But, in their major debut era, maybe it's little known that the one who hit the drum is sakura.
In year 1997 he walked in different pathway, he who has spent his time with L'Arc~en~Ciel chose his way alone.
Many people still haven't known about the time of 'Early L'Arc~en~Ciel'.
tetsu and sakura.
In their faces that sparkle when they talk about memories of 'that time' still reamin their signs of youth from their smiling face.
I: Interviewer
s: sakura
t: tetsu
I: How did both of you first meet?
s: I was holding two or more positions concurrently in various amateur bands. At that time, suddenly I got a phone. In my house. From a guy named tetsu
t: Who called to your house? That's me.
s: "You got a phone call from 'tetsu from Osaka', you know that guy?", my mom said. "No, I don't know him", I replied. Then, "It's related with Danger Crue (Maverick) office. You know about that?" "No, I don't", I said.
I: So it's suddenly from the office.
s: Though I knew that name, I thought "Could it be"
t: I looked for sakura's contact, I was looking for it on and on. I didn't know what I saw in sakura, sakura did various things that time, and I thought he's good. Then?
s: When I got the phone call, I didn't know about tetsu's band. Ma, when I did supporting things, there were times I want to become an official member of a band (bitter laugh).
I: sakura's existence has been known.
t: Of course it's known. From lots of support he did, he seemed like he didn't want to be consistent in one band, if I came to his house, maybe there's a possibility he would join my band, with that thought and that interest, then I looked for how to contact sakura, and then I contacted him.
s: In the end, we came up with "Let's meet". At that time, the band which I support went to Osaka for a tour, on 20 December... it's around Crhistmas. There, hyde, ken-chan, and tetsu came to see that live.
I: Do you remember what kind of conversation you made?
t: Which kind of conversation? At the first time we met? At that time we talked about round, triangle, and rectangle.
s: At that time I haven't talked with ken-chan.
I: n???
s: No, no, it's like round music note is better than rectangle music note. Maybe if it being remembered, there's a '?' sign that appear in everyone's mind. ken-chan then join our chat.
t: Maybe it's a conversation of Tokyo people that can't be understood.
s: I remember that time, at that time, we ordered pork kakuni, ne. In Isakaya, a common restaurant.
t: No no no! It's a quite good shop. At that time, with our economic capability it can be considered in a quite good level.
s: That's true. We ordered pork kakuni. While we ordered the pork kakuni, the conversation became more fun, we've talked for quite long, but the pork kakuni hadn't came up yet, what happen, I wondered "Excuse me! How is the pork kakuni?", I asked , "We've delivered it", they answered. While I thought how come it be, hyde had eaten it all. He showed kinda reluctant face (laugh).
I: sakura, that's the first time you met tetsu.
s: Yes, that's also the first time I met tetsu.
t: Before that, we've talked in phoine right?
s: Yes, we've talked.
t: At that time I knew his house phone number, so I made a call once. "It's L'Arc~en~Ciel", I said, sakura then said "I don't know you!" (laugh)
I: He certain didn't know because it's Tokyo and Osaka.
t: No no no! We have appeared in magazine. In Osaka we're quite known (laugh). From Tokyo.. there's LOFT ka naa.
s: There's La Mama too?
t: Right. La Mama, Kuroyume too. That made L'Arc~en~Ciel seemed not in it. The one who knows would know and said "I know it's a band!" (laugh)
s: I didn't read magazines (laugh)
I: So in that Isakaya, you said "We'll do it together?" frankly.
s: No, but on the next day we went to the studio together.
I: On the next day, when performing in the studio, what kind of impression you've got?
t: It's perfect! I never thought about going to the studio together, so it's really a good feeling.
s: It's 2 hours or 3 hours long ka na. I, at that time, facing the band that was in same generation as me, I wanna know what they could do. I think about what kind of songs decided that can be played by them. But, at that time, thought it's a usual tone that came up, when they did the phrase and the session to build those tones as a song, I got a really deep impression. At that time, a, because there are such people like them,I must be careful in judging people, I think.
I: From that, you want to join that band.
s: I've a lot of interest. Even I have a thought of "I'll join, I'll join" (laugh).
I: Then, sakura became an official member in January 1993, then the first recording started. 1st album 'DUNE'. How was it, do you still remember about that time?
t: I remember. Though sakura is a Tokyo person, me, ken-chan, and hyde lived in Osaka, so in Tokyo we live in a weekly mansion.
s: When we met face to face in Chinese food restaurant, everyone were eating nasubi (aubergine) miso na.
t: Aa -, it was in Shinagawa, when we had a recording, we also went to Nakano Shinbashi, ne.
s: We also went to Egota weekly mansion
I: Weekly mansion, it's a hard life, ne.
t: To Otsuka also
s: There's old woman there who said, "So you're a band member? Please give me your signature"
I: How old were you that time?
s: 23
I: That's young naa.
t: Recording, we did it in Shinjuku ne. For that, we stayed in weekly mansion in Shinagawa. It's really far (laugh). Now do you think that's really torturing?
s: Sure.
t: Because our priority is L'Arc. So we should go to the studio altogether. The heavy traffic could take about 1 hour long, I think.
