tribute to DER ZIBET/ISSAY
Tracing the footsteps of the King of Decadence

ROCK AND READ 106
June 2024

Photos provided by by M.Saito

DER ZIBET arrived in the music scene before the term “Visual-Kei” was even coined. Coinciding with the release of the tribute album, ISSAY gave life to FLOWERS – a tribute to Der Zibet – on the birthday of ISSAY who passed away last year, this feature will shed light on what kind of band this is and the person ISSAY was through a retelling of the history of DER ZIBET, the latest interview with HIKARU, and the interview with ISSAY about his personal history from a late-2005 issue of this magazine.

• history of DER ZIBET
• Interview with HIKARU
• In search of a place to belong — Interview with ISSAY

 

history of DER ZIBET
デルジベットの軌跡

Text by Yamamoto Hiroka
Photos provided by by M.Saito

 

DER ZIBET was formed exactly 40 years ago. Dubbed “the pioneer of decadence”, “musicians for musicians”, I hope you can get a sense of how great a band they are through this look into their history.

 

In an era where the mixing of genres had yet to exist
DER ZIBET’s music was unconventional from the very beginning

DER ZIBET formed 40 years ago, in 1984. The band consisted of five members; ISSAY (vocals) who had his own solo projects running and had been casted in the first commercial film that Macoto Tezka directed, TheLegend of the Stardust Brothers, HIKARU (guitar) who had already made his debut in 1982 with the band Be-Bops, HAL (bass) who was involved in ISSAY’s solo work alongside Morioka Ken (SOFT BALLET), MAYUMI (drums) who was once invited to join Seikima-II, and MAHITO (keyboard). In an era where the concept of “Visual-Kei” had even come about, let alone the term, just ISSAY’s presence in the music scene was impressive. His performances which incorporated all that he learnt since his youth under the tutelage of pantomimist Mochidzuki Akira were unlike any other, and he made his debut as an actor even before DER ZIBET.

Although a member when the band came together, MAHITO left and DER ZIBET debuted with their single, Matsu Uta in 1985. In the same year, they released their first album, Violetter Ball -Murasakiiro no Budoukai- which was produced by Haruo Chikada. Even though their vocal and performance abilities were still developing, DER ZIBET’s music had always been unconventional from the very beginning with how they channelled into rock elements of other genres like punk, progressive rock, glam, new wave, jazz, funk, tango, and many more. Of course, this was an era where the mixing of genres had yet to exist too.

At the time, ISSAY would erect a streetlight on stage and sing while smoking Gitanes. He was an individualistic vocalist who gave the impression that this band might turn out feeling more like a solo project, but the instrumentalists HIKARU, HAL, and MAYUMI weren’t  sequacious, which was a good thing. On the topic of their superior and intelligent music sense, I will never forget how a magazine back then asked, “What other influences do you have outside of music?”, to which everyone responded with answers like literature and film, theatre, pantomime and the like. ISSAY’s literature-refined lyrics revolved around a 16th-note beat and incorporated odd time signatures; techniques which made such complex music sound like pop music were already used since those days.

With a treasure trove of free ideas in both their music and their performances,
they were later known as “musicians for musicians”.

In 1987, they released their second album, Electric Moon. The shows they played were centred around a main “Radical Dance” concept and an underlying “mystery park” theme. On their third tour, they left quite the impression with a performance that featured toilet paper draping down from the ceiling. It was only later on that they got known as “the musicians’ musician”, but it’s impossible to talk about the basis of it without talking about the early days of their career which were a treasure trove of free ideas in both their music and their performances. Incidentally, prior to BUCK-TICK’s debut, Sakurai Atsushi loved listening to DER ZIBET and went to watch them perform; this was how they first got acquainted.

Then, the first turning point for the band came in the form of Okano HAJIME and Kisaki Kenji coming together to produce their third album, DER ZIBET which was released in 1988. ISSAY took on a wilder appearance dressed entirely in leather as they played powerful pop music with a flavour of popular Japanese music at the time. Their national tour for this album, “WHOLE LOTTA LIVE! ～Mune ippai no ai wo～ (胸いっぱいの愛を / with a heartful of love)” culminated in a final performance that was also their first show at Shibuya Public Hall.

