Kagrra interview in Vicious July 2001
The second installment in Kagrra's consecutive single releases is "Memai" which releases on May 26th. Even though it's simple, it has a deep sound and the lyrics muddle with a retro touch. It's a number packed full of the members' fixations and playfulness.
―"Memai" is a track with a weird feeling, as expected from the title.
Isshi: Do you get vertigo from the bass in the intro? It's a song to listen to while you're dizzy. You'll really get vertigo.
Nao: That's right, it's when you listen to the bass phrase. The timing was tight, so we seriously got vertigo while recording. Because we were that frantic. That said, since the sounds and ambience are overflowing, please get drunk on it. (laughs)
Akiya: I composed the original melody, but first of all I was only thinking about the guitar phrases, and then, I said to everyone I'd leave it up to them. This time it was wish fulfillment from the beginning.
Izumi: That was the day before recording right? We felt faint because it was left up to us. We were defeated.
Shin: The two guitars were immediately ready right? How far could we get with 2 guitars, and try something different that we hadn't done up until now? But it was only a little while to finish. It was surprisingly fast wasn't it?
Akiya: To finish it like that with what I imagined from the beginning... thanks for your cooperation everyone! (laughs) We didn't use the synthesizer in this song either, it's simple but I think there's a great thickness to the sound. And the words seem muddled which is good.
Isshi: It feels like a monochrome kind of muddled, from the latter half of the Meiji era. Since we'd already decided on the theme of 'vertigo', the lyrics came to me without trouble. Vertigo... just read it.
Nao: There are a lot of difficult kanji in this song~
Izumi: Even if you can't read it, we're an unfriendly band who doesn't use furigana. (laughs)
Isshi: There's no lyrics sheet included, but I wrote "kaikin" to be read as "tojikomeru"(*1), which I fussed over quite a bit. I'll be happy if you play the song and daydream about various scenes from the imagery and words.
―For your consecutive releases, this one has imagery of autumn right? When I listen to it with headphones at night, I can get an eerie feeling from it.
Isshi: Going along with the seasons it's autumn, but, ahh, this is vertigo anyway. (laughs) Actually there are places like vertigo hills, too. The word has a lovely impression, I think the mysterious feeling is nice.
Izumi: I think it feels strange because we didn't use the common development of A melody, B melody, chorus. So please listen to it all carefully okay?
―The packaging feels handmade, like a special edition. The Japanese paper bag is cute too.
Izumi: It was us who stuffed the bags. The seals were sometimes misaligned, but it's handmade so please forgive us~
Isshi: If the song is retro, then the manufacturing is retro. Counting them, stuffing them, and sealing them.
Nao: I got so angry when my hands stopped. We did this thing 1000 times, it was great~
Shin: It was interesting how the portions were naturally decided.
Akiya: I was gluing the paper. All the members together made an assembly line. Doing 4 at a time, twice!
Shin: Next can we make lucky bags?
Izumi: That might be interesting.
―Everyone, let's clue up. (laughs) How do you think you'll feel when you perform "Memai" at lives?
Akiya: Since it's an interesting song, I think the mood will be strange won't it? I'm looking forward to it!
Nao: We'll get dizzy and you can defeat us. (laughs)
Isshi: Since there are limited versions of the consecutive releases for the live venues, I'm looking forward to it. First of all, this month you can get a taste of the vertigo to your heart's content.
Akiya: We'll even have new costumes. Like "kimono version 2." I'm looking forward to it.
Shin: Hey, what about next month's single?
Izumi: Oh no! We have to start recording right away, everyone! (laughs)
Isshi: Do you get vertigo from the bass in the intro? It's a song to listen to while you're dizzy. You'll really get vertigo.
Nao: That's right, it's when you listen to the bass phrase. The timing was tight, so we seriously got vertigo while recording. Because we were that frantic. That said, since the sounds and ambience are overflowing, please get drunk on it. (laughs)
Akiya: I composed the original melody, but first of all I was only thinking about the guitar phrases, and then, I said to everyone I'd leave it up to them. This time it was wish fulfillment from the beginning.
Izumi: That was the day before recording right? We felt faint because it was left up to us. We were defeated.
Shin: The two guitars were immediately ready right? How far could we get with 2 guitars, and try something different that we hadn't done up until now? But it was only a little while to finish. It was surprisingly fast wasn't it?
Akiya: To finish it like that with what I imagined from the beginning... thanks for your cooperation everyone! (laughs) We didn't use the synthesizer in this song either, it's simple but I think there's a great thickness to the sound. And the words seem muddled which is good.
Isshi: It feels like a monochrome kind of muddled, from the latter half of the Meiji era. Since we'd already decided on the theme of 'vertigo', the lyrics came to me without trouble. Vertigo... just read it.
Nao: There are a lot of difficult kanji in this song~
Izumi: Even if you can't read it, we're an unfriendly band who doesn't use furigana. (laughs)
Isshi: There's no lyrics sheet included, but I wrote "kaikin" to be read as "tojikomeru"(*1), which I fussed over quite a bit. I'll be happy if you play the song and daydream about various scenes from the imagery and words.
―For your consecutive releases, this one has imagery of autumn right? When I listen to it with headphones at night, I can get an eerie feeling from it.
Isshi: Going along with the seasons it's autumn, but, ahh, this is vertigo anyway. (laughs) Actually there are places like vertigo hills, too. The word has a lovely impression, I think the mysterious feeling is nice.
Izumi: I think it feels strange because we didn't use the common development of A melody, B melody, chorus. So please listen to it all carefully okay?
―The packaging feels handmade, like a special edition. The Japanese paper bag is cute too.
Izumi: It was us who stuffed the bags. The seals were sometimes misaligned, but it's handmade so please forgive us~
Isshi: If the song is retro, then the manufacturing is retro. Counting them, stuffing them, and sealing them.
Nao: I got so angry when my hands stopped. We did this thing 1000 times, it was great~
Shin: It was interesting how the portions were naturally decided.
Akiya: I was gluing the paper. All the members together made an assembly line. Doing 4 at a time, twice!
Shin: Next can we make lucky bags?
Izumi: That might be interesting.
―Everyone, let's clue up. (laughs) How do you think you'll feel when you perform "Memai" at lives?
Akiya: Since it's an interesting song, I think the mood will be strange won't it? I'm looking forward to it!
Nao: We'll get dizzy and you can defeat us. (laughs)
Isshi: Since there are limited versions of the consecutive releases for the live venues, I'm looking forward to it. First of all, this month you can get a taste of the vertigo to your heart's content.
Akiya: We'll even have new costumes. Like "kimono version 2." I'm looking forward to it.
Shin: Hey, what about next month's single?
Izumi: Oh no! We have to start recording right away, everyone! (laughs)
Notes:
*1 - Kaikin is 監禁 meaning "confinement" and tojikomeru is 閉じ込める meaning "to be locked up".
*1 - Kaikin is 監禁 meaning "confinement" and tojikomeru is 閉じ込める meaning "to be locked up".