D'espairsRay interview for Mad Tea Party MAGAZINE August 2005

D'espairsRay interview for Mad Tea Party MAGAZINE August 2005
D'espairsRay summer

D’espairsRay grow more and more powerful as they release their first album [Coll] in June. They get the summer burning with a coupling tour with D. We listen to their memories of the past summers and their enthusiasm towards this one. They clown and they talk seriously. Feel their deep and meaningful personalities and think about the hot summer with D’espairsRay.

I hate hot and humid summers! But I love summer lives!

Q: It seems summer is going to get hot for D’espairsRay, since you’re going on a coupling tour with D after the release of your first album [Coll].

H: You mean what kind of lives we are going to make out of the completed album? It’s summer and for now we want to get wild.

K: It’d be great if we played ridiculously hot lives and could feel summer that way.

Q: For sure, summer lives are burning hot! Do you have any memories of the lives played during summer?

K: Yeah, we had a lot of profoundly memorable lives in summer.

Q: For example, what kind of things happened?

K: Well, I don’t remember anything in particular (laughs). But during summer the lives can get very “live”-ly. That’s why I like summer lives.

Q: I see. Then do you all like summer itself too?

H: I hate the heat.

T: I hate summer too. It’s very humid. When I go outside, it feels like all useless hair always sticks to the skin.

H: What do you mean “useless hair”?! (laughs)

T: I really hate that annoying feeling of sticky hair, but I like the humidity of the live houses. I hate summer, but I like it when we play lives. Now I’d like to attract people here.

Q: So useless hair sticking to the skin is totally OK during the lives?

T: We are looking forward to the tour especially because we’ve been staying indoors during the recording.

H: Because I was born during winter I am OK when it comes to the cold, but I can’t stand the heat. Moreover, speaking of the summer lives, I often collapse because of lack of oxygen. Anyway don’t the lives at the narrow live houses with the low ceilings get really hot? Especially since there is a riser at the front I get up on and sing, the oxygen thins away and thins away from me… (laughs). Because of the steam rising, breathing gets really difficult and it often happens that my consciousness slips away for a moment.

T: In the steam chances get high that my sticks fly out of my hands. I tape my hands so it wouldn’t happen, but they still go flying. If I didn’t do that my hands would ooze…

Q: Ooze?

T: Ooze and booze… (T.N. He did not actually say “booze”, I did. He said にじみしじみ, にじみ means “ooze, seep out, exude” and しじみ – “shijimi clam”. I think he just rhymes completely unrelated words here. So it’s “booze” because I couldn’t think of any other word to rhyme with “ooze” ). Because I am a man with a sweat gathering in my hot grip. Will my sticks fly this time too?!

Q: What about you Zero? Are you enthusiastic about the summer?

Z: … well, I think maybe I’ll fight to death.

Q: Do you have any memories of the summer lives?

Z: I remember that during our first tour around the country when we went to Matsuyama, we were late for a ferry and a live too. We often get lost on the road, so we were late to get to the harbor and couldn’t get on the ferry in time. But except that one time we always made it just barely in time.

H: Without fail.

Z: We also stopped the ferry quite a few times.

Q: You got the ferry to wait for you?

H: We told them “Please wait a little, Karyu is coming to get on the ferry” (laughs).

K: That worked really well! Nobody knew who this “Karyu” was, so they thought that someone important must have been coming and they waited (laughs).

Z: I lost the count of how many times we’d done it.

K: They probably remember my name now because we used it all the time (laughs).

H: Maybe you’re already on their black list, like “Watch out for Karyu” (laughs).

Q: But now that you’ve got a manager, you won’t get lost on the road.

Z: Well, our manager is pretty unreliable when it comes to finding the way (laughs).

Q: Please be careful not to get lost this time (laughs). Then, is there anything else except the lives that you want to do during summer?

H: I want to see fireworks. We almost always tour during summer, so because we leave Tokyo we’ve never seen fireworks here.

Q: Have you ever seen it in the places you visited?

H: No. Probably during the tours we always missed fireworks.

K: Didn’t we see it once when we were driving on the highway?

T: Wasn’t it Tokyo-Nagoya highway?

K: Back then it felt like it had been a while since we saw fireworks.

Q: I wonder if you’ll see it this year since you’re traveling all around the country…

H: I want to see fireworks in Kyoto!

K: Yeah, at Kamo river. They build a special platform for an audience there during summer.

Q: Oh, enjoying the coolness of the evening at the river (a number of restaurants and shops is set up at the banks of Kamo river from May to the end of September each year).

H: I want to watch fireworks while eating there…

Q: So refined~~~

K: D’espairsRay love Kyoto the best. Isn’t it nice to have history and romance?

H: Speaking of it, didn’t we get to ride a rickshaw there? It seems that we were ripped off (laughs).