Just as it began to look like they were heading in a direction along the lines of Japan’s beat rock scene, they flew straight to London soon after the tour ended and stayed there for about a month to work on their new album at the Maison Rouge Studio, where famous rock classics were born. The sound engineer they worked with was Craig Leon who would later go on to work with Jesus Jones. The result was GARDEN, a gothic 4th album which encapsulated London’s atmosphere and even its typically grey skies. At the time, ISSAY held Sisters of Mercy and The Mission in high regard and after returning to Japan, he spoke about how he could sense how different the history of rock is there through their recording methods, saying, “I realised how great they were.” It even happened that Hanada Hiroyuki from The Roosters swung by the studio for a visit and ended up participating as a guest guitarist.

Although they never made it big, DER ZIBET’s shows always drew a large audience. I don’t know how ISSAY felt about being given titles like “the pioneer of decadence” and “a rock band ahead of its time”, but their 5th album, CARNIVAL, which HIKARU produced himself involved keyboardists HOPPY Kamiyama and DIE (＝D.I.E.) who later became a support musician for ZI:KILL and then a member of hide with Spread Beaver. Their sixth single, Mammoth no Yoru, which turned into one of their most popular songs to perform live, was a splendid combination of MAYUMI’s rapid-fire tom drum playing and HAL’s bass lines reminiscent of the primitive age. There was even a period of time when ISSAY’s lyrics got cyber-inspired; in an era before PCs were commonplace, he described non-conformists as “bugs created by god” or a “beloved programming mistake”.

After this, DER ZIBET produced album after album of masterpieces.

The album HOMO DEMENS, which was heavily inspired by free jazz saxophonist John Zorn’s music, included a cover of a song by The Doors. HIKARU’s compelling guitars which grew in depth and ISSAY’s alluring yet cutting expression left quite the impression. It even featured a miraculous coincidence of John Zorn happening to be in Japan by chance and actually appearing on the album as a guest with his saxophone.

Then, in 1991, they released Shishunki Ⅰ – Upper Side – and Shishunki Ⅱ – Downer Side – which could be said to be their greatest work pre-hiatus alongside HOMO DEMENS. The long interview where ISSAY had to face his own loneliness and pain as he spoke candidly about his youth could be said to be what led to these albums. At the time, ISSAY said that the original essence of rock music was similar to the feeling of adolescence. He said, “While it has a very aggressive, sizzling rock and roll image, doesn’t it also have a very abstract, emotional side to it at the same time? Our band has always played with these two sides, but we felt it would be a good idea to shape them properly this time.” Incidentally, Shishunki Ⅱ also houses a legendary songs among BUCK-TICK fans, namely ISSAY and Sakurai Atsushi’s duet, Masquerade and 4D Vision no Rasen Kaidan which featured Imai Hisashi. Sakurai Atsushi even appeared as a surprise guest at Kudan Kaikan for the final show of the tour.

During the time when DER ZIBET had fewer live shows, ISSAY and TATSUYA formed the programming music unit HAMLET MACHINE. HIKARU also busied himself with Pugs, a band he formed with ex-PINK members Okano HAJIME and HOPPY Kamiyama. Meanwhile, in 1993, DER ZIBET released the album TRASH LAND which told of the “collapse of a fictional city”, a story that would not be out of place looking at today’s cities lined with high-rise apartment buildings. The following year they released the album POP MANIA, again with Okano HAJIME as producer.

Then, in the same year, ISSAY announced his own solo album entitled FLOWERS which was a collection of hit songs from the Showa era . hide, BUCK-TICK’s Sakurai Atsushi and Hoshino Hidehiko, LUNA SEA’s SUGIZO, Kiyoharu, THE MAD CAPSULE MARKETS’ MOTOKATSU, DIE IN CRIES’ TAKASHI and many more big-name musicians were involved in this album, making it a work  worthy of the name “King of Decadence”. In this same period, Pugs embarked on their debut tour in the USA.

Despite DER ZIBET releasing Green in 1995 and KIRIGIRISU in 1996, they announced that they would be going on an indefinite hiatus that same year. Regarding activities prior to the band’s break, HIKARU reminisced, “Instead of Japanese bands, we only ever thought about competing with foreign bands.”

