1985.10.21 | SIXTY RECORDS
Violetter Ball ( 紫色の舞踏会 )

1993.03.24 | SIXTY RECORDS
Historic Flowers

1996.03.24 | BMG ariola
アリ

2010.11.10 | Danger Crue Label 懐古的未来 ~ NOSTALGIC FUTURE

2017.05.10 | POP MANIA LABEL
20世紀

Words by ISSAY & YOSHIKO MIURA

Music by DER ZIBET

Arranged by DER ZIBET & AKIRA NISHIHIRA

Japanese

 

酒の味
苦いだけ
苦しみを忘れたいだけ
革命児の幻を追い
なぜつきまとう
Der Rhein

時を経て
この街の
うわささえ
聞かないのさ
革命児の幻を追い
なぜつきまとう
Der Rhein

Ah… Ah…
回る回る…
急な河を風が遡る
まわるまわる
部屋は青いままで
まわるまわる
肌は透けたままで
まわるまわる
霧は深いままで
まわるまわる
森はまつげ伏せて
まわるまわる
星が 月が 時を超える

靴音が近づくよ
このあたり
血の海だった
血まみれピエロ
なぜつきまとう
俺は叫ぶ
Get Out!
影だけが振り向いた
一夜だけ
女の…夢
川の流れは
時の流れか
俺は叫ぶ
Der Rhein

回る回る…
まわるまわる
時が 夢が
まわるまわる
人が 海が

I’m so happy, Boys…

 

Romaji

By: Yoshiyuki

Sake no aji
Nigai dake
Kurushimi wo wasuretai dake
Kakumei ji no maboroshi wo oi
Naze tsukimatou
Der Rhein

Toki wo hete
Kono machi no
Uwasa sae
Kikanai no sa
Kakumei ji no maboroshi wo oi
Naze tsukimatou
Der Rhein

Ah… Ah…
Mawaru mawaru…
Kyuuna kawa o kaze ga sakanoboru
Mawaru mawaru
Heya wa aoi mama de
Mawaru mawaru
Hada wa suketa mama de
Mawaru mawaru
Kiri wa fukai mama de
Mawaru mawaru
Mori wa matsuge fusete
Mawaru mawaru
Hoshi ga Tsuki ga Toki wo koeru

Kutsuoto ga chikadzuku yo
Kono atari
Chi no umi datta
Chi mamire piero
Naze tsukimatou
Ore wa sakebu
Get Out!
Kage dake ga furi muita
Hitoyo dake
Onna no… Yume
Kawa no nagare wa
Toki no nagare ka
Ore wa sakebu
Der Rhein

Mawaru mawaru…
Mawaru mawaru
Toki ga Yume ga
Mawaru mawaru
Hito ga Umi ga

I’m so happy, Boys…

English

By: Yoshiyuki

In the taste of liquor
lies nothing but bitterness,
nothing but the desire to forget the pain
Chasing the phantom of the children of revolution
Why does it haunt me
Der Rhein

As time passes,
I don’t even listen
to the gossip in
this city no more
Chasing the phantom of the children of revolution
Why does it haunt me
Der Rhein

Ah… Ah…
Turning and spinning…
The wind goes up along the precipitous river
Turning and spinning
While the room is still blue*
Turning and spinning
While your skin is still translucent
Turning and spinning
While the fog is still thick
Turning and spinning
While the forest is still asleep**
Turning and spinning
The stars, the moon, they’re timeless

The sound of footsteps draw close
Hereaway was
the sea of blood
Bloodsoaked pierrot
Why does it haunt me
I scream
Get Out!
Only shadows turned around
in this one-night stand,
a woman’s… dream
Is the flow of the river
the passage of time?
I scream
Der Rhein

Turning and spinning…
Turning and spinning
The time… Our dreams…
Turning and spinning
The people… The sea…

I’m so happy, Boys…

 

 

Notes:

* Reminded me of 青い部屋 (Blue Room). Read more in the notes here

** In the phrase ‘まつげ伏せて’, ‘まつげ’ means eyelashes, while ‘伏せて’ means ‘to put (something) face down’ or ‘ to keep (something) a secret/hide a fact’.
Here, ‘asleep’ was chosen to be the translation due to both the literal image and figurative expression.

1995.04.21 | BMG ariola
Green

2017.05.10 | POP MANIA LABEL
20世紀

Words & Music by ISSAY

Arranged by DER ZIBET

Japanese

 

アクセス不能の神様
幸せが欲しいのさ
サンプルを送ってくれないか
一週間ためしてみるから

降りつもる砂漠の時計
フリーズされたメトロノーム
ビートを変えてくれないか
平和の麻酔がきいてきた

行き場のない子供達のナイトクラビング
悲鳴はどこにもとどかない
傀儡された人形の It’s Show Time
ボトルが棚から落ちた

押し込められたLove Song
ノスタルジーのパスワード
アンプルを送ってくれないか
シラフじゃやってゆけない

最後の審判を下すがいい
アクセス不能の神様

行き場のない子供達のナイトクラビング
つぶやきはどこにもとどかない
傀儡された人形の It’s Show Time
ボトルが棚から落ちた

Romaji

By: Yoshiyuki

Akusesu funou no kamisama
Shiawase ga hoshii no sa
Sanpuru wo okutte kurenai ka
Isshuukan tame shite miru kara

Furisumoru sabaku no tokei
Furiizusareta metoronoomu
Biito wo kaete kurenai ka
Heiwa no masui ga kiite kita

Yukiba no nai kodomo tachi no naito kurabingu
Himei wa doko ni mo todokanai
Kairaisareta ningyou no It’s Show Time
Botoru ga tana kara ochita

Oshikomerareta Love Song
Nosutarujii no pasuwaado
Anpuru wo okutte kurenai ka
Shirafujya yatte yukenai

Saigo no shinpan wo kudasu ga ii
Akusesu funou no kamisama

Yukiba no nai kodomo tachi no naito kurabingu
Tsubuyaki wa doko ni mo todokanai
Kairaisareta ningyou no It’s Show Time
Botoru ga tana kara ochita

English

By: Yoshiyuki

God of inaccessibility
Do you desire happiness?
Shall I send you a sample?
You’ll get to try it out for a week

A clock in the desert thick with sand
A frozen metronome
Won’t you change the beat for me
I’ve gone under the anaesthesia of peace¹

Nightclubbing for children with no place to go
Their screams go nowhere
It’s Show Time for the doll-turned-puppet
A bottle has fallen off the shelf

A Love Song confined and locked away
By the password of nostalgia
Won’t you send me ampoules
I can’t do this when I’m sober

You should pass your final judgement
God of inaccessibility

Nightclubbing for children with no place to go
Their whispers go nowhere
It’s Show Time for the doll-turned-puppet
A bottle has fallen off the shelf

 

 

Notes:

¹ I’m quite sure he’s talking about peace pills here. Also known as PCP or angel dust. A hallucinogen.

ISSAY
20,000-character interview

Rockin’ on Japan
February 1994

Interview text by Takako Inoue
Photography by Satoshi Matsuo

 

 

There is no guilt, none at all

Divorce, makeup, homosexuality, expulsion, left wing rallies, confinement……
Orphaned soul ISSAY speaks of his traumatic early life and his aloof spirit for the first time

 

 

 

Der Zibet’s new album “POP MANIA”, which corresponds to the second phase of their evolution, welcomed Okano Hajime as a producer. It is a work that leaves the impression that they’re here to make their marks as they open up to pop. Listening to Der Zibet’s past work cooped up in my room, they have all been rather serious productions, but this album, in comparison, has the glitter, the absurdity, and the merriment of rock packed together in a jumble, making it an unexpectedly contemporary album. Even ISSAY’s vocals come through more distinctly, more dramatically than in their previous works. It is one cool rock album.

However, at the same time, I felt a strong sense of jeopardy when I listened to it. That is because this time, half of the song lyrics were written by external lyricists. Beginning with the lyrics from their single Like a Summer’s Day Typhoon (Natsu no Hi no Taifuun no You ni*), “You trace the edge of your wineglass/So meaningfully, with your manicured nails/Seducing my body/While saying nothing” *, these unfamiliar words that were put together made me wonder, ‘Uh, is ISSAY singing this?’.

To ISSAY, who wanted to become a poet before turning into a rock musician, lyrics are an emotional means of expression. This is not an idea of his, but its instead the form that it naturally took, and it is in such a situation where I felt this strong sense of jeopardy. Though it doesn’t feel like this band shutting themselves away at all, instead, it feels like they’ve decided, “If we’re aggressively doing new things, isn’t it also good for us to become rowdier and go crazy?”. But this direction is somewhat risky. Of course, the album was done up well, and I’m not specifically criticising anyone. It’s not that kind of a specific issue, but it is the state of the Japanese music industry that obligates them, as a product, to appeal to a wider audience that gives me that feeling of risk.

It need not be said that this man, ISSAY, is an exceptionally peculiar artiste who cannot be easily substituted. And it is precisely because of this peculiarity that makes it seem like they are about to be buried by the scene. Der Zibet is in danger!ーーーーーー This time, it happens that I was sparked by issues in the song lyrics to write this, but this is also applicable to the riskiness that I’ve always felt from their history.

Is ISSAY really an eccentric or an oddball who makes others avert their eyes from him? Is he an oddity with a twisted outlook? Is he an alien with a communication barrier? Why don’t the words and voice of this man, who has thrown away all of reality’s trivialities and emanates a free soul, contain any sense of normalcy?

ISSAY said with a heavy tone, “It doesn’t matter what my past was like. Even if I talked about my birth, how I was raised, and all those things that I’ve been burdened with, that has nothing to do with my singing on stage”. The reason why this interview had the go-ahead is that there was a desire to address the scene and the readers.

 

This happened about a week ago, but there was a silly piece of news that caught my eye. It said, “If you take the arrow out of the duck with the arrow (矢鴨**) it’ll just be a regular duck”. This is a topic that has long died down, but for some reason, I felt annoyed upon hearing that cheerful voice. Indeed, it may seem ridiculous to leave it alone with that arrow in it at the pond, and you can’t put it in the zoo either. But that’s none of your business. This is no different from the arrogance of humans who ignored the laws of nature and said, “Save the Japanese crested ibis” instead of letting a species that cannot adapt to reality go extinct. To me, rather than feeling some inexplicable comfort that the arrow was removed, I have more faith in and am more moved by the strength and will to live of that duck which has been flying around and floating around in the water with the arrow still in it.

It is not my intention not to bring attention to the scars of ISSAY’s early life. All I wish to convey is his vitality, that energy of his that makes it impossible for him to resist dashing full speed ahead, and that doing these things do not make him some kind of exotic animal. A declaration of being gay as bright this is probably the first in Japan’s rock scene as well.

 

 

 

An extremely old-fashioned and stern household.
It appeared that he said things like “You have to birth a son or I’ll throw it in the river” to my mother

 

ーーWhat is your earliest memory?

…… Around the time when I was still toddling around, there was a fire that broke out somewhere near my home, and the next day, my father took me by the hand and brought me over to have a look but right then, they were taking the burnt corpses away. That was traumatising. I was so scared that I clung to my father, and he looked at me wondering what’s wrong with me, you could say I got startled (laughs). I suppose seeing something like that will startle anyone……… It’s something that I remember. What kind of a formative experience is that? (laughs). There’s also the time when I messed up my mother’s vanity set.

ーーOoh. Have you had a strong sense of femininity since young?

My father is the descendant of an ancient Kyushu family, you see, so he was an extremely obstinate, masculine man. And, when I was conceived, he would say things like “If it’s not a boy, I’ll get rid of it by throwing it into the river” or “I’ll cull it” to my mother, it seems like she had a tough time. That’s why my mother prayed with all her heart that she would give birth to a boy. Personally, there are times when I think that maybe a girl was meant to be born but through those prayers, a boy was born instead (laughs).

ーーYou’ve been anticipated as “The heir!” since before your birth.

Yup. The first-born son is far more cherished than the second son, and that’s something that they say without batting an eyelid.

ーーDid he have the kind of extravagance to put lots of huuuuge carp streamers***?

Yes, exactly (laughs). The carp streamers and all. Pretty much every festival was grand.

 

 

Anyway, I was afraid of men. I absolutely hated men. Especially adult men

 

ーーWhat were you like as a child?

You know, when I was in kindergarten, I played with the Hakata dolls**** in my house.

ーーHakata dolls!?

The Hakata dolls were put in a glass case in the drawing room, and I’d meet their eyes, all the time. So I talked and played with them. Like if I had my own secrets, I’d write them all down in a piece of paper and put it into that case. I’d be putting all sorts of papers in, and lots of it. But somehow the papers would disappear, y’know. I wonder what happened to them.

ーーHahahaha.

Also, the patrolling officer would often come into our home and have tea. So, that person let me hold his gun. I remember it being terribly heavy. Like, I thought, there’s no way anyone can shoot with something so heavy.

ーーHakata dolls and guns…… That’s kind of symbolic. Was elementary school an extension of that?

No, when I entered elementary school, my parents divorced and we moved houses. So, of course my father was of the mind that he would take me in, and my younger brother was handed over to my mother. But I guess, because he’d have custody of me until I graduate from high school, he felt sorry about it and deposited me at my mother’s. And her having to change her name probably evoked pity too, so he did some things with the family register.

ーーOoh. But from a child’s point of view, wasn’t it quite a shock?

Well, I knew that the relationship between my parents wasn’t good. But I didn’t quite understand the divorce.

ーーSo you didn’t feel like, “happiness has suddenly fallen apart!”.

But, you see, that’s because I hated my father. He was violent, the type of person who says “This is what a man should be like!”, and I detest that, so even if he wasn’t around, I wouldn’t think much of it. Even after the divorce, my father would occasionally come by and see me, right? I hated that too. I’d think, “I wish he didn’t come”. Now that I think about it, I think only that strict, exceedingly masculine father of mine would’ve thought that I was cute. But, like him, I’m short-tempered and have violent mood swings. But I cannot forget running away barefooted in the middle of the night with my mother and my younger brother, us three. That’s why, to me, more then feeling pampered by my father, I felt far more afraid, that fear was immense. Anyway, I was afraid of men. I absolutely hated men. Especially adult men.

ーーI see.

That’s why, I think that this might have become part of my character. That part of me that doesn’t really assert myself against my surroundings. ー When I was in my fourth year of elementary school, I ended up getting taken back to my father’s home but, you see, he came home drunk and I suppose looked pitiful, and y’know, he asked, “You. You really want to live with your mother on that side? I won’t get angry so tell me the truth” and when I answered “yes” I got beaten to death (laughs).

ーーNo matter what you said, you would’ve had to weather a hell of a storm.

Yes, that’s right.

ーーSo, were you mild-mannered in elementary school too?

I wasn’t very good at putting myself out there, you see. I had social anxiety and was painfully shy too. But on the surface, I lived a normal life. I was a class monitor and all. I had no sense of responsibility though (laughs). Ah, I was super irregular at that time, the comments on my semester report would be completely different from one semester to the next. If “too quiet” was the written, then in the next semester, “too noisy” would be written. I’d think “Ah, am I gloomy?” and then go “Oh no!”, and after that, I’d become extremely cheerful, and then I’d be considered as too chirpy in the next report (laughs). I have no moderation, none at all.

ーーBut being the class monitor, that seems like the teacher trusts you quite a bit.

