2010.09.10
Interview with Chiori (Vocals) and Yookey (Guitar)
By MAY-E
Original Interview (Japanese)
Vocalist Chiori, Guitarist Yookey, and Bassist Moriyasu are all from Kyoto, but only Drummer Tobita is from Ibaraki. Could you give the particulars of how you came to form UPLIFT SPICE?
Yookey: Our formation was actually in Tokyo. Chiori and I were classmates, but we all came to Tokyo separately, and then the four of us gathered to make our current band.
Chiori: Yookey and I were actually in another band together before this.
Really? What kind of musicianship did you do back then?
Chiori: Um, I don’t think it was that different from now. However, that band finished when we couldn’t do upfront activities.
Yookey: Yeah, we didn’t even do any live shows.
Chiori: I wonder if its character wasn’t really fitting.
First of all, congratulations on completing your third album, “Memento”.
C&Y: Thank you so much!
Was my reception of the album okay?
Yookey: Yep, perfect! (laughter)
(laughter) You formed in ’05, so this is your fifth year. Between the albums you also released 3 mini albums, which makes it seem like UPLIFT SPICE is a band that is always releasing things. How long did production take on this work, Memento?
Yookey: We started writing songs after we finished the previous tour, so in total it took about half a year.
Chiori: We have a busy schedule, so we weren’t able to do recording all together. The rhythm team finished their recording about two months prior, after that we recorded the guitar… we managed to do things at different intervals.
Yookey: Did it take about 6 months to complete?
Chiori: Yeah, I think about that long.
Yookey: Before now this kind of thing didn’t happen, but this time it feels like we continued working in our free time.
Were the tunes from “Memento” all made after your previous work, “Omega Rhythm”?
Yookey: That’s right.
Compared to your past work, it seems like “Memento” is more rage-filled. What kind of theme or concept did you have for “Memento”?
Yookey: That’s right. We decided to release more rage. Also, we felt like it would be good if we could exceed our previous release! (laughter)
(laughter) Definitely, your previous release “Omega Rhythm” was also cool. On the flipside, did that add some pressure?
Yookey: Nah, we didn’t really feel that much pressure. Rather, we felt a defiance, like, “if we can’t do it again, then whatever”. So, thanks to that, we were able to continue casually without feeling pressure.
Ah, so it was like that. During the production of this current work, were there any albums you listened to a lot, works that influenced you, or things like that?
Yookey: Um, rather than ‘influence’, we’re a band that follows different stimuli, but… I SET MY FRIENDS ON FIRE. Not that we don’t understand the circumstances (laughter). “Why them!? Are you stupid?” When I listened to ‘I SET MY FRIENDS ON FIRE’ I thought ‘man, I want to do the kind of things they did in their early days’.
I see. Looking at your official homepage, it really gets across that you really like emo and screamo, Yookey.
Yookey: That’s right. I love ‘THE USED’, who were so kind as to be our opening act from a few days ago. I also like bands like ‘MAE’ or ‘COPELAND’. Recently, I’ve been listening to ‘MUTEMATH’ a lot. I like bands that make things like ‘MUTEMATH’. Of course, I also like rage-filled bands.
While there are a lot of bands approaching GekiRock fans, like ‘THE USED’, who you said you loved, ‘SAOSIN’, who will be performing as your opening act, and ‘SUMMER SONIC10’, who recently made their debut, UPLIFT SPICE’s lyrics are all composed in Japanese. Would it be right to say that you felt like it was important to sing in Japanese?
Yookey: Yes. I think there are too many people that think “if it’s English, it’s cool”. So, we wanted to convey that “you can also make things cool in Japanese”.
Chiori: That’s right. Because we’re Japanese, and we can’t all speak English. However, we did actually try to record some songs in English this time.
Yookey: I wanted to test out and see what kind of feeling we would get with no Japanese and just English…
Chiori: Also, I wanted to try recording in English.
Wow, which songs did you try in English?
Yookey: There were 3 songs, “Shelter”, “Chijou no Eden (Earth’s Eden)” and “Time Capsule”.
Chiori: However, in practice, when we tried to finish recording, Japanese was undoubtedly better than English.
Yookey: Uh-huh.
Chiori: Because the melody is beautiful it’s easy to access directly, so I think our sound can also appeal to the typical fan of Western rock. But if I sing completely in English, it may as well not be me. I thought someone else could have done it. As expected, Japanese worked better.
Yookey: Agreed, we were able to see that in a new light.
So that’s how it went. Were all four members in agreement that “UPLIFT SPICE is Japanese after all!”?
Yookey: Yeah, that’s right. When we tried to put it in practice, we thought “ah, after all it’s no good, this isn’t right”.
Chiori: If English came naturally, that would be fine. If we thought it was good, we might have done it in English.