K: No way.

Q: For some reason the conversation is not quite calm (laughs).

H: We rode a rickshaw in the past and it cost like 8000 yen per person, but later we heard from people living there that we could do it for only 1000 yen.

K: For real?! (laughs). Moreover at the time we generously got all our staff to ride too.

Q: Oh my (laughs). But you really do like Kyoto.

K: I wonder why, there is something nice about it.

H: Food! It’s nice to eat outside.

Q: You play in Kyoto on August 27.

H: Oh, that’s good! (turns towards a manager) Arrange a dinner at a restaurant there for us!

Q: Tsukasa, are you not interested in fireworks?

T: Only in fireworks called “lives”! I’d like to roll all our fans up in a firecracker and launch them in a ho~~~t firework.

Everybody: ……

Q: Eh? For some reason everybody drew back (laughs). But isn’t it cool to watch fireworks and then launch your own ones?

We realized our own abilities when we finished the album.

Q: Well then, continuing such an interesting conversation lets shift to something more serious (laughs). A month has passed since the release of [Coll] and I think this tour will be centered around it, so I’d like to ask you once again about things to listen to, things you were particular about.

K: The theme is “freedom”… we created an album with it in our minds. It’s our first album, but aside from the way we made it, our feelings have not changed. But it’s true that since it’s our first album it caused a lot of concern from people around us. Surely, thinking about how to make it easy to understand, I feel we made an emphasis on melodies.

Q: You mean there was nothing like “It’s fine if those who understand will understand”?

K: The feelings of “We want the others to understand” were very strong.

Q: What do you think, Hizumi, as a vocalist?

H: When it comes to me, I’m aware that our travel to release CDs has not changed. It is the same: “We want to do something we ourselves think is cool”. Rather than following a trend, I think it’s better to do something we think is good ourselves. We created the album with those feelings. Regarding the things to pay attention to, I think perception depends on a person listening, but I want us all to become one during the lives.

Q: What about you, Tsukasa?

T: I created the songs with a thought: “I want our feelings to be mutual”. I wrote two songs, one of them is a melodious one (“Hai to ame”), at the time I was able to live a melodious life.

H: A melodious life… what kind of life is that? (laughs)

T: I don’t really want to talk about that song…

Q: You don’t want to talk about the melodious life?

T: The other song is [Grudge], it’s the song I wrote as I searched for what Hizumi mentioned earlier “a feeling of being one”.

Q: True, it seems to be a song that is going to get people excited during the lives.

T: Certainly, I’d like our fans to understand that I want to play this song. That’s one of the things I’m looking forward to. I understand that D’espairsRay songs are something that makes us and our fans grow together and this is exactly the song I have those expectations for.

Q: What were you particular about during the recording, Zero?

Z: The theme was “freedom” and feelings-wise I made it moving further and further forward. Speaking about the bass arrangements, because it was the album, I had to arrange a lot of songs at once. Moreover, when I started, I came to think that a strategy is necessary. Until now a small number of songs had to be presented in one form, but this time I arranged nine songs at once and that was a discovery I made. Certainly, I think me, personally, and the whole band made a step forward when creating the album. I wonder if it became something necessary for us to continue moving forward.

Q: I see. It is your first full album after all. Was there anything else new you could see when working on [Coll]?

K: There were a lot of things. Weren’t we able to become less restricted? We have always had a certain idea before: “this is the way we are”. What I mean is it was not that we felt very self-satisfied, but we were able to become more free and take advantage of that. We created the album and our way of thinking changed.

H: Certainly, I also think that we were able to think more freely this time. We were no longer restricted by “if we don’t do it a certain way it won’t work out”. We could also see a reflection of our former selves over-caught up in the particulars, but on the contrary we also felt that it was good in some way.

Q: In plain words, you mean that your way of thinking became flexible?

H: We have come to think that it’s better to do things more freely.

T: I thought that the band still has a lot of potential. During the preproduction when things were taking the final shape, there were often moments when a thought passed through our heads: “we can’t do more than this”. But when we started the actual recording, it was fun and hard. We were able to properly do the parts that caused us worry and we could see that we still had a lot of room to go on. We included a lot of different songs and when I listen to the completed album myself I nod along every now and then: “Yeah!”



A coupling tour is a battle between the bands! We will fight with all our strength and then drink delicious sake!

Q: I think we will hear a lot of songs from [Coll] during the coupling tour with D, but what is your enthusiasm towards the lives?

K: To tell the truth, I don’t really like playing with other bands. But isn’t a coupling tour with a band we think is cool inspiring? That’s why I think it’s going to be fun.

Q: It’s boring when your partner does not bring in inspiration. In that sense, what about a message you would like to send to D?