At that time, I did well with adults, didn’t I (laughs). I was worldly-wise, quite so. Ah, but there’s something that really pissed me off. In my second year of elementary school, my teacher said “Please write an essay about your father. I promise I won’t show him”. And my impression of my father at that time was that he was always drinking alcohol, then coming to our home to beat us or my mother, and I hated that, so I wrote a single statement, “I wish he didn’t drink alcohol”. After that, it was read out aloud when my father came for the school visitation. My father was insanely angry. I was terribly beaten up. I even thought that he was going to kill me. Since then, I’ve never trusted teachers.

ーーIn your family, were things peaceful when you lived with your mother and younger brother?

Yup. Since the scary father isn’t around either. Well, even though they were divorced, he would occasionally come and fight with my mother again, that was the only time I felt antagonised but……… Other than that, it was great. At home, I’d play with monster figurines with my younger brother, dig holes in the yard.

ーーHoles, as in pitfalls?

Holes. Pure, simple holes (laughs).

ーーHow so?

Let’s see…… The aim was to have a hole so big and deep that I can bury myself in it. But I was small in size and had no strength so I could only dig down to around the height of my knees, and gradually, bit by bit, it began widening out from the sides. When that happened, from my mother’s point of view, it was just right for throwing out the rubbish in and all so she just let it be (laughs). And when I started digging in a different spot, she’d get angry and say “It’s still too soon” (laughs).

ーーDid you do that on your own?

When friends came over to hang out and said “I wish there’s something fun to do”, I’d say “Well, I’ve got something fun” and have them dig with me (laughs). So, you see, I personally thought that it was fun but halfway through everyone would end up going home. But I’d just keep digging until the very end.

ーーNot for the sake of burying something in it?

Nope, I wanted to go into the hole.

ーーAh. I assume you went into closets too then.

I did go in, I did! When it rained I would stay in the closet the entire time. Even when it wasn’t raining, if I got my allowance and bought snacks, I’d take them with me and go straight into the closet. When my younger brother was around, he’d come in too…… I guess that’s how it was.

ーーHahahaha.

I wasn’t good at playing in groups of three or more people. When a lot of people are around, the amount of information going around is too much for me and I’d start to lose track of things. Isn’t it so that the more people there are, the more difficult it is to find the middle ground? I couldn’t do that (laughs).

 

 

Hanging out with gays was enjoyable.
Because it made me feel like this was a place for freedom

 

ーーSo in your fourth year, you were taken back by your father, right?

Well, there was this one time when my father introduced a woman he brought home by saying “This is your mother”, but I didn’t quite understand what he was saying. I didn’t know about remarriage, and even though I thought, “Aah, what a beautiful person”, there was also a feeling of “But I already have a mother……”. But this new mother also cared for me and she was affectionate as well, in fact, she might have been more fond of me than her actual son. Even now, our relationship is still very good too. That’s why, you see, it’s not that I don’t have a place where I can belong to. It’s just that, gradually, I came to dislike family gatherings and I stopped coming out of my room.

ーーI see. Was there some kind of change that occurred when you entered junior high school?

Because I grew to dislike being at home, I joined the Kendo club. See, I had the thought that samurai are cool (laughs). Like Sakamoto Ryoma and the Shinsengumi, weren’t there a lot of cool people during Bakumatsu*****?

ーーLike “youths who care about the world and revolutionise!”?

Yes, exactly. I thought, “How cool!”. So I joined the Kendo club.

ーーBut isn’t the world of “This is what a man should be like!” exactly what the Kendo club is?

I mean, those kinds of superior and subordinate-like relationships aren’t only found in the Kendo club, are they? I guess that’s why I did things as I did with just a simple “Oh, I see”. Even though I thought “how stupid”, this was all because I wanted to do Kendo. There’s no other way except to bear with it, right? Even if I had to go bald I would’ve been completely fine with it too. Even now I can deal with a shaved head.

ーー(Laughs). Even if you say you can.

It’s fine, I don’t care. It’s something that will grow back again anyway.

ーーI see. So, you said that you’d shut yourself away in your room when you were at home.

Yup, I’d, at most, go around on a bicycle. I just kept reading books in my room. Like manga, sci-fi, mystery novels. Since my father completely forbade all forms of entertainment, even manga wasn’t allowed, so I hid and read. The only time I came out of my room was when it was time to eat.

ーーYou never agonised over it, like “why am I like this”?

I never had any forward-looking thoughts at all. It was all just, “It doesn’t matter”, or “Anyway I’ll have a peace of mind as long as I’m in this room. No one will have any complaints”, those kinds of feelings.

ーーYou never worried about the future, or wondered what will happen.

Yup. I didn’t think about that very much. You see, I was being raised as my father’s heir so I always thought that I’d succeed him. Because I thought that it was without a doubt that it would turn out that way, I always did. I guess my parents did well on educating me about that part (laughs)

ーーYou never even said “Why can’t I read manga!” to him, or rebelled or fought back at all.

Yup. If I did that I would’ve definitely gotten into a lot of trouble (laughs)

ーーSo you simply continued through all of that as an honour student by treating it as a force majeure that came about from your surroundings, and without worrying about it or taking it as your problem.

Exactly. So, for high school I went to a prestigious boarding school. An all-boys school. Because I figured that I could get out of the house through this.

ーーAll for the sake of that? (laughs)

But, you know, it was strict. We were split into classes by grades, like everyone of A class would be in one dormitory. So you’d have the whole class in a dorm. And the rooms are shared between two people, your wake up times in the morning are fixed, furthermore, you’d have to be back by 5:30 p.m. for dinner. Then you’d have to stay in your room and study from 7 to 11 p.m.. You’re not allowed to visit other rooms either.

ーーWould patrols come around?

Yup, they would. No one likes that, right? But when I was at home, I didn’t come out from my room either so it’s the same. Though in a double room, it’s more enjoyable since you’d have each other. Approximately once every two weeks you get to go home but I didn’t like that either so I stayed in the dorm the whole time, having fun on my own. And, you see, there were lots of byways in the dorm. You’ll be able to go out in the afternoons on rest days too. At that time, I had two friends who were bad influences, you see, and on Saturdays, in the middle of the night― the patrols don’t really come around much past 11 p.m. so we’d sneak out of the dorm. We’d go to a gay host bar to drink, and we’d just have alcohol then go back (laughs), every week.

ーーOoh. But why? Because it felt comfortable to be there?

Yup, the gays were interesting people. You know, those people, they’d have to hide that they are gay after all, don’t they? That’s because, in society, you can’t really openly say “I’m gay!”, right? But when they go to this bar, they can finally let themselves out, you see. There were subtle shared feelings between fellow discriminated persons too, and those people were very liberated in there. Normally they’d speak with “Well I……”^, and when they get calls from their offices or something, they’d also speak with “Ouh, it’s me!”^ but when that ends, they’d say, “Ah, that was tiring♡” (laughs). It made me think, “Ah, this place is where these people can feel most at ease”. I, too, felt that this was an enjoyable place. Because we were high school students, they wouldn’t get angry with us either, you see, since no one subscribes to common beliefs or generalisations.

ーーWas that because there was interest as well? Or was it a sympathy of not having somewhere to belong to? Or was it because you also had a feeling that perhaps you were gay as well when you were there?

Well, whichever it was. Or rather, there was all of that. At the start I spoke about it out of mere curiosity though, like “Whoa~, this is interesting!”. And when I had nothing to do, there was a park butー That place was famous for being a place where gays cruised for sex, and if I went there to space out, I would definitely be approached by people around five times (laughs), so I hung out with them. If I follow along too much, they’d force for sex and look at me with a scary look in their eyes so I didn’t really go along though.

ーーSo in your high school days, you experienced the nightlife with alcohol, cigarettesー

Yup. So it was also that time when I first slept with a man.

ーーEh? Is that so?

Yup.

ーーCan I pen this?

Sure. Anyway, it’s the truth. Now, if you ask me, I don’t think it makes any difference to my inner self.

ーーOoh. So have you dated men before as well?

Yup. It’s like, I don’t really have any resistance against such things.

ーーSo in your own consciousness, it’s not something that’s particularly special.

Yup. Even with regards to the sexual partー When it comes to sex, I don’t have anything against it either.

ーーI wonder where you picked up that free-spirited way of being.

Though, you know, I don’t really know about that ‘free’ part. It’s more like just a hit-or-miss thing though (laughs)

ーーBut when you went to that host bar for the first time, there was a shared sympathy between victims, like “This is a place where I can be free”, as well, right?

Yup, it might have been that. Well, that’s because I’m a lump of aggrieved feelings, aren’t I (laughs)

ーーRight? And with the added “I’m gay too”, didn’t that just add to the aggrieved feelings even more?

But, you see, I don’t have a single impression that I did anything bad or anything like that. There is no guilt.

ーーYes. But that lack of discomfort, it’s wonderful yet unusual, isn’t it?

But haven’t I liked them before? Males. Now that I think about it, I believe that the thought of “I like that senior” that I had when I was in junior high was definitely love. I admired him. It was a very strong admiration. Be it because he was cool, or because I wanted to become like him. A regular boy wouldn’t think of that as love, would they?

ーーIs it your nature that stands apart after all?

Hmm, it might be that.. But, also because the sex feels good.

ーーAh, really.

But, you see, I don’t really think very deeply about sex. As long as it feels good, its good. Maybe that’s because my physical body is a male’s (laughs). It might be different if I was a woman though. I’ve never been a woman so I don’t know about that though.

ーーI see.

Though I was surprised during my first kiss. But I didn’t like it, so I didn’t do anything more than that. Ah, but my first kiss was with a girl.

ーーAh, no, I’m not asking about your tendencies, it doesn’t matter.

In the first place, I don’t have much feelings about being male or female, that’s definitely where I stand. That’s why I hate the “male” “female” categorisations. You see, to me, gender is not something that has an ideal. That’s why, back then, I think I was even more big-headed with even more radical ideas than I am now. And that’s why, in my mind, I don’t have a gender.

ーーI can really understand that a lot. But I dare say that there aren’t many people who put this in practice, are there?

When I frivolously put on makeup in high school and went walking around, there’d be big brawny guys who would come up to my and say, “Hey fucker! I’m gonna kiss ya!”, like they’re trying to harass me. And when they’d grab onto me like they’re going to kiss me, I’d stay still, stare, and say “Sure, go ahead”. Then they’d stop. Why didn’t they do it, if they wanted to it would be fine anyway. So, you see, I don’t really think much of these things.

ーーYou can’t protect yourself, can you?

See, that’s the question, what are you protecting? That, to me, is up to you to imagine, up to you to say what you think, up to you to express. It’s all up to you.

 

 

I went for gym class with foundation on, eyebrows drawn, and nails painted.
It seems like they thought that I had a mental problem (laughs)

 

ーーI see. So earlier on, you said that even now, that part of your inner self is gay, right? What is that?

I don’t know. I can’t really explain it very well. For example, my love for Tatsuya (partner in Hamlet Machine, ISSAY’s other project. Originally vocalist of ALLNUDE) is somewhat similar to homosexuality. However I don’t have the thought of wanting to sleep with Tatsuya, though there might be something close to that. Prior to this, we went to watch a movie and we even discussed things like “if you get AIDS I’ll take care of you”^^ (laughs). Though I think people would normally consider this as being close friends.

ーーTo ISSAY, be it admiration, a sense of security, or adoration, it’s all the same love, isn’t it?

Yup. I can’t differentiate that well. And I don’t have the slightest intention to differentiate if it is love or friendship. What an excuse! I’ll say this clearly. There’s a difference in relation to whether I want to have sex with them or not. But that too doesn’t have anything to do with love or friendship, does it? Not particularly!

ーーSo, you’re saying that there has always been this homosexuality in you.

I don’t know, I haven’t had sex with men recently (laughs). But at the same time, there might be more feelings of guilt when having sex with a woman. Maybe women are scary. …… That’s why I like men, for sure. Like that movie I mentioned earlier, at the start, the gays were swimming in the nude, having fun and being all energetic. But when things steadily grew to be beyond help, one of the leads became worn out and was in ruins from AIDS and he said, “I am in pain. I don’t want to live”. My tears just rolled down (laughs). Those are a man’s words, aren’t they? If it was a woman, I think she’d say “Live for me”.

ーーI see. So even the gay men who you met back then, they weren’t the “adult men” who you hated, but were instead kind and strong people.

You see, I suppose they made me feel safe. They were somehow appropriately effeminate people who got lonely easily, and everyone had exceptionally adorable characteristics too. Like dropping their chopsticks in such an odd manner that its hilarious and things like that. It’s somewhat like being free from worldliness, you see. I really loved it.

ーーUntil then, have you ever thought that your looks weren’t masculine?

You see, I’ve always thought of myself as a regular guy. Sometime before my junior high graduation period, I fought with a friend and he called me something like “queer bastard!” but I had no idea what it meant at all. Then when I was in high school, a stranger said it to me, and I realised that I appear different to others no matter what, so I thought “Well, I guess applying makeup will be better anyway” (laughs). I figured that if I did that, the creeps won’t speak to me.

ーーThat was sudden too, right?

It’s easy to see that I’m different from others, right? I think that this concept itself is liberating too. Of course, when I walk on the streets with makeup on, I’d get heckled by loud voices though. It’s no big deal. I thought those guys were stupid. Like, “why the hell do these stupid people keep barging in and stomping all over other people’s business?” (laughs)

ーーI get the feeling that you’ve put yourself on the line against the world, against adults.

Yup, probably. These days, there’s the opinion that “putting on some kind of makeup makes you cooler”, but back then, the culture of men applying makeup did not exist. That’s because this was slightly before Julie^^^ started wearing makeup. And that’s why, even though my teachers looked at me and thought “How strange”, no one could say it (laughs). I applied foundation, put on eyeliner, drew my brows, applied mascara, and also put on lipstick and painted my nails, so I think that should be obvious enough, but they didn’t say anything to me. Like, after gym class, the teacher apparently told my closest friend “That guy sure is strange”. Then, my friend said, “Yup, he’s strange” and that was the end of it. It seems like they thought that I had a mental issue (laughs). Like they can’t directly tell me that I’m weird or it’ll hurt my feelings or something.

ーー(Laughs) It’s like some unfathomable world unfolded in that cramped dormitory……

There was something remarkable there.

 

 

To say that having friends is a lonely thing, that’s truly lonely!

 

ーーIt’s like the kind of foreign gymnasium that appears in a Shojo manga………… So, was it around this time that you started listening to music?

Yup, it’s in that period. Until then, I would buy and listen to film music like “Melody”^^^^ though. Back then, KISS and Aerosmith were popular but it was shrill and noisy to me, I couldn’t deal with it . You see, I couldn’t stand those kinds of sounds. Then, I think it was David Bowie’s “Station to Station” that I heardー That doesn’t sound like rock at all, does it? I thought, “Ah, so rock has such music too” and it was after that that I could listen with a peace of mind.

ーーWhen you first listened to rock, how did it influence you?

I became comfortable with enjoying myself alone in my room. Like, it doesn’t really matter to me whether or not I’m with anyone. But this isn’t because someone told me this or anything. I just grew to become like this after listening to that. Well even now, thinking about it, I still feel that music is an amazing force after all. …… It was also around that time when I started writing poetry too.

ーーWhat kind of poetry did you write?

The poetry that I wrote back then, well, most of it was uplifting. I loved Tanikawa Shuntaro^^^^^. But it’s really no big deal.

ーーI see.