The interview with ISSAY which is being republished again in this issue is from the time when he was busy as a member of ΦPhI, a band he formed with 44MAGNUM’s Hirose Satoshi, HAL and Satou Minoru, as a part of ISSAY meets DOLLY, the unit he formed with Fukuhara Mari, a member of Lynx, a band he formed with X JAPAN’s HEATH, SAY→ICHIRO, and Matarow, and as a part of HAMLET MACHINE. HIKARU is now busy with the two bands he formed, Loco-Apes and onseiriki, although the frontmen of both bands have never met.

After this period, DER ZIBET made a miraculous comeback in 2009 with the original five-member line-up but that will be covered in the interview with HIKARU which comes after this. I won’t go into too much detail here, but their creative drive did not wane in the slightest. They went on to release the conceptual two-part album ROMANOID Ⅰ and ROMANOID Ⅱ. Looking at ISSAY’s image and the artwork featured, they then continued to release albums that exuded depth and sex appeal akin to that of aged wine.

Following DER ZIBET’s reunion, in 2013, ISSAY formed KA.F.KA with Tsuchiya Masami, Morioka Ken, Ueno Kouji, and MOTOKATSU. He also took on acting roles, appearing in films like director Macoto Tezka’s The Brand New Legend of the Stardust Brothers and Tezuka’s Barbara. But he passed away suddenly in August 2023 just before the 40th anniversary of DER ZIBET’s debut. HIKARU said, “Before our hiatus, I was making music I wanted to make, but after our reunion, I made music with ISSAY’s lyrics in mind. I was often surprised by what I came up with. It really was a lot of fun.” While writing this article, my heart felt unbearably heavy as I was reminded that Morioka Ken, Sakurai Atsushi, and HEATH had also left us.

The tribute album, ISSAY gave life to FLOWERS – a tribute to Der Zibet – is slated for release on July 6th, ISSAY’s birthday. I sincerely hope that DER ZIBET, a band so completely devoted to music, will continue to have an audience for generations to come.

 

 

ISSAY gave life to FLOWERS – a tribute to Der Zibet –
Releasing 6 July 2024／2-CD・18 tracks

Participating musicians

Tsuchiya Masami, MORRIE, Kobayashi Yuusuke (The Novembers／THE SPELLBOUND), Diamond☆Yukai & Kogure “shake” Takehiko (Diamond Shake／RED WARRIORS), Matsuoka Mitsuru (SOPHIA). NARASAKI (Coaltar Of The Deepers), Morishige Juichi (ZIGGY), PATA (X JAPAN／Ra:IN), kyo (D’ERLANGER), Chu-ya (Allergy／De-LAX／LOOPUS／FAR EAST PHALLUS KICKER), SUGIZO (LUNA SEA／X JAPAN／THE LAST ROCKSTARS／SHAG), SAKURA (gibkiy gibkiy gibkiy／Rayflower／ZIGZO), Okano HAJIME, BAKI, “CRAZY” COOL-JOE & Minato Masafumi (Drunkard Ball), Sakurai Ao & Ishii Shuji (cali≠gari), Kamiryo Wataru (NeoBallad), Kaya, tezya (tezya & the sightz／Euphoria), michi. (MASCHERA／S.Q.F／ALICE IN MENSWEAR), Kimura Seizi (ZEPPET STORE), Chiwaki Mayumi, Shimoyama Jun (Rock’n Roll Gypsies／ex. THE ROOSTERZ), Ken-ichi (Valentine D.C.／VERTUEUX), JUN (Valentine D.C.), Honda Takeshi (PERSONZ／Effectric Gurtar), DIE (Ra:IN／hide with Spread Beaver), Dantoudai no MELODY, Hashizume Akito (the superlative degree／HUSH), RIKIJI (Oblivion Dust／IMOCD!), Hoppy Kamiyama (God Mountain), AUTO MOD clas-six, etc. (in no particular order)

 

 

 

 

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Interview with HIKARU

Interview/Text = Sugie Yuki (杉江由紀)

DER ZIBET is
ultimately, my life’s work.

HIKARU formed DER ZIBET alongside ISSAY in 1984 as the band’s guitarist and main composer. In this interview, the big brother of DER ZIBET, HIKARU continues the story from where ISSAY left off in the interview that we published in this magazine back in December 2005.