I: At that time, you guys had already in Danger Crue, right?
s: But when we went to the studio, we didn't see any adult's shadow at all. It's mysterious, I thought, but when we went to the studio in the fourth day, the director came up. That's our first meeting.
t: Really?
s: "Who's the engineer?" he said "It's me", I replied.
I: That year, there's the first tour (TOUR 'Close by DUne')
s: Right. That's our first tour. There's one time when I had to live in Osaka.
I: It's in May 1993?
s: After the May event (Rock'n fPRESENTS 'Subliminal Vision') finished, one morning, everyone went home to Osaka, then I decided to stay in Osaka too. Until I got some stuff, I stayed at tetsu's house ne.
t: Maa, that's not for a long time. sakura always played guitar in his room.
I: For how long did sakura stay in Osaka?
s: Actually, for a half year. But, thought it's nice to stay there, in January, we have 2 weeks in Tokyo "Well, for collecting data, photo session, discussing the preparation", so we spent a half month in Tokyo.
t: When we're doing Tokyo-Osaka trip, it's in 1993 which L'Arc~en~Ciel really develop in Tokyo. Because "Sakura comes!" too.
s: It's definitely I must went back to Tokyo when I went to Osaka, but I didn't want to buy TV at all.
t: Usually it's the opposite, ne. "We, 3 people, let's go to Tokyo", we said. So, ne! That's the majority decision.
s: It's democracy.
t: But, we really came ne. I think it's quite great. I was really touched.
s: Together with tetsu, I came to a house broker. We went around together. I learnt various things. Because I can't get a proper stuff, he said, "to know whether it's good or not, sakura naa. Beside the information written on the stuff, they are all lies naa. It's only a trick for getting the customer na. We can't really get it". When we go to buy some electronic stuffs, ken-chan also said "it can be bargained"
I: It's unbelievable. People like you guys looking for a cheap stuff (laugh).
t: No, no! it's not cheap that we looked for, we're looking for a stuff that good enough.
s: I almost didn't believe it. There's a lot of useless things we bought.
t: Ano, at that time, what kind of house do you want to buy? I really didn't think about that at all.
s: With Auto-lock. As usual.
t: We're kinda "hard work that really a hard work" (laugh)
I: When you were in Osaka, do you went for a recreation?
t: Yes, we did, we went to Kenkou Land ne (laugh).
s: Yeah, right, when I went to Osaka, the welcome party was Kenkou Land (laugh).
I: Ahahahaha, what did you do in Kenkou Land?
t: Well, we went to onsen, to sauna, we did a nude socialization (laugh)
s: Beside taking a bath in Kenkou Land, what else? Ah! We also took some pictures in Kenkou Land.
t: That's when we wore casual outfits.
s: That photos also weren't published ne. Maybe we'll keep them until we died.
t: That 1993 tour is the first tour. Until that we haven't reach other area except Osaka and side of Kanto. Because we only used a limited transportation.
s: We went by microbus na.
t: Right. With one microbus. It's enough with a microbus. The back part for the equipment loads. The front part for the member and the manager. But there were still some remaining seats. It still spacious.
s: So around the tour, naturally, automatically everybody knew where to sit on.
I: hyde had mentioned that also.
s: Once, hyde was practising with clarinet. Inside of the car he always played it pi-pi-pi-pi "Why?", I heard "No, I think to start playing sax", he said.
t: The final is in the power station (Nisshin power station)
s: In that power station's big screen (13 August) there's a text came up "Next is Nihon Seinenkan!" The audiences were excited, we're getting excited too (laugh). But how come it be Seinenkan, we didn't know. "Ee-!" we said. No one knew the answer, ne.
t: Really? No, I knew that (laugh)
s: Member were surprised how come that be (laugh).
t: Because I was the leader, I knew everything, ne. This is the first time I heard that you don't know about that (laugh).
s: No, no, maybe ken-chan also didin't know about hat (laugh).
t: Is he?!!
s: We both look on each other face (laugh) and goes "really?!"
t: Hahahaha. Sorry, naa. I think sakura maybe, also didn't know if that was debut time when we did debut. (laugh).
t: Speaking personally, I never had a family trip. I also never went to anywhere.
I: Outside Kansai?
t: Yep.. The first time I went to Tokyo is also the first time for L'Arc, that's for L'Arc's 1st single mastering. I went alone (laugh). So for the person who came alone, that tour is my first trip. To Hakata, Kanazawa, Niigata, Sendai, Aomori, Yokohama.
I: That's bad to say it as 'The first trip', though.
t: No, it's like a trip. Beside, it's not a part with microbus hi-ace, I felt a little bit 'rich' feeling.