But because that was all I did, I started to stand out in the dormitory. So, then, there was a little something……… It’s kind of pathetic so I don’t really want to talk about it, but it’s not that big a deal though. There was something that happened in the dormitory that got everyone overly excited, and one of them got caught by the teachers and spilled the beans. So normally, the ironclad rule is that things just stop there, but that guy, he probably thought he was being cute or something. He said “That senior forced me to go”, and he gave them my name. I don’t remember whether I invited him to go or not. Then, I was next to be called, so I said, “If that’s what he said, then that’s fine”. ‘That’, as in, expulsion. But, you see, after investigations, they found that half the dormitory was involved. And there was no way they’d expel more than half the dormitory, would they? So, I was made out to be the mastermind, like they decided that it would be enough to punish just this one guy, me. So either expulsion or a school transfer. I was asked to choose between the two. But, you see, I didn’t want to live in such a place any more, did I? And it just so happened that at that time, I was having problems with my family again, soー I was also becoming mentally unstable myself, you see, like “Well, that’s just perfect”. I didn’t want to be at home, neither did I want to be in school any more. I thought, fine, whatever, I’ll give up, and so I did. Instead of the bastard who did this, it was I who got bitterly hurt.

ーーAnd that’s because it was not only the adults but even your friend who sabotaged you, right.

Yup. If the person who was caught wasn’t a friend or anything, if he was just some guy who decided to tag along on his own, then it would be fine since he never was someone I trusted since the start. But everyone agreed to this. That’s the most shocking part, isn’t it? I thought, “Well, fine! I don’t want to be around these kinds anymore”. My father kept going on about it though. He’d say, “You may think that you were protecting your friends, but it was instead your friends who cast you away”. Yes, yes, that’s right. And he’d also say, “How irresponsible, stop doing those ridiculous things”. He said those words until the day he died.

ーーIs that with regards to your way of life?

Yup. He’d tell me to stop it because I looked like a fool to him. But I know. Because that person would despair over this, saying things like “What a corrupt world”, a man who attempted suicide in his youth (laughs)

ーーThat’s a fitting image, isn’t it (laughs).

But by surviving, that person would have thrown that away, right? Surely? That’s why, at that time, I kept thinking, “Ah, these people aren’t what you call friends!”. Friends are people who will never do that which should not be done to their companions. Those who do such things aren’t friends. Only friends will have a long list of things that they know they should never do to their fellow friends. And, you see, that’s why, to say that having friends is a lonely thing, that’s truly lonely!

ーーSo you were able to see this even more clearly for the first time after this incident happened.

More like, I became even more aware of something that I’ve always felt from the beginning. That’s why, you see, listening to rock, talking to gaysー The more such empathetic incidents occur, the more I grew to feel like there must be some kind of mistake for my being in my family, in this school, all of it. Because I started wondering to myself, “Why am I here?”, despite that I enjoy reading these kinds of books and writing these kinds of poetry, you know? I got the feeling that if I didn’t do what I did, I would’ve broken.

ーーSo, you chose to drop out of your own accord.

My parents were extremely angry. Since it was an embarrassment too. And because of my father’s reputation, they said that it wouldn’t be good if I stayed in Shizuoka, so I went to Tokyo. Though it was more like I was discretely kicked out. So I delivered newspapers in Yotsuya (a neighbourhood in Shinjuku, Tokyo).

ーーYou’re kidding me!?

It’s true. I delivered newspapers while wearing makeup (laughs). The Self-Defence Forces were there too, weren’t they? So in the mornings or something, the entrance guards would be standing there, you see, and it seemed cold, so when I’d give it to them like, “Here, take this”, they’d be all grateful, like “Thank you. When I’m in the country……”, etcetera, etcetera (laughs)

ーーWere you wearing makeup at that time too?

Yup. But it was no longer that heavy though, usually. Though, life in Yotsuya was terrible. The only space I had was a room the size of two and a half tatami mats with a bed in it. But I had a tiny radio cassette player anyway. I listened to tapes using that.

ーーBut it was better for your mental state.

Yup. You see, in the morning I’d deliver newspapers, then after that I can take a nap or something, then wake up in the evening and go out delivering again. After that I can do whatever I want too. I can choose to drink alcohol, or smoke, or read a book. I can listen to music too. And at that time, there was a guy among my acquaintances who was part of a left-wing group, and I went to meetings and stuff by invitations from that guy though. It just so happens that at that time, it was being held at places like Sanrizuka. But when I asked about it, it seemed to me that these guys weren’t all that big a deal.

ーーDid you take part in demonstrations too?

Nope, before that, my father caught word of it and he brought me back again, I had quite a hard time (laughs)

ーーOh no~. Not again……

It’s true that no matter where I go, I’m a failure though, aren’t I (laughs). So after I was brought back, I was in confinement. Meaning that I didn’t take a single step out of my room, neither did I step out of the house. Though occasionally, when there’s no one around, I’d go to the beach or something.

ーーSince then, you began writing all sorts of things in your room, right?

For three months, all I did was read books……… write in my notebook. Be it poetry or prose. I simply kept writing out every single thing in my mind, like, I don’t like this, or I like that, and what not. You know, as I did that, a lot of things gradually became clear to me, a lot of things came to light. Maybe other people who can confidently say what they are started out this way too.

ーーWas that the original form of the worldview that you sing of now?

Yup. I felt that I can’t live if I don’t protect this, so I decided that I wanted to live like how I felt. I think it was at that time when the original form of ‘Matsu Uta’ came about.

 

 

I’ve always been looking for a place where my soul can exist as it is,
with no relation to age, or sex, or birthplace

 

ーーI see. So how did your confinement come to an end?

After about three months passed, I got the feeling that my mental state might be in trouble. When we’re talking like this, I can answer you with “Yes”, right? Or I could say “No” or “I don’t think so”. I got into a state where there was none of that at all. I wouldn’t make a single sound, and I would just keep writing. I would fill up ten to twenty full pages of words in a day. As I did that, the characters would gradually, steadily, grow larger and larger. Coherence and context was lost too. I thought, “This is bad”. With all of that……… It’s somewhat like spewing out curses all over the place (laughs). I thought, “This doesn’t seem good……”. I knew that I wasn’t making sense any more and I figured, “This is bad!”. I wanted to talk to people in my age group. So, that turned into a huge fight though. My father told me to repeat to him myself that I wanted to go to high school, but it was obvious, and he could see it, so I would never say it. So it became a battle of endurance, to see who would give in first, and then we got into a fight, I thought he was going to kill me (laughs)

ーーThat’s no laughing matter.

So I went for one more year of school. At that time, I barely spoke to anyone in my class because I no longer put my trust in friends, you see. Hey, you know those committee chairman types, there are lots of those, aren’t there? Those that say things like, “If there’s anything you need help with, do ask me”. I would say to them, “Shut up, you idiot”. It’s not because I’ve become a cynic, but it’s because these guys who approach you all smiles are the first ones to turn around and stab you in the back. I’d say things like “Shut up, I’ll ask if I need anything so beat it” (laughs) Something like that.

ーーWas it during those days when you became the student council president?

Yup, after that.

ーーWhy did you become the student council president there? It’s strange (laughs).

Vice president. Well, you see…… It was decided that if any problems arose this time around, I’d be expelled. So I figured, if I’m at least in that kind of a position then I’d be fine, regardless. Hahahaha. Because that was the last chance that I had. Since that time, I wanted to express myself like, I don’t know which, but either a writer or a poet. And, time is needed for that, isn’t it? So for the sake of a perfect moratorium, I thought “If I did this, then it should be difficult for me to get expelled” (laughs)

ーーSo, was this long before you thought of making rock music?

Sometime before I graduated from high school, I was writing poetry when I began to think that I’m not getting anywhere doing something like this. So, at that time, I was listening to T-REX when I became convinced that “Ah, this might be something that I can do”. Then I gathered almost all my musician friends. Right before we went into the studio, I suddenly hummed a tune and said, “This is the melody that I want to sing”, then the guitarist briefly played it. Chords were added and memorised. And so we did an original song the first time we went into the studio. It made me feel like I’m a such genius.

ーーWithout having ever made music before?

Yup. Even now, that’s how I write songs. I come up with them by humming (laughs)ー Well, I have zero analytical abilities, don’t I, and that turned out to be fortunate (laughs). But we debuted before graduating from university so that was unusually early.

ーーYou’ve never thought of playing instruments?

I’ve never even considered it. I thought the one who used his voice was the greatest!

ーーHahahahaha. So when you went to university, you began to properly start performing lives.

Though I didn’t even know that live houses were a thing. I told them that I heard that such a thing existed, and the bassist went looking for it, then he came back and said, “Anyway, let’s give it a go”. So, you know, until then, I’ve always been nothing more than an eccentric, right? I wasn’t popular with the girls either.

ーーWhat, really?

But isn’t that how it is?! With using makeup, talking about incomprehensible things on my own, being highly conscious of only myself, having no trust in anyone at all. “He’s creepy, that guy”, that’s what people used to say of me. But when I performed at lives, other people started to say that I was cool, and I was soo happy! I thought, as long as I’m here, I’m cool. Like, “Ah, I’ve finally found it”.

ーー……… That took a long while, didn’t it?

Yup. Hahahahaha. It was there where I first came to understand the magic of being able to be myself no matter what I sing. Regardless of my age, of whether I’m male or female, of my originating from Shizuoka, of whether I’m a student or not. I’ve been looking for a place like this that has none of those societal burdens. I didn’t want to be male or female. I didn’t want to be called a student, neither did I want to be called a working adult. It doesn’t matter if you’re proud of having lived a long life, neither does it matter if you’re proud of being young, age has nothing to do with this, does it? This is how I’ve always felt, you see.

ーーYou hit your head against this and that, here and there, all to find a place where you can live as your soul is. And it was then that you found a place where you can openly live as yourself.

Yup. But in the beginning, I was scared though. I’d get drunk, gulping down alcohol, and every time we were going to have a live, I’d definitely empty a pocket bottle of whisky, that’s how scared I was. Even now, when a live is about to start, I’d still get scared. But, you see, that’s the only place where my existence is excuseable. It just happens that this is the only place where the soul in this physical body can be itself. This one and only existence unlike any other.ー I think that’s definitely what I am, ever since I was a child. I’m not going through life as the son of that father. I started using the name ISSAY ever since I started writing poetry in high school butー I think that I changed the moment I gave myself the name ISSAY. I turned in to an existence of nothing, of zero.

 

 

 

 

 

Notes:

* Translated title and lyrics from This is NOT Greatest Site

** This references an incident in 1993 when a Northern Pintail duck was found at Tokyo’s Shakujii River with a crossbow arrow stuck in it. Read more here (Japanese only, unfortunately)

*** Carp streamers are typically put up to celebrate Children’s Day in Japan, which was traditionally an exclusively male celebration. This, however, no longer applies in present day.

**** Hakata dolls are traditional Japanese clay dolls that originated from Fukuoka. Read more here

***** Bakumatsu refers to the end of the Edo period when the Shinsengumi existed.

^ In this portion, it should be noted that there is reference to the different forms of “I” that can be found in the Japanese language. 俺 (ore), which has a strong masculine implication, was used in these sentences. Read more about the different nuances here

^^ It might be interesting to note the literal translation of this statement.
アイズになったら俺がオムツ換えてやるよ = If you get AIDS I’ll change your diaper for you

^^^ Julie as in Sawada Kenji, who was nicknamed Julie for his love of Julie Andrews. It was in the 1970s when he started wearing makeup. He was also known as “Japan’s David Bowie”. Read more about him here

^^^^ 小さな恋のメロディ is the Japanese title of the British movie Melody, also known as S.W.A.L.K.

^^^^^ Tanikawa Shuntaro is a famous Japanese poet who is highly regarded in Japan. Read more about him here

 

 

 

Translation: Yoshiyuki
Scans: morgianasama on LJ

ISSAY’s World

Fool’s mate #140
June 1993

Interview text by Yumi ishikawa
Photography by Yohsuke Komatsu

 

 

Welcome To The World of Lizard Pleasures

ISSAY’s sense of pleasure and inner universe seen in a variety of things like earrings, brooches, masks, Gitanes, Jim Morrison, and more.

 

 

 

◆Lizard accessories (piercings, cufflinks, necklace, brooch, ring, lighter, socks, etc.)

ISSAY(I): When I wrote the song Psycho Lizard, I realised that I like lizards. With no relation to Jim Morrison¹ at all, lizards are sexy and they’ve got the power to even survive in the desert. And that’s why to me, they’re a symbol of vitality and a sex symbol too. So, there are strange lizards depending on the type that they are, right? So, you know, in the desert, there are lizards that walk with their right front leg and left hind leg up. They’ve got that sort of comical side to them too. And, they’re easily hated (smiles), these creatures. There was a time when agnès b² released a lizard series, right? So, it was thanks to agnès that I could amass my collection easily.

 

◆Protection stones

I: So, this, well, one day, my friend gave me an agate, you see, and while I held on to it, during that period, these things were trendy, weren’t they? I had no idea, but somehow, a number of people were giving me stones, so I ended up collecting a variety of them and I believe you can’t treat them badly, so I always put them in my left inner pocket (near the heart). But the agate I received, I was told that it was for liver health, and it’s in my pocket every day, though (smiles). It would be great if [the stone] would shoulder this for me like Dorian Gray³, but I think I’d hate it if [the stone] shows how it changes over time (smiles). I don’t know what [this one] is called, but it appears that gold-coloured stones are tied to monetary fortunes, if I end up breaking it (smiles) I’ll never be rich.

I heard that amethysts are supposed to promote mental stability, but I suppose I must have looked very unstable to the one who gave it to me (smiles). The tiger’s eye? This one’s to ward off bad things. The turquoise, well, I hate airplanes, right, and there were a number of times during our tours when I’ve had no choice but to fly and when I made a huge fuss over it, like, “No way, no way,” they said, “This is a protective charm, so [take it],” [and gave this to me].

But I really, really hate flying. I hate the fact that there’s nothing under my feet. I just can’t deal with things where you can expect yourself to fall, you know? I can’t deal with elevators in tall buildings too. And somehow I’d get anemic on Flying Pirates⁴ (smiles). I love crystals, but I hate that if I put them in this leather pouch and bring them out, they’d hit against each other and get scratched, you know? That’s why I don’t carry them around.

 

◆Leather

I: Leather goods are sexy, aren’t they? The belt I’m wearing now is a Jim Morrison design that I’ve been looking for since a while ago and a friend found it for me, you see. So, I asked how much it was, and found out that it was a price that was far beyond what I could afford. Then, just as I was thinking, “How dare you shitty, greedy, extortionist!”, 20 something people came together to buy it for my birthday last year. That’s why I decided that I’m definitely going to take good care of this one, and I’ve already declared that I’d get leather pants specially made to wear with this, so there’s no detaching this. This is already as good as my patron saint. Furthermore, this is something that tens of people bought for me, so it weighs on my hips (smiles). Maybe I should write everyone’s names on the back of the belt (smiles).

 

◆Mask

I: Now, there’s a person who’s in the pantomime field who’s making [masks] like these, and they’re someone who has even held a solo exhibition. I don’t know what they were thinking but a long time ago, that person gave [them] to me for some reason. Well, I did like masks and I did use them on stage during Der Zibet’s early days too. Masks are, well, used to easily convey another personality. The one I’m holding in my hand (in the picture) is the third generation. The one that’s taken with [the] Jim Morrison (poster) is the second generation. The very first I intended to display it at home, but the moment I got it, I knew I had no reason to not use it on stage. Recently, SEISHIRO of Strawberry Fields⁵ said he wanted to use a mask and he asked if I could lend one to him, so I let him take the first generation mask.

 

◆Pierrot

I: I thought of bringing pierrot-themed items along too, but [I didn’t] because there were just too many. Pierrots, you know, they’ve got that sadness, and that mischief⁶? I love it. Usually, they’d be the ones making funny faces at the audience, right? They’d act like buffoons and joke around, and once the audience laughs, it becomes the audience who are the fools; I really love that sense about them. Plus, there’s something romantic⁷ about it too. I’ve always liked pierrots since I was a child, you see.