 

profile
Autonym: Yoshida Hikaru. While he has played a part in many artists’ and bands’ recording work as a guitarist, he is also a music producer. He formed DER ZIBET in 1984, went on an indefinite hiatus in 1996, and then officially restarted activities in 2009. Golden☆Best Sixty Years, DER ZIBET’s best-of compilation album of their work released under the Sixty Records label is slated for release on 19 June 2024.
derzibet.com

 

It wasn’t as if everyone suddenly said, “Let’s bring DZ back again!”
Things just naturally turned out this way.

――This issue includes the interview with ISSAY-san that came out in #005 which was published in December 2005. At the very end of that interview, ISSAY-san said, “I have no intention of doing DER ZIBET again right now.” At the same time, he also said, “We being humans, we never know what will happen when, so I want to do whatever I can.” Does HIKARU-san remember what you thought about DER ZIBET during that period? 

HIKARU (H): Actually, in June of 2005, I met ISSAY for the first time in a long while at DER ZIBET’s manager’s wedding and there, he told me, “So, I got a Lynx live at Numazu this autumn, and it’s also DER ZIBET’s 20th anniversary so I’m thinking of playing DZ songs with Lynx. You wanna perform as a guest?”

――Even now I remember very well the “Lynx PLAY DER ZIBET” live performance at Numazu Noir which took place on 22 October 2005. It was such a profound feeling seeing ISSAY-san and HIKARU-san standing on the same stage together for the first time since the band went on hiatus in 1996. Of course, heath-san (HEATH) being there as Lynx’s bassist also added to it, but I thought that really was quite the show to remember.

H:It was. Well, at the time, it simply ended with thoughts along the lines of how it sure was fun to perform together with everyone. At that point in time, conversations about restarting things or anything like that didn’t come up.

――The next thing that happened was the live and releases in July 2008 that you did under the band name “reD biteZ”. Those activities were definitely linked to DER ZIBET’s revival, right?

H: The one who created that opportunity was HAL. HAL reached out to everyone and gathered us. That said, I, ISSAY, and MAHITO were there but at the time, MAYUMI, our drummer was undergoing medical treatment so Satou Minoru (ex. ΦPhI) came in.

――Doesn’t that mean that the rhythm part of the band was made up of the ex. PhI team?

H: Yes, yes. At first, the five of us gathered and started rehearsing. For HAL’s rehabilitation.

――The how and why of this had to do with HAL getting rather severely injured in an accident and making a miraculous recovery, right? It was then that he said, “I want to perform in a band again.”

H: That’s why the five of us gathered at a studio just about every month for rehearsals as a form of rehabilitation for him. In fact, I think we probably did that consistently for over a year. Then, while doing that, we started talking about doing a show and that was when Minoru said, “Please call MAYUMI.” And only then did the five members of DZ come back together.

――When DER ZIBET had its major debut, the band was made up of ISSAY-san, HIKARU-san, HAL-san, and MAYUMI-san. MAHITO-san was originally part of the band prior, so it’s pretty intriguing to see that the original members have only now come back together.

H: It wasn’t as if everyone suddenly said, “Let’s bring DZ back again!” Things just naturally turned out this way.

――Was that performance you did under the “reD biteZ” name back then more of a showcase ahead of the actual restart?

H: Honestly, at first, we were worried about how much HAL could take and whether he could handle it. So we [did that show] with the thought of testing the waters first.

――Despite all the twists and turns, in March 2009, DER ZIBET announced PRIMITIVE, the first album in 13 years since Kirigirisu and finally restarted activities officially. The most recent album release was 2018’s Fujouri (不条理), but following the reformation of the band, what was HIKARU-san focused on this time around?

H: Most of all I didn’t want to make music that sounded nostalgic. That’s the only thing that I often said to ISSAY too, and he also said that he wanted to keep doing novel, new things.

――We know that you generally would perform popular songs from your old catalogue in shows, but there’s definitely a strong impression that DER ZIBET evolves and matures every time you release new music.

H: I’m pretty sure that’s got to do with changing with the times.

 

Our relationship changed a lot compared to the way things were pre-hiatus
I felt more strongly that “we’re the ones running DZ” after our reunion than before.

――I think the members of the band spent about 10 years or so away from each other, so when you came back together to restart activities as DER ZIBET, was there anything that HIKARU-san felt you rediscovered or got reacquainted with? For example, with regards to ISSAY-san’s singing and his lyrics.

