As I mentioned in the first part of this segment, Kirito, the band leader and vocalist from the Japanese Rock band Angelo, posted a series of two videos where he answered questions from the Youtube comments found in some of the videos from his Official Youtube Channel.
In this second part posted in July 28 of 2019, Kirito answers some fun questions and also some deep questions about music. I apologize in advance for any errors. Please enjoy Kirito’s answers about these topics.
Question # 1: Explanation about the bad posture (when seating).
“Well, this is… Let me say it this way, my hip joints get extremely tired… The hip joints and the coccyx too, that’s like the buttocks bone, I think? I’m not sure what it’s called… But I’m not referring to the butt bones ok? (laughs). Well, my coccyx bone is very pointy, and because of this, I cannot sit in the same position for a long time, I am aware that these are really bad manners, but even if I go out to eat, or if I go to a meeting, to briefing sessions, interviews etc. and sit on a chair, I end up changing my posture to various ways many times, it may be sitting on my knees, seating cross-legged etc., this has been this way since a long time ago. And well, maybe this is seen as bad manners, but that’s the way it is even now. So just to let you know, that’s the kind of feeling I have about this.”
Question # 2: What is music for Kirito?
“Well, fundamentally, maybe I wasn’t someone who loved what is known as “music” when I was young. Originally when I started the band, instead of listening to music, I started making, creating and releasing music from the very beginning.
Maybe I am a rare type, I think. For me when it comes to music…well, nowadays as I make a living (as a musician), I’ve been listening to various kinds of music, compared to the past where I didn’t listen to music in general at all.
What is music for me? When I’m asked this, well it’s a job, but at the same time, and perhaps it was one of the few, or maybe the only tool at the time that I had, to be able to be recognized by many people in the society.
And maybe even now, I don’t think I’m really the type of person who likes music much. After all, when you do music, people will recognize you, they will seek for you, and maybe I’m good at creating and expressing things, and I think that’s why this was something that could turn into a job for me.
So, what is music? It’s difficult to put it into words but, it’s my method of expression, it’s my tool to connect with the outside world. Especially, when it comes to singing, writing lyrics and expressing those, it’s something that it’s not just fun. I never go to Karaoke nor do such things as humming at home, because of that, I can say I’m not the type of person who likes to sing much in my private time. However, the fact that I’ve continued to do this job doesn’t mean it’s because it’s a hobby or because it’s something that I find fun or that I like, it’s different from that. It’s a job that causes a lot of emotional strain, writing lyrics and singing feels like scrapping off yourself, there’s pain and exhaustion too.
However, for example, when I’ve gone to that extend to create things in order to express myself, and the fact that I’ve been able to move people’s hearts this way many times, I think it means that this is definitely my best method for expression.”
Question # 3: Kirito, please tell us about your motorcycles! We want to see you riding the motorcycle.
“I’ve always liked motorcycles since a long time ago. It was when since I was um… 16 years old, since the time I was able to learn how to ride motorcycles I’ve been riding them, and I still ride them even today. I usually ride more motorcycles than cars, and I have 3 motorcycles. The first one is the “Harley Davidson” which is the American motorcycle that is also referred to as “Harley”.
The second one is a “CBX 550 F-INTEGRA” (Honda), this one was very popular when I was around 15 or 16 years old, so it’s an old bike from around 30 years ago, so it can be referred to as an antique motorcycle. And the last one I have is the “Kawasaki Z1″ motorcycle, and this one, if I remember correctly, is around the same age as I am, it is maybe a 46 or 47 years old bike, I think it was released around the same year I was born, I don’t know in detail, but this is also an antique old motorcycle.
Well, although now the 3 of them, the Harley, the CBX and the Z1 are all considered old motorcycles, I still keep tinkering with them over and over, and well those are all the bikes I have. I might introduce them to you in the future.” (this video was released before Kirito started posting the Bike-log series videos, so we haven’t seen the bikes at this point yet).
Question # 4: Does Kirito have any particular theme in mind when he works on songwriting?
“In my case, I started doing songwriting since I was around 17 or 18 years old and started a band, so I started doing very unique songwriting since very early on. I thought the most important thing was the originality, so at that time I started a band, and in order to practice guitar, there were also bands I listened to. But, after all, to be able to create original songs, during the songwriting process, I had to be very conscious about doing things that nobody else did. So, in regards to lyrics, well, you know the so-called pop? love songs that sell very well, etc. instead of doing that, I’ve always been going much deeper than that general theme.
The actual period has been changing continuously when compared to the past, I think that has been happening since that time, there’s foundation in the things that are changing in each period, however there’s also portions that never change, and that’s for example the love songs. Well the basis of love songs is also in my songs. But as expected, when you adopt more trendy ideas on the exterior of it…for example, when I was in my teen years and started a band, I still felt the social obligation of using things such as pagers, because young people used them at the time. So, having done that, for example, there were also things like “kayoukyoku” (歌謡曲 – showa era Jpop), pop music, etc. So if you incorporate the trendy things of that period into the song lyrics, like what it is like when the pager rings, or how it felt making calls from the public phones; after all, what I mean is all the things that defined culture and way of life from that particular period, so all those things that were trendy, if you might end up incorporating such things into the lyrics; I’ve had the feeling since that time, that when the period changes, then you won’t be able to use those themes anymore.
Because of that, for example, when you incorporate topics such as the cellphones, pagers, public phones etc. those specific aspect that describe the way of life of a certain period, it can be something very good in that particular period, but I think that a future when you can’t sing about it anymore will eventually come.
Therefore, love songs can be sung even if the time changes, it’s not a trend that flows away, it’s something that continues to circulate around, and I’m not sure if it’s because it’s something that can have deep portions and be simple at the same time. And well, basically, the lyrics that I’ve wrote are lyrics that I can still sing even today, so I think I wasn’t mistaken.
So, in summary, the most important thing is to be myself, and do things that other people probably won’t do. So, it becomes the kind of Kirito’s originality where we can say “the expression of these lyrics is this way because it’s a Kirito’s lyrics”, or “this song was created this way because it’s a Kirito’s song”. It has to be this way even if this is different from what others do, and even if I’m told that it’s a bit weird. And of course, quality is also very important, however, in my case, as I said before, there’s originality, and of course quality, and these two aspects must be together.
Therefore, when it comes to words in lyrics, essentially it has to be a way of speak that no one else would do, the kind of words that no one else brings. But at the same time, I don’t worry that much about it, I just put it out. So basically, if it becomes something too established, at the beginning it’s like “eh?!”, so I usually didn’t use that kind of words in lyrics or song titles at the time. However, there has to be originality and also a bit of impact, and if the meaning is conveyed one way or another, then this title becomes suitable. So, when it is done this way, I feel that it becomes something very valuable.”
JAPAN MUSIC SEKAI ~ Jrock & Jpop talk ~ 