 

◆Pantomime

I: I started pantomiming even earlier than Der Zibet. I think it was around the same time as when I started [my first] rock band. We just happened to bump into each other at a certain place, you know, me and Sensei (Mochizuki Akira / 望月章). When he asked me then whether I’d perform in a mime show, I said I’ve never done anything like miming, and he said I’ll only have you do what you can, so just sat [on stage] and remained there.

In terms of special training… there are basic exercises for fundamental motor movement. Miming is movement while thinking of each joint in the body as separate parts, right? So, we’d move our head, neck, chest, stomach, hips in all directions, dropping down and twisting; we’d do all of that. Also, standing straight was something that I couldn’t do that at first for half a year. I think standing straight is the most difficult thing to do. It’s probably the most basic thing to stand up straight on stage and let your voice travel straight ahead, but after living long enough, you’d develop certain walking habits and vocal quirks, right? We have to revert all that to being “brand new” once.

And, erasing your presence. To appear out of thin air. I still can’t do that. Because when I decide to make my presence disappear, the intention to disappear will be there. You have to strongly believe in what you want to show people, otherwise it won’t work out. If [what I want to show is ] wall, you’d know that it’s a wall if I hit (moves his palm up and down in front of himself) like this, right? But as to what kind of wall it is… Whether it’s concrete or glass, if I don’t know which it is, I won’t be able to show that to the audience.

Many of my current Sensei’s pantomimes have a storyline, but rather than following the story as a whole, it’s more important in his works that the audience can feel what they see in each moment. I think even among Japan’s pantomimers, he’s considered to be one-of-a-kind. Some people say that what he does is closer to butoh⁸ or ballet. Maybe he’s closer to Maurice Béjart⁹ or something. In the past, I’ve once invited Mochizuki Sensei to perform at one of my live shows with Morioka Ken¹⁰ on keyboards. I asked him to perform a scene called Berlin from a part of one of Sensei’s works.

I think Sensei’s left a very big influence on me. Because I think he’s probably the one person who influenced me the most. That’s why if I performed in one of his works, I’d write poems or something too. Whenever I perform in his productions, each time I’d feel, “Ahh, I’m alive.” I wonder how many times I’ve lived now.

 

◆Jim Morrison fabric poster

I: So this, when I went to Nagoya while on tour, I was going for drinks with the event organiser and he said that he knew a fun place so he took me there, and it turned out that the establishment used to be something like a rock cafe. While drinking and commenting, “What a nice place,” I looked around and noticed Jim Morrison stuck to the ceiling. After I went crazy over it, I was told that this place was going to be permanently shuttered next week. So, [when we were leaving,] I went out and the event organiser said, “Wait a moment,” and [when he came back,] he got [the poster] for me. That’s why I said I’ll definitely cherish this, and I hung it up diagonally in front, in the area I’d see when I open the door to my home.

The Doors, well, when I was a high school student, they had their revival hit in Apocalypse Now¹¹. I bought it after I heard it on the radio. So, I’m the sort of person who doesn’t get special feelings for artists and all that. I’d like the music, the voice, the lyrics. I’d simply like it without feeling attached [to the person or band], you know? But some years before that, The Doors released a video for Live at the Hollywood Bowl, right? And watching it, that was the first time that I found myself thinking, “This is amazing.” And since then…

I like the Door’s early days, up until their third album, though. But I love all the songs on their first album. The music they produced up until then felt like the very midst of adolescence, that’s how it felt to me. Maybe it never really had anything to do with adolescence or anything, but that’s just what I understood from the lyrics that he wrote, you see. I suppose The End, too, relates to bitterness in that sense or something. And even though [their music] is all low and rumbly, it’s so crystal clear, isn’t it? I liked that sense of clarity. And even though he’s so often considered synonymous to rock music itself, I’ve never once thought of him as a rocker. Because he really sings as if he’s reciting a poem. And his brilliance with how he would never be hitting out at people no matter how much he shouted! Maybe you could say I’m a worshipper¹², but I like him too as a vocalist myself. He’s one of my top three favourite musicians. 1st and 2nd are Marc Bolan¹³ and Morrison. Following them are David Bowie¹⁴ and Iggy Pop¹⁵ and Lou Reed¹⁶ fighting for 3rd.

 

◆Gitanes

I: I forced myself to smoke it when I was in high school because I thought the packaging was cool. And once I got used to it, all other cigarettes smelt bad to me so I couldn’t smoke anything else, you see. These are the cigarettes that the French working class smoke, aren;t they? But that’s why I call them the highlight of France, though (smiles). But, you know, Gitanes Light is unacceptable. I will never recognise those as Gitanes (smiles).

 

◆Art

I: I don’t know much about it but I like Chagall¹⁷. [His works] are very close to the dream world I see. And there are also periods when I alternate between liking Klimt¹⁸ and Egon Schiele¹⁹, too.

 

◆Poets

I: From Japan, what I liked was Tanikawa Shuntaro-san’s²⁰ early works. And once a whole, I read stuff like Ranpo²¹, and Prévert²². I came to love poems rather early on. You know, I wanted to become a poet when I was in high school. In terms of novels, I liked Mishima Yukio²³ and Akae Baku²⁴. Akae’s ability to gather information when he writes about one thing is simply astounding, isn’t it? Because of that, his works have a fragrance to them, don’t they? I hated Dazai²⁵ (smiles). I hate those kinds of works which give affirmation to the mentally weak (smiles).

 

 

 

 

 

Notes:

¹ Jim Morrison was an American singer, songwriter and poet, who served as the lead vocalist of the rock band The Doors. With regards to the “lizard” being related to Jim Morrison, he gave himself numerous titles, King Bee, Crawling King Snake, Little Red Rooster, etc. But none other was more elevated and revered by Morrison than ‘the Lizard King’ of which he dedicated an entire performance piece titled Celebration of the Lizard King which included spoken (poetry) and sung lyrics, story-telling and musical sections (Goldstein, 1968) in which Morrison proclaimed himself as ‘the Lizard King’.

² A French brand by the French designer of the same name. agnès b. started designing menswear in 1981 after observing men appropriate clothes designed for women. She opened her first international store on Prince Street in New York’s SoHo district in 1983.

³ In reference to The Picture of Dorian Gray, a Gothic and philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only novel written by Wilde where the main character, Dorian Gray is the subject of a full-length portrait in oil by Basil Hallward, an artist impressed and infatuated by Dorian’s beauty. When he comes to realise that his beauty will fade, Dorian expresses the desire to sell his soul, to ensure that the picture, rather than he, will age and fade. The wish is granted, and Dorian pursues a libertine life of varied amoral experiences while staying young and beautiful; all the while, his portrait ages and records every sin.

⁴ The pirate ship ride at theme parks.

⁵ A Japanese rock band which was formed in 1989 and was active until 1993. Members were DIZZY (ex. D’ERLANGER) on vocals, LEZYNA (ex. JUSTY-NASTY) on guitar, SEISHIRO on bass, and SHU-KEN on drums. SEISHIRO would later go on to play for ROUAGE, while SHU-KEN would join FiX, tezya’s band.
(tezya’s first band was with Sugizo and Shinya of Luna Sea.)

⁶ I thought it’s interesting that the word 悪さ (warusa, literally, “badness”) which he used here has the secondary interpretation of “inferiority”.

⁷ I am inclined to believe that he is referring to romanticism here; the literary, artistic, and philosophical movement originating in the 18th century which was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical.

⁸ Butoh is a form of Japanese dance theatre that encompasses a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement. Following World War II, butoh arose in 1959 through collaborations between its two key founders Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo. Today, butoh encompasses a range of styles, from the grotesque to the austere, and from the erotic to the comic. It is frequently regarded as surreal and androgynous, and focuses on primal expressions of the human condition rather than physical beauty.

⁹ Maurice Béjart was a French-born dancer, choreographer, and opera director known for combining classic ballet and modern dance with jazz, acrobatics, and musique concrète.

¹⁰ Ken Morioka was a Japanese musician, keyboardist, composer, and music producer. In addition to being a member of influential synthpop group Soft Ballet, he worked with numerous other musicians such as Kaya, Buck-Tick, and ZIZ. He was also in the bands minus(-) and Ka.f.ka.

¹¹ Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic war film directed, produced and co-written by Francis Ford Coppola. It’s Japanese title is 地獄の黙示録 (Jigoku no Mokushiroku). The film follows a river journey from South Vietnam into Cambodia undertaken by Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Sheen), who is on a secret mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Brando), a renegade Army Special Forces officer accused of murder and who is presumed insane.
The movie opens with The End, a song by The Doors.

¹² The phrase he used here was 巫女さん状態 (miko-san joutai), literally, “shrine maiden state”. I couldn’t find reference to this phrase so the “worshipper” translation is basically an inference for what the phrase possibly means.

¹³ Marc Bolan was an English singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and poet. He was the lead singer of the band T. Rex and was one of the pioneers of the glam rock movement of the 1970s.

¹⁴ David Bowie was an English singer-songwriter and actor. Known for dramatic musical transformations, including his character Ziggy Stardust, he was a leading figure in the music industry and is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.

¹⁵ Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Designated the “Godfather of Punk”, he was the vocalist and lyricist of influential proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1967 and have disbanded and reunited multiple times since.

¹⁶ Lou Reed was an American musician, singer, songwriter and poet. He was the guitarist, singer and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades.

¹⁷ Marc Chagall was a Russian-French artist of Belarusian Jewish origin. An early modernist, he was associated with several major artistic styles and created works in a wide range of artistic formats, including painting, drawings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramic tapestries and fine art prints.

¹⁸ Gustav Klimt was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objet d’art. Klimt’s primary subject was the female body, and his works are marked by a frank eroticism.

¹⁹ Egon Schiele was an Austrian painter. A protégé of Gustav Klimt, Schiele was a major figurative painter of the early 20th century. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude self-portraits.

²⁰ Tanikawa Shuntaro is a Japanese poet and translator. He is one of the most widely read and highly regarded of living Japanese poets, both in Japan and abroad, and a frequent subject of speculations regarding the Nobel Prize in Literature.

²¹ Tarō Hirai, better known by the pseudonym Edogawa Ranpo, also romanized as Edogawa Rampo, was a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery fiction. Many of his novels involve the detective hero Kogoro Akechi, who in later books was the leader of a group of boy detectives known as the Boy Detectives Club (少年探偵団 / Shounen Tantei Dan).

²² Jacques Prévert was a French poet who composed ballads of social hope and sentimental love; he also ranked among the foremost of screenwriters, especially during the 1930s and ’40s. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. He was also a screenwriter and his best-regarded films, including Les Enfants du Paradis, formed part of the poetic realist movement.

²³ Mishima Yukio was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, film director, nationalist, and founder of the Tatenokai. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. Mishima’s political activities were controversial, and he remains a controversial figure in modern Japan. Ideologically, Mishima was a right-winger who protected the traditional culture and spirit of Japan.

²⁴ Baku Akae was a Japanese novelist. He was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi. His novel Oidipusu no yaiba (オイディプスの刃 / Oedipus’ Sword) won the 1st Kadokawa Novel Award in 1974. In 1984, his novels Kaikyou (海峡 / Straits) and Yakumo ga Koroshita (八雲が殺した / Yakumo Kills) won the Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature.

²⁵ Osamu Dazai was a Japanese author who is considered one of the foremost fiction writers of 20th-century Japan. A number of his most popular works, such as The Setting Sun and No Longer Human, are considered modern-day classics in Japan.

 

 

 

Translation: Yoshiyuki
Scans: morgianasama on LJ

Future Skull

Fool’s mate #139
May 1993

Interview text by Reiko Arakawa
Photography by Yohsuke Komatsu

 

 

Ruins and pleasures that you can’t help but think of

TRASH LAND; the album where loud beats intertwine with the documentary of happenings of a fictional city.
They who broke the mould have returned with this long-awaited new release.
This is the solo interview with their frontman, ISSAY.

 

 

 

If there’s something I want to do, nothing can stop me

 

―― To start, please give us a brief rundown of what led to your contracting with BMG Victor.

ISSAY (I): Two years ago, in the latter half of that particular year, our contract with Seven Gods Records (a label under Columbia) expired on its own and since then we were in a sort of limbo where our managing office had been decided but we hadn’t decided on a record company yet. So, while in that state we simply continued performing our lives throughout. Then, around September of last year, I think, talks with BMG Victor got serious, and that led to the current contract, basically.

―― During that period of limbo, did you emotionally feel something akin to impatience as one would expect in such a situation?

I: Mm~m, I didn’t. At all. Though, I don’t really know (smiles). Because I felt that we’d definitely make a decision in the end. I wonder how the other members felt, though? I guess there more or less would be some members who felt pressed about it, but I don’t think anyone felt it to the extent of becoming exceptionally anxious, you know? Because, after all, the only thing we could do was to focus on doing what we can and what we needed to do at that point in time.

―― You mean, to continue on at your own pace.

I: Mhm, because I’ve always thought that we’d likely make a decision before long. Although, it did take longer than I expected (smiles). Ah, well, but we also did talk about how it would be fine even if we released music through an indie [label]. Like, we’d probably be able to continue as Der Zibet anyway. Though, we did talk about how it would be a shame if the band broke up or if it stopped existing, among us members. We did feel that even if it ever comes to a situation where our band can’t release music, the state of Japan’s music industry probably won’t decay, so we were quite at ease, but when we started to sense the shadow of a doubt, a decision was more or less suddenly made (smiles).

―― You performed at Extasy Summit* two years ago, didn’t you?    I thought that this all started from there, and I’ve also heard rumours that you were going to sign with Extasy.

I: You know, even I was surprised when I heard that rumour from a reporter. Because such a thing had never been sounded out in the slightest bit, and other record company names have been raised before, so, why did that rumour even come about?    All that despite the fact that we, ourselves, have yet to make a decision too (smiles), y’know?

―― I think the origin of those rumours came about because there were occasions when ISSAY-san participated in their** personal events, but that you appeared quite a bit, didn’t you?

I: Is that so?    That could be it.

―― Did you decide to actively participate or anything like that?

I: There was no such conscious intention at all. It’s simply that I got invited, and if I liked the content that was going to be performed, then I’ll go, that’s all.

―― How do you perceive between yours and the bands’ activities?

I: No relation at all. Because I think it’s fine as long as I enjoy it.

―― Then, what about the unit, Hamlet Machine?

I: That’s a hobby, you see. Because I’m just doing it out of interest. I’m the type who would feel suffocated if I’m not performing at lives, so, even if it’s an event, if its direction interests me, I’ll go. And if there’s nothing like that either, then I’d form a band on my own, or I’d keep jumping into other people’s bands (smiles). Because I can’t do without singing on stage, you know?

―― By the way, I saw you performing the day before yesterday (20 Feb) at Power Station*** and I’m curious about ISSAY-san’s hairstyle changes.

I: Hair, you know, it just grows longer when you leave it alone, doesn’t it?    It just gets me wondering, what is it that keeps it in a certain shape, you know? So, there really isn’t much of a profound meaning behind this. It’s just that I got tired of it, you know. Now I’m just letting it be (smiles).

―― I think you change [your image] quite a lot and one of those aspects is your stage outfits, but what are your thoughts regarding that?

I: Since it’s an extension of my everyday wear, what I wore on stage the day before yesterday is exactly what I’d normally wear.

―― That’s not something exclusive to the stage?

I: Yep, that’s been the way it is for the past few years.

―― Huh?    Then, you go up on stage just like that?

