. But do you think sometimes that conciousness might be a little hard for your fans to understand? You just have to put it into your songs and keep trying to get the message out to them.
That's true... Also, I've been part of Visual Kei this whole time, so I know both its good parts and bad parts, but I feel like if we got rid of the bad parts, it wouldn't be Visual Kei anymore. It's the same with everything, like the way things that are bad for you taste so good...which is kind of getting off topic.
What would you say are the bad parts of Visual Kei? Like way it looks?
That's a part of it. That's why I think balance is important. Whether or not you're being seen as an artist. I think that checking the photographs in magazines is as important as checking the music you've recorded. If you look as it as a musician, make-up isn't necessary like that, but id you think of yourself as a subject to be photographed, it's necessary as an artist. I think that it's got a bad image because some people are only thinking about it as a musician, so it gets kind of half-assed.
Oh, like, they're only thinking about how it looks?
Right. So I think that people need to be more conscious about themselves as artists, about expressing themselves and characterizing themselves. Because just putting on make up doesn't make you Visual Kei. It's how you present yourself and how much the way you live your life is an extension of that. It's the same with rappers. How much you can look at yourself objectively and produce yourself, and how much you focus on the way you live your life. That's the feeling I get from the bands that came before me, and it's what I think my generation has to really work on.
That's great.
What I'm doing now, with putting Japanese essence into rock, that's one way of doing it. I make sure that delicacy, that sensitivity that's my originality as a Japanese person is there, and they I mix it with Western Culture. In the end, I'd love it if we could come to be concious of our country in a way that's unconcious.
And those are the feelings you're bring on your world tour.
I want to go to all sorts of places, to places I don't know anything about. And I might have to sacrifice a lot or end up losing a lot, but I have to try or I really can't lecture on like this, you know? (LOL) Maybe that's my goal. I know it's pretty broad, but I want to establish myself, as a person and as an artist. And not just as someone who's popular, or who's talented. You need to have a firm belief system and way of living your life, you know? I feel like that's really necesary. Well, I'll show you what comes after 'Z' and 'y'! (Note from CEO Hoshine: The name of the magazine comes from the letters being the two letters after 'x'.)
What a great way to end this! We can't wait for your to show us then!
* Gekokujo means 'a retainer supplanting his lord'
I've put all my Miyavi related stuff under a new 'miyavi' tag, to make it easier to find things here. ^_^
This is an interview right before Miyavi went on his world tour. I can't wait for the magazines to come out so we can see his thoughts after!
You released two DVDs: 'The beginning of Neo-Vizualizm TOUR 2007 - Final-' (Which we will call 'Shinkibashi) and ''The beginning of Neo-Vizualizm TOUR 2007 -Gekokujo LIVE-' (Which we'll call Shibukou) on the same day. Certainly the shows are very different, but why did you decide to release two discs?
Actually, we hadn't planned to release the 'Shikibashi' disc. We only recorded it to check how the show was going.
Is that so?
So we couldn't really mix the sound or anything, it's just as we recorded it. But...it was so damn good that I decided to put it up against the Shibukou DVD. (LOL) The Shinkibashi show was really the idea show. So when we were looking it over, I was like, 'We gotta put it out!' (LOL) The groovy feeling that we had on this tour, and that feeling of just being totally on top of our game, like, all that really showed. Also, I love that venue.
Shikibashi Coast, right?
You can also see the jam session, which we couldn't do at the Shibukou show because of time constraints. So in that way, I feel like the Shibukou show was in a different vector. Because when we did that show we really had to think about the fact that we were doing it at Shibukou.
Also, it must have been special to perform there, because since you'd played your very first show there.
Right, right. It was tough. We didn't have a lot of time for rehearsal either. At Shibukou, I tried more to make it into entertainment. Into a real 'concert'. Shikibashi was more like 'this is a live show/jam session.' At Shibukou, I tried to put in some of the things we'd figured out by doing the Shinkibashi show, and also to make it be more of a performance. But the performances was difficult...
Really? I really thought you took the show up a level.
I'm not sure if I should have try to do that with the KAVKI BOIZ. Because their biggest strength is performing in a really free atmosphere. Well, I guess packaging that up well was the task for this show.I mean, even from the perspective of the musicians and players, if everyone's freezing up it's hard to jam, you know?
The band itself seems to welcome incidents.
That's true. (LOL)
So you'll be starting your World Tour in May: What are your expectations?
Expectations? I don't have any. (LOL) Really! It's always hard to think about tours.
And you'll be going to places with different cultures.
The situations will be different too. It's pretty tough. I'm really wondering how I should go about it. Like, about performance style and all that. Well, I don't plan to change my style, but...well, I guess I just need to 'kabuki'.
I don't know if I should say this but, after you toir the US, Europe and Asia, you'll be doing your tour in Japan, right? So don't you think your tour in Japan is when you'll be at the top of your game? (LOL)
Maybe. Since I'll be going all over the world, I want to experience all kinds of things, and see all kinds of things, and absorb all kidns of things. I want it to be something that leads to something else. So I hope I'll be able to show all that in Japan. Going back to the album (This iz the Kabuki Japanese Rock') to be blunt, it doesn't even have to be super Japanese, really. I just want to take my hints from there. Because I really do love this style. And it does fit really well with the name 'Miyavi'. (LOL)
Come to think of it, it is a very Japonesque name.