H: Here’s the thing; the way things were in 1996 when we released Kirigirisu was the same as when we made our major debut — I and ISSAY could not get along at all. To the extent that when we debuted, I was already thinking about whether I should quit after one year (lol).

――It was already that bad right from the very start? But when ISSAY-san and HIKARU-san appeared on a streaming program I hosted some years ago, ISSAY-san sounded like he was joking when he said, “It’s not that I couldn’t get along with HIKARU. We just weren’t on good terms (lol).”

H: During our major label days, it kind of felt like I was dragging myself through those ten-ish years in those circumstances. In the beginning, I was also the type to write lyrics so I would write a little bit here and there, but relatively early on, ISSAY told me, “Stop writing lyrics, won’t you?” I was pretty taken aback and I guess our relationship only worsened since then. But midway, I started doing production work for our albums so we started thinking about the lyrics and discussing together. That’s why although we weren’t at loggerheads all the time, our relationship changed quite a lot when we compare the way things were right before the hiatus and after our reunion. A big part of it was how great ISSAY’s singing had become when we reformed the band. That was a surprise.

――While DER ZIBET was on hiatus, ISSAY-san experienced quite the variety of live performances as ΦPhI, HAMLET MACHINE, ISSAY meets DOLLY, and Lynx. I would think that he honed his skills as a vocalist in this process.

H: Because ISSAY’s voice pre-hiatus was weak, wasn’t it? A lot of times I’d worry and wonder if it’d be okay, but when we started working together again, his voice had become really powerful. Even his lyrics now had depth so that was another area that I noticed had changed.

――I think it cannot be denied that different sides have grown more appealing as time passes.

H: Adding to that, when I look at our old song lyrics again but with this perspective now, I can see that these aren’t just any old lyrics after all. Maybe back then, he wasn’t great at how he expressed himself, or maybe he was just too direct or something. That’s also something that I only understood after we reunited because we started drinking together too (lol). We started drinking together and talking about all manners of things while drinking.

――That’s a really heartwarming story.

H: Even the album titles we came up with while drinking together. Those were really good times. I felt more strongly that “we’re the ones who are DZ” after our reunion than before.

――What was it like prior, then?

H: During our major label days, there was always this feeling that they were “letting us” be DZ. It wasn’t literal, as in someone letting us do our thing, but our schedule was decided before we knew anything, and it felt as if we were just there to clear whatever work they had put in front of us. On that note, we’re our own management office and label post-reunion which means that we ourselves make the decisions on what to do so the amount of things we experienced felt overwhelmingly intense.

――The music you made after the reunion was nothing other than outstanding too; PRIMITIVE exuded an emotional vibe befitting a new beginning, the conceptual series that was ROMANOID Ⅰ and ROMANOID Ⅱ, NINE STORIES which was announced right before your 30th anniversary, Bessekai (別世界) invited listeners to the other side, and Fujouri (不条理) in which the glamorous and dramatic essence of DER ZIBET was condensed.

H: Unfortunate that not a lot of people listened to them, right? (Lol)

――Presently, I believe all the music you released post-reunion has been made available on online streaming services so it would be great if everyone would give it a listen.

H: It would. I want the stuff we did pre-hiatus to be made available on streaming services too but the rights for those are complicated and all over the place so it’s a little difficult. But maybe people will be able to listen to those too in the near future. Also, we’re also releasing Sixty Years, a best-of album on the 19th of June which is a compilation of songs we released under the Sixty Record label.

――That’s great news. In the first place, as the musicians’ musician, DER ZIBET is a band that doesn’t only attract music fans but also has garnered respect from many artists. You’ve always been known as a band for connoisseurs so I’m very happy that even more people will get the opportunity to listen to you through streaming services. On that note, does HIKARU-san have anything to say about being labelled as the musicians’ musician?

H: I’ve actually heard all sorts of things about that before. But although I have a lot of friends who are musicians, I don’t have much recollection of being respected (lol).

――Including BUCK-TICK’s Sakurai (Atsushi), don’t you think that there are a lot of well-known people who look up to you?

H: Well, but I say that because I don’t have younger musicians coming up to me to tell me these things directly. In that sense, I think ISSAY probably had quite a large network though. For me, I just have a few musician friends here and there who I go drinking with.