K: I want them to make us think “We were defeated”. And we want to make them think the same, it’d be great if we had that kind of relationship.

H: We played a coupling tour in America and at the time there were a lot of things the other band impressed us with. The coupling tour in Japan… I don’t want it to be just lives we play together, but I want us to have fun together. I feel the lives will be awesome if we get each other’s spirits high.

T: The coupling tour is different from the events where many bands participate, because it’s a band against a band thing. Being aware of the partner and having faith, I think I want to battle them in earnest. Because we have known D for a long time, I think we can see them as someone close… In that case when the time comes, we can fight for real and, when the battle is over, I’d like us to fill each other’s cups with sake.

Q: That’s hot.

T: Saying that, I’d like to face them yankee-style.

H: You turned into a yankee character!

T: I was yankee long ago.

Everyone: Ahahahaha.

H: So lame (laughs).

T: I want to unfold our face-off so that everyone will remember their high school life.

Q: So manly!

T: But to add one last thing, the yankee talk was all a lie. I’ll become yankee from now on! Sort of like “My new soul!”

H: How old are you for that kind of debut?

T: I feel very “bontan” (T.N.: "bontan" - baggy pants, worn by construction workers and juvenile delinquents, called yankee. I couldn’t find any picture to illustrate it except this video where girls wear the outfits somewhat close to what Tsukasa is talking about.)

Q: Yankee of what era are you? (laughs)

T: It’s OK if people do not understand. In this world no one except those who understand will understand!

H: That was long!

Z: Well, D are our acquaintances, so it’s very easy. We’ve played lives many times together, so I think we can make the lives great. There is a part of the live that is D’espairsRay and there is a part that is created by D, so I’d like both bands to create good lives with our combined power.

Q: If the other band is burning, the sparks will fly over to your side… and that way you will receive inspiration?

Z: Yeah.

Q: Well finally, I’d like someone to close the interview with a “boom!”, is there a leader in D’espairsRay?

H: No, we don’t have that established.

K: But we have a talk leader… (looks at Tsukasa).

H: It won’t get closed then (laughs).

T: Someone will firmly close it after I screw around.

H: Do both by yourself!

T: I cannot!

H: If you make a mistake, we will step in!

Q: Well then, answering to everyone’s hot demand, Tsukasa, please close the interview. D’espairsRay of this summer and further on: what should we keep our eyes on?

T: We understand very well that those around us have expectations for us. That’s why everybody knows that we want to say “you should not look away!”

Everybody: …..

T: Also we understand that fans that come to see us are hardcore and one-track minded… what was I talking about?

Q: You were talking about yourselves of whom people have expectations and about the hardcore and one-track minded fans that come to your lives.

T: Those, who want to be a part of it even a little, do not need to provide any career history…

K: Career history…? What the hell is that? (laughs)

Q: You mean… people who listened to different kinds of music before?

T: So when they get into it and become totally submerged, we will live a life together and when the time comes…

Q: When the time comes?

T: Let’s go on a trip and kick up a racket!

K: Kick up a racket? (laughs).

Q: Can anybody add anything here?

H: It’s hard to step in.

K: Didn’t he try to say: “since our speed is getting faster, follow us!”?

T: You understood it well!

H: Is it really true?

T: Is there anyone else who wants to add anything? Like “this is what he probably wanted to say”?

H: Probably what he wanted to say was “it is summer so become more liberated!”

T: …. Yeah, that’s right. Zero, what do you think I wanted to say?

Z: I wasn’t listening.

T: ….. well, there is that too. Then what about D’espairsRay from now on?

K: We are going to speed up even faster now and not to be left behind please stick to us!

Q: Yes! You closed it! Well, then I’m expecting a very hot summer for all of you!

Deuxième partie:

Asagi and Ruiza (D) x Hizumi and Karyu (D’espairsRay)

Our eyes met on a street corner… – Asagi

It was easy to fall in love. The moment we met, there were like sparkles all around us – Karyu



D and D’espairsRay begin their coupling tour in Sapporo on August 8. Since two bands have known each other for a long time, we had a vocalist and a guitarist from each band to come for the first interview together. Karyu who kept inviting Asagi for drinks, Hizumi who was taught how to play guitar by Ruiza… Just what kind of relationship these four have?! From drunken stories to heartwarming episodes, things that have not been known until now (?!) They will talk about their relationship one by one! There is no mistaking that after reading this interview you will have high expectations for the tour!


Q: This is an interview with four members representing the bands to commemorate a coupling tour. Let’s start with how D and D’espairsRay met.

H: The meeting was sudden, wasn’t it?

A: Our eyes met on a street corner… Was it winter? ♪ That time, that day ♪ A song of Oda Kazumasa was playing, my eyes met Hizumi’s and we blushed.

H: And then Karyu came barging in.