And linking it all to Kabuki is kind of a theme for me.
It's interesting to think that you were named Miyavi and then you ended up living this way.
At the time, I hadn't thought that deeply about my name, of course.
You might have had a name all in Katakana, really French sounding, or something.
I was almost called Ramos. (Ramosu)(LOL)
Ramos? If you had been Ramos, I'm sure your life would have been a lot different...
'Ramos - This iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock'. Hahaha. That's awesome! 'Ramos-shugi'...Bwahahaha! 'Ramos-uta dokuso'!
You probably wouldn't have thought of those titles, either. It's strange thought, because you ended up being really wrapped up in your Japanese identity. Is it your goal to really train the Japanese part of your mind?
I still don't really have a goal. Happily and sadly.
Really? You're saying that right before you go on your World Tour?
It is a world tour, but these days, that's normal. It's standard. And I went to Asia on my first tour, too. It's just that the timing worked out to this year, butI'm not really putting a special emphasis on it. I think that after time it won't be this big thing, and that Japanese music will start to really stand on it's own as Japanese music.
You have a high conciousness, as always. But do you think sometimes that conciousness might be a little hard for your fans to understand? You just have to put it into your songs and keep trying to get the message out to them.
That's true... Also, I've been part of Visual Kei this whole time, so I know both its good parts and bad parts, but I feel like if we got rid of the bad parts, it wouldn't be Visual Kei anymore. It's the same with everything, like the way things that are bad for you taste so good...which is kind of getting off topic.
What would you say are the bad parts of Visual Kei? Like way it looks?
That's a part of it. That's why I think balance is important. Whether or not you're being seen as an artist. I think that checking the photographs in magazines is as important as checking the music you've recorded. If you look as it as a musician, make-up isn't necessary like that, but id you think of yourself as a subject to be photographed, it's necessary as an artist. I think that it's got a bad image because some people are only thinking about it as a musician, so it gets kind of half-assed.
Oh, like, they're only thinking about how it looks?
Right. So I think that people need to be more conscious about themselves as artists, about expressing themselves and characterizing themselves. Because just putting on make up doesn't make you Visual Kei. It's how you present yourself and how much the way you live your life is an extension of that. It's the same with rappers. How much you can look at yourself objectively and produce yourself, and how much you focus on the way you live your life. That's the feeling I get from the bands that came before me, and it's what I think my generation has to really work on.
That's great.
What I'm doing now, with putting Japanese essence into rock, that's one way of doing it. I make sure that delicacy, that sensitivity that's my originality as a Japanese person is there, and they I mix it with Western Culture. In the end, I'd love it if we could come to be concious of our country in a way that's unconcious.
And those are the feelings you're bring on your world tour.
I want to go to all sorts of places, to places I don't know anything about. And I might have to sacrifice a lot or end up losing a lot, but I have to try or I really can't lecture on like this, you know? (LOL) Maybe that's my goal. I know it's pretty broad, but I want to establish myself, as a person and as an artist. And not just as someone who's popular, or who's talented. You need to have a firm belief system and way of living your life, you know? I feel like that's really necesary. Well, I'll show you what comes after 'Z' and 'y'! (Note from CEO Hoshine: The name of the magazine comes from the letters being the two letters after 'x'.)
What a great way to end this! We can't wait for your to show us then!
* Gekokujo means 'a retainer supplanting his lord'
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-05-30 08:33 pm (UTC)Aa I had the feeling when I read the translation to that heartfelt journal of his after US shows that he wasn't really all that confident when he left on the tour. I think actually you can feel a bit of his hesitation in the article, but that only makes me admire him more, that he is so bold and knows there's no winning without loosing too, and no perfection without mistakes. He teaches us a ton.
But really now, how the hell could it NOT be a success, look how he sold and how the public reacts! I'm so happy he'll come to Europe already so pumped up ( gaaah I already can't contain my excitment)
no subject
Date: 2008-05-31 04:52 am (UTC)LOL..can you imagine the alternate universe in which in answer to the question, "What's my name?!!" we are all yelling back, "Ramosu!"lol..ah, but as Shakespeare said..a rose by any other name...would still be the most amazingly talented sexy sweet creature out there...
god_ofshadows..I wholly agree with you..for months now, he would from time to time make comments that led me to think..this tour was making him feel hesitant, afraid..thats why I so wanted to be part of something to let him know...no, it's not just your ego..we are out here, and we love you! We got our chance..that last night at Slims..XD Fans in Chile and Brasil showed their love too..and I know you guys in Europe will do the same!
(man I wish I could join you guys for that, too!)
*needs to win lottery or something*
Be prepared..he is everything you dream of and more...
no subject
Date: 2008-05-31 08:07 pm (UTC)Haha...RAMOS doesn't have quite the same ring, does it?
I'm so glad you're enjoying the translations! I was so surprised to find that no one was really doing them! I'm glad I can make people happy with them though!
I hope he comes back to the States soon!
no subject
Date: 2008-05-31 08:05 pm (UTC)You're very welcome! I'm glad you enjoy them!