I: There's a deep impression of "In CLUB '95" in 1995 inside me. National tour with car. In Kumamoto livehouse Django (13 June) there's an incident when tetsu left the stage and back to the member room.
t: In Hakodate also. In Hakodate, it was a small place, so the stage and the audience was really near. There was a kid that hold my bass' head and pulled it, naturally, the tuning went wrong. We can't perform well. So, there was a bass part that I skipped.
s: For musician, that's a little painful ne.
t: Because we can't perform, ne. Sometimes the audiences had bad manners. For example, the kid I talked before. I really wanted to handcuff him one on my side, one on hyde.
s: A, at that tour, I arranged tetsu's hair.
t: A, that's right. At that time, because the hairmake-san and stylist-san couldn't go to the tour with us, so sakura made up my hair.
s: The braided cord is really detailed.
t: It's really tiring in the backstage.
s: Yeah, right, ne. I did my own hair also, put make-up on my face, did tetsu's braided cord, stood up my hair.
t: It also had to be maintained.
s: Yup. There's also Dura time na.
t: Yeah, there was.
I: Dura!?
s: If I got to arrange the hair style everytime, it's really tiring. So, I thought of using it to tetsu.
t: I thought it won't be revealed. It seems like sakura's responsibility, so he made Dura. My standing form hair was using Dura (laugh).
s: I made it seriously.
t: I also used Dura, sakura also used Dura, it's perfect! ... that's what I thought while we're moving during the live, our hair weren't changed ne.
I: How about on stage?
t: We could do that with it (laugh)
I: For how many performances?
t: 1 performance (laugh). It's the first day in Osaka Malepark Hall.
s: For the next tomorrow, we're still used it (laugh)
I: It's Malepark in 15 July 1994.
t: That's a precious live yo.
I: But it's not recorded in video?
s: Maybe we'll find it if we search it.
t: Where that Dura go, I wonder (laugh)
s: I think it's in somewhere.
t: I want to put it in L'Arcafe na (laugh)
I: I see, ne. This time, how it feels to look back to the 'Early L'Arc~en~Ciel' era, for each of you? Now, in what kind of existence are you?
s: .... how to say that, I'm not the member of L'Arc anymore. It's 15 years old now, with that count, I'm in it for 5 years long, am I? So that will be 1/3 of it.
t: That's right, ne.
s: From that point, if L'Arc keeps continue, that 1/3 part will be decreased, become 1/4, 1/5, ..... But in my life, that time is really a precious memory, ne. Because for tetsu that is real time, I think the nuance is different.
I: But in the early times, to spend such valuable time is not everyone's experience, I think.
s: ... Imagine it further, if it's said in a proudness, maybe I can say that now L'Arc~en~Ciel has jumped to the upper class. Now, I also participate in various young band creation, and facing various concepts from them. If I have a chat with 23, 24 years old young men, I'll think "In that age, what kind of things in my mind? Was it little different?" But "A, now, there's such kind of new concept", sometimes there's such kind of answer. That time, ken-chan was also playing phrase like this, it's also like tetsu's bass. Band should be like this. hyde's sense of beauty, his singing, his lyrics, his songs, I think band should also have things like that, with all of thoughts like that, I think L'Arc~en~Ciel has really jumped to the upper class.
t: With sakura, above thoughts of arranging a song, I've learned a lot, ne. About arranging a song, if I can't think what would it be next after a part, sakura can think about it. Then, I can understand.
s: He--, I didn't think that you thought like that.
t: "A - I see", I said. Even now, about arranging things, I really want to say about that to sakura, so he will say, "A, let's arrange with that kind of style".
I: At that time, you say it to the related person?
t: No, I don't say it.
s: So that's why I didn't know about Nihon Seinenkan (laugh)
I: From such word we've just heard, Nihon Seinenkan had a special memory (laugh)
t: Basically, the core of the band and the music was established in year 1994, 1995. Now, it's really related with that time, I think. Now, the things that should be considered are the song making, the tour, the live. It's established this time.
I: So, for the last, now when you both walk on the different pathways, if you send a message to each other, what kind of words will you send?
s: When I was in L'Arc, among the three people, the one I chat with least was tetsu. But the time we spent together was quite long. Maybe the point is, resemble with what I think. It's just our direction we face which are different. So, from the difference of direction, we could know the plus, minus, for each of our goals so we can always feel like facing the plus side. So though our directions are different, if we meet again someday, ma, we can have a nice little chat about what usual thing we've done.
I: How about you, tetsu?
t: With sakura that produces various junior bands in office, I'll say "Ganbatte". A re? How about sakura's Lion Heads album?
s: Finally it's released.
t: I think, sakura is playing guitar now, what next? I really like guitar solo, but I never play guitar solo only.
s: For me, I only play the guitar for the backing. The backing spirit is burning. By the way, what do you do recently, tetsu?
t: Recently, making songs. Though I have a feeling of making songs, actually there aren't yet. Because for the demo, I play the guitar solo seriously ne (laugh).
s: Jaa, let's have a guitar battle next.
Note
- Dura/Zura = wig (according to Japanese slang http://www.e-japanese.jp/slangs4.htm)
- Autolock = a door that will be automatically opened if the key is entered to the lock
thx a lot to matsu-san for the article scans ^_^
and thx to Frans who had helped me with difficult words ^^