K: And then it was like a conception.

Q: So how old is your child now?

H: That’s stretching it.

Q: It’s not like there was any other way to connect the conversation after he said it, right? (laughs)

A: (laughs) It was when Ruiza and I were in our previous band, so it means three or four years ago, I guess. We went to either a party or some meeting and had drinks together.

Q: What was your first impression?

A: I don’t talk much when meeting people for the first time… but I accepted the members of D’espa right away.

K: There was probably something, from our previous lives, it was easy to fall in love. When we met for the first time and our eyes met… it was like sparkles all around us.

Q: What about your first impression seeing each other on stage?

A: There aren’t really many bands about which I can think that they are cool, but I honestly think so about D’espa.

R: They are obviously different from all other bands we played with. It was what I was attracted to.

K: I’m getting embarrassed.

H: No, you aren’t.

Q: Though it was before D, what was your impression of Asagi and Ruiza at the time?

H: When I experienced their lives I thought “what are these people?!”, they were both good.

K: Maybe because I thought they were cool we could get along so well? But the truth is I became interested in Asagi even before he was in that band. They are great guys who always encourage us.

Q: What about going out together after they formed D?

R: The very first thing we did was playing at a live D’espairsRay were headliners for.

A: That was our first live. When the situation became such that we could play lives we began looking for opportunities.

Q: You are fellow bands by chance, aren’t you? What about now?

K: We call each other a lot, aren’t we, Asagi?

A: Yeah. I have received a lot of phone calls from him. Just a little before the last train he’d call and ask “how about now”?

K: The idea is “I won’t let you go back today”.

Q: So you meet and drink until the morning?

A: No, because I can’t go out unless I brace myself for it and it usually takes about two hours.

Q: Isn’t the last train gone by then? (laughs)

K: I’m usually not the type to invite people, he is the only one I kept inviting. But he has never come, not even once (laughs).

Q: But this time since you are playing a tour and always together, you can drink without being concerned about the last train.

H: It’s going to be a tequila party every day (laughs).

Q: Among the memories of D and D’espa is there anything that happened at the parties?

R: When we had a “crab contest” in Hokkaido, we got Zero really drunk… We thought “Finish fast!” (laughs).

K: Zero was rather nasty towards Ruiza (laughs). Didn’t he like get turned on?

R: For some reason he approached me. When I noticed he was always by my side. Back then we also stayed at a hotel together, and Hizumi told me “I’ll attack you in the middle of the night”. That’s why now I’m afraid of them…

Q: Did he attack you?

R: No, he didn’t come (laughs).

Q: The time after the lives is fun, but of course the lives themselves are even more fun!

A: Exactly! D haven’t really done coupling tours before. We think that there is no point doing it with a band we don’t think is good. We have known D’espa since long ago and I think they have strong will. That’s why I want us to create an uproar in the scene.

H: I am happy to hear that. However, if I am to say strongly, I want to do it without getting cozy. Moreover, I want to do it with the spirit to crash them. If we get cozy, then that way of thinking will destroy us.

Q: Certainly, it will be an earnest battle.

H: If we are playing first, I am going to break the monitors before leaving the stage!

A: Maybe I’ll hang garlic on Karyu’s microphone stand…

H: Maybe we will load a gun Asagi uses for real or write D(‘espairsRay) on their D banner.

K: We’ll consider those plans (laughs).

A: Yeah, but when we played together before, Hizumi was very kind to me. When I said that my throat hurt, he made ginger soup for me…

H: It was ginger tea (laughs).

A: Oh, that’s right (laughs). The steam was rising from ginger tea Hizumi gave me and through that steam I watched his smiling face…

Q: He always teases people, but actually he is a very kind person.

H: No, I just wanted to help… (embarrassed).

A: My voice got better after I drunk it. Thank you

Q: Were there heartwarming episodes that happened to a guitar team?

H: I was taught how to play guitar by Ruiza.

R: He is my disciple.

H: I memorized a D song.

R: But this disciple of mine tried to cut the strings of my guitar. He played it making scraping sounds and said that it was going to break during the live (laughs). But unexpectedly during the time we became really friendly with each other. Of course, I don’t want us to get cozy, but I’d like us to continue touring keeping that fun side too.

Q: Please tell us once again about your enthusiasm towards the tour.

A: D’espa played lives overseas so I’d like to get motivation from them.

K: I think of D as rivals, that’s why I also feel “please give us motivation”, I will give it!

H: I’d like to show what coupling lives should be like. We have played them in America and it felt new, so I’d like to do a coupling tour in a new way in Japan now.

Q: Well then the final words.

H: I like you.

A: I love you.

Everybody: (burst out laughing)

Je vais faire la traduc un peu plustard, là j'ai pas trop le temps.


Credit: notafanboy for this translations