Uh-huh.
Yookey: For example, in France, there are a lot of people that like Japanese. We get messages from those people too. They specifically translate it into Japanese for us. So, even if we sing in Japanese, it feels like the things we want to convey come across. There’s also a video of people from Brazil doing their best to sing in Japanese.
Chiori: That’s what it would be like if we tried desperately to sing in English. I think a lot of Japanese people have some sort of complex towards foreigners. It would be good if we could speak English, but since I took the trouble to write lyrics, I feel like I would like to convey that to other Japanese people after all.
Of course. Certainly, among listeners of western rock, there are people who hold a prejudice against Japanese bands or Japanese rock. In that state of affairs, when opening for a band that has come to Japan, I wonder if it’s a big challenge for UPLIFT SPICE.
Yookey: Yes, which is why I thought “We can do 10 minutes of cool stuff in Japanese too” while confronting the live show. Just by saying ‘Japanese’ there are a lot of people who will be prejudiced, but there are actually an increasing number of people who have told us that Japanese is cool too.
I see. Your live show had a lot of impact, so I wonder if you got a lot of good reactions.
Yookey: Yes, we did. They were almost all foreigners, though (laughter).
Chiori: Right, right. There were only a few Japanese people who bought our CD (laughter). There was a decidedly larger number of foreign customers.
Yookey: They all said “Amazing! Amazing!” Foreigners are much better at expressing their feelings up front to us. When we were with SUMMER SONIC, the foreigners all crowded in and went crazy.
Chiori: Well, I’m happy about that. I mean, I think the melodies are more beautiful in English. Nevertheless, the recipient of my message is in a different place.
Of course. Even though the lyrics and melody were made separately, your words ride so beautifully on the songs, Chiori. Does it feel less like Japanese music and more like Japanese riding on rock music?
Chiori: Yes, in the demo phase I just hum the melody, so when I just listen to the sound, it feels like western music. I’ll start to imagine how it would feel if things were in English. At that time, it’s difficult to get Japanese to ride on the music.
Speaking of your lyrics, there’s this miraculous worldview where you can’t distinguish fiction from nonfiction, which has become the charm of UPLIFT SPICE. What kind of things tend to inspire you when you write lyrics?
Yookey: Delusions, right?
Chiori: Yeah, that’s right.
Yookey: Hahaha! (laughter)
Chiori: But really, it tends to be delusions. For most cases, I write lyrics last. After all, once the tune gets close to completion, it’s easier to see through that worldview. Before, there were times where we moved forward with the lyrics and melody at the same time, but when I did that I usually had to go back and rewrite the lyrics afterwards. That being the case, I decided to get the melody solidified first, listen to the sound, let an image swell up, and add lyrics.
Understood. In the current Japanese music scene, I think that lyrics that directly present feelings of romance in an open way are being drowned out. The lyrics you write are very unique. Are there any musicians in Japan that you take influence from?
Chiori: I’ve been drawn in by lyrics just once. Keisuke Kawata’s album “ROCK AND ROLL HERO”. A long time ago, when I was hospitalized, my father said “if you’re free, listen to this” and left me the album. I don’t know Kawata’s very well, but when I read those lyrics I thought “amazing”.
A lot of people also express that they’ve been drawn in by your lyrics, so I wondered if you’re the kind of person that reads a lot of books…
Chiori: I don’t read any books! (laughter) But I do read a ton of manga. (laughter)
Hahaha (laughter) So, what kind of manga are you reading?
Chiori: Um, basically, if it has swords in it I like it.
Yookey: Like Bleach, right (laughter)
Ah! That’s why on the official homepage it’s written that you want to become a Samurai. (laughter)
Chiori: Yeah, that’s right.
I totally get it. I also love Samurai (laughter). To get back to what we were talking about, I thought that the album opener, “Justice”, had particularly significant lyrics, but what is the real meaning behind the song?
Yookey: Hahaha, that song was inspired by the manga we were talking about just now (laughter)
Chiori: That’s right, the theme is actually from “The Laughing Salesman” (a horror manga). At first, instead of calling it “Justice” we titled it “DON” (The Laughing Salesman’s catchphrase). It’s not that it was too strange, but it was really unpopular (laughter)
Really? (laughter)
Chiori: Because of that the title was also changed… I also have a lot of resentment against society. However, for the most part those are situations that I can do nothing about myself.
Yookey: Like abuse, right.
Chiori: Yeah. Just like the other day, there was an incident with child sacrifice.
The incident where the baby starved to death in an apartment?
Chiori: Yeah. Always that kind of stuff. However, to say that we can change Japan by ourselves is not right either. There are things even the prime minister can’t to. Well, where the heck is justice? There is a lot of justice, but there is about the same amount of wickedness as well. Plus, there’s no way to tell whose justice is correct. To me, my sense of righteousness is the most correct… I think putting that kind of stuff into a song would be interesting.
