The theme of the outfits this time is "Ninja".
On August 27th, Kagrra is going to Shinjuku Liquid Room for their oneman live "Hisai". It will be a live to promote their maxi single "Yotogi Banashi" which released on June 30th. For their first appearance in this magazine, this month's focus is the maxi single "Yotogi Banashi", their anecdotes while recording that work, and what is Kagrra as a band...? We asked about all kinds of things like that!
―It's your arena debut, but you've already released a lot of works haven't you?
Isshi: 4 mini albums and one full album. Including our singles and the things like our venue limited releases, I think we've released around 50 songs altogether.
―But your band formed in 2000? The pace of your activities is extremely fast.
Isshi: That's right. We have a vigorous urge to create. (laughs) Actually, we're unusual in that we record a lot more often than we perform lives.
―When you say 'Kagrra', the costumes and lyrics and band name are all "Wa"-like, but was that your concept from the beginning?
Isshi: That's right. When these members gathered together, we all talked together and decided on it. At that time, everyone around us were doing things like feathers and The Rose of Versailles, and since we're Japanese people we thought we'd look into Japanese style, so it's what we've done up until now. I've always liked old Japanese writings from the past, but this band is the first to adopt it for our music.
―You've always had the gorgeous trademark of wearing outfits like kimono, but this time it's a little bit different right?
Isshi: We decide on outfits that fit our concept every time, but this time the theme is ninja. Therefore everyone is in jet black. But, I have tabi on my feet. I've been thinking about outfits with an Oni theme up until now, so this time it's completely different.
―Are the 3 tracks on "Yotogi Banashi" songs you've performed at lives so far?
Isshi: No, they're songs we made for this release.
―Where did the ninja concept come from?
Isshi: The first track, "Gekka Sousou". Akiya was the one who composed the original melody, and at that time he was imagining ninjas.
Akiya: When we were working on our previous maxi single "Haru Urara", I was reading ninja manga and it occurred to me, "Ah, this would be cool for the band too."
Isshi: This song was an achievement, I wrote the entire story myself and extracted words from within for the lyrics. I use such methods every time I write lyrics, but this time I particularly gave it my all.
―Well, please tell us about "Gekka Sousou".
Izumi： This song is speedy and the tempo is fast, so I imagine playing it at lives. The drums come in before the chorus, but as this wouldn't be a recording it'd be done with a real bang.
Nao: When you think of ninjas you imagine they move quickly, so I thought I'd play bass quickly too. Originally there were too many sounds, or should I say, with the type of bass I have, I had to pay attention that I wouldn't overdo it.
Shin: For this song I had to pay attention to the speedy feeling and the details of playing it. Our band fundamentally uses a lot of acoustic guitar, so even with this song I played in a way that would bring out the atmosphere.
Akiya: First of all, I wanted it to feel like sprinting, you know? I like putting in subtle flavours that the people listening might not catch, so I did various things like that. The timbre of my guitar sounds different with 2 amps, so I used some of that.
Isshi: Personally, this story is one I like an awful lot. It's a sad story, but the theme was how much of that sorrow can I sing prettily? Lately I'm using quite a bit of falsetto.
―The second song "Amafurase Tanmaina" has impact right away from the title.
Isshi: The meaning is "Please rain, that's my request." I always write the story before the title, but for this song I was worried how the title might bring the story together.
―Where does that kind of knowledge come from?
Isshi: I'll occasionally hear it from my grandmother, but mostly from books. I like to read those books all day and night. (laughs)
Izumi: It has a different rhythm than the 1st song and the drums seem to be a little Wa-like.
Akiya: I played an acoustic guitar solo, but I was told "That sounds Spanish" by our sound engineer, and I thought "Damn it." (laughs) But I felt good playing it.
―And the 3rd song, "Kisai"?
Isshi: For this song, I was thinking I'd try doing something different than usual. The key is low and I rolled my tongue. (laughs)
Nao: I played a bass solo in this song, but I challenged myself to bend the strings of the bass.
Shin: It's a song where the rhythm is an important consideration, so I played efficiently.
―You've decided on your oneman live for August 27th haven't you?
Isshi: We come up with a conceptual stage for each live, and the theme this time is a festival. A brief comment on festivals, there are various types so for planning the live we have to gather up concepts for various festivals.
Izumi: Certainly, we want you to know the world of Kagrra, so we want you to listen to our work and come to lives too.
Shin: It'll be the first time we play the songs from "Yotogi Banashi" at a live, so it'll be fun.