I: Well, I don’t want to stay sweaty and catch a cold so I’ll bring a change of clothes, though (smiles). In general, if you see me on stage and get the idea that I look flashy, then during that period, I’d look flashy on regular days too. Previously, when I had extensions attached, it wasn’t possible to remove them, so I had no choice but to stick with that image, right? And during that time, I wore a purple coat on stage so I’d normally wear a purple coat too. Because you see, if I don’t do that, then nothing would match, right (smiles)? It just wouldn’t feel right, you know. But the person is the one who chooses the clothes, so I think that it should bring out all of the wearer. I can’t pull the brakes when I think, “Ah, I want to do it like this.” I think that’s one of my answers. I like rock because bringing that out is an acceptable form of expression, you know? I think I like it because it’s something where the person’s appearance is just as important as the person’s music.

―― Is there not much difference between the version of you on stage and the usual you?

I: Isn’t it the same?    It’s just that when I’m on stage, I’m in a “shrine maiden state”, you see. There’s nothing for me to do except to wait for the song to descend on me, so it feels like my body is possessed?    That much is different, I guess. Though, I suppose that’s quite a big difference (smiles).

 

ISSAY, Der Zibet

There’s a strong sense that we wanted this album to be something that aims outwards

 

―― Now, I’d like to ask you about your new album, “TRASH LAND”. How long ago did you start preparing for it?

I: Since around July, we had been putting together the demo tape which was to be used for the album. There were 10 plus songs, but once we arrived at the recording stage, we felt that those wouldn’t be interesting direction-wise, so in late November, we started composing again and then started recording in December.

―― Why were all of the credits for the songs written as Der Zibet instead of individual names?

I: There are also a lot of songs which each individual brought, but our band progressively composes through sessions, so there are times when it happens that this part may come from this person, but this other part comes from that person. The melody would change during our composition sessions, and in the end, it gets troublesome [to accurately credit the individuals] so we just leave it as Der Zibet.

―― Around how many songs did you end up with?

I: There were sooo many. How many were there?    It’s always like this, but I think there were 40~60 songs?   When we produce one album. Because there are also songs that are made up of only one phrase. Then we’d put together the phrases of two songs and so on, you know. We have quite a lot that was brought to the table as raw materials. Then there are also those songs that we compose as a band when we go into the studio of sessions, right? So, including that, it adds up to quite a considerable amount, doesn’t it?

―― So, what criteria do you go by to choose which song to go with?

I: Feeling^. It’s the band’s bigger sense of wanting to go in a particular direction at that point in time, you know.

―― Are the lyrics only written after you listen to the music?

I: Rather than writing them after listening, it’s more like I always have a stock of lyrics, you know. And even then, rather than a stock [of lyrics] which have taken shape, it’s more like a stock of fragments. Because I’m the type who would write things down on paper whenever I come up with something. Then, I would collate this stock in a notebook, and as I refer to it, I’d keep thinking and often, I’d go with putting bits from it together [to form song lyrics]. When there isn’t enough, I’d just come up with more there and then, anyway.

―― You always write down whatever comes to mind?

I: That’s right. When I feel like it. Though rather than song lyrics, it’s more like a stock of lyric phrases, you know?

―― You’ve always written song lyrics like this?

I: That’s right.

―― So, does that mean that when you’re writing song lyrics, you’ve never gotten stuck or come up with them last minute?

I: Nope, it’s happened. Numerous times. Because when the content of my word stock doesn’t fit the content of the song lyrics that I want to write at that moment, I have no choice but to redo it, right? But this time, it was easy. I had a vague, general image of it since the period of “Shishunki” Ⅰ and Ⅱ^^. So, there were a lot of words which I let lie for about a year or a year and a half.

―― To leave them for this album?

I: I spoke to the band members this time around, but rather than talking about the content of the lyrics, the conclusion which I arrived at when I spoke with HIKARU was that we wanted to do something straightforward. First and foremost, we felt that we wanted to produce a minimalist, rock and roll sort of album. That, and also, we had been doing live performances throughout that time, right?    We had this rhythm which we got through that period of time, so we also spoke about how we wanted to create something which had the potential for us to be aggressive during live performances. But rather than spending time griping about it, I brought (the lyrics) as materials because it would be faster to just suggest, “This is good, right?”

―― It’s quite a heavy sound, isn’t it?    It felt that way to me at your lives too, though.

I: I guess you can also say it’s an album that is the result of the trend of the type of songs that we chose to perform at our lives this past one year.

―― In the sense that the rhythm which you have grasped through your lives comes through in this album?

I: That’s right. And, to us, it’s also because our previous release, “Shishunki”, had a part of it which was overly introverted after all. I guess this [album] is also a response to that. At that point in time, we had no choice but to do that… We couldn’t progress to the next step, but I think we drew the line at that, you know? That’s why I think that we created something which burst with unnecessary things. In contrast, do we want to do something which aims outwards this time?    I guess there’s a strong sense that we hope people will listen to it anyway because we’re such a great band.

―― What do you mean by “aim outwards”?

I: I think that wanting it to aim outwards simply means that we want this album to sell. This might be interpreted as something very tasteless [to say], but basically, we want it to sell. That was a very strong intention that we had. But it’s not that we are hoping that doing this will commercialise us or something. It’s just that we wanted to release something that is the result of us putting our artist power on full blast. For some reason, the number of people who came to our lives had been steadily increasing during this past one year while we were left dangling in the air. That’s why we had confidence that the way we’re doing our lives is definitely the right way.

 

ISSAY, Der Zibet

The decadence of this era

 

―― This phrase, “TRASH LAND”, also appears as the album title, but what is it?

I: An unfinished city?    It’s a city at the turn of the millennium that I have in my head, but “TRASH LAND”, this imaginary city wasn’t something that I had in mind right from the start. Rather, it was the result of my initial concept of cities. While composing a few songs and writing a few lyrics, I had a moment of, “Oh, I see,” and came to a realisation on my own. [It’s the realisation] that I’m writing songs about disjointed scenes happening in the city. And that I wanted something like a concept which puts it all together into one whole. There, you see, is where the name “TRASH LAND” came from.

―― Considering that TRASH creates the image of garbage or junk, it brings to mind something similar to ruins, though.

I: Because when it comes to cities, what I imagine is futuristic ruins. That is the kind of image that has been going around in my head ever since I started writing the lyrics.

―― When you say ruins of the future, capturing that alone isn’t a very positive perspective, is it?

I: You see, I think of cities themselves as things that have yet to be completed. Even now, I feel that way. Since they’re incomplete, I can’t imagine what they’re like in their completed forms either, but I think that humans have always created all sorts of things in the direction of desire or pleasure. But if we went beyond that by a certain amount, we’d go crazy, right?    I think that’s why cities always turn to ruin. It’s easy to look at that and lament, but I wanted to acknowledge it this time. Like, I guess that’s just the way humans are.

―― You mean, [to acknowledge] the parts that are imperfect or warped?

I: I want to include those all together and acknowledge them too. Among all of that, I also really want to acknowledge my floundering self.

―― Is that perspective something that you’ve always had consistently?

I: Nope, I think it’s stronger recently.

―― Why so?

I: I wonder (smiles). I don’t know the answer to that. About why I became like this. I believe that humans are creatures that cannot stop chasing after pleasure. We move in accordance with that principle, so getting told that we’re not allowed to do so would make us lose our humanity; that’s what I think, without a doubt. Because we don’t need restricted freedom. I guess that’s why, in these past two years, I’ve been getting the sense of, “If that’s the case, what if just once, I went all the way to the limit?”. “THE END OF PLEASURE” and the like are songs which sort of touch on that, but I think it’s a declaration of resolve. Because I just want to see my destination. For example, war will never disappear, but although it’s easy to lament, “Why do humans go to war?”, what’s even simpler, to me, is the truth that humans just enjoy killing other people, don’t they? But if you don’t recognise that, you definitely won’t be able to control yourself, right? Because only those who say, “I don’t do that,” are the ones who kill. I thought that was something that I wanted to recognise myself.

―― Is that something you also want your listeners to acknowledge too?

I: I don’t want to do such pushy things. Saying, “So this is my stance!”. I think that it will be put through a filter by my creation of this fictitious city called “TRASH LAND”.

―― I feel like the public image of the band Der Zibet, the decadent atmosphere was again intensified by “Shishunki”, but was it your intention to wipe that away with this album?

I: Nope. I guess since “decadence” was something that has been said of us since our debut, no matter what we say now, it wouldn’t make a difference… So, because the trend thus far can be rounded up with the word “decadence”, I think that I’d probably be dabbling (in “decadence”) forever. Though, it’s not that I wanted to be defined as such. That’s why this album, too, could possibly turn out to be the decadence of this era.

―― I got the feeling that [this album] had a stronger sense of objectivity than “Shishunki”, though.

I: I believe there’s a lot of that. “Shishunki” is a work where I was floundering and kept going further and further inwards into myself, but for “TRASH LAND”, I feel that it’s about things that happen while normally walking through the city. About the people I saw, or what I felt. Because that’s what I feel we presented in this album. I think it really exudes the idea of the person who sang in “Shishunki” thinking, “What’ll happen if I go outside?”. In addition to that, I think that a variety of personalities emerge with each part of this fictitious “TRASH LAND” that gets created. I could feel myself opening up, like a part within myself that I wasn’t aware of or something that I wouldn’t normally write on my own.

―― Did the way you put out song lyrics in itself change too?

I: This started changing since Ⅱ of “Shishunki”, but I didn’t want to think too deeply about it. I felt quite liberated. This might’ve been my most relaxed experience so far. Since the premise was a fictitious city, no matter what comes of it, it wouldn’t be strange, would it? As I’m a person who doesn’t really go outside, to begin with, and I’m the type of person who likes staying still in my room, I’d daydream about all sorts of things on my own and entertain myself. So, I’d write lyrics, right, and between writing about realistic things and words which can only be fantasy, both are of the same level to me, you see. I think that is probably what people have been telling me is difficult to understand. There was a period when I thought of doing something about it. There was also a period when I pursued reality and tried different methods of writing, but this time, since we’re saying that it’s a fictitious city, anything is possible, so it was really easy. Because I could put out both the tangible things and what my imagination came up with together on the same level.

―― Lastly, please say something to readers who are being exposed to Der Zibet for the first time through this interview.

I: I think, thus far, Der Zibet has always produced new works on a timely basis. And I think this one is really timely as well, and to me, it’s a work that is being presented for this era. I hope that you will listen to it. Also, you don’t really have to bother yourself with the difficult things,  so just let yourself get immersed in the flood of this sound. I think you’ll definitely find something that catches hold of you in it. When you do find it, I hope that you will cherish it. Also, we’ll be going on our tour based off this album starting late April, so please do come. If you come once and it doesn’t interest you, you can come and watch us a second time too (smiles).

 

 

 

 

Notes:

* Extasy Summit was an event hosted by YOSHIKI’s Extasy Records which was meant to promote visual-kei and the bands that performed there. ISSAY took part in the 1991 edition, performing Lou Reed’s Satellite of Love with YOSHIKI on piano.
Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Ns1ax9AAU

** Subject was not specified here.

*** Likely referring to Nissin Power Station in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

^ It was written as “カン” rather than “感”.

^^ Shishunki Ⅰ and Ⅱ (思春期 Ⅰ – Upper Side – / 思春期 Ⅱ – Downer Side -) are Der Zibet’s 7th and 8th studio albums which were respectively released in July and October of 1991.

 

 

Translation: Yoshiyuki
Scans: morgianasama on LJ

1988.11.21 | SIXTY RECORDS
GARDEN

1993.03.24 | SIXTY RECORDS
Historic Flowers

Lyrics By ISSAY

Music & Arranged by DER ZIBET

Japanese

 

淋しいダンス おまえと続けるよりは
一人きりで踊り続けていたい
ゆれ動くこと出来なくなったおまえ
鏡に映る自分の姿見ろよ
おまえが立ち上がった時
記憶がくだける音がした
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance おまえが遠い
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance こんなにそばにいるのに

痛みを忘れ 夢を忘れるよりは
一人きりで踊り続けていたい
あきらめる事おぼえてしまったおまえ
すき間だらけの自分のまわり見ろよ
おまえの落としたグラスの音が
俺の体をつきぬけた
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance ゆれる心求め
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance 明日を迎える為に

すき間にうもれたラブソング 今から拾いあげに行こう
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance おまえが遠い
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance そばにいるのに
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance ゆれる心求め
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance 明日を迎える為に

Romaji

By: Yoshiyuki

Samishii dansu omae to tsudzukeru yori wa
Hitori kiri de odori tsudzukete itai
Yure ugoku koto dekinaku natta omae
Kagami ni utsuru jibun no sugata miro yo
Omae ga tachi agatta toki
Kioku ga kudakeru oto ga shita
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance Omae ga tooi
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance Konna ni soba ni iru noni

Itami wo wasure yume wo wasureru yori wa
Hitori kiri de odori tsudzukete itai
Akirameru koto oboete shimatta omae
Sukima darake no jibun no mawari miro yo
Omae no otoshita gurasu no oto ga
Ore no karada wo tsukinuketa
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance Yureru kokoro motome
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance Ashita wo mukaeru tame ni

Sukima ni umoreta rabu songu Ima kara hiroi age ni ikou
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance Omae ga tooi
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance Soba ni iru noni
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance Yureru kokoro motome
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance Ashita wo mukaeru tame ni

English

By: Yoshiyuki

Rather than keeping up this lonely dance with you
I’d much rather prefer dancing by myself
You’ve lost your ability to sway and move
So just look in the mirror at yourself
The moment you rose to your feet
Came the sound of memories smashed to bits
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance You’re so far away
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance Although you’re here right by my side

Rather than forgetting pain, forgetting dreams
I’d much rather prefer dancing by myself
You’re remembering that you’ve let go
So just look around your gaping, hollow self
The sound of you dropping your glass
Penetrated my body
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance Seeking wavering hearts
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance To greet the coming day

Now, it’s time for us to pick up love songs slipping away through the gaps
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance You’re so far away
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance Although you’re by my side
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance Seeking wavering hearts
Oh Lonely Dance. Lonely Dance To greet the coming day

 

Ad for ISSAY's solo album, FLOWERS

Obsessive Flowers

Fool’s mate
October 1994

interview text by Reiko Arakawa
photography by Akira Kitajima

 

Blossoming like flowers, a noxious aroma, the maverick adorns

FLOWERS, his first solo album releasing as Der Zibet celebrates its 10th anniversary, has turned out to be a collection of song covers. Numbers which transcend nostalgic melodies to become overtures of recklessness and devolution, which paint the sadness and emotion found in the originals even more vividly; these songs are no longer mere covers but now a part of ISSAY’s unique eccentric world. ISSAY himself will tell us all about the songs in this album including episodes involving the celebrated guest artists who participated.

 

 

ISSAY

I liked Keiichi-san’s unique sense of individualism and worldview

―― Why did you decide to release a solo album this time around?

ISSAY (I): Rather than a solo album, it was more that I wanted to make a cover album like this one. About a year ago, I thought about whether I should do this with Der Zibet, but I felt that if I was going to make such an album, doing this solo would make it easier for people to accept.

―― Have you had this idea in mind for a long time now?

I: It came to me about 2 years ago and since then I’ve been working on it. When I jokingly made a passing remark that maybe I’d like to give it a go, they quickly set it all up to let me do it (smiles). They’re such a nice record company, aren’t they?

―― (Smiles) Ask and you shall be given, right? So, what are your thoughts on the album being entirely made up of covers?