 

I actually have the sound sources for seven unreleased DER ZIBET songs.
They’re demo vocals, but the lyrics are already in and the recording quality isn’t too bad.

――I wanted to talk about post-COVID DER ZIBET too. In recent years, HIKARU-san and ISSAY-san has had a number of opportunities to perform live under the name “from DER ZIBET”. Could you share a little about how this came about?

H: As in, why we had to do things as “from DER ZIBET”, right? A part of it is difficult to put into words, but our bassist and drummer couldn’t quite do it the way we did pre-hiatus, you see. Outside of album production, continuing to perform live as DER ZIBET was tough, it was difficult.

――What I’m sensing is a strong desire against going on another hiatus but instead to keep up with activities as “from DER ZIBET”.

――If so, what were HIKARU-san’s thoughts at the time on how the future DER ZIBET would carry out activities?

H: Ah, well, we were barely hanging on. Because it was a constant worry. Last year, we performed as DER ZIBET at only two shows; in April at Yokohama’s 7th Avenue and in July at Meguro LiveStation. But I actually still have the sound sources for seven unreleased DER ZIBET songs.

――As many as seven?　When were they produced?

H: We probably started two years ago, working on them on a relatively on and off basis. But we actually progressed based on having spoken about intending to release them as an album this year. We were still planning to add more songs too.

――Do these seven songs have ISSAY-san’s singing recorded already?

H: Demo vocals, yes and the lyrics are already in. The recording quality isn’t too bad so I was thinking maybe it’s good enough to go.

――Since you have such precious unreleased songs, I do hope that they’ll be released to the world. 

H: Even if I wanted to do that, there’s still a bunch of problems to overcome first though……

――In terms of timing, this October will mark the 40th anniversary of DER ZIBET’s start.

H: Furthermore, next year will be the 40th debut anniversary. I still don’t know whether we’ll be able to release the songs next year but we’re going ahead with that goal in mind. Also, my band Loco-Apes will be releasing our album Republic of Gbrica (ジブリカ共和国 / Jiburika Kyouwakoku) this 26th of September. And on release day, we’ll be playing at Shimokitazawa Que too. There’ll also be a DZ tribute and event going on too.

――That’s right. The tribute album, ISSAY gave life to FLOWERS – a tribute to Der Zibet – is going to be released on ISSAY’s birthday, the 6th of July and on the 4th of August, many of the artists who were involved in the tribute will be gathered at Shibuya duo MUSIC EXCHANGE where a live performance involving HIKARU-san staying on stage for just about the whole event will be held. When you came to learn that such a project was raised, how did HIKARU-san feel about it?

H: In terms of the tribute, it didn’t really click for me in the beginning. To me, I just felt that if people wanted to do it then by all means, just go ahead. But as more and more musicians joined and their numbers grew, I advised the organising committee that “It would be better if we involved a producer who could make sense of it all and put it all together, so we should get Okano (HAJIME) to do this.”

――Speaking of Okano HAJIME-san, he was also involved in DER ZIBET’s production in the past, and he’s also gone on the Pugs US tour with HIKARU-san as a fellow band member too. He’s someone you’ve got close ties to, isn’t he?

H: I couldn’t think of anyone else. In any case, there were a lot of different musicians participating in this tribute so I thought it’d be tough to bring all their sounds together. Even before talk of a tribute came up, Okano-san told me during a call we had that “I’m up for anything” so that also left an impression in my mind, you know? From what I heard, it seems like he quite enjoyed working on the production of the tribute so I’m glad.

――It appears that this tribute album will have two discs and the participating artists are made up of those who are from the same era as DER ZIBET, even seniors and juniors. What kind of impression does such a lineup leave you with?

H: I haven’t yet heard all of their music, not even all of Tsuchiya(Masami)-san’s, but it’s really quite the variety of people taking part and I think whatever they’ve come up with so far all sounds great.

――Members of Valentine D.C., a band who HIKARU-san once had a hand in producing, the band Dantoudai no MELODY which was newly formed by Kneuklid Romance’s Ogasawara Kenichi-san and YUTAKA-san, Akito-san (presently a member of the superlative degree) who was in the band ALL I NEED; all these artists a.k.a. HIKARU’s children are also involved in this tribute album. How do you feel about that?