I see. In contrast to songs with that kind of resentment against society, there are songs like “Queen Anne’s Revenge”, which contains the story of Edward Teach’s pirate ship, or “Chijou no Eden (Earth’s Eden)”, which have more of a fantastical feeling to them.
Chiori: Actually, “Chijou no Eden (Earth’s Eden)” is also anti-society. Adults are always saying “kids these days…”, but I feel like that robs children of their individuality. Even though adults should be the ones protecting children’s individuality, they are always complaining that “this kind of Japan is no good”. When I was a student, I was also aggravated at adults about a lot of things. I think the current kids and students are feeling a similar amount of aggression.
I see. In UPLIFT SPICE, I sense a lot of Japanese pride.
Yookey: Having said that, we don’t completely feel like “we’re Japanese, so this is what we do!” We were put in Japan by chance, and we do activities in Japan. That’s the only reason. I don’t think music is quite the same. This story is about another band, not us, who went to do a live show in China amidst anti-Japanese resentment, and had eggs and such hurled at them at first. However, when they tried to end the live, the guy who had been throwing eggs at them moments ago approached them and said “let me buy you a beer”. I think live shows and music can move people’s hearts in that way. Music that’s stuck together in a clichéd way can’t provide that kind of deep emotion. We’d also be happy if we could convey that substance in our music as well.
I see. Until now you’ve appeared with a great number of bands like THE USED, SAOSIN, ELLEGARDEN, and BRAHMAN. Which artist would you say you got the most inspiration from?
Yookey: The band that came up in conversation just now that did the live show in China was actually BRAHMAN, so of course I’ll say BRAHMAN was great. Their career is also great, but I felt they expressed all of their experience in their live show.
Chiori: Yeah, their instruments were also big. Until now we’ve tried to be the opening act for a lot of bands, and lots of things have happened, but they were all actually by chance. We feel very thankful that we were allowed to stand on the same stage as them. When we tried to convey our feelings by saying “thank you very much”, TOSHI-LOW replied “same to you”. There are a lot of people with big careers and bands that are selling lots who will give you a little bit of attitude, but we didn’t have any of those experiences. They’re kind enough to look us eye to eye.
Yookey: We only met them face to face once, so there’s a chance they already forgot the encounter, but… even so, I will treasure those memories in my heart.
I’m glad to hear that. Were you able to get a thrill at the live show itself?
Chiori: Yeah, with BRAHMAN, in the moment the live show starts, the world changes completely. It seems like the entire space, the lighting and everything, is just for BRAHMAN to create their world. It is really just an instant. The world changes in an instant. I thought that was really amazing. For a live show, to create your own world is pretty difficult, though…
UPLIFT SPICE is also a band skilled at creating their own worldview.
Yookey: Thank you so much!
What kind of feeling is it, on stage, transforming the world and atmosphere in an instant?
Chiori: There are times when we see the instant the audience also changes. When we see that, it makes us happy to think they’ve at least been pulled into our world. At live shows, we are at the minimum striving to create our own worldview, but there’s times where we can’t do that. There’s times where we finish without having been able to pull it off, and on the other hand, there are times where with the first sound of our first song we’re able to make it happen.
Yookey: I like really emotional live performances, like FINCH. It feels like they operate using only emotions. Well, eventually, I want to be like METALLICA’s James, making people think I’m cool just by standing there.
Chiori: (Raised fist) With just this I want to get people to cheer! (laughter)
Yookey: Yeah, my dream is to become that kind of person!
Hahaha (laughter)
Yookey: A human with an aura, or, how should I put it? I have a lot of dissatisfaction with society, but right now, I want to express the things that have made me happy and sad until this point at live shows.
As for those UPLIFT SPICE live shows, your tour starts from next month, and looks like it continues until the end of the year.
Yookey: Yes. If we count the events during our breaks there are 45, so we’re going to pass out completely. Pass out? That’s not right, we’re going off to die! (laughter) I want to convey that we can do this kind of cool stuff in Japanese as well. If there’s anyone who is interested, I definitely want you to come to our live show.
I see. By the way, aren’t there a lot of worries that come with bands who have girls in the lineup?
Chiori: I have no worries or anxieties at all.
Yookey: Yeah, it’s more the opposite…
Chiori: It might be that the guys make more of a fuss about me. Changing clothes is rough, but other than that there’s nothing that bothers me. It’s easygoing, with the four of us.
Q: That alone tells me you guys have good compatibility.
Yookey: Yeah, I think we work well together.
Good luck on your tour! Thank you so much for the interview.
C&Y: Thank you so much!
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