I: When I decided to do covers, I had a few songs in mind that I wanted to sing. I felt that I should pick an album’s worth of songs which allow me to bring out my own personal characteristics and worldview. Because there’s no reason for me to sing songs I don’t like, right? Say, for example, this particular song remains calm whichever way it goes, but when I sing it, it becomes something else… The idea of bringing out those aspects is where I started from.

―― Are all these songs you recorded songs that you’ve listened to in the past?

I: Nope, there are also tracks that were picked from songs which I listened to for the sake of this album. [My choices are] limited if I’m only going to pick songs that I’ve listened to before, aren’t they? I didn’t even like Japanese music all that much in the first place. So I gathered all the staff and said, “Bring me all the songs you want me to sing!” (Smiles). We collected a tremendous amount and then selected the songs from there.

―― The stance in this album is completely different from Der Zibet’s… Is there a bit of a hobbyist element to it?

I: Nope, I think it’s the same as what I do with Der Zibet, just with a slight change in methodology. It’s not a hobby or anything like that. I’ve released 10 albums with Der Zibet thus far, right?   So, I’m releasing another work in the same league as that, just that this time, it so happens that this is in the form of a solo project.

―― After choosing the songs, did you agonise who you were going to do which song with?

I: To start, when we came up with the plan to execute such a project, it was key to answer the question of, “Who should we nominate as producer?” That was what I discussed with Ichikawa-kun (from Ongaku to Hito) who is also named as one of the producers of this album. So, then, he asked, “What about Suzuki Keiichi-san¹ (Moon Riders¹)?” Keiichi-san is a person with his own unique sense of individualism and worldview, and I like him too but I don’t think anyone would’ve thought that Der Zibet would team up with Keiichi-san, right? I thought it sounded interesting so… We met and had drinks, and I decided, “I want to work with him!” So next, [we had to decide on the performers], and once Keiichi-san gathered his acquaintances, that was quickly decided but I felt that if we went with that, [the album] would be steeped in Keiichi-san’s style. I wanted to work with the young musicians of this era… Because I was thinking that I wanted to hear the reckless and daredevil style of playing that those kids have, you know (smiles). So we were caught between these two options, but after much discussion, this is the line up we settled on.

―― And the arrangement of the songs are dependent on the participating musicians for each song?

I: Nope, they’re largely arranged by Keiichi-san. Except for Itoshi no Macks which was arranged by Nozawa Daijirou-kun² (D.I.E.²) and Hana ga Saite which was arranged by ex-Real Fish³ member Fukuhara Mari-chan³.

ISSAY

The antagonist in The Silence of the Lambs, “the dead”… One half of the eerie²⁰ type

―― So, next, please tell us about each track (the names in parenthesis after each song title refer to the songs’ original artists).

1、Akazu no Fumikiri (Inoue Yousui⁴)
[あかずの踏切り / Railway Crossing Which Never Opens]

I: I decided to do this song because I thought, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to play this song as a rock tune?” Let’s do a flamboyant rock song!   So I did it with the intention of making it this album’s forward⁵. And we also decided to introduce a deep dark backing chorus (smiles). We didn’t decide on which song to put that in, but Keiichi-san put it in this one (smiles). Along with that, you know, we had members from The Mad Capsule Markets⁶ taking part as the rhythm unit but we let them do things their way. I think you’ll get it when you hear the song, but their spirit of rock really comes at you hard. That, and KEN-chan⁷ played some great guitar for me. You know, KEN-chan’s solo got an OK in one take. Before he started, he asked, “How do you want me to do it?”, and I said, “Hm, right, it’d be good if you’d just go crazy on the guitar.” And that’s precisely what he did.

2、Itoshi no Makkusu (Araki Ichirou⁸)
[いとしのマックス / Macks, My Love ]

I: This was a song that I didn’t have input. Someone mentioned, “Well, there’s this song…” and in the beginning, I didn’t know what to do with it. It was a good song, but I couldn’t figure out what was a good way to do it, then D.I.E.-chan said, “Don’t you think it’ll be cool to do it in the style of rock ‘n’ roll with electronic programming?” So after discussing with him, it became an extremely bloodthirsty song; Tokyo’s bloodthirsty sound (smiles). I wanted to bring out something akin to the madness of the modern man… The protagonist in the original song is a somewhat zealous person?   Someone like the antagonist in the movie The Silence of The Lambs?   I wanted to try and become that sort of guy. Right when D.I.E.-chan took part [in this project], he was also working with hide-chan⁹, wasn’t he? And when I mentioned, “I’d be so happy if hide-chan would play his guitar for me in this song,” he actually did it (smiles). I was so happy.

―― If there were no vocals in this song, we wouldn’t be able to tell what it’s supposed to be, right?

I: At first, we had distorted vocals here. But the normal vocals which we used were actually even heavier (smiles). You see, since all of it was noise, the distorted vocals actually sounded cohesive on the contrary and they could be heard properly. … Could it be that Macks actually refers to one’s other self?

3、Yoru to Asa no Aida ni (Peter¹⁰)
[夜と朝のあいだに / Between Night and Day]

I: This one probably just came to me one day, I think. I thought, “Wouldn’t this song be fun to do?” It’s just a question of how we’re going to arrange it. I thought it might be interesting if we brought it into British dance rock. And after discussing it with Keiichi-san, this was how it turned out. Adding on to Keiichi-san’s programming, Tomomori-kun¹¹ also joined in with his guitar playing.

―― Have you listened to Peter before?

I: Yeah, and I knew of this song beforehand too. I have the CD version of the album which has this song, and seeing that Nakanishi Rei-san¹² wrote the lyrics… what an amazing perspective¹³. During those days, you could really get a strong sense that the lyrics were definitely written by a poet. Because, you see, this song was a sellable one, wasn’t it? Besides, pop tunes of those days, you don’t put words like “the dead (死人 / shibito)” in the lyrics, do you? (Smiles).

―― (Smiles) You normally wouldn’t.

I: But it’s cool. The lyrics are just so good. Because it truly is the embodiment of aestheticism… This tone suits me so I want to try doing this! That’s how I felt. But right until the very end, the staff kept telling me, “You’re getting far too into it so lay off” (smiles).

 4、Kanashikute Yarikirenai (The Folk Crusaders¹⁴)
[悲しくてやりきれない / Unspeakable Sorrow]

―― Isn’t this song a surprisingly true-to-original rendition within this album?

I: Mm~m… It may be so in terms of the world [of the song], but it’s quite heavy, you know? If you listen closely. But I do think that it does sound like the most honest track. Although, it was tough, this one. KEN-chan⁷ played something really cool for me on his 12-string guitar too, and everyone was allowed to do as they pleased. For the rhythm unit, we had Sotoyama-kun¹⁵ from Tipographica¹⁵ and our HAL-chan¹⁹. We had our first keyboardist, Fujiwara Mahito¹⁹ taking part on keyboards too. Once I decided that I was going to do this song, I became very attached to it. You could say that I rarely get the chance to sing such a miserable song; it’s actually very similar to my worldview. This misery is… not something I often bring out, though. You know, this song, isn’t its tempo slower than the original?   Singing like, ‘uuugh, I’m sooo tired’ (smiles). And each note is long. Notes aren’t long with DZ¹⁶, are they? That’s why it was so exhausting. It was so unspeakably painful (smiles).

5、Koi no Hallelujah (Mayuzumi Jun¹⁷)
[恋のハレルヤ / Hallelujah of Love]

I: This song, you know, the original is just such a typical popular song, isn’t it? You could say that it packs a punch; it’s cool, isn’t it? I didn’t need any input within myself for this song at all, but when they let me hear the song, the moment the vocals started coming in right after the intro, I said, “I’ll do this!” The lyrics are great too. These are also written by Nakanishi Rei-san¹² but it feels like they clearly say what needs to be said; I really love these lyrics. So the main challenge was, “How do we simplify the stereotypical popular song vibe that the original melody had?” (Smiles). This was the very first song that we recorded as a band, you know. Until then, we had been recording with programming. We had KEN-chan⁷ and Hoshino-kun¹⁸ on guitars, Sotoyama-kun¹⁵ and HAL-chan¹⁹ as the rhythm unit, and Fujiwara Mahito¹⁹ on keyboards. Ah, you know, it was amazing to have everyone doing whatever they wanted… It made me wonder what would happen.

―― So, which part is played by KEN-chan and which by Hoshino-kun here?

I: The noisy wailing parts are by KEN-chan while Hoshino-kun’s playing some unknown riff above that. The guitar solo battle that happens in the middle is really fun. I thought that was the best part. Hoshino-kun’s solo comes in, and after that, KEN-chan’s solo starts but the absolute magnificence of each of their colours!   Anyone who hears it will understand this well. And Atsushi-kun¹⁸ participated in the finishing touches.

―― Call it a duet or a chorus, it’s somehow not the usual kind of ‘strange’, is it?

I: It’s the eerie²⁰ type, isn’t it (smiles). This song is the most potent of all in the album!


6、Toki ni wa Haha no Nai Ko no You ni (Carmen Maki²¹)
[時には母のない子のように / Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child]

I: This is one of the songs I wanted to do from the very beginning. Through Keiichi-san’s programming, he managed to make it feel as if I’m singing in a frigid, sub-zero location. I asked him to, “Please make it feel like you can almost see a tundra.” And I was wondering about how I should sing it, and Keiichi-san was the one who proposed the idea of whispering.

―― What about this song made you want to sing it?

I: This song, be it its melody or its lyrics, it’s all so good, and you can really tell that the lyrics were written by a poet (Terayama Shuuji²²) too… And that sense of indifference?   I don’t think that’s something that can be evoked in this present era. Considering all of these, I did this song while wondering in the back of my head how it would turn out if a man were to sing it, though. I guess part of the reason behind why I wanted to sing it is because I really loved the song too as a child, for some reason.

7、Asa Made Matenai (The Mops²³)
[朝まで待てない / I Won’t Wait Until Morning]

I: This one, I was wondering whether we could find a rock song to include… and while we were looking, I happened to stumble upon it.

―― When the Mops was active, what other kinds of bands were there aside from them?

I: Group Sound²⁴ (GS²⁴) right?   Or did GS start after them?   That was the psychedelic era, right?

―― Somehow, when I hear such a band’s name, memories of TV shows from back then come to mind, but wasn’t there OX²⁵ and other bands like them too?

I: They were GS and a fainting band²⁵ (smiles). Though, you know, I did think about OX. But when I heard Asa Made Matenai, I felt that I could modernize it and possible make it oshare-rock²⁶. When I asked Keiichi-san whether he could arrange it to make it sound like a Roxy Music²⁷ song, this was how it turned out. For this song, we again had KEN-chan⁷ and Hoshino-kun¹⁸ on guitars, the two members of The Mad Capsule Markets⁶ as the rhythm unit, and Kurihara-san²⁸ (now, VIBRA HORNS²⁸) who was previously a part of Der Zibet’s horn section played the saxophone for us. Then, the deviant violin music in the interlude was beautifully played by SUGIZO, while we had 2 women singing the backing chorus. Because I said I wanted to try having female backing vocals (smiles). I wanted the women singing backing vocals to this miserable man’s singing because after all, we’re making it sound like Roxy Music, and once we did that, I really loved it. But I sang it in a distraught manner (smiles). Distraught in the sense of, “If I can’t see you, I’ll die.”

ISSAY

High concentration of German flair in the bloodstream, Taisho-era romanticism, and “I cried”

 8、Toki no Sugiyuku Mama ni (Sawada Kenji²⁹)
[時の過ぎゆくままに / As Time Goes By]

I: I really wanted to focus on popular Japanese songs this time around, so I was looking for good songs in that genre. Since then, I wanted to sing this song. Regarding Julie²⁹, he’s got other songs too but I wanted to do this one the most. I love this sense of decadent emptiness, so I asked for it to be arranged in a way that fostered it even more (smiles). For this song, we have Sotoyama-kun¹⁵ on drums and Kin-chan (TAKASHI³⁰) from DIE IN CRIES³⁰ on bass. Playing guitar here is KEN-chan⁷ and on keyboards is Fujiwara Mahito¹⁹. Oh, right, yes, for this song, I said, “Let’s max out the concentration of German flair in the bloodstream and do this!” The original version of this song is really really good, isn’t it?   That’s why I have no choice but to simplify it. But if we cover it as it is, then it’ll just stay the same, yet if we over simplify it, it would just turn into a parody too… That’s why we spoke about this a number of times together. As long as we can bring out the key element which is a sense of dreary European decadence, it would be a success, you know, that concentration of German flair in the bloodstream (smiles). “The ashes of death raining down on a city lined with buildings made of stone… and I’m standing there alone.” That’s the kind of arrangement we ended up with. Or should I say, “A man in the early 20th-century Shanghai”? (Smiles).

9、Yoimachi Gusa (Awaya Noriko³¹)
[宵待草 / Evening Primrose]

I: I wanted to sing this song. But everyone disliked that. Both the lyrics and the melody are really good, though, aren’t they?   Everything is said in those 3 lines. Although, I think from the second chorus on, it was by someone else later on. In the beginning, I only knew the first chorus which was sung by Ayawa-san³¹, but these lyrics which were written by Takehisa Yumeji³² are complete and whole as they are. They’ve even got a touch of Taisho-era romanticism.

―― It’s the most domestic song of the album, isn’t it?

I: It’s got a vibe unique to that era, right?   And adding to that is the sense of loneliness that was already present in the original song. In hindsight, all of that was enhanced through Keiichi-san’s arrangement, wasn’t it? It’s just that I initially thought that this might be a difficult song, but after trying to sing it, I realised it really wasn’t all that hard.

10、Hana ga Saite (Jacks³³)
[花がさいて / Flowers Are Blooming]

I: This is probably the greatest track in this album. During song selection, I couldn’t decide on which Jacks song to sing, but Keiichi-san said, “Hana ga Saite is a good one, isn’t it?”, and when I went home and gave it another listen, I ended up crying.

―― But this song has left the impression on me that it’s the most relaxed one in this album.

I: That’s true, it’s straightforward, isn’t it? I also didn’t feel that the melody in this song was anything too difficult. It’s weird, this melody. Adding on to that, I’ve never sung at this tempo before so I was surprised, too. Recording vocals for this song was the most difficult but both Keiichi-san and I were really really into it, so I dug deep and sang. The arrangement of the string septet and Fukuhara Mari-chan’s piano was great too.

11、Seaside Bound (The Tigers³⁴)

I: This, you know, it came to mind the moment I thought of making a cover album. Like, “Ah, wouldn’t it fun if I were to sing dark surf rock” (smiles). Because, well, isn’t the song originally surf rock?   I thought it might sound great if we did it with the violent sounds that we have these days. Because everyone’s twisted, right? In this song.

―― Even though you gave us a melancholy sound with Hana ga Saite (smiles).

I: Actually, I wanted to close off the album with Hana ga Saite. (The album’s) second half is quite something, right?   It steadily comes at you, doesn’t it?   What if someone commits suicide? That was the kind of conversation we had, you see (smiles). I said that’s just how those types of people will be so it doesn’t matter, but they said, “But it’s still bad!” Those who feel like dying after listening to something like [Hana ga Saite], you shouldn’t die, you know? It’s those who listen to something like this and don’t feel anything at all who I wish would die (smiles). Then they said, “It looks like we may have to have some form of salvation!” and made me laugh in the end, so we made the decision to add this song in 11 seconds. For those who wish to listen [to this album] in its true order of tracks, I think it’s best to just put this [Seaside Bound] song anywhere else and after Hana ga Saite, slot in FLOWERS, the B-side to the single.

―― This FLOWERS is a Der Zibet song and you’ve given the album the same name too. Is there any reason for this?