Isshi: This time is our debut arena appearance, so I think there'll be lots of people seeing us for the first time. But we certainly want them to know Kagrra's world. The more you think about the lyrics you'll be able to plunge into the depth. I want a lot of people to plunge into the depth.
Isshi: 4 mini albums and one full album. Including our singles and the things like our venue limited releases, I think we've released around 50 songs altogether.
―But your band formed in 2000? The pace of your activities is extremely fast.
Isshi: That's right. We have a vigorous urge to create. (laughs) Actually, we're unusual in that we record a lot more often than we perform lives.
―When you say 'Kagrra', the costumes and lyrics and band name are all "Wa"-like, but was that your concept from the beginning?
Isshi: That's right. When these members gathered together, we all talked together and decided on it. At that time, everyone around us were doing things like feathers and The Rose of Versailles, and since we're Japanese people we thought we'd look into Japanese style, so it's what we've done up until now. I've always liked old Japanese writings from the past, but this band is the first to adopt it for our music.
―You've always had the gorgeous trademark of wearing outfits like kimono, but this time it's a little bit different right?
Isshi: We decide on outfits that fit our concept every time, but this time the theme is ninja. Therefore everyone is in jet black. But, I have tabi on my feet. I've been thinking about outfits with an Oni theme up until now, so this time it's completely different.
―Are the 3 tracks on "Yotogi Banashi" songs you've performed at lives so far?
Isshi: No, they're songs we made for this release.
―Where did the ninja concept come from?
Isshi: The first track, "Gekka Sousou". Akiya was the one who composed the original melody, and at that time he was imagining ninjas.
Akiya: When we were working on our previous maxi single "Haru Urara", I was reading ninja manga and it occurred to me, "Ah, this would be cool for the band too."
Isshi: This song was an achievement, I wrote the entire story myself and extracted words from within for the lyrics. I use such methods every time I write lyrics, but this time I particularly gave it my all.
―Well, please tell us about "Gekka Sousou".
Izumi： This song is speedy and the tempo is fast, so I imagine playing it at lives. The drums come in before the chorus, but as this wouldn't be a recording it'd be done with a real bang.
Nao: When you think of ninjas you imagine they move quickly, so I thought I'd play bass quickly too. Originally there were too many sounds, or should I say, with the type of bass I have, I had to pay attention that I wouldn't overdo it.
Shin: For this song I had to pay attention to the speedy feeling and the details of playing it. Our band fundamentally uses a lot of acoustic guitar, so even with this song I played in a way that would bring out the atmosphere.
Akiya: First of all, I wanted it to feel like sprinting, you know? I like putting in subtle flavours that the people listening might not catch, so I did various things like that. The timbre of my guitar sounds different with 2 amps, so I used some of that.
Isshi: Personally, this story is one I like an awful lot. It's a sad story, but the theme was how much of that sorrow can I sing prettily? Lately I'm using quite a bit of falsetto.
―The second song "Amafurase Tanmaina" has impact right away from the title.
Isshi: The meaning is "Please rain, that's my request." I always write the story before the title, but for this song I was worried how the title might bring the story together.
―Where does that kind of knowledge come from?
Isshi: I'll occasionally hear it from my grandmother, but mostly from books. I like to read those books all day and night. (laughs)
Izumi: It has a different rhythm than the 1st song and the drums seem to be a little Wa-like.
Akiya: I played an acoustic guitar solo, but I was told "That sounds Spanish" by our sound engineer, and I thought "Damn it." (laughs) But I felt good playing it.
―And the 3rd song, "Kisai"?
Isshi: For this song, I was thinking I'd try doing something different than usual. The key is low and I rolled my tongue. (laughs)
Nao: I played a bass solo in this song, but I challenged myself to bend the strings of the bass.
Shin: It's a song where the rhythm is an important consideration, so I played efficiently.
―You've decided on your oneman live for August 27th haven't you?
Isshi: We come up with a conceptual stage for each live, and the theme this time is a festival. A brief comment on festivals, there are various types so for planning the live we have to gather up concepts for various festivals.
Izumi: Certainly, we want you to know the world of Kagrra, so we want you to listen to our work and come to lives too.
Shin: It'll be the first time we play the songs from "Yotogi Banashi" at a live, so it'll be fun.
Isshi: This time is our debut arena appearance, so I think there'll be lots of people seeing us for the first time. But we certainly want them to know Kagrra's world. The more you think about the lyrics you'll be able to plunge into the depth. I want a lot of people to plunge into the depth.