H: I’m of course happy about it, and although I was worried until I got to hear their music (lol), all of them sounded cool so I’m relieved.

――No matter the artist, they all have some sort of connection to DER ZIBET but in particular, DIE-san (Ra:IN) was more than just a support musician during your HOMO DEMENS album era. He was as good as a quasi member of the band having gone on tour with you all, and during the tribute recording session, he even said, “To me, meeting DER ZIBET was the most significant thing of all [in my life]. You could almost say that my career as a professional musician started from there. In a sense, DER ZIBET is like the hometown where I was born.”

H: That’s probably very true. If I hadn’t dragged him in, DIE-chan might’ve never gotten a mohawk too (lol).

――This eventually led to his great work in hide with Spread Beaver too.

H: He got a mohawk when he was with DZ, and after that he got pulled into ZI:KILL, and after seeing him there, hide pulled him over. I don’t know how grateful he feels about that, though (lol). 

――I think he’s very grateful. He even participated in two songs for this tribute. Moving on, Honda Takeshi-san (PERSONZ) is a guitarist of the same generation as HIKARU-san who’s also taking part. Among the guitar enthusiasts, Honda-san and HIKARU-san appear to attract the same level of attention as guitarists who are skilled at using effects pedals.

H: I like effects pedals too but my sellability is not the same as Takeshi’s, is it? (Lol) But Takeshi and I are friends. We often went drinking together, and have also gone to watch each others’ live shows. And since he’s participating in the tribute, he wrote about DZ on X. Like how he thought maybe Japanese bands weren’t something to scoff at after seeing us. I just feel that he should’ve said so earlier back then (lol).

――This time, Watanabe Mitsugu-san from PERSONZ is also involved in another song, isn’t he?

H: They’ve never actually attended our live shows but they have joined us for just the afterparties before (lol). Speaking of which, Mitsugu called me to say, “I think I’ll do it.” I can’t remember when we exchanged phone numbers, but “Mitsugu” appeared on my phone screen (lol).

――An artist from your generation, Sumida Takeshi-san is also taking part [in this tribute]. Upon hearing of ISSAY-san’s passing last August 10th, he posted something very memorable on X, “When it comes to ISSAY, I would say that he’s a senior in our high school of culture. People say that he’s a pioneer of [the] visual [genre] but he’s in a whole other cultural class of his own. There isn’t the slightest trace of rowdiness in him at all. All of DER ZIBET are like that.” I think so too.

H: Right. I think that we’re a band who had no sort of jock culture or hierarchical relationship. Even between ISSAY and I, whenever we drink the conversation more or less always goes there. Talking about history and all that.

――That’s a pretty sober topic to go with finger food, isn’t it (lol).

H: When it comes to our history, he knows it all down to the details. From history, we’d move to talking about the album and the lyrics anyway. But I’m not that familiar with it. After our reunion, I listened to him talk about all sorts of things whenever we went drinking and when there was something which piqued my interest, I wanted to find some way to keep up [with the conversation] so I read all of Shiba Ryoutarou’s books, gathered my own materials. That was the kind of good influence he had on me.

――Being the band which you’ve been in with ISSAY-san, what is DER ZIBET to HIKARU-san?

H: It is ultimately my life’s work. Especially since after our reunion, this is the only place where I can perform the music I made myself, and that remains true even now. In the almost 17 years since the band came back together, ISSAY and MAHITO expanded on what I created which I found helpful and enjoyed. Looking back after this has all ended, I think we kept at it for a long time, and although I think it was good that we were able to do this for as long as we did, I just feel that there’s still a lot I want to do.

――Please, for the sake of DER ZIBET and your fans, let the unreleased songs see the light of day!

H: Right. Since I mentioned it here, I guess can only follow through with it.

――Lastly. Tell us what you like about ISSAY-san.

H: What do I like about him?　Not much at all (lol). But after the band got back together, I found that he’s grown more amenable and when drinking, we could even talk about the times when we didn’t get along. I think it’s adorable whenever he said things like, “I really want to punch myself from back then” though. (Lol)

 

 

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In search of a place to belong — Interview with ISSAY

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Translation: Yoshiyuki
Images: Yoshiyuki