I: FLOWERS, well, to start, it wasn’t a song which made it to the list of candidate songs but during album recording, I was thinking about the album title and I thought “FLOWERS” felt like a good one. With the implied meaning of [each song being] individual flowers. And right after that I just suddenly wanted to do FLOWERS too.

―― Right now, listening to all these songs that I used to hear back then in these versions, I’m surprised by the fact that such sad songs used to be played at home.

I: That’s also a thought I had during this round of recording but you know, there’s also a difference in lyrical interpretation. This along with the vibes unique to that era… Were these songs done back in that era, it wouldn’t come across that strongly, and things like that… This can be applied to any song, but, you know, it comes from us expanding the emptiness, the loneliness, those parts of the songs to their maximum possible range when we redid them this time. I think if you listen back to the original versions, it’ll be very easy to tell that the interpretation for some of the songs are very different.

―― And lastly, did you rediscover anything about yourself during the production of this album?

I: As expected, I thought that this is definitely the only thing I can do after all. Like, I thought, in the end, I’d end up like this (smiles).

 

 

 

【List of guest musicians participating in FLOWERS】

Producers: ISSAY, Suzuki Keiichi (Moon Riders), Ichikawa Tetsushi (Ongaku to Hito)

 

Akazu no Fumikiri [あかずの踏切り / Railway Crossing Which Never Opens]
G: KEN (ex Zi:Kill), Hoshino Hidehiko (BUCK-TICK)
B: CRA¥ (THE MAD CAPSULE MARKETS)
Ds: MOTOKATSU (THE MAD CAPSULE MARKETS)
keyboard: Fujiwara Mahito
chorus: SHIN-YA (REDIEAN:MODE), Kiyoharu (Kuroyume), KEN-ICHI (Valentine D.C)

Itoshi no Makkusu [いとしのマックス / Macks, My Love ]
G: hide
manipulate & synth: I.N.A³⁵
co-producer & keyboard: D.I.E

Yoru to Asa no Aida ni [夜と朝のあいだに / Between Night and Day]
G: Tomomori Shouichi (RITZZ)
manipulate: Doki Yukio [土岐幸男]

Kanashikute Yarikirenai [悲しくてやりきれない / Unspeakable Sorrow]
G: KEN
B: HAL (DER ZIBET)
Ds & percussion: Sotoyama Akira (TIPOGRAPHICA)
keyboard: Fujiwara Mahito

Koi no Hallelujah [恋のハレルヤ / Hallelujah of Love]
G: KEN, Hoshino Hidehiko
B: HAL
Ds & percussion: Sotoyama Akira 
keyboard: Fujiwara Mahito
chorus: Sakurai Atsushi (BUCK-TICK)

Toki ni wa Haha no Nai Ko no You ni [時には母のない子のように / Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child]
manipulate: Doki Yukio

Asa Made Matenai [朝まで待てない / I Won’t Wait Until Morning]
G: KEN, Hoshino Hidehiko
B: CRA¥
Ds: MOTOKATSU
keyboard: Fujiwara Mahito
violin: SUGIZO (LUNA SEA)
saxophone: Kurihara “HEIKA” Kiyoshi (VIBRA HORNS)
chorus: Mashiro Megumi³⁶, Takezawa Atsuko [竹沢敦子]

Toki no Sugiyuku Mama ni [時の過ぎゆくままに / As Time Goes By]
G: KEN
B: TAKASHI (DIE IN CRIES)
Ds: Sotoyama Akira
piano: Fujiwara Mahito

Yoimachi Gusa [宵待草 / Evening Primrose]
manipulate: Doki Yukio

Hana ga Saite [花がさいて / Flowers Are Blooming]
strings arrangement & piano: Fukuhara Mari 

Seaside Bound
G:
 KEN, Hoshino Hidehiko
B: CRA¥
Ds: MOTOKATSU
programming: Fujiwara Mahito
chorus: Suzuki Keiichi

 

 

 

 

Notes:

¹ Born August 28, 1951, Suzuki Keiichi is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Moonriders, a group that became one of Japan’s most innovative rock bands. He is known to audiences outside Japan for his musical contributions to the video games Mother (1989) and EarthBound (1994), both of which have been released on several soundtracks. More recently, he has composed film scores including The Blind Swordsman: Zatōichi (2003), Tokyo Godfathers (2003), Uzumaki (2000), Chicken Heart (2009), as well as Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage trilogy.

² D.I.E. is a Tokyo-born keyboardist and studio musician who started out as hide’s (X JAPAN) support member since the beginning of his solo career and later became a member of “hide with Spread Beaver”. He was a support member for DER ZIBET, performing live with them and in their Homo Demens album in 1990, then a support member for GLAY between 1994 and 1998. Between 2002 and 2004, he joined LOOPUS before officially joining PATA’s (X JAPAN) band Ra:IN in 2007.

³ Formed in the early 1980s, Real Fish, led by saxophonist Hiroyasu Yaguchi, is a unique band of up-and-coming and talented musicians in which four of the six members (Toda Seiji, Fukuhara Mari, Watanabe Hitoshi, and Tomoda Shingo) also perform as the modern techno-pop band SHI-SHONEN. Their sound, dubbed “stateless instrumental pop,” also had its own unique musicality that didn’t fit into the conventional pop framework.

Inoue Yousui is a Japanese singer, lyricist, composer, guitarist and record producer, who is an important figure in Japanese music. He is renowned for his unique tone, eccentric lyrics, and dark sunglasses which he always wears.

As in the attacking player in football, hockey, or similar sports.

The Mad Capsule Markets is a Japanese band which formed in 1985 and were active until 2006. With Kyono Hiroshi (vocals), Ueda Takeshi (bass), and Miyagami Motokatsu (drums) making up the core members, the band became known for their experimental style, which melded various kinds of electronic music and punk rock.

Zi:Kill was a Japanese visual kei rock band active from 1987 to 1994. The core members were vocalist Tusk, bassist Seiichi and guitarist Ken.

Born on 1 August 1944, Araki Ichiro is a Japanese actor, singer, music producer, novelist, magic critic and card magic researcher. He made his debut as a singer in 1966.

Famed ex-lead guitarist of X Japan who passed away on 2 May 1998, Hideto Matsumoto, better known by his stage name hide was a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He joined X Japan in 1987 and started a solo-career in 1993.

¹⁰ Ikehata Shinnosuke is a Japanese singer, dancer and actor. Peter is his stage name when he appears on TV variety shows and musical revues. Always seen dancing in tight clothes at dancing clubs, he adopted the stage name at sixteen years old after his style of dress and dance which was said to resemble Peter Pan. One of Japan’s most famous gay entertainers, Peter’s androgynous appearance has enabled him to often play transgender characters and he often appears on stage in women’s clothing.

¹¹ Born on 13 January 1966, Tomomori Shouichi is a guitarist who has supported and produced many artists and live shows. Between 1984 and 1985, he was a member of AUTO-MOD, before moving on to REBECCA between 1986 and 1987, then joining Kinniku Shōjo Tai in 1987 and 1998. His band and support-hopping found him working with De-LAX, Himuro Kyosuke (ex. BOØWY), Otsuka Ai, among many other artists.

¹² Nakanishi Rei is a Japanese novelist and songwriter. He won the 122nd Naoki Prize. He first worked on translations of French chanson songs, but while on honeymoon he made the acquaintance of Yujiro Ishihara and became a Japanese popular song writer (歌謡曲, kayoukyoku). He is one of the main lyricists in the world of post-World War II Japanese popular songs.

¹³ Here, he said, “凄い世界” which literally translates to “amazing world” but I felt that “perspective” made more sense than “world” without needing to think too much. The chosen translation is, admittedly, a bit of a stretch from the original word itself and I’m making this choice in relation to the word “世界観” (worldview/perspective).

¹⁴ The Folk Crusaders, also known as simply Fōkuru, was a Japanese folk group, popular in Japan in the later half of the 1960s.

¹⁵ Tipographica is a Japanese progressive/free-song ensemble which formed in 1986 and disbanded in 1998. Their conceptual sound, based on jazz with elements of industrial music, attracted attention, and they released their first album, “Tipographica” in 1993. Sotoyama Akira is a Japanese jazz drummer who joined them in 1989.

¹⁶ He used a short form for DER ZIBET (deruji), so I shortened it to DZ.

¹⁷ Mayuzumi Jun is a Japanese singer and actress who released many popular hits in the late 1960s with her unique, punchy voice. Her best known songs include “Tenshi-no Yūwaku”. She won a Japan Record Award in 1969, and won the inaugural Yamaha Popular Song Contest Grand Prix at the Nemu no Sato Indoor Hall, on November 5, 1970.

¹⁸ As in, BUCK-TICK’s Hoshino Hidehiko and Sakurai Atsushi.

¹⁹ As in, DER ZIBET’s bassist, HAL and keyboardist Fujiwara Mahito.

²⁰ The word he used was 魑魅魍魎系 (chimimouryou kei). 系 (kei) as in “visual kei”, and 魑魅魍魎 (chimimouryou) is a word/phrase that can be used to refer to Yokai. It specifically speaks of monsters of the mountains and monsters of the rivers. The term originated in China roughly 2,500 years ago in ancient chronicles such as the Zuo Zhuan. It refers to various kinds of obake and things changed into yōkai.

²¹ Carmen Maki is a Japanese musician with a career that spans the mid-60s right up to the present day. Her musical career began in the late 1960s, releasing a few folk music records, then blues with the group Blues Creation. In the 1970s, she formed the rock band Carmen Maki & OZ. She then turned to heavy metal, releasing a solo record in 1979 with the participation of drummer Carmine Appice, then forming the bands LAFF and 5X in the 1980s before stopping her career in 1984 due to health problems. It was 10 years after that when she finally returned and resumed her career by releasing solo works.

²² Terayama Shuuji was an Japanese avant-garde poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer. His works range from radio drama, experimental television, underground theatre, countercultural essays, to Japanese New Wave and “expanded” cinema. Many critics view him as one of the most productive and provocative creative artists to come out of Japan. He has been cited as an influence on various Japanese filmmakers from the 1970s onward.

²³ The Mops are one of Japan’s best known “group sounds” bands, particularly noted for their psychedelic period. The group was founded in 1966 by high school friends Mikiharu Suzuki (drums), Taro Miyuki (guitar), Masaru Hoshi (lead guitar) and Kaoru Murakami (bass), playing mostly instrumental rock ala the fabulously popular Ventures. Suzuki’s older brother Hiromitsu joined in later and became the group’s main vocalist, sharing the job with Hoshi. Much was made of the band being Japan’s first psychedelic band, and they are sometimes credited as pioneering new studio effects, or at least introducing them to Japan. The band also performed with lighting effects, and sometimes blindfolded, supposedly to simulate the influence of drugs. Despite being widely considered a psychedelic band, their original songs were more garage band sounding.

²⁴ Group sounds, often abbreviated as G.S. or G-sound, is a genre of Japanese rock music which became popular in the mid to late 1960s and initiated the fusion of Japanese kayōkyoku music and Western rock music. Their music production techniques were regarded as playing a pioneering role in modern Japanese popular music. Group sounds arose following the Beatles performance at the Budokan in 1966, and was strongly influenced by British beat music of the 1960s. Group sounds musicians included the Tigers, the Tempters, the Spiders, the Mops, and the Golden Cups.

²⁵ OX is a group that debuted in 1968, during the heyday of Group Sounds (GS). It was called the “Fainting Band” because its members and fans fainted at times.

²⁶ Oshare (オシャレ) means cool or fashionable. It may sound similar to the sub-genre in Visual Kei known as oshare-kei (オシャレ系), but I’m pretty sure that this oshare rock (オシャレ・ロック) he speaks of has nothing to do with that.

²⁷ Roxy Music was an English rock band that was formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band’s lead singer and main songwriter—and bass guitarist Graham Simpson. Although the band took a break from group activities in 1976 and again in 1983, they reunited for a concert tour in 2001, and toured together intermittently over the next few years. Ferry frequently enlisted band members as session musicians for his solo releases.

²⁸ VIBRA HORNS was part of a Japanese hip-hop band called VIBRASTONE. Chikada Haruo, the band’s MC, who established the hip-hop label BPM in 1985 and pursued the possibilities of Japanese-language hip-hop under the name of “President BPM,” formed “Vibrastone” in November 1986 after leaving the label. The band was characterized by Chikada’s radical lyrics and a high level of musicianship by OTO of JAGATARA and other strong musicians. In the studio, the band also employed scratch and sampling techniques but mainly played live instruments. Kurihara “HEIKA” Kiyoshi was a member of their horns section, VIBRA HORNS.

²⁹ Sawada Kenji is a Japanese singer, composer, lyricist and actor, best known for being the vocalist for the Japanese rock band The Tigers³⁴. Nicknamed “Julie” because of his self professed adoration of Julie Andrews, Sawada prospered greatly as a singer, songwriter and actor on Japanese popular culture in the last three decades of the Shōwa era. At the end of the 1960s, he had great success as the lead singer of the band The Tigers. After the breakup of The Tigers and another project Pyg, he began his own solo career.

³⁰ Formed in 1991, DIE IN CRIES was composed of Kyo (D’erlanger) on vocals, Shin (ex: The Mad Capsule Markets) on guitar, TAKASHI (ex:The Ace) on bass, and Yukihiro (ex:Zi:Kill) on drums. Following their breakup in 1997 the members all went on to play in other bands. The most prominent and well known of these is most likely Yukihiro who was recruited to play for the popular band L’Arc-en-Ciel. Kyo, Shin and TAKASHI all went on to form Bug, with Shin later leaving to play for Spin and Creature Creature, solo project of Morrie of Dead End, which originally featured Tetsuya of L’Arc-en-Ciel and currently features Sakura, whom Yukihiro replaced when he joined L’Arc-en-Ciel.

³¹ Awaya Noriko was a Japanese female soprano chanteuse and popular music singer. She was dubbed the “Queen of Blues” in Japan.

³² Takehisa Yumeji was a Japanese poet and painter. He is known foremost for his Nihonga illustrations of bijin, beautiful women and girls, though he also produced a wide variety of works including book covers, serial newspaper illustrations, furoshiki, postcards, and patterned washi paper.

³³ Jacks were a 1960s Japanese psychedelic rock group who released their best known studio album Vacant World in 1968 which was famously banned from Japanese airwaves due to lyrical content. The band did not enjoy general popularity during their active years, but after the breakup of the band, they came to be highly regarded as pioneers of Japanese rock music.

³⁴ The Tigers were a popular Japanese band during the Group Sounds era in the late 1960s. The group featured Sawada Kenji²⁹ as their lead singer, and were signed by Watanabe Productions. The group was first named “Funnys”, and was formed in 1966. They changed their name to “The Tigers” on their first TV performance on 15 November 1966. They appeared in several Japanese movies in the late 1960s. On 24 January 1971, The Tigers held their last concert, The Tigers Beautiful Concert, at the Nippon Budokan. After The Tigers broke up, Sawada formed the first Japanese supergroup, Pyg, in 1971 and later moved on to a successful solo career.

³⁵ I.N.A (Inada Kazuhiko) is a Japanese music producer, composer, arranger, programmer, recording engineer, musician, manipulator and DJ. He has worked with X, hide, RIZE, Zilch, T.M.Revolution, VIVID, vistlip, and ONE OK ROCK among many others.

³⁶ Mashiro Megumi is a Japanese vocalist. She is a member of the rock band Hicksville.

 

 

 

Translation: Yoshiyuki
Scans: devalmy on LJ

A Velvet Dream

Zy. No. 16
May-June 2004

Photo by Hiranuma Hisana
Interview by Murayama Miyuki

 

ISSAY has gathered many followers in the visual scene ever since he was active as the vocalist of the band DER ZIBET in the 80s before the term “Visual Kei” was coined. Even now, he remains actual with HAMLET MACHINE and ISSAY meets DOLLY among other endeavours.

The summer before last, his neo-cabaret music unit, ISSAY meets DOLLY was formed and now, they are currently in the midst of their 4-part solo concert series “CABARET NOIR ~Yottsu no Yoru~” (CABARET NOIR ~4 Nights~) at Minami Aoyama MANDALA with their first show already performed earlier this year in March. Now, let us take a step into this decadent and alluring world.

 

 

―― What brought this unit together?

ISSAY (I): At first, I thought of doing something distanced from rock. It’s just that since what I have in me is rock, I wanted to try it out and see what will happen if I involve someone who also dabbles in rock but has different elements than I do. For example, classical elements or cabaret chanson¹ elements, and in terms of songs, I do cover those by Kurt Weill² and such, but I’d like to incorporate those sorts of elements because I’m thinking that maybe I’d be able to do something more interesting if I brought in [elements] that are completely different (from rock). I’ve always had a penchant for that sort of thing, so I thought to try something with the most disparate part of this range that I have. At the time, I happened to have a chance to drink with pianist Fukuhara Mari. She’s got a completely different background than I do, so we started to try and see if that would cause us to be entirely unable to do anything, or if we’d end up creating something exceptionally interesting.

―― With the two of you as the official members of the unit, you’ve performed in two different versions for live shows; as Acoustic DOLLY with a violin added in, and as Electric DOLLY with a bass guitar and drums added in.

I: I really wanted to do this in the form of a rock band in the beginning and we even had bass and guitar at our very first live, but we couldn’t see eye to eye on the music direction and it didn’t take long before we split up (wry smile). Following that, we tried doing a small project with Fukuhara Mari’s old friend, Mio Hirono in the form of violin/piano/vocals. And I found myself liking it so much that now, we’re doing it both ways; with this as the primary arrangement and in the form of a rock band too.

―― And what is this “neo cabaret music” in this document?

I: I want it to be a new form of cabaret music following the advent of rock. It’s not exactly nostalgia in play, but I, who have had a taste of rock, wanted to once again do things the way it used to be when cabaret first came to life. However, this doesn’t mean that I want to do something old, but rather, I want to try and do them as if they were new. But if it gets too far removed from rock, I think the readers would have difficulty with that, though. Because, after all this is a rock magazine, isn’t it? (Wry smile). It’s not as if I’m anti-rock anyway, so it’s only natural that there will be rock elements in it.

―― So what are the differences and characteristics which sets this apart from rock?

I: There are elements which have always been there, but I get the feeling that another level of a more theatrical way of thinking has stepped forward.

―― You used the expression, “visible music.” Does this mean that you’re placing importance on the element of showing?

I: That’s right. But it’s not MALICE MIZER’s style of exaggeration. Because even though I call it theatrical, it’s not that sort of over-the-top, and neither am I using stage sets or scenery. What I’m using is my own body.

―― I’m getting an image of decadence based on the band’s vibe, but do you have any specific examples of what that image is based off?

I: Hmm, this is difficult. For the image, I think it’s similar to a more orderly version of the weird salon-like place in the movie Velvet Goldmine³ where the protagonist performed a show prior to becoming famous. That said, I’m not sure [this reference] is helpful (wry smile). I suppose it’s something similar to what those who used to do chanson did, like Miwa-san⁴ of the Ginpari⁵ era. I’ve always loved the aesthetic sense from about 100 years ago to begin with, so that will be brought out in full force along with classical elements which are very much there. Simply put, it’s neoclassical⁶ romanticism⁷. ⁸

―― And that comes out through the visual aspect and other such areas, right?

I: In a gentlemanly way, yes (smiles). Because [I’ll] look just like the people you see in photos.

―― Although, the mention of decadence gives the impression of a dark worldview.

I: While it’s most certainly not bright, it won’t be eerie. This isn’t in the style of evil spirits⁹ anyway (smiles). I’m doing something beautiful here.

―― In the form of creating a fictional world and then performing in it, right?

I: To be exact, I’m including the audience as I create it. In other words, the guests who come to our show will be participating as well. That’s why I think that even if there are people who end up dead drunk or stand up and start a commotion, they are all playing a part in building that world. Rock concerts are also participatory by nature anyway, so I don’t think it’s all that different. I might invite misunderstanding by putting it like this, but there are theme parks, right? There, everyone in the area participates, right? That’s the idea of it. I think it also applies to the way things are created. You can bang on the piano, or wear a mask or something. Rather than making the stage an enigmatic space, I want to turn the venue itself into an intriguing, sort of mature space. I’d also like children to come and crane their necks and watch it too. In the sense of, let’s enjoy a drink and listen to some great music, let’s watch a lovely show.

―― The songs, too, each have turned out to possess a lot of worldliness and drama, haven’t they?

I: Each song is a scene. In fragments. Rather than one main story, it’s more like a collection of fragmented images.

―― However, those are certainly not wild tales. They’re emotions and happenings which occur in reality, and that ISSAY-san feels, right?

I: I think that’s very true. To me, this is contrarily more realistic that real rock music. Because I’ve decided to create a fantasy, a life-sized version of me comes out. Although I’m singing about someone else, that person is someone who is very much a reflection of myself, or, even if I’ve written a story about a fictional man and woman, it’d be about something that regularly happens, and things like that.

―― The lyrics are written by ISSAY-san, but what about the music?

I: More than 90% of the music is written by Fukuhara Mari, while I offer my opinion on occasion.

―― In terms of musicality, is there something like a genre direction you’d tend towards?

I: There is a particular quality [that we’re aiming for], but in terms of direction, there isn’t one. Because if we pay too much attention to conventions, we’d just end up narrowing things down. Besides, I believe that even if we were playing plain, simple rock and roll, with this line-up, things will definitely not end up being normal. If we compose a chanson-type melody, it would come to sound like the tune of a popular ballad from the past, but we will never say no to that. Because once I sing it, a popular ballad would end up sounding like something else instead. My singing style is one that cuts corners¹⁰ anyway (smiles). I’m excessively strong-willed too.

―― During your solo show last August, you titled it CABARET NOIR.

I: CABARET NOIR is not the name of the show, but rather, the name of a place. When we perform, we’re not in Minami Aoyama MANDARA. We’re in CABARET NOIR. And there, it’d be as if we’re holding a party with a specific theme. For example, if we titled it “Blue Night” (Ao no Yoru / 青の夜), we’d perform songs that are associated with the colour blue, and we’d have blue tablecloths, and things like that, you know? I guess the closest way to describe it is to say that I want to have fun with themes. It’s not that I want to have a fixed concept or that I want to express a particular thing, I’m just thinking of picking a theme and then having fun with it with everyone, though.

―― So, the audience can participate and play along too.

I: I’d be more than happy if they would play along with me anyway, and I think that it’d be great if they came dressed up too. It’d be the absolute best if people who are coming to watch for the first time realise that there’s this other way to enjoy music too.

―― Following March’s “Blue Night”, you have “Red” in May, “Purple” in June, and “White” in July; making these The Four Nights (Yottsu no Yoru / 四つの夜).

I: It’s still pretty vague to me what it’ll look like when all 4 have been put together. What I imagined, in the beginning, was something with a seasonal sense, like [symbolising] the end of winter to the beginning of spring with “Blue Night”, the end of spring to the start of summer with “Red Night” (Aka no Yoru / 赤の夜), autumn with “Purple Night” (Murasaki no Yoru / 紫の夜), and winter with “White Night” (Shiro no Yoru / 白の夜). I thought of applying Kishotenketsu¹¹ to that, but when I wrote the song Ao no Yoru (青の夜) which I performed at “Blue Night”, it ended up being completely different from what I had in mind (wry smile). That’s why I’m still not sure about how this is going to go.

―― Well then, we’ll just have to find out for ourselves at your show. Before we end, a message for our readers, please.

I: We’re always together, but I believe that you won’t know unless you come and see it for yourself. Because I think we’re doing something that you would’ve never seen or heard before, and we won’t necessarily release a soundtrack for it too. In any case, I’d love for you to come and watch, listen, and feel it, so please do come to our show at least once.

 

 

 

 

Notes:

¹ A chanson is, in general, any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specializing in chansons is known as a “chanteur” or, if a woman, a “chanteuse”; a collection of chansons, especially from the Middle Ages or Renaissance, is a chansonnier.

² Kurt Julian Weill was a German composer, active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht.

³ Set in 1984 Britain during the glam rock days of the early 1970s, Velvet Goldmine is a 1998 musical drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes from a story by Haynes and James Lyons. The story revolves around a British journalist Arthur Stuart who is writing an article about the withdrawal from public life of 1970s glam rock star Brian Slade following a death hoax ten years earlier and is interviewing those who had a part in the entertainer’s career. Part of the story involves Stuart’s family’s reaction to his homosexuality, and how the gay and bisexual glam rock stars and music scene gave him the strength to come out. Rock shows, fashion, and rock journalism all play a role in showing the youth culture of 1970s Britain, as well as the gay culture of the time.

Miwa Akihiro is the stage name of Murayama Akihiro. He is a Japanese singer, actor, director, composer, author and drag queen. He started his career at 17 as a professional cabaret singer in the Ginza district in Chūō, Tokyo when moving to Tokyo in 1952. He started working in various nightclubs singing his favourites from the French chansons such as those of Édith Piaf, Yvette Guilbert and Marie Dubas. His claim to fame came rather early in 1957, with a smash-hit called “Me Que Me Que”, which included a string of profanities not used in media at the time. He was also renowned for his effeminate beauty, making him a hit with the media.

Ginpari (銀巴里 / lit. Silver Paris) is a cabaret that opened in Ginza 7-chome in 1951. It closed in 1990 but until now continues to persist as a pantheon of chanson.

Referring to in the style of neoclassicism, a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of “classicism,” namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint. Neoclassicism can be seen as a reaction against the prevailing trend of nineteenth-century Romanticism to sacrifice internal balance and order in favour of more overtly emotional writing.

Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that ran from the late eighteenth century through the nineteenth century. It stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, placing emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, horror, and the awe experienced in confronting the sublimity of nature.

Putting these two words together is actually rather contradictory with neoclassicism’s focus on emotional restraint and romanticism’s emphasis on imagination and strong emotion.

The word he used was 魑魅魍魎系 (chimimouryou kei). 系 (kei) as in “visual kei”, and 魑魅魍魎 (chimimouryou) is a word/phrase that can be used to refer to Yokai. It specifically speaks of monsters of the mountains and monsters of the rivers. The term originated in China roughly 2,500 years ago in ancient chronicles such as the Zuo Zhuan. It refers to various kinds of obake and things changed into yōkai.

¹⁰ The actual phrase is, “四角い部屋を丸く掃く” (shikakui heya wo maruku haku). It literally means: to sweep a square room in circles. It is meant to imply that you’ll miss the corners doing that.

¹¹ Kishotenketsu (起承転結) describes the structure and development of classic Chinese, Korean and Japanese narratives. The structure originated in China and was called and called qǐ chéng zhuǎn hé and used in Chinese poetry as a four-line composition, such as Qijue. It consists of four parts: Introduction (ki), development (sho), twist (ten) and the conclusion (ketsu). Stories following the Kishotenketsu format will usually have a well defined rising action, climax and a fall.

 

 

Translation: Yoshiyuki
Scans: morgianasama on LJ

Lyrics: ISSAY

Music: Mari Fukuhara

Japanese

 

朝の足音がすれば
忌々しいショウのお開き
嘘も本当も
解け合い消える
そう、後はあなたの世界

ようこそ ここはCABARET NOIR
最後までおつきあいありがとう
又会う日まで
拍手をどうぞ

 

Romaji

By: Yoshiyuki

Asa no ashioto ga sureba
Imaimashii shou no ohiraki
Uso mo hontou mo
Tokeai kieru
Sou, ato wa anata no sekai

Youkoso Koko wa CABARET NOIR
Saigo made otsukiai arigatou
Mata au hi made
Hakushu wo douzo

English

By: Yoshiyuki

When dawn creeps up,
the irksome show comes to an end
Everything, be it lies or truth,
blend together and disappear
That’s right, all that remains is your world

Welcome to CABARET NOIR
Thank you for your company from start to end
Till we meet again
A round of applause, please

City of Mirages (Shinkirou no Machi)

Lyrics: ISSAY

Music: Mari Fukuhara

Japanese

 

枯葉舞う舗道
黄昏の時
季節は無口のまま
通り過ぎる
コトバにならない
想いは置き去り
忘れかけた声
両手からこぼれた

Sha la la la, Sha la la la
時は過ぎゆく
Sha la la la, Sha la la la
躍らせておくれ
叫びはいつも
風にかき消され
目の前に広がる
蜃気楼の街

セピア色の記憶
すり切れた歌
心の奥底で
ほこりをかぶる
夢はあきらめに
変わってしまい
季節は無口のまま
汚れてゆくだけ

Sha la la la, Sha la la la
時は過ぎゆく
Sha la la la, Sha la la la
唄わせておくれ
哀しい色が
浮かんでは消え
君も見るだろうか
蜃気楼の街

Sha la la la, Sha la la la
時は過ぎゆく
Sha la la la, Sha la la la
躍らせておくれ
叫びはいつも
風にかき消され
目の前に広がる
蜃気楼の街
君も見るだろうか
蜃気楼の街

Romaji

By: Yoshiyuki

Kareha mau hodou
Tasogare no toki
Kisetsu wa mukuchi no mama
Toori sugiru
Kotoba ni naranai
Omoi wa okizari
Wasure kaketa koe
Ryoute kara koboreta

Sha la la la, Sha la la la
Toki wa sugi yuku
Sha la la la, Sha la la la
Odorasete okure
Sakebi wa itsume
Kaze ni kaki kesare
Me no mae ni hirogaru
Shinkirou no machi

Sepia iro no kioku
Suri kireta uta
Kokoro no okusoko de
Hokori wo kaburu
Yume wa akirame ni
Kawatte shimai
Kisetsu wa mukuchi no mama Yogorete yuku dake

Sha la la la, Sha la la la
Toki wa sugi yuku
Sha la la la, Sha la la la
Utawasete okure
Kanashii iro ga
Ukande wa kie
Kimi no miru darou ka
Shinkirou no machi

Sha la la la, Sha la la la
Toki wa sugi yuku
Sha la la la, Sha la la la
Odorasete okure
Sakebi wa itsume
Kaze ni kaki kesare
Me no mae ni hirogaru
Shinkirou no machi
Kimi no miru darou ka
Shinkirou no machi

English

By: Yoshiyuki

Fallen leaves dance
on the pavement at twilight
Seasons pass
without so much as a word
Memories that cannot be put
into words are left behind
A forgotten voice spills
from both hands

Sha la la la, Sha la la la
Time goes by
Sha la la la, Sha la la la
Let me dance
My cries are always
drowned out by the wind
As the city of mirages
unfolds before my eyes

Sepia-tinged memories,
a worn out song
Covered in dust in the
depths of my heart
Dreams end up
turning into resignation
Seasons become tainted
without so much as a word

Sha la la la, Sha la la la
Time goes by
Sha la la la, Sha la la la
Let me sing
Poignant feelings
surface and disappear
As I wonder if you see
this city of mirages too

Sha la la la, Sha la la la
Time goes by
Sha la la la, Sha la la la
Let me dance
My cries are always
drowned out by the wind
As the city of mirages
unfolds before my eyes
As I wonder if you see
this city of mirages too